Becoming Your Own Bank, Retirement Planning & Life Insurance Strategies | Anthony Ficarra DSH #322

Led me down this path of like, I am so petrified of being middle class because I feel like middle class won't be here anymore.

It's so

like, that's been like my driving focus is like, at all costs, I want to be rich because I don't want to be poor.

Yeah.

Middle class is not an option anymore.

It's looking like it.

It's at the point now where middle class is renting houses.

They can't even afford houses.

It's that bad.

Wherever you guys are watching this show, I would truly appreciate it if you follow or subscribe.

It helps a lot with the algorithm.

It helps us get bigger and better guests, and it helps us grow the team.

Truly means a lot.

Thank you guys for supporting.

And here's the episode.

Ladies and gentlemen, all the way from Denver, we got Anthony Fakar here today.

How's it going, my man?

Good, man.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah, it's actually still cold here.

So it's not even much of a change for you.

That wasn't bad.

No.

Yeah.

Vegas is, you think of like just desert heat.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

And also people think Denver's cold all the time.

It's like the opposite.

It's like, oh, really?

Denver's nicer than people give it credit for.

And I think Vegas gets colder than people realize.

Okay.

I thought Denver was always cold for for summer no dude it's probably 60 right now it's sunny damn don't tell don't tell anybody not too many too many people are already moving there

um so what you doing out there business-wise right now well i'm a financial advisor uh life insurance especially and um disability insurance and then just kind of coaching people through things that they wouldn't um

wouldn't understand to to get into like real estate or other outside business activities besides just like stock market stuff.

Nice.

My friend just inherited a million, so I'm going to put you in touch with him.

Great.

For the financial advising what kind of advice are you giving there on the advising side man a lot of it's um

so traditional advice is like put your money in a stock market account don't touch it for 30 years and hopefully get enough when you retire right and i hate that that's boring um it's one it's boring it's not it's not financially smart either yeah but like so there's so many you know we can go down this rabbit hole of why people do that or why they're taught to do that and it's it's it's right it's all like

hidden incentives right exactly for the people who are managing your money yeah not for you they get kickbacks.

Oh, yeah.

Well, not only that, they get rich on your money while they have it, and then you get the scraps when you're 59 and a half.

Oh, they're leveraging it?

Well, think about it.

If you got to put your money in, if it's invested somewhere, someone has that money, and they're using it to do something, right?

Wow.

Think about it.

So even if you buy a stock in a company, you're giving that company money.

They're investing it into, you know, whatever.

Think of it.

You buy a Tesla stock.

You're buying that.

Tesla has that money and they're investing it in their company.

That's the whole idea, right?

So when you have money in a 401k and it sits there for 30 years, somebody has your money for 30 years and they're investing it and they're giving you that 10% return.

And that's like really

good if you get 10%, right?

Is that 10% a year, you're saying?

Well, I mean, overall, if you average out over 30 years, 10%.

Yeah, that is pretty good.

That's great.

You should be happy with that.

And it's probably unrealistic, too.

But like, instead, what if you put that money in like a tax, you know, tax-favorable account that grows guaranteed and it's not in the stock market and you can use it before you retire?

And that's what I coach people.

And the

thing about it is it's in life insurance, but people don't, when you hear life insurance, like, oh, that sounds lame, or I'm too young.

I don't need that.

Or how can that be a investment?

Or not, I shouldn't say investment because I'd probably get in trouble for that.

But it's not actually an investment, people.

But when you can let money grow, tax deferred.

and then access that money penalty free and tax free before you're 59 and a half, you can use that to go put into another investment like real estate.

Got it.

And you can leverage that.

And then all of a sudden now you've got five or six or 10 rental properties.

Well, what's that worth compared to what your 401k could be worth?

That's cool.

Right.

So when you think about it that way, it's like, oh, wow, the 401k is pretty lame, you know?

Yeah.

So what level of wealth are you recommending people look into life insurance policies?

Dude, if you're 18 and you're working at McDonald's.

Really?

That early?

Just start.

Yes, because it's harder to get.

The older you get, it's harder to get.

Okay.

Right.

So if you're, it's health.

It's age and health related.

So if you are broke, you can get a term policy for 30 bucks a month.

Right.

I think we all spend that at gas stations

on fuckery, right?

We piss that money away, like not thinking about it.

So, if you put 30 bucks a month towards life insurance when you're 18, then you start making real money when you're 25, you can just convert it.

