HOW TO ACHIEVE FINANCIAL FREEDOM

This episode is brought to you by GlycanAge. As you know, I'm planning to live well for longer, so having a true measure of my biological age is essential. GlycanAge tests are based on over 3 decades of scientific research and give a true indicator of biological age by looking at your immune system and inflammaging level, all from the comfort of your own home with a simple finger prick test. Once you get your results back, their Healthspan doctors guide you on getting on an even healthier path to reducing your biological age through proven personalized lifestyle interventions, all included in the initial price. To find out your biological age and start improving your health, check out glycanage.com. That's glycanage.com. And use code Claudia, C-L-A-U-D-I-A, at checkout to get 15% off your order. Hello, wonderful listeners. I'm your host, Claudia von Boeselager, and welcome to the Longevity and Lifestyle Podcast, where I invite pioneers and thought leaders in all things longevity and lifestyle to give you the strategies, tools, and practices to live better and help you reach your highest potential. Today's guest is Wall Street veteran turned entrepreneur Andy Gupta. In his 20-plus years on Wall Street, Andy invested in over 100 companies across geographic markets, navigating 3 financial crises and economic recessions successfully. Andy is now on a mission to teach what he knows to help people learn about the importance of getting started investing and growing their wealth investing in the stock market using index funds with confidence, ease, and a manageable time commitment. At his company, Anyone Can Invest Now, and in his courses, he teaches clients to go from novice to confident stock market investor in 30 days, as well as teaching everything he knows from his costliest mistakes to the proprietary tools tools he has developed to the best way to create a DIY portfolio that's custom-built for you. Andy made his way on a scholarship from India to Singapore, Lafayette College, and later to Harvard Business School. His years at Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street firms helped him hone his time-tested investment philosophy and strategy. In this episode, we dig into defining financial freedom, wealth building, and the power of compounding, the importance of keeping it simple, the journey to discovering a life's purpose and meaning, choosing the high road of integrity, and much more. A little disclaimer for you: this episode is for informational entertainment purposes only and does not warrant financial advice. Please always consult your financial advisor before making investment decisions suitable for you. And before we begin, please hit subscribe to the podcast and share with those who could use this information. I would also love to hear from you, so please leave a comment below or let me know what you think on Instagram @longevityandlifestyle. Please enjoy.

Andy, welcome to the Longevity and Lifestyle podcast. It's such a pleasure to have you on today.

Oh, it's so great to be here, Claudia. Thank you so much for having me.

My pleasure. And I'd like to start with your interesting philosophy about keeping things simple. Can you talk about that?

Sure. Well, you know, just take a look at me. Blue t-shirt, right? This is pretty much— I have maybe 10 blue t-shirts and then my luxuries when I go to the gray t-shirt. And I asked my wife for a Christmas present for a blue t-shirt and she said, "Come on, you've got so many." But this is probably the best example I could give you is living life simply. For me, that's been a philosophy that's been very important. And we'll get into this. I didn't grow up with a lot, but really the philosophy came when I first started my job at Goldman Sachs and there was a billion-dollar deal. It was my first, first, first assignment. At Goldman, and I had an amazing mentor, this woman, she was a vice president. And she said, Andy, one of the things where we excel is if you can break down complexity into simple, you will have an edge in your career and you will have an edge over our competitors. And I kept that in mind. And that has come true not only throughout my career, which we'll get into, but really in life as well. My whole thing is about investing well. And if I can cut out noise, if I can cut out complexity, it helps me be in a better place of peace and joyfulness and makes me surprisingly a better investor. So there we go. A blue t-shirt.

Amazing. You have, as you said, a background in finance, but I hear you have a funny story that demonstrates that you're not really the typical Wall Street guy. Something to do with the due diligence trip to Tokyo. Can you share the details?

