Ep. 210 - Self-Reflection in the Financial World

Hello, this is Gabriel Shahin, Certified Financial Planner, and your host of more knowledge, more wealth, here on every weekend, talking about all important topics of personal finance. My job is to go over the knowledge you need to increase your wealth. Now, to the listener, you can always reach out to myself or anyone of my colleagues here at Falcon Wealth Planning.

Our phone number is 855 963 4222.  2526 that's 855 96 Falcon like the bird or visit our website at falconwealthplanning. com that's falconwp.  com for short where you can get this episode and any one of our previous episodes as well on Spotify and on podcasts and heck we even have a YouTube channel where you can get Video cast of this show, and also on our knowledge center where you can just get so much more important documents that we have, where we have almost a million views in just 10 months.

Now, folks, I'm the president of Falcon Wealth Planning. We are a fee only, non commissioned, true fiduciary folks, and we talk about all important topics. That anything has to do with the dollar sign. It's the things you want to talk about. That's where you are today. How retirement looks like. Talk about taxes, investments, estate planning, insurance folks.

Yet again, you name it, anything that involves money we can help you with. And we are offering a free financial assessment. That's one to two meetings, one to two hours of our time, folks at no cost to help relate this show to your specific situation. Folks, we have offices all over. We can help. Doesn't matter where you are in the country.

Whether it's in person, on Zoom, we can make it convenient for you. Our phone number is 855 963 2526,  that's 855 96 Falcon, like the bird, or visit our website, submit one of those forms, and we can help put it together. Now folks,  Lots I want to talk to you about today and really had to do with self reflection as I had a birthday recently and I'm blessed Right, I kind of self reflect every year.

I self reflect  Put goals down. Did I achieve those goals? These are personal goals I start with first then I work with professional goals and then I start with and or end with  And so for me, I'm very involved in my church. And so, uh, I always try to help as much as I can. But the point of that is this.

I've been seeing and been working a lot more with, uh, just, they say, more money, more problems. So I've been working with Start off going from million dollar clients to maybe eight figure clients to even nine figure clients. And so it's funny how  My focus has really changed with that. It's funny when you talk to them  It's almost feel it's we have an inside joke at Falcon Wealth planning, which is FWP, by the way The other FWP is first world problems and it seems like that's what we do on a daily basis first world problems I make too much money and I pay too much tax.

Help me.  I Want to make more money  Help me spend more money. I want to buy this expensive car or this business or a minority share of a sports team.  You get what I'm saying? So there's just other forms of diversification, whether it's buying additional rental properties, upgrading their houses, getting nicer cars, whatever the case is.

And I get it, but you know, I took a step back and I do this for multiple reasons because I got into this business, not just to help the rich get richer, which I get it. Okay. That's what we do. But we also have a part of Falcon Wealth planning where we help the aspiring want to become financially independent.

And so that is important. So I do also take a step back and do some of those meetings sometimes where I help, we'll call it everyday people.  And it's interesting when I hear the problems between the two, I'm just sharing this with you because your problems are probably equal.  Not greater than those with what you would consider rich or mega rich or like nine figure plus rich  So it's just funny.

There's common denominators I don't want to share that with you this episode  because being and having a financial partner having a financial relationship Which is what we do here at Falcon Wolf planning for our clients  Right. We do help achieve their financial goals, but a lot of those financial goals open up personal goals as well.

For example, what does money mean to you?  You might not know what retirement looks like, but what does money mean to you? I'll tell you what it means to me. I can spend more time with family. I can help others.  I can help my church.  I can do some foundations and maybe give scholarship funds as I was a recipient when I needed it in college.

And of course helping my family, as I said before,  so that just enhances what you're doing. For example, if you were to win a billion dollars in the lotto,  all it's going to do is enhance who you are. If you're a jerk and only like nice things, you're only going to want nicer things and be a bigger jerk.

If you're a good person deep and down inside, it's only going to make you a better person deep down and inside.  So it's interesting when I switch up my meetings and I try to do this at least once a week.  Where I can just not just help rich people get richer but help aspiring people just trying to figure it out And I will say people with money With a lot of money.

