EP 225: The Wealth Creation Show: Freedom by Design

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-26

[00:00:01]Good afternoon everyone and welcome to today's show where we are going to look at creating freedom by your own design ultimately. So I titled today's show freedom by design and today's show and I think probably a lot of our shows we we do share a lot of knowledge and and reflect on general experiences and things but ultimately it's I would feel that we are discussing how ordinary people build extraordinary wealth and and we refer to your journey quite a lot Jim cuz ultimately that's what you've done so it's quite a good reference point and I'm sure you'll agree that it was not done by luck Definitely not done by gambling and definitely not waiting on somebody else or or anybody else to do it for you. If if that makes sense.

[00:00:51]>> Maybe a wee bit of risk taking.

[00:00:54]>> Yes, that >> I did take a few risks in the early days about reorggaging, reorggaging, reorggaging and reorggaging and reorggaging. Yeah.

[00:01:01]>> To release cash in order to invest more.

[00:01:03]So, and then then but I always kept myself within tolerance. So I always had good cash flow so I would never need to worry. This is interesting because I spoke to someone almost just yesterday.

[00:01:16]>> Yeah.

[00:01:16]>> About this. And I says it's so easy for kids nowadays to become so wealthy when they retire in their 50s >> if they start early.

[00:01:29]>> Yeah. Honestly. And they they had no idea what I was talking about. And I says, "Let me explain it to you.

[00:01:35]You can start a child's pension from birth.

[00:01:40]The government will give the tax on top of your contributions to your children's pension to the basic rate. So in other words, if you put anything up to 280 2,880 >> Mhm.

[00:01:55]>> then they will top up to 3,600. So proportionately, if you put in less, they'll top it up with the same proportion.

[00:02:02]So, in a 50-year period, you're putting in £144,000.

[00:02:08]You're putting in over a 50-year period.

[00:02:10]Remember, it's like, "Oh my god, I've not got that." Well, you're better with something than nothing, to be honest, the way this works out. But over a 50-year period, if you did that and you managed to do that, um, 144,000 goes in.

[00:02:23]The government obviously tops it up. So, they come, they top their amount up, and it ends up being 180,000 in total goes in. But you're only putting 144,000 in over 50 years. Remember, that's only like 2,880 quid a year. And the erosion of wealth or money over time means 2,880 in 30 years time is going to be nothing in comparison to what it is to today.

[00:02:48]But that's just to give you an example and keep it steady. Imagine what it would be if you put in more um to keep it steady. So let's just say that if it grows at 10% peranom uh your child at 50 years old will a pension fund if it grows at 10% peranom of 4.6 million.

[00:03:08]God that's crazy. I didn't expect you to say such a high figure there.

[00:03:12]>> Yeah. It's only 144 grand you've put in.

[00:03:14]4.6 million and it's compounding wealth.

[00:03:18]You can go and get get a compounding calculator. Just type in compounding interest calculator and then put 2880 at the beginning. Put the 10%, put the 50 years, put the contribution and put it all annually. Interest annually contribution annually. 2880. Hit the button. 4.6 million.

[00:03:37]That's it.

[00:03:38]>> Yeah.

[00:03:38]>> And that is effectively how easy it is for a child from birth to become a millionaire.

[00:03:45]>> Yeah. And it is as easy as it sounds.

[00:03:48]>> It is.

[00:03:49]>> As long as you have Yeah, >> it's you're only waiting on time and money to compound over that time. It's so easy to do that. And yet everybody thinks it's difficult and it's not. Oh, it's going to be difficult to make a lot of money. No, it's no. If you start for your children pretty quick and then you teach them the same mentality which I've taught my children, then they will be at 50 years old. Oh, I hear you say you can't retire till you're 67 now. And it's like that's rubbish.

[00:04:18]You can take your pension at 57 if you've got a private one.

[00:04:22]>> Mhm.

[00:04:24]>> But you can retire anytime you want if you've got the money. You can retire at 25 if you've got enough money and you've got enough money coming in. It's not age that determines your retirement. It's the money you've got.

[00:04:37]>> So the quicker you get, the better.

[00:04:40]>> And that's where this the the freedom comes in. For people watching and listening in, they might think, well, what do you mean by freedom? And it's that freedom to make choices like not waiting to this exact date to retire or having a lot more control over your life in terms of what you do and ultimately everything's on your terms. You've you've used an example in previous uh conversations, Jim, about you know, healthcare and things as well. You don't you might if you've got enough wealth you've got that freedom and that choice to have treatment when you choose because you are in a position to be able to do that rather than sit on an NHS waiting list.

[00:05:16]>> Now that's something that's really important as well. Freedom to do to make your own choices and control over your life. And that's what we're going to discuss today.

[00:05:26]>> Yeah. This is where it comes back to the old adage about most people spend their entire lives working for money.

[00:05:33]>> Yeah. But they don't actually realize that the wealthy people are building systems to generate the money. They're not they're not working for it anymore.

[00:05:45]They're they're generating systems that generate money almost like on a passive income basis. And and I'll give you a really good example of that. um a a musician or a writer goes away and either produces a song, it's going to be a global hit or they produce a book, a writer, it's going to be a global hit.

[00:06:06]They've only put all that effort at the very beginning. They've only done it once. They might have to do a we some tours now and again to keep it going.

[00:06:14]>> If they're lucky enough, it might be a hit for the rest of the years. Merry Christmas everybody. Slade >> classic example >> when you think about that. So that's a classic example of writing a hit song and it will pay you for forever >> after that in royalties. That's exactly what you're trying to do. That's what wealthy people do. They create systems that will pay them effectively royalties for the rest of their life. All the hard work they've done in the beginning.

[00:06:40]>> Yeah, you're absolutely right. and and these things will continually if you get it right will continually produce um and provide without you having to be present or working hard all the time. So yeah, and then so then we think about obviously the that's building real wealth and not like this fantasy wealth that you see on social media and you know all these flash cars and houses and or or even like these kind of overnight success stories and things. You have to be consistent and build real wealth. I mean, what kind of things, what kind of things facilitate that, Jim?

[00:07:18]>> Assets. For me personally, it's property. And and property is what generates revenue because you get rents for that as well. And you obviously have to pay things like your mortgages if you've got them. You've got to pay overheads. You've got to you've got to look after the property. You got to pay repairs and improvements. You got to pay compliance costs. You've got to pay maybe a letting agent to look after it for you. So there's a lot comes out of it, but hopefully you've got some at the end plus a wee bit appreciation. I'm only talking about a wee bit. You're not looking for masses of appreciation every year in property. But if you get a wee bit, then great. But the cash flow is the most important thing. So for me, it's property. For other people, well, for me as well, it's businesses. So if you've got a business and you bring people together, you pay them well. um and they produce as a result for that in terms of sales and your costs are under control then you can generate a profit and that's another way of doing it as well. So ownership of business um ownership of assets um generating cash flow um providing leverage through the banks. So in other words I I've maybe got 100,000 the banks going to give me a 75% loan to value. So 75% loan to value just grossing it up would give me access to £400,000 worth of purchasing power cuz 75% is 300,000 and 100,000 that I put in. So I've got 400,000 purchasing power, 75% loan to value to invest possibly in property, maybe to invest in a business. Um it just depends um what you do. So that's leverage um long-term financial freedom.

