Latest / Success Story with Scott Clary / Vivian Tu - "Your Rich BFF" & Author of Rich AF | The Ex-Wall Street Trader With 8 Million Followers Says the Old Money Rules Are Dead

Transcript

Vivian Tu - "Your Rich BFF" & Author of Rich AF | The Ex-Wall Street Trader With 8 Million Followers Says the Old Money Rules Are Dead · Success Story with Scott Clary

• 0:00
  Last time you were on, you taught everybody how to get rich.
• 0:04
  It has been a brutal 18 months.
• 0:06
  Has the advice changed at all?
• 0:07
  The advice hasn't changed, but the ecosystem has.
• 0:12
  The cost of living has only continued to rise.
• 0:14
  AI has only gotten bigger and grander.
• 0:16
  Today's guest is Vivian Tu, better known as your Rich BFF.
• 0:20
  A former Wall Street trader turned entrepreneur and financial educator, she built a massive platform helping people understand money, investing, and building wealth.
• 0:29
  In this conversation, she shares practical advice on making better financial decisions and navigating money in a changing world.
• 0:35
  What is the thing that you have to tell them that they really have to take to heart right now?
• 0:39
  You got to increase what's coming in the door and decrease what's going out.
• 0:43
  You can only control you.
• 0:45
  What do you think AI should be used for and AI should not be used for?
• 0:48
  AI shouldn't really be used for regulated industries like law, medicine, finance.
• 0:56
  You should not be uploading your bank statements into ChatGPT.
• 1:02
  MyFitnessPal is a success story partner.
• 1:04
  Now, there's this thing that happens when you start paying attention to what you eat.
• 1:08
  And I think we can all agree that we wanna care about our health and our wellness and our nutrition, but more often than not, we just kind of think we eat clean, we think we eat healthy, but we're not really, really paying attention to every single meal and what makes up
• 1:21
  every single meal.
• 1:22
  But just by paying attention and starting to log and track what you eat, you start making better choices without really trying.
• 1:30
  And that surprised me because when I first started using the MyFitnessPal app and I've been using it for a while now, it's a nutrition tracking app, and I started logging what I was eating, it started showing me my macros, which means how much protein, carbs, and fats I was getting.
• 1:43
  And then I started to understand why some days I felt good, high energy.
• 1:46
  Some days I felt like garbage because those three things, proteins, carbs, fats, that's what your food is made out of.
• 1:53
  And the balance between them affects everything.
• 1:56
  So my Fitness Pal app truly changed my life when it came to managing my food, which managed and helped everything else.
• 2:04
  Now on the premium version of the app, it breaks down those numbers by meal.
• 2:08
  So I'm not just seeing one calorie number for the day.
• 2:11
  I can see what's happening at breakfast versus lunch versus dinner, where my protein actually lands, whether I'm eating enough earlier in the day or piling everything on at night.
• 2:20
  And all of a sudden,
• 2:21
  When I'm crashing at 3, 4 p.m., well, I can take a look and see it's not so surprising anymore based on what I ate or what I didn't eat.
• 2:28
  So that's what I mean when I say that MyFitnessPal is a great app for awareness.
• 2:33
  It's not obsessive.
• 2:35
  It's not stressful.
• 2:36
  It's not time consuming.
• 2:37
  It's actually the opposite.
• 2:38
  Guessing is stressful.
• 2:39
  When you have all the information, the food you eat, your nutrition becomes way easier to keep up with.
• 2:46
  Also, a lot of people stress out that logging food is going to be very time consuming.
• 2:50
  It's not.
• 2:51
  And if it was annoying, I'd stop.
• 2:52
  But what I love about the app is that they've made it super, super simple.
• 2:56
  They've removed all friction in food logging, right?
• 2:59
  They have the largest food database out there.
• 3:01
  So whatever I'm eating is already in it.
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  I can voice log so I can just say what I'm eating.
• 3:06
  They have a barcode scanner that handles all the package stuff.
• 3:09
  They have a tool called meal scan, which lets me point my camera at my plate and it breaks down all the macros and then logs it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, whatever.
• 3:17
  And the app remembers my regular meals.
• 3:19
  And I'm really just in and out of the app in seconds.
• 3:22
  And on top of that, it connects with over 40 fitness apps and wearables.
• 3:25
  So my workouts, my nutrition, they're all in one place.
• 3:28
  See, food is the foundation of everything.
• 3:31
  your energy, your sleep, your weight, your recovery, your performance, at work, at home.
• 3:36
  And I really believe that when you start to pay attention to what you eat, every single part of your life improves.
• 3:40
  And to be honest, for me, it's the most useful tool because when I see the information, when I see what I'm eating,
• 3:47
  and I feel the effects of having good nutrition and good food at the right time, the decisions on what to eat become obvious.
• 3:55
  Not because someone told me to eat better, it's because I have the data.
• 3:59
  And the data makes it super, super easy to stay on track.
• 4:02
  So please do yourself a favor, go to podcast.myfitnesspal.com and use code SCOTT.
• 4:06
  That's S-C-O-T-T, all uppercase letters, for 15% off MyFitnessPal Premium.
• 4:11
  That is podcast.myfitnesspal.com, code SCOTT for 15% off.
• 4:16
  MyFitnessPal Premium.
• 4:23
  So Vivian, last time you were on, you taught everybody how to get rich.
• 4:29
  It has been a brutal 18 months.
• 4:31
  And I went back and checked.
• 4:32
  It was 18 months since the last episode.
• 4:34
  So layoffs, tariffs, $4 gas.
• 4:39
  Has the advice changed at all?
• 4:41
  The advice hasn't changed, but the ecosystem has.
• 4:46
  Now we've got a little bit more of an inflation problem, even more than before.
• 4:52
  The cost of living has only continued to rise, except now we're very seriously on potentially the precipice of an official war.
• 5:02
  The fact that AI has only gotten bigger and grander and become more and more of a part of our general ecosystem, I think, is a big conversation point as well.
• 5:15
  But I don't think the advice has changed.
• 5:18
  I just think that we need to have a real come to Jesus moment of like...
• 5:26
  How are we actually going to help the everyday person?
• 5:29
  I think it's pretty abysmal, the job that we have done as a country, as a community, of actually taking care of the middle class.
• 5:39
  And the shrinking middle class is truly probably my biggest concern.
• 5:44
  Because when you don't have families that can afford a vacation a year, that can afford to go out to eat, that can afford to make discretionary purchases, like...
• 5:55
  The music stops.
• 5:56
  Like the game is over then.
• 5:59
  Right.
• 6:00
  It can't just be the teeny tiny top sliver of folks have every dollar on earth and everybody else has nothing.
• 6:07
  Businesses can't run that way.
• 6:08
  what's stressful to me because I know how people react.
• 6:14
  And when things are stressful, no one thinks like, like there's not more level headedness when you're stressed out, right?
• 6:22
  You make worse financial decisions because you're already scared.
• 6:26
  So everything you're doing is like a knee jerk reaction to your already precarious, slightly shitty situation.
• 6:32
  And it creates this flywheel of bad stuff happening for the average person.
• 6:37
  Absolutely.
• 6:38
  I think the most dangerous person is the one who has nothing to lose.
• 6:41
  I think the person who makes the poorest decisions is the one that's been backed into a corner.
• 6:45
  And so to your exact point of the flywheel of like, yeah, people are going to start doing stuff that is out of character.
• 6:53
  That is probably a little erratic that may be considered like morally ambiguous to try and make ends meet.
• 7:01
  And I think that's really, really a concern that we need to be talking about.
• 7:05
  So the advice hasn't changed, but maybe the message has to be a little bit stronger.
• 7:10
  So if somebody is stressed out, not in a great financial situation, they feel like they can't keep their head above water.
• 7:19
  Let's just start with that.
• 7:20
  What is the thing that you have to tell them that they really have to take to heart right now?
• 7:25
  I think simply put, you got to increase what's coming in the door and decrease what's going out.
• 7:31
  There are so many things, by the way, like before we even get into that, for that person to be mad about.
• 7:36
  Government hasn't taken care of the middle class.
• 7:39
  You know, there's crazy macro economic things happening.
• 7:44
  But you can only control you.
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  And so I implore everybody listening to take care.
• 7:50
  that piece of personal accountability.
• 7:52
  I'm not saying it's not hard.
• 7:54
  I'm not saying it's fair.
• 7:55
  I'm not saying it's right.
• 7:56
  But I'm saying you can only do what you can do.
• 8:00
  And so what you should be doing is increasing what's coming in and decreasing what's going out.
• 8:04
  And that is two major things.
• 8:07
  It's
• 8:08
  picking up a side hustle, getting a different higher paying job.
• 8:12
  It's asking for that raise and promotion at work.
• 8:14
  It's finding some sort of way to build ownership, whether that's buying a business that is cash flowing, whether that is, you know, building something that is going to make you money.
• 8:25
  Like you have to make more money.
• 8:27
  You have to get more money coming in the door.
• 8:29
  That's step one.
• 8:30
  And then step two is we actually really, really need to look at our expenses.
• 8:38
  This is not for the people who are living hand to mouth.
• 8:40
  Like, truly, if you are paycheck to paycheck, if all of your money is going towards food and rent, I'm not talking to you.
• 8:48
  But I will see some people complaining about how they don't have enough money with hair done, nails are done, like lashes are done.
• 9:00
  Where did you get the money for that?
• 9:01
  Also, I see people complaining about the cost of grocery prices.
• 9:07
  Like...
• 9:09
  why are you at the liquor store every weekend?
• 9:11
  I see people who are like, life has gotten so unmanageable, I can't afford anything.
• 9:16
  You know what would be a great idea right now?
• 9:19
  Maybe we should have a baby.
• 9:20
  Maybe don't.
• 9:21
  Maybe don't.
• 9:22
  I know that's kind of a shitty thing to say out loud, but you have to know what your current market conditions are and whether or not the decisions you're making are actually going to be advantageous.
• 9:33
  And so I would say...
• 9:37
  You got to cut back.
• 9:38
  There are things you don't need.
• 9:40
  How do you really make it bare bones so that you can build this pile of money to one, potentially take care of you in the future because you're going to need that savings if something bad happens.
