Latest / The Jon Sanchez Show / 10 Financial Myths That Cost People Thousands Of Dollars
Transcript
- Jon G. Sanchez: Good Friday afternoon, Tia. Welcome to the John Sanchez Show on News Talk780KO. It's a pleasure to be with you, TGIF. ⁓ my goodness, we made it through another volatile week, a week of higher interest rates, a little bit of stock market decline. I mean, we had it all thrown at us this week, but here we are, Friday afternoon. We made it through. And wipe the slate clean in you know, less than 48 hours and start it all over again. But you know what? It's so great to be with you. And share with you my insights as to what I saw happen in the market, the participation I did today, and so much more. ⁓ much more. I to start the show off before I forget, because I was ⁓ somewhat lax yesterday and I got my butt chewed out for this, to be honest with you, by my staff. I want give a remind everybody of our ⁓ next planning webinar. That's right, for my business specialized estateplans.com. our next educational webinar is gonna be next Wednesday. Next Wednesday. it'll be at six PM. Obviously, no charge for it. I've titled it, Is Your Trust Outdated? Folks, I cannot tell you enough. I cannot tell you enough how many trusts that I'm reviewing and restating that are just in cases not worth the paper they were written on. Not just because they are old, but because they lack a lot of critical elements of the basic estate plan. I've seen them where they've just they don't have the the poor overwhelm. Or they don't have the advanced directive, which is your financial power of attorney. They don't have this. They don't have that. On top of again, sometimes, many times, that they're just old. Things changed. had a great discussion today with a gentleman and he's like, you know what? The that I had in my trust, ⁓ most them aren't there. You know, the the successor trustees and so on and so forth. So I to bring all these issues to the table so that you can just open up your trust, take a look at it and go, hey, you know what? This thing is outdated. I'm going to give Sanchez a call and let's take a look at this. Because remember, folks, for all of you that are going to attend the webinar, decided, was prompted by my team to do this, and I it's just absolutely the right thing to do. For everyone that attends the webinar that has an existing trust, we are going to give you a free review of your existing trust. Now remember, the software we use, it's backed by four large language AI models. And these models will go through your existing trust line by line, word for word. will then produce a report for me that will show you in graphical form, refresh your memory as I call it, where your money's gonna go, who are your agents, who are your successor trustees, everything you need to know that you probably forgot if you're like me. Cause know, was one of my frustrations with my estate planning attorney. Like, can you please give me something in graphical form that I can show my my my family? Never could get that out of them. But not anymore. We can do that. And then it'll give in written format, again, all the basics, all the incritical parts of your trust. That's just report number one you're gonna get. Report number two is really the granddaddy of the reports, and that is here is what is missing, here is what is wrong with your current living and estate plan. So that's where it starts. Then I'm going to host a 30-minute meeting with you and I'm going to show you my findings. And then you can decide what you want to do. I'll tell you, surprises the heck of me. I've yet to find one trust that did not have problems. Not one trust. Some of them require a full restatement, others are, you know what, just tweak this, you know, add it a little addendum, that type of thing. But wouldn't you rather know than guess if your trust is. ⁓ Correct if it's outdated. And again, outdated doesn't mean just the ⁓ the date on there. my staff said, you know what? We're gonna we're gonna offer this for that attends the webinar. We're gonna give this. This is as you'll see on our site, this is a twelve hundred dollar value. We normally charge twelve hundred dollars to do the the trust review, but I'm gonna give it to you for free. I'm gonna limit it to twenty-five people. Twenty-five people. But you got to attend the webinar because I want you to learn and and and and understand what goes on in a ⁓ in ⁓ in an outdated trust. So All you need to do, go to the website, specialized trusts.com, specialized trust.com. Upper right corner, click on the STEP Institute. This is where we have all of our educational material, webinars, et cetera. You can find all kinds of great stuff to learn about. And you'll see the drop down there. It'll say webinars. You just click on that, ⁓ put in information, and join us on again July twenty-ninth, next Wednesday from six to seven PM. And of course, always have a QA session there. But ⁓ again. That free review is only for those that attend the webinar. All right. I got my housekeeping out