Sure. So one of the things that I have tried to live by is not to take myself too seriously. And if I am in a serious environment, I, not very intentionally, but I try and bring my true unserious self to bear. So this is the time when I lived in Australia, worked at an investment bank. And we were in Tokyo looking at a company that we wanted to buy. And it was a long day and we were doing research on the company, meeting with the senior executives, what we call diligence, a fancy word, jargon. And at the end of the day, we decided to meet up for drinks at a bar. So it was about 12 people, all in suits, our side, as well as the other side. And I mean, everybody gets their beers. It was a tad bit late. So I see a whole group of men and women in suits gathering. Everybody had a beer. And I show up to the bar and I come in and bring my very fruity cocktail, curvy glass with an umbrella. And everybody noticed. And I didn't do it intentionally. It's just, I love a fruity cocktail. If I'm going to have something to drink, I'm going to enjoy it. Not saying, you know, do I have to be all serious? So anyway, that was just a great example. Of course, it created a lot of laughs. It calmed the whole environment down, it was a great icebreaker, I got to be myself. But, you know, I usually show up as— someone said you're most creative when you don't take yourself seriously and can live life, it's more fun.

I totally agree with you as well. It's so freeing when you just realize that it doesn't really matter and that most people are thinking about themselves 99% of the time and not actually worrying about you. So yeah, it's a lot more fun. I agree.

Yes.

Andy, can you share some of your personal background and what along your journey were the biggest insights and impacts for you that has shaped who you are today?

I grew up in Mumbai, and it was a very different India. This was in the '80s and '90s. In fact, we didn't even have Coca-Cola in the country. So very different India back then. And I didn't grow up with a lot of wealth. And I really aspired. You know, my dad had these magazines on my coffee table, Fortune magazines. I would read up about CEOs, men and women. And I really aspired to go to Harvard Business School. I wanted to create something for myself, not just because I knew very much about Harvard Business School, but a lot of the CEOs I read about happened to have gone there. And this was this big dream that I had, but I had no idea how to get there, right? We didn't have a lot of money. We didn't even vacation overseas. But my first step came when I won a scholarship to go to Singapore for high school. It was a fascinating experience. Everything was new for me. I remember hiding behind one of the school pillars and watching people use the vending machine because I don't want to embarrass myself because I had never seen a vending machine before. And then I came to the States for college. I was lucky to get a scholarship, but I did need to work 20 hours a week. I had 5 jobs, right, to help pay for school. You could find me everywhere. I was the guy who was showing the movies on Saturday night, right? I was at the information desk. If people follow Peppa Pig, I was like Mrs. Rabbit, right? Everywhere. I had every job on campus, but that was needed. I needed to do that to be able to pay for school and have the privilege of attending college in the United States. And then look, I defied all odds and ended up on Wall Street. 20-year career there. Started at Goldman Sachs, which is a story in itself, but was very lucky to be there in the mergers and acquisitions department. Terrific experience. And fast forward, I spent about 20 years on Wall Street, went to Harvard Business School, did achieve that dream that I had as a 12-year-old boy. And here I am.

So wonderful, Andy. And I'd love to just dig into those moments and deep dive to what made you decide to go for a scholarship to be educated in Singapore and What was the moment also to decide to Goldman and then to Harvard Business School? Can you just dive into those specific moments in time?

Yeah, sure. Look, Singapore was something that came out of the blue. Again, this was an India that was just starting to be open to foreign investment. I had never met anyone who was not Indian. Can you believe that? Never, right? And here I was in 10th grade, 14 years old, Satellite TV had just come in and, you know, I started seeing life outside India and I was very inspired and I wanted to break away. I wanted to do something on my own. I've been pretty ambitious from a young age. And it just happened that I saw an ad for a scholarship and the Ministry of Education Singapore would give out a handful of scholarships to kids in India. I think about 10 scholarships a year. To come study in the country. And it was their way to bring talent into the country with the hope that people stay on for college and then in the workforce. It was a terrific opportunity for me, and gosh, thousands applied, and about 10 got the coveted scholarship. And I went to a local school in Singapore, and it was the most amazing, amazing experience for me, both in terms of development Imagine growing up in a homogeneous country and now being on my own in a, for me, a very foreign place and culture. And it really helped me start the development process of who I am. So that was Singapore. And I remember meeting someone who came through Singapore. He's a missionary and he was attending college in the United States. And that was the first American I met. And he told me about college in the US and I was very inspired. By the education system in the country. And I wanted to apply, but I had no money. And I applied to the top schools, and I got into an Ivy League school with no scholarship. And I had a chance to go to Lafayette College, which is a very good school, but I had to work for the part that was not covered by scholarships. I was very lucky to have gotten into Lafayette College. Very lucky. It was an amazing, amazing experience for me. Life-changing.

