(upbeat music) This is the Everything Financial Radio Podcast. I am your host, Dennis Tubergen. Glad you're listening in this week. And if you're a regular listener, thank you and welcome back. If you're a new listener, this is where we talk about what's going on in the economy, what's going on politically, and what it might mean for you and your money.

Each week, I interview typically a couple of guest experts and share their perspectives with you. This past week, I caught up with Mr. Gerald Salente. Gerald is the publisher of Trends Journal. Certainly always enjoy my conversation with Gerald and his perspective. I also caught up with the host of the Radical Personal Finance Podcast this past week, Mr.

Joshua Sheets. That conversation I will be sharing with you as well on this week's podcast. If you're not yet a subscriber to my newsletter titled Portfolio Watch, I would encourage you to become a subscriber. Subscriptions are free. They're delivered via email every Monday at five. And in your email inbox, every Monday at five, you'll receive my market update, my economic commentary, and give you some ideas to consider in your own investment portfolio.

The website, if you'd like to become a subscriber, is yourportfoliowatch.com. That's Y-O-U-R, yourportfoliowatch.com. Joining me once again on the Everything Financial radio program is the founder and director of the Trends Research Institute and the publisher of Trends Journal, Mr. Gerald Salente. Gerald has been one of my favorite guests over the years.

And Gerald, thank you for taking time out to join us again today. - Oh, always great being out with you. Thanks for asking that. - Gerald, let's talk about the economy. The talking heads, the mainstream media say we have a recovery going, although the recovery is a bit anemic.

But when you look at the jobs numbers and you look at some of the underlying data, it just seems that that doesn't add up. What's your take? - Well, you know, first of all, the world is bigger than the United States. And although it's the largest economy in the world, there's a lot more going on out there.

So let's take a trip to China. And remember, China's growth and all of the stimulus that they pumped into the place following the panic of '08 is one of the reasons why you saw commodity prices go so high and also a recovery from that terrible hit that happened back then.

So take a look at what's going on in China. They just came out with their import-export numbers. They're dismal. They're negative, both of them. And you take a trip to Japan, despite two rounds of Abe-nomics, trillions of yen pumped into the market, they fluctuate between recession and stagnation. Matter of fact, since Abe's been in government since 2012, the entire GDP of Japan's only grown about 2.4%.

You have a global slowdown. Look what's going on in Europe. Look at the banking problems they have. Look at the real numbers coming out, the declines in bank shares, whether it's Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Paribus, one after another. So there's no recovery. It's a global recession. It's bigger than America.

Take a trip to Brazil. Wanna have some fun? Go to Venezuela. You look around, whether it's Nigeria, Angola, Congo, when these commodity prices collapsed, so too did a lot of the world economies. So there's no recovery. And when you look at the jobs numbers in the United States that they're touting, it's a sham.

For example, we've lost five million jobs in manufacturing in the USSA since about 2000. The five million jobs that are replaced are in the hospitality sector. Isn't that a nice proper word? Hospitality sector. Bartenders, waitresses, waiters, making beds in hotels. Not that those are demeaning jobs. I don't mean that in any way.

What I mean to say is that the fact is they don't pay a lot of money. Healthcare, health aides, ambulatory services. So when you look at real wages and median household income in the United States, median household income is below 1999 levels. 95% of the wealth created since the stock market boom that began with all of the quantitative easing and all of the zero interest rate policy, and this effect has gone to the 1%.

95% of the wealth created in the US has gone to the 1%. Worldwide, 62 people have more money than half the world's population combined. Recovery, how about calling it a coverup? - You know, we're chatting today with Gerald Salente, founder and director of the Trends Research Institute, also publisher of the Trends Journal.

I would encourage you to check out his work at trendsresearch.com. And Gerald, as you were talking about this wealth gap, although you didn't really use that term, it just strikes me that with all the quantitative easing programs we've seen really worldwide, it really seems to have proven that if you're close to the printing press, you benefit.

And the further you are away, these policies actually harm Main Street America. Would you agree? - Well, they do, because look at the facts again. Negative interest rates, zero interest rate policy, who does it help? The facts are there. You're looking at stock buybacks in the first three months of the year, it's about $160 billion in the United States.

