So while we were all here last week braving the cold, Nick was in Antigua sending pictures like this to the family group chat!
Let me tell you something...
I don't really suffer from envy in my life, but last week I did feel like I would have rather been in that sunshine than clearing a foot of snow off of my front porch, LOL!!
Take us all with you next time, Nick!!
And I've never been to Antigua but those bays in the background look incredible.
I want to let you in on a little secret about Nick.
He's one of the best savers I've ever met in my life.
I remember when he was 5 years old and I would joke with him that I needed a dollar to go buy a chocolate bar and he would tell me he didn't have any.
And he was right, he didn't.
Because even at the early age of 5 he was tucking away any cash he had in his "savings jar" in his room.
And that cash wasn't to be touched, not even for his brother's chocolate bar cravings.
I have always been the "let's grow the top line revenue" guy.
Nick has always been the "let's increase our net income by cutting expenses" guy.
And in business, I gotta admit, that combo has been a great balance.
And especially in times like these.
The real estate market has been pretty muted over the last few years.
Technology and software are going through a major rotation.
(Quick Aside: Did you know that software and IT-related companies make up something like 40-50 per cent of the S&P 500 depending on what you include? And energy and commodities under 10%? Feels like there's a "great rotation" underway).
And sound money, gold and Bitcoin, are gyrating up and down like a wild bucking horse.
Here's how we like to view our financial lives.
It's called our "3 Bucket Strategy":
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We believe in having enough liquid cash to navigate any life emergencies or periods of deflation.
That could be straight up cash savings, access to credit lines on income properties, or even a credit line on your primary family home.
Just some access to liquid cash.
Then, longer term savings. For anything we don't need for a minimum of six months, and more likely 18 months or beyond we like sound money.
We got into gold and silver back in 2008.
We got into Bitcoin much later, in 2020.
Both go through wild fluctuations but because it's longer term the fluctuations aren't a big deal.
Over the years I've been guilty of slowly tapping into the "emergency" bucket and dumping it over into the "sound money" bucket too aggressively.
And each time I do the market tends to remind me to NEVER DO THAT, LOL!
So it's not like we're perfect over here by any means.
And finally we want productive assets.
The easiest one for us has always been single family homes that produce positive cash flow. Boring, but beautifully so.
If you're adventurous and want to put in some sweat equity into building your own asset then starting a business now has never been easier.
With the "vibe coding" solutions coming out over the last 90 days, it's never been easier to take your idea and put it out to a global audience via the App Store. Crazy stuff.
It's why for our Rock Star VIP group we're now hosting monthly AI Workshops to share the very latest on what we're playing with.
The opportunities here are endless.
And the best part about this is that we're all on an even playing field.
No one has a PhD or 20 years of experience using these AI tools. No one.
Jump in now and in 12 months you'll be an expert while the masses are still scratching their heads.
Anyway, hope that's helpful.
Last night we had a great VIP Class where we had guest speakers on estate planning and taxes, health and longevity, and we did rapid fire intros with lots of new VIP members. It was a blast.
And we chatted about AI too, of course.
Fun times right now. Enjoy the ride!!
Until next week!
Tom & Nick
