0:06

What's that? bases? Welcome back to Network

0:08

and chill with me Your house Vivian

0:11

to And this is the very last

0:13

episode of Twenty Twenty Three and I

0:15

am so grateful that you've stuck by

0:17

me and this podcast over the past

0:20

year. and if you follow me on

0:22

social media or anywhere else, it's abundantly

0:24

clear I can't stop talking about one

0:27

thing and that is abele launch of

0:29

my book. It came out yesterday. it's

0:31

called Rich A F the Winning Money

0:34

mindset that will change your life and

0:36

honestly, This has been the craziest,

0:38

biggest labor of love I've ever put

0:40

myself into, and I am so excited

0:42

for everyone out there to read it,

0:44

to listen to it, just to get

0:46

their hands on it, and to really

0:49

start learning more about their financial journey.

0:51

The ultimate goal of the book is

0:53

that you'd be able to pick it

0:55

up and read it from page one

0:57

to three hundred and something and feel

0:59

more confident, more capable, and just more

1:01

ready to take on your own financial

1:03

journey. So I thought, what better way

1:06

to kick off. The. Very last episode and

1:08

wrap up the year than to actually read

1:10

to you a couple pages from the very

1:12

first chapter just to give you a little

1:14

taste. Yeah, this is similar to what the

1:17

audio book would sound like. In case you

1:19

haven't ordered a copy of the book yet,

1:21

you can go to Rich A F.me yes,

1:23

the U R L is a manifestation and

1:25

get a copy of the hardcover book. You

1:28

can get an Ebola keeping it a signed

1:30

copy. Eating at the audio book, you can

1:32

get the international version. You can get literally

1:34

any sort of copy of this book that.

1:36

you want i would greatly appreciate your support

1:39

and you can also review it anywhere and

1:41

give your honest opinion about what you think

1:43

that be so so helpful for me but

1:46

let me get into it i'm just gonna

1:48

read the first ten pages and hopefully you

1:50

enjoy it okay here we go chapter one

1:52

education for this era why this book is

1:55

for you a while back i was spending

1:57

a long weekend in the hamptons with some

1:59

friends A cute little couples

2:01

getaway. One of those day drinking,

2:03

sunbathing, very chill kind of mini

2:06

vacations. One afternoon, before heading to

2:08

the beach, we swung by the local CVS

2:10

to pick up some snacks, and on the

2:12

way out my girlfriend stopped dead in her

2:14

tracks. Oh my god, she

2:17

said. I have to have that. It

2:19

was a Monopoly game. Not just any

2:21

Monopoly game, but a Hampton-themed Monopoly game.

2:24

I'm not gonna lie. I

2:26

definitely rolled my eyes as I took

2:28

our M&Ms and gummy bears to the

2:30

self-checkout. But Lauren was so excited, and

2:33

inevitably her enthusiasm rubbed off on me.

2:35

If my bestie was so excited about

2:37

this novelty tourist trap of a board

2:39

game, then who was I to rain

2:42

on her parade? By the time

2:44

we got back to the car, Lauren had sold

2:46

me on game night and we were fully stoked.