[00:08:53]>> Yeah, >> that's what we're talking about really.

[00:08:55]It's it's long-term financial freedom. I actually said to that person the other day, it's like, I am truly free.

[00:09:01]>> Mhm.

[00:09:02]>> It's like, wow, I am I am truly free.

[00:09:05]Wow.

[00:09:05]>> And what kind of feeling comes with that, Jim? I mean, sometimes do you think do you have to kind of step back and think, do you know I am? And and and did it make you have a different perspective and mindset?

[00:09:16]>> I think I'm used to it cuz I expected it.

[00:09:20]>> Cuz you Yeah, that's what you were always working towards.

[00:09:22]>> Yeah. It's it's in your goal. So, it's the old thing about you have to you almost have to get to the point where you you become delusional about what your f what your future's going to be like in the beginning and everybody looks at you and thinks that guy's crazy. And it's like but you they don't realize that you're actually manifesting that self in your mind. So, by the time you get there, now remember, manifestation isn't about sitting going, "Oh, I wish you could watch it." Oh, it's >> manifestation's about picturing what you'll be like in 10 years time, where you'll be in 10 years time, and then working out a process in order to get to that. What I need to do now in order to get to that in 10 years time. That's manifestation. That's how it works. So, you almost become delusional in the beginning, saying, "This is how successful I'm going to be at this. This is how great I'm going to be." And if you get a wee bit towards it, then hey, quids in because you're even better, you're further forward than you were before you started, I suppose.

[00:10:15]>> Yeah.

[00:10:16]>> So that's and and by so by the time you get there, just to answer your question about what does it feel like?

[00:10:21]>> It just feels normal.

[00:10:23]>> But to other people, it's like you're what? You're retired at 38 years old.

[00:10:29]>> Mhm.

[00:10:29]>> How's that possible?

[00:10:32]Money.

[00:10:33]>> That's it. It's the only thing. But some other people go, "Oh, I'm retired. I'm on the door. I didn't do anything. I get paid money."

[00:10:41]>> Well, technically, I suppose it >> that's not the type of retirement I would want because it's like that's living on the bread line for the rest of your life.

[00:10:50]>> Yeah. So, I think it's clear obviously there's going to be a lot in this show and the good thing about us recording is people could watch it back. But, I mean, if you're watching, grab a notebook and take some notes because we're going to cover a lot of good things here.

[00:11:02]what I was thinking about your perspective and and your journey and and your goals and things Jim the way you were thinking is not how normal society thinks and that's where this there's a kind of big lie about wealth and what wealth really is in society nowadays I think that I'm sure everybody knows somebody that's got a really good income or a really massive salary but they still stress a lot about money and you know they're driving about in their nice car they've got their expensive house they've got the flash gear but then behind Exactly. Why?

[00:11:33]>> Yeah. Well, that this is the reason why >> they spent all their money on their nice car, their expensive house, their designer clothes. Look at what I've got on.

[00:11:42]>> Mhm.

[00:11:44]>> Just basic. This is how I've had this for about five years or more. Maybe 10 years actually. I'll tell a lie. I'm sure I've got it for 3.99. I've got a whole load of them different colors.

[00:11:54]It's like who cares?

[00:11:56]>> Yeah.

[00:11:57]>> It's like my jeans is like out as well, I think. I mean, there's other shops that will sell you them, but but they're faded and they're like a tenor for a pair. It's it's >> I don't live some high profile life, you know. Now, I've got to the point where I'd rather have experiences.

[00:12:14]>> It's what you remember and it's what you the people around the bit you remember rather than actually have have something to hold on to depreciates and depreciates when you go.

[00:12:26]>> That just doesn't appeal to me. So, so my income provides for my um provides for lifestyle, I suppose, but the income it comes in from the property keeps getting invested back in the property.

[00:12:39]>> Yeah.

[00:12:40]>> And like cuz I could live on an income of hundreds of thousands, but what am I going to spend on? Oh, fast cars, big houses, doesn't do it for me at all. But then somebody in that position they trap theirel in that cycle because they need to keep working to facilitate that lifestyle and and they'll never get out of that that >> Yeah. Whereas like yourself you're saying experiences think I mean last year you took a month out traveled about done a lot of amazing things and your your businesses and everything in your portfolio all run while you were away doing that.

[00:13:15]>> Yeah. Well look at look at January this year.

[00:13:18]Johnny Johnny was in Spain in my house.

[00:13:21]>> Yeah.

[00:13:22]>> February was in Shamar Shake. We were diving. I was diving with the kids.

[00:13:26]>> Yeah.

[00:13:27]>> Uh March. Um I'm not really sure what I did in March. Um >> you went back out to your place in March.

[00:13:33]>> I did. There you go. You know more than me. I think I did actually. I did. I did. I went in January to sell it and I went I'm no selling it. And I stayed there and I went back out in March.

[00:13:43]April was London because I wanted to do the London marathon. So we did that.

[00:13:47]That was Shamarik April I think it was just before then might have been can't remember um there now back for Gran Canaria decided to go there and I've actually booked for next month uh I'm going diving with the kids and uh >> um motor >> oh that'll be good >> it was Scott Scott's changing jobs he's got a bit in between he goes you fancy going on holiday somewhere I goes let's go to motor and let's go diving there's brilliant wrecks out there um so and Then August is booked already for roads for diving with the kids again.

[00:14:20]>> Yeah.

[00:14:20]>> Um and and roads >> and you have the freedom to do that whenever you choose.

[00:14:25]>> Yeah. I mean it doesn't matter what's when you think about it. It doesn't matter. I wouldn't need to have anything. I wouldn't need to do anything and I would still have money coming in now >> um to live within what I'm doing. It's fine with me. And the assets will still appreciate in value and the wealth will still grow because I don't spend beyond my means.

[00:14:45]>> Mhm. And that and that's where normal society most of the time get it wrong because they think they think about working and income and income does not create wealth. Do you know your day-to-day job and that's where people get it wrong and I think society teaches you to earn money and your problems will disappear.

[00:15:05]But what usually happens is the income as it goes up, the lifestyle goes up alongside it and then you end up with a bigger house and a and more subscriptions and more debt and then added pressure of all that. And like you say, you're on that wheel and it's very difficult to get off that if you find yourself in that position.

