Steven

Yes. You don't understand. You're like, wait, what? I can't understand how a haircut can turn into $10 million. It's not intuitive. Yeah. There's a great example from my friend Michael Batnick. He said, if I ask you, what is 8 plus 8 plus 8 plus 8? You can figure that out in your head quickly. But if I said, what is 8 times 8 times 8 times 8 times 8?

Yes. You don't understand. You're like, wait, what? I can't understand how a haircut can turn into $10 million. It's not intuitive. Yeah. There's a great example from my friend Michael Batnick. He said, if I ask you, what is 8 plus 8 plus 8 plus 8? You can figure that out in your head quickly. But if I said, what is 8 times 8 times 8 times 8 times 8?

Can't do it. We're not made to think exponentially. We're not meant to think in multiplicative terms.

Can't do it. We're not made to think exponentially. We're not meant to think in multiplicative terms.

That's largely true, yeah. Do you know what I mean?

That's largely true, yeah. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah, I'm sure we can come up with a couple of examples in nature and whatnot. There's lots of compounding in nature. And that's kind of the core of evolution is like things building upon each other over time.

Yeah, I'm sure we can come up with a couple of examples in nature and whatnot. There's lots of compounding in nature. And that's kind of the core of evolution is like things building upon each other over time.

But, you know, certainly the stock market is the most pertinent example in most people's lives. But there's also a lot of like bad habits compound. Smoking one cigarette is not that big a deal. Smoking one cigarette every day for 30 years, big deal. Smoking two packs a day for 30, a big deal. So there are things that like in small doses, they're not that big a deal.

But, you know, certainly the stock market is the most pertinent example in most people's lives. But there's also a lot of like bad habits compound. Smoking one cigarette is not that big a deal. Smoking one cigarette every day for 30 years, big deal. Smoking two packs a day for 30, a big deal. So there are things that like in small doses, they're not that big a deal.

But if you do them consistently for a long period of time, it leads to negative magic.

But if you do them consistently for a long period of time, it leads to negative magic.

Yeah. I view savings as... One thing is most people view saving money as idle savings. If you're not spending it, it's just sitting in the bank doing nothing. And it's just wasted money sitting there. I've never viewed it like that at all. I view savings as... little tokens of independence. And every dollar that I save is a little piece of my time in the future that I own and I control.

Yeah. I view savings as... One thing is most people view saving money as idle savings. If you're not spending it, it's just sitting in the bank doing nothing. And it's just wasted money sitting there. I've never viewed it like that at all. I view savings as... little tokens of independence. And every dollar that I save is a little piece of my time in the future that I own and I control.

It's just deferred spending. And I view that as independence. So if you have a lot of savings, it's not just like hoarding money and I'm not gonna do anything with it. And it's not even that I'm saving this money so that I can spend it in the future. If I save a dollar today, I have a dollar more independence today. I benefit from that today, right now. Like I feel more independent because of it.

It's just deferred spending. And I view that as independence. So if you have a lot of savings, it's not just like hoarding money and I'm not gonna do anything with it. And it's not even that I'm saving this money so that I can spend it in the future. If I save a dollar today, I have a dollar more independence today. I benefit from that today, right now. Like I feel more independent because of it.

And I am more independent because of it. So I view, again, my top financial goal by far, and I think this is true for most people, whether they know it or not, what they really want out of money is independence and autonomy and is being able to do things on their own terms, live the life that they want to live. And I view the oxygen of independence is savings.

And I am more independent because of it. So I view, again, my top financial goal by far, and I think this is true for most people, whether they know it or not, what they really want out of money is independence and autonomy and is being able to do things on their own terms, live the life that they want to live. And I view the oxygen of independence is savings.

Yeah. Debt is a piece of your future that somebody else owns. It's the polar opposite of it. When you go into debt, you're saying three years from now, this company owns a part of my time. They own my labor in the future. And savings is the opposite. Savings is in the future. I have this stored up. I have this consumption stored up in the future. I can do whatever I want with it.

Yeah. Debt is a piece of your future that somebody else owns. It's the polar opposite of it. When you go into debt, you're saying three years from now, this company owns a part of my time. They own my labor in the future. And savings is the opposite. Savings is in the future. I have this stored up. I have this consumption stored up in the future. I can do whatever I want with it.