2024-06-21_Friday

00:00:00.000 | Who's your REALTOR®?

00:00:03.000 | Seriously, who is your REALTOR®?

00:00:06.000 | Lately, there's been a lot in the news about real estate and REALTORS®.

00:00:10.000 | So let us help clear the air.

00:00:12.000 | California REALTORS® are Californians just like you.

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00:00:20.000 | And we all strive every day to be your trusted advisors

00:00:23.000 | on the biggest financial decision of your life.

00:00:26.000 | No one cares more about helping Californians live the California dream

00:00:30.000 | than California REALTORS®.

00:00:32.000 | Because we know California real estate is not easy.

00:00:35.000 | That's an understatement.

00:00:37.000 | But if you're a first-timer, we help you confidently get in the game.

00:00:41.000 | And if you've been there, done that,

00:00:43.000 | we're there to help you get through what's new and different.

00:00:46.000 | We tirelessly negotiate so you don't have to.

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00:00:58.000 | California Association of REALTORS®.

00:01:00.000 | Today on Radical Personal Finance, it's live Q&A.

00:01:03.000 | [MUSIC]

00:01:23.000 | Forgot to turn off the mute button.

00:01:25.000 | Welcome to Radical Personal Finance.

00:01:27.000 | Every now and then we do one of these rookie mistakes.

00:01:29.000 | Welcome to Radical Personal Finance, a show dedicated to providing you

00:01:31.000 | with the knowledge, skills, insight, and encouragement you need

00:01:34.000 | to live a rich and meaningful life now while building a plan

00:01:36.000 | for financial freedom in 10 years or less.

00:01:38.000 | My name is Joshua Sheets, and this is the Friday Q&A show

00:01:41.000 | for Friday, June 21, 2024.

00:01:44.000 | Live Q&A. Call in. Talk about anything that you like.

00:01:47.000 | [MUSIC]

00:01:51.000 | We'll get the timing back on track here in a moment.

00:01:53.000 | If you're new, welcome to Radical Personal Finance.

00:01:55.000 | Welcome here at Radical Personal Finance, each and every Friday

00:01:57.000 | in which I can arrange a microphone and everything else needed to record

00:02:00.000 | a microphone and people to ask questions and make comments.

00:02:02.000 | I record a live Q&A show.

00:02:04.000 | You can join one of these Q&A shows by going to

00:02:06.000 | patreon.com/radicalpersonalfinance.

00:02:08.000 | Patreon.com/radicalpersonalfinance.

00:02:11.000 | Sign up to support the show on Patreon, and that will gain access for you

00:02:14.000 | to one of these live Q&A shows where you can ask any question

00:02:17.000 | that you want to ask, discuss any topic that you want to discuss,

00:02:20.000 | raise any objections, make any comments.

00:02:22.000 | It's completely open to you.

00:02:24.000 | You get to set the entire agenda.

00:02:26.000 | We begin with Marcus in Virginia.

00:02:28.000 | Welcome to the show. How can I serve you today?

00:02:31.000 | Hi. Thank you for having me.

00:02:33.000 | It's great to be on your show.

00:02:35.000 | I wanted to start off with a personal question.

00:02:39.000 | I recently sold all my rental property real estate

00:02:44.000 | and was looking for an investment suggestion from you

00:02:48.000 | on where I should put--

00:02:50.000 | got a total I should have about $100,000.

00:02:54.000 | The real estate market is not looking good to upgrade in.

00:02:59.000 | So I wanted to know personally what other investments

00:03:03.000 | that you may have uncovered or suggest I put that $100,000 into.

00:03:09.000 | What are you investing for? What are you hoping to accomplish?

00:03:14.000 | I'm hoping to invest, increase, and gain monthly cash flow.

00:03:22.000 | I'm looking to invest in cash flow.

00:03:24.000 | I was recently considering investing in a barber shop.

00:03:29.000 | My current barber, he owns a business

00:03:32.000 | and was looking to start open a second location

00:03:35.000 | and add an additional schooling element to his barber shop

00:03:39.000 | so he can teach future barbers for the area here in Virginia.

00:03:43.000 | So I was looking to talk--

00:03:45.000 | I have a scheduled appointment with him and his wife this Sunday

00:03:48.000 | to talk about investing in that with the money

00:03:51.000 | and buying equity and income, generate income from that,

00:03:59.000 | and a few other ideas.

00:04:01.000 | There's a car wash down in Atlanta, Georgia

00:04:04.000 | that's looking for some equity investors.

00:04:08.000 | The duration of the investment, about three years.

00:04:12.000 | If you give--so they give a baseline.

00:04:14.000 | They're going to 1.5x your money.

00:04:16.000 | So if you give them $15,000,

00:04:18.000 | they're going to turn that into $22,000, $25,000

00:04:21.000 | over the course of three years when they sell a car wash

00:04:24.000 | to a known business that buys up car washes in the U.S. market.

00:04:29.000 | So looking at different things.

00:04:30.000 | Didn't know if you had anything that you found,

00:04:32.000 | but just trying to figure out what to do with that money

00:04:35.000 | to produce cash flow for myself.

00:04:38.000 | What are you living on?

00:04:41.000 | I'm a disabled veteran, and I am also self-employed.

00:04:46.000 | So I do medical carrier work.

00:04:48.000 | So I deliver pharmaceutical products, prescriptions,

00:04:52.000 | COVID test specimens, lab equipment,

00:04:54.000 | lab specimens throughout the--this area in Virginia

00:04:57.000 | has a very big presence with medical, big hospitals,

00:05:03.000 | home health care facilities, a lot of that.

00:05:06.000 | So I do that for myself, and then I'm a disabled veteran,

00:05:11.000 | so I receive a monthly stipend from the military

00:05:15.000 | until the day I die.

00:05:17.000 | Would you yourself be willing to work in a business

00:05:20.000 | that you invest into?

00:05:22.000 | Absolutely.

00:05:24.000 | Well, I like the direction you're going.

00:05:26.000 | If you have $100,000 of capital,

00:05:29.000 | and your goal is to invest for monthly cash flow,

00:05:32.000 | it's hard to come up with any better possible investment

00:05:37.000 | than some form of business that you yourself work in,

00:05:42.000 | operate, and grow.

00:05:45.000 | It's not unreasonable to expect that you could turn

00:05:48.000 | your $100,000 of capital into a business that could get you

00:05:53.000 | $10,000 a month of cash flow or much, much more.

00:05:57.000 | That's not in any way unreasonable.

00:05:59.000 | Now, the reason it's not unreasonable, though,

00:06:02.000 | is we're kind of folding in the idea that you're working

00:06:05.000 | in the business because that's where you have the ability

00:06:08.000 | to then change the business to its maximum amount.

00:06:14.000 | And so if you just want to create cash flow,

00:06:17.000 | and that's your investment objective,

00:06:19.000 | then that's going to be the highest potential return

00:06:23.000 | is going to come from your investing into a business,

00:06:27.000 | especially one that you work in.

00:06:29.000 | So I would encourage you to think about the attributes

00:06:32.000 | of that kind of business and then go out

00:06:35.000 | and look at the opportunities that are in the marketplace.

00:06:37.000 | Now, let me give you just a quick précis on a few

00:06:40.000 | of the things that I'm pointing out, though.

00:06:42.000 | Notice I said the business that you yourself work in.

00:06:46.000 | If you're purely engaging in some form of passive investment

00:06:50.000 | where you're going to advance money into a business

00:06:53.000 | that someone else is going to work in,

00:06:55.000 | you're going to have a much lower potential cash flow.

00:06:59.000 | The barbershop and car wash opportunity

00:07:01.000 | both match that description.

00:07:04.000 | They just want your money, and they're going to take it

00:07:07.000 | and go from there.

00:07:09.000 | That may be a very reasonable thing to do.

00:07:12.000 | So I'm not saying it's a bad idea.

00:07:14.000 | I'm trying to help you categorize it in your own mind

00:07:17.000 | so you understand what your options are.

00:07:20.000 | So think about, first of all, am I investing into a business

00:07:23.000 | as a passive investment, just a pure money man?

00:07:26.000 | And if so, I'm going to be getting

00:07:28.000 | a marginal rate of return.

00:07:30.000 | I'm going to be getting something like a dividend yield

00:07:32.000 | on my money, which for $100,000 is going to be

00:07:35.000 | the very, very slow way towards your goal.

00:07:39.000 | If you're investing into something like the car wash business,

00:07:42.000 | then your $100,000 makes you just a minor investor,

00:07:45.000 | which again, they might indeed deliver

00:07:47.000 | on your 1.5x growth on your money,

00:07:50.000 | but it's just going to be a relatively small amount.

00:07:53.000 | So the question comes down to,

00:07:55.000 | are you willing to work in the business?

00:07:57.000 | And if you are, then you can derive your compensation.

00:08:00.000 | Of course, some of it would be the equivalent of a salary,

00:08:03.000 | but it's going to be where you have the most control,

00:08:05.000 | the most impact, probably the most safety,

00:08:08.000 | and yet ultimately in the fullness of time,

00:08:11.000 | the largest opportunity.

00:08:13.000 | So what I would suggest is that you think about

00:08:16.000 | that type of structure,

00:08:19.000 | see if it fits with your overall willingness,

00:08:23.000 | and then look around within your experience

00:08:25.000 | and within your network at the kinds of businesses

00:08:27.000 | that other people operate that match that.

00:08:31.000 | And so look at your medical delivery business

00:08:34.000 | and ask yourself, "Well, is there a way that I could expand this?"

00:08:37.000 | And this could be the business, because after all, I know this,

00:08:40.000 | and put the money into this effectively.

00:08:43.000 | But on literally every corner, everywhere you go,

00:08:46.000 | you'll find businesses that you could invest in.

00:08:49.000 | I can't go further to give you a specific suggestion.

00:08:53.000 | I would encourage you to go and look at some of the franchise directories,

00:08:56.000 | read some of the franchise opportunities,

00:08:58.000 | because you're very well positioned to start with a new franchise.

00:09:03.000 | And if you start with a new franchise,

00:09:05.000 | your franchisor will probably give you the information that you need

00:09:08.000 | of how much is needed for a franchise fee,

00:09:10.000 | what the cash flow would be,

00:09:12.000 | what the kind of business structure would be

00:09:15.000 | of every business that you're thinking about getting into.

00:09:17.000 | On the whole, that's the direction I would go

00:09:19.000 | looking for investment opportunities.

00:09:23.000 | Thank you, Joshua.

00:09:24.000 | I did reach out to a franchise broker.

00:09:26.000 | He sent me a list of 10 franchises that have a high propensity

00:09:30.000 | to do well in my area.

00:09:32.000 | And the two that I selected, that stood out to me,

00:09:36.000 | were a home health care franchise and a mental health franchise,

00:09:41.000 | both with a startup cost of less than $50K to $150K startup cost.

00:09:51.000 | So those were two other opportunities that I was looking at

00:09:55.000 | in addition to the car wash and the barbershop with the school.

00:10:02.000 | So yes, I have looked into the franchise opportunity as well.

00:10:07.000 | And let's assume that you invested the $150,000

00:10:11.000 | into one of those opportunities that the broker suggested to you.

00:10:16.000 | What would be the expected profit on one of those kinds of opportunities,

00:10:21.000 | assuming normal results, within a few years?

00:10:24.000 | What would you guess the cash flow would be?

00:10:28.000 | I would guess the cash flow would be about $15,000 to $22,000 a month.

00:10:36.000 | I've also confirmed that with a young lady who owns her own practice,

00:10:42.000 | and she said that's what she makes in her mental health practice.

00:10:48.000 | That's what they're bringing in monthly is about $22,000 a month

00:10:52.000 | with their mental health practice, and they're all remote.

00:10:55.000 | They use interns, a lot of interns, and their costs are very, very low.

00:11:02.000 | So you can see the point that I'm making,

00:11:05.000 | that if your investment goal is cash flow, you're in the right direction.

00:11:09.000 | I wouldn't be comfortable making comments beyond what I've said

00:11:12.000 | in terms of any particular opportunity,

00:11:14.000 | but I think you're looking in the right direction

00:11:16.000 | and moving in exactly the right direction.

00:11:18.000 | So look around your area.

00:11:20.000 | Keep thinking about what might work well.

00:11:22.000 | Consider this franchise broker.

00:11:24.000 | Maybe consider another 10 from another franchise broker.

00:11:26.000 | Do good due diligence in interviewing other people who are involved in this.

00:11:30.000 | Think about where the franchise agreement puts you in three years, five years.

00:11:35.000 | But if those things fit your vision, I think you'd be very well served

00:11:40.000 | with one of those opportunities.

00:11:43.000 | So go for it.

00:11:44.000 | We move to Nathan in Florida.

00:11:46.000 | Welcome to the show.

00:11:47.000 | How can I serve you today?

00:11:50.000 | Hi, Josh.

00:11:51.000 | I'm making sure I'm unmuted.

00:11:52.000 | Can you hear me?

00:11:53.000 | Sounds good.

00:11:54.000 | Go ahead.

00:11:55.000 | Okay, great.

00:11:56.000 | Hey, this is hopefully an easy lifestyle-related question.

00:11:59.000 | Exploration is a key part of our family culture,

00:12:03.000 | and we live in the Mid-South, so we do a lot of road tripping.

00:12:07.000 | I've heard you talk off and on about overlanding or things like that.

00:12:12.000 | So just looking at refining our setup,

00:12:15.000 | we typically spend probably 10 to 15 nights a year ground camping.

00:12:20.000 | So our typical setup is kind of a suburban.

00:12:23.000 | Usually got six bikes and then like a kayak and stand-up paddleboard.

00:12:30.000 | But the interior volume is still really tight, and it may be marketing,

00:12:38.000 | but the overland setups look slick, and they add a lot of creature comforts.

00:12:43.000 | So looking for how to keep doing that

00:12:45.000 | and kind of reduce the friction when we say, "Hey, let's go out

00:12:49.000 | and check out this place and spend a week."

00:12:53.000 | We don't truly need like hardcore overland off-grid,

00:12:57.000 | kind of like Earth Roamer extended time off the grid.

00:13:02.000 | But yeah, just curious.

00:13:03.000 | I know you've looked around,

00:13:04.000 | and I've heard you talk about fewer vehicles is better.

00:13:08.000 | So curious what your thoughts are.

00:13:10.000 | When you say interior volume,

00:13:12.000 | are you referring to the interior volume of your suburban?

00:13:15.000 | Yeah.

00:13:16.000 | Okay.

00:13:17.000 | And you're traveling as a family of six, two adults, four children?

00:13:20.000 | Correct.

00:13:21.000 | Yeah.

00:13:22.000 | Kids are, let's see, 12, 10, 6, and 5.

00:13:26.000 | So they're gradually getting bigger,

00:13:28.000 | and bikes that I can currently put in the trunk

00:13:32.000 | are starting to need rack space on the back.

00:13:35.000 | Yeah.

00:13:36.000 | If I woke up in your shoes, I'd keep the suburban.

00:13:37.000 | I'd just add a trailer or a small cargo trailer

00:13:40.000 | of a couple different potential varieties.

00:13:43.000 | Have you tried pulling a trailer?

00:13:44.000 | See how that works for you?

00:13:46.000 | Not for camping in particular.

00:13:50.000 | We have pulled trailers before,

00:13:52.000 | so I've been curious about whether it's a toy hauler

00:13:55.000 | or a purely cargo or a teardrop, things like that.

00:14:00.000 | When you say trailer,

00:14:01.000 | are you thinking mainly of cargo for the stuff?

00:14:03.000 | Yeah.

