Do Ghost Money, Live Financially Independent with Ron Kmetovicz - Episode - 558

My overview of all these years is becoming an investor, a skilled investor, or whatever you want. Those things can be learned rather quickly and rather easily as you need to learn them. So they're kind of at the bottom of the list, but they're there and they're important.

Welcome to Streams to Impact, brought to you by Steadtalker Capital. I'm your host, Dr. Allen. What if financial freedom isn't about getting rich quick? But about learning the lessons most people discover far too late. True wealth is built on independence, responsibility, and long-term thinking. On this podcast, we explore how money becomes a tool for freedom rather than dependency. Before we begin, I want to share a gift with you, and it's beyond the paycheck. This is the Financial Clarity Compass, and it is a private Many educational masterclass designed to help high-income professionals bring clarity and intention to their wealth. You can claim this gift at www.go.steedtucker.com/beyond-paycheck. Now let's begin, but just a brief disclaimer: all information shared on Streams to Impact is for educational purposes only, and. should not be considered investment, financial, legal, or tax advice. All investments involve risk, and you should consult your professional advisors before making any decisions.

Today's guest brings a lifetime of perspective to the question of financial independence. As the septuagenarian author of Ghost Money: The Pathway to Financial Independence, he distills decades of hands-on investor mentoring into a practical and inspiring guide For young people ready to break free from dependency and build lasting wealth. Rather than chasing trends or shortcuts, his work emphasizes responsibility, patience, and principles that endure over time. So please welcome Ron K. Matovich. Ron, we're glad you are with us today. When you look back over your own life with money, independence, and responsibility, What personal belief or habit did you have to unlearn the hard way? And how did that change the man that you became?

Well, that's a good question. And the backdrop of this stems from my growing up on a farm in rural Pennsylvania. And my parents were products of the Depression era. My grandfather owned the farm and he had 8 children. And that's a pretty tough time to be raising 8 kids, okay, in the '30s. But I grew up watching post-World War II, a family and aunts and uncles. That were highly diversified. And I watched this, but I didn't comprehend it really well until probably well into my 20s. But my grandpop's farm had a diversified source of income. He was, yes, a farmer where he grew vegetables and crops of that nature. But we also had Pigs, chickens, and cows. We had about a quarter of the farm dedicated to logging. And the other aspect of it was we had a sandpit.

Okay.

So that we primarily could make concrete from the sand and gravel that was in the pit. And I Add to that, my grandfather was a contractor. So there was a woodshop on Presence. There was a metal shop on Presence. By the time I got into the, what I call the farm experience, okay, we were doing everything. Sand, gravel, construction, farming, animal husbandry. I learned the importance of diversification. And for me, the title that I— the subtitle of what I've written is The Pathway to Financial Independence. And financial independence for me is multiple sources of income. You have different revenue streams. Some go up, some go down, but you're never dependent on one. And that is fundamental advice that I give to anyone that talks to me is multiple sources, multiple streams. That's how you get to financial independence. And take that to youth. Well, when you're young, you start at zero. So, you know, first revenue stream is for most people a job. And hopefully they can get well past the job scenario and develop through their lifetime multiple sources of revenue for themselves to be financially independent.

Well, good advice. Multiple streams and diversification can go a long way, that is for sure. Well, Ron, what originally inspired you to write Ghost Money, and why did you feel that this message needed to be shared now?

Well, the inspiration came this year in January. I'm 78 years old. I have 3 children. We have 4 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. Now, the, the kids, okay, they grew up with me as, you know, dad was hanging around, okay, and coaching them, okay, and they're doing well. The grandkids had the benefit of me being around, okay, and they're, they're getting coached by their parents and their grandparents. So, so that's kind of nice. And The, the great-grandkids, yes, there's the family connection through my grandkids and my, my children, but I wanted to leave a little bit of a legacy for them. And, uh, I thought that the best way I could do that, uh, was to write, uh, Ghost Money.

Okay.

And so it's a 100-page book that I am going to, uh, transfer to my great-grandkids. The oldest of the greats now is 4 years old, so not quite reading Gross Money material yet, but, but the book is there now. I got it done, published it on Amazon, and, uh, it was a labor of love and, uh, hopefully some, some, some sustaining ability. Uh, and, and it's not just my kids. A lot of people I come into contact with, uh, talk to me about, hey, what do I do? Okay, how do I break a, uh, break into a world of investing? How do I get multiple revenue streams like what you talk about? And, uh, so it's family, friends, acquaintances, and it's been one-on-one. And now I have a book to hand them, so that's kind of cool.