And now you can make it whole life insurance, overfund it, and now it can be an advantageable plan.

That's cool.

Yeah, I got to look into that more.

And the tax-defer stuff, so basically, you put the money there, yep, and then that money instead of being income is tax-deferred.

yes and it's actually it's actually tax-free if you use it the right way so let's say you you put money away to a policy and it grows and then 10 years later you want to take that money out right well you don't actually take the money out you get a loan against that value right all loans are tax-free inherently right

shout out to today's sponsor factor factor's got delicious ready-to-eat meals that make eating better every single day wherever tomorrow takes you be ready with pre-prepared chef crafted and dietitian approved meals guys they got over 35 different options a week so you can definitely find something you like they got vegan they got keto they got veggie they got a lot of meat whatever you guys are in the mood for they got two minute meals fuel up fast they're restaurant quality all you got to do is heat them up you don't got to do anything else no cooking none of that they also got snacks smoothies and more and they got a wide variety of easy options for the day like breakfast midday bites and more they've done the math guys this is actually less expensive than takeout and all their meals like i said earlier are dietitian approved so they're nutritious and delicious it's the perfect solution.

If you're looking for fast meals, it's flexible for your schedule.

You could choose between six to 18 meals per week.

No prep, guys.

Definitely check it out.

Factormeals.com slash DSH50 for 50% off your order.

That's a big discount, guys.

Factormeals.com slash DSH50.

Check them out.

Take money out of your house, HELOC, right?

Any kind of borrow money, it's tax-free.

So same thing.

You borrow against the value of your policy and it's tax-free until you die.

So you can also take the money out later on, and it's called taking the policy paid up.

And sometimes there's tax implications there.

But if you never take the money out and you just borrow against it, it's always tax-free.

Wow, that's a good strategy.

It absolutely is, but people are underutilizing it, they're not aware, not aware.

And then there's another side to all this: like some people who set these policies up aren't looking out for your best interest either, right?

So, there's ways to build these policies that are really advantageous for the agent for commission and less for the person, right?

Oh, got it.

So if you don't know what you're asking for, I just need life insurance.

Cool, here you go.

All right.

Well, if you know what you're asking for and you ask for it, I've had people come to me and be like, well, my agent said that's, you can't do that.

And I'm like, I know why he's telling you that because he's not getting the commission.

Yeah.

So when you overfund a policy, and it's kind of a slang term.

There's actual technical terms.

Every company is different.

But like my company, we call them paid up additions.

When you put money towards paid up additions, there's almost no commission for it.

But the same budget out of your pocket, you wouldn't know the difference, right?

You say, I got a thousand bucks a month.

And if I put a full thousand bucks a month towards insurance, well, that commission looks really good.

If you put, and then the policy itself doesn't perform great.

It performs okay.

Long term, long-term, okay, but like we can make it better.

Yeah.

And the way we make it better is instead of putting a thousand towards insurance, let's put 500 towards insurance, another 500 just towards cash value.

Now that plan performs quicker and better, and there's no, there's no denying it.

There's nobody out there that can show me math that's that's wrong.

Yeah.

But the argument's like, oh, you know, and it's just like, it's all it's all commission-based.

That's cool.

And when now that I can see that, because I didn't come from insurance world, I came from blue collar.

So I just see it through a different lens and I can see it.

I'm like, oh, now I get why people don't trust certain people.

I can see why every industry has, you know, in it.

And I'm like, oh.

So I kind of just figured out kind of the matrix of it.

And then now I show people that.

And they're like, well, this actually makes sense now.

That's good to see.

And you actually see that with a lot of money managers too, because my mom used to use one and you could see there were some hidden agendas there.

I hate that, dude.

I hate the industry industry sometimes.

I like that I'm able to help.

I like that there's people I work with that are really helpful for me, too.

We kind of have this whole like, do the right thing, and we're, we're, like, showing people, like, it's been f ⁇ ed up for a long time.

But the fact that it has been f ⁇ ed up for so long, it drives me nuts.

And people don't even know.

They have no clue.

And then you'll get people who will like, like Dave Ramsey, right?

A lot of people are big Dave Ramsey fans.

And for certain crowds, that works.

If you're poor, listen to Dave Ramsey, right?

Get unpoor.

Get your money right.

But you're not going to to get rich listening to him.

So he'll sh down whole life because of the way it's structured 95% of the time.

He's not wrong.