00:14:04.000 | So there would be two directions

00:14:05.000 | that I think would probably solve what you're trying.

00:14:07.000 | So if you're going out for maximum a couple weeks,

00:14:11.000 | I don't think there's any reason at all

00:14:13.000 | to consider going with a large structured trailer

00:14:18.000 | that you live in.

00:14:21.000 | When I was younger,

00:14:22.000 | my dad bought a cheap old pop-up camper

00:14:25.000 | that we took back and forth across the United States.

00:14:28.000 | And there wasn't enough room in the pop-up camper

00:14:30.000 | for the whole family,

00:14:31.000 | so the boys always got stuck in a cheap tent on the ground.

00:14:34.000 | And for whatever reason,

00:14:35.000 | I guess waking up with a wet sleeping bag

00:14:37.000 | due to rain and inundation enough times,

00:14:40.000 | I grew to really get annoyed with that.

00:14:42.000 | And I would look across the campground

00:14:43.000 | and I would see these big giant vehicles

00:14:46.000 | of big huge travel trailers

00:14:48.000 | and I would just dream someday

00:14:50.000 | I could sleep in comfort in a travel trailer

00:14:53.000 | and have air conditioning.

00:14:55.000 | And when it rains,

00:14:56.000 | I wouldn't get wet and wake up wet.

00:14:58.000 | So I dreamed of that.

00:14:59.000 | Well, I fulfilled my dream.

00:15:01.000 | And one of the things that I learned was,

00:15:05.000 | wait a second,

00:15:06.000 | going around the world with a travel trailer

00:15:08.000 | is an enormous hassle.

00:15:09.000 | And I'm a very good trailer driver.

00:15:13.000 | I'm very good at backing a big trailer

00:15:15.000 | into a tight space.

00:15:17.000 | Traveling with a big trailer adds,

00:15:19.000 | and I like driving big vehicles.

00:15:20.000 | I've driven big vehicles,

00:15:21.000 | big trucks, big trailers my whole life.

00:15:23.000 | It doesn't bother me.

00:15:25.000 | But it adds a whole different set of friction to your life

00:15:30.000 | where it makes it super annoying

00:15:32.000 | to constantly have this huge vehicle.

00:15:35.000 | So having done that,

00:15:38.000 | I have learned that I would only do that again

00:15:41.000 | if I needed a vehicle to live in.

00:15:44.000 | So if you're going across the United States

00:15:46.000 | for a year with your four young children

00:15:49.000 | and you're gonna be full-time on the road for a year,

00:15:52.000 | I would unquestionably recommend

00:15:55.000 | a full-sized travel trailer or fifth wheel

00:15:58.000 | or some kind of large RV

00:16:00.000 | that you're going to live in

00:16:02.000 | because you're on the road for so long

00:16:04.000 | that you need that comfort.

00:16:06.000 | You need the security.

00:16:07.000 | You need the comfort, things like that.

00:16:08.000 | If you're traveling a lot,

00:16:10.000 | you go with those options for the comfort.

00:16:13.000 | The problem is if you yourself go to that,

00:16:15.000 | you're not gonna use it.

00:16:16.000 | You don't need it.

00:16:17.000 | And you lose a whole lot of adventure

00:16:19.000 | that's currently available to you.

00:16:21.000 | You would lose a whole lot of flexibility

00:16:23.000 | that's available to you

00:16:24.000 | by being relatively lightweight.

00:16:26.000 | And for what?

00:16:28.000 | You don't gain anything from it.

00:16:30.000 | You wanna be outside.

00:16:31.000 | When you're camping for up to 15 nights a year,

00:16:35.000 | then you wanna be outside.

00:16:36.000 | You wanna be in the elements.

00:16:37.000 | And if you have a rainy night

00:16:39.000 | or the weather is really terrible

00:16:41.000 | and you're in that situation,

00:16:42.000 | then you just bail on the campground,

00:16:44.000 | go rent a place at a hotel with an indoor pool

00:16:46.000 | and go stay there for a couple nights.

00:16:48.000 | And that's infinitely cheaper

00:16:50.000 | than going with a travel trailer.

00:16:52.000 | So if I woke up in your shoes

00:16:54.000 | from what you're describing,

00:16:55.000 | I would keep the Suburban,

00:16:57.000 | but I would just add a small trailer.

00:16:59.000 | And there'd be two ways to go about it.

00:17:02.000 | Way number one, which would be super simple,

00:17:04.000 | would just be to add a small cargo trailer.

00:17:07.000 | I'm picturing maybe an eight foot trailer

00:17:09.000 | and not full width,

00:17:11.000 | but keep it as like a six foot width,

00:17:13.000 | eight feet long,

00:17:14.000 | something single axle

00:17:16.000 | or a very small double axle,

00:17:18.000 | just for the confidence of having the double axles,

00:17:21.000 | but keep it small and narrow.

00:17:23.000 | And that way you have a place

00:17:24.000 | where you can put your bikes,

00:17:25.000 | you can put everything

00:17:26.000 | that's currently inside of the Suburban

00:17:28.000 | into the trailer,

00:17:29.000 | but you have a trailer that tows really easily,

00:17:31.000 | backs really easily,

00:17:32.000 | is really simple to put in and out of a campsite

00:17:35.000 | and you just keep all of your current stuff

00:17:38.000 | set up with it.

00:17:39.000 | And if you're not doing hardcore backwoods travel,

00:17:43.000 | then that can work out fine.

00:17:45.000 | If you are doing,

00:17:46.000 | meaning you can take that

00:17:48.000 | on plenty of dirt roads,

00:17:49.000 | no issues,

00:17:50.000 | put some good 10 ply tires on it

00:17:52.000 | and you can go down

00:17:53.000 | all the back roads that you want.

00:17:55.000 | If you need to genuinely go off road

00:17:57.000 | on some kind of trails,

00:17:58.000 | then you may be able to flip the axles

00:18:00.000 | or put a small lift on it,

00:18:02.000 | something like that

00:18:03.000 | and have something that could handle

00:18:05.000 | a little bit more off-road trails,

00:18:08.000 | but that just empties out

00:18:09.000 | your driving vehicle,

00:18:11.000 | keeps you very nimble,

00:18:12.000 | very lightweight,

00:18:13.000 | super easy,

00:18:14.000 | but you just keep your current ground tent set up.

00:18:17.000 | The second version would be

00:18:19.000 | if you're genuinely going onto off-road trails

00:18:22.000 | and you really need off-road capacity,

00:18:25.000 | then I would consider investing

00:18:27.000 | into a purpose-built off-road trailer

00:18:30.000 | and one with large tires,

00:18:33.000 | a lift,

00:18:34.000 | one of those nice three-way tow hitch connections

00:18:39.000 | so that you can handle all the bumps

00:18:41.000 | and all of the off-road camber pretty easily.

00:18:43.000 | That would work well.

00:18:45.000 | Who's your realtor?

00:18:48.000 | Seriously,

00:18:49.000 | who is your realtor?

00:18:51.000 | Lately,

00:18:52.000 | there's been a lot in the news

00:18:53.000 | about real estate and realtors,

00:18:55.000 | so let us help clear the air.

00:18:57.000 | California realtors are Californians just like you,

00:19:01.000 | your neighbor,

00:19:02.000 | your best friend's brother,

00:19:03.000 | and your kid's baseball coach,

00:19:05.000 | and we all strive every day

00:19:06.000 | to be your trusted advisors

00:19:08.000 | on the biggest financial decision of your life.

00:19:11.000 | No one cares more about helping Californians

00:19:13.000 | live the California dream

00:19:15.000 | than California realtors

00:19:17.000 | because we know California real estate is not easy.

00:19:20.000 | That's an understatement,

00:19:22.000 | but if you're a first-timer,

00:19:23.000 | we help you confidently get in the game,

00:19:26.000 | and if you've been there, done that,

00:19:27.000 | we're there to help you get through what's new and different.

00:19:30.000 | We tirelessly negotiate so you don't have to,

00:19:33.000 | and we help you get past all the tough stuff

00:19:36.000 | and on to the good stuff,

00:19:37.000 | not because it's our job,

00:19:39.000 | but because it's your dream.

00:19:41.000 | Let's go to work.

00:19:42.000 | California Association of Realtors.

00:19:45.000 | And then if you need comfort,

00:19:46.000 | just get one and maybe put one rooftop tent on it

00:19:49.000 | for you and your wife,

00:19:50.000 | and then keep the kids in a nice ground tent,

00:19:52.000 | or get one big enough

00:19:53.000 | where you could put two big rooftop tents on it

00:19:55.000 | so you have a little bit more

00:19:57.000 | of just the convenience of the rooftop tent on the trailer,

00:20:00.000 | but yet you're still living outside around the vehicle.

00:20:03.000 | I think those are the two most practical setups

00:20:05.000 | that would work for what you're describing

00:20:06.000 | and would fit your use style.

00:20:10.000 | Okay.

00:20:11.000 | And when you describe those,

00:20:12.000 | I'm picturing like the open-air cargo trailer,

00:20:15.000 | not like--

00:20:16.000 | The second version.

00:20:18.000 | Either one could work.

00:20:19.000 | When I described the first one,

00:20:20.000 | I was picturing an enclosed cargo trailer.

00:20:23.000 | The second one,

00:20:24.000 | I'm picturing an open cargo trailer

00:20:28.000 | with, again, like a rack built

00:20:30.000 | with a couple of rooftop tents on it.

00:20:32.000 | Right, right, right.

00:20:33.000 | Okay.

00:20:35.000 | I think the first option is pretty obvious

00:20:39.000 | from like brands and stuff like that.

00:20:40.000 | Do you have any of the second variety

00:20:43.000 | that you've looked at?

00:20:44.000 | I don't.

00:20:45.000 | They're all obscenely overpriced

00:20:47.000 | as far as I'm concerned.

00:20:48.000 | I know, yeah.

00:20:49.000 | They are obscene.

00:20:50.000 | Every time I've looked at them--

00:20:51.000 | They're absolutely obscene.

00:20:52.000 | Yeah.

00:20:53.000 | But I would go on to Expedition Portal.

00:20:54.000 | Go in the forums there on expeditionportal.com

00:20:58.000 | and see what the discussion would be there

00:21:02.000 | from some of those guys who know that market.

00:21:05.000 | Yeah.

00:21:06.000 | Okay.

00:21:07.000 | Yeah, has your family wound up being an outdoors culture?

00:21:10.000 | I know you guys did the wild in the RV.

00:21:13.000 | Have you guys continued in that vein?

00:21:16.000 | Yes.

00:21:17.000 | That's where I've spent so much time thinking about it

00:21:20.000 | and what I've decided is the only way--

00:21:23.000 | There is no perfect vehicle

00:21:25.000 | that works for every circumstance.

00:21:27.000 | So the only rational way to approach these decisions

00:21:30.000 | is to design a specific trip

00:21:33.000 | or a specific set of trips

00:21:35.000 | and then create the vehicle for that.

00:21:38.000 | The vehicle that you want for 15 nights of camping

00:21:41.000 | in state parks around your home

00:21:44.000 | within a four to five-hour drive of your home

00:21:46.000 | is going to be very different than the vehicle

00:21:48.000 | that you want for a one-year expedition

00:21:50.000 | from Alaska to Argentina.

00:21:52.000 | So just think about the specific trips.

00:21:55.000 | But I think that generally for most people,

00:21:57.000 | a small cargo trailer, a nice enclosed one

00:22:00.000 | so that when it's raining, when it's dusty,

00:22:02.000 | your stuff can stay cleaner.

00:22:03.000 | You can put the bikes back there.

00:22:05.000 | All your camping gear goes in there.

00:22:06.000 | You can bring along some slightly bigger pieces of gear

00:22:09.000 | that make your car camping trip a little easier.

00:22:12.000 | Slightly bigger stove, bigger tables,

00:22:14.000 | bigger, more chairs.

00:22:16.000 | All that stuff fits beautifully in the cargo trailer,

00:22:18.000 | and yet you're still lightweight,

00:22:20.000 | easy to go down the road at a good pace,

00:22:22.000 | and pretty inexpensive.

00:22:25.000 | - Excellent. All right.

00:22:26.000 | Well, hopefully it was an easy one.

00:22:28.000 | - Yeah, I was going to say, thanks for the softball.

00:22:30.000 | It doesn't get easier than that and more fun.

00:22:33.000 | Joshua in Texas, welcome to the show.

00:22:35.000 | How can I serve you today?

00:22:38.000 | - Hi, Josh.

00:22:41.000 | - Can you hear me?

00:22:42.000 | - Yes, sounds good. Go ahead.

00:22:44.000 | - Hi. Thank you for taking my call.

00:22:47.000 | And I'm a first-time caller,

00:22:49.000 | and I wanted to say thank you for your great insight

00:22:52.000 | and ability to foresee the future during the pandemic.

00:22:56.000 | I think you greatly helped me stay safe and myself as well,

00:23:01.000 | and I just wanted to say thank you for that.

00:23:03.000 | - My pleasure.

00:23:10.000 | - I am trying to buy my first car.

00:23:13.000 | I've never bought a car.

00:23:15.000 | I've had the same make and model of car

00:23:18.000 | since I was in high school, and I'm now 30.

00:23:23.000 | So I am trying to buy a car, but I essentially have no cash.

00:23:29.000 | It's close to $100,000, but it's, like, all in crypto.

00:23:34.000 | And I don't have -- I know there's options.

00:23:38.000 | I've looked at a lot of options, but I'm just stuck on how to get --

00:23:42.000 | I need about $7,000 for the down payment,

00:23:46.000 | and I'm just a little stuck on how to get the money

00:23:50.000 | and, like, what should I -- or should I still do this?

00:23:54.000 | I don't know. I really want the car, but I don't know.

00:23:56.000 | I was just saying if you could help me out.

00:23:58.000 | - How much is your income?

00:24:01.000 | - Right now, I make about $60,000.

00:24:04.000 | With this current job, I'm not working my normal job in HR.

00:24:08.000 | I'm a compensation analyst.

00:24:13.000 | Hired back on or get another job.

00:24:15.000 | Should be around, like, $90,000.

00:24:17.000 | But currently, at this exact --

00:24:21.000 | - So you're 30 years old.

00:24:22.000 | You're earning $60,000 a year, and as I understand it,

00:24:26.000 | you don't have any money saved that is available for buying a car,

00:24:30.000 | but you do have about $100,000 in crypto value.

00:24:33.000 | Is that correct?

00:24:35.000 | - That's correct.

00:24:36.000 | - Why don't you have any money saved?

00:24:40.000 | - I just -- I don't know.

00:24:45.000 | Like, I've adapted to this mindset.

00:24:49.000 | I was -- when I first got into personal finance,

00:24:51.000 | like, serious, like, five years ago,

00:24:53.000 | I kind of just was stuck on the --

00:24:56.000 | where I'm going to invest everything and not keep any --

00:24:58.000 | like, only keep $1,000 cash on hand, basically,

00:25:02.000 | and, like, it's been really hard for me to break that.

00:25:05.000 | So I'm kind of just really, like, basically addicted to it.

00:25:09.000 | Anytime I get money, I just want to invest it over.

00:25:13.000 | I had probably about $10,000 not too long ago,

00:25:16.000 | and, like, situations came up where I, you know,

00:25:22.000 | probably used it for something else, like my normal life,

00:25:25.000 | but I ended up just investing it,

00:25:27.000 | and I've kind of just ended up in the position now

00:25:29.000 | where I just have no cash on hand.

00:25:32.000 | - Other than the $100,000 in crypto,

00:25:34.000 | do you own any other investments,

00:25:36.000 | such as retirement investments, things like that?