So they're borrowing the money for nothing, going back, buying back their own stock and driving up the equity prices. Mergers and acquisition activity, borrowing the dough for nothing, and they're buying up other companies. And it's a war against the savers, because we have no place to put our money.

You don't put in the bank anymore and get, you don't even get a toaster anymore. (laughing) You put it in the bank, you get nothing back for it. People used to retire on their savings. So that's gone. And again, all it's done is benefited the, you know, the equity markets, the gamblers.

By the way, you look at what's going on with what happened with the Brexit vote in the UK. What was it about? Read the facts. They're there for everybody that wants to open their eyes and look at them. One of the major issues is anti-globalization and a reaction against the elites running and owning everything and the rest of the people working in slavelandia.

- So, Joe, when you look at the Brexit vote, I mean, I look at that and it's a move towards protectionism and nationalism. And we saw the same thing when the world economy slowed in the early '30s. In your view as a trends forecaster, is the Brexit vote the first of many such votes around the world?

- Oh, absolutely. It's a matter of fact, we're coming out with a new trends journal shortly. And what we're writing about is people power. And that's what this really, you know, like it or not, you know, that's what it was. And it's a reaction against, again, the mobs, the people like to call them in the States, the Republicans and the Democrats, for example.

How about the bloods in the crypts? You know, I don't say that sarcastically. How many more people do the Republicans and Democrats have to murder around the world in the name of freedom and democracy before anybody calls a murderer a murderer? How many more drone strikes? What is 4,000 innocent people killed by that Nobel Peace Prize winner Obama on his terror Tuesdays when he's quoted as saying, I'll quote, "I'm really good at killing people." In the book "Double Down." Thieves, they rob our money in the name of too big to fail, loan guarantees, and bailouts to their friends.

I mean, let's call it what it is. And when you see the Brexit vote is a reaction against that. It's going on globally in all the Western so-called democracies. These are not democracies. These are neo-feudal societies. We've taken away from the kings, the queens, and nobility, and we gave it to a small club.

The Oxford, the Eaton boys, the Harvard, Princeton, Yale gang, the White Shoe Boys on Wall Street of the city of London. When are people gonna grow up and call it what it is? And that's what the reaction is. The anger out there is real. The people are being shafted.

They feel it in their lives, in their pocketbooks. Look what's going on in the United States. Do you know that the millennial age people, their amount of home buying is at a record low? They're left getting out of college with $100,000 worth of debt and getting jobs as baristas at Starbucks.

Yeah, I used to be a soda jerk when I was a kid. You know, they're now adults, soda jerks pouring out coffee as what is, with Starbucks owns, what, nearly 8,000 outlets. And that puts out a business of all the people that used to want to compete, whether it's in that or fast food or multinationals.

That's what the Brexit vote is about. It's a reaction against a few owning everything. It's a reaction against the 62 people, according to Oxfam, that owned more dough than half the world's population combined. - Well, we are chatting today with the founder and director of the Trends Research Institute, publisher of Trends Journal, Mr.

Gerald Celente. I would encourage you to check out his work at trendsresearch.com. It's one of my favorite publications to read. Again, I'd encourage you to check it out. We'll be back and continue our conversation with Gerald when Everything Financial Radio returns. Stay with us. ♪ Come on, come on ♪ ♪ Listen to the money talk ♪ ♪ That's the way you do it ♪ ♪ Money for nothing and you chase the breeze ♪ - Well, I certainly hope you're enjoying the conversation that I had with Mr.

Gerald Celente this past week. I'll get right back to that conversation now. I'm joined on the Everything Financial Radio program today by the founder and director of the Trends Research Institute and publisher of the Trends Journal, Mr. Gerald Celente. The website to check out his work is trendsresearch.com. And Gerald, in the last segment, we were talking a bit about, or alluded anyway to, you'd mentioned the too big to fail banks.

And to talk about banking again, I mean, it seems that these too big to fail banks are essentially in worse condition than they were prior to the bailout. The derivative exposure is greater. The return of the no money down mortgage is back. And are we just ready to see a repeat performance of what we saw back in 2007 and 2008 in your view?

- I think it's going to be much worse because the bubble that is built up by this equity boom that's not based on price earning ratios, it's based on speculation. It's based, again, on stock buybacks and merger and acquisition activity. And stock buyback levels are returning to records. So there's no real price discovery.