• 9:49
  But two, when you get to a point, how can we take that money and buy stuff, buy ownership, have stuff like investments that are actually going to earn you money?
• 9:57
  Everything you're saying about.
• 10:00
  even if it sucks and it's not your fault, you still gotta deal with it.
• 10:03
  Yeah.
• 10:04
  And that's a hard message, but when you get over the fact that life can be unfair sometimes and you do just deal with it, meaning you learn a new skill or you save a little bit of money to invest into a business that creates wealth for you or you take the time to apply for a better job.
• 10:23
  Like when you get over the negativity and you just take action,
• 10:29
  It's not easy, but if you do that for a long enough period of time, things do end up looking a lot better.
• 10:35
  My favorite phrase is yes and.
• 10:38
  So like, you know, the economy sucks.
• 10:42
  Yes and.
• 10:44
  What?
• 10:44
  What are you going to do about that?
• 10:46
  You can't change the ecosystem unless, you know, obviously through small choices of like voting a certain way or making sure that people who are your representatives actually represent your interests.
• 10:56
  Sure.
• 10:57
  Yes, that is a long, long con.
• 10:59
  That's a long game.
• 11:00
  But what are you doing tomorrow?
• 11:02
  What are you actually doing to make your family's life better?
• 11:05
  And when you start to realize that no one's really coming to save you except you.
• 11:09
  No one is coming to save you.
• 11:11
  No one is coming to save you.
• 11:13
  You get thousands of DMs, and we're going to talk about what that led to.
• 11:17
  But I'm curious if you noticed a shift in what people are DMing you more recently.
• 11:23
  Yeah, I think...
• 11:26
  When I started Your Rich BFF five years ago, it was more so basic budgeting, basic saving, basic investing.
• 11:38
  But now every question I get is typically tied to a news headline.
• 11:43
  People are very worried.
• 11:47
  Two things.
• 11:48
  One, let us remind everyone that news companies, media companies job is to get you to click.
• 11:55
  So every headline is going to be more salacious, more outlandish, more scary than it probably needs to be.
• 12:01
  I'm not saying that they aren't scary.
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  They are.
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  But like, first off, just regulate your nervous system and recognize that this article was written a certain way to get you to click.
• 12:12
  That, you know, that video of warfare was positioned a certain way to get you to click.
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  So just first pause.
• 12:22
  And then the second thing is, is like the questions that I am getting, a lot of it has to do with like economic uncertainty and questions of like, how are these things going to impact me?
• 12:33
  How do I prepare?
• 12:35
  It almost feels like a little bit of...
• 12:37
  prepperism, like, you know, the doomsday preppers, except they're prepping for an uncertain economy.
• 12:44
  Do you see people making poor financial decisions because of news that has no impact on them whatsoever?
• 12:50
  Not necessarily news that doesn't impact them, but what they're seeing.
• 12:55
  So people will make poor financial decisions when the main goal feels out of reach.
• 13:03
  So when we're seeing
• 13:08
  interest rates stay high, but housing prices continue to rise or, you know, um,
• 13:15
  fewer people can afford a home, like fewer people are investing, more people are sports gambling, all of these things.
• 13:21
  Like it's starting to feel like we're losing the plot.
• 13:25
  Right.
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  And the plot historically our parents taught us was you would work hard.
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  You put your head down.
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  Good education.
• 13:32
  Good job.
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  Climb the ladder.
• 13:34
  You will be able to buy a single family home on Wisteria Lane, white picket fence.
• 13:39
  You get your two and a half kids, your golden retriever with a tire swing
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  and when that vision of that happily ever after, that life is no longer available to you, what are you going to do?
• 13:52
  Well, might as well get that PS5.
• 13:54
  Might as well get that little lip gloss.
• 13:56
  Why not go on one of these gambling sites where you bet on these ridiculous events?
• 14:01
  Maybe that tiny glimmer of hope, if you do hit, then that dream is available to you again.
• 14:09
  And so I think we have now, again, turned...
• 14:16
  our economy into a casino.
• 14:19
  So again, the rich get richer, the poor get poor, and everything's a little bit of a gamble.
• 14:24
  And I think people don't want to hear that the strategy is slow and steady.
• 14:30
  I saw a video the other day on TikTok.
• 14:31
  It was a guy who was like...
• 14:33
  If starting at 18, you put away $500 a month and you invest it, finally, at the time when I am 60 and my bones are aching and I am decrepit and I can't do anything, I will have $5 million and be able to spend all of my time at the hospital.
• 14:50
  And like that was the bit.
• 14:52
  He was like saying that that advice was bad.
• 14:53
  And I always like to respond to that like, okay, so don't do it.
• 14:57
  Now you're 60 and decrepit and in a hospital and you don't have shit.
• 15:01
  Who's taking care of you now?
• 15:03
  And things are about to get real dark for you.
• 15:05
  I'd rather have $5 million and need it than not have $5 million and need it.
• 15:11
  And so I think the attitude has become so all or nothing, so black or white, when life is gray.
• 15:19
  Like, yes, I encourage everybody to make smart financial decisions.
• 15:23
  That's not me saying you can't go get yourself a coffee and that you can't get a little treat.
• 15:27
  I love a little treat.
• 15:28
  Nobody loves a little treat more than me.
• 15:30
  But...
• 15:32
  Do you need a little treat every day?
• 15:33
  Do you need to forego your bigger goals for those little treats?
• 15:38
  I don't think so.
• 15:40
  I think that the playbook that our parents subscribe to doesn't exist the same way it used to.
• 15:47
  Pensions don't exist.
• 15:48
  Security doesn't exist.
• 15:49
  Job security doesn't exist.
• 15:52
  Coupled with social media, instant gratification, people showing these ridiculously...
• 15:59
  you know, overnight success stories that are obviously fake or not overnight successes.
• 16:04
  I think that has just screwed up the average person's perception of what success is, how long we're on this earth.
• 16:12
  It's screwed up your patience.
• 16:13
  It's screwed up your, your ability to take things slow and steady.
• 16:18
  And I think this is what's creating like everybody being depressed and having massive amounts of anxiety and that leading to really poor financial choices amongst other things.
• 16:29
  Um,
• 16:31
  I mentioned that you get so many DMs because you actually turned your DMs into a product, which is Ask Dolly.
• 16:38
  And that's out now.
• 16:39
  Short for a dollar.
• 16:39
  I was going to ask what that actually is.
• 16:41
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 16:42
  Ask Dolly, short for a dollar.
• 16:43
  When somebody is stressed out about money, when somebody doesn't know how to save, how to build wealth, what is Ask Dolly actually doing for them?
• 16:52
  Yeah.
• 16:53
  So, you know, I mentioned I get a lot of DMs about money and I realized a lot of the questions people were asking me were not...
• 17:01
  so cut and dry is like, you know, yes or no.
• 17:05
  It depended on how much money they had, what their family looked like, what their goals were, everything.
• 17:10
  And I was like, well, I can't get back to all of these people and I don't know all of this information.
• 17:14
  And so I built Ask Dolly as essentially a holistic financial wellness tool.
• 17:21
  You are able to connect your accounts in the same way that you go in for your annual physical and they do the blood work and they're like,
• 17:26
  okay, your sugars look really good, but cholesterol is looking a little high.
• 17:31
  So we need to make sure you get on this medication or you start doing this one thing in your life.
• 17:35
  You got to change part of your diet.
• 17:37
  Exact same way.
• 17:38
  Ask Dolly connects using Plaid, same way that you would for like a Venmo.
• 17:43
  And it actually showcases what your strengths are and where your weaknesses are so that we can then give you guidance on what to do.
• 17:51
  So, hey, you're doing a really good job saving.
• 17:54
  You actually might have too much in savings.
• 17:56
  Let's put some of that into an investment account.
• 17:58
  Or, hey, you're doing a really great job in saving, but let's also focus on paying down some of that high interest rate debt.
• 18:05
  We'll make out a debt plan for you.
• 18:07
  And so Ask Dolly really helps you understand your money better.
• 18:11
  And it also allows you to ask your money questions on demand 24-7.
• 18:17
  And that's powered through reputable sources.
• 18:19
  So we're making sure that you're not getting anything from like, you know,
• 18:22
  daytrading.com or like anything sketchy.
• 18:25
  But if you have a question that's too pointed, that's too personalized, we connect you one-on-one with a human CFP who can actually provide you financial advice.
• 18:35
  Like, you know, all those gurus are like, this is not financial advice.
• 18:38
  We are a registered investment advisor.
• 18:40
  It was a high priority for me to make sure that that was the case.
• 18:45
  This is not, you know, some fancy schmancy guru with a cape in front of it.
• 18:50
  This is actually financial advice.
• 18:52
  We have professionals that are licensed to speak to you.
• 18:55
  And last but not least, we also do a breakdown of news.
• 19:02
  When I see a headline, my first question is always like,
• 19:06
  What the hell that got to do with me?
• 19:08
  Well, we're going to answer that question of, hey, this is how tariffs are going to impact you depending on how much money you make every year.
• 19:15
  Or, hey, the Federal Reserve just said that interest rates were raised.
• 19:19
  What does that mean for you?
• 19:21
  Probably not that much if you already own a home, own a car and have what you need.
• 19:25
  But if you're about to go apply for a student loan, you're about to go apply for a car note.
• 19:31
  That might mean something to you.
• 19:32
  Or, hey, you wanted to go get a personal loan.
• 19:35
  That definitely means something for you.
• 19:37
  And so we are able to give you personalized information based on what you share with us.
• 19:43
  And that way, every single person can feel like they can take me, squish me really small and put me in their pockets.
• 19:50
  I think that's so smart because all of the things we're talking about, all the bad behaviors, it's probably because of lack of knowledge.
• 19:56
  That's really it at the end of the day.
• 19:57
  Why are you stressed about whatever's happening in the news when it doesn't actually apply to you?
• 20:01
  Why are you going on X company and betting on whatever's happening if somebody's going to say something in a speech next week when really you should be putting out money towards something that actually matters, right?
• 20:17
  I think that
• 20:19
  If people just get access to more information about good practices, also understand their own personal situation better, because I don't think many people actually do understand where they're at financially.