00:25:40.000 | - About half of that is actually in a retirement account

00:25:45.000 | that I moved from a 401(k) to a IRA, a crypto IRA.

00:25:52.000 | And outside of that, I mean,

00:25:55.000 | I have, like, $3,500 in a Roth IRA

00:26:00.000 | and, like, $2,000 in a random brokerage account.

00:26:05.000 | - And so you have $3,500 in a Roth IRA

00:26:08.000 | and $2,000 in a brokerage account.

00:26:10.000 | And what's wrong with your current car?

00:26:15.000 | - There is nothing wrong with it.

00:26:17.000 | It actually runs fine.

00:26:20.000 | I believe this--

00:26:22.000 | The reason why I want the car is kind of an image deal.

00:26:27.000 | I mean, just what I do in my life,

00:26:30.000 | like, it does kind of--

00:26:32.000 | I need to have a nicer car.

00:26:34.000 | Like, it's something I've vacated for a long time

00:26:37.000 | and, like, or, you know, just haven't really prioritized,

00:26:40.000 | and, like, I believe it's time for me to do this.

00:26:44.000 | - Okay.

00:26:46.000 | And are you single or married?

00:26:48.000 | Do you have children?

00:26:51.000 | - Single, divorced.

00:26:53.000 | - Okay.

00:26:55.000 | So I'm totally in favor of your buying another car.

00:27:00.000 | I think that's great.

00:27:01.000 | If you observe the fact that I've got this junky old car

00:27:05.000 | and this junky old car is no longer appropriate for me

00:27:10.000 | and I need to upgrade my car,

00:27:11.000 | then absolutely, go ahead and upgrade your car.

00:27:15.000 | The first thing to talk about is how much money

00:27:18.000 | you should consider spending on your new upgraded car.

00:27:22.000 | If you care about building wealth,

00:27:25.000 | if you care about becoming wealthy,

00:27:27.000 | then I would recommend that you target spending

00:27:31.000 | about 10% to as high as 50% of your income

00:27:37.000 | on the purchase of another car.

00:27:40.000 | So the more extreme version,

00:27:42.000 | the closer to 10% you are,

00:27:44.000 | the faster you can build wealth.

00:27:46.000 | But I recognize that there may be good reasons

00:27:49.000 | to go as high as 50% of your income.

00:27:51.000 | So your budget for your next car should be between $6,000

00:27:56.000 | and as high as $30,000 total.

00:28:00.000 | That's the total purchase price of your vehicle.

00:28:03.000 | So again, from a purely financial perspective,

00:28:07.000 | go as close to the $6,000 as you possibly can.

00:28:11.000 | But if it turns out that there's a vehicle that's appropriate,

00:28:14.000 | that would be $11,000,

00:28:16.000 | I'm not going to beat you up and say you're stupid.

00:28:20.000 | And if you go as high as 50%,

00:28:22.000 | I won't call you stupid,

00:28:23.000 | but any higher than 50%, I'll call you stupid.

00:28:26.000 | So you judge in there.

00:28:27.000 | But your budget should be between $6,000 and $30,000.

00:28:31.000 | The second component of your budget

00:28:33.000 | should involve exclusively the money that you have

00:28:37.000 | that you can give to another person for the car.

00:28:40.000 | It is stupid to borrow money on car loans

00:28:45.000 | because to do so will always result in your overspending

00:28:50.000 | for something that goes down in value like crazy.

00:28:54.000 | So if you can't pay cash for it,

00:28:56.000 | you shouldn't buy it when it comes to something like a car

00:28:59.000 | or any other depreciating asset.

00:29:01.000 | So you do have money, you just don't want to spend it.

00:29:05.000 | You first of all have some value of the car that you have

00:29:08.000 | that you could sell.

00:29:09.000 | If you sold the car that you have right now,

00:29:10.000 | how much would it sell for, do you think?

00:29:13.000 | Probably about $2,500.

00:29:16.000 | Okay.

00:29:17.000 | So the time to sell a $2,500 car

00:29:19.000 | is when the $2,500 car is working well

00:29:21.000 | and there's nothing wrong with it.

00:29:23.000 | So you could sell the car for $2,500.

00:29:25.000 | There's $2,500.

00:29:26.000 | You have $2,000 in a brokerage account that you could use,

00:29:29.000 | and there'd be another that'd take you to $4,500.

00:29:33.000 | And then if you need to take some money out of your Roth IRA,

00:29:36.000 | then you could do that as well.

00:29:38.000 | What I think you should be very concerned about

00:29:40.000 | is why don't I have more money.

00:29:42.000 | So if you're making $60,000 a year

00:29:44.000 | and you don't have money saved,

00:29:46.000 | you should ask yourself why is it that I don't have it.

00:29:48.000 | If all the money is investments

00:29:50.000 | because that's what I've been putting money into,

00:29:52.000 | great, good for you.

00:29:54.000 | But just go ahead and wait three months,

00:29:56.000 | stop investing for three months,

00:29:58.000 | and in three months with a $60,000 income as a single man,

00:30:01.000 | you should be able to save another $5,000

00:30:03.000 | just out of your income.

00:30:05.000 | So what I would suggest is you put the current car on the market,

00:30:10.000 | see if you can start to get a little interest in that.

00:30:12.000 | Somebody might give you $2,500 for it,

00:30:15.000 | and then just start saving money like crazy out of your budget.

00:30:18.000 | And within three or four months,

00:30:20.000 | you should have $5,000 to $10,000 in savings

00:30:23.000 | with just those things right there

00:30:25.000 | that you can go and purchase another car.

00:30:27.000 | The idea being that recognize that I need a car,

00:30:30.000 | so I need to save for one and go buy one,

00:30:33.000 | and that takes a priority over my other investing.

00:30:36.000 | But don't put yourself in a mindset

00:30:38.000 | where I'm going to go and buy a $40,000 car

00:30:40.000 | and I need a $7,000 down payment.

00:30:42.000 | Don't spend money that you don't have.

00:30:44.000 | Just save money. Save money for the car.

00:30:46.000 | And if you need to upgrade for a better image, great.

00:30:49.000 | But there's no reason why that needs to happen

00:30:52.000 | in less than three months or six months

00:30:54.000 | that it takes you to save the money for your next car.

00:31:01.000 | Okay. All right. That makes sense.

00:31:04.000 | I don't really have anything else to add.

00:31:08.000 | I mean, my plan was to get the new car,

00:31:11.000 | and then I was going to try to start a little rental car company.

00:31:16.000 | That is part of the plan for the next five years.

00:31:19.000 | You're breaking up just a little bit after you said

00:31:27.000 | you were thinking about starting a rental car company,

00:31:30.000 | which is fine.

00:31:31.000 | If you have a business-making idea

00:31:33.000 | and you think that you could rent out this little $2,500 car

00:31:36.000 | and there's some way to do that,

00:31:38.000 | then sure, you could probably make more money with it as a rental

00:31:41.000 | than what you're going to get selling it out in the open market.

00:31:44.000 | I'm not saying no to any of those things,

00:31:46.000 | and I would give you full rights of decide whatever is best for you.

00:31:50.000 | I just want you to follow two or three rules.

00:31:52.000 | Rule number one is 10% of your income

00:31:56.000 | is the total value of the car up to as high as 50%,

00:32:00.000 | so your budget should be $6,000 to as high as $30,000.

00:32:04.000 | Rule number two, you only buy what you can afford to pay cash for,

00:32:08.000 | and so you have to actually save it,

00:32:10.000 | or you have to sell some investment that you've previously made

00:32:14.000 | and use that money to purchase the next car.

00:32:17.000 | And then number three is think really carefully

00:32:19.000 | about what you actually need from the perspective of image,

00:32:24.000 | whatever you're trying to express,

00:32:26.000 | and make a wise decision into a smart car

00:32:30.000 | that will fit this image issue without being stupid.

00:32:34.000 | So for example, image issue might mean

00:32:36.000 | I need to drive a car that is a little bit newer.

00:32:39.000 | Well, maybe a Tesla Model 3 or something like that

00:32:43.000 | doesn't come with the baggage that it gives you a high-performance,

00:32:47.000 | high-functioning car that doesn't come with the baggage of a BMW 3 Series.

00:32:53.000 | And so you don't want image to be kind of this aspirational thing

00:32:57.000 | because what happens is frequently when people say that,

00:33:01.000 | they turn towards the entry model of a luxury brand,

00:33:05.000 | and the entry model of a luxury brand winds up making you look stupid

00:33:09.000 | because, "Look, I got my BMW 3 Series."

00:33:12.000 | Yeah, you just weren't rich enough

00:33:13.000 | to actually afford a decent car with that company,

00:33:15.000 | and now you wind up with high ownership costs, high maintenance costs,

00:33:19.000 | and it just turns into a piece of junk very quickly.

00:33:22.000 | So I think the perfect car for most guys, for most people, is a Toyota Prius.

00:33:27.000 | Unless you need something that has a higher level of sex appeal,

00:33:31.000 | in which case go and find some kind of crossover SUV or something like that

00:33:36.000 | that kind of doesn't fit any kind of image issues,

00:33:41.000 | a Toyota Prius is a perfect vehicle.

00:33:43.000 | No one knows whether you're a greenie or just smart with money,

00:33:47.000 | and yet it's a great, reliable vehicle that you can have for many years,

00:33:51.000 | widely available, good parts availability, it's great.

00:33:54.000 | Otherwise, look for something else.

00:33:55.000 | Look for some kind of efficient crossover or something

00:33:59.000 | that just doesn't fit any kind of standard mold,

00:34:04.000 | and that way you're not driving something that's clearly cheap, clearly junky,

00:34:08.000 | but you are fixing your image issues, but you're doing it in an intelligent way.

00:34:13.000 | So with those things in mind, go and do that.

00:34:15.000 | Just give yourself three to six months and save for it,

00:34:17.000 | and use it as a chance to save like a crazy man

00:34:20.000 | so that you can pay for the thing that you actually want.

00:34:23.000 | Cavanaugh in California, welcome to the show.

00:34:25.000 | How can I serve you today?

00:34:30.000 | Cavanaugh, time for you. Go ahead.

00:34:32.000 | Sorry. Hi. My name's Kirsten.

00:34:35.000 | Sorry, I don't know why I said that.

00:34:37.000 | Sorry about that.

00:34:38.000 | Oh, no problem.

00:34:39.000 | I was calling because I've been listening to you for years.

00:34:42.000 | I think we have somewhere around the same number of kids.

00:34:45.000 | I have five kids.

00:34:46.000 | Great.

00:34:47.000 | I think you have somewhere around there.

00:34:48.000 | We also homeschooled, also Charlotte Mason style.

00:34:51.000 | I feel like we've got a lot in common,

00:34:53.000 | so it's not like our family has grown a lot.

00:34:54.000 | I've listened to you over the years.

00:34:55.000 | Sure.

00:34:57.000 | I have two kid-related questions for you.

00:35:01.000 | The first would be, and I don't know,

00:35:03.000 | maybe this is something you'd end up doing a whole show about at some point.

00:35:06.000 | I know you've talked about traveling with kids.

00:35:08.000 | I would love some tips on the financial side of traveling with kids.

00:35:14.000 | I was curious, do you play any of the credit card games to do the points

00:35:17.000 | or the companion passes or anything?

00:35:19.000 | I know when you did that big traveling trip, you flew a ton.

00:35:24.000 | Given that we're also flying with five kids,

00:35:27.000 | I'm just wondering how some people do it because it's crazy.

00:35:31.000 | Sure.

00:35:32.000 | I'll answer that.

00:35:33.000 | What's your second question just so I know how to position my answers?

00:35:36.000 | My second question is about my oldest who is about to be 12.

00:35:41.000 | He's going into sixth grade.

00:35:44.000 | He is a unique kid.

00:35:46.000 | I would say he's very dyslexic.

00:35:53.000 | He struggles with that.

00:35:56.000 | He loves audiobooks.

00:35:57.000 | He actually spends more time listening to audiobooks than anyone I've ever

00:36:02.000 | known.

00:36:03.000 | Hours and hours a day.

00:36:08.000 | He's absolutely insecure because of his dyslexia.

00:36:12.000 | He ended up being very athletic and does very well in several sports to the

00:36:17.000 | point where we ended up involving him in travel sports,

00:36:21.000 | which is always one of those things I said we'd never do.

00:36:23.000 | Amazing how our commitments go out the window when we face a circumstance

00:36:27.000 | where all of a sudden I need to do this thing that I said I would never do.

00:36:30.000 | I spent years saying we would never do that, but here we are.

00:36:33.000 | He's also the kind of kid that has a really good head on his shoulders and

00:36:38.000 | is very financially savvy.

00:36:40.000 | He's always starting different businesses and has saved several thousand

00:36:44.000 | dollars at only 11 and is already investing in the stock market.

00:36:48.000 | He just loves that kind of thing.

00:36:50.000 | He's already thinking about what kind of career he wants in the future.

00:36:52.000 | When you're talking about all the different trades and everything,

00:36:55.000 | that's kind of -- we've had a couple conversations about it, too.

00:36:59.000 | Interestingly, his latest idea is that he wants to be a plumber and start his

00:37:04.000 | plumbing empire, as he calls it, because his dad is self-employed and owns his

00:37:08.000 | own business, too.

00:37:10.000 | He's familiar with the concept.

00:37:13.000 | I'm just curious if you were talking to a kid in that situation, you tend to

00:37:18.000 | have good outside-the-box ideas.

00:37:20.000 | What kind of thing?

00:37:22.000 | He's great with his hands.

00:37:23.000 | He does all kinds of things.

00:37:26.000 | I'm just curious if you had any directions to start looking into for him.

00:37:30.000 | Absolutely.

00:37:31.000 | First of all, let's start with that one, and then I will answer the travel

00:37:34.000 | question directly.

00:37:36.000 | I just want to do it, and I'll do it now in this show rather than saving it for

00:37:39.000 | another episode, because somehow my list of shows I should do tends to be longer

00:37:43.000 | than the shows that I do do.

00:37:46.000 | First, I would say that even though your son has profound dyslexia, he shouldn't

00:37:53.000 | automatically avoid some kind of academic or intellectual work.

00:37:58.000 | I want to say two stories.

00:38:01.000 | First, Andrew Pudowa, who is a well-known speaker in the homeschool – Pudowa, I

00:38:08.000 | think he says his name anyway.

00:38:09.000 | I'm pretty sure we've listened to his interviews of his son, because he's also

00:38:13.000 | dyslexic.

00:38:14.000 | Are you saying the right thing yet?

00:38:15.000 | Good.

00:38:16.000 | For those who are uninitiated, he's the guy who started something called the

00:38:19.000 | Institute for the Excellence in Writing, is well-known in homeschool circles,

00:38:22.000 | speaks at all the conferences.

00:38:24.000 | As I understand his story, he had his son, who was profoundly dyslexic, couldn't

00:38:30.000 | read a book with his eyes until he was 15 years old, something like that, and

00:38:36.000 | just couldn't do anything with his eyes until he was in his teenage years.

00:38:41.000 | I don't know what he ultimately broke through with, but what Andrew would say

00:38:47.000 | is that this son of his, he did everything with audiobooks, and this son of his

00:38:52.000 | never stopped listening to audiobooks.

00:38:54.000 | Basically, his entire homeschool education was audiobooks.

00:38:59.000 | As it turns out, because I listened to a seminar that he gave on how to teach

00:39:02.000 | people to be effective writers, he alleged that this son of his was actually a

00:39:07.000 | better writer when they were able to develop strategies to deal with the

00:39:13.000 | dyslexia, he was a better writer than any of his other children.