2:48

We were ready to play this game. We

2:50

slid back into our seats, handing out

2:52

the goods, and when Adam, Lauren's boyfriend,

2:54

asked what we were so amped about,

2:56

I told him. Oh, Lauren just bought

2:58

this cheesy Hamptons Monopoly game for us

3:00

to play tonight. No response. It

3:03

was like the summer air had gone chilly all of a

3:05

sudden. And then, from the

3:07

front seat, Adam turned around, not

3:09

smiling, super intense. And he

3:11

said, you guys do not want

3:14

to play Monopoly with me. Naturally,

3:16

we were like, uh, why

3:18

not? Another pause. Because,

3:21

he said, there's a secret. Most people

3:23

have never actually read the full instruction

3:25

brochure for Monopoly, but I have. And

3:27

when I play the way I know

3:29

how to play, there's no way I

3:32

lose. So, what's the big

3:34

secret? I asked. But he just shook his

3:36

head. Wouldn't tell us. Lauren and

3:38

I brushed off the conversation and headed out to

3:40

the beach. Before

3:42

we get into the next segment, I want to take

3:44

a quick second to ask you a question. Have you

3:46

ever been on the hunt for a new doctor and

3:48

you ask literally everyone you know for their recommendation? You

3:51

know, a doctor who actually gets you,

3:53

listens to you, makes you feel super

3:55

comfortable. And after weeks of searching, you

3:57

finally find the one. They're perfect. They're

3:59

close by. they've got availability. So you

4:01

call their office, they make an appointment for you,

4:03

perfect. But then the

4:05

receptionist tells you that your perfect doctor doesn't

4:07

take your insurance. Yeah, I've been there. But

4:09

you can wipe your tears because you can

4:12

head over to ZocDoc to find and book

4:14

the doctor who's right for you and

4:16

takes your insurance, who actually have amazing

4:19

reviews, many with appointments available within 24

4:21

hours. ZocDoc is a

4:23

free app where you can find amazing

4:25

doctors and book appointments online. We're talking

4:28

about booking appointments with thousands of top

4:30

rated patient reviewed doctors and specialists. You

4:32

can filter specifically for ones who take

4:34

your insurance, are located near you and

4:36

treat almost any condition you're searching for.

4:39

No, seriously. I actually personally

4:41

use ZocDoc and that's how I

4:43

found my dentist, my physician, my

4:45

OBGYN, my dermatologist, the list goes

4:47

on. I actually use ZocDoc all

4:49

the time. I love using this

4:52

platform and you should try it

4:54

out too. Go to zocdoc.com/richbff and

4:56

download the ZocDoc app for free.

4:59

Then find and book a top rated doctor

5:02

today. That's

5:05

z-o-c-d-o-c.com/richbff. zocdoc.com/richbff.

5:10

Later that night, we broke out Hampton's

5:12

Monopoly. It was corny with little lighthouses

5:14

and windmills all over but the wine

5:16

was flowing and we were fully invested.

5:19

After we each picked our little pieces

5:21

and divvied up our fake money, we

5:23

rolled the dice. Adam proceeded to dominate.

5:26

Personally, I think I'm okay

5:28

at Monopoly, like above average

5:30

to actually decent but I

5:32

never stood a chance. This

5:34

was a bloodbath. Tensions

5:36

ran really high, really fast. Voices

5:38

were raised, words were exchanged, arguments

5:40

broke out over the exorbitant rent

5:43

for a hotel on Shelter Island,

5:45

the Hamptons version of the boardwalk.

5:47

Now, if you've ever played Monopoly

5:49

with a competitive friend group, none

5:52

of this comes as a surprise.

5:54

It is probably the quickest and

5:56

most devastating way to push friendships

5:58

and any relationship. really, to the

6:00

brink. But this particular session was different,

6:03

and not just because we were playing

6:05

Hamptons monopoly instead of the regular version.

6:07

It was because of Adam's secret strategy.

6:09

The secret was basically a weird loophole

6:11

in the rules that allows you to

6:13

use money you don't have to buy

6:15

property. It turns out that if you

6:17

do read the rule book the whole

6:19

way through and understand how the lending

6:21

system works, the rules actually allow you

6:23

to get leverage with the monopoly bank.

6:26

Pretty much the same way you get

6:28

rich in real life, to be honest.

6:30

Which makes piling up those pink and orange bills

6:32

go so much faster.

6:35

Lauren and I did not know that,

6:37

of course. We laughed about this big

6:39

secret earlier, but now that we'd been

6:41

absolutely beaten down, we were not about

6:43

it. That's not fair, we said. You

6:45

didn't tell us we could do that.

6:47

Adam shrugged. You guys had the same

6:49

rule book as I did. You just

6:51

chose not to read it. Aside from

6:53

guilt over almost starting World War III

6:55

on our fun little couples trip, pour

6:57

one out for our other friends who were

7:00

innocent bystanders in this mess over tiny fake

7:02

money, what I take away from this story

7:04

is that the way Adam was able to

7:06

win, and the rest of us didn't, is

7:08

basically the same way our financial system works

7:11

in real life. And

7:14

before we dive into our last segment

7:16

of the show, I have to take

7:18

a quick poop break. Yep, you heard

7:20

me right. Poop break. If you're a

7:22

long time listener, you might know I've

7:24

been drinking AG1 for the past year,

7:27

and when I started drinking AG1 daily,

7:29

I could tell that my gut health

7:31

was so much better. That's because AG1

7:33

is a foundational nutrition supplement that supports

7:35

your body's universal needs, like gut optimization,

7:37

stress management, and immune support. Since 2010,

7:39

AG1 has led the

7:42

future of foundational nutrition, continuously refining

7:44

their formula to create a smarter, better

7:46

way to elevate your baseline health. I

7:48

recommend AG1 to all my family and

7:51

friends because it's formulated based on the

7:53

latest science and maintains high quality standards.