It's funny. So you're right. There is a piece that has, we'll call it less.  How do I say it? Uh, issues with money, right? They can make their bills. They can make their payments. That part is easy. They can do that. So yes, there's no issue there. Okay. So we get that. We'll acknowledge that. And that's fantastic.

But it's funny when you see somebody that's net worth is a billion dollars. It doesn't mean they have a billion dollars sitting in their brokerage account. It's funny. Somebody with like a billion dollars might only now this is going to sound silly. We might only have 20.  To 50 million liquid,  you know what I mean?

It's not like they have that much. That's still a lot of money. These people also have three to five homes  and their expenses on a monthly basis are like three to 5 million.  And again, these are rich people problems. As I said earlier in the show, first world problems, but it's just important to note that even like the mega rich, even people making half a million dollars a year are not like super well off.

They find a way to do it. And even somebody like myself that has. grew up in humble upbringings.  Little by little, year by year, my quality of life does go up a little bit every single year.  So these are crucial pieces. To understand that each situation is different, but the one thing that I didn't notice with just people, it doesn't matter who they are, doesn't matter if they have a hundred million dollars or if they have a hundred dollars is that just some people just aren't happy and I'm finding it to be, and I tried to come with a root of this and I tried to pin this down to see why that's the case and they find a reason not to be happy.

Okay. It's, and it's not always about money.  I mean, I think it's important where people reflect on their current situation. I get that, but I want to highlight where I do see the happiness coming from and where I think people have areas to improve.  Now, by the way, folks, if you're just joining me, you're listening to Gabriel Shane, certified financial planner, and your host of more knowledge, more wealth here on every weekend.

And we're talking about all important topics of personal finance. And today we're talking about just a different version of it. And that's self reflecting on yourself because I've seen people not happy and they feel unfulfilled.  On a personal and professional level, it could be maybe not finding a significant other, maybe finding a reason.

Maybe they don't have kids and they're upset. Maybe they're just have family and their kids or families not going in the direction they want them to go in.  I mean, I've seen this happen.  My point is a few things. I have seen some common denominators on this, and that is just always finding. You got to get the mind right where you're always finding happiness in your life.

You have to because the world can be miserable.  It really can. And you can see that what's going on in the Middle East right now. You can see that in multiple other things that's happening in just US politics in general.  And so one common thing that I see on happy people is ignorance is bliss.  Now I'll tell you this, I have seen, uh, let me get specific.

So what do you mean by that, Gabriel? What I mean is... Getting off social media.  I've seen a lot of clients that are not on social media much more happy than those who are. And guys, here's my personal opinion. Now I'm switching. Now before, that's what I see. That's a fact. Okay, and maybe I say that, that doesn't even shock you that if you get off social media you'll be happier.

Or stop watching Fox News and CNN, you'll be happier.  I'm talking about it from an ignorance bliss point of view, just taking a step back and just ignoring all the noise. Here's my opinion. My opinion is this. Quite frankly, I think we have it better today. People always say, I wish it was like 30, 40 years ago when kids were playing in the street and you wouldn't have to worry.

There was less murders. You didn't have to worry. But when you actually kind of look at the data on this,  I'll take it. I'll take it a step further. I bet you it's safer now. There's less crazies now. Now, I know there's arguments with homeless problems and so on, and mental illnesses. I get that. But the awareness is infinite times greater than it is now.

But you know what the one big difference is? We have a network of things going viral on social media, where you see that 1 out of 10 million situation, and you're like, Oh my gosh, that's the problem we have in this world.  I bet you there were still, God forbid what I'm about to say, but I bet you there were still beatings, and rapings,  and murders that happened.

And unjust, all of it.  Bullying, and so on. It always happened, but now that it's gone viral, you see the one out of 10 million situation.  You're trying to tell me that people are worse today than they were before. I don't agree with you at all.  Why? Because everybody knows video is watching you. Everybody.

And even if there's no cameras outside, they got phones and they're recording you. People know that. The kids that are 20 years old... And under I'll go as far as saying 25 and even 30 and under have been grown up with being watched. They've been watched on with their internet, what they're going on, on their phones and surveillance everywhere.