of the way. Let's get down to business. Let me tell you what I have lined up for you this afternoon. of the week. Everybody's tired, volatile week, a lot of fluctuation going on, a lot of uncertainty going on. So I thought, okay, I'm going to go back to what I told you and I promised you. That every Friday, I'm going to give you what I call the John Sanchez playbook. These things that I see going on, things that you need to be thinking about, things you need to be doing. And I call it a playbook. today, my financial playbook is titled The Ten Financial Myths That People Thousands of Dollars. Now we're all guilty of this. We've all received financial advice from family, from friends, TV, internet, radio shows, podcasts, you name it. And I tell you, what gets me is the of thousands, not millions, of views. Some of these young kids on TikTok get by delving out financial advice. probably have never even owned a stock, much less are they securities licensed, but they have millions followers that listen to their advice. So scary. scary. Bad financial advice is everywhere. But what if that advice actually costing you thousands of dollars? Which it very easily could. Well, I'm going to separate financial fact from fiction as we discuss what I've created called the 10 common financial myths that can impact your investments, your retirement, your real estate decisions, and basically your family's financial future. So you don't want to miss this. It's going to be phenomenal. And again, it's amazing. of course, with technology today. Anybody can go on the internet and say, hey, I'm a financial guru. You know, I day traded and I made ⁓ you know, fifty percent last month and I did this and I did that. If they're not securities licensed, there's no regulator holding their feet to the fire. They just say whatever they want to get the followings, to get the the affiliate income coming in, so on and so forth. They're after themselves, not them not you. Where take someone like myself that is a fiduciary, that is licensed, that is monitored and regulated by federal regulators. That's obviously something we do not do. It's unethical and it's illegal. But they can get away with it. I can't, thank goodness, because I'd never, even if I, even if I wasn't licensed, I would never do something like that. So let's again f separate the fact from fiction when it comes to the 10 financial myths that cost people thousands of dollars. right, so I'll get to that momentarily. In the meantime, let's get down to today's stock market activity. You things started off okay, or right from the the pre-market session all the way through. We had strength, ⁓ like I said. ⁓ and then the news was just And if you could see me right now, I'm raising my eyebrows rolling my eyes. Because I can't believe the stock market is this stupid. So the Dow shot up a couple of hundred points at the open. We're kind of hovering around there. NASDAQ started with a bit on the downside, just you know, twenty, thirty points or so. But then the big news of the day broke a couple hours into the trading session. Reuters came out and said Pakistan and are considering new path forward in peace talks with the US following the intervention from China. Well, that optimism faded a little bit later in the day when the New York Times reported that the president met with top advisors to consider a major military escalation in Iran. But oil followed the first news from Reuters. Pakistan is brokering a deal with Iran. ⁓ that is backed by China. And this market was stupid enough to believe it. That's what gets me in this whole conflict situation, as I've said so many times. I just can't believe. That common sense no longer prevails. I really can't. That this market will go from being down triple digits to up triple digits with a headline that wants to talk to us. Pakistan's a deal. ⁓ that's backed by China. You get point? It just that's the frustrating part in this business right now, I'll be honest with you. That so many things do not make sense anymore. Even for us professionals that do this for you know 14 hours a day. So many things don't make sense because very little human intervention is involved anymore. It's all about the algorithms. The algorithms have no common sense. The algorithms have no emotions. The algorithms can't think back and go, you know, let's see. This is what, about the 45th time that we said Iran wants to broker a deal? And about the 20th time that Pakistan was going to broker it. Yeah. How good's that worked out for us so far? Not too good. What are we on the 13th day of bombings today, I think? But yet the market goes up, oil prices come down. I'll just sucker you in. And then the next thing we know, the bombs will be flying again, and we're back to the same situation. So bottom line, I hate to be negative with you on a Friday, but I had to I had to voice that. Just be careful. Just be careful. Don't don't fall for these headlines. Don't, you know, if you're sitting on a you know pile of cash, you're being conservative right now, playing