• 20:31
  And also understand how news impacts them as opposed to just hearing something and getting freaked out about it.
• 20:36
  It's like you are regulating their financial nervous system.
• 20:39
  Yes.
• 20:40
  To a degree.
• 20:41
  That's the way that I see it.
• 20:43
  I want people to feel that way.
• 20:44
  I don't want them to be panicked making rash decisions, selling their entire portfolio.
• 20:49
  I want them to be like, OK, I have enough.
• 20:51
  And because of that, I can make a smart choice.
• 20:54
  I can make a smart decision that's going to play for me long term.
• 20:57
  When you first posted about this, 30,000 people put their hand up and said, yes, I want this.
• 21:04
  I'm curious why there is nothing else that is filling this gap in the market.
• 21:10
  Oh, there is.
• 21:13
  I'm certainly not the first person to try to build something like this.
• 21:16
  Problem is, the other people that have built it are banks, or they are financial advisors, or they are brokerages.
• 21:24
  And guess what?
• 21:26
  They don't necessarily have the same type of trust that I've already built with my audience.
• 21:30
  It's like, would you trust a credit card company to tell you what the best credit card is?
• 21:35
  Like, never.
• 21:37
  I would never trust a credit card company.
• 21:40
  Like, don't don't trust you because you're going to tell me your product is the best.
• 21:44
  Whereas like I this is unbiased.
• 21:48
  There is no reason for me to lie to you about it.
• 21:52
  Like with Ask Dolly, instead of needing to make sure that we are pushing product, we charge a manageable subscription fee.
• 22:02
  There's a free tier.
• 22:04
  There is a $20 a month option and a $60 a month option.
• 22:07
  And so that really means for $20 a month, you're able to access financial guidance in a way that was completely roped off from you for decades because you had to have six figures of net worth to actually even get in the door.
• 22:21
  What's the point where AI can actually answer a question responsibly?
• 22:26
  versus when it should actually go to a human.
• 22:29
  So that's probably the first thought that I would have.
• 22:31
  Okay, I'm giving you all my financial information.
• 22:34
  You're sort of looking at my portfolio, all of my accounts, you're looking at the news.
• 22:39
  You kind of know what I'm spending money on.
• 22:42
  When should I listen to that AI?
• 22:43
  And when should I be like, no, no, this is a very complicated thing that I'm dealing with.
• 22:46
  I need a CFP.
• 22:47
  Yeah, we actually will route you based on the type of question.
• 22:52
  And I think the greatest delineation is like financial knowledge and guidance versus financial advice.
• 22:59
  Yeah.
• 23:00
  There is a right or wrong answer of, should I use a Roth IRA versus an IRA?
• 23:08
  Like there is a correct answer based on what tax bracket you're currently in and based on what tax bracket you think you'll be closer to retirement.
• 23:15
  There is a correct answer.
• 23:16
  That is easy for us to be able to get you the right information based on what we know about you, based on reputable sources, and get that to you.
• 23:25
  Easy, quick.
• 23:26
  Now, the question is,
• 23:28
  hey, so I'm thinking about converting the dollars in my IRA to a Roth IRA because I live in this tax jurisdiction.
• 23:39
  It won't be as expensive to do this year.
• 23:41
  It might be more expensive to do next year because of these reasons.
• 23:44
  Oh, by the way, the reason I'm even thinking about this is because I'm starting a family or I'm trying to sell my business and I'd like to retire by this age.
• 23:53
  That's a question we want to direct you to a CFP.
• 23:56
  And I say CFP specifically because they are all licensed fiduciaries to be on the CFP board.
• 24:02
  And so it's just very, very important to me that whoever is speaking to BFFs who are using this is actually licensed to do so and has to have your best interests at heart.
• 24:13
  Do you see, I mean, you've already sort of pointed out where with Ask Dolly, like, AI can help and where humans have to sort of engage.
• 24:23
  Do you see, just for people that are, like, thinking about AI for other parts of their, you know, finances, taxes, for example, you obviously have a front row seat to this.
• 24:33
  What do you think AI should be used for and AI should not be used for, for other things outside of Ask Dolly?
• 24:38
  Yeah, I think...
• 24:40
  AI shouldn't really be used for regulated industries like law, medicine, finance as like major public LLMs.
• 24:53
  You should not be uploading your bank statements into banks.
• 24:58
  chat GPT.
• 24:59
  Like, that's not smart.
• 25:01
  You should not be uploading your medical records to a random LLM.
• 25:05
  People are doing this.
• 25:06
  No, people are doing this and they're being leaked.
• 25:09
  Like, there is a certain level of encryption.
• 25:12
  There's a certain level of, like, you know, record keeping.
• 25:15
  There's a certain level of anonymity.
• 25:18
  Like, even on our back end, like, our software engineers cannot see people.
• 25:22
  Yeah.
• 25:23
  identifiable personal information because we have made it so.
• 25:28
  Because when you have a certain designation and certain licenses, you have to abide by certain rules.
• 25:35
  So I would just say AI should be used when...
• 25:40
  You are looking to have routine, rote, like things that can be improved in your business or in your life.
• 25:48
  Sure.
• 25:49
  But if normally you would have gone to somebody who has to have a certain license to practice.
• 25:57
  So...
• 25:58
  Lawyers have to pass the bar.
• 26:00
  Medical doctors have to get their doctorates.
• 26:02
  They have to pass the boards.
• 26:03
  They have to do whatever.
• 26:05
  Financial advisors, CFPs, whatever, have to pass certain licensing exams.
• 26:09
  Like, I would not use AI, a tool that is not licensed in any of those categories, for something that usually requires that.
• 26:18
  Life at the Speed of Play is a success story partner.
• 26:21
  Now, this is a book by Mark Pincus, the guy who founded Zynga.
• 26:24
  I've actually had him on the show.
• 26:25
  I met him in person.
• 26:26
  And Reid Hoffman wrote the foreword, calling him one of the best idea people in Silicon Valley.
• 26:31
  The book is Life at the Speed of Play, Launch Products People Love.
• 26:35
  About 170 pages.
• 26:36
  It's already a national bestseller.
• 26:38
  It's his framework.
• 26:39
  or figuring out whether an idea is actually worth going after before you put serious time and money into it.
• 26:45
  Not theory the way he actually does it.
• 26:46
  And he's repeatedly built successful businesses.
• 26:49
  On top of that, you can read it in a weekend.
• 26:50
  It can change your entire life and give you the right direction if you're an entrepreneur.
• 26:54
  So right now, if you go to getmarksbook.com slash success, you get two copies for $32.
• 26:59
  That's $16 each.
• 27:01
  Mark is paying for the second copy himself because he wants you to give it to somebody, a friend who's been sitting on an idea, someone who needs to push, whoever.
• 27:07
  That's getmarksbook.com slash success.
• 27:10
  Mark with a K. Buy one.
• 27:12
  Second one's free.
• 27:13
  Odoo is a success story partner.
• 27:15
  And remember that is pronounced O-do.
• 27:17
  Now I want to tell you something that happened to me recently that I think a lot of you will relate to.
• 27:21
  I was trying to send a quote to a client and this should be simple, right?
• 27:24
  Except the pricing was in one tool and the contact info was in another tool.
• 27:29
  And the last conversation that we had was in a third tool.
• 27:31
  And then I spent something like 20 minutes pulling it all together for one quote.
• 27:35
  And that's the thing.
• 27:36
  Each tool works fine on its own.
• 27:39
  The problem is that they don't talk to each other.
• 27:41
  So you become the person connecting everything.
• 27:44
  You become the integration.
• 27:46
  You're the one copying numbers between tabs and making sure everything matches.
• 27:49
  But that's what Odoo fixes.
• 27:51
  It puts everything on one platform.
• 27:54
  So I'm talking accounting, invoicing, CRM, inventory, HR, project management, your website, e-commerce, e-signatures, over 45 apps, all connected.
• 28:03
  When something happens in one place, every other place already knows about it.
• 28:07
  So you're not updating three systems every time you close a deal.
• 28:10
  And the pricing is the part that surprised me.
• 28:12
  The first app is free for life, unlimited users, hosting included.
• 28:16
  One subscription after that unlocks everything else.
• 28:19
  So if you're spending your time connecting tools instead of actually doing the work you have to do, go check it out.
• 28:24
  Links in the show notes.
• 28:25
  My Fitness Pal is a success story partner.
• 28:27
  Now, a quick story.
• 28:28
  A few weeks ago, I was in the middle of a very heavy recording week.
• 28:30
  So five episodes back to back.
• 28:33
  By Wednesday, I could feel it.
• 28:34
  I felt tired and I pulled up my food log in the My Fitness Pal app and I could see why I felt tired.
• 28:41
  I was heavily under eating.
• 28:44
  I was not keeping up with my meals.
• 28:45
  My macros were all off on weeks like that.
• 28:48
  Staying on top of your fuel and your food and what you eat is the difference between being sharp on episode five and being flat.
• 28:55
  And that's the kind of thing you only catch when you're paying attention.
• 28:58
  And that's why I keep logging.
• 28:59
  every single meal I eat in the MyFitnessPal app.
• 29:02
  It's not because I'm obsessing over numbers.
• 29:04
  It's not because I'm trying to diet, because I'm trying to have an awareness about what I eat in the day.
• 29:10
  And the app makes it so easy to maintain that awareness.
• 29:13
  I can point my camera at a plate with MealScan
• 29:16
  It'll tell me exactly what I'm eating, all my macronutrients, proteins, fats, carbs.
• 29:20
  There's an intermittent fasting tracker.
• 29:22
  If I want an intermittent fast, it keeps my eating window honest, and it all syncs with my watch and all of my fitness apps, and it just runs in the background.
• 29:31
  See, food is a foundation for energy, sleep, recovery, performance.
• 29:34
  It is the one input that you cannot skip.
• 29:37
  So do yourself a favor, track what you're eating,
• 29:40
  It'll make you feel better, perform better in everything that you do.
• 29:44
  Go to podcasts.myfitnesspal.com and use code SCOTT, all uppercase, for 50% off MyFitnessPal premium.
• 29:50
  That's podcasts.myfitnesspal.com, code SCOTT.
