Everyone you listen to the young freshman podcast in this is episode 9. This is a really insightful chart with a guy called Gerald Peters. I came across Gerald on Instagram as he's been kind of sharing and documenting his portfolios in both real estate and Stock Investing and he now owns multiple rental properties and a portfolio of around 40 stocks. We went deep in the is almost 20 years of investing and Gerald shares some really insightful thoughts and stories from all hisVince's let's get into the absolute. Thanks for listening. So hey Gerald. Thanks for jumping on the podcast man. Really? Appreciate you taking the time out of your day to jump on and have a chat with me. So how you doin today? Absolutely great. It's an honor for real doing great. Nigel decided kill kill. What? Why don't you kick off by sharing a bit about yourself and what you do for a living what I do. I always have a hard time telling people that what is That I do for a living. I consider myself an investor. Yeah, I real estate investor primarily, but I also love to invest in stocks. So I'm just always trying to take money and put money into undervalued assets that I think are going to pay cash flow or generate income and an early period of time. I put a lot of time in that and just tried to build as big a base of possible and retired from like working as far as Jobs pretty early. Yeah. So invest for you is what I'd call myself. Yeah. Yeah, cool. And so were you you previously in a career path or a job or what did that look like for? Yeah, so I go from Heist like I was born and raised pretty lower middle class and I went to the Army. That was what kids like me did if I didn't have money to go to college didn't really have interest in college and if you just didn't know what you wanted to do, you could push that. Out by joining the military. Yeah and nice and I yeah, and I did that and you know, like life goes you have moments where you all set in your thinking changes on things. And and in the Army I met a guy and I was in his in his room. He was little bit of rank above us and kind of at that rink where they try to Mentor young people and and I look on his table and he had a statement and it said he had like a hundred and sixteen thousand dollars and I never you know, I was in just a moment here. Yeah. Yeah, yeah ever met and you know, I'm a pork and no one has $100,000 where I came from. Yeah, and that was the first moment. I realized like average people like normal people with normal jobs could amass lots of money if they just lived different way or thought differently. Hmm. Yeah, and and he was going to be and put it into a rural. Yeah. Yeah, so I'm like, holy you know, what are you going to do with that and his and I remember distinctly and I wish I could I tried to look him up and I haven't been able to find him but he was going to buy like, you know when those fast. Oil changing businesses, you know where you go in they just change oil. That's all they do. Yeah. Yeah. And so this is what is happening years ago and so should for all I know he owns a hundred those now. Yeah. Well, so so you're in the military then on and were you there for a couple years and then yeah, so I did you had almost seven years. I did marry the high school. So I've kind of did everything wrong in the first part of my life. I married my high school sweetheart. We got her pregnant. I'm divorced two years later Child Support. I'm in the Army. No college. So all these things are kind of like the not the ideal way. You should go about doing things and and, you know having that moment there and then I ended up having to re-enlist in the Army because I was in such a bad financial situation. And then I remember and I would again think back on the guy had the money and here I had made basically every decision wrong. Like we bought a brand new car. We're making payments. We got credit cards is no plan just living, right? Hmm and then and then I re-enlisted we got divorced and then I just had like a soul-searching moment in that and that point it was shortly. I get out of the army. I have twelve thousand dollars to my name and and I meet a guy long story short. In talks to me about real estate just like I gotta just a normal just a guy and he but he had a few dollars. He had a successful business and he basically told me what he would do with that money. Yeah gave me the little book to read and it was on real estate investing and within three months. I bought two houses nice. But yeah action what you learned. Yeah and all it was he said look man's fine a messed-up property, you know, he's going to have problems. That's why it's on sale and but make sure it's problems that you think you can handle in and then just spend the time handling it and and I basically did that. I bought a house for it was 22. No, no $35,000. I end up putting 7,500 down. You know, I still own it today mortgage free rent for like 850 think say 50 or 900 nice. Um, yeah, and that so then do and during this time. I started a I worked part-time as Prison guard. Yeah, so that gave me like a grand a month guarantee. I know it doesn't sound like much but this is 1999. Yeah, it's probably some weird bug Lana. It wasn't bad. It was it was actually a what you call a really good part time job because it gave you health benefits and a thousand bucks a month. Yeah, and I would just give that to my wife and she worked full-time and I said, hey, I've got this idea. Why don't we just save all of the money that we that I make for 7 to 10 years will invest literally every penny and and and then if we do that correctly, we may never need to work again, you know. Yeah, it was that all in the real estate or was that stalks? And yeah, they're very last attack originally. It was all real estate. That's because I learned it from that guy. Yeah, and I got to five houses. And then you know as you go through this journey I make I've got it to where I'm making like $1500 a month cash flow and those five right around that on those five properties and and I'm living really Frugal and I'm mowing yards. I'm doing anything I can do to make money on the side. So I've got where I'm saving four to five six thousand dollars a month and that's just through that process. You start learning about dividend stocks and started reading about that and I said and so I just came up with Strategy that worked for me and it was where we have crazy weather going. Yes. So I took all the money that I made actively working and I would just say four five six months. I would buy I would put down payment on a messed up house and then I would spend the next few months working on the house. Like I wouldn't hire people. I mean, you don't have to people all the time will be one of the push back side. Whenever I post this. They'll say that's the most ineffective way to do it and people will make comments. You shouldn't be over there working as if it's demeaning to work on your own stuff and I would save enormous amounts of money by doing my own painting. I've put in carpet like all these things. You can just learn them on YouTube. Yeah. Yeah. I mean you've met these people who work there not rocket scientists. It's not the most complicated things and so I would save enormous amounts of money doing That and that helped with Woody and that helped with you know cash flow and I would just read I just kept reinvest in it. And sometimes stocks are on sale. So like 2003 I was in you know involved in that. I was just kind of doing it Stock Investing. So I didn't know what to do with that. Like I just rode that out but inside officers Tech bubble. Yeah the tech bubble. I was just starting to do stocks. So to be honest, I didn't really know what I was doing other than just buying some shares. Yeah, but then after that is I began to educate myself and study and read books and you know try to get serious and go down all the little rabbit holes. I'm sure everybody else goes down options and commodities. I did all these things or experienced all these things and I finally just realized what was really working for me was buying assets that paid me money and just holding them over long periods of time. Yeah, and then buying them when their own sales so like when 2008 happen, I mean, I I bought a lot of stock. Like for that a dollar fifty and it was just taking large companies that I knew weren't going to go out of business and just investing in them. Yeah, you know right before we got on the call. I was doing that today mortgage REITs have really come down in America. They're down like 20 something percent because of interest rate fears and all this and that, you know, yeah, and so so in terms of this the stalks you said you kind of just off the tech bubble hop and you were just kind of buying yes, obviously, you know, you had a bit of a strategy and you know, you're constantly reading and learning and can upscale in yourself. How did you then go a bite, you know choosing these companies was just the case of like you say choosing companies that you knew were reputable and on were very unlikely quite a business exactly. And so I think sometimes People make this way more complicated than it needs to be. Obviously. I mean you can make you could really bog yourself down and study and then never do anything and I would just do stuff that seemed obvious to me like we're at Walmart and it's always full. Yeah, and then I look and Walmart's down 50% So is everything else so it obviously has nothing to do specifically with Walmart. And so to me water he can only climate and Whoever else is going on and act like yeah the economy and you know, and you don't have to be a you know, Certified Financial Advisor to see that and go. Okay what I'm that I made a lot of money and I think these come all the time on my podcast. That's how I call it the money flow if you just watch the flow of money. Yeah. I live in Texas. So it's oil country. So I have renters who work for oil companies and and all sudden they're having to move and oil prices are dropping. And I want to say it's 2015 and it went from like a hundred dollars a barrel to literally under $30 a barrel. Well, I just began to study this even though I lived in Texas a lot of that. I was a child so I don't really remember the ups and downs of the oil Market. Yeah, and you just go back and read and you're like damn this happens all the time Canada, which is read it I go. Wow this happens all the time. What would be a logical low-risk way? Profit from this and it was I just put like $30,000 in Exxon Chevron and Conoco Phillips. That's not rocket science, but I did it when all the price of oil went below the cost of actually drilling it out of the ground. Hmm, they can't say them to me. Yeah, and so do you he did you just you know hold those shares? Yes till this day or so. So certain point where you felt. So what I do I use a what I call a core strategy. So if I take a I'm never going to buy something with the idea of selling it in a week that just doesn't make sense to me. But so when I buy something I literally when I buy them like, okay, I'm going to own this for the rest of my life. And so it keeps you from just moving in and out and then so what I would do when it when it the time looks beautiful like the price is too low. I'll buy a lot more than I want to own for the rest of my life. Yeah, and as as I'm proven right over time as the price comes up and I use some indicators because I am a traitor I use various indicators for chart reading and whatnot. And when the price is overpriced, I'll look to sell a little bit of that to put to work in something else. That's under prized. Yeah, so it's a constant kind of flew between exactly overpriced. You'll sell off put it into something that's undervalued. And is that Loadout to to write up? I've right now I think last time I checked I had 41 various stocks ETFs closed in funds. There's