Well, that's a real, uh, tender story. It was, uh, an act of love, uh, and that, uh, I know there's so much more meaning in that than, oh, I just wanted to help, you know, people just learn how to invest. It really came from the heart. So that makes it really special.

Well, go ahead. Oh, I was just going to say, yes, Alan. And what I've tried to do too is I've mentored a number of primarily high school kids, young adults. Okay. And I have a memory rule that I use. Has to fit on one hand. It's the one-hand memory rule. So the things that I talk about that lead to financial independence, okay, fit on one hand. Okay. You do those 5 things, you'll do all right in life. And that's been my focus. Keep it simple. Keep it focused and make it fit on one hand.

Well, why don't you fill us in on what those 5 principles are?

Okay.

Well, number one is behaviors to avoid. Okay. You don't want to do certain things. If you do them, You ain't gonna make it. You won't be financially independent. Number 2 is behaviors to advance. And if you do these, they're gonna really help a lot through life. Number 3 is gain meaningful employment, doing something where you can make a contribution to your fellow man. Number 4 is invest wisely. You do 1, 2, 3, and 4, and then number 5 is you will be able to write your own success story, okay, about how you became financially independent. So, so, so those are the steps, okay? Behaviors to avoid. Behaviors to adopt, meaningful employment, relevant investing practices, and then write your story. Pretty simple.

Yeah.

Nice and to the point. And yeah, you can count it on 5 fingers. Well, from your decades of working with people, you just mentioned that, I guess, number one is The behaviors to avoid. So, can you elaborate a bit on what it is that you see most often is the problem that holds people back?

Well, the behaviors to avoid, I think it was Pope Gregory that brought it to our attention. It's called the 7 deadly sins. But, you know, it's greed, it's sloth, it's gluttony, it's lust, It's, you know, it's envy. Okay. But the one that I see as the biggest impediment, especially with youth, is pride. And pride is one of those things where you think you know it all. And when you think you know it all, there are a lot of things that you don't know. Okay. And especially for young people, they don't know what they don't No. But they're headstrong and they make mistakes. So, so of the behaviors to avoid, the, the one that I coach on the most is pride. To be accepting, to go— don't go with the latest social media buzz that's out there, to avoid what somebody is telling you to do rather than Talking to someone that is knowledgeable about money before you take a leap, before you take some money that you have. So be smart, okay? That'll go a long way. And then of course, you know, the other 6, they're there too for young folks. So we don't have to go into those. People know what they are.

That was 6. I don't have that many fingers on one hand.

Yeah, no, yeah, the ones to avoid. Well, it gets worse because the behaviors to adopt, uh, you know, step number 2, there's 14 of those. Okay, so you need fingers and toes to get there.

Well, of course, that's just what I was going to ask you. Let's turn it to the positive here. What are the The, I guess, probably don't want to go in all 14, but what are the top, what are the top 5 behaviors?

Okay, well, if we take a look at where we want to go here with the top 5, let's see, I'll sort this out. I got to think about it a little bit.

And Okay.

First one, top of the list, hard work. Okay. Nothing comes easy in life. So that's behavior number one, be prepared to work hard. The second is educate yourself. And this doesn't mean you have to educate yourself by going to college. It means that You need to develop a passion for the work that you do and then take the necessary steps so that you can become really, really good at doing it. And it can be working with it, with an apprentice, with a mentor. It can be trade school. It can be going to Community college. And then finally, yes, okay, some people want to go into professions where a college education is really going to help them a lot. So, so that's number 2. You can get— number 3 is you can get too intense between living life and working and educating and all that. So there's a balance in life. You have to have fun. You have to have some enjoyment. A way I like to think about it is a work hard, play hard environment. If you can create that for yourself. My, my grandson calls it maintaining his lifestyle. Okay. He doesn't want to work too hard. He doesn't want to educate himself too much. But at the same— so he can have a little bit of fun in life. Okay. So maintaining that. It's really important. Then you get into— you've got yourself a job, you've got your first revenue stream. How you spend it is really a guarantee into your future. Okay? You don't blow it. You're disciplined. Spending discipline. Lifestyle discipline. Focusing on what's important to you. Again, another subset of discipline. And then lastly, after your discipline, you live modestly. No extravagance, minimal debt. So you have money left over. At the end of every month to do some investing with it. Okay, and then there's 9 others. And the one thing I could tell you, Alan, from my overview of all these years is becoming an investor, a skilled investor or whatever you want, those things can be learned rather quickly and rather easily as you need to learn them. So they're kind of the bottom of the list, but, but they're there and they're important.