[00:15:23]>> You are especially if you've got inherent uh monthly cost >> for example your car which you're committed to to the next four years or something. So you've got to pay every single month while you like it. your mortgage that you've got to pay every single month for the next 20 years or 30 years, maybe some people 40 years now.

[00:15:39]So, these are all different things that you've got. Um, >> financial >> I'm not a big fan of ongoing commitments. I don't like them at all.

[00:15:48]>> Yeah.

[00:15:50]>> Yeah. Financial dependency kind of dressed up as being successful. That's what a lot >> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:15:55]>> Yeah. Yeah. And and what we want to talk about is the real wealth and where your income continues even when you stop being involved in the the process. You know, whether it's like like you say, Jim, if you're running a business, can your business actually run without you being there for a couple of weeks or a month?

[00:16:12]>> Um and making money while you sleep.

[00:16:15]That's your favorite thing, Jim.

[00:16:17]>> Or while you're on holiday.

[00:16:18]>> Totally.

[00:16:19]>> Yeah.

[00:16:19]>> Imagine get imagine going to bed at night and getting up in the morning.

[00:16:22]You're actually wealthier in the morning than you were just because you were sleeping. Grow Rich while you sleep.

[00:16:27]Napoleon Hill.

[00:16:30]Brilliant book.

[00:16:34]>> Yeah. Yeah. And then ultimately as well, spending time with family and things like you spoke about, Jim, you can't put a price on that, but money enables you to do that at a much more um flexible and free like free to do it at your own choice without having restrictions. And that's where the money comes in. And that's where that that's it's such a powerful um thing to have assets. So I think it's important that we talk about assets themselves cuz a lot of people still might be unsure what is an asset.

[00:17:05]>> Mhm.

[00:17:06]>> Exactly what they are. So >> your house is not an asset by the way.

[00:17:09]Your own house that you live in. Let me explain this in a minute.

[00:17:13]>> Yeah. Yeah. Your own home's not an asset. Um but yeah, what is an asset?

[00:17:17]How do you start building them? I broke this down into three kind of different segments so we could um we could go through them um and I thought it was quite um quite good to do that. So the the the foundations I think of of what actual wealth are and and um we start with obviously income generation and I think we're just saying income's not wealth but you still need to start with the income. Um, every journey starts with income and you need to to kind of fuel that uh before you could build that engine to generate wealth. If that makes sense.

[00:17:52]>> Yeah. Yeah. It's like a car. The car is getting you from A to B, but you need the fuel in it in order to actually get you from A to B. So, yes, you're absolutely right. The fuel um your income is your fuel. That's what >> that's what helps you build assets. Um, listen, let me just explain. I built everything while I was while I was employed by someone else.

[00:18:17]>> I am a big fan of that. I'm a big fan of that. I've just explained to you what you do with your children when they're born. It's like put them in pension straight away. You know, put put what you can in every single month.

[00:18:31]eventually it'll go over to them and they'll put what they can in every single month and and they they could just continue to do anything they want.

[00:18:38]They could just work for someone if they want to. They can just leave their job and they can go somewhere else. They would never need to worry about what's coming in retirement because you've built a huge success um success in terms of just contributing to the to the to their pension. That's it. That's the easiest way to doing this. Oh my god. If I'd known that in the beginning, I wouldn't have done this.

[00:19:00]If I'd known that you were meant to do that in the beginning and my dad had known this, my mom and dad, they would have started a pension from birth and I would be I would be sitting here going, I really did nothing for this.

[00:19:13]I never made any effort at all. All I did was put money away every single month in a pension. My mom and dad started it 50 years ago. That's all I'd be doing. That that's how easy that is for people right now to do for their children. and and they just don't they just I don't think most people know about that and how and how they can do that. So there's absolutely nothing wrong with employment as I said because I was employed most of my adult life. A job can become a launchpad to your financial freedom. Your job provides your living. It's what you do outside of that with your investments. It provides your lifestyle later on. So that's the launch pad. If you can you can and you use it strategically. Um the problem is not earning money. The problem is spending.

[00:19:59]That is the problem. Everything you earn. For most people, they want the big house. They want the fancy car. It's like, I will forgo the fancy car to just get a secondhand one. It costs next to nothing and I will run about that and I will take that money I would have spent on my fancy car and invest that in a fund.

[00:20:19]>> Quite a common thing you hear a lot with people is when they get their salary at the end of the month and it's like, oh, it's all gone. Do you know within a week it's gone and it's like >> money at the end of the money.

[00:20:28]>> Yes.

[00:20:31]>> So you should really be you should really have some set aside to go straight into you know saving for investment and then that's yeah >> a job gives you security.

[00:20:42]>> Mhm.

[00:20:43]>> Don't kid yourself. Working for yourself is less security. Trust me, because there's no one to cover for your holidays and you don't get paid when you're on holiday cuz you're paid on your job for ability to perform when you're self-employed unless you've got people working for you. That's now a business though.

[00:21:00]>> Mhm.

[00:21:00]>> If you're on your own a self-employed person, it's like I've got my freedom.

[00:21:04]It's like no, you've no cuz you can't have your freedom, your time freedom and your financial freedom at the same time because your business relies on your ability to perform. you've then got no security in a business um in a single unit business just working yourself.

[00:21:18]You've you've basically got an unsecured job. Um you're more secure working in a normal job. Building your skill set, making yourself more valuable by learning over time and becoming better at what you do. That then adds value to you and therefore that's how you get salary rises because you're adding value to your business, the the people that you're working for. That's how I did it.

[00:21:41]And every salary rise I got, I then invested more in my in my side hustle which was investments in property and investments and and actually I had a couple endowments as well at the same time which was from my house and we no longer needed them but we kept them on just to run them on. So we kept doing that as well.

[00:22:00]>> So that's the sort of things you want to do. Um so earning in a job's fine.

[00:22:06]That's a really good one for me. I I would advocate every single time for the majority of people because the majority of people aren't aren't self-employed business people. They don't want to take these risks. Uh they're very low risk and that is a very lowrisk way of actually doing it just probably in a UK equities fund and for 50 years with a reputable with a reputable business and make sure it's got low cost admin fees on it.

[00:22:30]>> So anything up to probably one and a half% at most. So normally I've I've got what you call a stakeholders pension. Um now I've drawn it down. I've still got access to certain things but I'm sitting at admin cost of 75 a year.

[00:22:44]>> Right?

[00:22:47]>> So that's the sort of thing where I would say and then when you start to do that your foundation two. So you've got foundation one of income. You got your foundation two which is asset acquisition.

[00:22:58]>> Yeah. And that's when you start to use this income that you've built up um to then start purchasing assets that are going to, you know, begin to >> pay you over and over without um you have because you could still work your job while these assets are working.

