A hearty welcome to Grandma’s Wealth Wisdom with your hospitable hosts, Brandon and Amanda Neely. This is the only podcast for strategies to grow your wealth simply and sustainably like grandma used to. Without further ado here are your hosts.
Amanda: Hi, I'm Amanda, and welcome to Grandma's Wealth Wisdom, where we work with you to build wealth grandma would be proud of.
Brandon: And I'm Brandon, and we have a great episode today. It's part two of Tim Austin's interview, Eight Lessons From Grandma's Generation. Eight Lessons From Grandma's Generation. Now, there's a lot that we can learn from that generation, and that's why we put the title of this podcast as Grandma's Wealth Wisdom. And we're lucky to have Tim sharing this. And so, let's continue the interview. [0:01:05.5]
Amanda: Oh, wait, before we do, we should let you know that we started this interview in the last episode, so be sure you go back and listen to that one. It's called The Overlooked 2.7 Million with Tim Austin, Part One. And in that episode, Tim really shares how he learned these lessons, the tough mistakes and trials he went through, including how he lost his own grandmother's money, 40% of her money. So be sure you go back and listen to that.
Brandon: That was a huge, that was a big story.
Amanda: Yeah, so that you can really get to know where these lessons come from, and just the credibility behind Tim sharing these lessons. Okay, now let's get to the eight lessons with Tim.
So we got like the 10/10/10 rule, 10/10/10 savings formula. I think that's super golden advice there. I know you've got some more rules about the, how grandma used her wealth and what she learned coming out of the Depression that were sort of fundamental to how the greatest generation did their money. I'm really looking forward to going through these and having our listeners hear them because I think they're really transformative. Tell us, what are some, what are these rules that you've learned, and how, like, yeah, please share them. [0:02:32.2]
Brandon: Well, I would add too, our Millennials, we don’t like to have rules. We're all like "Oh, I don’t need rules," and I think another podcast that we said is discipline, in a past interview, discipline brings freedom - having good discipline brings freedom. And maybe what we want to say is not actual rules. These are good guidelines that you should try and follow. You can put rules in there too. Whatever way you want to place it in your mindset to help you get to those things. If rules is a hard word to say, it's a guideline, and then follow the guideline as …[0:03:12.8]
Amanda: Or lesson, yeah.
Brandon: Or lesson, yeah - whatever. It doesn’t matter.
Tim: Yeah. Yeah. You know, words are important. Right? So, ultimately we're all responsible for our own lives and I say that slowly because I just don’t really think that people take that philosophy in on a daily basis. I think they mistakenly feel that there's outside forces that have caused them to be in the position that they're in, and at the end of the day, each and every one of us is responsible for our own lives. [0:04:04.2]
And that comes down to our financial lives, so if I just simply focus in that light, you know, some of these lessons - I'll put it as lessons. You know, it's just a lesson. So, you know, a rule, a lesson - we apply them to our lives as they're meaningful to us, and if, you know, I just recently with my 15-year-old son had a conversation about intelligence and you know, smart people because he had told me that, and in our household a lot of times things evolve around athletics and basketball, so you know, he had learned from his mistake. He was telling me Dad, you know, I did this and I, you know, we were talking basketball, so it was just, it was a certain move. It was a certain thing within his shot and then he learned from his mistake that he needed to do something different. [0:05:10.3]
And so I asked him, I said, "Well, do you think that that is the smartest way to learn is by your own mistakes and then correct them and not them anymore?" He said, "Well, yeah, Dad. That's absolutely. If I can learn from my mistakes and not repeat that same mistake gain, then, yeah, that's great." And I said, "Well that actually is excellent, and it is very good, but one of the things that I learned is that if I can learn from other people's mistakes and not even make the mistake to begin with, that that's even smarter." That if I can take a look at the mistakes that other people have made and they've been willing to share in the world that they've made these mistakes and this is what has happened to them, and then they share what they did to correct it and I can learn from that, then that's, that's how I want to learn. [0:06:11.1]