00:39:18.000 | In thinking back about it, he realized that because he had had so much exposure

00:39:23.000 | to the verbal language, his son had a much deeper connection with language than

00:39:30.000 | any of his children did who read with their eyes.

00:39:34.000 | It was based upon that that actually convinced me to not try to get away from

00:39:40.000 | audiobooks as a means of learning.

00:39:42.000 | The point that he alleged in the talk that I listened to was that when children

00:39:48.000 | are very skilled at reading with their eyes, then they have a tendency to skip

00:39:53.000 | over the language and just read for meaning, whereas when someone's always

00:39:57.000 | reading with his ears, then he hears the language all the time, and thus the

00:40:03.000 | beauty of the language is imprinted on him more to a deeper level.

00:40:09.000 | We live in 2024, in which not only is there massive profusion of professionally

00:40:15.000 | recorded audiobooks, but also we have really good AI voice generation where any

00:40:22.000 | document can be read aloud to your son, and so he can have amazing access to the

00:40:29.000 | text, and I would just make everything reading with his ears while you work with

00:40:33.000 | whatever therapists and things like that who are working for solutions for him to

00:40:36.000 | be able to function in reading with his eyes.

00:40:39.000 | The second thing I would say is that this in no way diminishes his long-term

00:40:44.000 | success.

00:40:45.000 | My friend Mikel Thorup has an interesting story.

00:40:48.000 | He runs Expat Money, and he dropped out of school when he was 12 or 13 years old,

00:40:54.000 | and one of the big issues for him was dyslexia.

00:40:58.000 | He couldn't do well in school, and he just couldn't conquer it.

00:41:01.000 | So he dropped out of school, started traveling the world, and thought, "I just

00:41:05.000 | can't learn.

00:41:06.000 | I'm not fit for learning in any way, shape, or form."

00:41:09.000 | Later on, he figured out that he could read using audiobooks, and so today he

00:41:15.000 | listens to audiobooks constantly, and he reads over 100 books a year, and he does

00:41:22.000 | it all by listening to audiobooks at about 3x speed, and that's how he consumes his

00:41:28.000 | reading.

00:41:29.000 | He runs a multimillion-dollar business, is financially independent, travels the

00:41:33.000 | world, he and his wife have three beautiful children.

00:41:36.000 | He's in no way limited by the learning disability that gave issues for him when

00:41:41.000 | he was younger because he figured out how to work with it.

00:41:45.000 | And so today, with the world of audiobooks, especially with accelerated

00:41:49.000 | audiobook listening, your son can use that to learn just as well as anyone else.

00:41:54.000 | And then if you'll continue to get him therapy until he figures out something

00:41:58.000 | that works for him to be able to read with his eyes effectively and knowing that it

00:42:02.000 | might take many more years, I don't think he should just automatically walk away

00:42:06.000 | from a life of the mind because of this, but rather he should approach it from the

00:42:11.000 | perspective of, "I can do this, and I can also do these other great things because

00:42:15.000 | there's nothing wrong with blue-collar businesses.

00:42:18.000 | There's nothing wrong with any of these businesses."

00:42:20.000 | But he shouldn't just automatically let his dyslexia be seen as something that is

00:42:25.000 | a handicap that can't be overcome.

00:42:27.000 | It can be overcome, it is being overcome, and it can continue to be overcome,

00:42:31.000 | especially in today's world.

00:42:33.000 | Who's your realtor?

00:42:36.000 | Seriously, who is your realtor?

00:42:39.000 | Lately, there's been a lot in the news about real estate and realtors,

00:42:43.000 | so let us help clear the air.

00:42:45.000 | California realtors are Californians just like you, your neighbor, your best friend's

00:42:50.000 | brother, and your kid's baseball coach.

00:42:53.000 | And we all strive every day to be your trusted advisors on the biggest financial

00:42:57.000 | decision of your life.

00:42:59.000 | No one cares more about helping Californians live the California dream than

00:43:03.000 | California realtors because we know California real estate is not easy.

00:43:08.000 | That's an understatement.

00:43:10.000 | But if you're a first-timer, we help you confidently get in the game.

00:43:14.000 | And if you've been there, done that, we're there to help you get through

00:43:17.000 | what's new and different.

00:43:19.000 | We tirelessly negotiate so you don't have to, and we help you get past all the

00:43:23.000 | tough stuff and on to the good stuff, not because it's our job,

00:43:27.000 | but because it's your dream.

00:43:29.000 | Let's go to work.

00:43:30.000 | California Association of Realtors.

00:43:34.000 | Yeah, I appreciate that.

00:43:36.000 | I think a good bit of it, I mean, he, when you were saying has a better command

00:43:40.000 | of language, I would absolutely say his vocabulary and command of language are

00:43:44.000 | surpasses, like, any other kids I know his age.

00:43:46.000 | And I would say he is exposed to great literature all the time.

00:43:51.000 | And we've really prioritized audiobooks.

00:43:53.000 | We've done Speechify.

00:43:54.000 | We have done a lot of the, like, AI language stuff.

00:43:56.000 | And I'm really thankful that, at least if he's dyslexic,

00:43:59.000 | he's dyslexic in 2024 where we can, you know,

00:44:02.000 | there's so many tools that we can use to help him.

00:44:04.000 | And I do think, like, learning to advocate for himself,

00:44:07.000 | to be able to use those tools in other situations is,

00:44:10.000 | and it's still something, despite having encouraged him that way,

00:44:14.000 | it's something he definitely feels a lot of embarrassment about.

00:44:17.000 | And, you know, we're working with him, but it's hard to be a middle school

00:44:20.000 | boy, you know, so we have sympathy that way, too.

00:44:23.000 | Of course.

00:44:24.000 | But nonetheless, I mean, and so we are, you know,

00:44:27.000 | I don't want him to think that any career path is closed for him, too.

00:44:30.000 | But at the same time,

00:44:31.000 | he's absolutely one of those kids that, like,

00:44:33.000 | loves to think about the future and, like, plan for the future.

00:44:35.000 | And he already does like to consider a career.

00:44:37.000 | So I guess, yeah, I was just curious if there was anything,

00:44:40.000 | while we don't want to close doors for him, just, I don't know,

00:44:44.000 | any other off-the-wall ideas?

00:44:46.000 | Because I notice you tend to be good at that.

00:44:48.000 | Yeah, well.

00:44:49.000 | You always have an idea that I've never thought of before.

00:44:51.000 | Hopefully just some inspiration is important.

00:44:54.000 | Yeah, definitely.

00:44:55.000 | And he needs to just understand that, you know, people are different.

00:44:59.000 | And one of the things that I'm,

00:45:01.000 | it's very easy to poke fun at the kinder,

00:45:04.000 | more inclusive society that we all live in,

00:45:07.000 | when that society doesn't fit the values that we ourselves want to espouse.

00:45:14.000 | But I want to appreciate the fact that we do live in a kinder,

00:45:18.000 | more inclusive society.

00:45:20.000 | And it's less,

00:45:22.000 | and we're much less likely to spend our time criticizing people

00:45:26.000 | for fundamental characteristics that are innate to who they are,

00:45:30.000 | when we, instead of just appreciating them for who they are.

00:45:34.000 | And so one of the things that I've noticed,

00:45:36.000 | I've noticed this specifically with autism,

00:45:39.000 | that if we went back five or ten years,

00:45:42.000 | somebody with autism, you know,

00:45:44.000 | a diagnosis of autism felt like a stigma.

00:45:47.000 | Today, I joke about autism because I'm convinced that a lot of forms of autism

00:45:52.000 | are basically a superpower.

00:45:54.000 | And similar things, ADHD is in some ways a superpower.

00:45:59.000 | I don't know if dyslexia is a superpower.

00:46:01.000 | Maybe it is, maybe it isn't.

00:46:02.000 | I don't have an argument that it is.

00:46:04.000 | But the point is simply that these things are,

00:46:07.000 | these differences are not differences to be shunned

00:46:11.000 | or to be made fun of or discriminated against.

00:46:14.000 | They're things that genuinely we can work with.

00:46:17.000 | And so any way that we can inspire his confidence is important.

00:46:21.000 | I would try to look around and recognize

00:46:24.000 | that there are lots and lots of very successful people

00:46:27.000 | who are totally dyslexic,

00:46:29.000 | and they have been able to figure out ways to deal with it,

00:46:32.000 | and in the fullness of time,

00:46:34.000 | that there are plenty of benefits to it.

00:46:37.000 | I've been thinking and thinking and thinking.

00:46:39.000 | I heard some wacko theory about dyslexia at one point in time,

00:46:43.000 | about it being misdiagnosed.

00:46:45.000 | I can't remember the wacko theory,

00:46:47.000 | but go out and look for some wacko theories about dyslexia

00:46:49.000 | and see if there's something that you've not considered or not tried.

00:46:53.000 | But beyond that, I just want to encourage him

00:46:55.000 | that you're doing great and keep it up.

00:46:58.000 | Listening to audiobooks is just as effective as reading them.

00:47:01.000 | Reading them with your ears is just as effective as reading them with your eyes.

00:47:04.000 | And I think that the fact that he's in a homeschool environment

00:47:07.000 | and he's great at sports, we can work on his strengths.

00:47:10.000 | And you don't need to--

00:47:13.000 | truly, your gifts make a place for you in the world.

00:47:17.000 | And he should just always lean into his strengths

00:47:21.000 | and try to, from time to time, shore up weaknesses.

00:47:24.000 | But a lot of times, people spend so much time

00:47:26.000 | focusing on their weaknesses instead of their strengths

00:47:29.000 | that become superpowers.

00:47:31.000 | And a really powerful tool of success

00:47:34.000 | is to focus doggedly on the things that you're really good at

00:47:37.000 | and then just let the other things slide.

00:47:39.000 | And so lean into athletics, lean into literature,

00:47:42.000 | lean into whatever is appropriate for him.

00:47:44.000 | And you can be a world-class speaker.

00:47:47.000 | You don't have to be able to write to be a world-class speaker.

00:47:50.000 | So there's plenty of ways to make up for it.

00:47:52.000 | Let me pivot back now to traveling with children

00:47:55.000 | and give you some suggestions.

00:47:57.000 | First and foremost,

00:47:59.000 | I would say that reality always means that we need to acknowledge

00:48:04.000 | that it's going to be different traveling with five children

00:48:09.000 | than it is traveling with no children.

00:48:11.000 | And so let's just acknowledge it.

00:48:14.000 | And that's going to mean that our travels are going to look different

00:48:18.000 | when we have five children

00:48:20.000 | than they are when we have no children.

00:48:22.000 | And that's not a bad thing.

00:48:24.000 | If I have the choice between having five children

00:48:27.000 | and traveling in our minivan

00:48:30.000 | on a regional or national basis doing road trips around our house

00:48:34.000 | versus having no children

00:48:36.000 | and spending my time on an airplane

00:48:38.000 | bouncing from country to country to country,

00:48:40.000 | I'm going to pick the five children every single time

00:48:43.000 | because that ultimately in the long run

00:48:46.000 | is going to be much more fulfilling

00:48:49.000 | and much more effective and a much better lifestyle

00:48:52.000 | for everyone above than the bouncing around the world.

00:48:55.000 | In addition, even for the children,

00:48:57.000 | if you grow up as one of five children

00:49:00.000 | and your family travel involves traveling around

00:49:03.000 | in the family SUV on a regional level,

00:49:06.000 | whereas the single only child of your friend

00:49:09.000 | is traveling around the world with her parents

00:49:11.000 | who can easily buy her plane tickets,

00:49:13.000 | I think that there's so much more to be had

00:49:16.000 | for the kid that's got four siblings.

00:49:20.000 | There's so much more to be had from that

00:49:22.000 | than bouncing around the world

00:49:24.000 | that again I would make that choice again.

00:49:27.000 | I was just this weekend starting a mini outline of a show

00:49:31.000 | that basically traveling is wildly overrated

00:49:34.000 | and international travel is wildly overrated

00:49:37.000 | because I believe it's important that guys like me

00:49:39.000 | who talk about travel and talk about the stuff that we did

00:49:41.000 | and I took my children to 16 countries last year

00:49:44.000 | so I do have some credentials and bona fides in this area

00:49:48.000 | and on the whole while I'm happy about a lot of it,

00:49:51.000 | I would say a lot of it is wildly overrated

00:49:54.000 | and especially for Americans living in the United States,

00:49:58.000 | a lot of international travel is just overrated.

00:50:03.000 | Most travel in the United States is better

00:50:05.000 | than traveling around the world on every objective level.

00:50:10.000 | The primary reason many people want to do international travel

00:50:17.000 | is as a status symbol

00:50:19.000 | because as the world has shrunk

00:50:22.000 | and as more and more luxury goods have become more common,

00:50:27.000 | more cheaply priced, things like that,

00:50:30.000 | one of the last remaining status symbols

00:50:32.000 | that we can show to others that's not easily achievable

00:50:36.000 | has been international travel

00:50:39.000 | and so a lot of travel and travel ambition

00:50:42.000 | is related to status symbols

00:50:44.000 | and I myself am not immune to this.

00:50:46.000 | One of the reasons I travel is because it allows me to say,

00:50:49.000 | "Hey, I've been to all these countries.

00:50:50.000 | I've been to all these places around the world."

00:50:52.000 | It's not only that, so I don't want to oversell the point,

00:50:55.000 | but I do want to make sure that we understand

00:50:57.000 | that in many cases we're not talking about something that's real.

00:51:03.000 | Let's say you want to take a vacation to Hawaii

00:51:07.000 | or you want to take a vacation to Costa Rica.

00:51:10.000 | I'm going to bet that on the whole your vacation to Hawaii

00:51:13.000 | is going to wind up being cheaper and nicer

00:51:16.000 | and a better, more relaxing experience

00:51:18.000 | than your vacation to Costa Rica.

00:51:21.000 | Hawaii is better, everything's simpler,

00:51:23.000 | but oh, you didn't get a stamp in your passport.

00:51:25.000 | Yeah, but so what?

00:51:26.000 | If I was looking for the experience,

00:51:29.000 | the experience within the United States

00:51:30.000 | is probably going to be better on the whole,

00:51:32.000 | cheaper on the whole, all things considered,

00:51:34.000 | than the experience abroad.

00:51:36.000 | So if we're going to travel abroad,

00:51:38.000 | there needs to be some other reason other than those things

00:51:41.000 | and so that's where I embrace the difficulty of it.

00:51:43.000 | I embrace the cultural challenges.

00:51:45.000 | I embrace the linguistic challenges.

00:51:47.000 | I assume that this is going to be worse,

00:51:49.000 | it's going to be uglier,

00:51:50.000 | it's going to be a more difficult experience,

00:51:52.000 | and that's what I'm going for

00:51:53.000 | is because I want to see a world that's not perfect,

00:51:55.000 | where not all the bushes are beautifully manicured

00:51:58.000 | and where not all the people have great customer service.

00:52:01.000 | So I travel to get worse experiences that cost me more money

00:52:05.000 | because I appreciate that cultural diversity

00:52:08.000 | and the linguistic diversity, things like that.

00:52:11.000 | So don't feel pressured that somehow

00:52:13.000 | the way that I'm going to be a good parent

00:52:15.000 | is to travel around the world with my five children.

00:52:17.000 | It's perfectly fine to get in your car

00:52:20.000 | and drive to the national parks

00:52:21.000 | and you're probably going to have

00:52:23.000 | much better experiences doing that,

00:52:25.000 | even if that were all you did,

00:52:27.000 | than traveling around the world.

00:52:29.000 | If you still have a desire to travel after that,

00:52:31.000 | great, I'm with you on that.