It's been inflated with zero interest rate, negative interest rate policy. I mean, you know, Dennis, you're a nice guy. You know, I've been on your show a number of times. I got a deal for you. I have some bonds to sell. We're going to call them negative yields. That's right.

In 20 years, when you cash in this, or 10 years, you're going to get less back than what you bought the bond for because I like you so much. You can't make this stuff up. This has never been done in the history of the world. So what they've done is they've created an artificial bubble that's bigger than anything we've ever seen.

Look what's going on. Look why the market's going up. I want the good news, for example, that over in Japan, you know, Abe's party over there, Shinzo Abe, they won an election last week, and now they could do more. Abe-nomics. Well, round one and two failed, miserably. So now they're going to go for round three.

Oh, and by the way, what is their debt to GDP ratio? Oh, 245. Oh, and what do they have? $11 trillion in debt. And now they're going to take on more. And the markets go up on that news. You know why? More stimulus. They keep the Ponzi scheme going.

It's not Abe-nomics, it's Ponzi-nomics. And it's in Europe. It's in the United States. It's in China. It's global. Look at the banking problems. Listen to what the IMF said. They're worried about Deutsche Bank. Deutsche Bank, you look at their stocks, look at the stocks values of Societe Generale. Look at Royal Bank of Scotland, not so royal.

They're down 40, 50% year to date. Why? Because of exactly what you said, their exposure. Look what's going on in Italy. Look at the bank stocks have crashed over there. And they're facing another crisis. And now they're looking to get out of the EU deal in terms of bailing out the banks by the state.

Because they have the bail-ins. The people are exposed, mostly, but a majority of the bonds being bought in the Italian banks are owned by individuals. They suckered the people into buying them. So that means they're going to lose their money. So they're trying to save the Italian banks. The banking crisis is in front of us.

And these negative interest rates don't help, by the way, because they can't loan money out and get much of a return on it back because the rates are so low. So in the United States, you have a little boost in the banking profits, but worldwide, it's a crisis. - So, Joe, you used the term stimulus.

And essentially, when you use the term stimulus, we've got central banks that are literally printing money out of thin air. And I think it was the economist Herbert Stein who said, "If something cannot go on forever, it will stop." And that's a commonsensical way to look at this. When does it stop?

- It stops when they stop propping up the equity markets. When the equity markets crash, that'll be the end of it. Look what happened with the Brexit vote. You saw the turbulence in the equity markets. And you heard all the central bankers, all the governments came out and saying they were gonna do everything they could to protect the equity markets.

How about rigging the casino? What am I, six years old? Take your plunge protection team and stick it. That's not capitalism. That's rigging the market. And they got one over there in China. They called it a national team. They have one all over. So what I'm saying to you, Dennis, is when these things go out of control, the governments come in and they bail out the two bigs.

They're buddies that don't, they don't wanna lose a lot of money, are gonna lose themselves. And they wanna keep the facade going that everything is okay as it's collapsing. You mentioned about stimulus. Four words have killed capitalism. This is not a capitalistic system. As I said, they rigged the markets and we know it with rigging LIBOR rates, 4X markets, convicted of felonies.

It's not speculation. Gold markets, rigged. And as I said, they rigged, when the markets go down too low, plunge protection team comes in and they save the day. With stimulus, what are they buying? Government bonds and now in Europe, corporate bonds. Could anybody call it the merger of state and corporate powers, fascism?

'Cause that's what's happened. And so this isn't capitalism anymore. By the deeds you shall know them and the deeds prove there are not free markets, there's not free price discovery, it's a rig game. - So Gerald, in the time we have left, I'd like to get your opinion on the trends we're seeing politically.

We just finished in the United States, a primary season that saw Donald Trump get the Republican nomination. I guess that's not official as we're talking here, but assuming it will be soon. Bernie Sanders, an admitted socialist. We see these fringe political candidates that probably wouldn't have gotten traction a couple election cycles ago, and we're seeing this worldwide.

Is this going to intensify? Is this a new trend in your view? - Yes, it absolutely is. As I said, it's the people power trend that we're writing about now. And it'll be out in the New Trends Journal in about two weeks. And that is you're seeing this strong anti-establishment, anti-status quo, anti-globalization movement.