So I try to take in as much as I can about other people's mistakes and apply them to my life so maybe I won't make those same mistakes. So, Amanda, you had asked me, you know, some of these rules. They were formed from when I was seeing all of those people and it was basically over a two-year time period that I've seen hundreds of people that were in the, you know, their 60s, 70s, and 80s and this was back in the late 1980s, and so, most all of them had lived through the Great Depression, and at least they were close enough to it as children to understand the effects of what happened and some of the beliefs that came out of it. [0:06:59.8]
So the first one that I learned, and just really have applied to my life is to just make sure I understand what it means to live within my means, to live within my means. A lot of people have heard that, but I think in today's world, it doesn’t mean the same thing as what it meant back then. I think sometimes, today, people say, "Oh, well, I live within my means," but they're not saving 25% of their income. They're still servicing 30%, 35% of their income into debt. So, are you really living within your means? Today, we, an average 45-year-old today is on their fourth home. The average 45-year-old that grew up, you know, through the 1940s, had one home. Both my mother and my mother-in-law are both in the same home that they got married in and raised their children in. [0:08:03.0]
They're, you know, that's living within your means. Are you hitting the appropriate savings amount and then of course, if you want to throw in some investing, that's fine too, but you better not forget about the saving amount. The second lesson that I use or I learned is to use debt wisely. So, we're not saying that you can't go into debt. So for example, a lot of those life insurance policies that I was talking with those people, those policies, they would borrow the money out and they put the money back in over a period of time. The nice thing is is they got to determine how they put it back in and when they put it back in, and they didn't have to worry about missing a payment or anything like that. It was completely up to them how they put that money back and whether they put it back or not. [0:09:03.6]
But, there's ways to use debt wisely, and it's, it would be to everybody's benefit to understand how to do that. Taking advantage of an opportunity is just fine. For example, I used my debt wisely through 2005 and 2011 to add a little over $1,000,000 to my net worth by being able to take loans out of my policies of about $200,000 to buy up foreclosed properties and which I was able to recently sell out, you know, basically 10 years later, for over $1,000,000 of net profit in that. So, you can use that…
Brandon: So you're saying in 2008 and in that time frame, you're buying things using debt. You grow your net worth to $1,000,000 while people were losing a lot because that was during the correction, in the crash. [0:10:07.1]
Tim: Because they had no savings.
Brandon: Uh-huh.
Tim: They had no cash on hand.
Brandon: So your assets grew during that time, instead of shrinking, like a lot of people.
Tim: Oh, it was one of the greatest times for my wealth to grow.
Brandon: Yeah.
Tim: Absolutely.
Brandon: I just wanted you to reiterate because I think people forget that. They don’t realize how you can use those corrections or crashes to your advantage possibly.
Tim: And quite honestly, you should be waiting for them and looking for them and being in a position to take advantage of them. And that was lesson #2 that I learned. That was from the stories of all of those people that I just kept listening and how they built their wealth and the fact that they had these dollars to be able to loan that money out, pay that money back in. All my policies were paid back with a 10% interest within four years, and I was controlling at the time over 21 properties. So, yes, understanding lesson #2 can be extremely valuable to somebody's net worth. [0:11:15.6]
Lesson 3 is the little things add up. You know, I think we're, in today's world, we're in just too much of a hurry. You know, if people understood lesson #3 being little things add up, there wouldn’t be the term, you know, this, get rich quick scheme. Right? You know, this is not a get rich quick scheme. Well, you wouldn’t even have to say that if people understood little things add up. The Kitson principle you know, improve your value, your net worth, your service, whatever it is, just by a little bit each day, and that adds up. It adds up so much. One of the great examples that has been around for a long time - just take a penny and double it every single day for 30 days. Have you guys heard that one? [0:12:14.5]
Amanda: I have, but fill us in. I …
Tim: Do you remember what the total is after 30 days?
Amanda: A lot.
Tim: Like how much is a penny worth if you were to double it every single day for 30 days? It's over $5,000,000.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: In 30 days? That's awesome.
Tim: In 30 days.
Brandon: I want to look into that strategy.
