Why I Stopped Listening To Finance Gurus

Basically, all my money that's in stocks and shares is invested in IND. What's going on when it comes to Index Fund? You want to get rich from investing? F*** investing!

Despite the popular financial advice of saving as much as you can and investing the rest into index funds, I don't think any of these people got rich by investing into index funds. Do you think Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk or, let's say, Alex Hormozi got rich by investing into index funds? Or the founder of Notion, Ivan Zhao? "Get rich slow" is an absolute scam.

Based on this book, I know what you're thinking: another get-rich-quick scheme. But don't judge a book by its cover because this book will challenge your belief system and reveal the truth to you.

Go to college, get good grades, graduate, get a good job, save 10% of your paycheck, invest in the stock market, preferably in low-cost index funds, max your 401(k), slash your credit cards, keep a frugal budget, then someday when you're 65 years old, you will be rich. This is a story most of us have been told about financial freedom and getting rich.

Realistically, my guy MJ DeMarco calls this plan "Live Poor, Die Rich," aka the slow lane. Getting rich slow ultimately means sacrificing your today, your dreams, and your life for a nebulous freedom after most of your life has evaporated—assuming you continue living like a minimalist monk.

An important question that this book made me think over and over again is: Is reaching financial freedom at 65 worth it if it robs 40 years of my youthful, most precious time of my life? But if there is a way we can get rich during our 20s or 30s, or maybe in a couple of years from today, according to the book, there are three road maps. Depending on which one you choose to walk, your path to wealth is also determined. Which one are you?

So, the first one is the slow lane. This is the most followed path and also a recipe for poverty. To determine whether you belong to this group, let me ask you a couple of questions. If your answer is yes, please give yourself one point:

1. You haven't learned much since graduating from high school or college.
2. You live paycheck to paycheck.
3. You think people with money have it because they had wealthy parents, luck, or easier life circumstances than you.
4. You put faith into politicians and government to change the system instead of focusing on how you can change yourself.
5. You're easily impressed and seek to impress.
6. You think money doesn't buy happiness.

Now stop the video and tell me how many points you got. I'm sorry to break it to you, but if you even had more than one point, it's a pretty bad sign because it means that you're walking the sidewalk—the path to poverty.

The important thing to understand is the sidewalk is money blind, meaning it doesn't matter how much you actually make. I always thought if I could make a little bit more than the last month, I would have a less stressful time with money. But I've learned in a hard way; you can't medicate poor money management with more money.

We see many rappers and NBA players who had millions of dollars file bankruptcy after a few years they retire. No matter how much money we have, if we spend more than we earn, we will always be walking the sidewalk.

So the first step to escaping the sidewalk is recognizing that we might be on it. Only a mindset and behavior change is the solution to money problems. One of my favorite quotes says, "Insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting a different result."

One of the common beliefs in the sidewalk path is wealth means material possessions. I used to think that way too. You know, in media and pop culture, we're encouraged to look rich rather than be rich. The author says that if you're financing your 90k Mercedes-Benz over six years because that's all you can afford, you can't afford it. Wealth isn't embodied in the car but in the freedom to know that you can buy it—freedom to walk into the dealership, know your price, pay cash, and drive away.

A big misconception in the sidewalk is that money doesn't buy happiness. Does poverty buy happiness? People say money doesn't buy happiness because they don't understand what money actually means. When most people earn more money, it doesn't expand their freedom; it contracts.

In the beginning of my YouTube channel, I thought if I would post more videos and get more sponsorships, I would make more money and therefore I would be more free. But that's completely wrong. I started working 60 hours a week to post three videos every single week. Even though I got pretty good results, like gaining subscribers, money, and views, I was completely burnt out.

I didn't have time to hang out with anyone; I didn't have time to enjoy my hobbies and actually spend the money I made. After basic needs met, like security, shelter, health, and food, our happiness quadrant is most significantly impacted by the quality of our relationships—with our partners, family, friends, spirituality, and also ourselves.