But when you do it the right way,

there's nothing, you can't talk bad about it.

But he'll just prey on the fact that most people do it wrong.

Tell people that.

So when I get clients like, well, Dave Ramsey says this.

And I'm like,

here we go.

Like, now I got to explain to you why this is wrong.

And he has such a big influence.

You probably get that all the time.

And again, I'm sure he's a nice guy.

Yeah.

He also has an agenda too.

He sells certain things.

He sells clicks.

He's got his own agenda.

Good for him.

Right.

But like what he's saying is not completely accurate either.

There's a lot of stuff that he says that's completely inaccurate about life insurance.

And again, he's got his reasons, I'm sure.

And some of the stuff lies in underlying truths.

But like really, there's a lot of stuff that he's inaccurate about too.

So how can people watching this find a reliable life insurance broker?

Are you interested in coming on the Digital Social Hour podcast as a guest?

Well, click the application link below in the description of this video.

We are always looking for cool stories, cool entrepreneurs to talk to about business and life.

Click the application link below and here's the episode, guys.

Well, DM me.

That's easy.

But you can do every state or are you limited?

Yeah.

So for life insurance, you have to be licensed in the state you sell a business in.

Okay.

So I'm licensed and pretty much I got like the ones I knew I'd have clients in.

And then as I get a client in a different state, I just, I just get the license.

Got it, got it.

So you get a home license, right?

I'm in Colorado, and that reciprocates kind of to all of the states.

You have to go to that each individual state and pay their fee.

Certain states like California, obviously they want more money and another

course.

And there's like some other shit I got to get.

So that's a little bit more.

Florida's a little weird.

Texas is a little weird.

There's different, like, but I get all those.

So yeah, I'd say nationwide, if I, if I don't have the license in your state, I'll get it before the underwriting is done.

Yeah, that's cool.

So you went from blue collar worker to this.

What were you doing there?

I was building power lines.

Wow.

Yeah, as a lineman.

That is cool.

It was big.

It's scary, though, right?

You know, I never, I don't know.

I can see how it's scary, especially now.

Like, now that I've stepped away from it, I normalized a lot of weird shit.

Wow.

I normalized a lot of stuff that was like

hazardous, dangerous, not healthy, a lot of stuff.

So now it's like, oh, yeah, it was pretty dangerous.

Yeah, because you're high up.

But when you're in it, you're like, this is just Tuesday.

How do they get installed, basically?

Like, is it...

Well, there's all kinds of ways.

So there's like, there's maintenance, there's new construction, there's storm work restoration, there's, and I did all of it, right?

So there's whatever stage of line work I did, pretty much everything.

Yeah.

But yeah, it all depends.

New builds are cool because it's just new wire, dead wire.

A lot of it, though, was like pull change outs on existing live conductors.

And that was, you know, again, looking back, kind of dangerous, but it's like, I was actually really routine.

Wow.

But you get trained really well.

I was part of a union, so we had really good union training and like a good apprenticeship and people, you know, it was a lot of...

A lot of hazing, but like for good reason, right?

Because like if you can't cut it being called, pick a name, you know, but uh, if you can't cut that, you're not going to cut like when it really goes bad.

It's true.

So it's like almost like, you know, military style training.

We're like, hey, we're going to make you hard because we need you to because, you know, we could all die here if someone's not on their game.

Right.

So, and I, and I was fine.

You know, I didn't think it was that bad when I was in it.

I still don't think it was that bad.

I think it's necessary.

Yeah.

But

certainly different lifestyle.

I didn't know it was that intense.

I saw a clip on your Instagram of you hanging out of a helicopter installing one.

I was like, what the hell?

That was fun.

You know, like people think like, oh, I got so scary.

That was really fun.

And that's like when I think about everyone always asks me, oh, do you miss it?

And I'm like, I missed that.

I missed that because that was such a rush.

Like

you can't pick another job where you get to do that.

Literally, it's called Long Line.

And you would just have an LZ, they pick you up from the helicopter and they fly you to the tower because you couldn't get a truck to it.

And then you either hang off the

long line and or they land you on the tower and do the work that way.

So it was.

That's cool.

And it was the boys and the camaraderie, right?

Yeah.

I'm still very close to most of those people, but it's not the same as like day in, day out, like with your boys.

Yeah.

The camaraderie.

Like it was, it was a lot of fun.

But there's a financial cap there, so that's why you left.

Yeah, definitely.

