Summary
➡ The text discusses the stress of managing large amounts of money and the importance of starting slow in finance. It suggests that reducing stress can lead to more success as it allows you to identify and take advantage of opportunities. The author also shares his experience of cashing out his investments and learning from it. He encourages considering smaller, steady investments and learning from others’ experiences to make informed financial decisions.
➡ The speaker suggests that downturns, like the Great Depression or the dot com era, can be opportunities for savvy individuals to make money by buying undervalued items and reselling them. They also recommend starting small businesses, getting real estate licenses, and diversifying investments for financial security. They emphasize the importance of being prepared and seeing opportunity in adversity, rather than fearing change. The speaker encourages viewers to stay informed and take advantage of opportunities as they arise.
Transcript
And so what I can do is not give you advice, but I can tell you three stories, one of them including me, and how they turned out. And that’s all I can do is tell you a story. Let me ask you this, with a yes or no, should you sell your 401k, and we’re going to talk about the pros and cons, to buy something else? Just let me know, yes or no, down below. I’d love to hear your thoughts. All right, first story. I’m going to talk about somebody named Jesse. I had an interview with Jesse because he took one of my courses, the Real Estate Crash and Cycles course.
And in that course, I talk about real estate cycles. I said, you know, in my opinion, the best time to buy real estate is a little bit down the road, but in that course, I teach about how to buy real estate properly. You can buy real estate in really strong high markets. You can really buy real estate in low markets, but you need to have the right deal. Well, Jesse contacted me one day. And I’m sure he’s watching this, Jesse, let everyone know who you are. He said, hey, thank you so much for the course.
You’ve changed my life. I never thought I would own my own home because I live in Southern California, now I have a duplex in another state. I’m like, holy cow, you really went for it. He liquidated part of his 401k. Now, this story is pretty awesome because I can tell this story because he came on the channel and told this story. And what he did is he paid the penalty and the tax. Now, real quick, every time when you decide to sell your retirement, there’s going to be a penalty and a tax.
There’s going to be a capital gain if it has gone up in value. Every time you purchase shares a certain price, you’re going to pay tax on that. And then there’s a penalty, an early withdrawal penalty. And really, the retirement system was built a long time ago to keep us in slavery and to keep this perpetual government monopoly money making machine going. And it’s a really sad thing. And so Jesse said, you know what? I took this course, I started seeing how to buy real estate properly. And even though we’re not falling yet, he saw an opportunity.
So after the penalty, and the taxes that he paid, he emailed me with all the calculations, he bought a duplex. And it is cash flowing immediately, he brought bought it right. And he is making a 17% cash on cash return. He said the reason why I did it was because he believes that the stock market is topping. Now I want to preface this, we are moving in, we are in inflationary times. And I believe we’re going to see a little small bout of hyperinflation, meaning that everything will go up in price, except certain things.
I know it sounds crazy. But real estate does not hyperinflate, unless the government prints money and hands it to everyone says go buy a house. They don’t do that. And they don’t do that. And they, so everything else will go up, including the stock market. But he bought it. He did a really good job. I actually, I said, send me all the deal, I’ve got to see this. And he only did a little portion, a small portion of his 401k. And what he did is he said, I wanted it to diversify outside of my 401k.
That’s the only thing I have. And so he did it. Well, let me tell you about my story, because mine didn’t end up so well. In 2011, 2012, I don’t remember the date, I liquidated, I took a loan against my retirement, which is tax free, loans tax free. And I just had to pay back by self, like essentially 1% interest until it was paid back. And that interest came to me. And I bought silver. And then later on, when silver really tanked, I went ahead and cash out part of my 401k. And I took the tax hit, paid taxes on it, and I paid the penalty.
And I bought silver. Now I say it didn’t work out, I bought it much lower than it is now. So that’s great. But I look at the other things I could have bought and I go, okay, well, that, you know, I could have made more money. But one thing it did, it gave me a piece of mind that I was really outside of the stock market, and outside of the grip of the government, because I went ahead and paid my fine and my taxes. And it changed what it did, it didn’t put a ton of extra money in my pocket, right? Because silver at that point was half of what it is now.
The stock market was less than half, right? So by and large, the gains in that 401k would have been higher. But it completely changed the way I looked at money. It completely changed the way that I invested, even though I’ve been investing since the year 1998, 1999, and stocks, and then I went into real estate and oil, and like oil stocks, I invested in oil drilling rigs. I’ve been through the full gamut of, you know, investment types of investments. It really changed my mind. And that was really cool. Now, of course, I’m live and I forget the third story, I’m blanking out.