Yeah, yeah, I would say these really are key elements in, in success. I would just add to the work hard— you actually filled it in on the second one, and that is to add passion to that. And I think that, you know, a lot of people out there, I mean, they truly are working hard at really jobs that bring them absolutely no fulfillment, and yet they keep doing it year after year, and, and they don't get anywhere because there's essentially no passion there. And so, yeah, work hard, but bring that passion. I know for me that made all the difference in the world. And, you know, that's not always— that's not easy to find.

Yeah, no, I have to tell you a little story. Excuse me, I could Right. Tell you a little story about passion and work.

My—

one of my grandsons in his high school years picked up a job at UPS in a distribution center. Okay, now that's, that's not what you would call— for most, most people would say that's kind of a grunt job and all that kind of thing. But, but it's an ex— now what he did is, is an example of how you take a What could be considered a menial job and turn it into something that was passionate. Okay, and his slogan was, you have to be smarter than the box. And, and being smarter than the box led to his career advancement at UPS. He learned how to pack. the trucks more tightly and more compactly and get more boxes in than any of his peers. Okay. And he had fun doing that. And then when the boxes start moving around the factory floor or the warehouse floor, and you're going around doing these things, he got smarter than the box in that too. And being smarter than the box has led him to a career in logistics. Okay, well, he's still smarter than the box, so it's cool.

You know, that's always inspiring when young people find their passion early on, and because it is so important, I really do believe, to all of the other steps that follow that. And yes, you can find your passion in what could seem like a very menial, menial place. As we begin to close out here, as you reflect on your own journey today, what truth about money or independence do you wish that you had understood much earlier in your life, even if you were not ready to hear it at that time?

I was told by a very good working associate, okay, something I didn't want to hear. And that piece of advice, and we touched on it earlier, was don't do anything independently Without consulting someone else about what you want to do. It follows into the pride aspect of things. But I, throughout life, and I learned this in my 20s, almost any major decision I make, I do it in consult with someone else that I think is qualified to help me make it. Okay. And it can be financial, it can be emotional, it can be behavioral. Uh, you know, it's, it's everything in life. There's always someone other than yourself that you can turn to, to, to be your coach, to help you through a, a major decision in life. Uh, so even today, I'm an active investor. And I rarely work alone, okay, with making any investment decisions. I'll do it with a couple of people I know. And when I start businesses, I do it in consult with other people. So it's always a team effort.

Well, that brings us back to something you had said earlier, and that is That you just— you don't know what you don't know. And you were saying this is an issue with young people. Well, you know, I don't know what I don't know. And, you know, that is exactly why it is so important, like you just said, to consult with others when you're making major decisions because— You know, how can we know what we don't know, you know, when we're, when we're going into new ventures especially? So yeah, great advice there. Um, well, today's conversation was not about shortcuts or hype. It was about patience, responsibility, and the quiet discipline required to build true wealth, independence over a lifetime. Ron shared how unlearning false beliefs, focusing on consistent behavior, and thinking in long-term steps can fundamentally change not only how we build wealth but how we live with greater self-reliance and clarity. If you'd like to go deeper into Ron's work and get his book, you can go to Ghost Money: The Pathway to Financial Independence. And the best place to start is to go to his website, www.ghostmoneythebook.com. So as we close, I want to remind you of the gift that I mentioned earlier, and that is Beyond the Paycheck: The Financial Clarity Compass is a private mini educational masterclass designed To help you high-income professionals bring intention and structure to your wealth decisions. So you can access the gift at www.go.steedtucker.com/beyond-paycheck. So thank you for joining us today on Streams to Impact. Until next time, may your money serve your independence. Your values, and the life that you are intentionally building. Thank you so much, Ron, for being with us today.

Thank you, Alan.

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