Because it was all hourly.

Right.

So you can make overtime.

You could work hours, but I was working.

I looked at my statement every year for my retirement.

It was like 4,000 hours a year.

And I was like, in a row for like five years.

That is insane.

I just average 80 hours a week.

That's like 10 hours.

What's 12 hours a day?

It'd be 80 hours a week.

Yes.

For 70.

I mean, it was a lot.

Oh, so you're working every day?

For some jobs, yeah.

There was jobs.

The longest I ever worked in a row was 56 days in a row.

16-hour days.

Holy crap.

And I did that once, took a two-week break, went back to it again.

Exactly.

It came out weird.

It was 56 days in a row both times.

Jeez.

But big storm work, you kind of have to, right?

I mean, you don't stop working until the lights are back on.

Oh, so after like a hurricane or a big snowstorm?

That one happened to be Irma, and that was in the Virgin Islands.

Wow.

Oh, so you flew all the way there?

Yeah.

Wow.

So you were like one of the best if they're calling you to come out there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, it's one of those things where,

yeah, I mean, I like to be humble.

Like on that particular job, it was really cool because we had, we were a smaller contractor on St.

John, which is a smaller island.

And then as we're wrapping that up, another bigger contractor has St.

St.

Thomas, which is the bigger island.

And they were kind of fumbling and they're like, hey, we want two of your best crews.

to go over there, make an impact so we get that contract.

And I was one of the crews.

Nice.

That's cool.

That's cool.

And then, yeah, you go over there.

We made a huge impact.

And then that company got awarded a massive contract that I think that they just wrapped up like last year.

Damn.

It was like five years worth of work based on.

I mean, I didn't have all that input.

I'm not taking all that credit.

Yeah.

But I had a little bit of that.

You know, that was kind of cool.

Do you ever want to go in the ownership route in that industry or did you just want to leave it completely?

You know, I didn't

never really got to thinking about that.

There was one opportunity that kind of presented itself.

We entertained the idea.

But, you know, I just think that

that really wasn't for me.

Okay.

What I'm doing now, I think, is way more impactful.

Yeah, you're changing people's lives.

I mean, you were before, too, but.

Yeah, well, yeah, exactly.

Before it was like, I was very big on helping the apprentices, helping other journey.

I was very influential.

People came to me,

but my reach was only so far.

Right.

You could reach every under crew, maybe a couple of guys within your yard.

That's about it.

And then that guy would top out, become a journeyman, go across the country, and he'd go work.

And some of your teachings would make it down the road, but it was impactful.

But like now, I'm changing, like you said, lives and bloodlines and helping people.

And it's amazing.

Yeah, that's cool.

Yeah.

Some of your videos are going super viral.

That's cool.

Yeah, you're changing thousands of lives at least.

Is it true if you touch a power line with your hands, you get electrocuted?

Yes and no.

Okay.

There's definitely both.

So like if you're on the ground and you walk up on a power line that happens to be down from a storm, you touch it, you can die.

Oh, really?

You probably will die.

Yes.

Wow.

So like that's a big safety PSA.

Like you can see down power lines.

I've seen those before.

It's definitely not de-energized.

I've been tempted to as a kid.

You will die.

Imagine grabbing an electrical fence because you're on the ground now if you're up in a bucket or if you're in an isolated platform you touch it you won't feel it and you might feel a little zap but you're not you're not grounded okay so it's like a bird on a wire we use that phrase all the time in line work literally birds fly on power lines they land on them yes they become the same potential as the power line got it the difference of potential is what you so if you're on the ground on the ground or if you touch two at one time two at one time so now you've got a difference of potential between the lines that is more than the difference of potential to the ground.

It's even higher potential.

That's crazy.

So difference of potential will k.

Did you ever get electrocuted?

No, even the phrase, so like the phrase electrocuted means to die, right?

Cuted, electrocuted means to death.

Okay.

Shocked or,

you know, making contact.

I never did.

Typically, that's pretty life-changing.

We're talking about like losing limbs or

it's pretty intense.

Yeah.

So no, never, never anything that was,

you don't get too many second chances.

That's true.

We were a lot of PPE, a lot of training,

lots of precautions taking place for that.

And actually that kind of leads to one of the reasons I left and made my career change because I made a very difficult job very easy for me.

And that, that breeds complacency.

And complacency.

So I recognize that.

I'm like, man, I am f ⁇ ing around way too much.