like 40 one of them in the portfolio. Yeah, and I and I used to be a nerd about it and I would rank them like if you ever watch Jim Cramer he ranks some one to five and and I would you can just get carried away with all of this. Now. I've been doing it, you know 18 years. I can just look at them and know them psych following a football team for long enough. You just know everything about it. Yeah, you don't have to look it up. You just know and yeah, I'll be like wow. Okay, all of the utility stocks are way overpriced right now. Yeah, because the market selling like there's logical reasons for a lot of these things. Yeah, and I would sell some shares not a lot like I did that recently. I sold 50 shares of Southern electorate to purchase some higher yield and Lee Capital. It's been really beat up and so I'm just moving and that and then that situation I'm actually Using the portfolio yield like I'm going from a 5% yielder. That was five when I bought it. It's now for and I'm moving to something that's in the 10 range. Yeah, and so I don't know what term for that. I'm sure there is a term for that where I'm rolling the yield into a higher yield by investing into the ones that are under Priced Right. Yeah, and so those 41 stocks that you mentioned there. Are they all dividend payers? Yes. Yes. I have a couple to Gold stocks. They don't trade they don't have dividends their gold stocks. Okay, and I will do the what I described it strategy. I just described right now gold is heating up if you watch US Stock Market, so those gold stocks were probably going to outperform. Yeah, and I will probably downsize them when gold gets overpriced, you know? Yeah, and and sometimes you just get that wrong but it is a portfolio. I'm not responsible to anyone but myself I'm right enough that I can work my way out of these things and and sometimes you can just say well shit. I got that one wrong, you know. It ain't the end of the world because no one position is going to blow you out. Yeah. Yeah, I think you mentioned that in one of your videos that I watched that you know, you're going to get one in maybe 10 or 20 that are just absolute flops that you know crash and burn but that happens in real estate to a lot of people don't because sometimes I listen to the debates between stocks and real estate and it makes me laugh because I love both asset classes and I think there's a time for each Each, you know, I mean if you look next door and the house is cheap. You should buy it. Don't worry about stocks. Yeah, I mean if you have stocks just let them sit let them sit there and collect dividends. You don't need to do anything with them. But if you look over there and it's while these houses are five times more than they should be. Well, you know, there's other places to look to make money. Yeah, it's kind of my thought on it. Yeah, and then in terms of the dividend income, I loves it, you know, you have this kind of concept of you know, just constantly going broke. So anytime you see of up and earn, you know, good chunk of money. I think you mentioned it was $5,000. You'll just deploy that you know and go back to zero because you know, what uses art in your Because you might as well get it into an offset that's going to flow cash, right? Exactly. And here's what happens. Let's say you're a guy that sometimes that I was using that number because that would take me originally like a couple months of saving saving saving. You know what I meet guys who that's a that's one month, right? So these numbers are relative. And so what I always tell people will either add a zero take a zero away. The concept is the same a 16 year old kid could do and it could be $500. Imagine if me and you and started doing that. $2,500 is kids. Yeah, you know we would probably be sitting on hundreds of grad when we were young adults, you know, and so yeah, I 5,000 increment works for me and if it was a house than I would have to go more because when I originally started buying houses, the downpayment range was between seven and ten thousand dollars. Okay today. I'm looking at 15 to 20,000 maybe a little more. Yeah, yeah and so over that time as of those properties obviously increase in value significantly since you first purchased some yeah, yeah. Yeah some I don't even know how to I mean you'd have to be a technical nerd to I'm sure there's ways to put values on some of them but like I have one that I'm working on today. I'm literally here today. I pay 22 grand for it like 2004. Yeah, I put 10 into fixing it up. It's never had a mortgage. You know, I paid cash. Yeah, and and it's been rented ever since you know, and then it's worth it's worth like a hundred fifty Grand. She's there's a way to I mean obviously you can input all that and get a return but it's got to be in the thousands. I mean, I'm guessing. Yeah, and then, you know one the other day I did a video and I originally purchased it. I put 16,000 down. My loan was 80 something Grand. It's been paid on for 10 years. The loans down to 42 the house is now worth 160. So I just took the loan back to the original loan and my mortgage payment is basically the same as it was last month except now, I started all over again started all over again and I got a check for 40 Grand. Yeah. Yeah, I increase my debt for sure, but I was already servicing that debt like it's no big deal. It's not a lot of debt. Yeah, it wasn't an issue and it's been covered by the mortgage payments. Right? Exactly. It's cash. - phone it like almost 600 a month. I still have 50 percent equity in it because it's doubled in 10 years so mean obviously I could get out of the deal for some reason I needed to but then I took that 40 and to me I thought the right now were in my situation the best things I can see are in stock. So I'm immediately 25,000 have it transferred to the brokerage account. You know the other money I set aside to try to find a house. So we're going to try to do