the defensive side of things, God bless you. Keep doing that. Because it is a dangerous, dangerous environment right now. I watched this Dow go up and down a hundred points in a matter of less than 30, 40 seconds numerous times today, just following the headlines. Humans are not doing that. Can't stress that enough. It is the algorithms that are trained for certain words that come across the newswir Now, speaking of which, I don't know if you you saw this, you probably didn't, because you know, you're not in the world of portfolio management other than your own. But I it was last weekend. I think it was last Sunday. Maybe off on my days or so. True Social came out and said, we are launching a new service Wall Street brokers and traders. And this new service will be a subscription model. Have no idea how much it's going to cost. I don't think it's going to be cheap. To where if you pay the Trump organization and True Social, whatever their monthly fee is going to be, you are going to get the breaking news from Truth Social a few seconds before Trump. It's made public so that you can get a trading edge. That's how crazy this market's become. So didn't hear much more about it. That was the, like I said, a big announcement. I just shook my head and said, wow. Because you know, it goes on to say, yeah, this market, and it's true, this market will move on every word the president has to say in his true social post. But now, again, I don't know if you have to be a professional or not, but but professionals can now subscribe to true social and get a leg up on everybody else. So thought that was real interesting. yeah, bottom line, extremely skeptical of this news. What do we care? I mean, market's going to do what it's going to do. And we managed again to eke a decent gain on the Dow side of things today. SP was kind of flat, but the NASDAQ, it didn't believe it. We had another day of sell off in the NASDAQ due to weakness in the chip stocks. So I'll give you all those details, some of the big movers when I come back, hit the commodity side, tell you what oil did, interest rates, et cetera, and then we'll get ready for our 10 financial myths. The John Sanchez show on News Talk 780K, which hope you had great Friday and it's gonna be an incredible weekend for you. Once again, I'll get to my topic: the 10 myths that ⁓ people are told. gosh, I gotta I could add a couple zeros to that, to that, Tim, but 10 financial myths that cost people thousands and thousands of dollars. All right, to that momentarily. Let's tell you how this market wrapped up today. Like I said, ⁓ crazy day, headline driven, of course, as always. But ⁓ you know, it's all about the market does when it, you know, by that time that closing bell. Rings at 130 because ⁓ that's all that matters. right, we finished very nicely on the Dow side, as I said. 236 point gain, 0.46%, closed in at 51,947. NASDAQ, just continued its ⁓ slip slide away. The weakness in semiconductors, 162 decline on the Nasdaq down 0.64% to close at 24,975. ⁓ SP four points, finishing the day at 7,411. Again, oil on that just breaking news Pakistan's gonna broker a deal. With ⁓ Iran and the US. Oil lost two dollars and seventy-five cents to eighty-nine thirty-four a barrel. up twenty-one dollars and sixty cents, four thousand forty-one thirty an ounce. And give up two basis points on the tenure to a yield close of four sixty-eight. But boy, big week. I calculated the the increase in the tenure yield for the week up fourteen basis points, almost a quarter percent. Remember, there's one hundred basis points and one percent. So fourteen basis point increase for the week. That's very substantial. That's again, as I've said many times this week. That is something we need to watch very, very closely. That is not good news for the equity markets with that happening. let's see here. What some of the big movers? ⁓ I want to mention Intel. This was very disappointing. Intel reported numbers after the yesterday. Great numbers. Stock was rocking in the pre-market, rocking in the after hours. But by the time it was all said and done for today, gave it all up: $7.91 loss, 7.89% loss to 92.32. Apple today ⁓ rebounded after its big sell-off a couple days ago, and they announced a few things that were not ⁓ like CapEx, just like Google did, that were not in investors' favor, ⁓ but they bought the heck out of it today. Dow component up $11 and 36 cents, 3.53% rise to 333.02. Tesla today still continuing weakness ⁓ after again, it's ⁓ mixed report on Wednesday, as well as larger than expected capital expenditures. ⁓ stock finished down six dollars and sixty six cents, two point zero eight percent decline to finish at three thirteen ⁓ three. had a ⁓ very good day, didn't have much influence on the Dow. It's a small stock, $46.42 as were closed, up $2.60, 5.93% increase. They followed ⁓ or reported a narrow ⁓ narrow than expected ⁓ earnings per share beat, but it was a nice beat. One of the pressure points on the Dow today was American Express. ⁓ Lost four point two seven