RPF0379-The_Perils_of

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00:00:29.700 | Today on Radical Personal Finance we're going to talk about the perils of success.

00:00:33.740 | Life is filled with peril and we all know that failure has a whole bunch of perils.

00:00:39.580 | But did you know that success has its own set of perils?

00:00:43.300 | I'm sure there are many but today I'm going to share with you a few and specifically I'm

00:00:47.220 | going to share with you how they've affected me, the lessons that I've learned from them

00:00:53.340 | and I hope this content, because it's related to me, will be helpful and relatable for you

00:00:59.460 | so that you can avoid some of the problems and the mistakes that I've made.

00:01:21.420 | Welcome to Radical Personal Finance, the show dedicated to providing you with the knowledge,

00:01:25.060 | skills, insight and encouragement you need to live a rich and meaningful life now while

00:01:31.740 | building a plan for financial freedom in 10 years or less.

00:01:34.620 | My name is Joshua Sheets and I'm your host.

00:01:36.460 | Today we're going to focus largely on that insight and encouragement part of the little

00:01:41.260 | slogan.

00:01:42.260 | Give you a little bit of insight into success and encouragement of what you can do when

00:01:47.420 | you face it.

00:01:54.220 | Many people are quick to talk about the problems of failure.

00:01:57.380 | Failure has its own set of problems.

00:01:58.700 | Many people are quick to talk about success but oftentimes we miss some of the benefits

00:02:04.100 | and some of the things of success, some of the aspects of success.

00:02:08.220 | We don't talk, most people who are successful don't spend much time seemingly talking about

00:02:12.260 | the problems of success or the things that can happen.

00:02:15.740 | Success in the same way that failure is rarely permanent, success is rarely permanent and

00:02:20.620 | success has its own attributes.

00:02:25.060 | And today I want to talk about some of those with you.

00:02:26.780 | This show is intended to be probably two things.

00:02:30.580 | Number one, I want to share with you some of these specific perils.

00:02:35.460 | I'll summarize them here in the beginning of the show for you.

00:02:39.300 | And then I also want to share a little bit about how they've emerged in my own life.

00:02:43.180 | And so that part of the show, most of the back half will be largely narrative and be

00:02:48.540 | very personal.

00:02:49.540 | I won't be digging into any nuts and bolts of personal finance today, any details on

00:02:55.020 | an investing.

00:02:56.140 | So feel free to check back another day if that's the type of content that you're into.

00:03:00.420 | And do note that I'm intentionally going to be pretty personal today just because I desire

00:03:03.940 | to do this in a way that is relatable and also to share some things from my own experience.

00:03:09.540 | One thing that's important to me, if you're a new listener to the show, I want you to

00:03:13.060 | know this, one thing that's important to me is to maintain a level of transparency and

00:03:20.220 | relatability through my podcast that perhaps is missing in other more professionalized

00:03:26.820 | media.

00:03:28.700 | If you are new to the show, one thing I hope that you'll experience around here is that

00:03:32.300 | I try to be very transparent with what I think and why I think it.

00:03:37.060 | I try to be very transparent with who I am.

00:03:40.780 | I just returned from FinCon 16 out in California and my hope is that all of you who are listeners

00:03:45.540 | of the show, I met many of you out there, but my hope is that all of you who are listeners

00:03:49.060 | of the show found me to be the same person in person that I am on the show.

00:03:53.980 | I try to be a consistent person.

00:03:56.980 | And I think the podcasting lends well to that because we don't have to reach a mass media.

00:04:01.300 | I don't have to have a general appeal.

00:04:03.900 | I'm able to be more me, which is a major component of the second half of this show.

00:04:10.420 | But I also want it to be relatable because I think sometimes we can learn from people

00:04:15.900 | best who are just a little bit ahead of us.

00:04:19.460 | It's great to listen to an expert on whatever thing.

00:04:22.940 | If we're going to talk about Tony Robbins, he's got a lot of great stuff to teach you.

00:04:28.060 | But at the end of the day, is he really the best teacher for you?

00:04:33.180 | Or is somebody who's just a little bit ahead of you or somebody who's beside you possibly

00:04:37.620 | do they have something to share?

00:04:39.200 | That's why on the show I try to bring experts on the show.

00:04:43.740 | But I also try to bring just normal people.

00:04:45.300 | I often invite listeners on the show, very common, ordinary people.

00:04:49.340 | And I hope that you hear that in the content.

00:04:53.300 | The metaphor I use for this is that the best person to teach first grade is not necessarily

00:04:58.060 | a first grade teacher who's been through a college degree and a master's degree, an undergraduate

00:05:05.660 | and a master's degree.

00:05:07.420 | Sometimes the best person to teach first grade is a second grader who has successfully passed

00:05:12.540 | first grade.

00:05:14.420 | Sometimes for a first grader, the second grader is more relatable.

00:05:16.740 | Now, I don't think you can take it to either extreme.

00:05:18.740 | I don't think that you can say that the second grader is always better.

00:05:23.180 | We need the teacher sometimes to know where we're going.

00:05:25.820 | We need somebody to lay out first grade.

00:05:27.880 | We need somebody to decide what the curriculum is that we actually need to cover.

00:05:31.860 | What are the concepts that need to be studied in first grade?

00:05:34.080 | That's where the teacher steps in.

00:05:35.780 | But on the flip side, sometimes the teacher is hard to relate to.

00:05:39.020 | That's why we want to have a mixture of experts and common people.

00:05:42.820 | So I'll be talking about the perils of success, listing them out for you, but then just sharing

00:05:46.780 | my story in hopes that it's relatable to you, especially for those of you who are longtime

00:05:51.180 | listeners and who've listened from the beginning.

00:05:54.820 | When I was younger, I used to think that if I just did something or if I just got something

00:06:01.300 | better, then everything would be great.

00:06:05.620 | If only this, if only that, then everything would be great.

00:06:09.740 | If only I had a better job, if only I were married, if only I lived in a house, if only

00:06:14.260 | I didn't live in a house, if only I ran my own business, if only I didn't run my own

00:06:17.940 | business, then everything would be perfect.

00:06:19.740 | Everything would be great.

00:06:21.100 | That was a pretty immature philosophy that I held for many years of my life and I'm sure

00:06:25.260 | that many of you listening can relate.

00:06:29.940 | I've since discarded that philosophy, both from advancing a little bit in years, gaining

00:06:36.340 | in maturity and experience.

00:06:38.660 | I've had enough personal experience to recognize that that philosophy or that idea is inaccurate

00:06:44.500 | and also from study and observation.

00:06:46.300 | I try to talk to old people as much as I can and ask them questions like this.

00:06:53.740 | Does everything get better at some point in time?

00:06:55.780 | One of the things I've learned from both personal experience and from study and observation

00:07:01.060 | is that your problems will never go away.

00:07:05.620 | They will only change in type and character and possibly quantity.

00:07:12.780 | No matter what, you're going to face problems.

00:07:15.540 | Now some problems are easier than other problems.

00:07:20.820 | Some problems are simpler than other problems.

00:07:22.500 | Some problems have a broader impact in your life than other problems.

00:07:30.940 | Many of you listening right now are facing significant financial problems.

00:07:36.220 | I've heard it said that if you have a problem that can be solved with money, you don't really

00:07:40.760 | have a problem and I think that I agree with the sentiment of that.

00:07:45.020 | It really is true.

00:07:46.020 | If you have a problem that can be solved with money, it's a pretty solvable problem.

00:07:50.340 | It doesn't mean it's not a problem.

00:07:51.860 | It just means that in comparison to many of the other problems of life, it's a little

00:07:58.380 | simpler to handle.

00:08:00.940 | Now that doesn't diminish the impact of that problem and the financial problem in the life

00:08:04.580 | of somebody who's going through it.

00:08:06.700 | I've walked that road with many people.

00:08:08.860 | It's very difficult when you're facing significant financial problems.

00:08:13.180 | But don't expect that your problems will ever go away because they won't.

00:08:19.300 | They'll just change.

00:08:21.900 | They might be bigger.

00:08:22.900 | They might be smaller.

00:08:24.340 | They'll certainly be different.

00:08:27.180 | And don't think that once you are successful, you won't have to face problems.

00:08:38.680 | Don't think that once you are successful, you won't have to face the fear and the pain

00:08:46.500 | of failure because you will again and again.

00:08:55.280 | This is perhaps the biggest problem or peril of success is we launch out into the deep

00:09:02.380 | oftentimes in an adventure, whether it's an entrepreneurial venture into a relationship,

00:09:08.860 | into something new.

00:09:11.900 | And we think that this is just going to work out, but we know it might not.

00:09:16.700 | So we conquer the fear, we conquer the unknown, and we decide to screw up our courage and

00:09:22.020 | act in the face of it.

00:09:24.460 | And then we launch out and we start to experience success.

00:09:28.580 | And one of the great problems that can occur at this point in time is we might think that

00:09:32.420 | now that we are successful, we'll be able to avoid the pain and the insecurity and the

00:09:37.700 | fear of potential failure.

00:09:43.220 | And I'm here to tell you, you can't.

00:09:46.820 | I can't.

00:09:47.820 | None of us can.

00:09:49.620 | One of the most important character traits that we can cultivate for success is some

00:09:57.660 | level of comfort with fear and uncertainty and with the pain of failure.

00:10:07.740 | If we can conquer this and become comfortable with the uncertainty and the fear and the

00:10:14.460 | potential pain of failure, we can continue doing those things that push us out of our

00:10:19.540 | comfort zone and those things will lead to ever increasing amounts of success.

00:10:28.220 | Now the number of perils of success, here's my list that I'm going to be going over and

00:10:32.020 | relating to my own story and to my own business, partly as catharsis for some communication

00:10:36.860 | between me and you, but also for instruction.

00:10:40.420 | My story should be pretty relatable.

00:10:41.820 | I'm a pretty normal guy.

00:10:44.140 | But here are some of the perils.

00:10:45.140 | Number one, you may stop doing what made you successful in the first place.

00:10:49.980 | I'm guilty of that and I've seen so many people be guilty of this in different contexts.

00:10:58.620 | Number two, once you are successful, you may fear losing that success.

00:11:10.180 | That one has tremendous impact.

00:11:12.480 | Number three, once you are successful, you will constantly compare yourself to other

00:11:19.300 | successful people and to their success and then yours will pale in comparison.

00:11:30.140 | Number four, as you become successful, it's easy to lose sight of what you are working

00:11:36.340 | toward and why you are working toward it.

