Going Long Podcast_SOLO Episode 457_Billy Keels

Thu, Sep 19, 2024 1:49PM • 16:38

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

stacking, corporate, today, life, expenses, talk, money, paying, give, number, episode, told, dividend, optional, idea, means, buy, optionality, unfair advantage, years

SPEAKERS

Billy Keels

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Billy Keels  00:00

Today's conversation is sponsored by the Billy keels advisory program. If you want to learn more about how to make your nine to five optional, just go to Billy keels.com forward slash advising. Once again, that's Billy keels.com. Forward slash advising, how to easily identify the number to make your job optional. You know, I like to call the job the nine to five. So how to easily identify the number to make your nine to five optional. Stating the same thing, once again, I found a stat that I found very interesting, and this comes from the Motley Fool. 67% of Americans have a retirement account, but only 34% feel on track for retirement, and this is one of the topics that comes up very frequently, right? Because we are talking about life and how you are working to make your nine to five optional. So when we think about the way that we've been taught, the way that you've been taught as a as an A student, as a high achiever, as a top performer. What I'm going to say today is more than likely going to upset you a little bit, so I'm just preparing you in advance. It's not going to upset you, because what I'm saying is machine, as they would say in French. It's not a bad thing that I'm saying, but it does. It's going to go against all the things that you've been taught up until now. If you've been here for a while, it may be old hat. It may be something that you're familiar with, that you're comfortable with, but I'm going to give you a concrete example. So you are going to want to stay and stick around, because it's going to be very helpful. It's going to be very practical, applicable, and you can go out and help somebody else today. That's that's the goal. So how to easily identify the number to make your job optional. Remember here, this isn't about quitting your job. It isn't about leaving it's about having the option to do what you want, when you want, with whom you want, because that is when life gets very, very fun and interesting, right? So traditionally, we've been told, I know, at least I did, and the way where I come from, and I told you, whenever you have these obstacles to overcome, very similar like I talked about in episode 447 especially when you are moving from one social class to the other, like, there are new rules to the game. And I want to help open your eyes to the new rules to the game. My entire life, I was given these different formulas. You know, when you're 30, you have one times your salary. When you're 80, whatever, when you're 60, you have 10 times your salary, or whatever. And so you should be stacking but the idea is that you're constantly stacking cash, like you're putting money into a particular place, and at the end of the time that you're saving, the goal is, and I know a lot of the people that I was surrounded with in the enterprise software space and in sales and sales executives and sales leaders, the whole goal is to get to a specific number. You want to keep stacking cash until you get to like, 5 million. $5 million you want to get to $4 million $5 million and that's what you've been told, and that is not your fault to think that way, because that's what the system tells you. That's what you've got to be working your 40 plus years for, is to stack $5 million so that you can then live off of that $5 million at 5% a year, right? That's what it's all been told. And I fell into it too. I was there. I said, Look, I want to retire comfortably. I want everybody to know I was able to get to my 5 million and I'm living life. I'm playing golf. I got the gold watch. I was doing all of that stuff. And at the same time, I knew that I wanted to be and I know that I want to be able to continue to provide for my family. That's what happens to Mr. And Miss reliable. That's what we do. We're there. We're providing for others, been there, done that. The thing is, is when I started looking at the reality and I started recognizing, okay, well, I'm going to work 40 plus years. I'm going to be working forever to get to this $5 million number one, I've got the when I was working in corporate there were, you know, stock programs and employee discount programs. So you could buy it 30, 40% off of what you would buy it in the secondary market. There were R issues. So you've got your restricted stock units, that you get those, but those best over time, which means that you what that means is you can't actually get them unless you wait for a period of time. And so the longer that you wait, the more that you're part of the corporate machine. And you know, I talked to you about what that can be and how corporate, you know when you are in having the corporate obedience, how that has a tendency to be able to ruin your life. If you want to hear more about that, go to listen to episode 451, it was a crowd favorite, but the idea is, is that you are in the corporate machine. You're you're buying your stock at a discount, or you are buying your RSUs. You're maybe investing some stuff on the side. You've started. Looking at stuff like I did, and start looking at real estate, but the idea is you're working towards a goal of $5 million the thing that happened to me is I read this book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad. And when I read that book, my mind just opened up to so many new things, and it shifted the paradigm that has completely altered the way that I look at what does having true control over your time and freedom? What does that look like? And that, for me, is the form of optionality, meaning you can do what you want, when you want, with whom you want, right? And so that was just changed everything for me, and this is what I want