When all else, when people lose everything and have nothing left to lose, they lose it. And they're losing tolerance with the control parties by the elites. And that's what all these populist movements are about. And they're real, and they're not going to stop. The Brexit proved it. And remember, the push against it, you even had Obama going over there telling the English people that they'd be at the back of the queue if they voted for Brexit.

You had Abe going over. They had world leaders going over the UK telling the people to stay in. You had the brightest and best on Wall Street warning of great dangers, and the people left anyway. This is just the beginning. It's the five-star movement in Italy. It's part of the Podemos movement, but that's not really it in Spain.

It's the alternative for Deutschland in Germany. It's the Freedom Party in Austria. It's one after another. It's the new people power movement. They're tired of the ruling elite ruling them. - Well, our guest today has been Mr. Gerald Cilente, the founder and director of the Trends Research Journal, also a publisher of Trends Journal.

I would encourage you to check out his work at trendsresearch.com. Gerald, always a pleasure to have you on the program. Thanks so much for joining us today. - Always a pleasure being on. Thank you, Dennis. - Give me your money. Just give me money. (upbeat music) ♪ Monday, Monday, Monday ♪ ♪ Always Sunday ♪ ♪ In the Rich Man's World ♪ - Well, thank you to Mr.

Gerald Cilente for joining me on this week's podcast. As I mentioned at the outset of the podcast this past week, I also caught up with the host of the Radical Personal Finance podcast, Mr. Joshua Sheets. I'm pleased to have joining me on the Everything Financial radio program, returning guest, Joshua Sheets.

Joshua is the host of the very popular podcast, Radical Personal Finance. And Joshua, welcome back to the program. - Awesome to be back with you, Dennis. - Well, Joshua, let's start by talking a bit about a topic that you discussed on your podcast of late, which caught my interest, and it's how to live a rich life now.

And the subhead was most material riches are easily accessible to you today. Now, that's a very compelling and provocative topic. So let's spend a little time discussing it. And maybe to get started, define, if you would, rich life. I think that maybe has a little bit different definition for just about anybody that hears it.

- Yeah, it definitely does. And that's actually one of the major points that I try to bring out in my podcast is to get people to define it for themselves. So I have some definitions that are important to me, and I have some definitions that I think are worth other people considering.

But I want people to think, what does a rich life mean to me? And what I'm confronting is, especially for you and me, is in the mainstream financial planning culture, we have this tendency to talk about riches and living a rich life as something that happens a long time in the future, when we're old and gray and retired, and when we have millions of dollars.

But I look around and I recognize that it's a lot easier to get there now than it is to wait until we're old and retired. And I think oftentimes we miss the aspects of riches. One of the things that many of my listeners and many of my clients when I was working as a financial advisor would talk about was the aspect of financial freedom.

And one of the things that I learned was that financial freedom to most people isn't best represented by a brand new Mercedes in the driveway or a big, fancy luxury home on the water. Financial freedom is usually represented by choices. And I came to the conclusion that you could get there, meaning you could get to a place of having control over your choices, much faster than you could get to the position of being a multimillionaire.

You just make different life choices. So I break living a rich life down into material aspects and immaterial aspects. But just as an example, I think most listeners of your radio show or my podcast are already living a richer life today than the richest person in the world 75 years ago.

Just think about it. Number one, climate controlled. Almost all of our listeners right now are listening to us in a climate that's perfectly suited to their ideal body temperature. Whether it's cooled or heated, they're already enjoying that. Think about how hot it would have been for the richest person in the world 75 years ago or how cold it would have been in some places and how much easier we have it.

And yet when's the last time you heard somebody express appreciation for the simple comfort and convenience of a climate controlled environment? Or think about the access to information and education and entertainment. Today, every one of our listeners has a smartphone in their pocket or sitting on their car dashboard that has access to entertainment, unlimited amounts of entertainment for essentially free right on YouTube from all around the world.

That's a luxury that the richest person in the world didn't have access to even 50 years ago. And yet today we take it for granted and we grumble about the fact that our car isn't brand new while we have access to some of the riches that you couldn't even achieve 50 years ago.