I am.

I didn't take too many shortcuts, but I recognized this could lead to something bad.

I started looking at something else.

That's cool.

Now, on the wealth planning and retirement planning side of things, I'm curious, how much money do you think someone needs to retire these days to be safe?

Man, it all depends on what your living expenses are, your lifestyle.

For me, I don't want my lifestyle to go down when I retire.

That's why I ask people, like, do you want to eat ramen noodles and ketchup popsicles when you retire?

Or do you want to enjoy the lifestyle you enjoy now?

Right.

So it's like whatever you can, you should do.

And then some.

Most people are probably behind.

That's what I see these crazy articles where people are retiring with like very little on average.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, think about inflation, right?

Right.

Like, so like, yeah, your money is, you have a million bucks to retire.

Okay, cool.

How long is it going to last 30 years from now?

Right.

30 years ago, a million bucks is like what 2 million is now.

Right.

So like, how much, how far is it going to go?

We don't know.

You know?

No, that's true.

Cause like growing up as a kid, I'm like, yo, I want to be a millionaire.

Yeah.

And now like a million is poor.

You feel poor.

Yeah.

A million is not enough.

Well, that, and like, think about real estate.

What does that usually do?

That keeps up with inflation, right?

Well, what about if you had your retirement base in real estate?

Probably a better idea than a 401k, right?

That's why I like pushing, repositioning my life insurance money into real estate because if you put it into real estate, that's going to grow with the economy.

Yeah.

That house is going to be relatively the same cost, if not more.

We all know what real estate's done the past 10 years, right?

So, yes, it goes up and down, and people can talk about 08 crashing and whatnot, but like compared to other things, it's pretty safe.

Yeah, real estate and gold, that's both pretty safe.

Yeah, so when you leverage your 50, 100 grand from your life insurance insurance policy and put that as a down payment on a property well that's going to outpace inflation typically right and you've got some income it's paid off you can leverage it by another one and you can just keep buying versus your 401k it's that's you can't touch it yeah until you're 59 and a half and you hope it grows yeah now i know the government's released their inflation numbers the past two years but what do you think it actually is oh dude way more

i mean we're all smart we all go to the store we all buy yeah yeah it's like you can tell us what it is and we can also go to the store and tell ourselves what it is it's i think it's like 20

Yeah, exactly.

It's nuts.

I'm spending, yeah, we think 20% on like food.

Okay, yeah, it might be one of your smaller bills, but like, it's still 20%.

Yeah.

Right.

So people forget, like, oh, you know, groceries went up 50 bucks.

Well, what was that compared to 100 bucks?

Like, that's a lot, dude.

Dude, yeah.

When I go to Costco now, it's like, no joke.

It's like,

think what eggs did a couple years ago, right?

Or whatever.

It's just like,

yeah, it's silly.

It's,

it's kind of what's led me down this path of like, I am so petrified of being middle class because I feel like middle class won't be here anymore.

It's looking like it.

So like, that's been like my driving focus is like, at all costs, I want to be rich because I don't want to be poor.

And middle class is not an option anymore.

It's looking like it.

It's at the point now where middle class is renting houses.

They can't even afford houses.

It's that bad.

It's scary.

The only thing you can really do is like you can just work out and be smart with your money because like maybe you can't increase your income, but you can leverage it and you can be smarter, make better decisions.

And that's like curbing that is tenfold.

You can make so many, much, so much further moves by just correcting some decisions.

So many guys I work with will make between two and 400 grand a year and they'll spend between two and 400 grand a year.

And it's like, dude, if you just put things in different order, you can still go buy the big camper, still go buy the big truck, but like put it in something else first.

Then you can buy, you know, so education is what I do the best.

Yeah.

I've lived their lives.

I am a lineman still.

I work a lot of line, a lot of linemen, a lot of blue-collar people.

And I'm like, I can still do what you do.

Yeah.

I still relate to you.

I walk in like this most time, you know, like I, I, versus some guy in a suit.

So like I can relate to them.

Yeah.

Hey, guys, just, I've been where you're at.

I've bought the big dumb truck.

I've bought the big dumb camper.

I've done the dumb shit.

Like,

just do it this way first, and it'll be better off.

You know, so young kids are, I should say, I call them kids, but like people your age, you know, like show them, hey, man, I've been down that road before.

Like, let's, let's do a little bit different.

Yeah, they got no guidance, man.