00:11:40.500 | It's easy to lose sight of what your goals are and it's easy to compare yourself with

00:11:50.180 | others based upon their objectives rather than your own.

00:11:58.540 | Now I recommend to you, as I recommend to myself, don't do this.

00:12:05.540 | It's not a good plan.

00:12:08.260 | So here's a little bit of my story and how these things have affected me.

00:12:14.540 | In July, I celebrated the two-year anniversary of Radical Personal Finance.

00:12:18.120 | So about 26 months now of doing the show.

00:12:21.340 | And the last about a year has been really, really hard.

00:12:25.260 | I've really struggled, really, really struggled in a number of different ways.

00:12:31.740 | Not in the same struggles of the first year of the show, not in the same struggles of

00:12:35.900 | things that I've struggled with in the past in my life, but it's been really, really challenging.

00:12:41.740 | It's been really, really tough.

00:12:43.780 | And even though in many ways I've experienced more and more success, the problems and the

00:12:48.940 | struggles have continued to mount up.

00:12:51.060 | Now to be clear, this is not a pity party and I'm not asking you for your sympathy.

00:12:55.980 | There's nothing wrong with struggle.

00:12:58.300 | We all struggle with different things.

00:12:59.580 | I have strengths, I have weaknesses just as we all do.

00:13:02.160 | And again, as I said earlier, I've learned to embrace the struggle.

00:13:06.780 | If only, then I'll be successful.

00:13:09.180 | That doesn't work.

00:13:10.180 | There's always going to be struggle.

00:13:12.100 | And struggle is to be embraced and to be appreciated because struggle and challenge often leads

00:13:18.140 | to growth.

00:13:20.500 | In hindsight, when we go through difficult times, in hindsight, we'll often look back

00:13:26.440 | and embrace the challenge, embrace the difficulty.

00:13:32.500 | That difficulty and struggle is valuable for many reasons.

00:13:35.460 | Just some examples from my own life.

00:13:37.420 | When my wife and I were first becoming acquainted and becoming interested in one another, our

00:13:43.180 | relationship was not easy.

00:13:44.620 | We faced a lot of challenges.

00:13:46.380 | Now the challenges were primarily my fault due to some mistakes that I made in our relationship.

00:13:54.580 | But it was really difficult.

00:13:56.260 | We had some really difficult times.

00:13:59.200 | And I never understood why it would be that way because I'm Mr. Learner, I'm Mr. Studier.

00:14:03.520 | I always try to study an issue and try to figure out the right way to do something.

00:14:07.200 | And so therefore, I usually expect because I know the right way to do something that

00:14:10.640 | it's going to work out.

00:14:13.960 | But it didn't.

00:14:14.960 | It wasn't easy.

00:14:15.960 | We had a difficult time.

00:14:19.160 | And yet I look back on that in hindsight and I'm extremely grateful for that struggle because

00:14:24.440 | it has given me a tremendous level of empathy that I wouldn't have had without it.

00:14:30.240 | It's very easy if you are used to doing your homework and just think that you can

00:14:34.300 | figure out the right way to do something.

00:14:36.480 | It's very easy to somehow think that, "Well, you just do A, B, C, D and everything will

00:14:40.800 | work out."

00:14:42.240 | And I think I would have been more susceptible to that if our relationship had just simply

00:14:46.260 | been perfect and easy and simple and without complications.

00:14:50.960 | I would have been prone to pride and to feeling confident that my formula was perfect.

00:14:58.000 | But thankfully, I experienced some struggle and now I'm much more able to be empathetic

00:15:02.800 | with those who are having a difficult time in their relationships, with those who've

00:15:05.920 | gone through difficult experiences and who faced the painful breakup of a relationship

00:15:11.320 | or the divorce in a marriage or just difficulty relating with somebody that they love.

00:15:18.440 | With regard to finances, I have over the years had on more than one occasion had very difficult

00:15:24.320 | times in my own personal finances and I didn't understand why that was the case.

00:15:29.680 | Now I can see now the mistakes that I made and I know why it was the case, but at the

00:15:33.440 | time I thought, "But I'm doing everything right.

00:15:35.580 | Everything should work out.

00:15:36.580 | I'm doing everything the way it's supposed to be."

00:15:39.760 | But in hindsight now, I can not only identify the mistakes, I'm not saying that you have

00:15:43.680 | to struggle intentionally, you can see those mistakes and in the abundance of counsel you

00:15:48.160 | can find wisdom.

00:15:50.520 | But in hindsight, I'm really thankful for those financial challenges.

00:15:55.600 | I'm really thankful for those mistakes.

00:15:57.080 | I'm thankful for those struggles because again, it's taught me empathy.

00:16:03.800 | And now I'm able to be empathetic with somebody who is struggling and not sit there and judge

00:16:10.240 | them that you just don't know what's going on.

00:16:11.880 | You should just, "Didn't you know?

00:16:13.720 | Didn't you read the book?"

00:16:15.960 | So embrace the struggle.

00:16:19.560 | So as again, as I share this, I'm not asking for a pity party nor am I necessarily upset

00:16:24.360 | about it.

00:16:25.360 | I'm just sharing some of the things that I've learned in hopes that it'll be relatable for

00:16:29.240 | you.

00:16:30.240 | But one of the biggest challenges that I faced in the last year has been figuring out how

00:16:35.080 | to grow the business behind the show.

00:16:41.220 | As I was at FinCon this last week talking with a number of other people and they all

00:16:44.720 | said, "How's it going?"

00:16:45.720 | Which is my common answer to all of them.

00:16:47.000 | I said, "The show's going great."

00:16:49.040 | But I'm just struggling with the business.

00:16:52.680 | The show has grown really well.

00:16:55.440 | The business has been anemic, functional but anemic.

00:17:01.320 | Here's some updates for those of you who appreciate knowing such things.

00:17:04.360 | I mean, at this point, Radical Personal Finance is in the top 4% of all podcasts in terms

00:17:10.320 | of listener size.

00:17:12.400 | Going up on 4 million total lifetime downloads, the show is I would say somewhere between

00:17:16.640 | about 13,000 to 15,000 of you who tune in for every new episode.

00:17:25.520 | Consistently 13, sometimes there are bigger spikes.

00:17:27.800 | Many of you just download here and there.

00:17:30.480 | But that's a pretty substantial audience when it comes to podcasts.

00:17:33.520 | It's in the top 4% of all podcasts.

00:17:38.160 | The show is routinely ranked in the top 50 for all podcasts in the business category

00:17:42.880 | of iTunes.

00:17:43.880 | To the best of my knowledge, I've never broken into the top 200 of all podcasts but routinely

00:17:49.120 | the show comes in at the top 50 in iTunes rankings for the business category which is

00:17:54.440 | pretty substantial.

00:17:55.440 | It's not unusual that the show can be ranked ahead of many big names in those rankings.

00:18:03.120 | Those rankings are not perfect.

00:18:04.320 | They're not infallible.

00:18:05.680 | They're useful to some degree.

00:18:07.800 | But the show has done well.

00:18:09.800 | And yet the business has been really, really challenging.

00:18:12.200 | It's been hard to know what's the right move.

00:18:15.080 | I've gone back and forth with different business models.

00:18:17.360 | You'll notice that sometimes I do advertising, sometimes I don't do advertising.

00:18:22.160 | One thing I've really struggled with is it's been so challenging is actually producing

00:18:26.480 | what I've said I'll produce.

00:18:28.880 | I hate to break my word.

00:18:30.200 | I hate it.

00:18:31.960 | That's why usually I'm pretty slow to advertise what the next show is going to be.

00:18:36.760 | I have a calendar myself.

00:18:39.200 | I have a schedule.

00:18:40.840 | I know what the shows are, topics that I'm going to do but it seems like every time I

00:18:45.120 | say well here this week, this is what we're going to do, all of a sudden the very next

00:18:48.160 | day my life gets turned upside down and I can't get that show done.

00:18:52.680 | For a year and a half I've been talking about getting the book done.

00:18:54.960 | I have the outline done but I haven't gotten it written.

00:18:57.040 | I haven't built the courses that I've intended to do.

00:19:01.640 | And there are reasons behind it.

00:19:04.720 | One of the biggest challenges with producing the show is I want to do a good job with it.

00:19:09.920 | So I want the quality to go up.

00:19:11.440 | Well, that's good.

00:19:12.560 | It's good to want to do a good job.

00:19:15.480 | But then there's also the pride of wanting to look like I'm doing a good job.

00:19:24.320 | One of the biggest challenges, do I want to do a good job or do I want to look like I'm

00:19:29.080 | doing a good job?

00:19:31.680 | Now that's – there's a lot of pride in the second one.

00:19:35.800 | There's an appropriate pride in the first one.

00:19:38.600 | There's an inappropriate pride in the second one.

00:19:41.080 | And I've been convicted of that and repented and have moved on from that.

00:19:47.800 | But it's still pretty humbling to recognize that.

00:19:52.120 | The reality is that I like the attention.

00:19:55.240 | I like the acclaim.

00:19:56.240 | I want to experience those things.

00:19:59.440 | And yet my job is to serve you.

00:20:03.160 | But it's very easy to lose sight of that.

00:20:08.840 | I've struggled with that, the desire to be popular.

00:20:12.400 | When I set out to do the show, I discarded popularity as a goal.

00:20:16.320 | I didn't set out to create the most researched business show out there.

00:20:23.400 | I'm not stupid when it comes to business.

00:20:25.120 | I know how you can do something like that.

00:20:27.560 | You can research exactly what's needed.

00:20:29.640 | I come from – I worked for a couple of years in the market research company.

00:20:33.520 | Research is tremendously important.

00:20:35.360 | And if you set out to be popular, you can do that.

00:20:39.820 | So I could have done that with the show.

00:20:42.600 | I could have picked the format that would be popular.

00:20:44.480 | I could have picked the content that would be popular.

00:20:47.120 | And I see evidence all the time that others are doing that.

00:20:50.200 | So when I set out to do what I do, I decided to do it differently and I discarded popularity

00:20:55.360 | as a goal.

00:20:56.640 | But then along the way, I wound up achieving popularity and a tiny little bit of notoriety

00:21:01.200 | within a very small circle.

00:21:05.200 | And that affects you.

00:21:07.040 | It feels good to be admired.

00:21:13.600 | Now I do want to be a better broadcaster.

00:21:15.400 | So I'm proud of the progress that I've made.