00:52:33.000 | Although having done quite a lot of it,

00:52:35.000 | I now appreciate what I didn't appreciate before

00:52:37.000 | of those travels around the United States.

00:52:40.000 | So in order to make this work,

00:52:42.000 | you have to pull it apart into its component parts

00:52:45.000 | and figure out where does the cost of travel come from.

00:52:51.000 | And what most people focus on, I think,

00:52:53.000 | is often the wrong thing.

00:52:56.000 | So airplane tickets are, in general,

00:52:59.000 | shockingly cheap if you're flexible on time and location.

00:53:05.000 | So you alluded to traveling with credit card points,

00:53:08.000 | things like that.

00:53:09.000 | It is possible to travel with credit card points.

00:53:11.000 | I did a whole podcast on the value of credit card points.

00:53:14.000 | I have traveled on credit card points.

00:53:16.000 | I've got some travels planned this fall

00:53:18.000 | with like an eight-country tour

00:53:20.000 | that is all booked on points.

00:53:22.000 | So I've done it and I'm not opposed to it.

00:53:25.000 | What I would say is it's broadly overrated.

00:53:28.000 | And so the people who should use credit card points

00:53:30.000 | are generally people who just have high structural expenses,

00:53:34.000 | usually in a business,

00:53:36.000 | where they book tens of thousands of costs

00:53:38.000 | and business expenses,

00:53:39.000 | and they can just put that on credit cards.

00:53:41.000 | So if you've got tens of thousands of dollars

00:53:43.000 | of business expenses that are spendable as credit cards,

00:53:45.000 | do that, collect the points, and travel that way.

00:53:49.000 | But the idea of travel hacking

00:53:51.000 | for the purposes of collecting points,

00:53:53.000 | I think, is probably a poor use of time.

00:53:57.000 | Not that it can't work,

00:53:58.000 | but I don't think it's the highest and best use of time.

00:54:01.000 | The secret to traveling inexpensively with children

00:54:06.000 | is to travel when it's cheap,

00:54:08.000 | to travel to the places that it's cheap to travel.

00:54:11.000 | And so what you are more interested in

00:54:14.000 | is low-cost airfare.

00:54:16.000 | It's hard to book seven tickets on points

00:54:19.000 | because much of the reward travel

00:54:21.000 | doesn't have availability for seven tickets at a time.

00:54:25.000 | And you're probably not going to collect enough points

00:54:27.000 | that you can get seven first-class seats

00:54:29.000 | like the travel hacker people want.

00:54:32.000 | But what you can do is you can get inexpensive tickets

00:54:35.000 | to all kinds of places,

00:54:37.000 | especially if you're flexible on dates.

00:54:39.000 | So each coast of the United States

00:54:42.000 | has different places that you can travel inexpensively.

00:54:45.000 | From California,

00:54:46.000 | you have all of the Asian low-cost carriers

00:54:49.000 | that can get you back and forth to Asia pretty expensively.

00:54:51.000 | You've got ZipAir that can get you to Tokyo for a few hundred dollars.

00:54:55.000 | There's other low-cost carriers that come in and out.

00:54:58.000 | And if you buy your fares when the fares are cheap

00:55:02.000 | and you buy them to the places that are cheap,

00:55:05.000 | then you can do well.

00:55:07.000 | On the East Coast,

00:55:08.000 | there's all kinds of discounts to the Caribbean,

00:55:10.000 | to Latin America,

00:55:11.000 | on all the low-cost carriers,

00:55:12.000 | and then to Europe on low-cost carriers and low-cost fares.

00:55:16.000 | So the first secret to inexpensive family travel

00:55:20.000 | is don't try to set a date

00:55:23.000 | that you're going to travel in a specific place.

00:55:25.000 | Rather, figure out where it's cheap to go

00:55:28.000 | and when it's cheap to go there,

00:55:30.000 | and then figure out what you're going to do when you get there.

00:55:33.000 | So I would spend time...

00:55:34.000 | Google Flights has become so much better

00:55:36.000 | that really you don't need much more.

00:55:38.000 | Spend time on Google Flights Explorers,

00:55:41.000 | the Google Flights Explorer tab.

00:55:43.000 | That's fantastic.

00:55:45.000 | There are various aggregation services

00:55:48.000 | that'll show you cheap fares.

00:55:51.000 | I subscribed to years to Scott's Cheap Flights,

00:55:54.000 | which is now, I think, going.com,

00:55:56.000 | something like that.

00:55:57.000 | You'll find other tools.

00:55:59.000 | Kayak has an explore function.

00:56:02.000 | Kiwi has explore functions.

00:56:05.000 | Skyscanner has various functions.

00:56:07.000 | All of these tools allow you to figure out

00:56:09.000 | where it's cheap to go

00:56:10.000 | and when it's cheap to go there.

00:56:12.000 | And this is the primary tool that I used

00:56:15.000 | with our travels last year.

00:56:18.000 | The way that I put our trip together

00:56:20.000 | was I found the first ticket.

00:56:22.000 | So if you're from the United States,

00:56:24.000 | generally you need a transatlantic

00:56:25.000 | or a transpacific ticket.

00:56:27.000 | That's going to be your big cost.

00:56:29.000 | So figure out when you can get a transatlantic

00:56:32.000 | or transpacific ticket at a low cost.

00:56:34.000 | Then once you're there,

00:56:36.000 | in most regions,

00:56:37.000 | especially outside the United States,

00:56:39.000 | you can get low-cost airfares.

00:56:41.000 | So we have lots of low-cost carriers

00:56:43.000 | in the United States

00:56:44.000 | that allow us to get across the country

00:56:46.000 | pretty inexpensively.

00:56:47.000 | So consider accessing those

00:56:49.000 | in your travels as well.

00:56:51.000 | But once you get to Europe,

00:56:53.000 | you can jet around Europe

00:56:55.000 | for 10 bucks a ticket,

00:56:56.000 | 25 bucks a ticket

00:56:57.000 | from different destinations

00:56:59.000 | if you want to go from place to place.

00:57:01.000 | So with some of my tickets

00:57:03.000 | around Europe last year,

00:57:05.000 | I would pay for seven tickets,

00:57:07.000 | I paid $250 total

00:57:09.000 | just because I picked where we were going

00:57:12.000 | based upon where it was cheap to get to.

00:57:14.000 | And you wind up with some kind

00:57:16.000 | of random itineraries,

00:57:17.000 | but I appreciate the serendipity of that

00:57:20.000 | and the randomness of that.

00:57:21.000 | So that's the first thing

00:57:23.000 | with regard to flights.

00:57:24.000 | Also remember that

00:57:26.000 | not everything needs to be on an airplane.

00:57:29.000 | And so every travel destination,

00:57:31.000 | you look at it

00:57:32.000 | and then ask yourself

00:57:33.000 | if this is a destination

00:57:34.000 | where renting a car

00:57:36.000 | is going to be the good payoff.

00:57:38.000 | Because if you can put seven people

00:57:39.000 | inside of a car,

00:57:40.000 | your cost per person

00:57:42.000 | goes down dramatically.

00:57:43.000 | One person traveling

00:57:44.000 | is going to need to use trains

00:57:46.000 | and buses and airplane tickets

00:57:49.000 | to keep costs low.

00:57:50.000 | Another person who fills up

00:57:52.000 | seven people in a car

00:57:53.000 | can generally have

00:57:55.000 | a much lower cost per person.

00:57:56.000 | Also, get familiar with the places

00:57:59.000 | that you're going to go

00:58:00.000 | and child policies.

00:58:01.000 | So in Europe, for example,

00:58:03.000 | in many places,

00:58:05.000 | children can travel on the trains,

00:58:07.000 | not international trains

00:58:08.000 | and not long distance trains,

00:58:10.000 | but on regional trains with no fares.

00:58:12.000 | So that was something that years ago

00:58:14.000 | I didn't understand.

00:58:15.000 | When I bought a car in Europe

00:58:16.000 | the first time,

00:58:17.000 | I did that because I said

00:58:18.000 | it was way cheaper for us

00:58:19.000 | to travel around in our own car,

00:58:21.000 | so I'll just buy a car

00:58:22.000 | and we'll use that to travel around.

00:58:24.000 | And then later when I figured out

00:58:25.000 | that my children

00:58:26.000 | could travel free on the trains

00:58:28.000 | with two adult tickets,

00:58:29.000 | and I realized

00:58:30.000 | that makes a lot more sense

00:58:31.000 | for me to do.

00:58:32.000 | And so think about

00:58:34.000 | the cost per person

00:58:35.000 | per method of conveyance.

00:58:38.000 | And there's more than just airplanes.

00:58:40.000 | There's airplanes, there's trains,

00:58:42.000 | there's private rental cars, buses,

00:58:44.000 | all of them have their place.

00:58:46.000 | The second thing is ask yourself

00:58:49.000 | is the cost of transportation

00:58:51.000 | worth the experience?

00:58:53.000 | Let's move to accommodation now.

00:58:55.000 | With accommodation,

00:58:56.000 | Airbnb is a major savior

00:58:58.000 | for large families.

00:58:59.000 | I've come to despise Airbnb

00:59:01.000 | as an infinitely worse experience

00:59:04.000 | as compared to staying in hotels.

00:59:06.000 | Years ago we were all excited

00:59:07.000 | about Airbnb

00:59:08.000 | because of all the cool experiences.

00:59:09.000 | It sucks.

00:59:10.000 | I've spent so much time

00:59:11.000 | in conflicts with owners

00:59:13.000 | and just junky experiences.

00:59:15.000 | I will always now prefer a hotel

00:59:17.000 | whenever possible

00:59:19.000 | unless I'm traveling

00:59:20.000 | with my entire family.

00:59:21.000 | In which case,

00:59:22.000 | a lot of times

00:59:23.000 | it just makes a lot more sense

00:59:24.000 | to rent one apartment

00:59:25.000 | where I can fit seven people

00:59:26.000 | instead of three different hotel rooms

00:59:28.000 | for me to fit seven people into.

00:59:31.000 | And so for a family,

00:59:32.000 | you want to get used to Airbnb.

00:59:34.000 | And you want to look

00:59:35.000 | at the destination you're at

00:59:36.000 | and ask yourself

00:59:37.000 | do we need to move around a lot

00:59:38.000 | or is it fine to go to one place

00:59:41.000 | and stay there?

00:59:42.000 | The longer you stay in a place,

00:59:43.000 | the lower the nightly costs

00:59:45.000 | that you can get

00:59:46.000 | and the lower the daily costs

00:59:48.000 | for the cost of your travels are.

00:59:51.000 | So the worst way to travel,

00:59:53.000 | excuse me,

00:59:54.000 | the most expensive way to travel

00:59:56.000 | as a family

00:59:57.000 | is to go to a lot of places

01:00:00.000 | and move very quickly.

01:00:01.000 | Because what happens is

01:00:03.000 | your transportation costs,

01:00:05.000 | excuse me,

01:00:06.000 | the most expensive way to travel

01:00:08.000 | as a family

01:00:09.000 | is to go to a lot of places

01:00:11.000 | to move very quickly

01:00:12.000 | and to stay for a very short period of time.

01:00:14.000 | Let's say that you travel with your family

01:00:17.000 | to across the seas

01:00:20.000 | and you wind up

01:00:21.000 | with $600 round trip tickets overseas

01:00:24.000 | and you're going for a two-week trip.

01:00:26.000 | Well, $600 round trip tickets times five,

01:00:28.000 | that's $3,000.

01:00:29.000 | You're going for a two-week trip.

01:00:31.000 | Let's assume now

01:00:32.000 | that your daily cost

01:00:33.000 | is $3,000 divided by 15

01:00:36.000 | would be,

01:00:37.000 | it's too late in the day,

01:00:39.000 | too tired to figure that out.

01:00:41.000 | My calculator broke.

01:00:42.000 | You do the math.

01:00:43.000 | 30-day ticket on $3,000 would be,

01:00:47.000 | I can't even do verbal math at the moment.

01:00:50.000 | The point is the daily cost of your tickets

01:00:53.000 | is very, very high.

01:00:55.000 | And the shorter your trip,

01:00:56.000 | now the daily cost of your tickets gets higher.

01:00:59.000 | But if you can take that same $3,000 of expenses

01:01:02.000 | and you can go overseas for two months

01:01:04.000 | and you can amortize that $3,000 over 60 days,

01:01:07.000 | your daily cost is now much lower

01:01:11.000 | than it otherwise would be.

01:01:12.000 | And if now you're moving into an Airbnb

01:01:15.000 | in one city for 30 days,

01:01:17.000 | you get a 25% monthly rental discount in one

01:01:22.000 | and then another one and another one for 30 days

01:01:24.000 | and you get another 25% monthly rental discount

01:01:27.000 | and now you have lower cleaning fees,

01:01:29.000 | things like that,

01:01:30.000 | your daily cost of your accommodation is now lower.

01:01:33.000 | And then the third big cost has to do with food.

01:01:36.000 | And so travel is hard for big families

01:01:39.000 | because the expenses of tickets are much higher

01:01:42.000 | and the expenses of eating out now become much higher.

01:01:45.000 | And so if you're taking five children out

01:01:47.000 | to eat three times a day,

01:01:49.000 | then it wouldn't be difficult for you

01:01:51.000 | to be spending $500 to $750 a day in food costs.

01:01:57.000 | And so you want to prioritize a place

01:01:58.000 | where you can choose your eating out to strategic,

01:02:02.000 | to either a peak experience or something else.

01:02:05.000 | And so you want to stay in a place where you can cook

01:02:07.000 | and you want to go out to eat once a day

01:02:11.000 | or once every other day or once every third day

01:02:14.000 | and only go out to eat when it's meaningful

01:02:16.000 | rather than just constantly eating out

01:02:18.000 | just because we're moving too fast to stop

01:02:20.000 | and go to the grocery store,

01:02:21.000 | buy groceries and things like that.

01:02:24.000 | The final thing that if you really want to travel

01:02:26.000 | and you want to travel on a budget,

01:02:28.000 | the best way to do that is to get your own RV for a family.

01:02:32.000 | The lowest possible cost of travel for a large family

01:02:35.000 | is to have your own RV and to travel in your own RV.

01:02:39.000 | So if you do this, and you can do this all around the world,

01:02:42.000 | but if you do it that way,

01:02:44.000 | you now aren't paying per person per bed per night.

01:02:48.000 | You know the beds you're going to sleep in

01:02:50.000 | and you're usually going to pay, depending on the place,

01:02:53.000 | you're usually going to pay a fee for the vehicle

01:02:55.000 | for a camping spot rather than a fee per person.

01:02:58.000 | You can now have your own food that you travel with

01:03:02.000 | and it's easy for you to cook it

01:03:04.000 | because you have your own cookware, things like that.

01:03:07.000 | And so the actual costs of travel diminish quite a lot.

01:03:11.000 | So it's mostly about trying different styles

01:03:13.000 | and going for a style that's going to give you

01:03:16.000 | the kinds of travel experiences that you're looking for

01:03:19.000 | and do it on a lower cost.

01:03:21.000 | And so my number one recommendation is

01:03:24.000 | buy an RV or rent an RV, but in many cases, buy an RV,

01:03:29.000 | plan for the time when you can travel

01:03:31.000 | for longer periods of time,

01:03:33.000 | going for two or three month trips

01:03:35.000 | rather than two week trips,

01:03:37.000 | and then recognize that a lot of the stuff

01:03:40.000 | that you want to get from the travel,

01:03:42.000 | you don't have to travel overseas to get,

01:03:45.000 | that rather you can do a lot of that close to home

01:03:48.000 | and you can do a lot of the culture stuff even at home.

