(00:04): Would you agree with this statement? The more people that can fully participate in the economy at all levels, the faster and more prosperous the economy will grow and will grow for everyone. I bet most people do agree, but what does it mean to fully participate in the economy at all levels? Should we be welcoming 12 year olds to have a vote in bank board meetings? Should the unemployment office teach classes on how to use a new investing app to buy an NFT? Perhaps accessibility means something different than we think it does, especially because so many of us have so little access to a majority of our wealth in retirement accounts today, we've got some provoking perspectives, um, what it means for everyone to fully participate in the economy. Hey, I'm Brandon and welcome to wealth wisdom, financial podcast, episode one, 13 adaptability, accessibility, and financial freedom. Something we all I think want. Yeah. And Hey, I'm Amanda. When it comes to financial freedom, we think adaptability and accessibility are some of the most important things that get more people to financial freedom than, oh, pretty much anything else. And when it comes to accessibility issues in the fight for economic justice, you might not expect there to be much historical wealth wisdom available. And yet there has been this vein throughout history of making sure that whoever or whatever is in power is not leaving out the poor, the disabled, the young, the old, or anybody else based on the color of their skin, their cultural background, their gender, or anything else. We don't hear about them very often though, because they aren't always the most do dominant voices and, and they get kind of drowned out. They get silenced, but they are there. And I'd say the arc of history has bent toward increasing accessibility for more and more of us to participate in the economy and to participate at all levels of the economy, but are we need better off for it? And how might we adjust our financial strategies accordingly to make sure we get financial freedom. We're gonna get into all of that. And more in this episode,
(02:44): Are you sick and tired of hearing the same old, conventional financial advice? We feel you we're fed up with the same old truisms that fall flat. When you get into the unique opportunities and challenges of your specific situation. This show is all about bringing you historic wisdom around building wealth, with practical insights on how to apply it to your journey. Not somebody else's when conventional financial thinking, doesn't get you to where you want to go. You need wealth wisdom. So let's master wealth building together. Before we jump in, we wanna make it very clear that we're not making any statements today, political or otherwise. We wanna share some really powerful thought exercises with you that are questions that were asked by some amazing thinkers in history that we believe might just help you live a smarter, more stable life today, which is what we're all about. right. You may agree or disagree with the premises that are behind some of these questions that we're gonna ask you to ponder today. We don't think that matters that doesn't make the questions any less worth considering. So we invite you to keep an open mind, have some fun with us on this topic of accessibility and adaptability. The first thought exercise is all about accessibility. Of course, right? It's an idea proposed by someone, every soldier on the American side of the American revolution would've known like about this person and heard his ideas. So it was proposed by this person who, lots of people knew Amanda, what's the question he proposed. And then I wanna reveal who it is and why is it important to us? I mean, we're going way back.
(04:36): Yeah. So the question went, something like this, I changed a little bit of the details said feel more appropriate for 2022. Here's a question. What if every 21 year old were given $80,000 today, many 21 year olds are given $80,000 in debt rather than having $80,000 in assets. But what if, how might their lives be different if they were given $80,000 to build their futures and to get through life's ups and downs as well? I hear the main objection already today. Most 21 year olds are not as responsible and mature as they likely were in the 17 hundreds. When this question was first asked, so we might add what if, you know, along with that 80,000 came a financial professional, maybe some financial literacy to help those 21 year olds make the most of their money, make it work toward their unique individual goals. How might both of those, the $80,000 and that financial education, an ally along their path, how might that change the lives of so many Americans? So the person who said this in the 17 hundreds was Thomas Payne. He put forth this idea of giving every young person, a startup fund when they reached adulthood, Thomas Payne wrote common sense, a pamphlet read to every American soldier in the revolutionary war. So most everybody in America at that time knew who Thomas Payne was.