00:21:17.480 | But that has a cost.

00:21:20.240 | Wanting to be better has slowed me down a ton.

00:21:23.640 | And again, that first peril is that one of the things that happens is it's easy if

00:21:28.320 | you experience success to stop doing what made you successful in the first place.

00:21:33.840 | So as that relates to radical personal finance, I've stopped doing the show with the frequency

00:21:39.160 | that I once did it.

00:21:40.880 | I haven't wanted to do that.

00:21:43.860 | But when you have a certain standard of production value, when you have a certain standard of

00:21:46.960 | the type of content you're trying to convey, when you have a certain standard and you get

00:21:50.160 | tired of reading reviews about how you ramble on and on, you spend all kinds of time writing

00:21:54.480 | your notes so you don't ramble, and you want to keep that high standard, but then all of

00:22:00.160 | a sudden you start to lose what got you there.

00:22:07.560 | And by you, of course, I mean me.

00:22:09.800 | I've started to lose what got me there.

00:22:12.560 | It's more time consuming to do a good show than a bad rambly one.

00:22:18.200 | I've always wanted to be more professional, but that desire to be professional and professional

00:22:25.320 | sounding has kept me from tackling some of the content that I probably should have just

00:22:29.240 | tackled and not done it fully as professionally.

00:22:33.240 | I've wanted to be more balanced with the content.

00:22:35.920 | I think diversity of topics keeps things interesting, so I try to keep things every day where you'll

00:22:40.440 | want to come back again and again, but that desire to be balanced has caused me to put

00:22:44.960 | things on my content calendar that are very difficult and time consuming, and then I fall

00:22:49.920 | behind.

00:22:52.920 | So sometimes when you become successful, you stop doing what made you successful.

00:23:01.280 | Another way this has affected me within my own business project here, Radical Personal

00:23:05.440 | Finance, I've stopped tackling some of the more difficult, controversial subjects.

00:23:12.600 | Some of the rawness from the early shows has disappeared, and I've tried to keep that,

00:23:16.400 | and I've tried to tackle some of the ... I still try to tackle things that interest me,

00:23:21.360 | but you get tired of it sometimes.

00:23:26.760 | And so I know that one of the things that made me successful was fitting the bill of

00:23:30.720 | Radical Personal Finance, but then oftentimes I shy away from the radical topics.

00:23:39.400 | So you stop doing what made you successful.

00:23:41.800 | I've stopped trying new things.

00:23:43.040 | Again, back to that desire to keep things interesting and back to that desire to want

00:23:49.120 | to sound good and look good.

00:23:50.960 | I've stopped trying new things just to see what you all like.

00:23:55.000 | So one thing I wish I had done better, and I'm going to do better, is in the early days

00:24:00.520 | I would sometimes put out a long show, sometimes put out a short show, sometimes tackle a question,

00:24:04.880 | sometimes do a little mini episode, a little motivational five minutes, things like that.

00:24:10.400 | It's a real danger of success that you stop doing what made you successful in the first

00:24:17.680 | place.

00:24:18.680 | Now, what's remarkable is I haven't only seen this in Radical Personal Finance.

00:24:23.480 | I used to watch this in my business and other businesses when I was in the life insurance

00:24:27.440 | business, and you would see somebody that would do everything that made them successful,

00:24:32.800 | that's making a certain amount of calls per day or doing this type of sales presentation,

00:24:38.720 | and there's a parallel in your business as well.

00:24:43.000 | But over time it starts to work and then you start to be busy and then you stop.

00:24:49.080 | Be careful of this one.

00:24:52.320 | Because what happens is you can't stop doing what made you successful in the first place

00:25:00.720 | or you lose the success.

00:25:04.080 | Big, big danger.

00:25:09.760 | One challenge of success and other peril is that once you're successful you may fear losing

00:25:18.200 | success.

00:25:19.200 | See, when you're small and you're nobody and you're poor and you're growing, you're willing

00:25:24.400 | to try new things.

00:25:25.400 | You have no brand image to protect you.

00:25:27.340 | You do what you want.

00:25:28.340 | You have no reputation to uphold.

00:25:30.400 | You just do what you feel like.

00:25:34.080 | But when you're successful you start to value that success and it's easy to fear losing

00:25:39.660 | that status.

00:25:42.840 | Financially once you've experienced financial success and started to don some of the symbols

00:25:47.800 | of success, you fear looking like a loser.

00:25:56.040 | If you've made money and bought an expensive car and then decided that you want to sell

00:26:01.600 | the stupid expensive car because you've had a business set back or you've gone into debt

00:26:06.560 | or you've had a problem or you just need to make a change, it's hard to want to sell the

00:26:13.800 | expensive car and drive the beater.

00:26:16.200 | It's a bitter pill for many of us to swallow.

00:26:21.360 | Or you don't want to dump the overwhelming beautiful house, the beautiful house that's

00:26:27.120 | financially overwhelming and get an apartment.

00:26:32.920 | You fear losing that status.

00:26:35.920 | And so you start to change.

00:26:37.040 | But yet if you would look back and realize, "Wait a second.

00:26:40.760 | What helped me to be successful was my willingness to do these things.

00:26:48.040 | Why am I so fearful of it?"

00:26:50.960 | This happens on radical personal finance.

00:26:53.960 | Once you're successful, you fear losing the success.

00:26:55.760 | So I've taken more interviews with ho-hum people on ho-hum topics.

00:27:00.280 | Now, I try to do some of that because I think experts have something to contribute and I

00:27:05.720 | think it's dangerous to try to desire to be extreme for the sake of extremism.

00:27:12.840 | Mainstream is not wrong because it's mainstream.

00:27:16.640 | So I want to take interviews from people who are mainstream.

00:27:24.320 | But I think I've done too much of that.

00:27:28.800 | You build a brand at a certain point, okay, radical personal finance, we're going to be

00:27:32.280 | radical and then you wind up and say, "Where's the radicalness?"

00:27:36.560 | It's nice to be well-connected.

00:27:37.560 | It's nice to be well-connected in your industry.

00:27:40.040 | It's nice to be connected with famous people and have them sending you books and solicitations

00:27:45.080 | all the time.

00:27:46.080 | It's hard to want to turn those people down.

00:27:48.400 | Once you're successful, you fear losing success because you fear some of the connections that

00:27:55.200 | come into play.

00:27:57.160 | I've feared losing success by not wanting to be abrasive.

00:28:01.520 | I think here of my interview with Robert Kiyosaki.

00:28:04.400 | That interview came out about in an interesting way.

00:28:08.280 | I never reached out to Robert.

00:28:09.840 | I had a listener of the show that reached out to me and was connected with him and they

00:28:13.880 | put us in touch.

00:28:14.880 | I really like and admire many things about Kiyosaki's message.

00:28:19.560 | I've read many of his books and I have found many of his concepts to be helpful and useful.

00:28:26.120 | Rich Dad Poor Dad is the most influential, biggest selling personal finance book that

00:28:31.400 | I'm aware of.

00:28:33.520 | Tremendously huge brand.

00:28:36.160 | Tremendously.

00:28:38.000 | But what's interesting is I'm not a raving fan of his.

00:28:43.160 | I find a lot of his message very confusing.

00:28:46.520 | I find a lot of it very wrong, very dangerous, poorly supported.

00:28:50.920 | So I'm not a raving fan.

00:28:54.200 | So when I had the opportunity for the interview, I really struggled with how do I do this?

00:28:57.800 | I'm not opposed completely, but I'm not a raving fan.

00:29:01.480 | So I tried to do it very fairly and very directly and just give him an opportunity to speak

00:29:06.320 | but ask him good questions.

00:29:09.680 | But after the interview, I thought to myself, "Maybe I should go ahead and do a show with

00:29:12.720 | all the things that now that he's had his say, I should all the shows, all the areas

00:29:16.040 | where I think he's wrong."

00:29:17.640 | And I should have.

00:29:18.840 | I probably still will.

00:29:20.480 | Got an email from a listener a few weeks ago.

00:29:21.880 | They said, "I'm very confused.

00:29:24.720 | He says some good things but he doesn't say other good things."

00:29:28.240 | But the reason I didn't, it was probably a few things, but one of the reasons I think

00:29:32.640 | is not wanting to be abrasive, not wanting to attack the big dogs in the industry.

00:29:38.600 | I'm not a mean person.

00:29:40.560 | I don't pick personal fights with people.

00:29:43.480 | But I do have things that I think should be criticized about what other people do and

00:29:49.480 | I probably should take on various financial pundits on different topics.

00:29:55.680 | But I've held back because you don't want to lose your success by all of a sudden becoming

00:29:59.760 | abrasive.

00:30:03.600 | And this affects you with many people or at least affects me.

00:30:06.560 | Excuse me, I'm always talking about me.

00:30:09.280 | Now, at the end of the day, who knows if I'm right or they're right.

00:30:12.040 | That's where you have to be the judge and time will tell.

00:30:14.480 | I'll tell you this, I'm far less critical of many financial pundits now than I was in

00:30:19.200 | the past, but that doesn't mean that I should run away from my criticisms.

00:30:24.240 | We should respect the process of debate and criticism and allow it to bring better results

00:30:30.640 | on the other side.

00:30:33.240 | But I never wanted to be an attack dog.

00:30:34.920 | Some people are like that.

00:30:35.920 | That's not me.

00:30:37.920 | What's interesting though is I can now relate to what I see happen to politicians frequently.

00:30:46.120 | You find a really good attack dog politician who sticks to their guns and they say, "This

00:30:50.960 | is my philosophical ideological position."

00:30:53.740 | And because that philosophical or ideological position matches what you believe to be the

00:30:58.200 | correct course of action or what you believe to be the right solution, then you start voting

00:31:02.080 | for them.

00:31:03.080 | And then they go into office and they come back a different person.

00:31:09.520 | And you say, "What happened to you?"

00:31:11.240 | Well, they got corrupted.

00:31:16.040 | Not necessarily that they started taking bribes, but it's a very gentle seduction.

00:31:20.520 | It's a very seductive corruption where they don't want to be abrasive.

00:31:26.040 | They don't want to be that guy.

00:31:30.960 | They want to be liked and included.

00:31:36.240 | Guess what?

00:31:37.240 | I do too.

00:31:38.240 | It's a real challenge.

00:31:41.520 | And yet what happens is you wind up losing the respect and the benefit that you had with

00:31:50.680 | those who elected you and you wind up being despised by all sides.