Many millionaires and well-paid career folks are miserable, and it has nothing to do with the money. It has to do with their freedom. On the sidewalk, money doesn’t buy happiness because it’s misused. Money should give you more freedom, and I'm not only talking about financial freedom but also time freedom. You should have the ability to control your own time and schedule. Anything detrimental to freedom is not real wealth.

So how can we make money that actually results in the freedom of choice? It's by walking the fast lane path. But before we get into that path, we need to understand the next path so that you truly realize the differences. Once people get out from the sidewalk, the next path we tend to walk is the slow lane.

This is the path that our parents, teachers, and many financial gurus recommend. It sounds like this: go to college or university, graduate with good grades, get a good job, save some of your paycheck, pay yourself first, climb the corporate ladder, contribute to your 401(k), save, save, save, invest in the stock market, buy and hold, buy index funds, say no to expensive coffee, live below your means, have patience, and one day in your 60s or maybe 70s, you will be rich.

If we’re celebrating Friday and hate Mondays, it’s a strong sign that we’re walking the slow lane, which leads to mediocrity. The slow lane is oftentimes labeled as responsible and normal, and even a realistic way to get rich. If that’s a life path you want to walk and it genuinely excites you, then that’s completely fine in my opinion.

But the problem with the slow lane is that what most gurus recommend doesn’t even work. People say pay yourself first, live frugally, and save. But with increasing inflation, high tax rates, and many things you can’t control as an employee, you never pay yourself first. Indeed, most of the time, we pay ourselves last.

Two things are absolutely required to get wealthy: one, control, and two, leverage. With the slow lane, you have control of neither of them. If you have a salary, that means you're trading your time for money. It doesn't matter whether your annual salary is 30k or 200k. As long as you're tied to your salary, you don't have control over your time.

Our time is limited and can't be leveraged. Also, if you're an employee, you have no control over your paycheck since the upper limit is 24 hours for the hourly worker. There is nothing you can do to change this limit. And the worst part is you can't control the compound interest of index funds too. When the market goes down, your hard-earned savings evaporate.

You might think, "But I will buy and keep and hold for 30, 40 years." What if you didn't even live till your 60s or 70s? Last week, one of my brother's close friends passed away due to a car accident, and he was 27. In the slow lane, we assume we will live long, but you might even die right after you watch this video from a heart attack; who knows? And even if you invested 10% of your income successfully till you're 60 or 70, you're not going to be rich.

With the inflation rates, the amount you made with index funds is not going to be much. You might not be broke, sure, but you will never be rich. Don’t get me wrong; slow lane strategies aren’t worthless in a plan, but they shouldn’t be the plan.

The slow lane as a total plan is the problem, not the slow lane being a piece of the plan. You're watching this video because you want to control your financial destiny, not to put it in Wall Street’s hands or some corporation. Because if you're investing all of your savings into index funds, you're just making someone else’s corporation get richer.

If you want to get rich, we must control the leverage and the variables in our financial plan, and any plan without control immediately disintegrates into a plan of hope. Hope isn’t a plan. If you want to have an actual plan for financial and time freedom, we must walk the fast lane path.

With fast lane, if you're 18, you can be filthy rich by 25. If you're 30, you can be retired by 36, broke at 48, and you can retire by 54. So what’s exactly a fast lane?

Fast lane is a way to get rich quick. When people hear "get rich quick," they assume it means "get rich easy." Because "get rich quick" is such an abused phrase that has zero credibility, the distinction is that "get rich quick" is not equal to "get rich easy." It's obviously not easy, and it's obviously not for everyone, for sure. But the question is, is it for you?

Fast laners make money via their business systems and investments. They believe that money is everywhere, and it's extremely abundant. Money reflects the value we've created how many lives we've touched. So, how are we going to create value? It's by being a producer first and a consumer second.

