ever get that feeling like you're stuck on this,
this treadmill, you know,
working and working and spending money
just to try to keep up with everyone else.
Oh, he did feel like trying to look the part.
Yeah, keep up with the Joneses as they say.
Right, exactly.
But what if I told you that the secret to retiring early,
the secret to financial freedom
might actually be looking a little less flashy,
a little less.
Low key.
Yeah, low key.
Water for greater.
Yeah, so today we're going deep on this idea.
We're diving into Eric's YouTube channel, Time to Retire.
Ooh, I like him.
Yeah, he's great.
And his whole thing is like building wealth
and retiring early.
Confirer.
Yeah, and he makes this point that's really interesting.
He says, our ideas about wealth,
they can actually like trick us.
Oh yeah, I see that.
Like what we think wealth looks like
can really hold us back.
Exactly, so we're gonna dig into all that today
and like what we can learn from it
so we can set ourselves up for success, right?
Love it.
So Eric talks about these colleagues he had.
They drove kind of beat up cars, right?
No fancy gadgets.
Not the people you look at and be like,
oh wow, successful, you know?
Right, not flashy.
Not flashy at all.
But here's the thing,
they were retiring way earlier than everyone else.
Like years earlier.
What?
Yeah, some were retiring as young as 54.
Can you believe that?
No way, that's amazing.
I know, and so it really makes you think,
right, like what are they doing that's different?
It all comes down to delayed gratification.
It's a big part of it.
You know, like think about it this way.
You could go out and buy that fancy new car today, right?
Or you could take that same money,
invest it wisely and retire five years earlier.
Whoa.
Yeah, like which one of those sounds better in the long run?
Definitely retiring earlier.
Right, and these people who retired early,
they understood that, they knew it.
They were willing to wait a little bit
for the bigger reward.
That's so interesting.
So it's like they're choosing long-term goals
over just like the quick hit of buying something new.
Yeah, it's like resisting that temptation
to get the fancy thing.
It's like that dopamine hit you get, right?
When you buy something.
Oh yeah, for sure.
It feels good for a minute, but then it fades.
And then you're looking for the next thing.
It's a cycle.
Totally.
And Eric, he tells this story about someone saying
they couldn't live without the newest iPhone.
Oh gosh.
Right.
Like their life wouldn't be complete without it.
It really makes you think, doesn't it?
Yeah.
About what we put so much importance on.
It really does.
And like all that money we spend chasing that feeling right.
Exactly.
And you know that new phone feeling,
it fades away so fast.
But the impact on your finances,
that can last for years.
Like it can seriously hurt your ability to build real wealth.
It's almost like we're tricking ourselves.
Totally.
You think you need this thing, but you really don't.
And Eric says it's not even just about the stuff itself.
It's about how we think other people see us
because of the stuff we have.
It's that keeping up with the Joneses thing again?
Right.
And he was saying like, as we get older,
we care less about what other people think.
Yeah, it's true.
You start to realize that real happiness,
it doesn't come from having a fancy car or a big house.
It's so true.
So then what is real wealth?
If it's not about all that stuff.
Well, Eric had this great way of putting it.
He said, wealth is the money you don't spend.
Ooh, I like that.
I've never thought about it like that before.
It's a total mindset shift because it
makes you think about the power of saving, right?
Like that money you're not spending,
it can grow and work for you.
Right, because you can invest it.
And it makes more money.
Exactly.
It's called compounding.
And it's super powerful.
It's like, imagine a snowball rolling down a hill.
It starts small, right?
But as it rolls, it picks up more snow.
It gets bigger and bigger.
That's what happens when you save and invest consistently.
Wow, that's a really good analogy.
Thanks.
So even small amounts, if you invest them wisely,
they can grow into something huge over time.
So it's like, instead of blowing our money on stuff
that makes us happy for like five minutes,
we should be building our own financial snowballs.
Exactly.
And Eric's really big on sharing this message
with young people.
Yeah, because it's like the earlier you start, the better,
right?
Absolutely.
Because getting this mindset early
can be like, can change your whole life.
Like, it can give you so much freedom later on.
Freedom to do what you want when you want.
Exactly.
And it all comes down to aligning your spending
with what's truly important to you,
with your long-term goals.
So the big takeaway here is that appearances
can be super deceiving.
Sure.
Like the person driving the fancy car
might be totally drowning in debt.
Oh, yeah, definitely happens.
Well, the one who's living more simply,
they could sitting on a pile of investments.
And heading for early retirement.
Exactly.
So to wrap things up here, I have a question
for you listening.
What's one small change you could make today?
Like, right now, to start aligning your spending
with your long-term goals, what would your rich life look like?
Even if it didn't include a fancy car or designer clothes?
Think about it.
It's a good question.
There's so much more to wealth than meets the eye.
That's the truth.
All right, that's it for our deep dive today.
Thanks for listening.
See you next time.