00:31:58.320 | Part of the danger of success is that once you're successful, you will constantly compare

00:32:01.840 | yourself to other people's success.

00:32:05.160 | This has affected me with business things.

00:32:07.240 | I think maybe I can do this.

00:32:08.640 | Maybe I can do that.

00:32:09.640 | I want to write.

00:32:10.640 | I want to do video.

00:32:11.640 | I want better, cooler stuff.

00:32:12.640 | I want to do it all right now.

00:32:15.960 | But I can't do it all right now.

00:32:19.120 | I can't.

00:32:20.480 | And what happens is I wind up chasing my tail trying to do it all right now.

00:32:24.480 | And in the process of trying to do it all, I forsake doing the core that got me successful

00:32:30.880 | in the first place.

00:32:32.960 | See the vicious cycle?

00:32:34.440 | It's terrible.

00:32:36.260 | But the same thing may happen to you.

00:32:38.320 | It might happen in your business.

00:32:40.000 | You can identify and diagnose those problems.

00:32:44.360 | But it may happen in your finances.

00:32:45.760 | You reach a certain level of status and you want everyone to think that you're successful.

00:32:50.420 | And so you start comparing yourself to other people's success.

00:32:55.380 | And yeah, your boss can buy a round of drinks for the whole bar or your boss can buy everyone

00:32:59.400 | dinner.

00:33:00.400 | And so you say, "Well, that must be what I need to do to be able to be successful."

00:33:02.760 | And so you think, "I need to do it."

00:33:04.920 | And you wind up destroying your budget trying to fit in.

00:33:12.520 | Or you wind up moving to the cool part of town and not saving any money because you're

00:33:15.500 | living in the cool part of town because you're trying to compare yourself to other people's

00:33:18.240 | success.

00:33:19.240 | Here's the deal.

00:33:21.240 | You will never be as successful as everyone else is.

00:33:27.180 | No matter what stage in life you reach, no matter what metric of success, there will

00:33:33.340 | always be somebody who's ahead of you.

00:33:35.240 | There will always be somebody that has more money than you, that has a nicer car, that

00:33:39.040 | has a better looking husband or wife.

00:33:41.620 | There will always be somebody that's ahead of you.

00:33:44.560 | But even if you are the number one in your field, you're the highest earner in your company.

00:33:53.320 | That comes with a cost.

00:33:54.780 | And so somebody else will be more beautiful than you are.

00:33:59.400 | Somebody else, you might be the highest earner, but somebody else is a better investor and

00:34:02.360 | so they have more money than you do.

00:34:04.400 | Or you might have more money, but they have a better marriage than you do.

00:34:08.680 | Or their kids are more athletic and yours is not.

00:34:15.760 | Real danger of success is that you're constantly comparing yourself to other people's success.

00:34:21.120 | But now instead of being at the bottom where success is achievable because you just got

00:34:25.780 | to move up a little bit, now you are constantly looking to people who are far above you.

00:34:35.320 | You haven't been down the path they've been.

00:34:39.400 | You're not at the place where they are.

00:34:42.760 | You have to find a metric of success that's meaningful to you.

00:34:46.000 | We'll come to that in just a moment, but a quick story on this comparison.

00:34:50.080 | I have two podcasts and my podcasts are hosted with a company called Libsyn, which is the

00:34:56.800 | best podcast hosting company, by the way, free month of posting with the code word radical,

00:35:01.200 | coupon code radical.

00:35:03.160 | If you're thinking about starting a podcast, just tell them radical, you get a free month

00:35:05.720 | of hosting.

00:35:06.720 | So I host with Libsyn and I have two podcasts.

00:35:10.760 | What's interesting is when you open up your Libsyn account, you see on the front page

00:35:14.920 | just kind of a summary and there's a summary snapshot of the chart of your show.

00:35:22.960 | So for a podcaster, for a blogger, et cetera, one thing that often is a very seductive trap

00:35:29.920 | is where you wind up looking at your statistics.

00:35:32.760 | You look at the number of people that are listening to your show or that are reading

00:35:35.520 | your blog or how many are on your email list or whatever.

00:35:40.520 | These are real metrics, but sometimes they're vanity metrics.

00:35:43.200 | But the chart is interesting because it doesn't show the, what's it called, the metric, the

00:35:48.840 | scale.

00:35:49.840 | It doesn't show the scale.

00:35:53.120 | And so I open it up and sometimes it's opened up to the radical personal finance chart and

00:35:58.400 | sometimes depending on which show I last published from, it's opened up to my other show, Encouraging

00:36:02.740 | Christian Fathers.

00:36:04.760 | And all you see is the chart with the ups and downs without the scale.

00:36:11.160 | Now radical personal finance, like I said, probably has, it gets somewhere 13, 15,000

00:36:17.600 | downloads a day across all the shows, something like that.

00:36:21.120 | I can't, I don't check that number.

00:36:23.600 | I just look at the new listens per show after a few weeks.

00:36:27.640 | But it gets thousands and thousands of downloads per day.

00:36:30.120 | My other show has probably around 800 subscribers, probably about 800 men that subscribe to

00:36:36.000 | that show.

00:36:37.400 | And so it's a very, very different scale in terms of audience size, et cetera.

00:36:42.080 | There's a massive difference there in audience size.

00:36:45.400 | But what's funny is that when you back out and you just see that summary chart on the

00:36:50.680 | front page, I can't tell the difference.

00:36:56.060 | They have the same look.

00:37:01.360 | And what's interesting is that over time, for those of you who are beginning podcasters,

00:37:06.240 | I encourage podcasters, bloggers, whatever, enjoy the journey.

00:37:09.920 | Because what happens is over time you're going to become a little bit insulated to the numbers

00:37:16.020 | and the meaning.

00:37:18.000 | I'm overwhelmed by the idea of thousands of people.

00:37:20.200 | I can't conceive of thousands of you listening.

00:37:22.920 | I can't conceive of it.

00:37:24.080 | It overwhelms me.

00:37:25.080 | It pops my stack.

00:37:31.480 | But I can conceive of a few hundred.

00:37:34.120 | And I try to take joy in the movement, the trajectory, the direction.

00:37:42.080 | You can't take joy in the scale because the scale is meaningless.

00:37:46.920 | And so applying this to finance, that's what you see.

00:37:50.500 | If you find that you're earning more than you're making, as the famous Charles Dickens

00:37:54.520 | quote goes, you'll find a degree of financial freedom.

00:37:59.680 | And you're just as free if you're earning $40,000 and spending $35,000 as you are if

00:38:05.920 | you're earning $120,000 and spending $105,000.

00:38:10.960 | The scale, yes, it does matter, but it doesn't matter.

00:38:15.560 | I know it's a paradox.

00:38:19.000 | You can live in a house and for me, one of my dreams when I was younger, which I have

00:38:24.360 | since fulfilled, and I got this from being a financial advisor, I would often go and

00:38:29.320 | meet with people and I would sometimes go to their house at 9.30 in the morning.

00:38:32.600 | I'd meet them at their house and I'd be sitting in their house at 9 a.m. or 9.30 in the morning

00:38:37.400 | and they'd be sitting at their house drinking coffee at the kitchen table meeting with me.

00:38:41.320 | And I'd often ask myself, who is the kind of person who can be sitting at their house

00:38:45.460 | drinking coffee at 9.30 in the morning meeting with me?

00:38:48.760 | And it became a goal of mine to be able to, if I wanted to, sit at my kitchen table and

00:38:52.960 | drink coffee at 9.30 in the morning in my house at my kitchen table.

00:38:57.040 | That became a goal of mine and I have since achieved it, which I'm very thankful for.

00:39:01.880 | And thank you to all of you listening who have enabled me to be able to achieve that

00:39:05.840 | goal.

00:39:06.840 | Now, I won't tell you that I'm up at five in the morning working, but at 9.30, I'm sitting

00:39:13.120 | at my kitchen table drinking coffee.

00:39:17.000 | And that to me became a symbol of success.

00:39:20.520 | But you know what?

00:39:23.080 | You can wake up and have a 9.30 cup of coffee in your house if that house is very humble

00:39:30.080 | or if that house is very ostentatious.

00:39:35.300 | At the end of the day, you can only drink from one cup of coffee at a time and you can

00:39:39.160 | only sit at one table at a time.

00:39:45.080 | And is there a small difference of experience between drinking a cup of coffee at a table

00:39:53.880 | in a humble house or a cup of coffee at a large and ostentation house?

00:39:57.320 | I bet there probably is.

00:39:58.760 | I enjoy beautiful views.

00:40:00.160 | I like to go to nice hotels and sit and look at the water or sit and look at the mountains

00:40:04.340 | or sit and look at the valley.

00:40:05.920 | I think that's nice.

00:40:08.720 | But the vast majority of it can be experienced with a simple act of a cup of coffee and a

00:40:14.800 | table.

00:40:15.800 | I like to go out in the woods, go camping in the woods and wake up early and sit and

00:40:20.200 | drink a cup of coffee by a campfire.

00:40:24.420 | So the point is don't compare yourself on somebody else's scale.

00:40:30.600 | Don't compare yourself to somebody else's success.

00:40:33.800 | My definition of success, one of them, is being able to have the cup of coffee at 9.30

00:40:38.840 | in the morning at my house at my kitchen table.

00:40:45.080 | Doesn't matter to me about your kitchen table or at least it shouldn't.

00:40:50.840 | Obviously these things creep in sometimes.

00:40:54.840 | So it's easy and the final peril is this.

00:40:56.800 | You can lose sight of what you're working towards and what your goals are and you can

00:41:01.680 | start to compare yourself with others based upon their objectives rather than your own.

00:41:07.880 | Why are you doing what you're doing?

00:41:11.120 | Why do you want to do it?

00:41:12.960 | I didn't get into this business because I wanted to have a business like Dave Ramsey.

00:41:16.920 | I like Dave.

00:41:17.920 | I admire him.

00:41:18.920 | He's done a tremendous amount of good.

00:41:20.280 | He's built a tremendous business.

00:41:22.040 | I went up to Nashville last year and I met Dave and watched him record his show and instantly

00:41:28.200 | I was able to put myself there.

00:41:30.760 | Instantly I was able to say, "Well, I could do that.

00:41:34.440 | I can have this big building and this fancy production."

00:41:36.960 | Dave doesn't have anything that I don't have.

00:41:38.320 | Yeah, he's got a couple decade head start but no big deal.

00:41:40.920 | He's not smarter than me.