Tim: And it's the last two days that make the biggest impact, but if you didn't have the patience to let that, let it grow, let, you know, to do what you need to do, and you can take that over, you know, 30 years or 40 years. What are the little things that you are going to do each day to continue to improve and grow? And that's why I share the story of my net worth has grown every year for 32 years now that I've been implementing this, so. [0:13:15.0]
Lesson 4 is home ownership that is affordable yields benefits for a lifetime. Home ownership that is affordable yields benefits for a lifetime. What do I mean by this? It goes back to what I was sharing, people today are on their fourth home whereas in the past, they were on one home. And well, how did this happen? Well, it's happened because they've been sold a bill of goods that their home that they live in is the biggest and best asset that they're ever going to have, so just keep upgrading your home because it's such a great asset. I remember the second home, and by the way, I am guilty of this. I am on my fourth home and I'll be 55 here shortly. [0:14:05.0]
However, I have always maintained my homes under the principle that it is not an asset to me. Meaning that this home that I'm living in, it's valuable, but it has to be manageable. It has to be extremely affordable. Otherwise, it's going to eat me alive because I do not plan on moving. I do not plan on reducing my lifestyle once I've settled in. if anything, I might sell it and have two homes. I live in Michigan and you guys are in Chicago; you probably understand that statement. You know, I might have to have a warm home and my cold home because I'm never leaving Michigan. It's, I love Michigan. You know, I'm a big Michigander fan. The winter is one of my favorite seasons, so. But at the same token, it's nice to get away from the winter and enjoy some warmth. But the whole point of lesson 4 is the home that you live in needs to be reasonable and affordable and don’t extend yourself. Otherwise, it's going to suck up too much of your disposable income just trying to maintain it and you're not going to be able to hit your savings goals. You're not going to be able to hit those short-term and mid-term savings goals. It's going to get eaten up by a home that's just too big, too expensive, taxes are too much - so on and so forth. [0:15:41.2]
Amanda: Yep.
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Brandon: We're planning on eventually buying a home, and that's something I've been thinking about is, and everybody's, you know, in the world or if you watch the news or not the news but social media and stuff, they always say "It's an asset. It's an asset. Buy this asset." You know, and for me, I'm like, yeah, I want to own, just, I'm going to buy one just because I want it, but it's a liability.
Tim: Yeah.
Brandon: And knowing what it is before I get it is important and knowing where I want to go before I even go there is going to be another important step. So that way I can buy a house that will help me still get to where I need to go with other assets and things. So, I really like that.
Tim: Absolutely. Yeah. And you know, just kind of in that same line, it goes to, you know, paying a mortgage off, you know, is that a good thing. [0:17:09.7]
Like getting to a point that, again, using debt wisely, it's understanding the debt on your primary residence, how to use debt on your primary residence whether you should pay that debt off or whether is it more important to you to have a debt free home, or just simply never make a mortgage payment ever again, understanding the difference between that and understanding, you know, are you, do you plan on staying in that home the rest of your life, are you going to, are you going to sell it, is, you know, is there a short-term plan for the home, a long-term plan for the home. And that's going to be different for people at different stages of their lives also. So, just understanding how to manage debt on your primary residence is lesson #5, and always keeping, you know, debt on your primary residence as a focus of whether to pay it down or whether to eliminate the payment or not. [0:18:20.4]
Lesson 6 - good health is worth its weight in gold. Now, good health is worth its weight in gold can mean different things to different people. The way that I'm going to address it is just simply financially. When you're not in good health, you're going to run into financial bills that can crush you. The seniors today are entering bankruptcy at a level that we have never seen before. The #1 reason they are entering bankruptcy is due to health costs. Medical costs, medical care costs is driving them into bankruptcy. So the longer that we can maintain good health is extremely important to our financial health. So …[0:19:20.7]
Amanda: Absolutely.
Tim: You know, I, it's not easy. You know, it's not, well, it's easy to some people. I will say that. It is not easy to me. You're talking to somebody that if Tim had his way, he'd be eating junk food and sugar at levels that would astound people, but I know that that I can't do that.
Brandon: Amanda might say the same about me.
Amanda: Yep. Brandon is in the same court with you. Yep.