They need someone like you that's been there, done that for sure.

Now, you got guys like Kiyosaki saying the dollar's crashing, a few other notable people in the finance space.

What's your take on the dollar and its future?

Man, I'm not,

I'm not going to say I'm an expert like those guys, but what I believe is that there's too many people that are in too much power that would suffer if that happened, right?

I think there's too many people have their money in certain places that they've kind of figured out a way to like artificially inflate this whole thing.

Yeah.

I think they kind of figured it out.

Like it's going to stay that way.

Like, I think that people recognize that, hey, we can pump this thing up and it can crash, but like we can also keep it pumped up.

And that's what's happened for the past, I don't know, five years or 10 years.

Like it's been kind of on a good run.

They've been figuring it out.

Like,

that's what I believe.

So, crashing, I don't know.

I think too many people have too many things to lose if that happens.

Yeah.

They just want to keep on riding this wave out.

And eventually, maybe there's like a mega bubble because of it because it probably can't go on forever.

But that's what I'm thinking.

I think, like, in the next,

I think the cycles will be more infrequent, but more drastic.

Yeah, I can see that.

I actually saw some crazy stats.

I think almost every currency that's ever existed has failed.

Isn't that wild?

Yeah.

Well, governments, too.

Same thing.

Yeah.

Every government's failed.

You know, here it is.

Democracy is what, 200 years old, and we're still doing all right.

But like, probably going to fail because just by looking at past, every government's failed, every currency has failed.

Yeah.

So I wonder if there is an actual system that can just not fail.

Greed.

Greed's always.

Always it up, you know.

So it's like until you can take that out of the out of the factory, I don't think it's going to be foolproof.

Yeah, and I don't think you ever can with the way we're doing it right now, at least.

I agree.

But

back to that point when things crash, like life insurance is safer than a bank.

So when things do crash and you have your money in life insurance, you can go out and go there and buy stuff on sale.

Is it insured?

Well, it's been, yeah, it's insured and it's also been around since 1847.

Wow.

And it's never not paid out.

Plenty of banks have come and gone.

The dividend has been paid every year since 1847.

With my company, yeah.

But if the company crashes, because I know banks up to 250K, right?

FDIC.

What happens if the life insurance company goes out of business?

That's a good question.

It hasn't.

And I don't know that there's a, and I'm, people smarter than me will probably answer that question better than me, but the fact that it hasn't since 1847, I think it's kind of like a testament to

we've been through the Civil War, couple world wars, couple planes flying into buildings.

Like, we've been through a lot of shit.

Yeah.

And it hasn't ever failed.

Well, I think everyone dies.

So that type of industry, it's always going to be there.

Exactly.

And I think that's exactly part of it.

Like, that doesn't, that never goes away.

Yeah.

So I think having that as like the safety or the guaranteed.

Yeah.

And that's just the dividend that's paid out.

The company's existed even longer.

That's the dividend that pays out that they have never missed, which is pretty impressive.

That is cool.

So that's paying a profit even when times have been terrible.

How did you get this confident mindset?

Was that instilled at you at a young age, or were you kind of born with it?

Dude, I don't even know.

You're right.

I don't know because it must have been something I was born with or something I just had, or I don't know.

That's cool.

It's hard to explain because I don't, sometimes I don't realize how different I am because it's like, that's just how I am.

Yeah.

Then I look at someone else who's not or who's weak or who's, who's giving up, who's quitting.

I'm like, that's weird.

Like,

that's not even in me.

I don't know.

I don't know what you're doing, but this is not, that's not even a thought to me.

Like, you know, like skipping the gym.

Like, what do you mean?

We're going.

We're going.

You know, we're not going to fail.

Like, so, yeah, I don't know if the confidence or the mindset, it's gotten improved over time.

It's always been in me, though.

That's cool.

I'd say 80% of people are pretty negative mindset.

Oh, dude.

80-20 rule.

Huge.

The mindset's so powerful, so, so key.

And that part's changed probably the past five years.

When I moved from Denver, from Chicago to Denver, my whole mindset kind of just changed and everything.

Like, I get to move to Colorado.

I don't have to get up and move.

Like, get to versus have to.

Right.

That I don't know.

I heard that somewhere.

I'm pretty good at hearing things one time.

You're like, oh, that's cool.

Yeah.

I like that.

I'm going to use that.

Implement it.

And yeah.

Like, I get to versus have to.

Yeah.

Big, big difference.

