Your tough Tacoma is here. Your powerful 4Runner. Your stylish Camry. Your versatile RAV4. Even your fully electric VZ4X. Your new Toyota car, truck, or SUV is available now. So see your Toyota dealer today. We make it easy. Toyota. Let's go places. Radicals, I've just found some important news. And I've got to get this to you as fast as possible.

Because I just found out that there's a presidential election tomorrow. November 8, 2016. There is a presidential election in the United States of America. And your life is going to be over if the wrong person wins. You're doomed if the wrong person wins that election tomorrow. You are absolutely going to be without a future.

And so I've got to get you all the information that you need. I need to fill you in on all of the details so that you know who you can vote for and how you can vote. Because if you don't go out and vote tomorrow, the end of the world as we know it is upon us.

And--oh, wait a second. Sorry. Wrong show. This isn't that show. This is another show. Welcome to the Radical Personal Finance Podcast. My name is Joshua Sheets, and I am your host. Generally not quite as caffeinated as that intro. This is the show where we tackle the subject of financial freedom, building a plan for financial freedom, while also living a rich and meaningful life now.

And today we talk about voting, elections, and their impact on your money and your life. And no, I hope you like my little joke, but I promise, none of that nonsense around here today. In case you haven't heard, and it's hard for me to imagine how you wouldn't have heard, although, I tell you what, if you didn't know, and you're listening to this, if you didn't know, listen to it currently, that tomorrow, November 8, 2016, is the 2016 presidential election, I would applaud your ability to be informed about things that matter to your life and to ignore everything else.

I would applaud that. I actually would. But I dare say that there's nobody in the listening audience who's not aware of the election tomorrow. And as has been the case with the last dozens and dozens of elections that I'm aware of, this is, of course, the most important election in your lifetime.

And it will remain that way until November the 9th, in which case the 2020 election campaign for presidential elections will kick off. And that, again, will be the most important election in your lifetime. So congratulations. Enjoy this one while it lasts, and we can get ready for the next one.

Now, lest I offend all of you who do care deeply about the 2016 election, I must tell you that I care about the issues involved in the 2016 election, and I do not say those comments in an effort to minimize the passion that you feel for your position. I really don't.

And if you're not ready to hear this yet, then just pause and come back in a few days, because this will be every bit as relevant a couple days after the election as it will be today. And if there are those of you who don't like political discussions, I encourage you, this is a good place to use the delete button on your phone.

And if you do like political discussions, I encourage you to recognize that at no place in today's show will I tell you what to vote for, who to vote for, or even to vote. Because my entire point with today's show is to demonstrate to you how. It's a waste of time for you to devote anything more than maybe an hour to go down and drop a ballot in the box and go back home and get on with your life.

It's a waste of time for you to pay any attention to this whole debacle any more than that. And I'll tell you, instead of wasting your time moaning and whining and complaining about this stuff, I'm going to give you some activities that you can do that will actually make a difference and will be far more influential in your society and in your culture than your vote.

Now, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news and to come against the whole cultural conversation. It's really annoying. I went on YouTube this morning and YouTube tells me I'm supposed to go vote and Facebook tells me I'm supposed to go vote and Google tells me I'm supposed to go vote and can't go anywhere without being known that I'm supposed to go vote.

They all wanted me to go and vote and yet, is it really going to matter? Is there a difference that's going to be made in my life depending on who I vote for? Now, if you're screaming yes at your earpieces right now, I'd agree with you, yes, there is going to be something of a difference.

Elections do affect your life to a very small degree, but it's nowhere near as much of a difference as those who are clamoring for you to go out and vote want you to believe that it is. It's nowhere near of a difference because I want you to recognize the fact that they need you to go out and vote.

They need you to feel that it really matters. They need you to feel like it's the most important of your election because if you don't feel that way, then you won't pay any attention to them. By them, let me define that. I hate when people refer to the "they" without defining them.

Them being politicians. They need you for power. They need you for their power. They don't have power without you, the collective you, and your collective vote. But you, the personal you, the individual you, you don't need them. And thus, all of the power is in your hands, not in their hands.

Yeah, they might have the guns, they might have the government, but you've got things that are far more valuable than that. You've got the freedom of choice. You've got the freedom of association. You've got the freedom of activity. You've got the freedom over your own thoughts. And depending on what you do with your life, you will either consistently give away your power to politicians, or you'll stand up and take a little bit back for yourself.

Today, I'm going to give you some ideas for how you can do that. And here's the cool thing. If you start doing some of these things, I've got 10 ideas. If you start doing some of these systematically, consistently, that will have a ripple effect on society. And if you care about seeing anything change in society, you can't start with them.

You have to start with you. We're going to start with the depressing news, and then we're going to move on towards the hopeful things. I always rather end on a hopeful note when I podcast rather than on a depressing note. But here's the depressing note. The 2016 presidential election is reflective of your culture.

You own it. I own it. If you're frustrated and annoyed at the politicians, recognize the fact that you and I collectively chose these politicians. You and I went through the process of allowing these people to have our attention. We gave them permission to run their political candidacies. We gave them our attention.

We gave them our votes. And collectively, we bear the responsibility for them. Now, if that's not depressing, I don't know what would depress you. Because what it means is that everything you don't like about that political candidate, all the things that make you despise that person, guess what? Those things are what our culture is full of.