that. But I moved that into that account. So it's out of my checking. It's already allocated. Yeah towards gonna play offsets, right? Yeah. Yeah after a while your wife will be like a new purse. Yeah. So you mentioned there, you know talking Buck if we were kids or young adults, you know, what we would do, but what would you do or what would you say to someone maybe listen to this podcast? They're in there. You know, let's say lead things or early twenties even early 30s. What kind of advice would you give them, you know in terms of real estate and stocks and like the mindset around at all, you know conventional thought is you want to tell like we have famous famous guy here does a radio show he always tells them, you know focus on College and this I don't know. I think that's the wrong and one avoid all that money not going out is the The same as money coming in so and I tell my son this all the time because he has a friend and you know sewing $50,000 in college debt. I'm like, yeah, but you understand if if you have 50 in cash and they have 50,000 in debt. That's not a $50,000 problem. That's $100,000 problem. Yeah, because of the interest. Yeah. Yeah, and so if they need 50 just to get to zero. So so the difference between having a positive 50 and being in debt 50 is enormous. It's not 50, right? It's a hundred the difference between the two so avoiding debt, but then I would I would play in the stock market. I mean, my son is 16 years old. He makes money and I have him in three funds and every month. He puts money in those, you know. Yeah, and I would at a young age. I mean I would I would do that if your mind is in that. It's an odd young person who's going to dig into Finance, but in the other thing too, I mean if I was going to go into real estate, I did it I did single family housing, but I don't know I would just look to see where's the best opportunity at the time because you'll see a lot of people swear by apartment you need to do only apartments only Apartments. Well right now apartments are not the where to be and I my area they're too expensive. Hmm, there's no value there. You're buying an over expense your body and expensive asset. It's like trying to flip a Louis Vuitton purse. I mean, it's already expensive. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's harder, right? Yeah, but all I see right. I mean we both know the earlier you come to these ideas of compounding and cash flow and really getting you know, I get the biggest push back from kids all the time. I get I talk to a lot of people on Instagram and they their complaint will be For $5,000. You're only getting $50. That's what that's what my next kind of question was going to be. You know, I think a lot of people look at maybe the return that you're going to get and yes, you know, that's Ed's two three four percent in terms of dividends and maybe you know for five ten percent year on year and they'll just get not overwhelmed but just it's not a sight worth it in the end. Yeah. It's not exciting. And of course, it's not in the week two week cycle, but like you say, it's the complaining over many years and the long-term thinking which I think is completely messing and you know our society today because everything is instant and it's you know gratification and people don't think long-term. Yeah, and it doesn't look like a fun game. I always try to explain that to my son. Is that when I see when I turn the TV on in the morning, like if I'm getting coffee every morning I turned on to the financial Channel. Yeah, and I see in my mind. I'm playing a giant game of financial chess. Yeah. And so to me, it's exciting. You know, I can move in anybody can play in this game. You can buy the same thing Warren Buffett's by in tomorrow that it's right from your phone. And if you're really good at it, you can get really rich really Fast but it's not a game that's promoted. You know people rather be YouTubers or whatever else, you know, and you can then here's an exact like I was at we have an indoor water park here in Texas. It's an indoor water park, which is Texas is at that's a crazy idea because it's so hot outside but it was really really cool and they gave you these wristbands and you didn't carry money because you're inside a water park. You can't really carry money and so you Just do this little wristband and it would give you a soda do it'll give you a food anything all through this whole part beer. You just show him your badge. They give you a beer and all I see is people spending money. Like it's it's packed I go look it up. It's a two dollar and fifty cent stock. And I'm like the coolest. Yeah, this this company that owned these indoor water parks. These were it was I'm trying to think of the name now, it's not Great Wolf Lodge. It was one of similar to that and so it's like Splashtown or wet and wild but it's indoors and they you know, they have a giant hotel in there and it's like just a crazy water park. So I bought a thousand shares and I'm reading on the company while we're there and I'm like, wow, these guys are making a fortune how have I never had? Of this and so I just bought $2,500 within 12 months man a private Equity Firm took that thing public or took it private and paid everyone $14 this year well, but I have like 20 stories like that. Like yeah. These aren't complicated you I was standing in Walmart and I saw a lady in a red shirt scanning items and as I excuse me, what are you doing? And she said quality control and I looked and these people weren't working. For Walmart, and I looked on my smart phone and it said these are the people when you have inventory problems. These are the people you call. So I was look went and looked it up online all the different stock sites. Nobody says anything about Walmart having quality control problems. So I waited and then the earnings came out and the CEO said they were having inventory problems stuff was getting clogged. It wasn't