• 29:54
  You probably see some horror stories because I've heard of a lot of legal issues where people upload...
• 30:00
  like everything to Claude or chat GPT.
• 30:03
  And then there was something about it being discoverable in court because it's not underprivileged, because you actually didn't give it to a lawyer.
• 30:09
  You just gave it to an LLM.
• 30:11
  You've never seen those like old timey like movies where somebody is trying to talk to their lawyer friend and their lawyer friends like, give me a dollar, give me a dollar.
• 30:20
  And then and then suddenly that lawyer can't be like grabbed, subpoenaed as a witness because they are your lawyer.
• 30:27
  Yeah.
• 30:28
  So same same difference in finance.
• 30:30
  So you see you probably see people making huge mistakes using AI for their finances.
• 30:35
  A hundred percent.
• 30:36
  Are people like trusting AI to do their taxes?
• 30:38
  And I'd hope not.
• 30:41
  You know, someone has to get a CPA to do your taxes.
• 30:43
  I know that.
• 30:43
  But I'm just wondering, like, what what crazy stories have you seen?
• 30:47
  Because people probably tell you the all their financial issues.
• 30:51
  Yeah.
• 30:52
  Well, I just think that the problem is, is like oftentimes the way AIs are built, like they're very complimentary.
• 30:59
  So you're going to tell them what you're doing and they're going to be like, you're on the right track.
• 31:02
  You might not be the gaslighting.
• 31:04
  You might not be actually.
• 31:06
  You know, I think I've heard of stories where people are using this and then there are some sort of data breach or there are some sort of I mean, what was it recently?
• 31:15
  You could like Google chat histories.
• 31:18
  Yeah.
• 31:18
  That were publicly shared.
• 31:19
  That were publicly shared.
• 31:20
  I'm like, I don't want my chat – first off, like, I don't want my chat history or my Google history or any of the embarrassing things that I'm doing on the internet to be found.
• 31:30
  Because sometimes it's literally, like, the most basic questions that I'm, like, embarrassed I'm Googling.
• 31:35
  But, like, I do think that we have to be mindful of, like –
• 31:41
  This conversation is not privileged.
• 31:43
  Like you don't have the same protections and rights that you might when actually working with a professional.
• 31:48
  Of course not.
• 31:49
  I just wish more people would realize that before.
• 31:51
  Before they start doing really scary stuff.
• 31:53
  Actually, this is, I mean, in all seriousness, I really respect what you've built because you've done it properly.
• 31:57
  You also have like licensed individuals.
• 32:00
  You have a point where it's like it is no longer a question we can give you an AI answer for now.
• 32:04
  It goes to the licensed CFP.
• 32:09
  But so it's like this nice little ecosystem.
• 32:11
  of like okay so we're gonna route you over here we're gonna route you over here we're gonna give you the news we're gonna tell you what it means for you it's like it it just feels like a safe place for people to use ai for finance properly in a world of people are probably not using ai for finance properly at all um
• 32:26
  I'm more curious because I know I'm a fellow creator.
• 32:33
  I'm curious why you chose to take your business in this direction.
• 32:37
  And I wanna just reference sort of the most recent Forbes number that they put on your business saying that you make roughly 8.2 million this year.
• 32:47
  So wildly successful creator already.
• 32:49
  So congrats.
• 32:50
  But you chose purposely to build Ask Dolly.
• 32:53
  You chose to not take investor money either.
• 32:56
  So you put your own money into this.
• 32:59
  So at this point as a creator, as an operator in your own business, what was the thought process as to, okay, where am I going to go next?
• 33:06
  What am I going to build?
• 33:06
  I mean…
• 33:07
  We all know a ton of creators that launch courses, God forbid, courses and courses.
• 33:11
  And I don't think you've ever done that ever.
• 33:12
  No, never.
• 33:13
  I don't think I actually know too many creators that hit, you know, hit close to eight figures without selling a course.
• 33:21
  I think that's actually really, really rare.
• 33:23
  So congrats again.
• 33:25
  But when you think about how you evolve your business as a creator, what was the thought process?
• 33:29
  Well, to your exact point, everybody was, you know, asking, when are you going to launch a course?
• 33:34
  When are you going to teach a course?
• 33:35
  When are you going to sell something like masterclass?
• 33:37
  What is it like all of this?
• 33:38
  I'm like, well, fundamentally, I don't believe that the type of content that I'm sharing or the type of information that I'm sharing should be behind a paywall.
• 33:50
  I fundamentally believe the federal government should mandate financial literacy education as part of a K-12 school system.
• 34:00
  We don't have that right now.
• 34:01
  I don't know when we're going to get it.
• 34:03
  But I wanted to build something that was easily accessible.
• 34:08
  These courses that people are selling are hundreds of dollars.
• 34:11
  They're thousands of dollars sometimes, tens of thousands even.
• 34:14
  I didn't want that.
• 34:16
  I found a hole in the system because there was a gap.
• 34:20
  When I started making money and I was like, I have no idea what to do at 22.
• 34:26
  Nobody cared.
• 34:27
  Nobody wanted to help me.
• 34:28
  But I made my first million at 27.
• 34:31
  And now at 32 as a multimillionaire.
• 34:34
  Every private bank on the streets knocking down my door being like, Vivian, how can we help you?
• 34:41
  We'd love to help you manage your money.
• 34:42
  It's like, yeah, okay, cool.
• 34:43
  Of course you'd like to help me manage my money.
• 34:45
  I have a lot of it now.
• 34:46
  What about when I was 22 and my credit card was getting declined?
• 34:49
  What about when, you know, I was deciding like, okay, should I buy more groceries or should I pay my credit card bill?
• 34:57
  Like, absolutely.
• 34:57
  Nobody wanted to help me when I didn't have any.
• 35:00
  But it's like there are so many people that just need a little bit of a helping hand when they're younger.
• 35:05
  And they're going to get successful.
• 35:07
  They're going to make that money.
• 35:08
  And this is that.
• 35:10
  This is my answer to that.
• 35:12
  Like I was so frustrated that I couldn't get any help at 22.
• 35:15
  But everybody wanted to help me at 32.
• 35:17
  With Ask Dolly...
• 35:19
  I mentioned free tier.
• 35:21
  There is the $20 tier, the $60 tier.
• 35:23
  That's affordable.
• 35:25
  That's you give up two coffees, two coffees, by the way, like coffees are $10 now.
• 35:32
  I know.
• 35:33
  I know they're $10.
• 35:34
  They're getting expensive.
• 35:35
  That's two coffees.
• 35:36
  If you give up two coffees a month, you can have Ask Dolly.
• 35:39
  I think that's worth it.
• 35:40
  I think that doesn't feel like I'm trying to scam anybody.
• 35:44
  It doesn't feel like I'm trying to say if you can't afford a certain amount, you don't get to have this happily ever after.
• 35:52
  I want people to use this as many people as possible.
• 35:54
  I also have an issue with courses when they're $10,000.
• 35:57
  You're going to have to, you know, take get a new credit card to actually afford it.
• 36:04
  And I think it's so toxic because I mean,
• 36:08
  I know that for sure some courses provide value.
• 36:12
  Sure, sure.
• 36:12
  But at the end of the day, if they're being sold to people that really can't afford it, you're putting them in a really shitty situation, right?
• 36:20
  Like if I'm already successful and I want to go learn how to, you know, whatever, start an Airbnb business and I have so much money coming in, okay, fine, 10,000 is nothing to me.
• 36:31
  Okay, cool.
• 36:32
  But especially in finance, like who's listening to finance content?
• 36:37
  It's people who need help with their money.
• 36:38
  It's not somebody who's pulling in a million dollars a year.
• 36:41
  Like, they're not watching finance YouTube.
• 36:43
  It is mostly not watching finance.
• 36:45
  They're not because you know what they're doing?
• 36:47
  They're being reached out to by all of the banks who want to help manage their, help them.
• 36:50
  All the people that you're selling to are the people that are already not doing too good.
• 36:54
  In most cases for all these course creators.
• 36:56
  Yeah.
• 36:57
  And I think that like for some of these courses, sure, they're helpful.
• 37:00
  They're great.
• 37:00
  A lot of them are scams, though.
• 37:02
  A lot of them are three PowerPoint slides and a prayer.
• 37:05
  That's very true.
• 37:06
  And so I just I'm not of that camp.
• 37:08
  I don't think it's ever going to be in the cards for me.
• 37:11
  Like, I love the idea of people being able to access the information.
• 37:15
  And then if you want it spoon fed to you, personalized one on one, like, pay for it.
• 37:23
  How do you build an $8.2 million creator business without a course?
• 37:27
  Yeah.
• 37:29
  Through a bunch of different lines of business.
• 37:32
  If I was going through.
• 37:33
  So, I mean, you are chief of financial empowerment at SoFi.
• 37:38
  You had a series on Amazon as well.
• 37:41
  We're currently in development on a scripted series.
• 37:43
  Yes.
• 37:44
  That's exciting.
• 37:45
  Obviously, you have like your core business.
• 37:48
  What else are you working on?
• 37:49
  I'm going through my list here.
• 37:50
  So I've got my podcast, Network and Chill, two New York Times bestselling books.
• 37:54
  I got advances on those.
• 37:57
  I have a robust digital media business that I'm able to have brand partners for.
• 38:02
  It's mostly brand partners.
• 38:03
  Brand partners.
• 38:04
  I do speaking.
• 38:06
  I actually make a pretty decent chunk of money speaking at different corporations, whether they want to improve their social presence or it's a service for their employees to improve their finances.
• 38:18
  So I can talk about social media.
• 38:19
  I can talk about finance.
• 38:20
  I can talk about all these different things.
• 38:23
  I made a little bit of money from the platforms themselves because I have high performing content.
• 38:28
  That's not really a ton of money.
• 38:32
  Thank you.
• 38:34
  There's always hopes for other things as well, like reality TV, a knock on wood, like maybe news anchoring job in the future.
• 38:46
  Like, I think there's a lot of room for growth.
• 38:49
  But for the most part, I'm so grateful.
• 38:52
  Like, I have partners that are able to essentially subsidize my content.
• 38:56
  So instead of putting it behind a paywall and charging people to watch it, I'm saying everybody can watch it.