So this social media idea where the world sucks, I think you got to get over it. Keep the ignorance as bliss.  Quite frankly, I think you have your kids. I got kids. I let them play outside.  I do.  They are stronger and I see it in school. There are more leaders because of it now I'll let you know and how in 20 years how they turn out But my point is don't listen to the news and have it control you and the narrative where they want you to see where we're In an unsafe world why because in the 90s they allowed for rating system to happen on your local news So what did that mean?

Their goal  was to piss you off  cable now goes on The news is on ratings and that's what they get paid on. So their goal is they know people tune in when they're upset and scared. So what do they try to do? They try to get you upset and get you scared.  Folks, we're going to go on a quick break and when we come back, we're going to talk more about this of what makes you happy in retirement because that is a true Testament on in your situation.

What will make you have a successful retirement and life longterm? Why do you retire? Because you want a good life. You know why some people don't retire because they're happy working. It's a good life for them. I see professors and doctors like that often, where they just keep working because they love their job.

If I won the lottery today, got a million dollars, or billion dollars, I wouldn't retire.  I already lost the tie, I might lose the suit jacket. You get what I'm saying? Might have shorter hours.  But I wouldn't leave my job. It's a blessing, I know. Folks, we're going to go on a quick break. After a few words,

  📍  📍 welcome back folks. This is Gabriel Sheen, certified financial planner and your host, more knowledge, more wealth here on every weekend talking about all important topics of personal finance. And today I wanted to discuss. Just a simple idea of just happiness. And what I see with working with people that have eight and nine figure plus net worths compared to somebody with even 1, 000  of a net worth.

So the idea is simple.  And that is a lot of people, no matter what it is, they'll feel no matter how much they have,  even if they could retire today, they feel unfulfilled.  And I just look in a situation. You could find a way for you not to be happy  versus taking a step back. Let's just say you're, uh, single and don't have kids and you're sad that you're not married and don't have kids.

Okay? Well, you could reflect that you have your health,  you'd rather be married with kids and knowing that you're going to, God forbid, pass away and you're going to have to worry about how they're going to live life, your spouse and potentially children.  Be positive on how it works. Heck, I can make it even funnier than that.

Right? That was a bit sad. Let's make it funny. You ever watch Married with Children? Al Bundy. I sometimes joke with my friends, how is everything going? You know, I'm married with children, just call me Al Bundy.  You know, what do you want me to say? Right? So, I'm blessed, but I'm making a joke. The idea is... Is some people their lives are like married with children where Peggy Bundy is just giving out a hard time and they're not happy to be married,  right?

So you could be positive. That's all I'm saying here. Is that just take a look at your situation and feel blessed. You have your health. So you don't have health. We can look at the positivity that you may have around you like your family, like your job, like your current situation.  Sometimes health scares talking to clients are some of the best things that ever happened to them.

Whether it's cancer that they later overcome, they look at the world differently.  They appreciate the world.  You know, sometimes you go into work every day, you don't even notice the dead plants next to you.  Versus, if you have a new perspective on life, you'll walk behind and say, Wow, look at those beautiful plants, or if they're dead, let's replace them and get them better.

I'm just telling you what I see.  All right, I've been in the finance world since 2003, over 20 years. This next April will be 21 years.  I've helped and worked with thousands, tens of thousands of people,  probably interacted with over hundreds of thousands of people in my career.  And now this part of my career, I'm working with those that have and do not have.

And the common theme is Find what you're working towards. Don't let ambition turn to greed.  Don't put unnecessary risk in your situation. When  you can maintain and even enhance your situation, that's where you need to reevaluate. Is it making you happy?  If you're wondering what else can you do, take a little sabbatical if you can, especially if you can afford it.

By doing so, it's not that bad. You are able to see what retirement looks like. If you ever question how retirement will look like, write down the top 50 things you would do if you were to retire.  People you would see, books you would read, movies you would watch. Going to the gym, activities, going to museums, taking road trips, locations, travels.

It's crucial.  I said earlier in that, uh, earlier segment of getting off social media and even ignoring the news and noise that's on there.  This is key to staying happy.  Because you can't solve the world even if America is fantastic and knows problem with Asia and no problems in the Middle East You're gonna find probably, you know, they're gonna start focusing on kids in Africa, which is sad.