to share with you. So when you are thinking about 40 years of your life to get to $5 million and you're looking a lot of times at what your stock portfolio looks like, and some days it looks really, really awesome, and then other years, it looks terrible, and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm on this constant accordion. And you don't know if you're coming or going, but because it's over 40 years, you're just like, Okay, well, market's down. I'll wait, and, you know, I'll give another 10 years of my life and eventually get back. I don't want that for you. I want you to be able to do the things that you want to do, with whom you want to do when you want to do it. That's optionality. And so after I read the book, then I sat down, and because I had to reorganize everything. And so I want to give you a really simple example, just to kind of give you an idea. Like, you don't need $5 million to create optionality in your life. You need a much smaller number. It's super small compared to that. You don't need this massive seven figure number. Normally, you need a four digit number. That's it really like, it's like, it's super it's super simple. Let me give you an idea, right? And so instead of stacking cash to get to $5 million at a certain point, so that when you are almost 70, or in your 70s, you can then earn 5% of that, and that's going to be $250,000 a year, pre tax, by the way, pre tax, $250,000 a year, pre tax. Then Uncle Sam obviously going to take his piece. Um, but anyway, so that's the, that's that's what the system tells you, that's the, that's what you've been taught. So it's not your fault that you're getting it wrong, but the fact that you're here and you're watching, you're listening to the podcast, that means that you're getting insider information. And that's okay, because think about it in a different way. So let me give you an example, and this is why you don't need 5 million. You don't need a seven digits to be able to retire. What you need is literally four, depending on where you are. You may only need three, or you may need five. But let me give you an example. So let's let's say the thing that gets you free is when you start realizing what are your basic needs. What are the things that you're paying for? What are your current expenses? We're going to be a little bit we're not even gonna say basic needs. We're gonna go a little bit beyond that, just to give you an example. So let's say you are someone, you're in your, I don't know, you're in your, maybe in your mid, late 30s, and you're married, you got kids, but here's the expenses that I want to give you the example of. You've got a mortgage that you that you have to pay, or maybe rent. You've got multiple types of insurance. You want to be able to make sure that you have transportation. So you've got a car. You want to travel every once in a while. So you want to do that, you have to make sure that you eat like that is a basic necessity eat, and then also you have some entertainment. So let's say, between the mortgage or rent, insurance, food, car, travel and entertainment on a monthly basis, you're spending, and we're, we're just going to give this as a monthly basis, $8,000 and that's between basic needs and a little bit of fun, right? We can make this number even smaller, but I just, I want to keep it this way, just for example, state. And by the way, I'm telling you, this is a different way of thinking. So it may frustrate you in the beginning, but remember, we're going from the you need $5 million to now. I want to say that's what you're stacking in cash, and you're going to eventually get there when you're in your 70s. But today, I want to talk about today, whenever you're listening to this, if it's 2024, if it's into the future, whatever this is the idea that we're looking at today, you've got $8,000 that you are spending on a monthly basis. So the idea is, and think about this, what if you were able to create only 8000 a month, not 5 million, but only 8000 a month that is not directly related to your time? What could you do the money that you have sitting in the bank that's stagnant, by the way, that money that's sitting in the bank when you're stacking it year after year, no one really talks to you about the part of that that the purchasing power of that money becomes less and less every year. So even that 5 million, 5 million in the future is not what 5 million will buy you today. Think about the value of your house. Talk to your parents the same house, if they've been living in the same house for 30 years, that that the value of the house has gone up, but it's the exact same house. Maybe they've done some remodeling, but the idea is it's going to take you a lot more money in the future to be able to purchase the same thing today, just like your parents house that they bought 30 years ago. It's worth a lot more, but you get the same utility about it out of it. I don't know, maybe I'll do a completely different episode, but I think you get the point there in the model that I'm making. But let's think about what you could do to create money that is not related to your time. Instead of getting to 5 million, you only need to get to 8000 what could you do? Let me give you a couple examples, as you have some type of, if you like, the stock market, be in the stock market, but something that paid you a dividend, something that is going to kick off money to you every quarter, whenever the earnings come out. I don't know whatever that money is. It's not directly related to your time, and it's something that's kicking off a dividend. Means it's something, when they're profitable, that they're paying you out on an on a particular basis, typically quarterly, so you're getting a dividend. Maybe you enjoy also being in something like real estate and tangible assets, something that's going to pay you over time and is not related to you actually having to do the work. Maybe you invest in businesses. Those businesses are run by other people, and those businesses are