7:55

Not to mention, because it does help

7:57

with my digestion, it really helps to

7:59

decrease This

10:00

isn't Downton Abbey times anymore when nothing

10:02

was publicly accessible and only people rich

10:05

enough to afford daily telegram delivery knew

10:07

what was up. You can pull up

10:09

any number of books, articles, websites, wikis,

10:11

whatever, right at your fingertips, all for

10:14

the low, low cost of $0, and

10:17

learn everything there is to know

10:19

about getting rich for real. In

10:21

theory, anyway. Because no one

10:23

really does that, right? No one reads

10:25

the rulebook all the way through. Not

10:28

when playing Monopoly and not when managing

10:30

our actual authentic cold, hard US dollars.

10:32

I'm willing to bet you probably learned

10:34

to play Monopoly the same way I

10:36

learned to play Monopoly. You sat down

10:38

for your first game with someone else

10:40

who had already played and they talked

10:42

you through it. It's quicker, it's less

10:44

boring than squinting at all that tiny

10:46

type, and it just gets you in

10:48

the games faster and makes it more

10:51

fun. But then there are some people,

10:53

like Adam. He'd read the rulebook all

10:55

the way through. He found the loopholes

10:57

and technicalities that could make him a

10:59

winner without cheating and without a ton

11:01

of effort. Was there anything stopping me and

11:03

Lauren from reading the entire little pamphlet front

11:05

to back to? Nope. But did we? Also

11:07

no. We all had the same information available

11:09

to us, but only one person really dug

11:12

in and learned how to take advantage of

11:14

it. The reality is, just because we can

11:16

all read up on the rules doesn't mean

11:18

that we all have the same access to

11:20

good strategy. Some people go through life leveraging

11:22

the bank and some of us play Monopoly

11:25

the traditional way, but we learn from our

11:27

dad or our aunt or our big brother

11:29

or our babysitter. In other words,

11:31

just having access to the rules alone is

11:33

not enough. If you'd never played Monopoly before,

11:35

you'd probably be confused just opening up the

11:38

box. There's a Simble and a Scotty dog

11:40

in here. Why are all of these streets

11:42

named after states? What is this game even

11:44

about? You'd have to spend at least 15

11:47

minutes reading the pamphlet and you'd probably forget

11:49

half of what you read once you start

11:52

playing and have to go back and check

11:54

all the time. The game would generally be

11:56

slow, annoying, and not that fun, let alone

11:58

easy to win. Whereas, if you

12:01

play with someone who's played before, who

12:03

has a strategy, they can teach you

12:05

not only the rules, but which rules

12:08

matter and how to use them to

12:10

your advantage. They can walk you through

12:12

buying the deeds and how you have

12:14

to build four houses before you can

12:17

build a hotel, but also advise you

12:19

on which color properties to snap up

12:21

first, when to offer other players a

12:23

trade, and whether or not it's actually

12:25

worth buying utilities and railroads. Finance theory

12:28

is most useful when it's actually articulated

12:30

as actionable advice. Instead of reading

12:32

about things that could happen to

12:34

you at some point, you're getting

12:36

step-by-step info and instructions for what

12:38

to do right now, given your

12:40

circumstances. You have insights into which

12:42

information is crucial, and which you

12:45

can kind of just disregard. That's

12:47

the difference between knowing the rules

12:49

and having a strategy. And financial

12:51

strategy is what we actually need

12:53

to be teaching, because guess who

12:55

learns financial strategy early on? Rich

12:57

people. And the rest of us,

12:59

well, we don't learn about this

13:01

stuff in school. When was the last time

13:03

you busted out the Pythagorean Theorem, or wrote

13:05

a five-paragraph essay, or played dodgeball? It's probably

13:08

been a looooong time. And you're probably not

13:10

gonna do any of those things more than

13:12

a handful of times for the rest of

13:14

your life. But when was the last time

13:17

you bought something? When was the last time

13:19

you paid rent, or budgeted for groceries, or

13:21

looked at your student loan balance and thought,

13:23

what the fuck do all these words mean,

13:26

and why are there still so many zeros?