• 39:01
  Every so often, you're going to see an ad.
• 39:03
  You have all these different income streams.
• 39:06
  When you start out, it's hard to focus on so many different things at once.
• 39:09
  So for that up and coming creator, where do you suggest they start to focus?
• 39:15
  Just so they can make a little bit of money, get a little bit more exposure, make creating content an actual sustainable business for them, and if they do that for long enough, then you look at what it can turn into.
• 39:26
  But where do they start to focus?
• 39:28
  I think you focus on one specific thing and you do it really, really well.
• 39:32
  So for me, it was short form, lo-fi content.
• 39:35
  I did that really, really well until I was making enough money doing that to then be able to hire someone who could help take part of that over for me.
• 39:44
  When she started taking over the editing and the posting and all that, I then had time freed up to focus on the podcast.
• 39:51
  And then I hired someone else to come in and help focus on the podcast.
• 39:55
  So my time freed up and then I could focus on the book.
• 39:58
  And obviously I had an editor.
• 40:00
  I had folks who were helping me with the book.
• 40:03
  I was able to then, once I finished the book.
• 40:06
  Go on tour.
• 40:07
  You're very project-based.
• 40:08
  Very project-based.
• 40:09
  So, like, take on a project.
• 40:11
  You probably start it yourself.
• 40:13
  You get to, like, a certain level of competency at doing that thing, and then you hire somebody.
• 40:18
  I think about it as, like, you are running on each of these projects, and at first you start off at, like, a walk.
• 40:24
  Like, you're on the treadmill.
• 40:25
  It's, like, a 2.0, 3.0.
• 40:27
  When I get it to a 6.0 or a 7.0 and I'm running,
• 40:32
  I can pass it over to someone else.
• 40:33
  And they are now they're running with a baton.
• 40:35
  And my expectation is that since I'm paying them, since I've given them something that is good, that is already running at a six or seven, they better be able to take it to an eight.
• 40:43
  They better be able to take it to a nine.
• 40:46
  And then I'm able to move on to the next thing.
• 40:48
  Was there anything that you've taken on that was particularly hard to delegate to someone else?
• 40:52
  Two things.
• 40:53
  One, social media, because it was my baby, like my digital short form content.
• 40:58
  I was like, I pass it over.
• 41:01
  But I'm really particular about how it looks, how it sounds.
• 41:04
  You know, that is my red and butter.
• 41:05
  So I wanted to really, really tighten on that.
• 41:09
  And then two, I think.
• 41:14
  Doing Ask Dolly, building Ask Dolly from the ground up, you mentioned self-funded,
• 41:20
  Most expensive thing I've ever bought, by the way.
• 41:22
  More expensive than my down payment.
• 41:23
  More expensive than my wedding.
• 41:24
  I don't own a car.
• 41:26
  Like...
• 41:27
  It was over a million dollars to stand it up.
• 41:31
  And that is the most expensive thing I've ever purchased.
• 41:34
  That's scary, one, because, you know, people are like, oh, you made $8.2 million last year.
• 41:39
  Like, I didn't suddenly get a really, really nice apartment.
• 41:42
  I didn't suddenly get a much nicer car.
• 41:44
  I didn't suddenly get jewels and diamonds and everything is amazing.
• 41:47
  Like, I invested it back in my business.
• 41:50
  And so I think for me, doing that was very scary and delegating something that was so expensive was so scary.
• 41:59
  But I think it was extra scary because it's the first time in a long time I've had to do something for the first time.
• 42:06
  So I'll repeat, like if you think about when you're in kindergarten.
• 42:12
  You have your first day of school.
• 42:14
  You make your first new friend.
• 42:16
  You meet your first teacher ever.
• 42:17
  You have your first lunch without your mom.
• 42:21
  You go down the slide for the first time.
• 42:25
  You live in a world of discomfort because you are constantly doing something for the first time.
• 42:30
  And it's scary the first time.
• 42:32
  But the second time, it's easier.
• 42:33
  And then the third time, it's easier.
• 42:35
  But the problem is, is as we get older and older and older, you do things for the first time more and more rarely.
• 42:43
  Building Ask Dolly from the ground up as a tech venture, like I don't have like a computer science background or anything like that.
• 42:49
  Like I was doing something new for the very first time.
• 42:52
  And man, was I terrified.
• 42:54
  Two thoughts on that.
• 42:56
  First, yes, it is like brand new.
• 42:57
  Tech ventures are not easy.
• 42:58
  Finding good developer talent when you've never hired a developer in your life, it's like very, very difficult.
• 43:04
  But secondly, I find that it's even more stressful for content creators to scale and delegate because everything is tied to their name.
• 43:12
  So like when you start a business that is not tied to your name…
• 43:15
  Yeah, all founders like get stressed about delegating.
• 43:19
  But delegating your social, like I'm, I don't know, Gary Vee still says he writes his own little captions.
• 43:25
  I like kind of believe him because I can see how stressful it is for a guy who is so neurotic about like social media to let somebody else do that.
• 43:36
  And I know he has a huge team of supports like the editing and stuff, but I feel like it's hard to let go of that because it's you.
• 43:40
  one bad caption that is worded the wrong way or one bad video that's a shitty take.
• 43:46
  And now everybody thinks that's Gary Vee when in fact it could have been the new intern, but like, I am your rich BFF.
• 43:53
  Vivian too is your rich BFF and your rich BFF is what is building Ask Dolly.
• 43:59
  So everything is me, the buck stops with me.
• 44:02
  So it does feel like everything.
• 44:05
  And there's also a lot more eyes, right?
• 44:07
  I feel like the 2000s era, early 2000s, like when Silicon Valley was like really popping off, there were all of these anonymous founders and the product they built really spoke for themselves.
• 44:18
  But like Mark Zuckerberg wasn't famous before he built Facebook.
• 44:24
  And there wasn't this kind of like celebrity pressure on the founder.
• 44:30
  Whereas now as someone who built the following first, like,
• 44:36
  There is criticism of me, not only as a creator, but as a founder.
• 44:43
  I think that that's why so many creators have a hard time scaling.
• 44:46
  It's not because they don't know what they're doing.
• 44:48
  It's not because they couldn't build a business.
• 44:50
  It's truly because their identity is so wrapped up into the work that they do.
• 44:54
  And they can't get over the fact that they have to let someone else do it.
• 44:58
  It's like a psychological blocker.
• 45:01
  You've done a really good job of it.
• 45:02
  I think you were also on one of our mutual friends, Valeria Lipovetsky.
• 45:07
  Also Miami.
• 45:07
  Miami girl.
• 45:08
  Also Canadian, by the way.
• 45:09
  Is she?
• 45:09
  Yeah, from Toronto.
• 45:10
  Yeah.
• 45:10
  Yeah.
• 45:10
  I don't think there's like a Toronto mafia down in Miami.
• 45:14
  There is.
• 45:14
  It's so funny.
• 45:15
  So point is, she's also done a good job of this as well.
• 45:17
  And I have a huge team.
• 45:18
  And then we know her and Gary.
• 45:20
  But we met them when they moved down to Miami, even though we're both from Toronto, which is ironic.
• 45:24
  But there is a little bit of a Canadian mafia down in Miami.
• 45:28
  There really is.
• 45:28
  I'm like, wait, we're all because like my last landlord was Canadian.
• 45:32
  Really?
• 45:32
  Yeah.
• 45:32
  That's so funny.
• 45:33
  But the point is, there's very few creators that I can point to that are like, they did a good job.
• 45:37
  They got out of just them being the business and then turned into a real business.
• 45:41
  I will say Valeria has done an incredibly good job, but I don't think I could do her content as well as she does because my content is more educational focused to the point where, like, I only have to share about my personal life when I feel like it.
• 45:56
  But, like, her content oftentimes does revolve around her and Gary and her family.
• 46:00
  And I'm like, man, like.
• 46:02
  I love that she makes her content and I have nothing but admiration for her.
• 46:06
  But like, girl, doesn't that get exhausting?
• 46:09
  I think it would.
• 46:11
  I think it would.
• 46:11
  Like I'm the same as you.
• 46:12
  So I like doing educational and then I'll like I'll sprinkle in.
• 46:15
  Sprinkle in.
• 46:16
  Yeah, yeah.
• 46:16
  Personal.
• 46:17
  But for 100% of your content to be personal, I think it is tiring.
• 46:20
  I'm sure it takes a certain kind of personality when, you know, your content is what you do, what you wear, where you go.
• 46:27
  Like that's a lot.
• 46:29
  That's even, it's like even more of your identity is wrapped up into it, like 100% of it.
• 46:33
  Like, at least for me, like half of my content is the guest, which I don't mind, right?
• 46:38
  Like I can like, you know, I'm having like an off day.
• 46:39
  It's like, oh, like your content sucks.
• 46:40
  Well, the guest was bad.
• 46:42
  Vivian, Vivian with this interview.
• 46:44
  So you speak about freezing embryos.
• 46:48
  You speak about, well, I think your second book opens with people think love is enough.
• 46:56
  It's not.
• 46:57
  So you're talking about marriage.
• 46:59
  You're talking about my husband.
• 47:01
  I think I understand it because to understand money, you have to understand like real life and how it impacts real life.
• 47:08
  So all these different things you talk about, it's not just content I'm assuming.
• 47:11
  I think these are expensive financial decisions that people have to make as well.
• 47:15
  So talk to me.
• 47:18
  Why did you like, why did you choose to conclude some of this stuff into your content?
• 47:22
  Cause I think I wanted to show people that like life and money is messy in theory.
• 47:27
  It's not,
• 47:27
  there is more often than not a mathematically correct decision of what to do with your finances.
• 47:33
  Like there are trade-offs, but like you can do the math and decide what is the best option.
• 47:38
  But how often have you seen someone who has complained about their budget go buy a candy bar?
• 47:45
  They wanted the candy bar.
• 47:46
  I don't blame them.
• 47:47
  I've done the same.
• 47:48
  But I think that like we have to talk about the messiness that is life,
• 47:55
  And why sometimes people make irrational decisions.
• 47:59
  And then way if those irrational decisions actually make sense or not.