I love that.

Yeah.

Some people, they hear stuff and they don't follow it.

They don't take action.

Like, it drives me together.

Most people hear things and they're like, sing-songy little, that's cute.

That's romantic.

I like that.

But are you actually going to do it?

Yeah.

Ice bath.

That's hard.

I do it.

That's cool.

Yeah, it sucks for the two minutes you're in there and you feel better.

So it's like

try it, man.

That's an easy trade for me.

You tell me something's going to suck for two minutes, but the rest of my day is going to be better.

Okay, done.

And I think that's what separates a lot of people from the pack because we'll listen to advice from people doing better than us and take immediate action.

Yes.

Some people will just not implement anything.

You get jealous.

Yeah.

Or

what's this guy doing?

He's 26 years old.

He's the f ⁇ that guy, you know?

It's like, what's he doing?

When I see someone doing better than me, I love it, dude.

I don't get jealous.

That's one of those things that I'm one of those phrases I use or heard one time.

If the smartest guy in the room, you're in the wrong room.

And I heard that and implemented that when I was in line work, I kind of, and my lineman butter didn't give me this, but I got the smartest guy in the room.

Like, all too often.

I'm like, dude, I'm the...

Everyone's looking at me way too much.

Like, I need to boom up and get a different room, you know, and that's where I'm at now.

Now I'm the dumb guy in the room, and I love it.

Yeah.

And I don't mean that, like, for my profession, because I'm pretty intelligent for my profession, but like overall wealth and stuff and like just other stuff, I'm like, I'm in the right rooms now because I'm learning from these guys.

It's so cool.

That's cool.

So what are your current projects outside of the health insurance stuff?

Yeah, so life insurance is the one, disability insurance, but then also like I got some exotic cars.

Nice.

Renting them out.

Tarot?

Kind of.

I got a company in Denver that I use that I have them rented out long term.

Nice.

To some high-profile celebrities in the area.

Okay.

Yep.

So they've got it.

Yeah.

I don't want to use the names,

but it'll come out some other time.

Yeah.

But I actually have a meeting with them next week to do some life insurance with them.

So it's kind of networking the cars and leveraging the cars into other circles and networks.

Yeah.

And I bought the cars.

It was kind of like a,

the initial plan was like, I'm going to rent them for rental income.

And it kind of like didn't work out.

So I'm like, well, what else can I use them for?

Shoot.

People see me in my car.

They take me more serious.

See, I'm like this stupid Rolex.

Like people take me more seriously.

I never liked wearing Rolexes.

I never liked this.

But like, it makes sense.

People will talk to you.

It's a conversation starter.

These cars, you see, get me out of Lambo.

It's like, man, you're pretty young.

Because most people at Lambos are a little older, or they're younger, whatever.

But you must have something going on or you may have something that's

credible to listen to.

And it just starts a conversation.

Instant credibility, yeah.

That's why I bought a watch.

That's why I got a Tesla.

Because as sad as it may seem materialistically, it opens doors.

And right.

I hate that it works, but it works.

Exactly.

It's tough.

It's part of the business.

It's one of those things, yeah.

No, and I've seen it because I go to networking events without a watch and I go to the same one next year with a watch.

Yep.

Way more.

Because you're young looking too.

So people are already going to like kind of young, dude.

Yeah.

And I pull up in sweatpants or shorts and people don't take me serious.

Put the watch on changes everything.

Yeah.

And I've had conversations.

I've had business pay for this watch 10 times.

Yeah.

Because of the conversations I've gotten

just from the watch.

And it's, I've, I gotta, I still hate that it works, but it works.

And I've done it in the Rolex store in Vegas.

Yeah.

So I wore a hoodie.

So I covered the watch.

No one went up to me, right?

I'm in the store for 10, 20 minutes.

Yeah.

Pull up my sleeve.

Within two minutes, someone's up there.

It's like a magnet.

Yeah.

Again, I hate that it works, but man, it works.

Same with the cars, man.

So yeah, back to that, like the cars.

I got some rental properties too.

So I'm preaching what I'm doing what I preach, right?

It's rental.

It's rental properties is part of my portfolio.

And then I've the rental cars kind of, you know, renting them out was kind of a initial plan, but then the pivot into marketing them myselves.

And I've taken clients on rides before too.

I've let my clients take their kids for rides.

Yeah, it's good networking.

It's cool.

Opportunity, yeah.