[00:23:15]Property is what we're going to probably refer to mostly in this conversation.

[00:23:19]>> This is where this is where this is where the the tortoise ends up overtaking the hair.

[00:23:24]>> Mhm.

[00:23:26]Because the tortoise has been slowly building that income and investment and the hair's going, "Yeah, I'm running faster than you." But the tortoise goes, "I'm overtaking you now." And the hair's going, "What have you done?" And it's like, "I've been investing for the last 10 years." They'll never catch up now, whoever that I mean, a metaphorically tortoise. You're not against anybody else really, but but that's this is you just as in I'm going to spend all my money and all the rest of it. And this is you as the tortoise. And the to you as the tortoise actually begins to overtake you as the hair later on if that makes sense for everybody.

[00:23:59]>> So they're they're quick out the trap and doing all these things initially whereas you held back and then later on in life you find yourself in a position where you've got the freedom to buy things, do things and spend time.

[00:24:12]>> Yeah.

[00:24:13]>> Whereas they're then they're restricted because they're still in that same.

[00:24:16]>> Here's a good one. I've just bought for Granaria.

[00:24:19]>> Yeah. Yeah. And I was just saying to Ela the other night, I says, "Remember when we never used to go on holiday and we used to save and spend and we used to invest. We used to take our money invest." And when we saw all the people from your work go to this place where we are at Granaria in these hotels.

[00:24:34]>> Yeah.

[00:24:35]>> I says, "Do you think we're probably better off than them now?"

[00:24:40]>> Definitely.

[00:24:42]>> Yeah. There you go. So we forgo all that in the beginning because we used to sit there and go oh yeah boy they're going on holidays at4 and5,000. It's like my god I would rather take that and put that into buying assets to produce income for me at that time. So we're talking about maybe about 30 years ago when we used to see that. We used to watch all our friends go on these holidays to to where we went. Now grantia for me it was just like somebody else going away for a weekend. It's like yeah okay we'll just go there.

[00:25:10]>> Mhm.

[00:25:11]>> That's it. And then same with Malta. Oh, we'll just go there. Oh, same with roads. We'll just go there and I should go back to Nashville and Memphis this year.

[00:25:21]>> Um, and that's the sort of thing that's the great thing that you can do.

[00:25:25]>> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we talk about assets. You did say obviously be careful with a business that you're not creating a business as opposed to your job and then just giving yourself another job.

[00:25:36]You could build a business while you still work.

[00:25:39]>> Property is a good one. You know, if you've got a property portfolio and you've got an agent looking after it and they're doing all the leg work and you're seeing the income, that's you're effectively building a business and it operates without you being involved to a great degree. Obviously, I mean, you still you still dip into your portfolio and make sure everything's running gym for what, half an hour, an hour a month or something. You check in with >> a month once a month. Actually, we were quite surprised. It was like it was all finished in about 20 minutes.

[00:26:05]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:26:05]>> Like really 20 minutes a month I'm working >> just to make sure everything's ticking over.

[00:26:10]>> That's weird >> to think you only need to work 20 minutes a month.

[00:26:14]>> Mhm. But ultimately that was the goal.

[00:26:18]>> Yeah. So and there's other things as well as rental property. There's digital products, you know, some and you could look for yourself. There's content as well. There's software you can get involved in that. Depends what industry you're involved in. You want to be the best in whatever that is. So you don't want to dabble in every one of them. Um because it's like oh AI, oh property, oh it's like jump from place to place.

[00:26:41]>> A rolling stone gathers no moss and and you know that will no that will no build any wealth for you. That will just create a lot of friction, a lot of hassle um starting from the beginning.

[00:26:50]you you you're effectively trying to build six houses at the same time doing that way instead actually just focusing on building one house and getting in it and then go and build the next house and then go and build the next house and then go and build the next house. Um whereas six at a time takes huge amount of resources and effort and expertise to do that. So in any in anything that's just an analogy again as I said >> intellectual property maybe licensing deals maybe you've got something that somebody would want to you'd want to license to them that's really good that that that each one of them become becomes a machine I mean you see the licensing deals about when people go and dragon's den immediately the dragon usually goes well that's a really good product you got a patent on that yeah >> I wouldn't make it I would actually just go one of the biggest manufacturers who is X and I would license it to them and just take a for every single one >> roll it out and then continually take the uh because you see a lot of people a lot of people do like affiliate marketing and then like you said create things and then get them distributed and then they get a they get a payout every time they're sold on >> Absolutely.

[00:27:53]>> Yeah.

[00:27:53]>> You know who did that in the beginning?

[00:27:56]>> Dyson.

[00:27:57]>> Dyson. All right. Okay.

[00:27:58]>> And every single person Hoover Electrolux told him to get lost with a bagless Hoover.

[00:28:06]>> Really?

[00:28:07]>> Yes.

[00:28:08]I remember it. He was on Tomorrow's World years and years ago and he said, "No one is going to touch me. No one wants to do it." Hoover, Electrolux, all these Hoover, all these companies with the with the with actual um I mean it it was called the Hoover because Hoover actually was the people that actually were the mainstream inventors.

[00:28:29]>> But he and he introduced the bagless one, the bagless concept, the Dyson Cyclone. And uh none of them wanted to license it from him. So he thought, I'm just going to have to make it myself.

[00:28:40]That's how that's how this empire that's how that empire was created. Imagine if they had just licensed it. Where would Dyson be now? Nowhere. You wouldn't even know Dyson. It' be licensed.

[00:28:50]>> Yeah. No, you wouldn't.

[00:28:53]>> So his his what what would be deemed at that time failure of being able to get somebody to do it was his greatest success was making. Yeah.

[00:29:04]>> Yeah.

[00:29:07]Yeah. And and then you eventually through time if you're building these things and you are working eventually it will kind of start to then replace your salary and you'll get to that tipping point where you could then probably walk away from your job and have all these things running >> and then that's when you get to a different a different level and a different place. And it brings us into the third foundation which is ownership where ownership really that's when your wealth starts to kind of explode.

[00:29:35]>> Mhm.

[00:29:36]>> Do you do you remember your tipping point Jim?

[00:29:39]>> Yeah. I got to 45 properties I think it was.

[00:29:42]>> Mhm. Um and I was at ESA Mintosh um as a financial controller uh and then uh part of the management team. And eventually what happened I knew I knew I had enough income every single time coming in for some reason. But it took me about 3 years to understand that I could actually physically retire. So I was 35 when I realized that yeah I've got the means to retire to walk away now. But I just felt really uncomfortable with the fact of walking away from a job and thinking I never need to work again for the rest of my life.

[00:30:13]>> Is that because it's that it's in doctorred in everybody?