(06:11): Yeah. And, and I remember learning about Thomas Payne in American history class. And, you know, at growing up as a child and his, you probably recognize his name too, but here's the part you probably haven't heard about this, you know, giving every young person money and back in 1999, Bruce Ackerman and Ann Stott, they did the math. So this vein of, you know, giving young people a leg up in different ways has been it part of America throughout its entire history, right from pre-revolution times. But Bruce and Anne finally did the math in 1999. And they could concluded that we could rewrite the inheritance rules in America, such that instead of billionaires keeping the majority of their wealth to their kids or, you know, leaving it to them, it could go to ordinary people and they found that each person could get you guessed it $80,000. If we just simply changed the inheritance rules. And that was over 20 years ago when they did that math, that's probably more today. Yeah. And think about this, the, uh, idea that's how America was founded, right? Separating from Europe, wanting to create our own identities, building, uh, our own path. And anyway, that's, that's interesting. So with so many billionaires taking the giving pledge to give their wealth away anyway, most are setting up charitable foundations. That means there will be lots of nonprofit bureaucracy and a select few individuals at those foundations will get to decide what causes are worthy of these billions of dollars. So what if we tax the billionaires funds left over at death that 80 to 90% and gave everyone a leg up again, I could hear all kinds of people saying things, but just again, asking what would be life be like if we did
(08:10): That, now we know it'd be very difficult to do this because we have such an ineffective government. Remember, this is just an imagination exercise to get you thinking about this, a big word accessibility. In reality, if you gave every 21 year old, $80,000, some of them would squander it. Some might invest it wisely, but most of all of those funds would eventually end up back in the hands of the billionaires. Anyway, that's how our system is set up. So what you mean, the highlight here is that our prospects for financial freedom depend dramatically on if we have a fallback position, $80,000 would go a long way. If, and when there's things like this, a job loss, right? That that can happen a health emergency, much like, uh, we had to just, I don't know, a couple years ago, an opportunity to start a business, a chance to do some personal development, a cultural experience to widen someone's horizons, art to be made or a novel to be written $80,000 could go a long way to advance or help somebody overcome something or an obstacle. Yeah. Can you imagine how different a world would be? How much more enriched and secure if everyone had this kind of fallback position or a leap fund. Now it's impossible to try to calculate the lost human potential because we don't all have equal access to this kind of fallback position. And unfortunately at this point, no one should be waiting for the billionaires, the government, or even their own parents to create a fallback position of $80,000 for you or for me or any of us for that matter soon, we're gonna get into how you could do it for yourself. But first we have to get to the other side of this accessibility episode, adaptability, what does adaptability and how does that help us get financial freedom?
(10:13): There's another powerful question about adaptability that comes from the sciences. Again, thinking bigger than just money. We wanna think about all kinds of history and, and science. Most of us have no clue. Just how wide a variety of all forms of life, human animal plant, insect organisms that we have on the planet. I mean, just watch, uh, I don't know, the, the planet shows right. And you can learn a lot, right? A variety that comes to expand with many new species being discovered every year, but we could have missed an opportunity to discover and celebrate this diversity. If it hadn't been for one very powerful question, what makes this question so powerful is that we have new human technologies all the time and they seem to be increasing in numbers and variety, just like the animals on our planet, right? There's some wealth wisdom here that could truly be life changing for you the next time the workforce transforms and you have to make a career adjustment or the next time your industry is revolutionized and you have to create your business anew. Just ask blockbuster. If you wanna know how ignoring this question could spell your end and how it's spelled the end of animals.
(11:39): Yeah. That was quite an introduction, Brandon. So here's so that we have to kind of go back to several hundred years ago again. And when this individual that we're gonna reveal who it is, they went to one of the most challenging environments on the planet, one of the harshest places, but when they got there, they found this wide variety of animals and plants that were very unique to that environment. It would. And, uh, that I read the Smithsonian magazine article that summarized what happened and here's how they characterized it. They called this opportunity, uh, the way that this individual took advantage of it as the way that he was able to as quote a courageous, willingness to consider new and unconventional ways of thinking that courageous, willingness to think differently, allowed a new question to form. And here was the question, this very powerful question, could a new species of bird, animal or insect come about.