Distributing effectively throughout America and they were losing Revenue because of this. Why was right there they're already working on it, right? Yeah, they're fixing it and the stock Got Cream dude, and then something else happened in it for over like a two-week period it goes down like 20 something percent. And so I bought a bunch of shares. It's just being in the money flow man just paying attention to the news the world around you and how many moves yeah. Yeah. I think it's of mindset of being aware of what's actually going on and the products and services that you are consumed in and buy These other people are crying you've seen on my I'm sure you've experienced in your life. You look backing like damn. I knew that I saw that I was buying that like Netflix. Yeah, I think back to specifically for me. It's the PlayStation and Xbox were yeah. I know it still exists but back whenever I was at high school and I'm playing, you know that constantly every night and the companies that were behind, you know lose those games or lose. Mmm. What are you calling like gaming platforms? It's like had I am invested in Microsoft at the age of 15 or 10 even. Yeah, you know and it's not like a hundred and twenty five dollar stock Nike. I mean we both watch that become a phenomena. Yeah one that I did buy into was Starbucks. I mean, I witnessed that, you know, yeah and you can't buy them all so that's not my suggestion. But if you just become observant and and conscious of the moments around you you I think you did. Find these all the time. So what some of the you know company or product or try on that the minute that you are observing and think that you know, the next 5 10 15 years is going to potentially pop or be a big head not a big hit but what I'm concerned about is automobiles. Yeah, I own a bunch of shares of Ford and pays a nice dividend. I'm scratching my head on where the future of that is. Yeah, what was Tesla you mean or web which is everything of just the whole everything. I mean, you know will we even be making a combustible engine in 20 years? Hmm because I buy to hold these for life. So when I'm 70 year old man, is this a problem, you know, yeah. But as far as looking good man, you know, what's funny as I've been doing this longer and longer I catch myself looking less and less it like what's the and I probably should I this was probably my age coming out but it's more of like, where's the value and what I already own because I own so many as like do you need to add another? Yeah or and I'm more so doing sector analysis like right now, I'm Kind of excited about mortgage-backed security route all the various streets and closed in phones in that whole sector. Yeah interest rates problem, you know, it puts pressure on that that industry is that industry going away? No, not at all and they're 20% cheaper than they were two months ago. That's it. I'm interested because of the nature of the market fear and greed it always goes too low and it always goes too high. Yeah. Yeah, and you're priming does They have to be perfect just has to be where there's value so long term Trend man. I don't know. I wonder that but in the short term, I mean there's lots of stuff opening up. Yeah, and I would follow heresy. And if you mention that young person and what I'd be looking at every morning, I'm looking at where's the SP? Where's the doll wears gold. Where's oil? Where's interest rates if I look at those seven and understand what I'm looking at, then it really makes everything else makes sense. Hmm a lot of things begin to make sense, you know. Yeah. So what goes through your head whenever you're looking at them, you know because I'm conscious they're probably to listen to this that maybe don't even know what the S&P 500 is. Yeah, let's let's say they do but what goes through your head whenever you are looking at those things on the news. Mainly I'm looking to see Me I use charts and I'm always looking at where is price in relation to the 20-day moving average. So I have a very simple strategy if it's above it. We're moving up if it's below it. We're moving down. Hey, and I tend to think things stay in motion until they're no longer in motion. So I don't need to worry. Well, is it going to go up tomorrow? I don't know that I know today it's going down. So I'm observing that why are we in a downtrend? So right now the US Stock Market and the way I look at stocks. We're in a downtrend. So that means to me. Hey if I can get my hands on some more cash. I need to get ready. There's going to be some bargains. Yeah, and so I'm scanning sectors where where's the biggest discount right now? It's in it's in mortgage REITs. For the u.s. You know, what do you guys call it the ftse 5500 or something? In England, I don't actually know what the exact equivalent is already afoot. See I may be mistaken on that but every country has it that think Germany is the Dax. Yes, the ftse is the equivalent Yeah. Well, yeah, I guess the S&P. Yeah, so if I'm you I'm gonna keep my eye on that. What's the lending rate being for mortgages? Like I just refinanced and it was five point seven percent. Yeah, that's pretty high, you know four years ago. I paid three seven. Hmm. That's a that's a oh, no, you know I run a multimillion-dollar portfolio. So two million dollars and you're going in to refine it get the numbers get 2% can make a big difference, you know? Yeah, absolutely. So there's that to consider. So you want to keep an eye on you know, where a mortgage rates if mortgage rates go up housing prices are coming down. That's how them that they have an inverse reaction to each other. If you notice I've been noticing lately. I've been getting lots of emails that like discover my local bank. They're all having these 2.3 2.4 savings rates if that continues the stock market will come down. It's just the way things are priced because why would you put money in a stock paying you to percent when you