00:41:41.920 | He's not better than me.

00:41:42.920 | He's not more articulate than me.

00:41:44.080 | He's not a better student than me.

00:41:45.520 | I have all the basic qualities.

00:41:47.000 | He's just got a head start.

00:41:48.920 | And so I can instantly put myself there and say, "Well, then I need to be the next Dave

00:41:57.280 | Ramsey."

00:41:58.280 | That's so, so attractive.

00:42:04.360 | That is so seductive.

00:42:09.680 | The question is, do I really believe that that's what I want?

00:42:15.760 | Do I really want that?

00:42:18.120 | Or am I just doing that because that's somebody else's life and that's somebody else's goal?

00:42:24.080 | See, I didn't get into radical personal finance because I wanted to have a big business like

00:42:31.360 | Dave Ramsey.

00:42:34.840 | I had different goals.

00:42:42.040 | Certainly I want to do well.

00:42:43.440 | I intend to build tremendous wealth.

00:42:47.280 | But wealth doesn't control me.

00:42:49.560 | I'm not implying that it controls him either, just using him as an example.

00:42:55.240 | Wealth doesn't control me.

00:42:56.440 | The love of money doesn't control me.

00:42:59.760 | One of the reasons I got into the industry was I was annoyed and angry that there's some

00:43:03.560 | voices and perspectives that are not being heard.

00:43:07.800 | There's some viewpoints and philosophies and opinions that are not given a platform.

00:43:13.000 | I had a vision for the impact that a different message could make.

00:43:18.480 | Those are the things that compel me.

00:43:22.680 | And yet, when you achieve a little bit of success, you can quickly say, "Well, I want

00:43:27.480 | more.

00:43:30.760 | I want to do what that person has done."

00:43:32.080 | There's a famous story from Andrew Carnegie.

00:43:40.120 | Andrew Carnegie was a fascinating guy.

00:43:44.700 | In 1901, he sold Carnegie Steel and went on to form a steel trust called United States

00:43:53.540 | Steel.

00:43:54.540 | He became the richest man in the world when that happened.

00:44:01.700 | After that happened, he spent the rest of his life giving away most of his money.

00:44:05.580 | He did a great job.

00:44:07.260 | He made a lot of money and then he gave it away.

00:44:10.260 | After he died, they were searching through his personal effects.

00:44:14.180 | And they found a note that he had written when he was 33 years old and he was making

00:44:19.780 | $50,000 a year.

00:44:21.140 | Now, this was in a different age when the average laborer earned about 500 bucks a year.

00:44:29.860 | But he wrote this on a note.

00:44:33.700 | He said, "Man must have an idol.

00:44:38.260 | The amassing of wealth is one of the worst species of idolatry.

00:44:44.580 | No idol more debasing than the worship of money.

00:44:48.940 | Whatever I engage in, I must push inordinately.

00:44:51.820 | Therefore, should I be careful to choose that life which will be the most elevating in character.

00:44:59.980 | To continue much longer overwhelmed by business cares and with most of my thoughts wholly

00:45:05.500 | upon the way to make more money in the shortest time must degrade me beyond hope of permanent

00:45:12.020 | recovery.

00:45:14.140 | I will resign business at 35, but during the ensuing two years, I wish to spend the afternoons

00:45:20.820 | in receiving instruction and in reading systematically."

00:45:24.700 | Now, he wrote that advice to himself at 33.

00:45:33.940 | And then he spent the rest of his life obsessed with money, making it and then giving it away.

00:45:41.860 | Don't make some of these mistakes.

00:45:45.060 | What's interesting is one of the biggest struggles I've had is just simply knowing what to do

00:45:51.100 | in my business.

00:45:53.700 | One thing I loved about the life insurance business is that it was simple.

00:45:57.980 | If you do this, you get this outcome.

00:45:59.820 | I can tell you all the ratios, make this many phone calls, get this many referrals, go and

00:46:04.620 | meet with this many people, and you'll have this many sales.

00:46:07.540 | It's very, very simple.

00:46:09.380 | And the great thing is you memorize the scripts, you make the calls, you see the people, you

00:46:13.260 | fix their problems, and you get these results.

00:46:15.220 | 70% of people in the United States are underinsured when it comes to life insurance.

00:46:20.100 | And I loved that.

00:46:21.100 | I could go into the business and I could just follow the plan.

00:46:23.420 | I also hated the simplicity of that.

00:46:25.060 | I got really bored, but it was simple.

00:46:27.900 | You knew what to do.

00:46:29.420 | If you had a problem, our business was so well researched that if you had a problem

00:46:32.980 | with your outcome, you could just go back and study the process and we would go through

00:46:38.900 | the ratios.

00:46:39.900 | And every Monday morning, we'd have our client, we call it client builder meetings, and we'd

00:46:43.220 | go through the ratios.

00:46:44.220 | And I would coach new guys and all I need is the numeric ratios of their activity and

00:46:47.740 | I could diagnose exactly where the problem was.

00:46:50.340 | Oh, it's a language problem.

00:46:52.820 | It's a recommendation problem.

00:46:54.540 | It's whatever.

00:46:56.540 | The biggest challenge for me has been, well, in this business, it's hard to know what to

00:47:00.260 | do.

00:47:01.260 | Do I do more shows or fewer?

00:47:02.260 | Do I do longer shows or shorter?

00:47:03.580 | Do I do more controversial shows or not?

00:47:06.260 | Do I pursue advertisers and make my own products?

00:47:08.620 | What advertisers do I accept?

00:47:09.940 | What products do I make?

00:47:13.180 | Sometimes I feel competent as a broadcaster and incompetent as a businessman.

00:47:16.860 | Should I go into radio where some of the business can be taken away from me and I can focus

00:47:20.760 | on the skill of broadcasting?

00:47:25.100 | Success brings with it all kinds of challenges.

00:47:26.620 | I've struggled with the extra work that comes from success.

00:47:29.300 | For those of you who are new with any type of venture, here's what happens.

00:47:33.820 | With feedback, you'll get none and then for a long time, then you'll get a little and

00:47:38.220 | you'll be excited about it and then you'll get a ton and you'll start to dread your inbox.

00:47:41.280 | Not because you dread the communication, but you dread the inbox.

00:47:45.580 | So these are things that happen.

00:47:48.380 | And at the end of the day, you've got to go back and reassess and reconsider what are

00:47:54.020 | your objectives and why are they your objectives?

00:47:58.620 | Because you can't take somebody else's goals on for you.

00:48:03.780 | Just because somebody else has a goal of being valedictorian in their high school class doesn't

00:48:09.660 | mean that you should have that same goal.

00:48:13.140 | If you spend your time pursuing the goal of being a valedictorian, you are going to be

00:48:18.100 | giving up something else that you could be doing.

00:48:22.340 | You're perhaps going to be giving up playing sports.

00:48:25.620 | Perhaps you're going to be giving up starting a business.

00:48:27.740 | Perhaps you're going to be giving up a hobby that you're doing.

00:48:30.180 | Perhaps you're going to be giving up having a great time traveling with friends and hanging

00:48:33.300 | out and going spelunking on the weekends.

00:48:39.820 | So when you set a goal, you figure out what's the goal and what's the cost and am I willing

00:48:44.700 | to pay the cost.

00:48:48.460 | Be careful for these dangers and perils of success because they are seductive and they're

00:49:03.380 | probably going to happen to you.

00:49:06.660 | They've certainly happened to me.

00:49:09.100 | Now I can't just by making you aware of them, I'm hoping that when they do happen to you

00:49:14.180 | that you will pay attention to them.

00:49:16.980 | The dangers of success that I have gone into or that I have faced and the mistakes that

00:49:22.460 | I have made has not been a surprise.

00:49:25.020 | These things happen.

00:49:26.020 | So the good thing about content like this is that you're able to look at it and you're

00:49:30.140 | able to see it and then hopefully you'll be able to say, "Ah, when that happens, I'm aware

00:49:33.660 | of it."

00:49:36.700 | That's the point of a show like this, to help you to be aware of it so that you'll recognize

00:49:44.160 | it when it happens.

00:49:46.220 | When we're training our children, we teach them to recognize certain things.

00:49:51.620 | We give them certain instruction.

00:49:54.280 | When you're crossing the street, here's what you do and we drill it into their head again

00:49:57.680 | and again and again.

00:49:58.680 | It's as simple as crossing the street or it's as complex and as important as, "My son, here's

00:50:04.420 | how you avoid the seductress.

00:50:07.220 | Here's what's going to happen.

00:50:08.320 | You're going to face this in this position.

00:50:10.620 | You do this."

00:50:13.140 | From the simple to the complex.

00:50:18.100 | So with regard to these aspects of success, done with preaching about what they are, what

00:50:24.900 | does that mean with me and with the future of radical personal finance and how will that

00:50:30.320 | impact potentially you?

00:50:33.380 | Well, the last few weeks have been for me very much a time of introspection and just

00:50:38.720 | considering what I've been doing, what's been working, what hasn't been working.

00:50:45.020 | And then thankfully, this was – well, I knew it was going to be.

00:50:47.980 | I was able to finish with a visit to FinCon 16 out in San Diego, California this past

00:50:54.420 | week, which is – enjoy FinCon.

00:50:56.140 | It's a network of my compatriots and my peers, a lot of listeners to the show, but also a

00:51:00.260 | lot of people who do things similar to what I do.

00:51:04.340 | In past conferences, I've gone with different agendas.

00:51:06.460 | This time, I just went to hang out.

00:51:07.460 | I went to hang out with listeners, enjoyed meeting up with many of you, and I went to

00:51:11.540 | hang out with other people who were doing similar things to me.

00:51:14.620 | And it gave me a good opportunity just to think and to get a little bit more clarity

00:51:19.700 | on what I'm doing.

00:51:21.580 | So a couple of things, just for the record, so that I have this here to send people to.

00:51:27.780 | I'm not willing to fall prey to these perils of success.

00:51:35.300 | I know what they are, but I'm not willing to fall prey to them.

00:51:39.980 | I'm not going to fear losing success.

00:51:44.620 | I'm not going to stop doing what made me successful in the first place, and I'm not going to compare

00:51:49.620 | myself to other people's success, and I'm not going to lose sight of what my goals and

00:51:54.460 | objectives are and try to all of a sudden start substituting other people's.

00:51:59.220 | And I have done this, but I'm not willing to do it any longer.