(12:48): Could we have a new species now we know it's possible. And at the time everyone would agree. It's possible to have slight variations, depending, you know, uh, developing within a species depending on the environment, but could something entirely new unfold. Now, every year, scientists discover thousands and thousands of new species, many who we thought were just subspecies when they're really separate species and others who have never been studied before, but this openness to adapt scientific theories to adapt, you know, this set number of species that kind of openness based on this new evidence is a powerful thing. And a very courageous thing in light of how much it can go against the powers that be. And we reveal who asked this question, could there be a new species? I think you'll get just how powerful that question was and how much it's transformed science as we know it And how it, uh, will impact even our financial journeys. So whatever you think of evolution or creation, we bet on some levels, you'd think Charles Darwin had it right when he said it is not the strongest of the species that survives nor the most intelligent that survives. It's the one that is most adaptable to change.
(14:13): Yeah. I, I kind of get this like tense feeling when people call his whole stick survival of the fittest. That's not what he proposed at all and think about it. Why are dinosaurs extinct? It's not because of some big asteroid. It's not because they weren't strong enough to survive. They were some of the strongest animals we've ever had on this planet, but they didn't, they're now extinct because they couldn't adapt to the changing environment that resulted from that big asteroid. We totally have other species that exist from the time of the dinosaurs, because they've been able to keep adapting. There's at least 10 of them, including different types of birds, sharks, crocodiles. You could, you know, Google it. If you wanna know how many species we have that existed at the time of the dinosaurs that have been able to adapt actually bees. That's one of them too. How cool. Yeah. I mean, can we bring this into financial matters? I mean, where's the wealth wisdom here, Amanda. Okay. So have you ever thought or heard that it's the times of crisis that create the most wealth for the select few who go after it? I've heard that. Yeah, I bet you've heard at least one story of someone who made millions during the last great recession or during the great depression. Is it the smartest or the wealthiest who make the most during the, these times of crises? Or is it those who can't adapt? Does it matter if you have $80,000 or 8 million, if you know how to adapt? That's a very powerful question.
(15:47): I mean, think of the businesses that thrive during the pandemic breweries that switched to bottling hand sanitizer. So shops that started to make PPE restaurants, that added delivery. That's just from the past couple years, not to mention, you know, in 2008, when things changed in the, uh, text things that created out of that. Yeah. And we personally know two stories. There's this guy named Tim who turned a million dollars into $3 million during the great recession. There's this woman named Judy who got an over 80% return on investment within 18 months of March, 2020. If you recognize these stories, then thanks for listening. These stories are in past podcast episodes, we'll link to them in the show notes. If you didn't get to hear them, when they first aired, these are real stories of real people who were able and willing to adapt when a crisis struck and they saw their wealth increase because of it. And all this brings us to our final question. What could you do with accessible cash that allows you to, to adapt during uncertain and changing times like we are experiencing now, isn't that a great definition of financial freedom, having enough accessible cash that you have the ability to adapt during uncertain and changing times, Let's go back to science for a quick minute, 60%, just, Just a quick minute, not too
(17:18): Long, not too long. 60% of the human body is water. 71% of the Earth's surface is covered with water. Liquidity seems to be pretty important to nature and to science, to, you know, how we live everything, all the things right, liquidity and financial circles is another name for accessibility. The ability to access your own money and liquidity. Isn't just about having a fallback position or an emergency fund. Liquidity is crucial when opportunity strikes. There's so much more you can do when you have plenty of accessible cash that allows you to adapt when everyone else is stuck. Speaking of liquidity, we should all drink a glass of water right now, just because we all know how important it is. We wouldn't have coffee without liquidity either. I'm gonna drink coffee. Oh yeah. So when everyone else is stuck, how, how many times is that? Like, that seems like a, um, when does that happen? Well, let's count the ways Brandon. Yeah. So one of those ways is when the banks are lending making loans, impossible to get, have you ever experienced that or is that happening right now Or when interest rates are rising and, uh, loans are just way less appealing When the stock market is down. So no one wants to sell and lose money. No one wants to take that loss. Um, anybody experience that lately Yet when the stock market is up, no one wants to sell and they're stuck because it could go higher. Oh yeah. We've heard that one before, too. When the majority of their assets are locked up in a 401k where there's a penalty or early withdrawal taxes due on the withdrawal or lots of hoops, interest and payment requirements. When a loan is actually used And people are stuck too, when they have their funds in an IRA, except they can't take a loan from an IRA. So they just have to worry about those penalties and taxes.