could put it in the bank getting three percent with no risk? Yeah for guarantee you if you're old not all of us not all of us are going to do that. But old people are right. Yeah, or at least scared ones are yeah, and so that could create an imbalance for me and you all of a sudden we're going to see these high quality stocks get mispriced as all that because money doesn't come out in nice little even trickles it comes out in Russia's. Hmm, and so all of a sudden stocks get price down 10 20 30 percent or whatever and you you find yourself. You have a deal. Yeah. I'm sorry, honey. Are you studying history man? That really helped me to just study history. Hmm, like what happened after the Great Depression or what? Why don't you I'm sure you guys have similar things. But what happened to the US Stock Market after 9/11 Yeah, it felt 20% like in one day. Yeah, but then probably recovery run. Yeah, but if you were a guy who was already following these things you already watched it every morning you had a chance to make a lot of money, right? Hmm. Yeah, but you had you know, you had to be there and be doing it so I would do it even if I didn't have money if you don't have money, you still follow it. Yeah, just a to learn and to yeah, I guess get knowledge right and then to you know back to real estate mean with the online platforms guys can invest in real estate without even physically own in anymore. Yeah. See ya. so in terms of learning and an upscale in yourself and all this, do you think yes, it's a process of switching on your mind said to be aware of everything and like you called the money flow, but in terms of you know books or mentors, what would you suggest people do your where should they go to seek that kind of information and knowledge. I mmm it's a tough one, right? There's so much information. Yeah, the mentor Guru thing scares me. I follow a lot of these guys and I read their stuff it blows my mind. Some of them charge three four five thousand dollars. Yeah, because everything I learned I learned for free. Basically, I mean not totally like I've bought Grant cardones $49. It's a reasonable price. So I'll pay you got something for 49 bucks. I'm all ears. And so I've bought lots of those things of hundred bucks 200 bucks training courses books and then I'll do you know, I'm research that against what other people there's a lot of people that give a lot of value for free or 20 bucks you buy their book and you learn a lot Time of information but then you also got a filter that where where you are. You know, there are guys that will tell you you should not buy single family homes if I followed that advice I wouldn't be a multimillionaire. Like I wouldn't I would have never had it the building. Where would that money have come from? I was a regular guy. Yeah, and so I did it through buying low priced assets that other people say you shouldn't buy and then turning them profitable and leveraging up, you know, so. Within that education space. I think that's a problem is people are different ages. They have different talents. They have different reason they may be living in an area where it is perfect for flipping houses. And they're and they're reading a Forex Trading course. Yeah, you know and that always makes me is you got to be so, you know, you need to be conscious of what's going on around you without going too deep down a rabbit hole of right and wrong. Like I have people sometimes to reply to my post and tell me why I'm wrong and what they're quoting is Robert Kiyosaki who's an amazing guy, but he's like a billionaire doing something different than you. So the way here Use the world is a little different hmm, you know, it's a much higher view from where you're at down here if that's where you're at. You know, I met a guy recently. He owned a level, you know, those those storage facilities where you put you store your goods. Yeah. Okay. I was just telling ya he had 1,100 units. Well, their rent collection was like a hundred thousand dollars a month in all they did was run you storage buildings, you know, and I was like, how did you get in that? He goes? Well, no, there were no any there was none in our area. So I mean it was that simple. Yeah, he just built them but there's no guru courses on that. No, you know and there's no I don't know all the way. I know you catch that is you're just in the money flow. You're always looking around and house money being exchanged. Where's the value? Where's the opportunity in my towel my area with my abilities and my skill set, right? Yeah. Yeah, so I would just start taking and learning from I think you learn from lots of people. Yeah, it's a kind of curiosity isn't it's a curious mind set and being open to good work. Yeah being open to learn and you know, yeah here different people's opinions and seven core. I don't know probably at seven. I've bought several courses on making money with options options trading. Yeah and after going through these extensively I've come I think it's dumb like I'm realize there's some people who figured out how to do it. It ain't for Like when I read it, but I didn't I didn't get ripped off or anything like that. I just invest a little money and by doing that I realized okay, I saved myself a lot of time because I really don't like this. Yeah, if it's a lot more like a like a risk like yes gamble compared to actual long-term investing, doesn't it? Yeah, and so I just began to make things as simple as possible. What is guaranteed like what is really right in front of me? That is so simple that it works like it's it'll work and and I think if you It doesn't have to be some crazy crypto coin. It could be something literally right next door, you know. Hmm, and that's not just one thing. I also find two if they're selling it to you really hard. You know, it's you don't see billionaires doing that. No, you know, Warren Buffett doesn't sell courses or it just it it's I mean I'm and I