Oh, yeah. So I know somebody that sold their 401k, they took the tax hit, and they took the penalty. And they paid off their home. And the reason why they did that is they said, you know, we would rather we believe the stock market is topping. They did this a little while ago, so the stock market is higher. And I asked them, well, how do you feel now that the stock market’s higher, and you still did this? And they said, we have so much peace of mind. It honestly transcends understanding, it really is hard to explain.
And I now have since experienced that since I paid off my home. You know, I had the money in my bank account for quite some time, actually, the greater part of a decade to pay off my home. And I didn’t until my wife convinced me based off of this YouTube channel, because I’m telling people to get out of debt, I always consider myself out of debt, because I only had one mortgage, and I had enough cash to pay it off. But I kept going with that whole I got 3% mortgage, until I really sat down and looked at that compounding, you know, front loaded amortized interest, not compounding, but front loaded amortized interest.
And so I paid it off. And so I understood what these people meant. And so we have so much peace of mind. And we’re saving, sure, the stock market’s worth more. But each month, we don’t have to pay $2,000 in principle and interest. As that $2,000 goes and buys a little silver, a little bit of Bitcoin, a little bit of cash savings, things like that, waiting for drops in certain markets. And they say we are so clear minded, it’s unbelievable. And that’s exactly what I went through when I paid off my home. Now, I can’t tell you to pay off, you know, sell your I wouldn’t, I would never tell you to do that kind of stuff.
I could just simply tell you some of the stories I’ve heard and what I’ve went through in my life. But I can’t say that I noticed that most people are always trying to buy at the lowest sell at the highest. And it’s those emotions that usually get them turned around and they lose. And I know this from personal experience as well. We can never hit the tip top peak, we can never buy at the very bottom, right? You buy and maybe it goes a little lower and you’re bummed out or you sell and whatever you were selling gets a little bit more expensive and you’re bummed out.
And that can cloud your vision. But when you have everything paid off, and everyone’s trying to hold on to the most amount of money during this next upcoming economic downturn, because they want to, in their minds, they just want to have the most leverage, they want to take, you know, advantage the most. And usually when you’re at that moment, and you’re trying to just really maximize your gains, you don’t think it’s clear. Because also the flip side of that is you’re having to really keep track of a ton of money.
That could also bring its own stresses. What do they say? As you go from millionaire to sent to millionaire and then billionaire, you get more worried and more scared than everyone’s trying to take your money, because you have more of a sort of a spotlight. Now, I know that’s an extreme situation, because none of us are at that point, right? But I think about this and I go, you know, there’s something to be said about starting slow, slowly, slowly, that grind, you know, tortoise versus the hare mentality. And it’s very true, not only about life, but about finance.
And so the reason why I did this video is because I wanted to explain, you know, a lot of people ask me a question, should I sell? I’m like, well, I’m never going to tell you. But there was a time when I did, and I didn’t win financially. But I won mentally, which opened up my mind to so many other financial opportunities, that today I look back and I go, holy cow, I can’t believe how far I’ve come. But it’s because part of my mind was freed up. You know, in the last six months, I’ve had a lot of stress.
Ever since I left my job as firefighter, it’s been as a matter of fact, last year, my life has been incredibly emotional, very hard, hard for me to grasp certain things that I could usually just fire off real quick, the brain fog because of stress. And I think the one advice piece of stress in your life, you’re going to be so much more successful, because you’re going to have the opportunity that most people don’t. And that is to be able to identify and then take advantage of opportunities that most people wouldn’t see.
And so if that stress is a payment, a credit card payment over your head, or that stress is a vehicle payment, or perhaps it’s a relationship that you don’t have to like walk away from, but you just need to just sort of distance yourself a little bit, give yourself some time, then you should do that. If you are stressed about this massive amount, because there are people that have millions of dollars in their 401k, and they’re looking at the stock market, and they look at the last couple of crashes, you know, and 50%, in my opinion, you know, type one, if you agree is a crash, you’ve we saw the Dow lose 50% during the 2000, 2001 era, and then from 2007 to 2009.