[00:30:16]>> Yeah, that's what you're supposed >> It's like this is weird. It's like this is I I don't know anybody. And I felt really uncomfortable about it and because I thought what what will I do next then? It's like so it it really did take a another three years for me to actually get to the point where I thought, "Yeah, okay. I'm just going to do it." And and it it was more born out of frustration that I was beginning to do something I didn't like anymore.

[00:30:46]>> Mhm. I mean, I loved industry and I loved what it did, but if it get if you had the chance to walk away from whatever you're doing right now and you had unlimited money um and you never need to worry about that ever again about your income or or your lifestyle, then then would you continue to do your job? And so for some people would say absolutely.

[00:31:06]>> Mhm. But I would I would probably disagree after a period of time because there'll be the times when there's a certain level when the boss gets on at you or you have to do something you don't want to do or you're having to work late or you're having to get up in the mornings early or having to travel um to another country or destination on behalf of the company and then it now becomes a chore rather than actually a you know something exciting >> because you know you don't need to do this anymore.

[00:31:33]>> I would imagine there's a point for everybody I suppose. Well, you well, understand that it's it's you you've got to do it. So, you just what your mind plays tricks on you. What it does is it's like if you've got to do it when you get up late early in the morning cuz you got to go and get the plane at maybe 4:00 in the morning, you got to travel to the airport and all the rest of it, you just like you just ignore the fact that you've got to do it cuz you know you've got to do it.

[00:31:55]>> Yeah.

[00:31:55]>> But then when you start to be able to have a choice if you need to do that or not, this is like when you get up in the morning, it's like, am I an idiot or something? It's like why am I doing this? Why am I continue to do this? And that's the that's the mentality it comes across you when you start to get that.

[00:32:13]So people that win the lottery and stuff like that and win all these millions, I mean they will probably stay their job for a while, but eventually it comes to the point where it becomes annoying.

[00:32:22]It's it's Maslo's hierarchy of needs.

[00:32:24]You need when you get one need fulfilled, it passes the next one and the next one, the next one, and you don't necessarily want the other needs anymore because they're now fulfilled.

[00:32:33]But at the time they were they were important.

[00:32:35]>> Yeah. So your desire to earn in order to have a lifestyle or income to have a lifestyle it's like well why do I need anymore because I've got more income >> and it generates whether I work or no.

[00:32:45]So why would I why would I want to spend and then you're when you get older your finite the finite of your life then comes into play as well cuz it's like when you start to see somebody dropping dropping down and like popping their clogs if that's a better way of saying it. Um, and it's like and you go to their funeral and you think, "Oh my god, um, I'm only about five years away from them and then you become say, what am I doing?" It's like, "I should be out there enjoying myself just in case." Um, not to the point of just spend everything because then you're left >> making the most. Yeah.

[00:33:19]>> Yeah. Just enjoy it a bit more. Enjoy it a bit more. Um, you you There's no dress rehearsal. You're only going around once and you ain't coming back.

[00:33:28]>> Trust me, you're not. Yeah.

[00:33:32]>> Yeah, definitely. And that's where the the ownership of these assets and things comes into to play because when you own assets and things that you participate in the actual growth as opposed to employees trading their time for money.

[00:33:45]>> Yeah.

[00:33:45]>> Your ownership actually builds equity and that's why >> owners ownership matters so much. Um if your business grows, you benefit. If your investments rise, you benefit. Do you know if you >> if your business goes down, you pay for it.

[00:34:01]>> Yeah. Unless you've kind of >> Yeah.

[00:34:03]>> Yeah. So, so you have to take on that risk, remember? So, if your business goes down, you pay for it as well. It's easy to say you always benefit from the growth. You always benefit from the investment rise.

[00:34:14]>> But who who gets the hit if it goes if it goes the other way? H you. So, you're taking the risk. the >> that's the reason why it says for the majority of people work your job invest in a pension fund from birth for your kids um you know if it's too late for you do it for your kids or your grandkids that's the most important point do it for your grandkids for people that are says it's too late for me I'm now in my pension or I'm just coming up from my pension so I can't do any difference you can't probably do any difference anyway to be honest because you need time on your side to do that so get done for your grandkids. Get a pension out from birth or or as early as you know. If they're three or four, then get it done now. Get them a pension. Get them UK equities or something like that.

[00:35:02]Something that grows over time. It shows a track record that will grow over time and and compound over the long term.

[00:35:08]That's the that's the one for me for most people. Yeah, it's great having a business, but you take all the stress with you as well. Um, if your product sells 10,000 times more, then you're obviously going to you'll benefit as an owner. Um, ownership allows you to your effort uh to scale beyond your time. So, you're leveraging your your your time by by having other people's time. So, my time is actually everybody else's time in my businesses as well. That's what I'm leveraging it by. But then obviously, it's like a bank. You then pay people a certain return in order to leverage that time just like you do a bank with their money. You leverage their money by paying them interest.

[00:35:49]>> Yeah. Interest. Yeah.

[00:35:52]>> Let's simplify the financial freedom forever then. Let's let's simplify this equation. What it's all what is it all about Richard?

[00:35:59]>> Yeah. I mean it's not really that complicated and it is in simple terms you have to have asset income and it must be greater than what you are spending in living expenses and that's about as simple as it is. If you're spending too much then >> that's it's that simple.

[00:36:23]>> It's like the amount of people that says I've no I've not got enough money at the end of the month. What you spending your money on? That's the first thing you should be saying. What are you spending your money on then? Spend less money.

[00:36:34]It's like people who say it's like I'm too big. It's like stop eating so much crap then.

[00:36:43]>> It's the same thing.

[00:36:45]>> That's the same simple thing. Yeah.

[00:36:48]>> And that's entirely >> if your lifestyle costs four grand a month, your assets need to generate more than four grand monthly as well. Then um that's really what it comes down to I would say. Yeah, you've got to think about all these different things and think about where you are with that. Um and if you're if you're if you're spending more than that £4,000 a month uh in cost, then you've got to cut that back if that's all your assets are generating. So you've got to cut it back to that what the assets generate. But my my thing is for God's sake, do not immediately say, "Oh, I'm £4,000 a month costs. I'm now generating £4,000 a month. I'm going to leave." Cuz then you'll not have anything to grow from there. Any investments to grow from that because of that. So then you'll be stuck. So I got to a point where it was like I built enough so I had a substantial amount over what my monthly costs were in order so when I left I'd still be able to reinvest in the business.

[00:37:50]That's the point. So when see what happened when the credit crunch came along where I opened my business and the credit crunch came along and wiped everybody else out. I was fine cuz I had my assets that produced my income. It wasn't my business. It was producing anything at all. I survived that way with nothing. I just worked for the last five for the five or six years because of that with for nothing. But I had my money. But then look where I've managed to get now as a result of that. I mean, we are officially 20 years old. Our company 20 years old as of more or less today.