It's a very poverty country Continent.  So the idea is there's always something  human nature allows us to nourish and help That's truly what we want to do,  but you can't save the world.  I know what you're saying Well with that mentality know what to be help. I'm just saying don't let it affect your happiness  Life is balance, which means you can't just focus on helping everybody, you got to take care of yourself.

A little spoil isn't bad here and there. You should be putting that in your budget and in your situation.  Folks, if what I'm saying sounds like it could relate to you, taking a look at your situation, seeing if you can find balance in your life, give us a call. This is what we can help with. We've helped people like you.

We've helped even negotiate with certain employers on working part time, working less hours, having more time off. You don't know this. Depending on your industry, your employer and so on, but we do,  we do this on a daily basis. Personal finance is more personal than finance. We would love to help and we have offices all over.

Folks, give us a call. Our phone number is 855 963 2526.  That's 855 96 Falcon. Like the bird.  We can help put this together to answer those questions. You may have.  Now, I'm going to take it a step further.  Other things that we've seen  that has helped increase happiness for current people today and retirees is the following.

It's Simplifying their life. I've seen a lot of people that just aspired for some reason. They've just had it in their head I want 10 rental properties. That's just and this is an example, by the way. I want 10 rentals It's like, okay. Um, and I want no debt on all of them. Okay. Well, now you got to pay property tax twice a year on those 10 properties.

That's 20 times. You have to pay property tax plus 20 insurance policies that you're going to have to do. Plus, you know, there's always something broken in one of the houses. Plus, there's probably a vacancy in those at least once a year, if not more on these other houses. It's like, okay.  Be careful what you wish for and then what then you're going to hire a property manager company.

That's 10 percent which is what that's almost like giving them one rental property income.  Get what I'm saying? So you're only keeping nine and you're giving away one.  I've just seen that people want to simplify their life.  Less toys.  Right? Cars and boats, less homes, less real estate, less investments all over the place.

These weird assets that they have that are holding one account here, one account here, one account here.  There's a reason people consolidate. It's not diversified if you are just putting this much money at Schwab, this one at Fidelity, this one at Vanguard, JP Morgan.  That's not diversified because the protection is in your portfolio.

Right? If Wells Fargo or JP Morgan or Fidelity goes out of business, the assets are still intact.  Right? They're registered.  The idea is consolidating can be huge, simplifying your complex situation. Heck, I know somebody  that has and did a, and God bless this person, I kind of said it casually as a joke. I said, you want even more money?

I would do a cash out refinance and invest. I think I said that to him in 2018.  Now he ended up doing a couple of refinances after, but he has a bunch  of two and a half percent mortgages. A  bunch of them.  Why? Because he refinanced cash out, starting investing them. Now I said it as a joke, but I said, there's two reasons this could make sense.

You're pulling money out of your rentals tax free.  You're getting a write off for it. And don't you think you can earn more than two and a half percent, which, oh, by the way, you're getting a tax write off for, but over two and a half percent over the next 30 years.  Him and I laugh now. Like, like I was joking and he was well off.

He didn't need to do any of that. But now he's more well off.  And why did he do it? Because here's where the simplicity comes in. You're like, Gabriel, you said simplicity. Now you just added ten mortgages to this individual in this example. Now using the ten property example.  Yeah, but you know why he wanted to do that and why he liked the idea?

Solely for the reason of now he has his property tax and insurance on auto pay. Can you believe that? It's so interesting. He did it literally just for that  kind of crazy to think,  by the way, folks, if you're just joining me, it's Gabriel Shane certified financial planner and your host of more knowledge, more wealthier on every weekend talking about all important topics of personal finance.

And I'm just sharing with you just what I see from my clients.  Their job is to simplify life. And this person every year would have at least.  One property,

who'd have at least one property  that he would be laid on for paying the property tax on. Cause he also has business that there's like, depending on the state you're in, they'll charge property taxes on the assets inside your business, like your desks and computers and so on. It's kind of crazy, but depending on the state, that's not so uncommon.

For example, California shocked, right? They do that, but other states do as well.  So the idea is instead of feeling unfulfilled, take a look at what you've accomplished. Take a step back and just  look at that. You have a roof over your head. Look at the house that you're staying at, whether you own it, rent it, it doesn't matter.