01:03:51.000 | One more comment and then I'll stop.

01:03:53.000 | One of the biggest surprises to me

01:03:56.000 | has to do with things like foreign language acquisition.

01:03:59.000 | Many people have a very unrealistic idea

01:04:05.000 | of how effective foreign travel is

01:04:07.000 | for the purposes of language acquisition.

01:04:10.000 | And I myself previously had an unrealistic perspective.

01:04:14.000 | This is one of the reasons people want to travel.

01:04:16.000 | It's actually very hard to learn languages while traveling

01:04:19.000 | unless you're genuinely going to move to another country

01:04:23.000 | and enroll your children in a local school

01:04:25.000 | where they can be genuinely fully immersed

01:04:27.000 | into the local culture,

01:04:28.000 | which by the way is a strategy that you should consider.

01:04:31.000 | If your family situation permits it,

01:04:34.000 | then a good way to travel Europe

01:04:37.000 | is not to try to take an annual trip to Europe for three weeks.

01:04:41.000 | Rather, it's to wait until you've got a 15 year old,

01:04:44.000 | a 13 year old, a 11 year old, a nine year old,

01:04:46.000 | and a seven year old and then move to Europe for a year.

01:04:50.000 | Rent a house in Europe for a year.

01:04:52.000 | Rent out your house in California for a year.

01:04:54.000 | Live in Europe.

01:04:55.000 | Enroll your children into a local school

01:04:57.000 | or homeschool in Europe

01:04:59.000 | and then make short trips from your central location.

01:05:02.000 | Because once you're there, it's super easy.

01:05:04.000 | Let's say you set up a base in the UK.

01:05:10.000 | It's easy for Americans to access the UK

01:05:12.000 | because you can get a six month visa free entry as a tourist.

01:05:15.000 | So you come in, rent a house in the UK

01:05:17.000 | and that becomes the place that you go from.

01:05:20.000 | Well, now you have super cheap airfare

01:05:23.000 | back and forth from London to every corner of Europe

01:05:26.000 | very inexpensively

01:05:28.000 | and you can take weekend trips

01:05:29.000 | or you can take two week train trips.

01:05:31.000 | And so having a location where you do your travels

01:05:33.000 | from a more central location

01:05:36.000 | is a much better idea than trying to plan a two week trip

01:05:39.000 | and buy seven tickets every year.

01:05:42.000 | Back to language acquisition.

01:05:43.000 | The problem with language acquisition abroad

01:05:46.000 | is that when you are on vacation

01:05:48.000 | and when you are traveling

01:05:49.000 | you spend so much time focusing on logistics

01:05:52.000 | because the daily logistics of what you eat

01:05:54.000 | and where you stay

01:05:55.000 | and what you do are so time consuming

01:05:57.000 | you have no time to spend on language studies.

01:05:59.000 | So you don't actually wind up learning much language

01:06:02.000 | while you're gone.

01:06:04.000 | The best you can hope for in terms of language studies

01:06:08.000 | on a trip abroad

01:06:10.000 | is to have just a little bit of activation.

01:06:12.000 | Your best format for actual immersion study is at home

01:06:16.000 | where everything's under control

01:06:18.000 | and we can just do two hours of French every day

01:06:21.000 | and we can watch movies in French

01:06:22.000 | and we can listen in French

01:06:23.000 | and we can read in French

01:06:25.000 | and do all that stuff for two hours a day.

01:06:27.000 | And then once you have a very high level of French comprehension

01:06:30.000 | then go to France

01:06:31.000 | and spend a few weeks in France

01:06:34.000 | and enjoy that as like your language activation

01:06:36.000 | where we now have lots of chances to speak.

01:06:38.000 | But if your children have very rudimentary language ability

01:06:41.000 | don't think that somehow it's gonna magically fix itself

01:06:44.000 | by traveling abroad.

01:06:46.000 | So that was quite a lot

01:06:47.000 | but hopefully that's enough to get you started

01:06:49.000 | with a few ideas.

01:06:50.000 | - No, I appreciate it.

01:06:51.000 | That's some good stuff to chew over.

01:06:53.000 | I have some ideas already to think about

01:06:55.000 | so I appreciate that.

01:06:56.000 | - Good, anything else?

01:06:58.000 | - Oh, probably when I have more time, sometime

01:07:01.000 | I'd love to call in.

01:07:02.000 | Push back a little on your last thing

01:07:04.000 | about women in Harrison, but I don't have enough time

01:07:07.000 | to do that right now

01:07:08.000 | 'cause I just picked up my kids in the car

01:07:09.000 | so I'll have to do that another time.

01:07:11.000 | - Absolutely, I hope you will.

01:07:12.000 | I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

01:07:13.000 | So please do that and I wish you well.

01:07:15.000 | All right, Lindsey in Colorado, welcome to the show.

01:07:17.000 | How can I serve you today, Lindsey?

01:07:19.000 | - Hi Joshua, it's good to talk with you.

01:07:22.000 | I wanted to get your perspective on college.

01:07:27.000 | I've been interested of course to hear your thoughts

01:07:30.000 | on higher education throughout the years

01:07:32.000 | and I especially appreciated your recent episode

01:07:35.000 | on scholarships.

01:07:37.000 | Let me give a little background about what I'm hoping

01:07:40.000 | to get your perspective on.

01:07:43.000 | So my husband and I are both highly educated

01:07:48.000 | but not necessarily from elite schools.

01:07:50.000 | My husband is foreign educated

01:07:52.000 | and then I went to schools in the US and I'm an attorney

01:07:56.000 | and we've always really valued education for our kids.

01:08:00.000 | We've been very intentional about education

01:08:05.000 | and thank God our kids seem to be, they're young

01:08:08.000 | but they seem to be very bright, very academically inclined.

01:08:13.000 | And I would have thought that we would be doing everything

01:08:18.000 | we can to set them up to go to elite universities

01:08:22.000 | in the United States.

01:08:24.000 | If their inclination continues, I also am of two minds.

01:08:29.000 | I believe that we can also get pretty much everything

01:08:32.000 | that you get at university in books and on YouTube.

01:08:38.000 | However, both the, I think that the opportunities

01:08:41.000 | that come with getting an elite degree are just second to none.

01:08:47.000 | That you get both the signaling that you get to say

01:08:50.000 | you're an intelligent person who went to XYZ school

01:08:54.000 | and then you get to network and meet people

01:08:57.000 | and just make more opportunities for yourself.

01:09:01.000 | So I would have thought that that would be the case.

01:09:03.000 | However, over the past, let's say decade,

01:09:07.000 | I think I've been watching or we've been watching

01:09:10.000 | with growing concern about, with respect to some

01:09:15.000 | of the values that are, and the dogmas that are

01:09:20.000 | being promoted on campuses.

01:09:24.000 | Another piece of this is that we're Orthodox Jews

01:09:29.000 | and so I think that in many ways, similar to Christians,

01:09:34.000 | we are, we have our own set of values

01:09:38.000 | that are very important to us and that's gonna carry through

01:09:43.000 | and we want our kids to maintain those values as well.

01:09:47.000 | And I've been, it's been a conversation

01:09:50.000 | in our community, of course, with lots of ideas

01:09:53.000 | and thoughts going around.

01:09:55.000 | And I wanna hear your thoughts though.

01:09:57.000 | You know, both, you know, we are concerned perhaps

01:10:00.000 | for our kids' physical safety.

01:10:02.000 | We've been really just aghast at what, you know,

01:10:05.000 | at people taking over quads and, you know,

01:10:07.000 | and having these encampments and, you know,

01:10:10.000 | and defecating there and siding with terrorists

01:10:14.000 | and yelling at students who, you know,

01:10:17.000 | are there to learn and study.

01:10:20.000 | And, you know, and we are also concerned though,

01:10:22.000 | you know, also for psychological safety

01:10:24.000 | and I don't mean that as a, you know,

01:10:27.000 | in a very snowflakey way, it's just, you know,

01:10:29.000 | if you're paying for the privilege for your kids

01:10:31.000 | to be, you know, taunted and then also maybe missing out

01:10:37.000 | on opportunities with professors and, you know,

01:10:40.000 | and their peers and everything else.

01:10:42.000 | And then we're also concerned about their morality.

01:10:45.000 | You know, with being in an environment like that,

01:10:49.000 | you know, is something that we would be concerned about,

01:10:52.000 | that they themselves might, you know,

01:10:56.000 | start to adopt this oppressor, oppressed mentality

01:11:00.000 | and, you know, and all of the mishegas

01:11:04.000 | that kind of goes with it.

01:11:06.000 | So I'd love to hear your thoughts on that

01:11:10.000 | and either, you know, when to, I think about like

01:11:14.000 | the lobster test or the frog test, you know,

01:11:18.000 | when you have a frog in boiling water

01:11:20.000 | and, you know, if you turn the water,

01:11:22.000 | you turn the heat up slowly, it, you know,

01:11:24.000 | it doesn't jump out.

01:11:26.000 | But if you, you know, just dump them into a pot

01:11:29.000 | of boiling water, they'll jump out.

01:11:31.000 | I've heard that's not actually true, but you get the idea.

01:11:34.000 | - I do.

01:11:35.000 | - And in any case, you know, whether it makes sense

01:11:40.000 | or at what point it makes sense to be looking at,

01:11:43.000 | to be looking at alternatives, whether to, you know,

01:11:46.000 | whether we maybe shouldn't be going to colleges

01:11:50.000 | or these elite universities when, you know,

01:11:53.000 | when we are so counter-cultural

01:11:56.000 | and they're not really promoting a lot of the values

01:11:59.000 | that we espouse versus, you know,

01:12:02.000 | just choosing the right university versus, you know,

01:12:05.000 | making sure to prepare our kids properly

01:12:07.000 | for the university, you know, with facts, with values,

01:12:12.000 | with, you know, speaking and writing ability.

01:12:15.000 | And then, you know, and then of course making connections

01:12:17.000 | at the universities themselves to, you know,

01:12:19.000 | help our kids, you know, be in the right communities

01:12:23.000 | with like-minded people.

01:12:24.000 | But I would just love to hear just your perspective

01:12:27.000 | on kind of all of that.

01:12:29.000 | - 100%.

01:12:30.000 | How old is your oldest child currently?

01:12:33.000 | - They're little.

01:12:34.000 | We've got seven, five, four, and one.

01:12:36.000 | - Great.

01:12:37.000 | So the first thing that's, I love the question.

01:12:41.000 | It's something that I think obsessively about

01:12:43.000 | and I'm gonna give you my answers.

01:12:45.000 | But there is going to be a big difference today

01:12:49.000 | versus in the future.

01:12:51.000 | And that difference is partly going to be driven

01:12:53.000 | by what is the actual campus environment today

01:12:57.000 | versus what is the actual campus environment

01:12:59.000 | 10 years from now.

01:13:01.000 | It's also going to be driven by what are the actual ambitions

01:13:05.000 | of your individual student

01:13:07.000 | versus what are the actual ambitions,

01:13:10.000 | which are unknowable today.

01:13:12.000 | So these are the things that make it difficult to assess

01:13:15.000 | because the college decision choice

01:13:17.000 | and college decision process,

01:13:19.000 | whether to go or not to go, where to go,

01:13:23.000 | all of these things are very individualized

01:13:27.000 | and they can't be defined specifically

01:13:31.000 | until we get a sense of who your student actually is

01:13:36.000 | and what your student actually wants to study.

01:13:39.000 | Because, and then also what the actual

01:13:42.000 | on-campus environment is in seven years,

01:13:45.000 | or excuse me, in 10 years for this individual student.

01:13:50.000 | And then where your family finances are

01:13:52.000 | and what your income is and what your assets are.

01:13:55.000 | So the first thing I would say is,

01:13:57.000 | I'm gonna talk about it from a framework perspective,

01:14:00.000 | but these are all super individual things

01:14:03.000 | and there are many, all of them are important.

01:14:06.000 | The academic ability of your child,

01:14:08.000 | the ability of your child

01:14:09.000 | to even get into an elite university

01:14:12.000 | based upon whatever the elite universities are

01:14:14.000 | or are not doing at that point in time for admissions.

01:14:19.000 | The changing nature of the world,

01:14:22.000 | the value of an elite university education today

01:14:25.000 | versus the value in the future.

01:14:28.000 | I think that a lot of the elite universities

01:14:30.000 | have dramatically diminished their brand value

01:14:33.000 | with all of the events over the last couple of weeks.

01:14:35.000 | There's no one denying that there still have brand value,

01:14:39.000 | but I sure don't look at a Columbia grad

01:14:42.000 | the same way today as I looked at a Columbia grad

01:14:45.000 | three years ago.

01:14:47.000 | And so that Columbia grad is gonna have to do,

01:14:50.000 | if I'm a hiring manager,

01:14:52.000 | that Columbia grad is gonna have to demonstrate

01:14:56.000 | pretty significant evidence to tell me

01:15:00.000 | that they're not an anti-Semite racist protester of some kind

01:15:06.000 | who's just crazy and crazy at making decisions.

01:15:11.000 | I mean, that university has problems

01:15:13.000 | with anti-Semitic philosophy left, right and center

01:15:16.000 | and it has for many years.

01:15:17.000 | So it's not a surprise what's boiling over today.

01:15:20.000 | So my point is that brand value can increase

01:15:24.000 | and brand value can decrease.

01:15:26.000 | And so the value of what to actually go for,

01:15:29.000 | your children are very young today

01:15:31.000 | to know that as our mind.

01:15:33.000 | So what we can be doing is be paying attention to it.

01:15:36.000 | And as I would see, the basic focus that we have

01:15:40.000 | is to prepare for success in any context.

01:15:44.000 | And the nice thing about it is the things that we do

01:15:47.000 | to prepare our children for success

01:15:49.000 | to go to an elite university

01:15:52.000 | are very similar to the things that we do

01:15:54.000 | to prepare our children for success,

01:15:57.000 | understanding that they're going to drop out of school

01:15:59.000 | at 16 years old and become a self-employed entrepreneur

01:16:03.000 | who's going to be a total autodidact.

01:16:05.000 | And we don't want to be so laser focused on college

01:16:09.000 | being the pathway of success

01:16:12.000 | that we don't do the broad-based stuff

01:16:14.000 | that will work in all circumstances.

01:16:16.000 | So it's good to keep kind of a general perspective on it.

01:16:21.000 | Let's start with the first thing that you've alluded to,

01:16:25.000 | which is actual risks to physical safety

01:16:30.000 | and actual discrimination, things like that.

01:16:38.000 | On the whole, if there's actual risks to actual physical safety,

01:16:44.000 | then you will never pursue something

01:16:46.000 | that results in actual risks to physical safety

01:16:49.000 | without a strong conviction that you're doing so

01:16:51.000 | as a form of protest.

01:16:52.000 | So that's disqualifying.

01:16:54.000 | A college that cannot maintain a physically safe environment

01:16:59.000 | where students can actually study

01:17:02.000 | does not deserve any appreciation

01:17:06.000 | or any respect from outside people.

01:17:08.000 | That's 101, is maintaining a studious environment

01:17:12.000 | where actual study is going to happen

01:17:14.000 | without risks of violence.

01:17:17.000 | That's an absolute no-go.

01:17:19.000 | So some things are really simple,

01:17:21.000 | and that's an obvious no-go.

01:17:23.000 | Because when there's actual violence

01:17:26.000 | and actual threats of violence,

01:17:29.000 | then there can be no free interchange of ideas.

01:17:32.000 | And it's astonishing to me how so many of these colleges

01:17:37.000 | that have harped on and on about intellectual uncertainty

01:17:42.000 | and intellectual safety of debating ideas

01:17:46.000 | are the first ones to go over

01:17:47.000 | and become genuinely physically violent.