13:28

We are not taught how to balance a

13:30

checkbook, or even what balance a

13:32

checkbook means. We are not taught

13:34

how to file our taxes. We are

13:37

not taught how to budget, how to

13:39

save, how to invest wisely, or

13:41

even what most of these words and

13:44

terms mean. Personal finance

13:46

for far too long has been this big gate-kept

13:48

secret. If you know, you know. And if you

13:50

don't, you never will. Every single

13:52

person reading this book can likely tell

13:54

me that the mitochondria is the powerhouse

13:56

of the cell, but very few of you

13:59

can confidently define what the stock market

14:01

is or does. And in my mind,

14:03

that's a failure of our educational system.

14:05

Good news, it's never too late to

14:08

learn. First off, it really isn't too

14:10

late to learn. The best day to

14:12

get financially literate was yesterday, but the

14:14

second best day is today. Hopefully

14:17

you get that by now, since you're already

14:19

here and into chapter one. Stick with me,

14:21

besties. You still have plenty of time to

14:23

harness the power of time to make you

14:26

money, we'll get to that, even if you're

14:28

in debt and worth negative half a million

14:30

bucks. Even if you're constantly getting slapped with

14:32

overdraft fees, even if you grew up broke

14:34

and bullied and ashamed and deep down still

14:37

feel like that dorky kid in secondhand clothes.

14:39

Better news, it's not your fault. Second off,

14:41

there's a very real reason you don't know

14:43

this stuff. And it's basically beyond your control.

14:46

You were not taught this in school.

14:48

I'm gonna say that until it sinks

14:50

in. But why not exactly? If this

14:52

information is so important to succeeding in

14:54

life and eventually getting rich AF and

14:57

the information is very much out there

14:59

and not some big gold plated secret,

15:01

then why doesn't our education system make

15:03

it a priority? Because a lack of

15:06

basic financial literacy keeps our working class

15:08

working. Look, I'm not trying to sound

15:10

like a conspiracy theorist, but I do

15:12

think a big part of why some

15:15

of these basics of good financial strategy

15:17

haven't trickled down, lol, to

15:19

the middle class and beyond is because

15:21

rich people want the rest of us

15:23

to stay working. There is always a

15:25

need for people to do the dirty

15:28

jobs, to pump gas and drive

15:30

trucks and earn subminimum wages, bartending and

15:32

waitressing. Most people aren't stupid. If they

15:34

know how to make more money to

15:36

establish a nest egg and a financial

15:38

cushion, they will. And do you think

15:40

they'll want to keep their shitty $7.25

15:44

an hour job once they're no longer living hand

15:46

to mouth? You think they'll sign up to work

15:48

the third shift and never see their kids for

15:50

the 18 years it takes for

15:52

them to grow up? Of course not. People

15:54

always want the best life their money can

15:56

buy. Back in the day, people actually

15:59

aspire to- The blue collar professional

16:01

because once upon a time,

16:03

a steady middle class paycheck

16:05

was enough to build wealth

16:07

overtime. That's no longer the

16:09

case. And will get to why

16:11

later on in this chapter. For now,

16:14

the point is just that our current

16:16

system depends on blue collar workers not

16:18

having that upward mobility, not having the

16:20

luxury to leave sucky jobs to keep

16:22

a consistent labor force hungry for whatever

16:24

work they can get, you can look

16:27

no further than the cool. The Nineteen

16:29

Pandemic for proof. While white collar corporate

16:31

desk employees were sent to work from

16:33

home, essential workers in construction, food, service,

16:35

and sanitation were still forced to show

16:38

up day in and day out by

16:40

making. Financial Literacy feel inaccessible and confusing.

16:42

We've been able to keep are

16:44

working class, working and carrying all

16:46

of us on their backs but

16:48

less take off the tinfoil hats

16:50

and get to the third and

16:52

final most important point here. which

16:54

is best news. You're not a

16:56

bad person if you don't know

16:58

this stuff. I mean it's not

17:00

knowing the rules. Not having a

17:02

strategy does not make you a

17:04

bad person, which like okay sounds

17:06

fine on the face of it.

17:08

We love ourselves, We respect. Our worthiness?

17:11

All that good stuff. But at the

17:13

same time, How many times have you

17:15

thought something like this? I'm sold out

17:17

of money. I'm just irresponsible. I don't

17:19

have the kind of discipline to see.

17:22

I'm a chronic over spender. I a

17:24

shop holiday, I have a serious Amazon

17:26

Prime problem. I'm just resigned to being

17:28

in debt until I die l a

17:31

well as Ml. You see what all

17:33

these thoughts have in common. They're making

17:35

you the problem. not even your choices

17:37

or. Your mistakes, You, your.