My mother always told me to create video games rather than playing them, and it can be applied to anything in life. Whether you're watching YouTube videos or taking a mortgage or even buying clothes, don't be the consumer first; be the one that creates YouTube videos, holds a mortgage, and sells clothes.

It's not easy, for sure, but we need to offer value through our businesses if we want to make money. If you're looking to start a side business to diversify your income, let me introduce you to Printify—the ultimate print-on-demand platform. With Printify, you can design your own product, whether it's apparel, accessories, or home decor, and have them printed and shipped to your customers only when an order is received.

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Once you've designed your products, you can easily connect your Printify merch to platforms like Shopify or TikTok stores. When an order is placed, Printify takes care of the fulfillment and shipping while you get to keep the difference. To make it even better for you, we have a special discount. Use the code RUDY30 to get one month free of Printify Premium.

You'll have access to premium features and services to take your print-on-demand business to the next level. There are only 600 coupons to this code, and they won't last long. So, if you're ready to start your own side business—one that's easy to set up, risk-free, and offers a wide range of high-quality products—visit the link in the description or go to Printify.com to get started with Printify today. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to turn your creative ideas into a profitable business.

One of the misconceptions is just because you're your own boss, it doesn't mean freedom. Not all businesses are fast lanes, and many can't be transformed into systems that survive on their own. Sure, there isn't like a complete, you know, passive business, but you get what I mean.

There are five fast lane business categories. These are rental systems, computer or software, content distribution, and human resource. What all of these businesses have in common is the "SENSE" framework. SENSE stands for the Commandments of Control, Entry, Need, Time, and Scale.

Let's start with the first letter: C—control. When you control your business, you control everything in your business: your organization, products, pricing, revenue model, and operational choices. No control means crashes. If someone can flip a switch and destroy your business, you're playing a roulette with your financial plan. Don't invest your life into building someone else's business. Take control because otherwise, you'll be controlled.

The second one is entry. The business you pick should have a high barrier to entry. The easiest way to figure the entry difficulty is to ask yourself this: Is getting into a business an event or process? Real business startups are processes, not events. If everyone is doing it, it means the entry barrier is low.

If you still want to enter a business model where the entry is low barrier, then be prepared to be exceptional. With exceptionality, you can break the odds of entry. Another important thing is the need. Businesses that solve needs and provide value then because no one cares about your desires, your dreams, your passions, and your why's; the world is a selfish place.

We need to solve other people's problems to make money. We need to stop chasing money and start chasing needs. The amount of money in our life is a reflection of the amount of value we have given to others. If you don’t know how to offer value, here are the things you should consider:

• Make people feel better; it can be entertainment, music, or games.
• Help them solve a problem—maybe losing weight.
• Educate them, make them look better.
• Give them security, raise a positive emotion.
• Satisfy appetites like food.
• Make things easier.
• Enhance their dreams and give hope.

If you can bring one of these values and be exceptional at it, you will make millions. A profitable business doesn't guarantee wealth or time detachment. Some business owners are married to their businesses.

If the business can't be automated and systemized to be operated while you're absent, and if it's attached to your time completely, then it's a job. Lastly, if you can't scale your business, you don't have a chance. The more you can scale it, the richer you get. That's why people can make so much money on the internet because a scale is indefinite compared to a physical shop.

Tiny habits create tiny wealth. Remember: sell millions, help millions, serve millions, and impact millions. If it can't impact millions, you won't make millions.

If you found this video helpful, you might be interested in my Kaizen Community. It's full of like-minded people focused on self-improvement using science-backed approaches to tackle everything from ADHD-driven procrastination to time management.

If you join, you get access to a full course on how to transform the chaos in your life into clarity, as well as my Kaizen Notion template, and most importantly, access to a community of amazing people who are working together to achieve their goals. Click the link in my bio to check it out. If you found this video helpful, I'm sure you will also like this video.