00:52:04.060 | So first, you should know that, although to some of you, you might think that I have already

00:52:10.180 | been unfiltered, going forward on Radical Personal Finance, I am removing the filters

00:52:14.820 | from the content.

00:52:19.980 | I do not care about political correctness as an end or goal in itself, in any way, shape,

00:52:31.260 | or form.

00:52:33.260 | Now that does not mean that I desire to be rude or insulting or demeaning or mean.

00:52:40.060 | I'm none of those things.

00:52:43.140 | I think we should treat all people honorably and with respect and with gentleness.

00:52:49.180 | But it does mean that I have no interest in affirmative action.

00:52:55.340 | I'm not going to try to play the game of giving equal airtime to all sides.

00:53:01.020 | And this has been a tremendous challenge for me because I desire, and a mistake that I've

00:53:06.140 | made, because I desire to be thoughtful.

00:53:09.180 | I desire to be careful.

00:53:10.500 | I desire to be inclusive.

00:53:12.820 | I desire to be non-discriminatory.

00:53:16.340 | I desire to be welcoming.

00:53:20.100 | But that's been very paralyzing for me.

00:53:23.100 | It's been very difficult for me.

00:53:25.660 | I've tried to maintain a balance.

00:53:28.060 | I've tried to have something that's been helpful, but this is probably just primarily for me,

00:53:33.460 | not for you.

00:53:34.460 | But for me, that's been very paralyzing because I can't hit that standard.

00:53:39.900 | I can't have an equal show.

00:53:41.500 | I can't give equal airtime to all people, nor do I want to.

00:53:47.180 | So I don't care about you being a man or a woman.

00:53:52.780 | I'm not interested in trying to maintain a balance between the number of my guests who

00:53:57.380 | are men and the number of guests who are women.

00:53:59.620 | My show is not targeted at men.

00:54:01.420 | It's not targeted at women.

00:54:02.820 | And I'm not into that marketing stuff.

00:54:05.820 | If you want a show for women, either go find one or go create one.

00:54:08.500 | If you want a show for men, go find one or go create one.

00:54:11.300 | But I am not trying to keep some kind of artificial balance where if you are a man, I do a show

00:54:16.940 | on this day, and if you are a woman, I do a show on this other day.

00:54:20.500 | I talk to people because they're interesting to me.

00:54:23.420 | And I don't care if you're a man or a woman.

00:54:25.620 | If you have something that's interesting or something that will help to serve my audience,

00:54:30.540 | then I care about talking to you.

00:54:34.120 | But I have no interest in playing this game of affirmative action.

00:54:38.620 | Do something that's interesting.

00:54:42.260 | Teach and help and serve my audience.

00:54:45.420 | And I don't care who you are.

00:54:51.020 | I don't care if you're black or if you're white or if you're yellow or if you're red.

00:54:56.940 | One of the areas that I've shied away from on Radical Personal Finance is I've just been

00:55:01.100 | scared to tackle racial issues when it comes to money.

00:55:06.940 | In today's culture, especially in the United States, it's really hard when you're white

00:55:12.140 | to feel confident enough to take on the difficult questions that emerge based upon the color

00:55:16.860 | of your skin.

00:55:19.620 | But there are some serious differences in money between people who have differently

00:55:23.840 | colored skin, and those things need to be discussed.

00:55:29.540 | And perhaps it's taken me two years of work to try to come to the place where I'm confident

00:55:33.860 | enough to do it, but I'm not going to run away from it.

00:55:39.700 | I'm tired of it.

00:55:43.020 | And I'm tired of seeing other people run away from difficult questions simply because you

00:55:47.900 | have more or less, what is this stuff, melanin, right?

00:55:51.220 | Melanin in your skin.

00:55:52.500 | The color of your skin does not matter in the sense that your ideas have more or less

00:55:59.940 | value.

00:56:00.940 | The content of your ideas matters, and we need to talk about difficult topics.

00:56:06.020 | And I'm not playing the politically correct game anymore.

00:56:10.660 | I don't care about whether you are a Christian or a Muslim or an atheist.

00:56:17.580 | I'm absolutely convinced that you cannot disconnect your worldview from your money.

00:56:23.220 | You cannot disconnect your religion from your money.

00:56:28.740 | Religious neutrality is an absolute myth.

00:56:31.540 | There is no neutrality.

00:56:33.360 | It's just a matter of which religion is dominant or in control in your life or my life, and

00:56:38.980 | which religion is dominant or in control in a culture or a society or a country or a community.

00:56:45.980 | There is no religious neutrality.

00:56:51.420 | I don't care about your politics.

00:56:53.580 | Sorry, this is sounding more...

00:56:56.420 | I guess I'm just, for me, stating some of the things that are a little bit pent up and

00:57:00.500 | stating it for the record, so I'm not mad at you, the listener.

00:57:02.820 | But I don't care about the politics.

00:57:04.460 | I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican or a Libertarian or a...

00:57:08.500 | I don't know.

00:57:09.500 | I ran out of...

00:57:11.500 | An anarcho-capitalist or an anarchist or...

00:57:15.380 | I know all the ones on the right, communist, socialist, whatever.

00:57:19.540 | If you don't think politics matter to your money, what world are you living in?

00:57:27.140 | Did you watch the Trump-Clinton debate this week?

00:57:32.220 | You have two likely candidates for president.

00:57:36.140 | On the one hand, you have a communist, and on the other hand, you have a fascist mercantilist.

00:57:41.700 | You're doomed either way.

00:57:42.700 | We're all doomed either way.

00:57:45.860 | The point of this is that I cannot maintain a balanced perspective and still produce the

00:57:50.460 | show, and that's been incredibly stressful to me to try.

00:57:54.460 | So I'm done trying.

00:57:57.140 | Trying to maintain a balanced perspective or to be politically correct stresses me out,

00:58:03.540 | and it causes me to second guess everything that I want to do because I'm trying to be

00:58:07.540 | politically correct.

00:58:08.940 | Now, again, I'm not trying to...

00:58:12.900 | I have no intention of creating offensive content.

00:58:17.180 | That's not the point.

00:58:18.740 | The point is that political correctness and affirmative action, it's a losing proposition.

00:58:25.060 | Let me give you an example.

00:58:27.860 | For a long time, I've wanted to launch a huge series on the show on what the Bible teaches

00:58:31.340 | about money.

00:58:33.180 | The Bible says more about money than it does about faith.

00:58:35.780 | It says more about money than it does about love, and it says more about money than it

00:58:40.060 | does about prayer combined.

00:58:43.060 | The New Testament says more about money than it does about faith, love, prayer, or almost

00:58:47.280 | any other topic combined.

00:58:50.940 | Money is a central theme of the Bible, and there's some incredible riches there to learn.

00:58:55.740 | Some of the strongest promises in the Bible are related to money, and some of the direst

00:59:00.780 | warnings are related to money.

00:59:04.460 | And thus, as somebody who's creating a personal finance show, I should cover that, and I want

00:59:11.220 | to cover that.

00:59:12.220 | I spend a tremendous amount of time studying these issues.

00:59:16.020 | But I've waited out of not wanting my show to be too Christian, too religious.

00:59:19.020 | Every time I do a religious show or mention anything Christian, I get emails and reviews,

00:59:24.100 | and it gets really annoying.

00:59:25.460 | So this is the point of this message is for those of you.

00:59:27.900 | Now, I'll just send you to this timestamp, and I'll be done with it.

00:59:33.600 | The point is that I've waited because I'm also interested in what the Koran teaches

00:59:39.300 | about money, and I'm also interested in what the Jews believe about money, and I'm also

00:59:44.580 | interested if there are any Hindu teachings on money, and I'm also interested in what

00:59:48.300 | any atheist teachings on money.

00:59:50.660 | And I think about those things with as much depth as I have the ability to do.

00:59:54.520 | And so I'm very interested in those topics, but I've pulled back out of trying to maintain

00:59:57.900 | some kind of balance.

00:59:58.900 | Meanwhile, I look for an imam or somebody who's willing to come on the show and talk

01:00:01.640 | about it, and I can't find anybody good.

01:00:03.620 | I found one or two that I'm going to work with, but I'm done trying to keep any kind

01:00:08.860 | of balance.

01:00:10.940 | Biggest thing for me, I've gotten sucked into the trap of trying to please everyone else,

01:00:14.700 | and as a predictable result of that, I've pleased very few, including myself.

01:00:22.900 | So I'm done.

01:00:23.900 | I love debate.

01:00:26.680 | In a debate, you can find out if what you believe can hold up to the light of day.

01:00:32.800 | You can find out if your ideas are founded on something solid or if they melt away like

01:00:38.880 | sand.

01:00:39.880 | I like to watch debates because debates are a very efficient way of understanding the

01:00:44.840 | major issues in a conflict.

01:00:48.100 | When I have a question about something, not a Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump debate, that's

01:00:51.200 | a waste of time.

01:00:52.280 | When I have a question about something where there's an actual legitimate topic, I like

01:00:57.480 | to go and watch a debate on the subject because the debaters are trying to distill the essence

01:01:03.560 | of a topic into a specific viewpoint, a specific position that will bring in their strongest

01:01:08.840 | arguments.

01:01:11.080 | And so debates are powerful.

01:01:13.040 | And I like to debate because as a debater, I win either way.

01:01:16.740 | Either my arguments win and they have hopefully a positive effect or my arguments lose and

01:01:23.640 | I win by discovering an area of error and correcting it.

01:01:30.860 | And frankly, I'm sick and tired of evil and sin and debauchery and ugliness winning in

01:01:37.180 | our culture and winning on the airways.

01:01:38.880 | I'm done with it.

01:01:41.040 | I'm absolutely tired of going to FinCon and it happens at all the conferences, not just

01:01:47.640 | FinCon.

01:01:48.720 | But these days you go to a business conference and drunkenness and profanity and lewd content

01:01:58.800 | are a consistent theme across a majority of the speakers.

01:02:04.640 | I don't know what it is about somehow the modern business culture, but evidently the

01:02:09.040 | number one character aspiration to have and to praise and to celebrate is drunkenness,

01:02:14.080 | public drunkenness.

01:02:17.560 | And there's no respect any longer for profanity and for the content of your message.

01:02:25.660 | It's disgusting.

01:02:26.960 | And here I am sitting back, I sit back and I try to be sensitive and inclusive.

01:02:30.440 | Why do I sit back and try to be sensitive and inclusive when no one else does?

01:02:34.920 | Why do I do that?

01:02:37.440 | Why is Howard Stern or why do the shock jocks get all the pay?