percent or fourteen dollars and fifty six cents to three twenty six twenty-eight moved lower, even though they did top earnings expectation after the company maintained rather than raised their fiscal twenty-six guidance. right, looking ahead to next week, of course. guess what? We have a Fed interest rate decision on our hands. It'll be Wednesday at eleven o'clock. it's gonna be interesting one. You know, it's meeting number two by our new Fed chair, Kevin Worsh. We'll see what he has to say about inflation. ⁓ Obviously things have been very much of a concern as these oil prices have clicked up. But we'll see and ⁓ you know street, yeah, I'd right now, depending upon the minute you look at it, but somewhere between twenty-five to thirty-five percent probability of a interest interest rate increase at this meeting. So ⁓ still very low. still think they will not do anything, but it's always about what the chairman has to say. All right, so you're to date on the market, the commodities, the interest rates. Let's get down to our topic of this afternoon, which again are 10 financial myths. Okay, where do I start with this? Well, how about this? You're surrounded by financial advice, right? You're getting it right now. You're listening to this show, and I appreciate you doing that. Some of it is excellent, which I hope is where I fall in that category. Some of it, not quite so excellent, like those TikTok people that I was telling you about, those kids. But unfortunately, believing the wrong financial advice can cost you a lot of money. Thousands, sometimes even hundreds of thousands of dollars over your lifetime. So today we're going to separate the financial fact from the financial fiction by discussing 10 myths that I've created. Let's get started. Myth number one the stock market is too high to invest. I've said this to you many times. I remember as a young broker, you know, 36 years ago, I used to have the hardest time when a client or a prospect would say, Nope, I'm not investing. Now, mind you folks, that's when the Dow was like 2200. You know, we are today at almost 52,000. ⁓ Nope, not going to invest. Market's too high. It's going to crash. Well, you never can wait for the perfect time. And as I always said, the market's at new highs for a reason, because things are going well. Does that mean it's going to pull back? No. Market can pull back for any reason, but just because it hit a new high, that is one of the most biggest fallacies that people will tell you. You never can wait for the perfect time to invest. And historically, that's been one of the biggest mistakes that investors have made. Time in the market is Is the best thing you can do, not timing the market. So my question to you is this are you waiting for that quote perfect opportunity? Or are you creating missed opportunities? You getting analysis, paralysis, the deer in the headlights. You're trying to do all your studies. I was joking with a friend the other day. I remember I got licensed in in back in in ⁓ 93, ⁓ was in a class with with ⁓ Shirson Lehman brothers. And in my office, there was, I think, ⁓ five of us that Training to get our securities licenses. And this class was, I don't know, 70 plus nationwide of, you know, all of us young guys and gals. And I remember, you know, we we go through, we pass all of our securities tests, they ship us back to New York for six weeks. We live, eat, and breathe, wall, eat, live, and breathe Wall Street. Thought it was the greatest thing in the world. Young guy was like, ⁓ this is the greatest place in the world. come back, and always this scenario. You get one guy that says, I'm an analyst, right? Just got your securities license. Ink's not even dry on the paper yet. I'm an anal, I'm an analyst. So what he does is he sits there and instead of in those days, we built our book of business by cold calling. I mean, frankly, that's the way it was done then. instead being on the phone trying to generate new business and open new accounts like a young broker is supposed to do, he's sitting there trying to analyze charts. I'll never this guy. His name was Paul. He's trying to, he loved gold, or he hated gold, or he loved gold, or he hated gold. So everything was based upon gold. But he never picked up the phone and called anybody. He washed out to say the very least. But I saw that so often. That was the analysis paralysis. That was the first time I ever saw it. And then as I've matured and grown in this business, you see it a lot with clients. They, you know, again, it's caused by someone is telling them, ⁓ something in their ear. they're reading something on the internet. What I have also found to be one of the biggest biggest enemies of someone are newsletters. Now, there's some good ones out there, but there's a whole bunch of bad ones. And people, if you get the right person at the right phase of their life, they will become addicted to these newsletters. They will think it is gospel. And they will follow every piece of advice. And when it again ends up happening, they miss