- So when you mention financial freedom and define that by saying control over choices, could you expand on that a bit? - Sure, I think that, and on my show I've done, I did the immaterial aspects of riches and the material aspects. And I like to disconnect them because we are so suckered in to a losing game by the advertising media on all sides that causes us to think that we somehow need a lot of material things to be rich.

But if you actually think about it, you can, the feelings of richness are often evoked by your choice. I can live a rich life by having an afternoon free from work that I don't wanna do to sit and read a book or watch a movie or do something that I do wanna do.

And so what I think people want from being rich is control. They want control over their day. They want control over their time. They want control over the choice of their activities. Well, that can be achieved without yet becoming a multimillionaire. If you want control over your day, then transition from a job or a career that doesn't allow you that control to something that does allow you that control.

I'm 31 years old and my birthday was just a couple weeks ago. And I consider myself at this point in time, financially free. Why? Because I'm a multimillionaire? No, I'm not there yet. I'm working towards it, but I'm not there yet. But I consider myself financially free because I left a career and job that had a tremendous amount of control and I started my own business that gives me full control over my day.

I can start my day at any time that I want. I can do the work that I've chosen to do. I don't accept a lot of external calendar appointments on my schedule, so I have control over when I do my work. And that gives me a tremendous amount of freedom.

Now, it's not the freedom that's ultimately best enjoyed by having a stream of dividend income from publicly traded companies that's much higher than my expenses that I can just sit back and do nothing. I still need to work. But having that control to choose work that's meaningful makes me feel financially free.

At the end of the day, we all know that life is composed primarily of our experiences and not so much our things. When we're dead and gone, our things are gonna stay here with us. We can't use them anymore. And most people, when they get to the end of their life, they're gonna be much more concerned with their experiences, the richness of their relationships, the diversity of their experience, the richness of life that's not just measured by material things.

- So essentially, Joshua, financial freedom is somewhat time freedom. And in your case, as I was listening to you explain or describe your personal transition going from a job to a business, that's probably something that many of our listeners envy very much. Can you talk about how you would go about planning such a transition?

- Absolutely. The key thing is to first recognize that it's something that you actually want. Many people have ideas and dreams about how great running their own business is. And then those ideas and dreams can be shattered by actual experience. I think every business owner has had the opportunity, has had the thought at some point in their entrepreneurship game, "Man, I wish I could just go back "to the world of employment." I don't recommend that everybody become an entrepreneur.

It's tough, it's challenging. So be sure that it's something that you want. The next thing is to recognize that there are gonna be some benefits from it and there are going to be some costs and some drawbacks. So you need to list those benefits out and you need to recognize what you're giving up.

But the transition to entrepreneurship is relatively simple. You find something that the marketplace is going to value that you want to provide and then you build a business model behind it that'll work. You can also and should also pay very careful attention to some of the formal technical financial planning techniques that we teach in order to make it a good transition.

You can go out and start a business when you're completely broke and deeply in debt. It's really stressful. Now, if you're in that situation, I recommend you still consider doing it, but it's also very wise to get yourself on a solid foundation. I think the best way for most people to approach transition is to do it on a part-time basis.

Work a full-time job, start a business on the side on a part-time basis. That way you're not putting too much risk on the side gig. And then when you get to the point in time where you can see some clear and measurable things that you could do to increase the business to a point where it's able to support yourself, then go ahead and start pursuing that transition to a full-time business.

>> So when we talk about entrepreneurship, Joshua, this becomes a pretty important topic given where the economy is today. I interviewed Mr. Gerald Salente of Trends Research Institute and during our interview, he pointed out that actual real income is down for the average American over the last 18 years.

And even according to the US Department of Labor and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, median household income is down over the last five years. So this is becoming really almost a necessity for some people. So if someone has this as an idea, but they don't really have any skills in the area of becoming an entrepreneur, what advice would you give them to go acquire those skills?

>> The key advice that people in that situation need is a change of mindset. You're right about the trends in our economy and it's only going to get worse in the future. We've been done a disservice as a society wherein we've primarily been taught the concept that if you just get a good job, everything will be fine.

But there are a number of pressures and stresses that are collaborating to make that no longer the case. If you notice how many of the unemployment rolls, or how many of the employment, the jobs, many of them disappeared after the 2008 recession. Many of those jobs have not come back and will not come back.