• 48:03
  Or how can we actually trick ourselves into making smarter decisions.
• 48:08
  So like I don't know.
• 48:10
  It was completely irrational to move in with my now husband then boyfriend of 30 days.
• 48:18
  Like that was dumb.
• 48:20
  Don't recommend it for anybody else.
• 48:22
  But.
• 48:24
  It worked.
• 48:25
  But I talk about that story of how we were splitting rent and I talk about the stories of like, you know, how we talk about money.
• 48:30
  And I hope those are learning moments for other people.
• 48:34
  But to show that even someone who is a purported expert.
• 48:38
  Can screw it up sometimes or break the rules and that there are very few situations that are so bad that you can't come back from.
• 48:45
  HubSpot is a success story partner.
• 48:47
  Now, every entrepreneur, founder, CEOs listening right now needs to pay attention.
• 48:52
  I have a question for you.
• 48:53
  When a buyer asks AI for a solution or a product that your business sells, does your business come up?
• 49:01
  The answer is that most companies have no idea.
• 49:04
  They don't know if their name shows up in any of the AI tools, chat, perplexity, Claude.
• 49:12
  And by the time they find out, they have lost tons of traffic and tons of deals to someone who did show up.
• 49:19
  HubSpot AEO.
• 49:21
  It helps you show up in those moments with the right answers that your customers and your buyers are looking for when they go type in a question.
• 49:28
  It's before the first click.
• 49:29
  It's before they fill out some form on your website.
• 49:33
  That is the moment that HubSpot AEO is built for.
• 49:37
  So if you want your company to show up in AI searches when your customer is looking, check out HubSpot.com.
• 49:43
  They are the agentic customer platform for growing businesses.
• 49:47
  NetSuite is a success story partner.
• 49:48
  Now you probably know NetSuite already.
• 49:50
  It's a software that a ton of companies use to basically manage everything.
• 49:54
  Their finances, their inventory, their HR, it's just all in one place.
• 49:58
  Now they just came out with NetSuite Next.
• 50:00
  This is the AI version of all of that.
• 50:03
  So now you can ask it a question the way you'd ask someone on your team who just knows everything about your business.
• 50:07
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• 50:09
  It keeps you up to date on all the things you need to know about your company and your business without you having to go digging for them.
• 50:15
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• 50:21
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• 50:26
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• 50:30
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• 50:31
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• 50:36
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• 50:41
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• 50:44
  So if your revenues are at least in the seven figures, get our free business guide, Aligning for the Agentic Era, how AI is changing everyday work at netsuite.com slash scottclary.
• 50:54
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• 50:58
  That's netsuite.com slash scottclary.
• 51:00
  Monarch is a success story partner.
• 51:02
  Now, quick question.
• 51:02
  Do you know where your money went last month?
• 51:04
  Not roughly, but exactly.
• 51:06
  And most people don't.
• 51:07
  And I didn't for years.
• 51:08
  And that is most of our money stories, right?
• 51:10
  When we first start our career, we have one income and one account, and you can kind of wing it.
• 51:14
  But once you're running businesses, once you're investing, once you're carrying 50 different subscriptions that you stop paying attention to, winging it gets super expensive.
• 51:22
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• 51:24
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• 51:26
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• 51:26
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• 51:31
  The first week I had it, it fired recurring charges I'd been paying for months without realizing.
• 51:34
  And every single week, the AI recap tells me if spending spiked, if my net worth moved, and what bills are coming.
• 51:40
  And I can just ask it, hey, can I afford this trip without touching my savings?
• 51:43
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• 51:47
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• 51:49
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• 51:51
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• 52:02
  One thing that I think is just a really important thing to speak about briefly, having kids.
• 52:07
  Because I just mentioned you froze your embryos.
• 52:10
  You've also said kids will make you poor, but you're planning a family anyways.
• 52:14
  And I bring this up not because of what you're doing, what you're choosing to do with your personal life.
• 52:19
  I think because a lot of people are stressed out about should we have kids?
• 52:22
  Can we afford them?
• 52:24
  I feel like life's more expensive.
• 52:26
  People are having kids later.
• 52:27
  People are getting married later.
• 52:28
  It feels like life is...
• 52:30
  I was just talking to my dad yesterday.
• 52:32
  So he's like, I'm 36.
• 52:35
  He's like, you are the age that I was when I had you.
• 52:44
  And he said, like, even that was really late.
• 52:47
  In our parents' generation, for sure, yeah.
• 52:49
  In his circle of friends, he said, like, everybody had kids, like, much, much, much earlier.
• 52:53
  And we don't have kids yet, and we want kids, and we're trying for kids.
• 52:57
  Whereas I now, in my mind, my perception is, like, this is the right age, actually.
• 53:03
  Which is crazy.
• 53:04
  So this is the thing.
• 53:05
  So, like, what's right, what's wrong?
• 53:07
  I mean, I don't know.
• 53:09
  I don't know what's right and what's wrong.
• 53:10
  Because if you choose to have kids earlier, great.
• 53:13
  It's probably –
• 53:15
  easier on you mentally because you're not stressed about all the shit that life can throw at you, whereas now you're older and you're thinking about all the different expenses you have and all the different responsibilities you have and you just think, okay, well, you know, now if I want my kid to go to a good school, that's going to be a private school and it's going to be, you know, how much money per year and you overthink it.
• 53:33
  So I don't know what's right or wrong and also the same thing goes for like, you know, our parents' generation was smarter to have kids younger or later and now we're not even comparing...
• 53:43
  you know ourselves to what our friends are doing or not doing we're also comparing ourselves to our parents and we're wondering like well my kids my friends aren't having kids yet my parents had kids younger so like am i failing am i doing okay and we have all this like self-doubt because there's no playbook for how to live a life properly it's all subjective yeah but i have a theory please
• 54:08
  So my theory, and this is not backed by any sort of science, this is just a little theory I have.
• 54:16
  The generation before us were able to make bigger life decisions earlier on because they were, and take this with a grain of salt, quote unquote, better off financially.
• 54:29
  Okay?
• 54:30
  Okay.
• 54:32
  It doesn't necessarily mean that, you know, if your mom or dad had you at 22, they had more dollars in their bank account than you do now.
• 54:41
  But everything felt less stressful because a home only cost $150,000.
• 54:50
  Whereas now, even if you are having more money than your parents, the average home is like 400 grand, 450 grand.
• 54:59
  And so you have to have that in your mind when thinking about, can I purchase a home that is not only big enough for my family, but maybe is it in the right school district so that I can get my kid into the right public school because I can't afford private school.
• 55:14
  And so even though we as kids.
• 55:21
  An average community, like a generational band, the numbers show that we have more dollars.
• 55:27
  Those dollars go less far.
• 55:29
  And thus, we are delaying some of those big life milestones, such as buying a home, such as starting a family.
• 55:35
  And that's why you're seeing our friends having kids later and later and later.
• 55:40
  So is that smart to delay?
• 55:43
  I think the problem is, is like finance and biology are inverse in terms of ease.
• 55:50
  Like have a kid earlier, biologically, you'll probably be in a better position to do so.
• 55:55
  Your eggs are likely healthier.
• 55:56
  Like, you know, it's all healthier.
• 55:58
  But you got less to then do.
• 56:01
  you know take care of the needs on the flip side you wait till you're later you're more financially stable great but your body might betray you because when i went in and froze my embryos they used to call women who had babies 35 and older geriatric pregnancies 35 is geriatric what
• 56:24
  Is that true?
• 56:25
  Yes.
• 56:26
  They have like a new like politically correct term for it.
• 56:29
  But that's what they were calling it up until just a few years ago.
• 56:33
  And I find that kind of like crazy.
• 56:36
  That does sound crazy because 35 doesn't seem that old.
• 56:39
  35 does not seem old at all.
• 56:40
  But the problem is, is at 35, there has been a statistically significant show that egg count decreases.
• 56:47
  And so if you're trying to get pregnant later, some people, you're just really fertile.
• 56:53
  You can be popping kids out well into your early 40s.
• 56:56
  But...
• 56:57
  For many people, whether it has to do with the air we're breathing, the food we're eating, and just hormonal changes or things that we're putting in our body, are finding that it's harder and harder to have children, like, the old-fashioned way in your later 30s.
• 57:12
  And so that's why I actually chose to froze embryos because I am not in a position right now that I want to have a kid.
• 57:21
  But when I change my mind and I'm ready in a couple years, like, will I be able to?
• 57:28
  I always want to be able to have the final say in the decision.
• 57:31
  I never want the decision to be made for me.
• 57:33
  I understand.
• 57:33
  And I think that the reason why I bring that, there's a lot of things that stress people out financially.
• 57:37
  One would be buying a home.
• 57:39
  Probably having kids is like a close second.
• 57:41
  But the reason I bring up having kids is like a huge financial stressor is, well, if you choose not to buy a home now, you can buy a home later.
• 57:48
  It's really not that bad to delay it a little bit.
• 57:52
  But I think the kids thing is causing a lot of young couples to stress out financially because they don't know if they can barely afford rent, how they're going to take care of a family.
• 58:00
  And I don't know if you have any words of wisdom because it doesn't seem like it's an easy solution outside of freezing eggs or embryos to, you know, sort of hopefully give you a chance in the future.
• 58:12
  But I was going to say, what is your advice for a young couple?
• 58:15
  I have a hot take.
• 58:17
  Do not listen to the older generation or people in your life that are like, just have the baby now.
• 58:23
  You'll figure it out.
• 58:24
  Because everyone says that.
• 58:25
  Everybody says that.
• 58:25
  I think that is the shittiest piece of advice you can give to someone.
• 58:29
  Let's be entirely clear.
• 58:31
  Intimacy and money are the top two reasons why couples fight.
• 58:34
  You're telling me if money's already tightened out and you bring on whole new human life form that you have to take care of in nine months into this world, the money conversations, the money arguments aren't going to get worse.
• 58:45
  Be real with yourself.
• 58:46
  But two, I think that like we don't fully appreciate –
• 58:52
  like how many parents regret having kids because there's this um psychological principle and i'm gonna butcher it now now that i brought it up but essentially they asked a bunch of parents like do you regret having kids or like would you do it again and most people are like yeah of course it
• 59:17
  you don't have a frame of like reference to actually be like, hey, no, I would rather not because you can't just delete your kid.