opportunities. They get analysis paralysis. So don't let that happen to you. I'll come back with myth number two. I'm going to start saving when I make more money. Welcome back to the John Sanchez show on News Talk 780 KOH. Once again, we finished up 236 on the Dow. NASDAQ lost 162 and the SP higher by four. right, we're just getting warmed up in our topic 10 financial myths that ⁓ could cost you thousands of dollars. Hundreds of thousands if it's a if it's a big quote tip, I think it's wrong. All So I covered myth number one. Again, the stock market's too high to invest. Again, we covered that. That's not true. All right, number two. I'll start saving when I make more money. Well. Yeah, we all thought that one, right? But in reality, building wealth isn't determined by income alone. It's determined by your savings and investing habits. The key, the key, the key, as I keep telling young kids, and I'll remind everybody, a little bit consistently over the long term. That's how you build great wealth, whether it's real estate, stock market, business, whatever it is. It's a long game. It's a marathon. It's not a sprint. If you sprint, usually you're gonna trip. So people who consistently save often continue that habit as their income grows. The only difference is they save more, right? Well, they may have started off 25 bucks when they're right out of college. Guess what? Now that's you know, per month. Now that's you know $2,500 a month, right? That that that that habit gets ingrained in your mind. And nowadays, of course, with technology, you can automate it to set it and forget it. So a question for you. Have your spending habits improved as your income has grown? Or have they got worse? Sometimes they get worse, right? Because you have ⁓ have a lot of money. Got a positive cash flow each and every month. You're like, I want to go buy this, I want to go buy that. I'll get to the investing side later. Not the thing to do. Pay the bills, meaning yourself first, then go buy the toys. Myth number three: paying off your is always the best option. ⁓ I love when someone tells me that. Well, Sometimes paying off the mortgage does make perfect sense. I mean, many times, many times, I will recommend to clients as we're in the retirement planning process to do such a thing. And especially if it's a small amount, you know, 20, 30, 40, 50 grand remaining, and it's costing them, you know, thousand fifteen hundred, two thousand, three thousand dollars a month. Pay it off if you got the money to do so. Save that cash flow. Cause retirement's all about cash flow. Now, when does it not make sense to pay off a mortgage? It really comes down to basic financial planning, right? What is my interest rate that I'm paying on my mortgage? Less the deduction, the interest deduction. So what is that five percent mortgage really costing you? It depends upon your tax bracket, but probably three and a half, four percent, somewhere around there. Then it's really simple math. Can I make four percent somewhere else? If the answer is no, well, God help you. But if the answer is no, then pay off your mortgage. If the answer is yes, continue paying the mortgage. But again, the other side of it is it comes down to cash flow. When we get into retirement, of course, we want as many as as minimal bills as we possibly can. Even if you owe a couple hundred thousand dollars and you got the money in the market, you got to do that same, you know, cost benefit analysis. Can I make in I need to do an entire show on this because I love showing people, once again, if you're if you're it ⁓ simple, if you're paying a thousand dollars a month on your mortgage, yeah, I know, don't laugh too hard. ⁓ $12,000, let's go, $2,000. $2,000 a month, $24,000 a year. How much money would you have to have invested in the stock market to save that $24,000? Well, I'm going to do the quick math here. So if you see him on you see me on YouTube, you see I got a calculator in front of me. So if I take that $24,000 and I divide it by a let's say our withdrawal rate of 6%, you need $400,000 invested. $400,000 to pay you $2,000 a month, again, at a 6% withdrawal rate. So you ask yourself, wait a minute. If my mortgage is costing me $2,000 a month, that's equivalent to me having $400,000 invested. If you can't get the $400,000 from a cash flow perspective, you're better off. You're better off paying off the mortgage. But again, if you can afford it and you want to utilize that capital for other things, remember every dollar in your life should have a purpose. It's it needs a job. Look at it like an AI agent. All these little agents running around. Well, They're running around on your money. They all need a job. You're the you're the the the you know the conductor of those little agents running around. So really consider that. There's not one right answer. Everybody's situation is different. sometimes it makes sense. Sometimes it doesn't. Just depends upon the mortgage rate, where you can invest it, et cetera. And make sure, again, that it's an emotional