[00:38:26]>> Mhm.

[00:38:27]>> Five Properties has been going for 55 years.

[00:38:30]>> Yeah.

[00:38:31]>> Since 1971. 55 years as a brand, but we've had it for 20 we've had it well, we've had it since 2012, but our company has been going since May 20 uh May 2006.

[00:38:45]That's when we started it.

[00:38:48]So it's it's amazing to think and that's that's the whole point and and I never went to start this company in all honesty. I never wanted to be in a state agency. I never had any inkling of that at all. I just left. I was involved in property investment. That's fine. I took a year soatical in between and then suddenly this appeared >> estate estate agency. And I thought yeah I'm quite fond of that. It's in property. I'm investing in it now. That makes absolute sense. I had a great estate agent I was working with um who's top sales agent and and I thought I could do lettons as well there. That was it. That's what it came down to. And it was like screw it. Let's do it.

[00:39:25]>> And that was the biggest lesson I learned.

[00:39:27]>> Yeah. That was a big headed like that and just going I can make a success at everything. No, you can't.

[00:39:35]>> You I think you you you paid for a few mistakes at the beginning um by rushing in. Yeah.

[00:39:44]Where did Rich where did Virgin bride where is that now? It's no. Where is Virgin makeup? It's no. Where is you know all the different things that he's failed at all.

[00:39:52]>> It's not >> fine cola.

[00:39:54]>> Yeah. And that's okay because the reality is his failure his successes have been far greater than his failures.

[00:40:00]So that's why he's still a billionaire.

[00:40:06]>> Yeah. So yeah. And then just to come back into the you know the the keeping your expenses lower than what your uh income and things are you should really actually think to yourself about what your your number is. you know, what monthly amount would allow you to live comfortably without any stress?

[00:40:25]>> And that's and and you need to think about that number and write it down and stick to that and and don't be vague about it because you know your vague results can can really then they're not they're not true and they're not going to you're not going to be able to stick to that. So be quite realistic and think about a number and and and stick to that ultimately.

[00:40:46]>> Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:40:49]work then work then becomes optional when you find that figure and you've got enough income coming in to cover that.

[00:40:56]>> Um, and it's not because you're quitting your ambition or anything like that. As I said, it's just that you just you get to the point where you think I I need to put up with this anymore because there is days where we've all had these days where you're like, I didn't want to go work. Can't be bothered. The sun is shining. It's beautiful outside and it's like and I've really got to go to work and sit in an office.

[00:41:19]>> Yeah. I was >> worse for me. Worse for me. It was worse for me because we had mirrored windows.

[00:41:26]>> So, you know, cuz there was the the intensity of the sun came in. So, they put mirror on the windows and there was a we crack at the bottom and they never put anything on.

[00:41:35]So, it was like every single day I saw this these dark windows, okay, looking outside. But then I saw this crack at the bottom with the normal window and there was just beam of sunlight >> coming in and I just used to look at that and god I could be out there in that >> torment >> every single day that plagued me that thing. It it tormented me every single day going I get it up you we bomb pot you're sitting in this office in the sun's that's all I heard. It's like, "Oh my god, I've got to do something about this." And it and it began to erode away at me. Yeah, definitely.

[00:42:14]>> Yeah. So, let's uh I'm going to jump forward to do the thought process and kind of actually designing your future because as I said, it was freedom by design. That's what I titled today's show. And I think it's clear that we've made the we've made the um you know we've identified that people kind of drift financially that people do drift financially but wealthy people do a lot of stuff with true intention.

[00:42:42]>> So there's a few questions I think people need to ask themselves and I put them in here and the first one is what does freedom look like? I think for for yourself you know everybody's different.

[00:42:52]What does your freedom look like? I mean ultimately the freedom to make choices and and go places and experiences.

[00:43:00]>> What does your freedom look like Richard?

[00:43:02]>> Well, for me it would be >> these arms judgmental approach.

[00:43:10]>> It's ultimately I would imagine everybody's different that it would be the same for everybody.

[00:43:15]like what you the life you're living just now, Jim, and being able to make choices to go places without feeling restricted, spend time with family and and enjoy life and experiences that you need money to experience and and ultimately that for me anyway, I mean, people will be different and people's level of what freedom is will be completely different in terms of the amount the amount they need to achieve that. For me personally, it was to the point where I could say anything I want and nobody could influence that.

[00:43:50]>> I would I would never be answerable to anybody ever again.

[00:43:55]>> That's well except I have to say that >> that's the exception.

[00:44:06]You're spending what? It's like, oh, it's all right.

[00:44:09]Um, but it's never having to ask for that permission again. I suppose I mean that's that that to me is true financial freedom for a lot of people. It's like never needing to worry about that. And you've I think it's up to everybody just to define their own version of what they actually think. It' be interesting to hear in the comments about, you know, from someone who actually thinks what is what is that defined?

[00:44:32]>> What's their version of freedom?

[00:44:33]>> Yeah. What's your version? What does it mean? And and then your next question with that is how much is it going to cost?

[00:44:40]>> Mhm.

[00:44:43]>> Yeah. How much is it going to cost?

[00:44:46]Every dream lifestyle has a number attached to it.

[00:44:49]>> Yeah.

[00:44:52]>> And and that's the key. See, this is why you break it down. It's like, you know, and once you know that number, the impossible becomes actually measurable.

[00:45:01]It's it's measuring. It's actually understanding because I knew when I got to certain levels I'll be able to do certain things. But even though I got to that level, I thought to myself, I don't need to do that anymore. I can just keep building >> because I thought I'll just get there quicker. It's like that. Oh, I'll get myself a brand new car when I get to this level or I'll get we'll go out for lunch or we'll go on a holiday when we get to this level. And I thought to myself, no, I'm not doing that cuz I know if I put more in now, I'll be I'll I'll get there quicker. And for me it was all about speed to get there to to that retirement financial freedom that not answerable to anybody. That's that was important for me. I and and the biggest challenge for most people is they don't believe they can do it.

[00:45:45]Whereas I believed wholeheartedly I would become a millionaire.

[00:45:51]>> Self-belief could be quite detrimental to anybody because a lot of people don't have it.

[00:45:56]>> Yeah. And and that's what holds them back most of the time. It's like it does work and the pension thing does work. It we talked about at the very beginning.

[00:46:04]Um but most people won't do it because they don't believe it it'll be possible for them because they don't know anybody else that's done it.

[00:46:14]You're going to get a shock when my kids get to 55 57 and then they retire as multi-millionaires cuz that's exactly what I've done with them. I think it's safe to say that everybody in this day and age, if you don't have a good setup for when you're at a certain age, you're going to get a shock.

[00:46:31]>> Yeah. Because they're talk they're talking about doing away with the state pension already.