So a lot of people have this a lot of money built up in there. And they’re like, holy cow, I need to do something about this. And that’s causing them stress or aches. You know, if it was me, I would if you feel like you do it, maybe don’t go big, maybe catch up just a little bit because the penalties, you know, you have, I think it’s 10%. Right now, plus you’re gonna have to pay tax on that. Maybe you slow roll it. Just a little bit. Because what I mean, think about it.
What if you cashed out part of your penalty stuff, you go buy some asset with it, and then asset falls in value, you’re like, crap, I just paid taxes, penalties, and now my money’s losing money even more. You know, and that’s the danger. People just go big, I got a million dollars, I’m cashing all out. What are you going to do with a million bucks right now? Right? I mean, it’s that kind of logic that we need, we just need like a really steady logic. And it’s not the sexy thing. It’s not the fun thing to just go, hey, if you’re going to do it, yeah, you may want to consider just doing a little bit.
Not a lot. You know, that’s, that’s, you know, I didn’t, I went for it, I cashed it all out. And I look back still, and I’m like, I can always look at the pot, see the positives and things, right. And I’m super pumped that I did it, because it taught me something, a very valuable lesson that I won’t repeat again. And that’s a building block in my financial future, you know, my family’s financial future. And I hope it’s a, I hope that my mistake can be your gain, or perhaps, perhaps you’re going to be in Jesse’s camp, you’re going to cash out a little bit, you’re going to buy some cash flowing assets, you know, Jesse’s crushing it 17% cash on cash, I think is an amazing I mean, type yes or no, do you believe that’s a good or we’ve already done that one type type three, if you think that’s a good idea for it’s a four, if it’s not is 17% cash on cash.
You know, you put 10 grand to a piece of property and you’re, you’re getting what is it? 1700 bucks a year in profit, I’m just throwing out numbers, okay, trying to stick with the percentages, but you know what I’m saying? And as long as that’s not all of your seed money, man, I think that’s epic. Jesse’s now a real estate investor, he went from not believing and he was going to buy his first home or ever own a home to now he’s a landlord, you know, I mean, I might I tip my hat to that.
I think that’s amazing. And he did it smart. He said he goes, you know, ninja, I I didn’t go all in I, I did what you taught me to do and I bought the property right. And I’m going slow because and I’ve got that big emergency account set up if a tenant stops paying or one moves out, I can’t get them in or I got a lower rent because the economy takes a tank. I’m like, man, my these are the people I want to be hanging out with. I’m gonna be doing a handful of videos today, because honestly, it’s the last day of the pre filming discount for mortgage master.
If you guys want it, say 3% off, it’ll never be this price as of I want to say like right before midnight tonight, and then we’ll run sales, but it’ll never be this low. So if you want it cool. If not, just know this, it’s all about getting ready and getting as much knowledge as you can time hacking using other people’s experiences to learn as much as you can. So many books out there about this. So many amazing YouTube videos shoot, if you watch all my videos, you’re going to get all the information free.
It’s just you want it all in one, you know, little knife package. And that’s it. I’ll put the link down below if you want it. If not, no worries. I hope this answers some questions. As a matter of fact, real quick, I’d love to answer some questions live. Has anyone got any questions that you’d like from me? Look at Doug’s in here. Doug is a real estate investor current Carlos, he has been a real estate investor for a long time, and they’re both just chomping at the bento. 5150 prepper. Thank you so much.
He says he bought the course. And again, no, you don’t have to buy the course. I mean, this is how I make my living. You know, there’s really nothing new under the sun. I’m just trying to show people how to become honest grade a prime borrowers so that you can walk into a bank and they go, heck yeah, this is the time. So here’s a good question. End of the year is a good time to pick up a deal from a manufactured dealer’s lot. That’s a comment. And he’s absolutely correct. As a matter of fact, the end of the year in December is when I buy all my real estate.
Here we go. What happens to this is a good question about money, banking account. What happens to money that is in an infinite bank account if they change the currency? It’s a great question, because who the heck knows the answer to that one? Honestly, this has happened before where currencies change and banking accounts change. The problem is a lot of people are held to the exchange ratio. And they’re they always get screwed when there’s a new currency, unless it’s a currency that goes, you know, from, let’s say, paper currency to plastic currency.
I know it sounds crazy. That just happened in Europe. And they said if everything in the banks were completely switched over, so you know, one day you’re, you know, have paper currency, you turn it in and get your plastic currency, you’re good, there was no exchange difference. But then if you’re there one day late, your paper currency is worthless. But if your money was in the bank, the transition was really easy. Let me see, is there any other? Yeah, plastic currency, it’s hard to believe. But yeah, the euro, euro switched over to a plastic towel.