And the pressure is only going to get more and more intense. I pay a lot of attention to the developments of automation. And frankly, I feel very, very bad. I feel bad for many of the people who are working hard. For example, the fast food industry, striking and trying to pressure for what they call a living wage, increases in the minimum wage.

The problem with that type of approach, the problem with striking for more money is that employers are consistently looking to remove your job and to transfer that to some sort of automated system. And I would guess within about five years, most of us will be completely accustomed and comfortable with ordering our food through a computer instead of through a person.

So the key mindset is not looking to say, "What can I get?" That's the mindset that leads to me striking and advocating and trying to get people to give me more money. I'm looking for what I can get. The mindset of an entrepreneur is looking to, "What can I give?

"What service can I provide?" And so the first thing to do is to look around where you are and try to see, what is something that I have the capability to offer to somebody else that they might be willing to pay me for? That's the fundamental transformation of entrepreneurship.

Now, if you don't know, just look around and see what other people are doing. And ask yourself, "Can I do what other people do?" And you can do this at any level. For example, a couple of neighborhood kids in my neighborhood, they've been off on summer vacation over the last few months, and they started a car washing business.

And there's three young men, eight years old, one nine years old, the other, and 10 years old, the third. And they came by my house, knocked on my door, and asked me if I wanted my car washed. They had a bucket, ready to go. They're using my hose, their bucket, their soap, and they're washing my car for me.

Well, they've gone and they've created a little tiny business simply based on going around and asking people, "Would you like me to wash your car?" That's the fundamental basis of entrepreneurship of every kind. You're just looking for something that people might be willing to pay you for, and then asking them, "Would you be willing to pay me?" Now, the good way to start is with something that you have the skills and capabilities of doing.

An eight-year-old young man is probably not going to have the capacity to do comprehensive financial planning like I do, but his business is no different than mine. And if you find an area where you think you might have a product or a service that somebody might be willing to buy, you offer that, you put that out in the marketplace, and you see if there's any interest.

Then you go back and you try to develop additional businesses and services behind it. Car washing business, I've kind of took these young guys under my wing, and I'm trying to counsel them and give them some additional ideas. Okay, here are some additional products that you can offer. You're offering a basic wash, but what about a basic wash and a vacuum?

Well, we don't have a vacuum. Okay, so you need to go out and get a vacuum, acquire the tools, build the skills. That skill is pretty simple. What about some other skills you can offer? Can you wax cars? Well, we don't know how to do that. All right, well, go learn the skills.

Now, I'm using a simple example because I think it's something that we can all relate to. And today, if I lost all of my money, if I lost all of my business, I would go now and consider starting a car washing business 'cause that's something that I can go and I can sell.

I can go door to door. I can ask people if they'd like their car washed, and I could build a business on it. There are tons and tons and tons of these, all throughout our society. And if you just start paying attention to what's something I can provide to the marketplace, then your mindset will open up the opportunities to you.

- Well, we are chatting today with Joshua Sheets. Joshua is the host of the popular podcast, Radical Personal Finance. I'll continue my conversation with Joshua when everything financial radio continues. Stay with us. ♪ I said money ♪ ♪ Money take me there baby ♪ ♪ Money, money, money, money ♪ ♪ Money ♪ ♪ Money, money, money, money ♪ ♪ Money ♪ - I always enjoy the perspective of Joshua Sheets.

And I'm gonna get back to the conversation I had with him this past week right now. I have the pleasure of chatting today with Joshua Sheets. Joshua is the host of the podcast, Radical Personal Finance. I would encourage you to check it out. And we're chatting today with Joshua about how to live a rich life now.

And on your podcast, Joshua, you talked about the fact that it's possible to build a plan to achieve financial freedom in 10 years. So the floor is yours. Our listeners, I'm sure, would love to hear that. - This show, I just finished this series of three shows on Radical Personal Finance.

And it came because I've done over 350 episodes of the podcast. And the tagline of my show is how to live a rich life now while building a plan for financial freedom in 10 years or less. And I've done hundreds of shows. I never had fully explained that. So that was where I came into this series.