decision, not a financial one. Or excuse me, or a financial one. All right, myth number four: Social Security is going to be enough. I don't need to save. I don't need to invest. I'm going to live my life. I don't know if I'm going to be around tomorrow. So I know Social Security will be the back me up. Well, I don't hear this one very often. I think people are much more wise these days than than years ago, right? Because for most retirees, Social Security, remember, was designed to be a supplement to your retirement income, not to be the sole provider. It should only be a portion of your overall retirement income. That's why a good solid retirement plan and retirement rely upon you saving other monies produce cash flow, to give you asset growth, et cetera. So I'm not gonna, you know, this one's kind of ridiculous, but I had to throw it in there. I want to leave you with on that one is if Social Security disappeared tomorrow, would your retirement plan survive? For a lot of people, the answer is no. If your answer is yes, you're doing a good job. Myth number five, back to real estate. I always always have this discussion with people, the hardcore real estate investors. John, real estate always goes up. Stock market goes up, goes down. I'm gonna keep my money all in real estate. Well, we all know real estate, especially here locally, has historically appreciated over long periods of time. But again, like the stock market, real estate moves in market cycles. You buy the right property for the right reasons, as we discuss each and each ⁓ in every Tuesday and Thursday, that's far more important than assuming the values only go in one direction. For those of you that may not been in the area or not involved in real estate or maybe you're too young, go back and look at the local just local real estate prices back in 08 and 09 when the crisis hit. That a pucker effect for many of you. So your question that you want to ask yourself in this area is are you buying the home because it's right for your family? Yeah, I'm gonna raise my family here, I'm gonna have memories, et cetera, or because you think it's a guaranteed investment. Nothing's guaranteed. Myth number six. I don't need an emergency fund because I've got a good income coming out. In other words, I've got a good job. Again, probably get this question five times a week. How much do I need to have an emergency savings shot? And as you've heard me say many times, and I'll repeat it again. Textbook answer is three to six months of living expenses. So whatever your net expenses are, just multiply it times three or six times. That's textbook. I don't operate off a textbook. I operate off of real life examples and experience. I always ask my client when we get to that, how much do you feel comfortable having? I don't know how much you think I should have. I give them that answer. Textbook is this. But what do you? I cannot answer that. No financial advisor can answer that question for you. It is a pure you and your significant other's decision. Now, creates ⁓ correct answer, which you need to be thinking about? So if that question is ever, you ever ask that question of your financial advisor, they come back and say it's up to you. Here's what you need to be thinking about. Again, how steady is your job? The guy or gal that, you know, works for the, well, I was gonna say works for the government, that's not always such a safe thing, but works somewhere that they've been a long time and you know the job is steady, the income is steady, grows, you know, slowly over time, et cetera. You probably don't need as much as the guy that owns a construction company or works in construction works in an industry that is very cyclical, right? That person definitely would need more months of emergency savings. Then again, the person with this with the ⁓ the safe job. Also, you have to look at your asset level. So ask yourself: okay, if I lost my job tomorrow, or if my business shut down tomorrow, how much liquidity do I have in my life where I could survive before I find the next job, start the next business? That helps answer the question. And then the other one, which a lot of people don't even consider, and it's I'm telling you, it is so very true. A lot of it is dependent upon how you were raised. Give example. I remember as clear as day. This was like 15 years ago. this couple came into my office, and they were, I'd say, late 30s, if I remember correctly. And good jobs, had a start in investing. But this woman was so, so conservative. wanted two years worth of emergency savings before she ever thought about investing. The husband was just the opposite. He actually wanted a day trade. I'm like, no, no, no, no, you don't do that. So I dug a little bit deeper. And what I uncovered was she was raised by her grandparents. grandparents were depression era babies. What grandparents went through was ingrained her, even though we're talking, you know, multiple generations later, but they ingrained their conservative values in her. And even though, again, she