17:40

Character yourself and I'm sorry,

17:42

but that's fucked up. For.

17:45

One thing we've already established that you didn't

17:47

learn the shit and school, so you're probably

17:49

unfamiliar with the rule. If. You weren't

17:51

lucky enough to get financial strategy advice

17:53

from your rich parents and uncles and

17:55

grandparents. You don't know how to do

17:57

stuff even if you vaguely no use.

18:00

Save or should budget for another.

18:02

The media and our culture in

18:04

general love to lean into this

18:06

character assassination kind of money narrative.

18:08

I strongly suspect that before you

18:10

had any of those negative thoughts

18:12

for yourself you heard and somewhere

18:15

else on a tv show in

18:17

a movie. Online. Unfortunately,

18:19

this blame game is particularly bad

18:21

when it comes to anyone who

18:23

isn't says straight white dude. Everything

18:26

from dumb women be shop in

18:28

meme to sit com level jokes

18:30

about those gay guys in their

18:32

wacky extravagances, the harmful and fall

18:35

stereotypes about welfare queens and job

18:37

stealing immigrants hammers home the same

18:39

message you and people like you.

18:42

Are. Inherently unable to handle money well, your

18:44

personal shortcomings or why you're broke and there's

18:46

nothing you can do to fix it is

18:48

an essential part of who you are. So

18:51

go cry about it. Pours, No, not today

18:53

you're here and you're going to learn to

18:55

think the way rich people do. You are

18:57

going to get the lowdown on the rules

18:59

and the inside scoop on how to make

19:02

those rules work for you. You're going to

19:04

learn how to make more money without working

19:06

any harder, without giving up all the stuff

19:08

you love without being miserable and stingy and

19:11

eating ramen for the rest. Of your life. Know

19:13

you didn't learn the stuff in school. Know

19:15

you didn't have a rich great aunt teaching

19:18

you the ins and outs of the market

19:20

have given you savings bonds on your birthday

19:22

or whatever. None of that matters because it's

19:24

never too late. So you're going to learn

19:26

now and it's going to work. And

19:28

you you're going to be rich a

19:31

S take it for me. Yes, I

19:33

got my ass handed to me and

19:35

Hamptons monopoly that one time, but after

19:37

that after I figured out that strategy,

19:39

I haven't lost. Sense! Thank.

19:41

You so much pasties for listening to

19:44

the first ten pages of Rich A

19:46

F. I hope you enjoyed it. Writing

19:48

this book for you guys has been

19:50

the greatest accomplishment of my entire life.

19:52

It was harder than I ever expected

19:54

even though I started out with a

19:56

three hundred page single face word document

19:59

of every ticket. script or YouTube

20:01

script or podcast outline. It was still

20:03

just such an emotional feeling to be

20:05

able to put all of my thoughts

20:07

into writing and then be able to

20:10

share them with you after all of

20:12

this time. Not to get overly sentimental,

20:14

but I've been doing this for almost

20:16

three years now and Your

20:18

Rich BFF is truly the greatest thing

20:21

I've ever done and I am so

20:23

so lucky to call you all my

20:25

BFF. If you'd like to order a

20:27

copy of my book Rich AF, you

20:30

can get it in any

20:32

format you want at richaf.me.

20:34

I would be so grateful

20:36

for your support. I genuinely

20:38

hope this book changes your

20:40

life and it makes you

20:42

feel so much better about

20:44

your relationship with money. I

20:47

cover all the topics so you're going to

20:49

learn how to ask for a raise at

20:52

work effectively, how to budget without wanting to

20:54

throw yourself off of a cliff, how to

20:56

save so that your money can work harder

20:58

and earn you more money, how to invest

21:00

so today you can take care of tomorrow

21:03

you, and how to manage

21:05

all the other parts of financial domination

21:07

like taxes and credit scores, paying down

21:09

debt. I really want you guys to

21:11

use this as an opportunity to revamp

21:13

and upgrade your life. I'm so grateful,

21:15

so thankful and so happy to call

21:17

you guys my BFF. Thank you so

21:19

much for listening to the podcast, to

21:21

the book, and I'll see you guys

21:23

next year. Bye. Thanks

21:27

for tuning into this week's episode of Net Worth

21:29

and Chill. If you like this episode, make sure

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