[00:46:35]>> Yeah.

[00:46:35]>> So, it's only a matter of time before that actually happens. So, don't rely on anybody to look after you. This is what you've got to do and this is but if you're if it's too late for you, this is what you got to do for your kids or your grandkids or your great great grandkids.

[00:46:48]You know, do it for them. Get it into a pension. Don't give it to them now. Just get it into investments so it invests and compounds for when they actually really need it. It will set them free later on and they won't need to work till they die.

[00:47:04]>> Yeah. Which is such such an important thing. But yeah, you're right. So asking yourself what your your own freedom looks like, what the price of that, what what number would enable you to achieve that. Um, but how you going to how you then going to obviously earn that amount? And that's when you need to think about what kind of assets you're going to build. What you need to think about is your strategy and where that all begins.

[00:47:29]It rarely does come from just one thing.

[00:47:31]Jim, you predominantly do property man property investment, but you do have other investments alongside that. You've got your businesses, you've got, do you know, you've got stuff in stocks and all the rest of it. I'm I'm pretty straightforward and the reason why that is because I'm a specialist in the fields.

[00:47:47]>> I'm a specialist in the field of my my pension investment because I understand it completely and you know one of the I would say I'm probably one of the top 5% in terms of knowledge and expertise in that particular field for the invest investment in my pension. So I know exactly the the ins and outs. I know how it works. I know the ongoing costs. I know how it appreciates. I know how the market works. I know what companies invested in. I know the companies themselves. So that's why I've done it.

[00:48:13]Okay. But it's an easy one. I don't manage it. It's it's managed by Standard Life.

[00:48:17]>> Mhm.

[00:48:18]>> And it's them that look after it. I don't do anything else other than I just put money to them every single month.

[00:48:22]They invest in these top um blue chip companies and that's all they do for a low cost. And that's a fund they've got called UK Equities. That's what that's what I do personally. Remember investments can go up and up or down as well. Um so you take a risk but over the long term it's very very rare to think that UK equities and the blue chip stocks like Dagio like BP like Glen Core like B industries um anything will really majorly happen to them because they're the big conglomerates >> in their field and they generate a huge amount of wealth. They're repeat purchase businesses aren't they? Uh drinks, petrochemicals, all the rest of it. These will be around forever. is these will be around forever. So that's why I'm there. And with property, I stick to boring residential less. That's it.

[00:49:16]Buy, refurbish, rent. That's it. Buy, refurbish, rent. Buy, refurbish, rent.

[00:49:23]And then at some point in time when the opportunity appears and there's blood on the streets and all of a sudden everybody's panicking trying to sell off the property, I then can refinance cuz I've got a huge amount of equity built up in it over the years cuz I've just sat and waited. And then I've gone, "Oh, I'll I'll buy that. I'll buy that. I'll buy that." Cuz I know what happens next.

[00:49:44]It goes up again. A recession only lasts about 18 months, by the way. Recessions only last about 18 months and then it starts to lift again. You'll see that if you look up Google and or you go into CHP and see how long the recessions last and where's the bounce coming and all the rest of it. It'll tell you that's on average how how long it lasts. So that's where the bounce comes and then you get the huge equity upswing out of that out of bailing other people out. It's just the way it is.

[00:50:12]What other what other um things do they come from then apart from property and and investments and pensions and stuff like that?

[00:50:20]>> Yeah. So obviously your investments, you've got your businesses, you have property like you say, you've got royalties on things if you have royalties attached to things that will pay you digital income. Now that could be things like um as I said affiliate marketing and things as well.

[00:50:36]>> You could have equity and uh in something that's going to be paying you as well. And you could also go into partnerships and things. Um be careful with that. Make sure you go into partnership with the right people.

[00:50:47]>> The right people. Yeah. I mean, I was in partnership with somebody in the beginning who was absolutely fantastic salesman, but he wasn't really financial literate.

[00:50:56]>> Then I found that out the hard way. Um, he just wasn't good at managing the money.

[00:51:01]>> It was like then I looked at the accounts and went, "Oh my god."

[00:51:04]>> It's like we're we're not doing that well. It's like because we spend so much money, the cost got out of control. But I was able to I was able to look after that and control that. And once I once I realized the rest was history.

[00:51:18]>> Yeah. But the key with anything is not to try and perfect it at the beginning.

[00:51:23]Just get started.

[00:51:24]>> Done's better than perfect every single day.

[00:51:28]>> Mhm. Yeah.

[00:51:30]You said, >> "What would you say is the secret that most people ignore >> when it comes to investments and and anything? I mean, say it's it's not really a secret, but it should. It seems like it, but it's being consistent.

[00:51:44]Consistency is the key, you know, without any hype, without you know all the trends and it's no overnight success. It takes time to just >> consistently do the same things and it will be boring and that's where a lot of people that's when a lot of people fail because they they shift to something else and and leave the thing that was working excitement. They've got it for the excitement. So they get bored easily. That's the difficulty. these small actions that you're taking over the years uh well days, weeks, months, years uh become life-changing over a period of time. As I said about the pension investment from birth for the 50 years, how it'll be a multi-millionaire when you're when your kids retire. Um but but the small actions will be life-changing over these years and it doesn't take much in order to do that.

[00:52:34]Yeah, these small consistent things, you know, whether it be weekly investments or continually like consistently growing your business, developing your skills, the network that you build, do you know, do that quite care carefully and consistently >> and uh even content and things that you're publishing, if you're putting stuff out there, educational stuff or things that that you're putting out, do it consistently. And that's how compounding works.

[00:53:00]>> Yep. eighth wonder of the world according to the Oracle of Omaha which is Warren Buffett. Eighth wonder of the world and I would say it's probably the number one wonder of the world is compounding. It's probably is probably the best thing you could ever do. Look at when you apply compounding just even to your health, not monetary terms, your health.

[00:53:23]>> Yeah. You make one change in your diet, one we change in your exercise, and how that compounds over time because you're making that change for the better. So, you make one we positive change like I tell you what, I'll just go out and walk every day.

[00:53:37]>> Yeah.

[00:53:38]>> And and then by a couple of years time, you end up, I tell you what, I'll probably jog. Then after a couple of years time, I tell you what, I'll probably run. And then it's like, oh, I fancy going in for this and I fancy going in for that. That's how you end up getting roped into marathons.

[00:53:52]flight me going, "Oh, I think I could do the ultramarathon next." And then, "Oh, I think I can climb one of the highest peaks in the world. I can quaga." And then it's like, I tell you what, let's have a go at the Everest ultramarathon.

[00:54:05]>> That be that'll be a challenge.

[00:54:08]>> Yeah. But if you'd seen that, if you'd done that in the very beginning, you you wouldn't have got out your >> Well, you need to you need to build up to that.