So if it's arrogance, culture is full of arrogance. If it's corruption, guess what? We live in a very corrupt culture where people can be bought for not much. If it's their lack of willingness to deliver anything truthful, we live in a culture that accepts lies on a daily basis.

And we accept it. We put them there. So don't go yelling about the political candidate who you can't stand. Recognize the fact that you and I are responsible for them. Because if you and I hadn't given them power, they wouldn't be there. If you and I had stood up and not allowed them to have their place of prominence, they wouldn't be there.

So it's our fault. Pretty depressing, huh? So what can you do? Because the depressing part is over. And now we're going to talk about what you and I can do. Remember, we can't do anything about anybody else. I can't control you. I can't control your actions. I can't make you do anything.

Oh, sure, I could get a gun and come and stick it to your head, but that doesn't work. You might carry out the action that I command you, but as soon as the gun is gone, you're not going to do it anymore. So what can you do? Well, you can change you.

And I can change me. And you can live how you want to live. And I can live how I want to live. And as you do that and I do that, there will be a change and an impact on the tiny little community around us. And then as dozens of other people do that, there will be a little bit more of a change and an impact on the little community around all of us.

And then as many more hundreds and thousands and ultimately millions of people do that, there will be a little bit more of a change. Now, of course, some people have more influence than others. At the end of the show, I'll talk to you about that. Because without question, there are those who seek to influence many millions, hundreds of millions, and billions of people with their power and with their message.

And they have very effective ways of doing that. But don't start there. Don't start with trying to figure out how you can influence millions of people if you can't even influence yourself. Or if you can't even influence the one or two people who are closest to you. There's a good visual metaphor for you and me to keep in mind as we consider the problems of our day.

To recognize that power and influence flow out in a series of concentric circles. And they're the most influential when they're close. I think of it like a stone dropped in the middle of a pond. A friend of mine who is a poet, lives in New York City, his name is Jonathan Walton.

He has a poem and in one stanza of his poem, he has this lyric. And he does it super fast. I'll do it slower. But he says, "We are people pebbles tossed into a pool. Every ripple I create in turn ripples you. So in unison we are rippling, a type of ripple rhythm, but we need to ripple in a way that benefits our living." Again, "We are people pebbles tossed into a pool.

Every ripple I create in turn ripples you. So in unison we are rippling, a type of ripple rhythm, but we need to ripple in a way that benefits our living." See, if you want to influence others, it has to start with you and it has to flow out through those who are the closest to you.

So I want to give you some specific and practical ideas, things that will impact your finances, but that will help you. And some things that you can do that will actually be influential. So if you're frustrated and angry about the political election, if you're frustrated and angry about who it is that you think is going to win, or who it is who has now won, that's what is.

And you can't change that. Because you have no influence over that. But here are some things that you can do. Here are some things that you can do and you can focus on in your life. And the ripples that will come out from some of these things will start to build a ripple rhythm with other people around you.

So number one, and probably all-encompassing, is get free yourself. My number one suggestion for you, if you would like to be able to have an impact on other people, get out of debt. And here I'm not making the argument that one course of action is financially superior than another or that there's no...

I'm not making any financial argument here. I'm making the argument of freedom. If you owe other people money, your actions will be governed because of that. One of my managing directors, when I was with Northwestern Mutual, used to have the joke, remember he was managing a team of salespeople.

He always used to say, "I love it when my sales guys go out and buy a brand new car." He said, "I love it. I love it when they go out and buy houses." He says, "Because guess what? Payments are good for business." Remember, he, as a managing director, he would get paid based upon the production of his agents.

And his agents were all on commission. So his happy day was when his agents would pull up into the parking lot in a beautiful new car or talk about that beautiful new house they bought. Because now all of a sudden, they got to get busy and make money. When you're in debt, when you owe other people money, those other people have control over your actions to some degree.

Depending on the severity of the debt, depending on the type of the debt, etc., that degree will vary. But if you are beholden to other people, your actions will be governed based upon them. One of the most valuable financial things that you can do is to get out of debt and stay out of debt.

Because when you get out of debt and you stay out of debt, you'll experience a degree of freedom that you never knew before. You'll experience a degree of autonomy that you haven't known. And what will happen is, even if you could earn more money by being in debt, you'll experience an emotional freedom and you'll start to see things that might matter to you more than money.

You'll experience the ability to say what you want, to do what you want, to be responsible for yourself and for your family. And that has the potential of turning you into a radical person. It has the potential of turning you into the type of person who can stand up and speak your mind in the midst of a lot of people who disagree with you.

So number one, if you want to be a revolutionary, if you want to be a radical, if you want to see some change, give some serious thought and some serious effort to getting out of debt and staying out of debt. Number two, get off of and get out of governmentally controlled welfare systems.

Disconnect yourself from dependence and reliance on the politicians good favor towards you. Recognize that the politicians use money as a way of gaining influence and power. And they control vast swaths of people based upon the money that they either open up and allow to flow from the centralized coffers or upon the money that they cut off.

Doubt me? Just think about the lobbyists that are sent in when the politicians are getting together and thinking about making some kind of legislative change. Just think about how if there's a welfare system that's trying to be changed. Just think about how all of a sudden entire voting blocks can be moved.