• 59:27
  Whereas the people who don't have kids actually don't even know what they're missing out on.
• 59:31
  So oftentimes they are happier.
• 59:34
  I think that the actual answer to all of these like big life questions is make sure whatever life you're living, which city you live in, who you marry, you have kids or not, make sure it's your decision.
• 59:47
  and not social pressure, and not keeping up with the Joneses, and not pressure from your parents.
• 59:53
  Like, you're the one who has to live through that life.
• 59:55
  I even think about, like, you know, I've said many times that the best gift that my parents gave me was curiosity, and they never thought any of the stuff that I tried to do was stupid, even though I'm sure at the time it was very stupid.
• 1:00:08
  But that was the gift that led me here today.
• 1:00:11
  But...
• 1:00:12
  I've said to them and I've said on the podcast, if I followed the same playbook that they followed, I would have a subpar life compared to what they had.
• 1:00:18
  If I, I mean, I told you what my dad was when he had kids, but if I had, say, kids a little bit earlier, if I just worked a nine to five W-2 my whole career, well, a couple things.
• 1:00:29
  I wouldn't have the pension my dad has, because he pulls in good money from his pension.
• 1:00:35
  He bought his first house cash when he was 25 or something like that.
• 1:00:39
  So if I followed the playbook that my parents subscribed to, then I would have kids.
• 1:00:45
  I would have no pension.
• 1:00:47
  I would not have a house.
• 1:00:49
  I would be paying month to month in a condo, not making as much money as I am right now as an entrepreneur.
• 1:00:55
  So, I mean, the rules change.
• 1:00:57
  The rules totally change.
• 1:00:58
  So if I thought that's because my parents live life like that, now I should live life like that.
• 1:01:04
  it's not going to work out so well.
• 1:01:05
  So I think that you just have to figure out, and there's nothing wrong with what my parents did if I wanted to live that same life.
• 1:01:11
  I just have to make sure I choose it for myself and understand what my life's going to look like financially in a relationship, the stresses I'm going to have.
• 1:01:19
  I think there's too many people make decisions based on influence from other people.
• 1:01:23
  Yeah, 100%.
• 1:01:24
  That's like my biggest issue.
• 1:01:26
  I want to talk about money.
• 1:01:28
  I guess that's kind of what you do for a living.
• 1:01:31
  I already asked if your DMs look a little bit different now, but let's ask it a different way.
• 1:01:39
  What's the number one question that people are asking Dolly?
• 1:01:43
  I'd actually have to pull that from our data analytics team.
• 1:01:46
  But some popular topics include how to I think we have a lot of sandwich generation users.
• 1:01:53
  I don't know what this is.
• 1:01:54
  You don't know what this is.
• 1:01:55
  OK, so they are like working professionals who have their own family, but they're being sandwiched by their kids.
• 1:02:03
  But then their parents are underfunded for their retirement.
• 1:02:07
  So now all of this pressure is sandwiching them because their kids need support because they're minors.
• 1:02:14
  But their parents also need support because they're becoming elders.
• 1:02:18
  And so the sandwich generation, a lot of AskDoll users are part of the sandwich generation.
• 1:02:23
  And they're asking, how do I care for my parents while caring for my kid?
• 1:02:29
  How do I juggle it all?
• 1:02:31
  And I think that has been the million dollar question since.
• 1:02:35
  Is there an answer?
• 1:02:36
  Is there a good answer?
• 1:02:37
  Listen, I think it's about prioritization, right?
• 1:02:41
  It's also about setting your parents up as early as possible, maybe helping them make smart decisions about if they want to retire and kind of end their life in their own home.
• 1:02:53
  Like, how do you make sure that they're living in a one floor ranch versus a four story building that they're not going to be able to walk the stairs on?
• 1:03:01
  Do you have long-term care insurance?
• 1:03:03
  Are you making sure that if you want to eventually be able to tap into Medicaid, you're putting all of your assets into certain types of trust to protect your income and your assets from being able to be viewed as yours?
• 1:03:18
  There are so many different things that people are doing to prepare for those moments.
• 1:03:23
  But the earlier you have those conversations, the better.
• 1:03:26
  The worst, and I feel bad about this, is when people come and ask those questions and they're already in the thick of it.
• 1:03:31
  Like a parent has already gotten sick and then it's a really hard conversation.
• 1:03:35
  So I would just say earlier is better, but a lot of people are asking about how to care for the people they love most.
• 1:03:42
  Say someone got laid off this morning.
• 1:03:44
  What's your first piece of advice to them?
• 1:03:47
  I would say if they got laid off for not a fault of theirs.
• 1:03:52
  AI came for their job.
• 1:03:53
  No, but like if it was truly like a reduction in force versus like you were bad, I would get a letter from HR or your manager or like company letterhead, a layoff letter to be able to show that.
• 1:04:06
  I would say take a beat to like process and grieve.
• 1:04:10
  I would actually set up –
• 1:04:14
  kind of like a goal list of like what you are searching out for in terms of jobs so that you are able to apply for them.
• 1:04:22
  But at the same time, I would make sure that you are receiving any sort of benefits you're entitled to, including unemployment, anything else that you might qualify for, depending on your state or your local area, local jurisdiction.
• 1:04:34
  But caring for those things is really important in a moment where everything does feel very chaotic.
• 1:04:40
  For the person who hopefully is not laid off, but trying to future-proof themselves for their career so that they don't, you know, I think that careers are way less stable than they used to be.
• 1:04:50
  What's your advice?
• 1:04:50
  What are the skills they should be learning?
• 1:04:52
  Should they be learning skills in their spare time?
• 1:04:54
  Should they be starting a side hustle in their spare time?
• 1:04:56
  All of it, yes?
• 1:04:57
  I mean, yes.
• 1:04:58
  Dee, yes.
• 1:05:00
  I think one of the best skills right now to learn is how to prompt AI properly.
• 1:05:07
  The people who are like, AI is not that advanced, it's kinda shitty, it's like, yeah, maybe you put crap in and got crap out.
• 1:05:12
  Like, that's what happens.
• 1:05:16
  And I actually felt this myself.
• 1:05:18
  And I felt a little embarrassed, if I'm honest with you.
• 1:05:20
  I feel like I'm really tech savvy and I'm quite sharp.
• 1:05:23
  I like to think that of myself.
• 1:05:25
  I had a, we had a summer intern, she was wonderful.
• 1:05:28
  Shout out Meredith.
• 1:05:29
  She is also a student at the University of Chicago, my college.
• 1:05:35
  And I watched her type a prompt into an LLM.
• 1:05:42
  And the length of this prompt was like this long.
• 1:05:45
  And I was like, I have never written a prompt that long with that much detail.
• 1:05:50
  And I asked her and I was like, Meredith, real question.
• 1:05:55
  Who taught you how to do that?
• 1:05:57
  And she was like, like, what do you mean?
• 1:05:59
  I've been doing this for years.
• 1:06:00
  I'm like...
• 1:06:01
  Years.
• 1:06:03
  And I was like, oh, I guess that's kind of crazy.
• 1:06:06
  Like this didn't this wasn't really a thing.
• 1:06:08
  And I mentioned like, oh, yeah, like when COVID hit, when I was at my last job, she goes, just so you're aware, COVID hit when I was in middle school.
• 1:06:15
  Oh, my God.
• 1:06:16
  I wanted to hurl myself off of a cliff.
• 1:06:18
  First off, you're hurting me.
• 1:06:21
  Second off, what?
• 1:06:24
  So.
• 1:06:27
  She's grown up in a native environment.
• 1:06:29
  And that's what's so scary for people that have not grown up with AI.
• 1:06:33
  That is a skill that I think folks our generation could really use because we did not grow up with this.
• 1:06:37
  It feels like your mom trying to call like a ride share on the phone.
• 1:06:41
  She's like, what is this?
• 1:06:44
  We have to learn it.
• 1:06:45
  If we don't want to be left behind, we have to learn it.
• 1:06:47
  I think that is an underrated skill.
• 1:06:48
  You know what's crazy?
• 1:06:50
  How entitled we are that we think that we know it well just by dabbling with it.
• 1:06:55
  Because I do the same shit.
• 1:06:56
  I put in three sentences and I'm like, I'm a genius.
• 1:06:58
  No, you're not.
• 1:06:58
  This is not great, actually.
• 1:07:00
  So not only are we not, we did not grow up with it, we also have entitlement that stops us from learning it properly.
• 1:07:08
  And I still consider, I also consider myself tech savvy and like youngish compared to some people.
• 1:07:13
  And I don't do paragraph prompts, but you're right.
• 1:07:15
  Garbage in, garbage out.
• 1:07:17
  Yeah.
• 1:07:18
  But I think it was just really scary for me because I was like,
• 1:07:21
  Like, I'm smart.
• 1:07:24
  And like, I hate to say that part out loud, but like, I am smart.
• 1:07:27
  Why haven't I been able to figure this out as natively as someone who grew up on it?
• 1:07:31
  And it's like, well, you didn't have all the practice.
• 1:07:34
  Like, when she was in high school, like, her classes were probably using these as tools and showing her how to use it.
• 1:07:43
  I figured this stuff out, you know, a couple years ago, maybe.
• 1:07:47
  Maybe.
• 1:07:47
  Do you think the statement, a money problem is normally a skill problem, is fair?
• 1:07:55
  No.
• 1:07:58
  I don't.
• 1:08:01
  Because, unfortunately, most responsible money decisions are not necessarily skill-based.
• 1:08:11
  They are stamina-based.
• 1:08:14
  It's not even can you have discipline today.
• 1:08:16
  It's can you be disciplined in your decision-making for a long, long, long period of time.
• 1:08:21
  It's so funny how you interpreted that statement because the way that I thought about it was if you don't have the skills to get the next.
• 1:08:31
  I totally saw it a complete different way.
• 1:08:34
  I understand where you're coming from, though.
• 1:08:35
  I like the way you interpreted it.
• 1:08:37
  So money is not a skill problem in terms of money skills.
• 1:08:41
  It is a stamina problem.