[00:54:13]>> You just you'll only see the you only see the next opportunity when you're ready for it.

[00:54:20]So that the whole point of your life is preparation for the next opportunity.

[00:54:26]I'll say that again. The whole point of your life is preparation for the next opportunity.

[00:54:35]>> That's quite good.

[00:54:39]>> Yeah, that is quite good. So I mean we we'll try and round it off now because we are approaching the hour point. But as as we as we do close up today, I think it's good to leave you guys listening and and even ourselves as well myself anyway to think about your future and and ultimately your future is being built whether you design it intentionally or not. Your future's there. You just need to make it what it is. And that question you need to ask yourself is are you building freedom for your future or are you building dependency?

[00:55:12]and that they are very different is obviously relying on the state completely and relying on everybody else to look after you when you retire. Um that's that is the problem.

[00:55:25]>> Um so so this week then so for this coming week um I think I want people to do three things.

[00:55:35]>> Okay.

[00:55:37]>> Define what freedom means to you.

[00:55:43]Calculate that freedom number. What that is monetary terms.

[00:55:47]>> Monetary terms. Yeah.

[00:55:48]>> Yeah. Define what it means to you.

[00:55:50]Calculate what it is and then decide which assets.

[00:55:55]You begin to build that future to achieve it. Yeah.

[00:55:59]>> Yeah. And I'm not talking about, oh, I can't buy a house. Like, okay. So, maybe go in with someone else and buy it.

[00:56:06]joint venture with them if you can't do all yourself or maybe just wait a bit longer and then buy it.

[00:56:13]>> Oh, but I'm not going to earn enough.

[00:56:15]But in three or four years time, if you've educated yourself enough and you've learned enough and you've added value to what you do, you could get a better paying job.

[00:56:29]And then when you get a better paying job, you've got more income. Therefore, guess what? You could put more money towards your investments.

[00:56:37]>> Yeah. Because your income's based on your performance. And if you could enhance your performance, increase your income, you then have more to put into assets.

[00:56:45]>> That's how I started. I started something like 6 and a half grand training accounting. I think it was 7 and a half when I worked at Standard Life, but that was before that. But that was traveling to Edinburgh at the time.

[00:56:56]And then it was and then it was like 10 when I got to Tell Russell. And then I then after Teller Russell a couple of years it was 13 and then all of a sudden I left tiller Russell and I was at 26 overnight my company car because I had value. I had value cuz I'd learned all the way in my professional exams. I've been learning all the way. I've been doing other people's work the managing dire the financial director's work and everything and all the rest of it and doing all these systems that actually added all the value to me that in within me and I just I just kept where I was.

[00:57:31]So I was able to add all that value to me first and prepare and then when the opportunity appeared it's like yeah okay I can jump that I could double I was able to double because of that >> cuz I'd stayed whereas some people would go I tell you what I'll jump up another one or jump up another one from job to job to job and it's like then you leave yourself in a a really difficult position and the fact that you're having to learn something new all the time. The things that actually the things that actually if you're if you're concentrating on building wealth, the things that you probably will take most of your time out is getting married, moving house, starting a new job, having children, getting divorced.

[00:58:12]>> Mhm.

[00:58:13]>> So, you want to I'm not saying you want to avoid doing them. Just be aware that they'll take the most time for you.

[00:58:18]That's why I say to some people and I said to some person recently when they were wanting to do something, I said, "No, no, no, no, no. stay in your existing job cuz you know it's going to take a lot of time and effort to to move to this other one and then just build wealth from there. Add the value to what you're doing. Then you've built your wealth. Then you can move to another one.

[00:58:40]Keep your existing house or don't buy that big bloody massive house. Go and just stay where you are right now and invest the rest of that money in in what you're doing to set yourself free later on.

[00:58:53]Just to to kind of round us off today, Jim, what would you say to anybody that um do you know was thinking about listening to us talking about this kind of freedom and thinking that it's a bit of a fantasy for them and they they possibly couldn't achieve it.

[00:59:12]Um it's it's your life is built by design, >> I would say. And and how it's built is you build it a bit at a time. You're not you're not trying to do big huge leaps.

[00:59:23]You're just trying to do small steps every single time. But but this old adage about, you know, h small acorns grow into giant acorn trees. Small, you know, acorns grow into giant oak trees, don't they? And some will grow into giant oak trees and some won't. But but that's why you do small small things all the time and some will actually um give a huge uh return on what they're doing eventually. So, and it's done just that small just by I suppose it's I suppose it's just like done is better than perfect.

[00:59:58]>> Mhm.

[00:59:59]>> It's a decision. That's it. You just got to do it. And it's just taking these we steps and decisions by decisions. And then once you're doing that, it's then obviously that then comes to the asset by asset as you're building. And that asset could be anything that we talked about. It could be stocks and shares. It could be digital content. It could be it could be property. It could be pension.

[01:00:23]It could be anything like that. Um and and and and the key is just to start today.

[01:00:31]>> Yeah.

[01:00:32]>> I I I can't I just wish I was able to download what I've got in my mind about how it all works.

[01:00:39]>> And this is the only way we're doing this. This is why we're doing this is how it all works. I was able to download it just so somebody gets it straight away and goes, "Oh my god, it's that simple.

[01:00:51]>> Flipping heck, I'm going to do this."

[01:00:53]And they know, they've got the belief now of me knowing full well that this is just a formulatic equation.

[01:00:59]>> Mhm.

[01:01:01]>> It's just an equation.

[01:01:04]It's like >> investment multiply by time equals wealth.

[01:01:12]And what I take for what when you're saying that about just do those small things bit by bit, piece by piece, decision by decision because people tend to think of I'm guilty of this myself, the bigger picture and then totally get analysis paralysis about it all rather than just starting with something and doing that and doing that and just build on that. Don't I mean have your goal and have where you want to be in your mind but don't think about everything in between. Just do a day at a time.

[01:01:39]>> Yeah. The worst thing to do is do nothing.

[01:01:42]>> Yeah. At least do something and like you say, start today.

[01:01:45]>> Yeah. Because you'll be exactly where you are right now in five years time if you do nothing.

[01:01:51]>> Yeah. And build ultimately that freedom by design. And and the goal is not just to make money. It's to build something that you truly own.

[01:02:01]>> Yeah.

[01:02:01]>> And then absolutely >> and and ultimately that will come to become your freedom.

[01:02:08]And that's where we're going to wrap up today. I think that was quite good. Um, thanks for that, Jim. Um, and thanks everybody for joining in. Jump in the comments box. I'll come back to you. You could also come to me direct. My email address is in the uh blog attached. And we'll see you next time for the Welsh Creation Show. And we'll leave it there today.

[01:02:25]>> Bye for now. Thanks Jim.