01:02:42.020 | Why does Donald Trump and his antics get all the airplay?

01:02:47.360 | Why do not those of you, why do not you and I step up and not pull back and hold back

01:02:54.080 | our ideas?

01:02:55.800 | Why do those of us who actually care about our fellow human beings not stand up and actually

01:02:59.960 | say something?

01:03:02.100 | Why do those of us who actually care about the health of an individual, the health of

01:03:06.360 | a family, the health of a society stand up and condemn drunkenness instead of celebrating

01:03:11.240 | it?

01:03:12.240 | There is nothing positive about drunkenness, public or private.

01:03:15.840 | It destroys families' lives.

01:03:18.100 | Why do you and I sit back and not criticize that?

01:03:26.720 | So I'm done.

01:03:29.960 | I'm promoting ideas on this show that I believe in and I'm done with the filter.

01:03:38.320 | If you desire to debate me, please do so.

01:03:40.680 | I welcome the debate.

01:03:43.140 | But I'm doing you no favors as a listener and I'm doing me no favors as a podcaster,

01:03:48.880 | a broadcaster by holding back and trying to be neutral.

01:03:53.080 | Number one, I start to hate my own show because I try to filter it to please the non-existent

01:03:58.760 | you and I wind up frustrating all members of the audience.

01:04:01.280 | I frustrate the person who thinks that I'm too extreme on this side and I frustrate the

01:04:04.840 | other person and says, "Why are you holding back there?"

01:04:06.800 | And I wind up miserable, which is what has happened basically.

01:04:12.440 | So I'm doing you no favors, I'm doing me no favors.

01:04:15.520 | If I'm wrong about something, I desperately want it to be exposed so that I can get right.

01:04:22.240 | So you should know that about me as a person.

01:04:25.960 | If you think I'm wrong about something, feel free to, you want to pick a bone to pick with

01:04:30.560 | me, do it.

01:04:31.560 | You're actually welcome to fight with me on my website.

01:04:34.320 | I approve all the comments personally and I approve the nasty ones and the nice ones.

01:04:37.480 | I think I've only ever rejected one nasty comment.

01:04:42.440 | I was really tired after a long day working and someone made some stupid, insulting comment

01:04:48.600 | probably with some asinine ad hominem attack as its center and I just felt like they were

01:04:53.520 | walked into my house at the end of a long day and threw a bunch of garbage all over

01:04:56.480 | my floor and on that one I just like, "Why?

01:04:58.480 | It's my website.

01:04:59.480 | I have no duty or obligation whatsoever to approve your stupid comment."

01:05:04.320 | I hit trash.

01:05:05.320 | Now I know it's my site and I can do whatever I want with it.

01:05:08.640 | I could clear all that stuff out and nobody would care.

01:05:11.040 | But anyway, I don't mind it.

01:05:14.240 | I know my ideas are not politically correct, but I don't care about politics.

01:05:18.400 | I don't want any position of authority or control whatsoever.

01:05:21.760 | I have no interest in that.

01:05:25.080 | I want my ideas to be heard and I want them to be heard by those who have an ear to hear

01:05:31.400 | and are interested in those ideas.

01:05:35.920 | So I'm fixing my own problem with this little discussion here and I know that I didn't have

01:05:43.520 | to do this, but to me I always like to communicate up front.

01:05:46.640 | I always try to do everything in the light.

01:05:47.840 | I try to communicate clearly.

01:05:49.620 | That way I feel better, at least I've given you a warning, a trigger warning.

01:05:52.680 | Here's your trigger warning.

01:05:57.080 | And I'm not saying that I'll change anything about my tone.

01:05:59.420 | Those of you who appreciate the tone that I take, I'm not changing anything.

01:06:03.540 | As I cover difficult issues, I intend to do so in a respectful and careful and thoughtful

01:06:09.480 | way.

01:06:11.200 | If you're interested, the reason I do this is because I do it in this way and I try,

01:06:16.640 | hopefully I do it well.

01:06:17.640 | I try really hard to do it thoughtfully and to be respectful and careful.

01:06:22.760 | But the reason I try to do that is because the Bible commands it.

01:06:27.800 | The book of first Peter, the apostle Peter says this, he says, "But even if you should

01:06:31.920 | suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed.

01:06:36.140 | Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy,

01:06:43.200 | always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the hope that is in

01:06:50.040 | you.

01:06:51.040 | Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience so that when you are slandered,

01:06:58.720 | those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame."

01:07:02.920 | So I think that the way we debate ideas is very important.

01:07:05.160 | It should always be done carefully and with gentleness and respect.

01:07:10.320 | But it should also be done in a way that gives full exposure to the ideas at hand.

01:07:18.280 | It should be done in a way that gives full access to an idea so we can consider it.

01:07:26.880 | Many of you said, "Joshua, why don't you censor somebody out?"

01:07:29.080 | Or many of you said, "Joshua, why don't you edit this out?"

01:07:31.320 | The reason I don't do it is because editing is usually done as a way of manipulating an

01:07:35.280 | idea, manipulating a message.

01:07:38.480 | And I'm not talking about editing a technological problem, but when you edit somebody's content,

01:07:43.800 | you take out what you pick and choose.

01:07:46.960 | And I don't think that's fair to people.

01:07:49.800 | I think that we should respect another person and respect their argument and give it the

01:07:54.640 | full light of day.

01:07:59.840 | I've discovered that I always thought that I was a courageous person, and then I discovered

01:08:05.480 | that I wasn't quite as courageous as I thought.

01:08:09.000 | Courage is hard, but I am convinced it's worth it.

01:08:13.640 | It's been fascinating to me to watch the political landscape of the past year or two

01:08:20.400 | years.

01:08:21.400 | I mean, what's it been?

01:08:22.400 | A year or so, I guess, has been remarkable.

01:08:24.400 | And from a broadcaster perspective, the broadcaster that I probably most admire in the large mainstream

01:08:30.960 | broadcaster space is Glenn Beck.

01:08:33.040 | I really admire Glenn.

01:08:34.880 | And as I've thought about it, I realized that I know why I admire him, but I find it difficult

01:08:44.920 | to do the things that he does, which are the reason why I admire him.

01:08:51.320 | I admire him because he's actually real.

01:08:54.560 | He actually shares who he is.

01:08:56.960 | He actually is...

01:08:57.960 | I hate the word authentic.

01:09:00.600 | So overused.

01:09:01.760 | He actually is transparent.

01:09:03.080 | He's actually him.

01:09:04.720 | Good, bad, whatever.

01:09:08.920 | And I love that because I know where he stands.

01:09:10.640 | I know what he believes.

01:09:11.840 | I know what he thinks.

01:09:13.520 | He doesn't have the filter that many other broadcasters have.

01:09:16.880 | And the thing that's been the most remarkable to me is he's one of the very few conservative

01:09:22.920 | broadcasters that stood up to and continued to oppose Donald Trump with his rise to power.

01:09:30.600 | What's been remarkable to me is just seeing how he's done that.

01:09:33.800 | And I go and look at his Facebook page sometimes and I look at the vitriol that comes against

01:09:38.440 | him and I just think to myself, "Joshua, wow.

01:09:41.120 | You've learned.

01:09:44.000 | You got scared over the tiny little bit of vitriol that you deal with, and yet how would

01:09:49.900 | you deal with this?"

01:09:50.900 | Well, you learn.

01:09:52.700 | But the thing I always respect and appreciate about Glenn is he says what he thinks and

01:09:56.200 | he thinks...

01:09:57.200 | And he's true.

01:10:00.320 | He conveys who he actually is.

01:10:02.680 | Good things, bad things, warts and all.

01:10:06.560 | And that to me is compelling.

01:10:09.080 | And yet one thing I've learned being in the position of... as a broadcaster, it's hard

01:10:16.920 | to be vulnerable because you expose something of yourself.

01:10:22.160 | You expose something of yourself and you put something of yourself out there that people

01:10:25.360 | are going to have the possibility of rejecting.

01:10:28.360 | It's really difficult.

01:10:30.480 | Again, I'm not asking for your sympathy.

01:10:33.320 | I chose this path.

01:10:34.320 | It has many rewards.

01:10:35.600 | I'm trying to convey it to you so that you can understand.

01:10:38.400 | That's all.

01:10:42.040 | So I've realized that I've not done a good job of putting into practice some of the things

01:10:48.400 | that I think I believe.

01:10:50.360 | I've tried to be balanced.

01:10:52.560 | I've tried to do all those things.

01:10:56.800 | And yet I don't believe in that.

01:10:58.280 | So what am I doing?

01:11:00.280 | So here's my message for my trolls so I can point them to it.

01:11:05.440 | I don't owe you a thing.

01:11:07.360 | The internet is a free place, at least for now.

01:11:10.760 | And if you want to fight, fight in the arena of ideas.

01:11:14.800 | My show is freely available to anyone who wants it.

01:11:17.040 | No one is forcing you to listen and I'm not charging you a dime for it.

01:11:19.880 | So thus I owe you nothing.

01:11:21.280 | Now if you disagree with me on something, I hereby invite you to do so.

01:11:26.260 | But prove me wrong.

01:11:27.720 | And here is how I suggest that you do it.

01:11:31.240 | Number one, research your position, understand your presuppositions and use facts, logic

01:11:35.520 | and evidence in your argument rather than calling names.

01:11:38.880 | Number two, at least try to understand my position on an issue and the presuppositions

01:11:44.320 | that I have.

01:11:50.280 | It's important to always do your best to understand your opponent's argument to the fullest extent

01:11:57.000 | possible.

01:12:00.680 | And then identify where I'm wrong and how I made my mistake and then come tell me about

01:12:05.040 | it.

01:12:06.040 | I recommend that in general you start on your own blog or your own site.

01:12:11.840 | But if you want to talk to it online, I welcome you there.

01:12:15.040 | Start on the blog.

01:12:16.040 | I consider all blog comments.

01:12:17.260 | And if you're really good and if the conversation is related to finance, we're not going to

01:12:20.680 | talk about cosmology on Radical Personal Finance.

01:12:24.040 | If the – not that I'm opposed to it.

01:12:27.120 | I want to stay consistent to the personal finance thread of the show.

01:12:31.480 | That's very important.

01:12:32.620 | But if you're really good and your argument is related to finance, then I'll invite you

01:12:35.240 | on the show to debate me on the subject.

01:12:38.280 | And that will give you an opportunity to demonstrate to the listening audience that you're right

01:12:42.120 | if you can persuade them and expose your ideas.