01:17:49.000 | And so what we can see, I think,

01:17:52.000 | is that a college needs to nurture

01:17:55.000 | a robust exchange of ideas,

01:17:59.000 | actual debate, actual principled debate

01:18:03.000 | over difficult things with absolute free speech

01:18:06.000 | in order for it to avoid physical confrontation

01:18:11.000 | and things like that.

01:18:12.000 | So some of those things are simple,

01:18:13.000 | and who knows what the world's going to look like

01:18:15.000 | 10 years from now.

01:18:16.000 | But that's, to me, going to be a clear line in the sand.

01:18:20.000 | The next thing to consider with regard to opportunity

01:18:26.000 | is going to be driven based upon

01:18:28.000 | the individual student's ambitions.

01:18:31.000 | Sometimes an elite degree really matters.

01:18:33.000 | So, for example, let's say that you have a student

01:18:36.000 | that is growing up to be a lawyer

01:18:38.000 | and wants to go and become a judge

01:18:43.000 | for the purpose of transforming society.

01:18:46.000 | Well, now, having an elite college pedigree

01:18:49.000 | is going to be very valuable for your student

01:18:55.000 | to move systematically into a position of power in society

01:19:02.000 | where he can develop influence and authority and power.

01:19:06.000 | And so it's much more compelling for him

01:19:08.000 | to go and attend an elite university,

01:19:11.000 | even if he does face some form of discrimination

01:19:14.000 | and difficulty, things like that,

01:19:16.000 | because that elite pedigree really matters

01:19:19.000 | in something like a legal field,

01:19:20.000 | especially if your goal is to be a federal judge

01:19:24.000 | or an influential person in government,

01:19:27.000 | things like that.

01:19:28.000 | That's very different than if your student

01:19:31.000 | just wants to make money

01:19:32.000 | and is just going to go and get a general business degree

01:19:35.000 | from a school.

01:19:36.000 | In that case, going to an elite college

01:19:38.000 | is not a particular "so what."

01:19:41.000 | You know, okay, it was nice that you got in,

01:19:43.000 | but a few years later it's not nearly as impactful

01:19:45.000 | as something like law.

01:19:46.000 | So that's why I say it's too young to think about,

01:19:48.000 | because you have to get an idea

01:19:50.000 | of what direction your child is going to go in.

01:19:53.000 | Similarly, with regard to cost and the ability to get in,

01:19:56.000 | one of the things that's so fascinating

01:19:58.000 | about the elite universities

01:19:59.000 | has to do with how accessible they are

01:20:02.000 | to students who demonstrate financial need

01:20:07.000 | and how everything changes

01:20:08.000 | if your schooling is being paid for.

01:20:10.000 | So as I discussed in that scholarship podcast,

01:20:13.000 | I remember being an undergraduate business student,

01:20:15.000 | pulling up the Harvard business degree page

01:20:19.000 | and seeing the tuition and saying,

01:20:20.000 | "Well, I don't have that money, so of course I can't go.

01:20:22.000 | There's just no way I can do it."

01:20:24.000 | What I didn't understand

01:20:25.000 | is that all of the elite Ivy League universities,

01:20:27.000 | they all have need-based tuition.

01:20:30.000 | They don't offer merit scholarships,

01:20:31.000 | but they all offer need-based tuition.

01:20:33.000 | And if a student can get in,

01:20:35.000 | then the student is going to be able to go.

01:20:37.000 | And so sometimes going to an elite university

01:20:39.000 | that has a very high price tag

01:20:41.000 | that is advertised to the public

01:20:43.000 | can turn out to be much less expensive

01:20:46.000 | for a student than going to a local public university

01:20:50.000 | if the student is able to be accepted.

01:20:53.000 | So all of these variations

01:20:55.000 | of cost and benefit and opportunity,

01:20:59.000 | they're all very individualized.

01:21:01.000 | And so on the whole,

01:21:02.000 | what you want to focus on, I think,

01:21:04.000 | is helping a student

01:21:05.000 | to develop strong academic ability

01:21:09.000 | so that academics can come fairly easily,

01:21:13.000 | so that verbal ability, mathematical ability,

01:21:15.000 | all these things are pretty straightforward.

01:21:17.000 | It's going to require work to perform at a high level,

01:21:19.000 | but it should be straightforward

01:21:22.000 | to get good grades, to build those skills.

01:21:25.000 | And then also, I think,

01:21:26.000 | you want to help a student

01:21:27.000 | to develop interestingness,

01:21:29.000 | personal interestingness,

01:21:31.000 | which seems to be one of the things

01:21:33.000 | that many elite universities really need.

01:21:36.000 | They have plenty of students

01:21:38.000 | who apply with very high SAT scores,

01:21:41.000 | perfect GPAs.

01:21:42.000 | They can check all the boxes

01:21:43.000 | on all their AP exams.

01:21:45.000 | But what they're looking for

01:21:46.000 | is students who have high levels of interestingness.

01:21:49.000 | And I think that we can coach interestingness,

01:21:52.000 | which turns out to be something

01:21:54.000 | that can help you get into an elite university,

01:21:57.000 | while also showing the student

01:21:59.000 | how the elite university

01:22:01.000 | is not in any way necessary.

01:22:03.000 | You can develop interestingness

01:22:05.000 | and build a world-class network

01:22:08.000 | by connecting with people online,

01:22:10.000 | using our more accessible world

01:22:12.000 | that we have today.

01:22:14.000 | And you can position yourself

01:22:15.000 | as a thought leader at a very young age,

01:22:17.000 | which ultimately is the thing

01:22:18.000 | that gets you accepted

01:22:19.000 | into an Ivy League university.

01:22:21.000 | So all the stuff that you do

01:22:22.000 | to be accepted into an Ivy

01:22:24.000 | is all the stuff that you do

01:22:25.000 | to not be accepted into an Ivy,

01:22:26.000 | but to do well regardless,

01:22:28.000 | which is what you should do.

01:22:30.000 | So you should just pursue it

01:22:32.000 | and then make the actual decision down the road.

01:22:35.000 | The final thing I would say

01:22:36.000 | with regard to culture is this.

01:22:38.000 | Here's how I perceive

01:22:40.000 | the mainstream college culture.

01:22:46.000 | In general,

01:22:47.000 | the intellectual environment

01:22:50.000 | on college campuses,

01:22:53.000 | the philosophy that is mainstream

01:22:55.000 | on college campuses

01:22:58.000 | has not been a philosophy

01:22:59.000 | that's been able to build populations

01:23:02.000 | that reproduce themselves.

01:23:04.000 | On the contrary,

01:23:05.000 | the only reason we have

01:23:07.000 | the urban monoculture

01:23:08.000 | that exists today

01:23:10.000 | with the ideas and philosophies

01:23:11.000 | that it has today

01:23:13.000 | is because this culture

01:23:15.000 | successfully stole the children

01:23:18.000 | from highly fertile and fecund cultures

01:23:21.000 | who produced children.

01:23:22.000 | And so this primarily happened

01:23:24.000 | to Christians back during the 1960s,

01:23:27.000 | 1970s, 1980s.

01:23:29.000 | As all of the boom

01:23:31.000 | of college enrollees grew,

01:23:34.000 | college cultures stole the children

01:23:37.000 | of Christians in the United States

01:23:39.000 | in order to build their roles.

01:23:43.000 | And one of the basic tools

01:23:45.000 | that they used

01:23:46.000 | was a broad-scale deconversion strategy.

01:23:49.000 | And they were able

01:23:50.000 | to successfully deconvert

01:23:51.000 | many Christian children

01:23:53.000 | away from the religion of their parents

01:23:55.000 | to adopt the general

01:23:57.000 | kind of squishy, secular humanism

01:24:00.000 | espoused in the major universities.

01:24:03.000 | Interestingly, though,

01:24:04.000 | that did two things.

01:24:05.000 | Number one is that

01:24:06.000 | those people don't reproduce.

01:24:08.000 | They don't have children.

01:24:09.000 | Generally speaking,

01:24:11.000 | demographically speaking,

01:24:12.000 | there's a very low birth rate

01:24:14.000 | for those communities.

01:24:15.000 | And number two is

01:24:17.000 | all of the highly religious communities

01:24:19.000 | that saw what was happening

01:24:21.000 | started to figure out and say,

01:24:22.000 | "Hey, we've got to do something different.

01:24:24.000 | We've got to respond to this in some way."

01:24:26.000 | Some of that response

01:24:27.000 | was to pull back.

01:24:28.000 | And so many communities pulled back

01:24:30.000 | and said, "We're just not sending

01:24:31.000 | our children to college anymore.

01:24:32.000 | We're going to encourage other things."

01:24:35.000 | Many communities built

01:24:36.000 | alternate institutions.

01:24:37.000 | And so in my own community,

01:24:39.000 | the Christian community,

01:24:40.000 | this is where there was a huge growth

01:24:42.000 | in Christian colleges and universities,

01:24:44.000 | which said, "Obviously,

01:24:45.000 | we're not just going to keep

01:24:46.000 | sending our children off

01:24:47.000 | into secular colleges.

01:24:48.000 | We're going to create

01:24:50.000 | our own institutions."

01:24:52.000 | Other points of feedback was to say,

01:24:56.000 | "What is it that's actually happening?"

01:24:58.000 | And so one of the parenting tools

01:25:00.000 | that I observe that has happened

01:25:03.000 | is that no longer do informed,

01:25:07.000 | thoughtful Christian parents

01:25:09.000 | rely primarily on a culture of sheltering

01:25:13.000 | as any way of perpetuating their ideas.

01:25:17.000 | That was a tool

01:25:18.000 | that many Christian parents of yore used.

01:25:21.000 | They thought, "Well,

01:25:22.000 | if I can just keep my children

01:25:23.000 | separated from the world,

01:25:24.000 | then they won't encounter

01:25:25.000 | these evil ideologies,

01:25:27.000 | and then they're more likely

01:25:29.000 | to stay in the faith of their fathers."

01:25:31.000 | What they found out was

01:25:32.000 | that that didn't really work

01:25:34.000 | and that as the children got older,

01:25:38.000 | then they encountered these philosophies

01:25:41.000 | and, in many cases,

01:25:42.000 | wound up deconverting

01:25:43.000 | because they felt like their parents

01:25:45.000 | had hidden something from them

01:25:46.000 | and their parents had not provided

01:25:48.000 | an adequate immune system

01:25:49.000 | to keep them from being infected

01:25:51.000 | by the urban monocultural mind virus.

01:25:53.000 | And so what we have done

01:25:55.000 | in the Christian community

01:25:56.000 | is we've gotten a lot better

01:25:58.000 | at giving our children

01:25:59.000 | a stronger immune system

01:26:02.000 | by vaccinating them

01:26:03.000 | against the urban monocultural mind virus.

01:26:06.000 | And that starts at a very young age,

01:26:08.000 | and it's not entirely successful.

01:26:10.000 | We still lose lots of children

01:26:12.000 | away from our religion.

01:26:13.000 | It's a continual thing,

01:26:15.000 | but we've gotten a lot better at it.

01:26:17.000 | We've gotten a lot better at, again,

01:26:19.000 | to use the very serious metaphor,

01:26:22.000 | vaccinating our children against it.

01:26:24.000 | So I teach my young children

01:26:26.000 | systematically all of the philosophies

01:26:30.000 | of the left

01:26:31.000 | and all of the philosophies of the world.

01:26:33.000 | And when you teach them to people,

01:26:35.000 | you realize how absurd

01:26:36.000 | the philosophies are

01:26:38.000 | or the lack of philosophies.

01:26:39.000 | And what's funny is even young children,

01:26:42.000 | they're like,

01:26:43.000 | "Why would somebody think that?"

01:26:44.000 | Like, it's just self-evidently dumb.

01:26:48.000 | And so I teach aggressive apologetics.

01:26:51.000 | I teach all kinds

01:26:52.000 | of intellectual foundations for things.

01:26:55.000 | And my hope is that that means that—

01:26:58.000 | and I don't hide anything.

01:26:59.000 | That's the other thing,

01:27:00.000 | is that many cultures around the world

01:27:02.000 | that have traditionally used

01:27:05.000 | the ability of a community

01:27:07.000 | to maintain an insular position

01:27:09.000 | and to be protected from external debate,

01:27:11.000 | external attack,

01:27:12.000 | external of ideas,

01:27:15.000 | is finding that with the Internet,

01:27:17.000 | those communities

01:27:18.000 | are no longer sustainable.

01:27:20.000 | Because now when anybody

01:27:21.000 | can just go to Google

01:27:22.000 | and ask or go to ChatGPT

01:27:24.000 | and ask for an answer,

01:27:25.000 | then now you can't survive

01:27:27.000 | in a world of insular thinking.

01:27:29.000 | You have to engage

01:27:30.000 | with the ideas around.

01:27:31.000 | So what I think will happen

01:27:33.000 | with your community

01:27:34.000 | and the same thing

01:27:35.000 | that's happening

01:27:36.000 | with Christian communities

01:27:37.000 | is you will continue to test

01:27:39.000 | the ways to inoculate your children

01:27:42.000 | against ideologies

01:27:44.000 | that are ultimately toxic

01:27:45.000 | to your faith.

01:27:47.000 | And some will work.

01:27:49.000 | Some will not work.

01:27:50.000 | Some will be effective.

01:27:51.000 | Some will be ineffective.

01:27:52.000 | But you'll increasingly find

01:27:54.000 | those things that are effective.

01:27:56.000 | And so then there won't ultimately

01:27:59.000 | be proof of it,

01:28:00.000 | but you should be more confident

01:28:04.000 | sending your children out

01:28:06.000 | into a world that hates them,

01:28:08.000 | into a world

01:28:09.000 | that disagrees with them,

01:28:10.000 | knowing that ideally

01:28:11.000 | you've equipped your children

01:28:12.000 | with the tools needed

01:28:14.000 | to defend their own

01:28:16.000 | personal philosophies

01:28:17.000 | in a straightforward way

01:28:19.000 | and to think and deal logically

01:28:21.000 | with whatever the things

01:28:24.000 | that are coming in is.

01:28:25.000 | And sometimes, by the way,

01:28:27.000 | not all that's taught

01:28:28.000 | in a college classroom is bad.

01:28:29.000 | Otherwise you wouldn't go.

01:28:30.000 | A lot of times

01:28:31.000 | it can provide a valuable correction

01:28:32.000 | even to your own community.

01:28:33.000 | And so your children

01:28:34.000 | may be those

01:28:35.000 | who pick and choose

01:28:37.000 | from those things

01:28:39.000 | that they disagree with

01:28:40.000 | and say, "You know what?

01:28:41.000 | "This is an important critique.

01:28:42.000 | "This is something

01:28:43.000 | "that we can bring in

01:28:45.000 | "and change our own family,

01:28:46.000 | "change our own ideology,

01:28:48.000 | "change our own community."

01:28:50.000 | So in conclusion,

01:28:52.000 | from a culture perspective,

01:28:54.000 | I think that's what

01:28:55.000 | your main focus needs to be

01:28:57.000 | is let me teach my children

01:28:59.000 | what we believe,

01:29:00.000 | why we believe it,

01:29:01.000 | teach my children

01:29:02.000 | what others believe,

01:29:03.000 | why they believe it,

01:29:04.000 | and seek to install

01:29:06.000 | a clear, thoughtful philosophy

01:29:09.000 | so that they can interact

01:29:10.000 | with ideas that they disagree with

01:29:13.000 | and do so in a healthy way.