kicking off cash. But the point is, is you're using your money today to only get to that $8,000 and once you get to the $8,000 guess what, life gets different, because now your needs are covered. I won't even say basic. Your needs are covered on a monthly basis. So guess what? If your needs are covered, and you know that everything is good, you're in good health. Then when you go into your job, you're going into your job because you want to, not because you have to. You feel the difference. You're not worried about you're paying all this stuff, plus you're paying into this money way into the future that you're not going to be able to use until another 20, 3040, years. But the idea is it becomes much more tangible when you look at, okay, well, what am I spending today? What can I do to actually make sure that these needs are covered, these expenses are covered, because once you do that, then you're free. You've got the option to choose what you want to do, and if that means you're going to keep going into your job, you keep going into your job. I did it for four years. Why not you? Of my 26 year corporate career, I went in for four years because I really wanted to. I liked it, made good money, was surrounded by really smart people, really helped to solve really big, complex problems for big organizations that I even use now today and help clients taking that kind of big corporate thinking and apply it to to small business needs and necessities. And so that's the idea. So, so it's a different way of thinking. It's a different way of attacking the problem. Don't worry about the stacking 5 million. Focus your time and energy on what are the expenses you have. Get a clear vision of what those expenses are, and then from there, work on being able to to cover those expenses, because once you cover those expenses, and it's not related to you actually having to do work to get money or currency, then you're free, right? You have the option to choose to do what you want to do with whom you want to do so, and just to let you know, like the 8000 it doesn't happen overnight either, but it's a lot more attainable than worrying about stacking 5 million in the bank account. You don't need 5 million to have options to be free, and once you get there, because I've been there, been there, done that, I know what it feels like. I know what it feels like. You don't. You're no longer tied to your time. Is no longer tied to something that you don't want to do. You're becoming a much savvier investor, a much savvier business owner, a much savvier person in the way that you allocate your time, your most important resource, the one that you can never get back. And I will tell you this is the unfair advantage that no one wants to talk about when you are a corporate employee. And I know corporate employees you are, you are beholden to massively high standard, and you've got to continue to do things but you have, without a doubt, the most unfair advantage of anybody else. You have access to really quality training which helps you to become better skilled so that you can demand more in the labor market, you are earning more, and then you have that earning potential that you can put into place to help you to solve your expense challenge. So corporate employees, without a doubt, you have the most unfair advantage of everybody else. And you have access to smart people. You have access to others that are looking to do similar things that you are doing, and you have the opportunity to be able to go out and help and serve others. So it's a really easy way to identify your number. Don't look at the 5 million that you don't because you don't need that. What you need is to figure out what are your expenses. I listed them out for you. I gave you just a very simple example, everything from mortgage insurance, food, cars, travel expense, entertainment expense. We could have probably made this number even little because you don't smaller because you don't necessarily need to travel all the time. Although I personally love traveling. I think it's the best thing. It helps you get your beginner's mind and opens your your world. It makes you feel uncomfortable, helps you to continue to grow. But in this example, we're focusing on 8000 you're focused on 8000 not 5 million. So help somebody today, literally help somebody who's thinking, I've got to keep working because I got to stack cash and I'm doing. Crazy hours, and they're doing all kinds of stuff just to get to 5 million, which is going to take them 4050, years. Help them reset. Focus on what's going to help give them options today, freedom today, ownership of their time today. And this episode can be the the help that they need. You're the person that just all you need to do is forward, share it, share it with them, and afterwards, get on the phone, talk to them about it, see how you can help them.

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15:27

Okay

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Billy Keels  15:29

with that. Appreciate your time, your attention. I am here. I'm going to continue to to to bring you more episodes. A lot of this is I'm taking in conversations that I'm consistently having on LinkedIn, also the feedback that I'm receiving from you here, also, too, I don't really talk about it, but got a little newsletter going on, which I think is making a lot of impact. I think because you're telling me that it is so find out more. We make it really easy. But more importantly, share this episode today and be that person that can make an impact on someone else. While you're doing that, I'll be here preparing for the next episode. So until then, I want to say thank you very, very much and make a great day. Today's conversation was sponsored by the Billy keels advisory program. If you're looking to make your nine to five optional and need some help, just go to Billy keels.com forward slash advising. Once again, that's Billy keels.com forward slash advising you.

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