(19:16): And here's one that's happening right now. Again, when the housing market is down, so you don't sell or can't get a HeLOCK Or when the housing market is up. So you don't know that you could buy after you sell, you feel stuck Again, craziness in reality, many of us feel stuck way too often and in too many circumstances. So, I mean, we just named a few. Now, we're not saying to keep all of your hard earned wealth in a savings account or under a mattress where it's value would be decreasing based on inflation alone. That's not what we're telling you to do. We invite you to, to consider how this accessibility and adaptability might actually work in your favor toward financial freedom. Yeah. And we've searched the world and discovered a pretty powerful tool that gives accessibility and adaptability to millions of Americans and has done so for generations. And you guess it it's called bank and yourself. What's more with bank and yourself is when we exercise accessibility in order to adapt, changing and circumstances, any kind of changes there, we don't interrupt the compounding growth of our funds. Plus we have peace of mind all along the way because of the predictability and proven track record from more than 160 year history of this strategy. And again, people might say, oh, but this is a new strategy. I've never heard of it it before, but it's been around for a long, long time.
(20:52): So as we wrap up today, we have a quick reminder for you. The world in its future are very uncertain right now. You don't need to be reminded of that. You live and breathe. That every day, what you might need to remember is that you don't have to react and do what everyone else is doing. Americans are being told by the financial gurus out there to hunker down, don't open your account statements. This is the best time to buy stocks, not to sell them. Don't worry. The market will go always go up over the long term and so on and so forth. We want to remind you that if you want different results, then you, then you've gotten in the past, maybe in 2000 or 2008, or if you're younger, then your parents have gotten in the past. Then you have to do something different. We pride ourselves on bringing a different perspective to our clients to see if we'd be the right fit to work together. We invite you to schedule quick 15 minute intro call. It's nothing heavy, a simple chance to see if we can be of service on your financial journey to increase your accessibility and adaptability so that you can achieve financial freedom. We're gonna keep put a link in the show notes, but it's really simple. Grandma's wealth wisdom.com/call can schedule a time with one of us there. Now, before you forget about it, and again, quick 15 minutes, we'll talk a lot about adaptability and accessibility and how you might increase that in your financial portfolio.
(22:22): And again, while you guys are here, I'd love to hear as well, send us an email if you found these, uh, podcasts helpful, uh, or, uh, of course rate and review, right. And share because we really wanna make a difference and help as many people as possible. We don't wanna be seeing people just stuck. Uh, even as crisis hits, we wanna see people overcome, um, more and generate wealth that they feel is just doing amazing work, right? Uh, and so, uh, if you found these podcasts helpful, let us know. Cause we would love to just hear how this has benefited you. And of course, if you're listening and you first time listening, be sure and hit that subscribe because in the next episode, we're gonna be asking questions that you might be surprised to hear from us. And that question is what's more important than life insurance. I'm personally looking forward to that episode. What's more important than life insurance until next time, keep building your wealth simply and sustainably so that you can break through to a smart, stable, financial future. We hope you live long and profit. The topics presented in this podcast are for general information only, and not for the purposes of providing legal accounting or investment advice on such matters. Please consult a professional who knows your specific situation.
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