was young, she had plenty of years left of investing and a great job and everything. ⁓ She could not break that psychological barrier that her grandparents instilled in her. So, really important, especially for those of you that that are, you know, you're thinking about marrying somebody. This is one of those things you need to learn. Because I'll tell you, I've seen the other side of it where you got, again, kind of like this couple. It wasn't a problem with them. They, they understood it. But I've seen it where you have a young couple or even an older couple, like, you second or third marriage, and they don't know that the other spouse feels that way about investing. Like, They're very conservative. They just want to leave it in CDs where the other one's like, no, I want to put it in the market and grow it. And they get in arguments, and sometimes the marriage can really become jeopardized. That's something you need to ask of your every significant other, even if you've been married for a while. Maybe this conversation's never come up. But once again, it's really your decision based upon those factors I'd mentioned. Welcome back to the John Sancho Show on News Talk780KOH. All right, let's finish up our 10 myths here. on number seven. Financial success is about making more money. Well, we all thought that growing up. But something happens when we get a little bit older. We realize that there's more to life than money. Don't get me wrong. Money the world go round. Money can bring some happiness, but it doesn't bring all of it. The reality is. ⁓ Many, many high income earners struggle financially. I I'm always amazed, and I haven't seen it in a while, at least in the news, where you get these dollar hedge fund guys. And on the surface, they look like they have it all. They've got the house sitting on the the beach in Miami, the Lamborghinis, they're you know, literally billions of dollars. And next thing you know, here comes the divorce papers. Their beautiful wife is leaving them. How many stories like that have you heard? It just proves to you money doesn't guarantee a happy marriage or a happy life. Wealth is not about what you earn. about what you keep. It's about what you invest. It's about what you protect. And it's really about what you do with it. And I want to take this opportunity. I did this, I think it was maybe last Friday, and I got a lot of great comments on it. And want to do it again because it kind of ties into this topic. told you sitting on my wall next to my desk right here, I what's called the rules of money. Let me read these real quickly because it ties right in. Pay yourself first. Know how to risk it and how to leverage it. Learn how to invest it. Don't use credit if you don't have cash. Give every dollar a job. Always make money work for you. Don't be a slave to money. Keep your finances organized. If you have it, don't flaunt it. It's a game. Learn how it works. Have a plan and set goals. Always have an emergency fund. Learn how to make money passively. Spend less than you learn than you earn. Use it to solve problems in the world. Don't be a hater of it. And lastly, it's not what you make, it's what you keep. Just a little food for thought for a Friday going into the weekend. Myth number eight: estate planning is only for millionaires and people of wealth. Well, in reality, estate planning is not about the money. Estate planning is about protecting the people that you love, not simply the size of your estate. If you own a home, if you have children or you have wishes that you want carried out, that's when estate planning matters and you should have one. Question for you is this Have you made it easy for your family if something happens to you? Myth number nine it's too late to improve my financial situation. I'm way too old. Well, the reality is whether you're 35, 55, 75, 85, it doesn't matter. Positive financial decisions made today can improve tomorrow. It is never, too late to take control of your finances. It's never, ⁓ too late to start saving. Regardless of how small it is. What's one financial decision you can make this weekend that your future self will say, that was a great job back in July of 2026? And myth number 10: I'm just gonna work for a few more years. Well, as we all know, life doesn't follow our plans. We have health issues, layoffs, family responsibilities, unexpected events that can change your retirement timeline in a blink of an eye. Planning ahead gives you choices. I'll leave you with this. Are you choosing your retirement date? Are you letting life choose it for you? Let me repeat that one more time. Are you choosing the retirement date or are you letting life choose it for you? If it's the latter, give us a call. I'd love to sit down with you and see if we can let you choose the retirement date. It's been a great week. God bless. I appreciate you letting me be in your life. And don't forget our webinar next week on the Wednesday, July the twenty ninth at six PM. Go to specialized trust.com. We'll see you on Monday. Take care.