And I think with the real estate stuff, people are f ⁇ ing out now, but you're just holding.

you're not even worried i'll buy more i'll buy more i was looking at a house the other day i'm buying more with the interest rates you're buying go think about if the interest rates are down for a year or i'm say up for this year next year even if they stay at eight percent let's say they stay at eight percent well what's rent due every year goes up goes up so if i'm upside down for two years what am i had for 28 years so you're just gonna factor that into the rent increase yeah it goes up you gotta think through a 30-year lens not through a five-year five-month lens and that's what people do all people look at that pack of gum versus the whole picture it's like you you got to think outside the box or think longer term.

How did you shift your mindset like that?

Because most people are thinking day by day, month by month, year by year.

You know, it helps when you make more money.

I mean, I'm not trying to be like a

about that, but like it helps when you're making more money to think longer term.

And what I, my mindset was when I was building power lines, I'm like, I don't want to do this forever.

I know I'm making good money right now and I'm too smart to work like this forever.

So I started shifting towards real estate when I was doing that.

Now that I make even more money, it's like, well, that makes sense to keep just doing a version of this

versus spending every dollar you get, man.

It's gothing long-term.

Also, to be fair, I've heard other smarter people tell the same story.

And it's like, not just me.

I'm not dreaming the up.

I've heard smart people say things.

They're like, oh, that makes sense.

This guy's, you buy and hold real estate.

Or you, you know, yeah, rent goes up every year.

Deal with it for two years.

You'll be fine.

Yeah.

Because what's the difference if you rent out, let's say you're up to down 200 bucks a month.

Right.

What's that for a year?

Okay.

Dimes that by two years.

Okay, you're you're down a few grand.

Mm-hmm.

What are you up after 30 years?

You're up a lot.

Right.

Millions versus if you're down 20, even if you're down 20 grand in two years.

Yeah.

Some people can't absorb that.

I get that.

But like generally speaking,

pick a number.

If it's five grand, you know, because a rent didn't quite cover it.

Because you're still going to get rent.

Just may not cover.

Maybe your rent doesn't cover by a couple hundred bucks a month.

Yeah.

It's not the end of the world.

Like built it into your, built it into your, your budget, your plan, you know?

Yeah.

So you are all single-family homes right now?

Yes.

Eventually have enough equity to start buying some bigger, bigger pieces and, you know, just keep, just keep growing.

Yeah.

I saw this one guy, Dan Fleischman, he was like, if you just buy a house a year, you're set for life.

And it's that simple.

So if you have a primary residence, you can move every year and turn your primary house into a rental property.

So now you've gotten 5% down and you keep moving every year, exactly like you said.

Wow.

I haven't heard that track.

And I'm on that one.

We've got three of them.

Yeah, that's cool.

So the state tax, you're able to get good rates.

Well, you think about it.

You're only putting 5% down if you have a million dollar house, right?

Yeah.

You can do a million-dollar house for 50 grand down.

Wait, how are you getting it for 5% down?

Conventional loan.

I thought it was like 20.

No.

Really?

20% down for an investment property.

Oh, got it.

5% down for your primary residence.

Oh.

So if you move every year, if you just move, now your primary residence is over here.

This one is a rental property.

So you could do it in every state.

I have three in the same neighborhood.

Wow, that is a good hack, man.

Again, I heard some smart person say that, and I implemented it.

Damn.

Yeah.

So 5%, what kind of...

But people get hung up on moving.

That's their bugaboo.

Hire movers, Five grand.

Mover.

Come move my shit.

I'm not even going to pack it.

Yeah.

That's what people get hung up on, though.

I don't want to move.

My kids like to school.

It's like, I don't know.

F ⁇ them kids.

That's a whole other.

School is a whole nother concept.

I know, right?

That's what I'm getting at, right?

Yeah.

That's what people are hung up on.

That's small picture.

That's funny.

Well, Anthony, it's been a blast, man.

Where can people find you?

Instagram is a big one.

Anthony underscore Fakara underscore.

Cool.

I'll link it in the video.

Great.

Cool.

And how can people do the wealth stuff with you?

So site?

D me up.

D me up.

DM me on Instagram.

I have a website too, there's a QR code on there.

Okay, yeah, cool.

Instagram's the easiest way.

My number's on there, too.

Perfect.

This is how you do that.

Yeah, thanks for coming on.

Thank you.

Yeah, thanks for watching, guys.

See you tomorrow.