I don't care.  Just take a look at  it, take a look at the car, even if you have a car,  right? And even if you don't, be blessed that you don't have to and you have public transportation where there's other places around the world they have to work or walk to work.  Take a look at the job that you have or the assets that you have and where you are today.

America and humans in general are survivors.  We'll always figure it out. Always. I'm just saying take a look at your situation.  Uh, thoughtful. And I know every family has family issues. Try not to let that get down. Think of the positive. Think of the other kids. Think of your parents. Think of some positive experience that you had around you.

Don't fixate on one child. Be blessed that you're in a situation where it's not a first world problem what you have with a child, but not every child listens. Maybe they marry who they don't want you to marry. Maybe they have a child out of wedlock and that might not be, uh, to your customs.  All I'm saying is that there's positivity in this world.

Open your eyes and look at it.  Don't be miserable.  I've seen people do this. They call them funks, by the way. I'm being extreme and call them miserable.  It's just something about their environment. Heck, I had somebody, and I, I had somebody in a client of mine, he's like, Yeah, I keep losing. I'm like, Yeah, because you're just so angry.

He was going to a local casino. He doesn't play with a lot. He just keeps him busy. He's retired. And he was playing at a local casino and kept losing. Go, well, look at your demeanor. I've known this person a long time except you're like so like Eeyore and Winnie the Pooh. You're like depressing. I'm depressed talking to you.

Be positive. Go in there confident. You're gonna win. And you know, it's not about the money. Pays a hundred bucks twice a week. He can afford that.  It's right by his house. But you get what I'm saying? Be positive.  But positive energy is real.  The funny thing is, he started doing it and he started winning. I'm not trying to say I'm giving gambling advice.

But you get what I'm saying? It's just everything in life. You want to be positive.  People around you will feel better. They'll want to be with you more. You'll have more opportunities. Issues you have when you want to return something, they may return it. Even outside of the period. Just because you're more positive and in a good environment.

Good experience.  I think you just have to take a look at when I look at the differences between those of the haves and have nots,  or let's just say people with a hundred thousand net worth versus somebody with a hundred million net worth.  I'll tell you this. When you start getting into that mega wealthy, the reason they have that mega wealth is because of their attitude.

They get it. Most of the time, you know why they're happy because they found that balance. That's how they achieved ultra success.  It's not because they bought the Jeff Bezos 1 billion boat.  And that's another thing.  You know,  I've seen this, I've seen this people with  cars that are worth in the millions of dollars.

Do you really think buying a Ferrari is going to make you that much happier? Like, I want to buy it. You're so excited. You have it. And then what? A week later, then what? And if you know somebody  that's extremely well off,  we're talking eight figure to nine figure plus net worth,  you'll know what I'm talking about.

After that first week, it's like, eh,  that car materialistic things do not make them happy. You know why they say money can't buy happiness? I know what you're thinking. Give me a Lamborghini. I'm going to be excited. I don't blame you. Of course you're going to be excited. All I'm saying is that's not what happiness is about.

It's about the mind. Getting the mind right.  And we say mind over matter. In a situation like this, I see it time and time again.  Be positive. You will have a happy retirement and more importantly with positivity, you will achieve your financial goals. And if you need help with that, give us a call. That's what we do.

We help get your mind right. We are financial partners, financial coaches in a financial relationship. Our phone number is 855 963 2526. That's 855 96 Falcon. Like the bird or visit our website at FalconWealthPlanning. com. That's FalconWP.  com. For sure.  Folks, that was a fast fast show. I thought I would switch it up a little bit and just talk more about the mental side, emotional side  of money today.

I want to thank you for tuning in with us this weekend. We want you to reach out to myself or any one of our colleagues here at Falcon Wealth Planning. If you have any questions, our phone number is 855 963 2526. That's 855 96 Falcon. Like the bird or visit our website at falconwealthplanning.  com. That's falconwp.

com for short. You get this episode and one of our previous episodes as well. And visit our YouTube channel, more knowledge, more wealth, uh, which is, uh, under Falcon Wealth Planning as well, where you're able to get also additional items on our research center that can help our knowledge center folks. I want to thank you for tuning in with us.

I want you to have a fantastic weekend. Have a great week and God bless.