Brian has a question. He says, "When Brian says take your foot off the accelerator in your 40s after saving in your 20s and 30s, is that altering the
Financial Order of Operations? Could that mean the savings percentage drops below 25 in your 40s?"
Oh, that's a great question. He's trying to catch. Interesting, I know he is trying to catch you. I think I know what you're going to say, but I'm interested. Okay, full confession. I told my wife in my 20s that we could take our foot off the accelerator. That's all true because I eat my own cooking. I try to be as transparent. But here's the reality, and this sounds like such wealthy people problems, is that the business had grown. It seems like the more I give you guys, the more you guys give back, and it's kind of the most blessed thing in the world. It really is. So the truth is, Bizarro O'Brien, I didn't have to take my foot off the accelerator because income went to the point that I could still live my best life, and then there was money. But here's the good news: I could, if you go check out our
"Know Your Number" course. You don't have to save, and now I'm in this point of abundance with life that I'm trying to... I'm doing stuff because it's just fun, and I want to see if it works. I mean, that's what... We look at all the things we're doing with the content, the... You know, buying the equipment, we didn't have to buy all new equipment when we moved to the new location, but we did because I wanted to see, "Hey, would this work?" Let's redoing the website, all this. I'm now in this level of abundance where... that I can do stuff for the purpose of it, the fun of it. What's crazy is, I think it will probably generate more income. It's this weird thing. But that gets me excited too, because I love how fast we grow. I mean, we're now... I think in the next two months, we'll be at 30 employees. You know, and it was just... seems like a few short years ago, we were like five or six employees. So, I mean, nothing gets me more excited if we added up how many babies are gonna be born within our employees this year. And then you think about... you know, cars and houses being bought. I mean, I get so excited thinking about those types of things and the opportunity.
So, I don't know if that helps Bizarro Brian, because I... but yes, you could take your foot off the accelerator once you do something like
"Know Your Number" where you're measured twice, where you actually know what you're saving for, what the why is. I put that out there just like a personal trainer would, thinking that if I make you the best version of yourself, there's a chance, because there is this achiever's dilemma that you get into, especially in your 40s. The dilemma is that you're going to be making some of the best money of your life, and you have to figure out what's enough and when to get off the train or how to do life. But here's the weird pickle I'm in. Everybody I know who is part of the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement retires early, but what do they do after they retire? They all become content creators. Have you noticed that? It seems like they didn't really retire; they just become constant creators. Yeah, so I'm already doing that. I kind of was partying before everybody else realized where the party was because I started doing this in 2006. So I'm blessed in the fact that I get to take all the fruits of what I created to do what others are going to do. It's like that scene from Yellowstone, where - and I don't know the character names, so I always like Kevin Costner's character - he tells his attorney son, who turns out to be the villain (not trying to do spoiler alerts), but at the time, I think this was an early season, he's like, "Son, you get rich to own this. So never sell this because this is what you get rich to own." And it's one of those things where I feel blessed that I get to do this and all the things that are impacting your lives, making you guys better. I didn't have to actually take my foot off the accelerator because you guys keep rewarding what we're doing. Isn't that the point though? When we talk about the five levels of wealth, when we talk about financial security and financial independence, it's that you get to do what you want to do. Yeah, and your money is working hard enough that you can. So I think it's a lot. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's a lot less about, "Oh well, I'm 40 now. I can take my foot off the gas."
It's more about, "Well, what's your goal? What's your money doing? How much do you have saved?" I think it's more about that. And like you said, if you're laying things, putting things in place, the 40s could be a really abundant year for you income-wise. So you might find yourself in that situation which you're speaking to, and then you're faced with the fun questions of like, "How much is enough? What do I want to do? I have some flexibility. What am I going to do with this income?" I think that's pretty cool. Well, it's much better because it's one of those things. You can take your foot off the accelerator, but will you do it? But I gotta tell you, that's such a better, healthier place to be than having to do something because you have to pay the bills. And that's the thing. That's why my guidance doesn't change, even living through this, because I want you to be able to choose your best life. And if you want to do that, the only way is to make those sacrifices in your 20s and 30s, bedazzle your basic life, still go out there and create memories. I'm not saying be Ebenezer Scrooge, but just save every dollar like it has a purpose so that you can actually have those choices, have that freedom to do what you want to do on your own terms.