But I'm convinced that you don't have to wait for a 40-year retirement plan in order to live a lifestyle of financial freedom. And that there are many paths to financial freedom. Now notice I'm being careful with my words. I'm using the word freedom. I didn't say 10 years, how to be a multimillionaire in 10 years or less, although I believe that it's possible for many people.

I didn't necessarily even say how to be financially independent, free, independent of the need to work in 10 years or less, although I believe that is possible for many people. I talked about financial freedom. And the reason is that in my work as a financial planner, I noticed that so many people get so focused on only being financially free when they're 65 years old and have a million and a half dollars.

But guess what? That you don't have to wait until then to experience financial freedom. And if you put all of your focus and hope on that future experience, you miss out on some of the aspects of financial freedom today. So I cover the basic aspect of financial freedom. For example, having your income higher than your expenses.

If you have your income higher than your expenses, then to a great degree, you are financially free, just simply because you have more money coming in than you need to spend. Now, even better, if you could have that income coming in in a way that's ideally suited for you through a job that's appropriate to you or through a business that's appropriate to you, now you've got an even higher degree of freedom.

If you look at the wealthy, notice the fact that the mega rich don't ever retire. Donald Trump's running for president. He wants the hardest and worst job in the world, even though he doesn't need it. He wants it. Well, why is he trying to get one of the hardest jobs in the world when he doesn't need it?

Because it's something more than money. And if you look at all of the wealthy, you almost never see that they retire. Why? Because they've found an occupation that fits them and they're financially free, even though they're still working. Well, don't wait to be a billionaire. Just find that occupation now.

Another aspect, being debt-free. If you're debt-free, that gives you a huge degree of financial freedom. Gives you choices over your life. And then I also go in and I explain that in 10 years or less, you probably can build a plan for financial freedom, complete financial freedom. It's as simple as if you're an employee, if you live on about 30% of your income and save 70% of your income, you can be financially independent in about a decade.

Well, that's easy? No. But many people can do that and are doing that. And you can make a plan in a decade to dramatically increase your income, to decrease your expenses and save a lot of money. There are thousands of people all around the US that are doing that.

If you don't believe me, I'll send you to the forums where they're all interacting. Or you can build a plan to build a business. If you need to have that multimillion dollar approach, you can build a plan to build a business and sell it out in under a decade.

Now, is that guaranteed? No, that's difficult. Most businesses fail. But is it possible? It sure is. And so, depending on your financial plan, you'll set out different goals, depending on what you're trying to accomplish, and you'll be able to accomplish them. But I don't believe you have to wait until you're 65 years old and have $2 million in your 401(k) to enjoy the fruit of a rich life now or financial freedom.

You can achieve it far faster. - And Joshua, you made just a very basic point. In fact, I wrote a book called "Finding Financial Freedom," and I made the same point in that book. The first thing you have to do is get to a point that your income is higher than your expenses.

And it might be interesting to talk about the fact that sometimes it's easier to increase income than it is to reduce expenses. - Absolutely. I think they both have their place. Expenses, for many people, are so loose and sloppy that that's easier to cut. But for many people, they're already being very careful, and all they need to do is adjust their income.

I remember years ago, I heard, I think it was Zig Ziglar tell a story. And Zig told the story about how they had done a test, and they put a newspaper ad for a job in two different newspapers in two different major metropolitan areas. The ad was identical, qualifications, description of the job.

The only thing that was different was that in one ad, they offered something like $40,000 a year. In the other ad, they offered some six-figure numbers, say $120,000 per year. And they got five times the respondents for the $40,000-a-year job than the $120,000-a-year job. Why? Was there any difference in qualifications?

No, the ad was the same. It was just the number. And so many people have not investigated how to earn more income, and thus they're walking away from all kinds of opportunities that are available to them in their current job or transitioning to a different job or starting a different business.

And there's so many opportunities for people to increase their income. - Well, we're gonna have to leave it there. Our guest today has been Mr. Joshua Sheets. He's host of the podcast, "Radical Personal Finance." And Joshua, thank you for joining us today. We hope you'll come back. - I'd love to.

- Well, that concludes this week's Everything Financial Radio Podcast. Glad you decided to listen in. I'll be back again next week with some new perspectives from some new guest experts. Talk to you then. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)