like these things and I have a book and I sell a book and I give a book away, but it always You know, I get contacted by all these people and I'm sure you do online and they're selling something a book a course and it's like dude if this does half of what you said, you wouldn't be talking to me you really belong with me. Yeah. Why would you bother with me? If you're doing five thousand percent a month later. He was just selling a $10 even if it doesn't make sense, right? I don't know man. So I just try to keep it simple and do the also for me. I got really obsessed with this idea. Of trying to build as big a base as possible and I worked like eight days a week seven days a week right now. I don't I take off one day a week and often don't do that. Yeah, you know, it's a constant. My wife is constantly like dude. Why are you working with an likes I got shit to do, you know? Yeah. I'm trying to make money. I'm trying to do things, but I will like it we're going on vacation or something that I got to turn it off, right? Yes Jill. Yeah, but I'm just always on so You know if there's empty space there then I want to try to fill it and find Value make money and then try to invest as much of that money as possible. So that's kind of my archery, you know. Yeah going back to that question would touched on earlier about people thinking that a 3% dividend on $100 share isn't good. What would you say to them? Like if that's all they can invest at that specific time, and that's all they're going to make for that particular month, but You know, how do you convince them that it's worth it and that they needed to think longer term. And and I don't know. I read a study that said there's a certain percentage of people who cannot in their own mind like it's something they're born with they cannot Envision themselves as an older person like her Hood when they when they Envision that person it's like a stranger and and if they invest money they feel like they lost the money like it's gone. Yeah, like it's gone and beautiful. I kind of blame her. German accounts a little because you know in your mind that money you're not gonna see that money to you're an old person. Hmm. What if that money was right there and you can use it tomorrow so you now you don't feel so bad about have in this is and I began to focus more on assets that that weren't connected to retirement because it'll make me money tomorrow or next month. Yeah, and so I could see that money coming back also the future value of time and money. I did a video here a while back and I Oh that an idea $10,000 in Philip Morris or not. We're Ultra. It's a mo pay 6% And then I was showing what happened over a period of 10 years. So today I still own it, but it's more than doubled. Hmm, like way more than doubled and the dividends like three or four times more than when I did it. So is it six percent know it's a hell of a lot more than 6% because if what I'm looking at is my original paid price. Yeah, I'm sure you know the income stream today is more like 20% of my original purchase price. Well, yeah, so would you like 20 percent returns and most people say yeah cool. What'd you do today will pay you that in 10 years? Yeah and some Warren Buffett who doesn't it? Yeah, you know Plumping it someone planted a tree that you're not even sell through under. Yeah. Hey and I just began to I don't know. Begin to do it as I got old specially now is I'm or some like I enjoy investing now because I'm thinking about dude when I am 62. I'm going to have like if it brings me joy now like I don't know it's a weird thing maybe and it's not so much about the money per se because I'm not I drive a 19 year old truck like I yeah, I just love the art to me. It's like a game. It's all art investing getting a return. I just enjoy it like some people Joy watching football. Yeah, you got a kick out of it. Yeah, and I don't think you can give that to someone someone just has to get it right the it's the first rent check. I got like the guy couldn't mail it for some reason he ended up having to come to my house and he comes to my house and he hands me cash $700. Yeah, and and then he gets in his car and drives away, you know, and I'm like, holy cow and it occurred to me what if I had 20 of these? Yeah, well that seems obvious but it was like a moment like seeing the guy with the $100,000 because if you gave me $100,000 it's going to pay me a thousand dollars a month because of what I know. Yeah, he'll deploy it in the right way. Yeah, and so now I got $1,000 a month what I could go to Burger King with it. I could spend 600 and still have some left. Right and so sometimes I think to that's what people get tripped up and as they don't understand you keeping your money you get to keep your money and they give you money. Money for keeping it. Yeah, and if you get to enough I used to use this analogy with my son. Imagine if every day you woke up you put on your pair of pants and you found a hundred dollar bill. Yeah, that's three grand a month. It's not as hard as people think once you learn about these things that pay even higher interest and when to buy them, you know, So it gets pretty nice 30 percent Returns on half a million get exciting. Mmm. She's you just got to get the numbers up bigger. That's the problem. Yeah, yeah, man, so that's so addressing. It's fascinating here and you kind of mindset and the way you kind of think about the other money flow and you know how you deploy it in the assets and all that good stuff kind of just wrapping up them. What won't be like the the one piece of advice or even quote as cliché as that signs that you'd maybe just like some up to someone if you had the leave them with something. Something that here's here's something I do that helps me one I think communicating with other people doing the same thing helps. Yeah, because chances are like your family doesn't want to hear it. They've heard it from me a million times. So