Tim: Hey, you know, when they came out with the McDonald's challenge, that guy did a few years back - I can't remember how long it was - I'm like, he was my idol. [0:20:03.7]
But I can tell you that I think I've had one McDonald's hamburger this year, 2019, and so, and that's probably about right for me, you know. But, you know, it's just understanding that good health is very, very good for your financial health. So you know, if that means you need to get a gym membership or if you're like me, there's certain things in my life that because I am in good health that I cut out in my life - well, I was able to use that savings to hire a personal trainer. So I've had a personal trainer that I see three times a week for almost 11 years now, and it's just because she holds me accountable to staying healthy. So sometimes having that outside person can help, but obviously, not everybody is going to go to that extent. But just understand lesson #6: Good health is worth its weight in gold. Because it's going to add to your financial wealth in ways that you could have never imagined. [0:21:12.0]
Amanda: Absolutely.
Brandon: That's a good one. I like that one.
Tim: Number 7, and I've got eight of them, is #7 is just simply plan ahead for care in your elder years. I think this goes for even a little bit more than just simply retirement planning, you know. I'm putting whatever into my 401k. You really got to plan these days because, my goodness, they're talking about our mortalities, you know, of kids being born today reaching 130 years old, 150 years old. It's just, it sounds crazy but I will tell you that my goal is to live to be 121 years old and to do my last triathlon somewhere around 100. [0:22:02.2]
If I can keep going after that, I'll give it a try, but when you think long-term like that, when you know that there's a chance, a likelihood or a possibility that you could actually be healthy, and again, I'll be 55 here shortly, but I know people in their late 80s and 90s - my uncle is 91 years old and still plays tennis six days a week. I mean, you know, plan ahead for your care. Understand that your costs are going to be a little bit more, you know. My uncle has been through, he's got two new hips and he's got two new knees, you know, so he's planning for those to be replaced when he's 110. So, you know, you might as well save up for the deductibles. Right? So, again, plan for your care in your elderly years. [0:22:59.7]
And then the last one, you know, lesson 8 is just financial security comes from many actions over many years. It's just, it's not just one thing. You have to be looking and paying attention to your financial health in all areas and then it's not really a lesson, but if I could only simply say that don’t beat yourself up, ever. None of us is perfect. Things come up. Things happen. We have to refer back to lesson #3 all the time - little things add up. So you know, when we, when we're not where we want to be, when things hit us that we really maybe didn't plan on, all we can do is start again tomorrow. Right? You know, just let the little things add up. Financial security will come but, and it will come through taking many actions over many years. [0:24:04.6]
Amanda: Yeah. That's super great.
Brandon: I liked how you ended with starting with responsibility. Like first you have to take a little responsibility and then you take little steps and be responsible as that builds. And I like how you've bookended that with those two sides at least I think it's good. I have a question real quick. So older people that we talk to tend to always say they wished they would have known about this sooner. Like if we talk to clients and we do this whole financial analysis…
Tim: Sure.
Brandon: And my question is what would you tell younger people who are listening to this episode because that's our demographic and where we want to reach is the younger generation who can learn from grandma but aren't in this situation of the baby boomers. How can they, what would you tell them, what can they do that's different than their parents, and maybe better than their parents? [0:25:15.3]
Tim: Great question. You know, so I have a 21-year-old who is just graduating college now, just entering the real world. I have a 19-year-old daughter who is going to be junior, and then I have my 15-year-old and when I think about what's going on and some of the younger clients that I have, and I'm on third generation, so I'm working with the grandkids of the clients that I initially took on. And when you look at what could they do a little differently than their parents, which are basically the baby boomers or older baby boomers, depending on their age, don’t fall into the trap of speculation and risk as the only way to get to where you want to go. I think one of the biggest things that I'm seeing and have seen is that people are believing that they have to take risks in order to get to the financial health that they want to have. Sometimes they buy into this or hear the financial so-called, you know, gurus or entertainer sometimes where, you know, "You can get 12% compounded interest per year by just investing in the market." Well, I've been around a long time now and I haven’t seen too many people deliver that promise. Right? I have seen a lot of people that have been hurt, absolutely hurt by that kind of mindset. So 1 - you know, don’t fall into this trap of speculation and you know, "I deserve it now," you know, none of us deserves anything now. [0:27:15.6]
We, you know - take personal responsibility for your life, for your financial wealth, have patience and just don’t fall into some of these get rich quick, taking unnecessary risks, invest in your personal residence and that one kind of is probably one that is the biggest mistakes that I see with younger people. They're just buying way too big of a house for where they're at. I owned two homes that I, as investment properties, and I was renting from a friend of mine back in the 1980s, for $400 a month. [0:28:07.4]
I was renting a loft above his home on the lake. It was a beautiful view. It was wonderful. But yet, here I am owning two properties that I was renting out and I had a positive income on those properties of about $1000 a month at the time and not to mention the equity that was growing in those homes and so on and so forth, but I think that's probably, Brandon, where I want younger people to focus a little bit more. Don’t be in such a hurry. Don’t fall into the speculation trap. Be careful of the purchasing of the home a little too much because their parents are probably, if they look at their parents, their parents probably still have a mortgage and in their 60s and it's not by choice, you know. So I think that's where I would probably lead them. [0:29:05.5]
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: And one final question, I might ask, since you're very well in the like life insurance side of things and the banking on yourself side of things and a lot of younger people are like, well, I'll just do term insurances because I'm, it's easier, it's cheaper, I'm 25. What would you say to a younger person as to why they would do a, like a whole life kind of concept, why they would do that even, you know, at a younger age, like does that make sense?
