Steven

She's like, what do you mean? It costs a dollar. No, no, no. But if I invest that money and leave it alone. So he was always thinking about not what something costs today, but what he could grow that money into in the future.

She's like, what do you mean? It costs a dollar. No, no, no. But if I invest that money and leave it alone. So he was always thinking about not what something costs today, but what he could grow that money into in the future.

And that's why he's worth a quarter trillion dollars today. It's because you go through 90 years of thinking like that, and it really adds up. Now, you always have to preface this by being like... Please drink your coffee and get a haircut. It's always a balance. But also understand how incredible it can be by putting away... Doing very ordinary things for a long period of time can lead to magic.

And that's why he's worth a quarter trillion dollars today. It's because you go through 90 years of thinking like that, and it really adds up. Now, you always have to preface this by being like... Please drink your coffee and get a haircut. It's always a balance. But also understand how incredible it can be by putting away... Doing very ordinary things for a long period of time can lead to magic.

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.