01:29:14.000 | And you're much less likely

01:29:16.000 | to have your children deconvert

01:29:19.000 | when that's the common cause

01:29:22.000 | rather than if they just

01:29:24.000 | are super sheltered

01:29:25.000 | and all of a sudden

01:29:26.000 | they're sent into the lion's den

01:29:27.000 | and they don't know what to do.

01:29:30.000 | And I would make one final

01:29:31.000 | even just academic note of this.

01:29:34.000 | One of the bits of data

01:29:35.000 | that I find very interesting

01:29:37.000 | is for Christians,

01:29:38.000 | I don't know the data on Jews,

01:29:40.000 | although it's probably similar,

01:29:41.000 | but for Christians,

01:29:42.000 | the more advanced education

01:29:46.000 | that somebody has,

01:29:48.000 | the more likelier that person is

01:29:51.000 | to be religious,

01:29:53.000 | specifically Christian.

01:29:54.000 | So a higher percentage

01:29:56.000 | of PhD holders are Christian

01:29:58.000 | than non-college educated.

01:30:00.000 | A higher percentage

01:30:01.000 | of bachelor's degree holders

01:30:03.000 | are Christian

01:30:04.000 | than non-college educated persons.

01:30:06.000 | And this doesn't prove anything.

01:30:08.000 | It's not a proof of anything.

01:30:10.000 | And there are plenty of PhD holders

01:30:12.000 | who are not Christians.

01:30:13.000 | I'm not arguing that the data

01:30:14.000 | says anything different

01:30:15.000 | than what it does say.

01:30:16.000 | Just simply saying that

01:30:18.000 | somebody who is highly educated,

01:30:20.000 | having high amounts of education

01:30:23.000 | doesn't necessarily mean

01:30:25.000 | that a person is going

01:30:28.000 | to deconvert from the religion

01:30:31.000 | of his youth

01:30:33.000 | if that religion was well installed

01:30:36.000 | with a robust philosophy

01:30:40.000 | and engaged with robust interaction

01:30:42.000 | with the ideas

01:30:43.000 | that he's ultimately going

01:30:44.000 | to interact with.

01:30:47.000 | - I think that's right.

01:30:48.000 | Thank you.

01:30:50.000 | We're also heartened

01:30:51.000 | by the birth rate

01:30:53.000 | of some of these groups.

01:30:57.000 | When you value life and children,

01:31:03.000 | you value life and children.

01:31:04.000 | And not all of this group

01:31:10.000 | at campus feels that way, of course.

01:31:14.000 | And I definitely think

01:31:18.000 | it's so important

01:31:19.000 | to vaccinate.

01:31:23.000 | I think it's a good metaphor

01:31:25.000 | in a lot of ways.

01:31:26.000 | And make sure

01:31:28.000 | that we're very clear

01:31:30.000 | about our values

01:31:32.000 | and our beliefs

01:31:33.000 | and not to hide anything.

01:31:35.000 | I think that's right

01:31:36.000 | because they'll find it eventually

01:31:38.000 | and then would wonder

01:31:41.000 | why we're hiding it.

01:31:43.000 | And there's nothing to hide.

01:31:45.000 | We believe that our beliefs

01:31:48.000 | and way of life

01:31:50.000 | stand up to anything.

01:31:55.000 | Hang on one sec.

01:31:57.000 | I think that it's just such a shame

01:32:01.000 | that when we want our kids

01:32:05.000 | to go for an education

01:32:08.000 | and to learn

01:32:09.000 | and to pursue knowledge

01:32:12.000 | and seek truth

01:32:13.000 | and do all of these things,

01:32:16.000 | and to have to send them away now,

01:32:19.000 | it seems a little bit more

01:32:20.000 | like we have to prepare them

01:32:22.000 | to also be activists,

01:32:23.000 | which could be fine.

01:32:27.000 | Not all kids are fighters.

01:32:30.000 | And I think that where we were once thinking

01:32:34.000 | that this is for education,

01:32:37.000 | now it also seems to be

01:32:39.000 | for not ceding the space

01:32:42.000 | to hateful people

01:32:44.000 | and hateful ideologies.

01:32:47.000 | But thank you.

01:32:48.000 | You answered the question beautifully.

01:32:50.000 | Really appreciate it.

01:32:51.000 | - My pleasure.

01:32:52.000 | And oops, I muted me instead of muting you.

01:32:56.000 | Yeah, and to the point,

01:32:59.000 | I would just say

01:33:00.000 | it's gonna come down to the vision.

01:33:02.000 | One of the things that I wish,

01:33:03.000 | so there are many people, I think,

01:33:05.000 | who are better served

01:33:06.000 | by being encouraged not to go to college at all.

01:33:10.000 | With the advent of,

01:33:14.000 | with the easy availability of information,

01:33:18.000 | many of the most educated people in the world

01:33:22.000 | are ultimately gonna be autistic YouTubers

01:33:25.000 | who spend all their time reading arcane books

01:33:28.000 | that are widely available on Google Books

01:33:30.000 | and interacting with things

01:33:32.000 | that would never be touched

01:33:33.000 | in a college classroom.

01:33:35.000 | I find some of my favorite sub-stacks

01:33:37.000 | are people who are outside of academia

01:33:39.000 | because basically many,

01:33:41.000 | I don't wanna describe all,

01:33:43.000 | but many academics are so cowed

01:33:46.000 | that they basically have nothing interesting to say.

01:33:49.000 | They're not willing to touch on anything

01:33:51.000 | that is potentially controversial.

01:33:53.000 | And so all of the great college,

01:33:55.000 | many of the great college professors

01:33:56.000 | find themselves ushered out of academia,

01:33:59.000 | but they have amazing podcasts now.

01:34:01.000 | They have amazing sub-stacks.

01:34:02.000 | They have amazing things

01:34:03.000 | where they're engaging in genuine,

01:34:05.000 | good quality thinking, good research,

01:34:08.000 | healthy debate,

01:34:09.000 | and those are the kinds of communities

01:34:11.000 | that are producing what colleges used to produce.

01:34:14.000 | And that's why I'm so,

01:34:16.000 | and this is obvious,

01:34:17.000 | this is why I'm so anti-ethnic diversity

01:34:21.000 | and pro-ideological diversity.

01:34:23.000 | What has happened is we substituted,

01:34:25.000 | due to seeing all kinds of racial wrongs

01:34:28.000 | and trying to fix those,

01:34:30.000 | we took the word diversity

01:34:32.000 | and we decided that the word diversity

01:34:35.000 | exclusively means

01:34:37.000 | that people have different skin colors

01:34:40.000 | or different sexual attractions

01:34:42.000 | and sexual practices,

01:34:44.000 | and we ignored the concept

01:34:45.000 | of ideological diversities.

01:34:47.000 | Well, in a university system,

01:34:48.000 | that's the death of the university,

01:34:50.000 | which should be built

01:34:51.000 | on ideological diversity.

01:34:53.000 | And there's certainly elements

01:34:55.000 | of impacts on ideological diversity

01:34:58.000 | based upon the experience

01:34:59.000 | of different people.

01:35:00.000 | But at its core,

01:35:01.000 | you want great ideological diversity.

01:35:04.000 | So a lot of the universities

01:35:05.000 | have lost their clout.

01:35:07.000 | Who trusts them anymore?

01:35:08.000 | You don't trust them.

01:35:09.000 | You know it's in many cases,

01:35:11.000 | in many ways,

01:35:12.000 | an ideological monoculture

01:35:14.000 | where everyone's going to say

01:35:15.000 | the same thing,

01:35:16.000 | believe the same thing,

01:35:17.000 | do the same thing.

01:35:18.000 | And what's the point?

01:35:19.000 | When they're actively,

01:35:20.000 | we can cite article after article,

01:35:24.000 | statement after statement,

01:35:25.000 | where we know they are actively censoring

01:35:27.000 | important research

01:35:28.000 | because it's not politically correct.

01:35:30.000 | So a lot of the important research

01:35:32.000 | is happening in other places,

01:35:34.000 | is my point.

01:35:35.000 | And so there may be people

01:35:36.000 | who it's dumb to go to college

01:35:38.000 | because colleges don't offer

01:35:39.000 | the value proposition

01:35:40.000 | of what they once did.

01:35:42.000 | On the other hand,

01:35:43.000 | there may be many people

01:35:44.000 | who still need a certain pedigree

01:35:46.000 | for a certain plan.

01:35:49.000 | And we really want to encourage

01:35:50.000 | those people to do it.

01:35:52.000 | We need really smart,

01:35:54.000 | really educated,

01:35:55.000 | elite judges and justices

01:35:58.000 | and things like that,

01:35:59.000 | people who are really good at that.

01:36:00.000 | And if you look back

01:36:01.000 | over the last 50 years,

01:36:03.000 | over the last 100 years,

01:36:04.000 | you can see that

01:36:05.000 | within a generation

01:36:07.000 | or a few generations,

01:36:08.000 | you can have an enormous change

01:36:10.000 | in ideology.

01:36:11.000 | And so these institutions

01:36:13.000 | are not entirely stuck.

01:36:15.000 | If you look in your field,

01:36:16.000 | just look at how

01:36:18.000 | the conservative,

01:36:20.000 | the growth of the conservative wing

01:36:22.000 | of law

01:36:25.000 | has resulted in a major change

01:36:27.000 | in the way that the legal system

01:36:29.000 | at the federal level

01:36:32.000 | and at state level,

01:36:33.000 | but how the legal system works.

01:36:34.000 | If you went back 50 years ago,

01:36:36.000 | it was not in any way,

01:36:39.000 | there was not in any way

01:36:40.000 | the power of the conservative movement

01:36:42.000 | in the legal field.

01:36:43.000 | Today, the conservatives

01:36:45.000 | are very powerful.

01:36:47.000 | There are, in some cases,

01:36:49.000 | a majority

01:36:50.000 | and very, very influential.

01:36:52.000 | But yet, that was

01:36:53.000 | a pretty hard-won experience.

01:36:55.000 | If you go back to

01:36:58.000 | all of the Supreme Court justices

01:37:00.000 | for the conservatives nominated

01:37:03.000 | who turned out not to be conservative.

01:37:04.000 | Again and again and again,

01:37:05.000 | conservatives got their teeth kicked in.

01:37:07.000 | But they didn't stop.

01:37:08.000 | They continued pressing forward

01:37:09.000 | generation by generation.

01:37:11.000 | They got their people

01:37:12.000 | into the schools.

01:37:14.000 | They got their people

01:37:15.000 | in front of Congress.

01:37:16.000 | They got their people nominated.

01:37:17.000 | They got the people

01:37:18.000 | to believe that it mattered.

01:37:19.000 | They got their president

01:37:20.000 | who came in

01:37:21.000 | and defended the justices.

01:37:22.000 | And they got the change

01:37:23.000 | that they were looking for.

01:37:24.000 | So, is it a durable change?

01:37:26.000 | Time will tell.

01:37:27.000 | My point is that things can change.

01:37:28.000 | And so we shouldn't look

01:37:29.000 | at the colleges

01:37:30.000 | and just make overarching,

01:37:33.000 | sweeping judgments against them

01:37:35.000 | and say they're all lost.

01:37:37.000 | We should be thoughtful, precise,

01:37:39.000 | and we should look

01:37:40.000 | at individual students,

01:37:41.000 | individual colleges,

01:37:43.000 | individual ideologies,

01:37:44.000 | individual goals,

01:37:46.000 | and make those decisions.

01:37:47.000 | And the things that we can do

01:37:48.000 | to prepare our students

01:37:49.000 | to succeed in elite universities

01:37:52.000 | are the things that we want to do

01:37:54.000 | regardless of whether our students

01:37:56.000 | attend the elite universities

01:37:58.000 | in the first place.

01:37:59.000 | And so if we focus on doing that,

01:38:01.000 | then we will in the fullness of time,

01:38:03.000 | I think, have all that we need

01:38:05.000 | to help our students to succeed

01:38:09.000 | regardless of the course of action

01:38:10.000 | that an individual student can take.

01:38:13.000 | And I expect that, you know,

01:38:15.000 | my hope within my children,

01:38:16.000 | I expect that I'll have one child

01:38:18.000 | who does an online degree

01:38:20.000 | and gets an online degree

01:38:22.000 | by 16 years old

01:38:23.000 | and is an independent entrepreneur

01:38:25.000 | who never ever sets foot

01:38:26.000 | in a college classroom.

01:38:27.000 | I expect I'll have another child

01:38:29.000 | who goes and winds up getting a Ph.D.

01:38:31.000 | from an elite university.

01:38:33.000 | I'm sure that I'll have other children

01:38:35.000 | who do other things.

01:38:36.000 | And so that's, I think,

01:38:38.000 | what we should expect.

01:38:39.000 | And the backlash against colleges

01:38:42.000 | is ultimately going to be healthy

01:38:44.000 | because fewer of the people who should--

01:38:47.000 | there are many people

01:38:48.000 | who shouldn't have been going to college

01:38:49.000 | who have been,

01:38:50.000 | and those people need to be directed

01:38:52.000 | into other directions,

01:38:53.000 | into trade schools,

01:38:54.000 | into different colleges.

01:38:55.000 | And then the people

01:38:56.000 | who should be going to elite colleges,

01:38:57.000 | hopefully more and more

01:38:58.000 | will be going there.

01:38:59.000 | And I think that

01:39:01.000 | even the elite universities themselves,

01:39:04.000 | they're probably mostly run

01:39:05.000 | by well-intentioned people.

01:39:07.000 | And so while the crazies

01:39:09.000 | may have all the power at the moment,

01:39:11.000 | there's got to be

01:39:12.000 | some well-intentioned,

01:39:13.000 | intelligent people

01:39:14.000 | who recognize the harm

01:39:15.000 | that's being done

01:39:16.000 | to academic progress

01:39:18.000 | and who will change

01:39:19.000 | and who will recalibrate.

01:39:20.000 | And they're probably not going

01:39:21.000 | to communicate that to us

01:39:22.000 | because that's not

01:39:23.000 | what they say publicly.

01:39:24.000 | But internally,

01:39:25.000 | there's probably going to be changes

01:39:26.000 | and we're going to be

01:39:28.000 | in a different world

01:39:29.000 | a decade from now.

01:39:30.000 | So maybe I'm a Pollyanna.

01:39:32.000 | Maybe none of that is true,

01:39:33.000 | but I think that

01:39:35.000 | it's at least plausible.

01:39:36.000 | Time will tell how crazy we go.

01:39:38.000 | You just look at the pushback.

01:39:39.000 | All the DEI stuff now

01:39:42.000 | is becoming entirely toxic.

01:39:43.000 | Nobody wants anything to do with it

01:39:45.000 | except highly convinced pro-DEI people.

01:39:48.000 | But in the real world,

01:39:49.000 | it's now increasingly toxic

01:39:51.000 | because it's a philosophy

01:39:52.000 | that destroys itself.

01:39:53.000 | So we know where philosophies go

01:39:55.000 | if we think them out.

01:39:56.000 | Thank you so much

01:39:57.000 | for listening to today's show.

01:39:58.000 | I really value your being here.

01:40:00.000 | Remember, if you'd like to be with me

01:40:01.000 | on a future Q&A show,

01:40:02.000 | you can go to

01:40:03.000 | patreon.com/radicalpersonalfinance,

01:40:04.000 | patreon.com/radicalpersonalfinance.

01:40:06.000 | I would welcome your presence

01:40:08.000 | on the next show

01:40:09.000 | where we can talk about interesting topics

01:40:10.000 | like we've talked about today.

01:40:11.000 | Thank you so much for listening

01:40:12.000 | and I'll be back with you very soon.

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2024-06-21_Friday_QA