Amanda: Yeah. I know like this could be a whole new episode. Maybe give people a teaser and then we'll have to have you back on to address that more.
Tim: I was going to say, nothing like asking a question that could be like a two-day seminar. Real quickly, there's no difference between the cost of a term policy and a whole life policy for the insurance that's involved. Right? [0:30:02.6]
Amanda: Yeah.
Tim: And so that's a myth, that's a huge myth that, you know, your term insurance is $500 and your whole life policy is $5000, but yet, the insurance cost is the same. So you have to ask yourself why does the whole life - if the insurance costs are pretty much the same, why am I paying 5000 for my whole life policy and only 500 for my term? What are the benefits that I'm getting? What am I, what is the value that I'm getting for that extra $4500 that makes it worth it for me to own the mutual dividend paying whole life insurance, and by the way, I really think there's a difference between other what they call permanent policies out there, universal life, index universal life, variable life that also are not very good for consumers long term depending on what they're trying to accomplish, the what we're talking about here for building financial wealth and banking on yourself only the mutual dividend paying whole life insurance is going to be able to accomplish that. [0:31:20.8]
So if you want me to leave it there, I would simply say, to a young person, is that question, question, question what is the value and benefits I'm receiving from that mutual dividend paying whole life insurance compared to any other way of actually having insurance. So there's one way of looking at it for the insurance and by the way, sometimes families might have both. They might have the whole life and the term because it is important to protect your life, especially in a family situation. You want to make sure that you're appropriately insured in the event that, you know, you leave this earth a little bit early, but as it relates to the savings portion of this vehicle can do, you just have to dig and you have to really understand the value and the benefits that you're receiving from having that policy. And remember, bank on yourself is just another way of saying be personally responsible for your life and for your financial wealth. [0:32:38.9]
Amanda: Yes, absolutely. Well thank you so much for all of the value that you shared today. We look forward to …
Brandon: And you just did a mic drop there at the end.
Amanda: We, I think, have tons of content that we can come back to and dig into and really look at each of these eight lessons that you shared, and we might ask you some questions as we're then unpacking that a little bit more in future episodes. And we'll definitely have you back on in the future, if you're willing to talk more about these topics. [0:33:15.0]
Tim: Oh, it'd be my pleasure. Any time.
Brandon: Thanks so much for coming to our show here, Tim, and thanks, audience, for listening to Tim and how can people find you, if they're wanting to learn more about what you do? Yeah, where…
Tim: Well, the best thing - yeah, my life lives and resides in BankOnYourself.com.
Amanda: We're going to put a couple of links in the show notes to where you're mentioned on that website too, and more about that 10/10/10 savings formula and the lessons from the greatest generation.
Tim: Yep. Absolutely. BankOnYourself.com and if you really want to hear the, my financial solution that I sat down with my fiancée many years ago, actually we're coming up on our 25th wedding anniversary here shortly, but in the book, The Bank On Yourself Revolution, my story is told in chapter 11. [0:34:12.0]
Amanda: Awesome. Great.