No, it was actually in the UK, if I remember correctly, the proud pound. Anyway, sorry. Is it a good time to start a small business? Heck yeah, it is. Man, let me talk to you about that. So more millionaires are made during the Great Depression than any time since the dot com era. Reason why is because a lot of people are down and out. And people took advantage of that not in a malicious way, but in a good way. I made a ton of money during the Great Recession, because people are selling their equipment, they’re losing their homes, they’re selling all kinds of crap that they bought that they were leveraged vehicles and stereo systems and collectibles.
And I was buying them up like crazy. And I was simply selling them to people that would want them and have money. And I just was better at advertising than them. It’s like going on a Facebook, you know, marketplace ad, and someone’s like, don’t bug me by asking me stupid questions like, okay, that’s like the dumbest way to sell something, no one’s gonna ask any questions, you’re not gonna sell it, I go buy it from some tool like that. And I’d sell it with great, you know, photos and description, and tons of people come and buy it.
And I think starting a business is great, but I would start at cash, I would start small, and I would identify sectors of the market that are hurting right now, where you can do better than the other guys. And that’s it starts small, I think it’s an amazing time. Is it time to get a real estate license with a loan officer certification? You know, honestly, if you have the extra time, I would get all of those done. But just know you’re not going to get a bunch of business because right now people are losing their jobs, real estate agents are walking away because they don’t have any listings.
Actually, they may have listings, you may have a ton of listings, but you can’t sell. So it’s one of those things you get ready as the big wave and it’s already starting where people leave their jobs. And then you take up the slack. But it has to be a part time gig. Oh, let’s see here. What else we got? If you have a chunk of change, where should it get parked to be safe for now? Alright, well, that’s the most famous question ever. I have no clue. But not to disrespect that question. What I do is I diversify it.
I have some silver, of course, my silver and gold I have to vault because of what I do now for a living. But I have that vaulted in secure locations. I’ve got some Bitcoin, those are in private wallets. I’ve got cash in banks. I’ve obviously got, you know, emergency food, water filter and a little bit of cash on hand to get me through like a crazy scenario. But honestly, I do believe those scenarios are extremely, extremely rare, and only happen in certain pockets of the country. So you don’t see me. I’m not one of those crazy preppers that just is going to go hide in the woods.
I am actually one of those people that only see opportunity when bad things happen. That’s why I laugh when people say I’m doing gloom. All I do is read the news and then show you how to actually crush it. That’s how you become wealthy. You see opportunity rather than wine and hide. Now, let me ask you this really quick. And this is a real thing. If you’re one of those people that want to crush it, you’re not going to go hide type 10. If you’re one of those people that think I’m crazy, and I should be like, slaying low, and this is going to be the end of the world, and nothing’s ever going to be the same again, type 11.
Because there really are there. That is a real serious thing. I’m not one of them. I’m not one of those people that hide I don’t ask for donations. I don’t tell you doom and gloom and everything’s gonna be horrible. Yeah, we’re gonna go through something like the Great Depression. Sorry. I don’t know what to tell people. You can either do something about it and go take advantage of it. Or you can be in a government food line. You know, it’s funny, I 10 years ago, I was getting kicked out of churches and friendships and all kinds of things.
I was worrying about this event that was coming and inflation that was going to hit the nation. We’re here now. And I used to tell people, if you want to beat the markets, just buy canned goods. Back then, a can of corn was 39 cents. SNW can of corn. How much do you guys think a can of SNW is right now at a normal supermarket? I want to say it’s like $1.69. That has kept up with the Dow Jones industrial average in the last 12 years. It’s impressive how we can see things that are bad coming.
And as human beings, overcome and, you know, adapt and overcome. And that’s how I am going to do it. Carlos says he’s seen it for a buck. All we have to do is be prepared. And then when you’re prepared, you’re not scared. I hope you guys got something out of this. If you want to check out the course, it’s going to be on sale until pre filming discount until midnight. Links down below. Hope you have a great day. Hope this answered some questions. And honestly, I just want to see nothing but amazing things for every single one watching this channel.
Thank you to everyone that’s hit the resubscribe button. If they’re unsubscribe, thank you for all the thumbs up. Thank you for everyone that subscribed the newsletter just to keep people watching the videos and keep them updated. Can’t wait to see you guys. The Ninja is out. [tr:trw].