finding like-minded people is an excellent strategy and something that's always helped me grounded. I'm a huge fan of Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. I don't Yes, exactly like they do but just to listen to them talk I often will go on YouTube when I'm working and just listen to interviews from like 1994. And then you listen to one in the year 2016 and the exact same dude saying the exact same things. Yeah, nothing changed and then and then I you know, and you go look at everyone else and it seems to constantly change. So I don't know just finding those people and then just just sitting with them and just listening to him and getting that I that philosophy of buying holding but understanding your receiving a returns from holding. I mean, I collected 20 $2,900 in dividends like in the last three weeks I could spend that money. Yeah, you know, I mean that's that money, you know, or the of those dividends that are coming from stocks that you invest in five. Yeah, then 20 years ago. Exactly. Yeah. So sometimes I think the oldest doc I own is like 17 years, but that is when I first started. Hmm, and that's not that's not that long a time. Really. Yeah, and at about the time I was broke. To be honest, and then when I started making some good money, I just invested it all like one year me and my wife invested like $80,000. So it's investing huge sums of money just constantly. And in doing it you if you follow me. I say it all the time 7 to 10 years. So you just got to do it for 7 to 10 years. Hmm. Yeah, and then so I'm I'm going off on the cons in but then yeah you mentioned there's 40 stocks to choose one of those make up a significant portion or are you sort of even across the board it has at times but I you know, it's probably a weakness of mine. I'm not very good at because And you should you should rebalance these things sometimes so it doesn't make sense to rebalance it. I was just having a conversation a friend of mine just inherited $200,000 of Exxon stock. Yeah, and he's free. He's freaked out by the amount because it's way more than anything else. He owns in life and he wants to sell it and I'm like, so if you had inherited all of X on the entire company, would you immediately break it up and sell it all? Yeah, and he was like, no. It's like I know because you're not viewing this as business. business Yeah, thank you. You have all these traditional 401K advisors and financial advisors. They're all in your head right now. Because they've been told you shouldn't have concentrated wealth. Jeff Bezos didn't get rich by buying and having a diversified portfolio. Yeah. But he got rich through Investments his through shares, right? Yeah, he owns shares in Amazon so you can be disproportionate if you understand the business. Is I guess what I'm trying to say. Yeah, I've done that at times. I had an enormous position in the lecture Company Southern electric and Duke for my net worth like 20 30 percent of my net worth was in them. So hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars and then that Wildfire happened in California. Yeah. And it kind of made me got me changing that little bit Yeah, because they sued the bejesus out of that lecture company and that changed the rules of the game. It never occurred to me that the electric company could be sued for a natural fire like a wildfire. Yeah. So to change the nature of the business, yeah, it was now a new risk in the business that I own and that I was collecting about five thousand dollars a year in income from so oh do we want it? You know, we have the luxury because we're owners to we could diversify down a little bit on that. I don't want to get out of it. But I may want to justify just a little right. Yeah. Yeah, so Yeah, I will at positions grow too large if I feel comfortable in them. But again it you know, the look the less the less, you know, the more Diversified you should be without a doubt. Hmm. Yeah, so a good one to start out with just these just an index fund just are put money in there. Yeah, and then as you become more and more sophisticated and learn a little bit, maybe pull a little bit out and put it in a single company and then just over time you build up a portfolio. Yeah. I love it. Yeah, cool it. Yeah that mean that was basically the strategy. Yeah. Well, hey, thanks. Thanks. Much for jumping on the podcast. Where's the best place people can follow up with you or Instagram? I'm sure yeah, it's rough Instagram have full auto one one. Yeah, just like the gun nice. Hey man, I appreciate the talk. Excellent. Yeah. Thanks Jeff. Appreciate it. If you haven't subscribed yet to my podcast. What are you waiting for? Please hit that subscribe button and leave me a review to let me know what you think about the podcast.
"Money not going out is the same as money coming in." In this interview, Niall goes one-on-one with Gerald Peters, a full time real estate and stock market investor! Gerald also has a podcast called the Science of Getting Rich, and is also an author of the book "You Don't Have to Die Broke". We went deep into his almost 20 years of investing and Gerald shares some really insightful thoughts and stories from all of his experiences. Should you invest in dividend stocks? Should you invest in real estate? Gerald shares his thoughts as well as a concept he calls 'the money flow'. Don't miss this really insightful episode! Find Gerald here:  Instagram:    https://www.instagram.com/fullauto11/ ____________________  Welcome to the Young Professional Podcast - my name is Niall Lawther and I’m hugely passionate about business and entrepreneurship. I started this podcast because I wanted to connect with and learn from successful entrepreneurs and business owners, and share their stories and insights. I hope these episodes allow you to learn, grow and level up in your life! Thanks for listening - please consider subscribing and leave a review, it'll make my day! 