Brandon: It's a great chapter too. Cool. Well thanks for joining us and we're looking forward to having you again next time or in the future.
Tim: Absolutely. Absolutely. Any time. Thank you for having me.
Amanda: So, Tim just shared with us eight lessons. Let me recap the eight lessons and I'll share with you my favorite and like an additional way to look at it. So lesson 1: Live within one's means. Lesson 2: Use debt wisely. Lesson 3: Little things add up. Lesson 4: Home ownership that is affordable yields benefits for a lifetime.
Brandon: Affordable is the key word.
Amanda: Yep. Lesson 5: Paying off the mortgage is a great thing, or maybe it's not a great thing. You need to consider that carefully. Lesson 6: Good health is worth its weight in gold. Lesson 7: Plan ahead for care in your elder years. Lesson 8: Financial security comes from many actions and over many years. [0:35:17.6]
Right? No get rich quick in the world. Right? Even having that phrase, like, it's not even a thing. So but, I think the lesson that I want to just touch on really quickly before we wrap up is lesson 3, little things add up. And as Tim was talking about it, I 100% agree. The little things that you do add up. You know, improve a little bit each day. You know, a penny can turn into $5,000,000 in 30 days if it's doubling and you see the biggest growth the longer you go, especially when you have that compounding interest. Right? But think about it this way too - that even small losses add up as well, even a small correction of 10% in the market one day, and 5% a few months later. [0:36:10.6]
Or small fee that gets charged to your account - all of those things can really add up and eat away at your, the growth of your money over time. So you want, yes, you want to do the positive things. You want to improve a little bit each day. You want to try, you know, if you're saving 10%, try to save 11%, you know, in a month or two. That kind of thing. But also, look for the little things that are eroding your wealth as well because those things can really add up for sure. So anything you want to add before we recap or before we wrap up, Brandon?
Brandon: Yeah. I think going to #8 is financial security comes from many actions is very similar to the little things that add up, and so, just thinking about those many actions that you get you to where you want to be brings financial security and it brings other kinds of security. [0:37:08.9]
They all tie together. So, think about it as doing health or going to the gym, it's those little actions that add up over time to losing the weight, getting into your optimal health, to being able to run a marathon like he does. I'm sure he's not able to just do that like just out of, you know, eating his Big Macs and all that, which he doesn't, but he does little actions to be able to be prepared to run this marathon, and you know, they all intersect. So, I really liked how the little things add up.
Amanda: Yeah, and that financial security comes from many actions, not just one, you know, set it and forget it kind of thing.
Brandon: Many good actions, like you said. Like not just having many actions, but if they're like negatives, then that's, even though that's an action, that's not a good action. Like we want to go positive actions.
Amanda: Yeah. For sure.
Brandon: So be aware of that. So. [0:38:08.3]
Amanda: Yep. So this wraps up our summer of interviews for 2019. We might bring some interviews to you throughout the rest of the year, but for the next episode, we're going to be back to info-packed episodes where we share with you some of the best things that we have learned and that we think will really, can transform your life and your wealth. So the first episode back to the next episode, we're going to be taking on the pros and cons of a financial vehicle that is super popular right now. Lots of people are using it. Lots of people are talking about it. It feels like you have to use this, and there's no other thing to use. Even though this financial tool was only created in 1997. That's like 22 years old. And everybody is using it. It's all the rage. It might surprise you. I'm going to go on and tell you. I'm going to let the cat out of the bag. It's the Roth IRA. [0:39:11.9]
Brandon: What? It's only … how long has it been around?
Amanda: 1997.
Brandon: Oh, wow.
Amanda: So be sure you listen to the next episode. We're going to be sharing the pros and the cons of the Roth IRA and comparing a little bit to what we affectionately call "grandma's strategy" and you know, that Tim was kind of talking about a little bit at the end of this episode. So be sure to join us next time as we dig into Roth IRAs.
Brandon: So until next time, keep building your wealth simply and sustainably for your own future and the future of our grandchildren's generation.
The topics presented in this podcast are the general information only and not for the purposes of providing legal, accounting, or investment advice. On such matters place consult a professional who knows your specific situation.
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