01:12:45.200 | And if you can convince me that I'm wrong, then I'll publicly acknowledge it.

01:12:48.660 | Just don't use a stupid ad hominem attack.

01:12:52.000 | For those of you who are not familiar with the term, I'm making up a percentage.

01:12:56.240 | But it just feels like 75% of the attacks that people make are some variation of an

01:13:01.520 | ad hominem logical fallacy, which is where you attack the person instead of the idea.

01:13:05.360 | I do this all the time in most debates that I have with people.

01:13:08.560 | You write out a long thing and they just attack you.

01:13:10.560 | Well, you blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

01:13:12.440 | You're mean or you're nasty or you're insensitive or you're unloving.

01:13:15.640 | Come on.

01:13:16.640 | Deal with the issue.

01:13:18.680 | Personally, and many of you are thinking, "Why this somewhat lengthy discourse on Joshua

01:13:29.120 | and ... Why don't you just do a Joshua?

01:13:32.160 | Why are you talking about it?"

01:13:33.840 | Frankly, I'm really concerned about the future of free speech.

01:13:38.960 | I'm very concerned about it.

01:13:40.840 | Now, at the moment, the future, I think, is bright, at least from a technological perspective.

01:13:49.680 | From a technological perspective, things are good.

01:13:55.040 | There are more ways to get around government control today with regard to freedom of speech

01:14:00.000 | than there's ever been before.

01:14:02.560 | In general, freedom of speech is appreciated by many more people in the world than ever

01:14:08.400 | it was before.

01:14:09.920 | So, technologically and to some extent, philosophically, free speech is appreciated.

01:14:20.880 | But the social pressure against the free expression of ideas is immense.

01:14:29.560 | That's what I've been responding to here, trying to share it with you as somebody who's

01:14:32.900 | experienced that social pressure.

01:14:35.240 | The social pressure is immense and concerningly, the pressure of big government to finish the

01:14:45.740 | job is closing in, especially with the forthcoming presidential election in the United States.

01:14:54.920 | Now, I think we're going to escape the problem.

01:14:58.440 | I really do.

01:15:00.160 | I think that we're going to escape the problem.

01:15:07.400 | The reason is that I'm pretty confident in the impotence of bureaucracy and the limitations

01:15:14.640 | thereof.

01:15:15.640 | In general, when I screw something up, create a bureaucracy.

01:15:19.800 | So I'm pretty confident that bureaucracy will render the political winds ineffective.

01:15:29.360 | But I could be wrong about that.

01:15:32.560 | And we might have to fight over it over the next couple of decades.

01:15:36.600 | I'm very concerned about the coming presidential election in the United States.

01:15:40.280 | Both Trump and Clinton are terrifying when it comes to the idea of free speech and free

01:15:45.720 | expression of ideas.

01:15:46.720 | And again, I'm pretty confident, but I'm not 100% confident.

01:15:50.880 | So put it this way, my passports are ready and I've got a bag packed.

01:15:55.560 | So if I need to get out of the United States and do this from somewhere else, I will cross

01:15:59.280 | that bridge when I get to it.

01:16:01.600 | But the big thing is the social pressure.

01:16:05.020 | The current psychological and social pressure being put on dissidents to conform is immense.

01:16:13.200 | It's immense.

01:16:15.400 | Now, I'm small fish and I've experienced it personally.

01:16:23.000 | But I bet you have too, whether it's a Facebook comment about an election or a contentious,

01:16:29.840 | divisive question of some kind, and all of a sudden people jump on you and demand that

01:16:35.720 | you conform without giving you any reason to do so.

01:16:40.040 | Again, I'm small fish, but man, the pressure that I've experienced over the last two years

01:16:46.320 | has been very impactful.

01:16:48.720 | I've needed two years to grow some thicker skin.

01:16:51.080 | I never knew how immense it was.

01:16:52.400 | I can't even imagine what it's like for those people with a huge footprint.

01:16:59.480 | So I hope this is at least interesting to you.

01:17:04.120 | As a listener of the show, I wanted to speak clearly on the subject to convey it to you.

01:17:11.400 | And going forward in the future, I hope you enjoy the work that I'm doing here at Radical

01:17:15.640 | Personal Finance.

01:17:16.640 | I intend to fully embrace that word that I put in the show title, radical.

01:17:22.600 | And I intend to have serious discussions in a thoughtful, gentle, and respectful way on

01:17:28.720 | serious and difficult and divisive issues that matter to your bank account and to mine,

01:17:33.880 | and that matter to your life and to mine.

01:17:37.840 | And the key thing is I'm not trying to screen it based upon trying to maintain some semblance

01:17:43.320 | of balance.

01:17:45.000 | And neither am I necessarily trying to keep it unbalanced.

01:17:48.640 | But just the pressure that I've put on myself, it's not you, it's me.

01:17:52.080 | But the pressure that I put on myself is to somehow keep it balanced, to somehow interview

01:17:55.840 | somebody from this perspective and somebody from that perspective, and then somehow mix

01:17:59.600 | up the order so I don't get too out of whack one way or too out of whack the other way.

01:18:04.920 | I can't do that.

01:18:05.920 | That's been really paralyzing to me.

01:18:07.580 | So I'm done with that.

01:18:08.760 | But that's not to say that I'm not willing to tackle or hear or interview people or discuss

01:18:13.440 | subjects from different perspectives.

01:18:15.440 | Just that if you see three shows about politics or about religion, those are always the contentious

01:18:22.160 | ones, or about how you shouldn't invest in a 401(k) in a row, I'm not trying to filter

01:18:27.960 | that in order to keep it diverse.

01:18:30.760 | There's a huge podcast feed that you can listen to.

01:18:33.240 | And don't worry, it'll change up in the future.

01:18:35.520 | That I guess is the biggest thing that you need to know.

01:18:37.640 | So if you'd like to support the show, I would ask you to do so.

01:18:41.240 | And here are four ways that you can do so.

01:18:44.960 | Number one, I haven't talked much about the business side of the show.

01:18:49.200 | I always say this, I'm going to make some changes.

01:18:52.760 | I am going to make some changes.

01:18:54.400 | But one of the things that I'm very focused on is building the autonomy and the independence

01:18:59.000 | of radical personal finance, keeping the show largely free of the influence of sponsors,

01:19:03.920 | of corporations, of outside influences.

01:19:07.120 | And to do that, I am continuing to create standalone information products to sell to

01:19:13.040 | you.

01:19:14.400 | And I hope to price those products very, very high and make a very nice profit on the sale

01:19:20.720 | of that to you.

01:19:22.520 | So I'm working on a few.

01:19:23.620 | But what I would like to ask is, if you have a moment, take a minute and write me an email.

01:19:27.460 | Email me joshua@radicalpersonalfinance.com and ask me a question that you have.

01:19:33.880 | Put in the subject line of the email, product question or something similar.

01:19:36.880 | Just tell me the subject or topic or question that you have questions on that I haven't

01:19:41.440 | covered on the show.

01:19:42.440 | I get those from time to time from many of you.

01:19:44.320 | I'm just asking you, please write me an email, joshua@radicalpersonalfinance.com and ask me

01:19:47.720 | a question or tell me the topic that you'd like to hear more shows on.

01:19:51.320 | Doesn't matter if it's mainstream, doesn't matter if it's radical.

01:19:55.520 | All of the above are welcome.

01:19:58.060 | Number two, if you'd like to help me and help the show, please take a moment and review

01:20:02.920 | the show on whatever podcasting platform you use to listen to it.

01:20:07.960 | These podcast reviews are very helpful to a podcaster for various reasons.

01:20:12.440 | And I generally don't like to come on the show and just ask and solicit your reviews

01:20:18.880 | all the time.

01:20:19.880 | That gets really annoying.

01:20:21.080 | But they are very helpful.

01:20:22.280 | So you can do it in iTunes or Stitcher or the app store on your phone.

01:20:26.300 | And please do not think that needs to be a three paragraph review.

01:20:32.480 | One or two sentences is perfect and you can do it right on your phone.

01:20:34.960 | Just pull out your phone, pause this for a moment, pull out your phone, write one or

01:20:38.200 | two sentences.

01:20:39.200 | Joshua's show is great.

01:20:40.200 | He's so smart.

01:20:41.200 | That'll be nice.

01:20:42.200 | Joshua's show stinks.

01:20:43.200 | He is just a jerk.

01:20:44.200 | Fine.

01:20:45.200 | Doesn't matter.

01:20:46.200 | Write the review.

01:20:47.200 | Number three, please support my show on Patreon.

01:20:49.200 | My Patreon campaign has really suffered in past months and this is my fault due to not

01:20:54.000 | structuring it well.

01:20:55.760 | I will work on that.

01:20:56.880 | But I remain convinced that this is the very best, most ethical way for you to support

01:21:00.800 | somebody like me who's trying to create for you interesting and useful content.

01:21:06.280 | Because at any point in time, you can either show support financially, change support financially

01:21:11.720 | or remove support financially.

01:21:13.760 | And this is the best, most direct feedback mechanism that can possibly exist in the marketplace.

01:21:19.960 | And so if you would like to do that, I would greatly welcome that.

01:21:23.640 | You can find that at RadicalPersonalFinance.com/patron.

01:21:25.640 | RadicalPersonalFinance.com/patron.

01:21:28.640 | Finally, if you would like to support the show or if you'd like just to work with me,

01:21:35.520 | I'm still doing some consulting calls.

01:21:38.480 | You can book a consulting phone call with me at RadicalPersonalFinance.com/phonecall.

01:21:46.840 | And I keep notes on those, not about your specific situation, though obviously I do

01:21:51.480 | have that, but your information is private.

01:21:53.520 | I keep note on the themes because I find it really interesting, the questions that people

01:21:58.420 | actually want to hire me to talk about because that gives me product ideas for things that

01:22:02.280 | I can create and sell millions of and make millions of dollars.

01:22:07.040 | I hope this content today has been useful to you.

01:22:09.440 | I think it flowed.

01:22:12.480 | Usually a guy like me, you get to the end of the show and you think, "Wait a second,

01:22:14.600 | did that make sense?"

01:22:15.600 | I hope it did.

01:22:16.600 | So I just like to communicate clearly, especially for regular listeners.

01:22:21.520 | So anyway, that's it.

01:22:24.600 | Thank you all so much for listening and I will be back with you very soon.

01:22:27.260 | [Music]

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