• 1:08:43
  Yeah.
• 1:08:43
  I think we can't use the skill issue the way I interpreted it, at least as an excuse anymore, because money education is now more readily available.
• 1:08:52
  Like if you want to learn, it's there.
• 1:08:53
  But it is.
• 1:08:54
  But it's also like confusing and there's too much of it and there's information overload.
• 1:08:57
  But now there's Ask Dolly.
• 1:08:58
  Now there's Ask Dolly.
• 1:08:59
  That's fair.
• 1:09:00
  I think that's the biggest issue with all online education, free or otherwise.
• 1:09:04
  There's just so much of it that it is overwhelming.
• 1:09:07
  And that's why I did not want this to be like...
• 1:09:11
  another mega dump like i only think that you should be getting your information from reputable sources
• 1:09:18
  I also think that the issue is twofold.
• 1:09:21
  It's that there's too much information, but also there's not enough action.
• 1:09:25
  So like the other side of the coin is if people ask, use Ask Dolly, or Ask Dolly, I guess.
• 1:09:32
  If people ask Dolly and they don't do what Dolly actually says and they're just, you know, they're researching, they're researching, they're accumulating information.
• 1:09:41
  They don't actually do anything but information.
• 1:09:42
  It's also not going to benefit their life.
• 1:09:44
  And I think that's like this idea of like the knowing doing gap
• 1:09:48
  I find it so fascinating how people are so good at collecting information, especially people that listen to this show.
• 1:09:53
  People that are like, you know, they get dopamine hits from reading books and listening to podcasts and using tools like Ask Dolly to figure out how to improve their life.
• 1:10:00
  But then they don't do anything.
• 1:10:02
  And that is like the X factor in a good life.
• 1:10:06
  So in the same way that certain apps have gamified negative behaviors like placing a bet.
• 1:10:12
  Ask Dolly has gamified and made it exciting to like actually do right by your money.
• 1:10:18
  We offer lots of to do lists, checklists.
• 1:10:20
  Like I want you to get a dopamine hit every time you make a really smart choice.
• 1:10:24
  You should be rewarded by your own brain every time you do something good for yourself.
• 1:10:29
  Not every time you place a sports bet.
• 1:10:31
  Not every time that you execute a day trade.
• 1:10:34
  There should not be confetti on the confirmation page.
• 1:10:38
  That's nuts.
• 1:10:39
  What's the worst financial advice you're still hearing in 2026?
• 1:10:42
  I think the worst advice that I'm still hearing is that you can like hard work your way there.
• 1:10:50
  Like hostile cultures.
• 1:10:52
  Is that still a thing?
• 1:10:53
  Yeah, I think so.
• 1:10:55
  Like the people who are like, you're not working hard enough.
• 1:10:58
  You're not doing this enough.
• 1:10:59
  And it's like, no, you have to be more strategic about it.
• 1:11:02
  It's like there's earners and owners like.
• 1:11:06
  Earning can only get you so far unless you're making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
• 1:11:12
  And in which case, great for you, but then you really got to start owning to make your money work harder for you.
• 1:11:18
  Earners make money and they're taxed at ordinary income rates.
• 1:11:22
  Whereas owners, people who own stocks, people who own bonds, people who own property, people who own companies...
• 1:11:29
  are taxed more favorably, so less, but also they make money while they sleep versus you physically having to put in the physical or mental labor to make the money.
• 1:11:41
  Now investing is a whole other podcast, but when somebody is starting to, and I think that's where, I mean, some of the audience, obviously they're heavily invested, but the advice can be for somebody who's starting out.
• 1:11:53
  There's so many different opportunities to invest.
• 1:11:57
  And I guess coming from you, it's not financial advice.
• 1:11:59
  If you ask Dolly, it can be financial advice, but coming from you, it's not.
• 1:12:03
  What is your observation as to maybe a good place to start thinking about how to invest?
• 1:12:10
  Is it investing in things that pay dividends?
• 1:12:13
  Is it diversifying?
• 1:12:14
  Is it putting money into one thing that you know better than anything else?
• 1:12:18
  Just like the mental model around investing.
• 1:12:20
  That's exactly why we built Dolly, because the answer is different based on who you are, how much money you currently have, how much money you make, what your risk tolerance is, and what your timeline is.
• 1:12:29
  So...
• 1:12:33
  Typically, for most people, the easiest gateway drug to investing is something very simple, such as the equity markets, the bond markets.
• 1:12:43
  But the amount of what you're investing in and what investments you're making are entirely dependent on your time horizon.
• 1:12:51
  So if you got 40 years before retirement, let's get nuts.
• 1:12:55
  Like, let us focus on some growth opportunities.
• 1:12:59
  We're not that worried about downturns and dips because you got a long, long timeline.
• 1:13:03
  But if you're like, hey, I'm only investing for 15 years.
• 1:13:05
  I need that money back.
• 1:13:07
  We can't be playing around like that because what if it ends up being timed that right is when you need the money, we go into a little bit of a downturn.
• 1:13:16
  Then you're in a bad spot.
• 1:13:18
  So it's really, really personal dependent.
• 1:13:23
  And then from there, I would say you can add on other types of investments that are less liquid.
• 1:13:28
  So things like property or private equity or more esoteric investments, higher risk, higher reward.
• 1:13:38
  crypto a little bit.
• 1:13:40
  I don't recommend crypto be a large percentage of your portfolio.
• 1:13:42
  But if you want to be it, if you want it to be a small portion, sure.
• 1:13:47
  You can also consider as you get to get a little bit older, lower risk, lower reward investments.
• 1:13:53
  So things like CDs, things like treasuries, that way you have a little bit of a dependable amount that you know you're going to get if your money is locked up for a certain period of time.
• 1:14:05
  I think the future is personalized.
• 1:14:07
  I think that's a very important idea.
• 1:14:09
  I think it's so important because whether or not it's with legal advice, financial advice, health advice.
• 1:14:18
  The one takeaway is if you listen to somebody online, they're going to give you advice.
• 1:14:22
  And some of them are very well-meaning, but it doesn't mean that that advice is perfect for your situation.
• 1:14:28
  And I think that has always been my issue with, you know, the quote unquote influencers.
• 1:14:33
  It's not everybody, not every influencer is like this, but some are just like, this is the only way to make money or to build wealth or to invest.
• 1:14:40
  And I think that's toxic.
• 1:14:41
  I think that hurts more than it helps to be quite honest.
• 1:14:43
  In the lowest stakes version of that, think about your favorite beauty influencers like, oh, my gosh, this is the best lip gloss and you put it on and it does nothing for you.
• 1:14:51
  Like that is the lowest possible stakes situation.
• 1:14:55
  But if you but if there's not one number one lip gloss for everybody, what would make you think there's one number one investment for everybody?
• 1:15:03
  That's a much higher stakes, much more complex conversation.
• 1:15:06
  So just winding down.
• 1:15:09
  People looking towards the future of the economy, of their own personal finance.
• 1:15:15
  Are you optimistic?
• 1:15:16
  Are you pessimistic?
• 1:15:18
  What do you think the average person is going to be dealing with in the next five to 10 years in terms of their personal finances?
• 1:15:27
  I think it's going to get worse before it gets better.
• 1:15:31
  We are going to see finances get very hard for many people.
• 1:15:37
  I do think there's going to be a reckoning.
• 1:15:39
  Like, we cannot continue down this path.
• 1:15:44
  People need to be able to afford groceries.
• 1:15:47
  The top, top 0.1% cannot be sucking up so much of the wealth in this country and then hoarding it and not redeploying it back into the economy.
• 1:15:58
  I think we will see a really large wealth transfer over the next decade or two, especially as boomers are starting to die.
• 1:16:09
  Sorry.
• 1:16:09
  Somebody had to say it.
• 1:16:11
  But as that great wealth transfer happens, when those dollars get into different hands, like –
• 1:16:16
  Will people make smart decisions?
• 1:16:18
  I don't know.
• 1:16:19
  I hope so.
• 1:16:20
  I hope it changes a lot of people's lives.
• 1:16:23
  And I hope that we are able to use our vote and our voice appropriately to represent, you know, to to elect representatives that are actually going to fight for the everyday person that is going to fight for the middle class, that is going to try their very, very best to start to close politics.
• 1:16:40
  the wealth gap and to actually rebuild this middle class because it's getting compressed right now.
• 1:16:48
  And then in terms of, you know...
• 1:16:52
  the general world, like not just necessarily like how wallets will be over the next couple of years.
• 1:16:59
  I'd like to say I'm optimistic.
• 1:17:00
  There's a Bill Clinton quote.
• 1:17:02
  Everything that's wrong with this country can be fixed by everything that's right.
• 1:17:07
  And I think that that is my perspective as well, is like there is so much division and hate and rage right now.
• 1:17:18
  But I think if we can actually address some of these financial inequalities, like making sure that people can put food on their tables and they feel like they can get ahead and they feel like they can get what was promised to them if they work hard and they're good people.
• 1:17:36
  Maybe we'd hate each other a little less.
• 1:17:38
  Where can people connect with you?
• 1:17:40
  Where can people go find Ask Dolly?
• 1:17:41
  Where do you want to put all the links in the show notes, too?
• 1:17:44
  You can find me everywhere as your Rich BFF.
• 1:17:47
  And please go download Ask Dolly on the App Store or you can check it out at askdolly.com.
• 1:17:54
  The last thing that I just need to ask you because you said the future is tumultuous in the short term.
• 1:18:00
  But I need you to give some words of inspiration and closing advice to people who are listening right now just so they can ride out the short term.
• 1:18:08
  And hopefully in the long term, they'll be in a little bit better situation.
• 1:18:12
  If you've done it once, you can do it again.
• 1:18:14
  I really do believe that.
• 1:18:15
  And I think that we need to really, really think about our local communities, our immediate families, and what we can each independently do to make things better and lean on each other to make those things better.
• 1:18:32
  We, yes, focus on what's happening out here because it's important to be apprised of what's happening.
• 1:18:40
  But...
• 1:18:41
  Really lock in on the people you care about most and what can we do in our neighborhood, in our community, in our backyard to make a difference, to make it easier on everybody.
• 1:18:50
  And how can we care for each other?