You say very lucky, Andy, but there's an expression that I really like around luck and it's the harder you work, the luckier you get. So I doubt that these opportunities just fell on your lap, right? I'm sure you worked very hard to get them.

That's true, Claudia. I did work very hard because for me there was no safety net, and I knew that it was not just focusing on academics, right? From a very young age, my father inspired me to really be an all-rounder, be good at sports, be good in extracurriculars. So it's not just about academics, because I knew that to go from not having much wealth to create opportunities for the next generation— and perhaps I am the generation that's the transient generation— that there's a lot of responsibility. We got to have fun, but there's a lot of work to be done. So Harvard Business School was a really interesting story. Like I said, it was a dream of mine to go to Harvard Business School since I was a 12-year-old boy. Usually with me, I just have Plan A and no Plan B. I like to set goals high because I think that's one of my mantras is, again, given I didn't come from a place where I had a safety net, I had to dream big. I had to aspire to something that was big, almost impossible for me, and then go get it. So Harvard Business School was an interesting story where I went through Goldman Sachs, my 2-year program, a very typical sort of an analyst program. And My friends wanted to go work at private equity, hedge fund. I want to go to HBS, Harvard Business School. I applied and I didn't get in, and it was devastating, right? It was devastating. And of course, out of integrity, I did not apply to any other jobs because I would have had to accept them before I would have heard from HBS. So out of integrity, I didn't apply to those jobs. So I end up with no job and no HBS. Then that was one of my first life lessons is I panicked and I took the first job I got and ended up at this job, private equity job in Washington, DC, which was just the wrong fit for me. And I faced a pretty serious decision is, do I quit after only 2 months where every day was a misery? And then I never get into HBS because does HBS accept quitters? No. And the other thing was I was not a citizen of the United States then. So if I left the job, that meant I had to leave the country. And I remember facing this hard decision, and I chose that I'm going to act out of a place of integrity and a place of joy and fulfillment where I'm not going to subject myself to a work environment that is toxic. And I chose to leave. And that meant I possibly gave up my dream of going to HBS because HBS, in my view, didn't accept quitters because I was quitting. I pulled every cent out of my retirement account and I moved to Australia. It still makes me emotional of how does it feel to pull every cent out of your retirement account to start life back from ground zero. And I did that.

What was that self-talk at the time, Andy? That must have been really fundamental. You had gone on this incredible journey to getting to the US, being able to apply to HBS and then to have to make this fundamental decision that's a moral decision. You're so unhappy in this new job. You're only there 2 months, and you might be giving up your dream. What were the thoughts and the self-talk that was going through your mind to make such an important decision?

Yeah, very much so. And this was still my formative time in my career. I still did not have wealth. Like I said, I had to pull out every cent from my 401(k). So I've talked about my story. The pain was very deep within me because here I was, had worked so hard. I was about 24 at that time, worked so hard to have these successes, to win the scholarship to go to Singapore, to win the scholarship to come to Lafayette College, to work 20 hours a week, so much work to get into Goldman Sachs, defying all odds, working 90-hour weeks, right? Having achieved all that, being on the trajectory of Well, shouldn't life just be linearly up? That was my belief, right? It had been that way. And here I was after all that work, I was on this trajectory to be faced with a decision of self-doubt. Am I a quitter? And what are the consequences for me of quitting? And the consequences were grave. And that was really, I think, the first time my integrity got tested. Do I stay in a place where I feel my values are not aligned? And what is the cost of that decision? The cost was pretty grave. Giving up on my dream. Remember, I was dreaming since I was 12 and I was 24-ish now, 25. Giving up on this path. I was on a private equity job. It was pretty good. Giving up on that. And then giving up being in the US. I couldn't stay here. I had to leave. And it was gut-wrenching, but I made the decision. And in hindsight, that was the best decision. It really was.

So you packed up and went to the other side of the world?

I did. I packed up and I moved. My sister was in Australia, which is why I picked Australia, and I moved to Sydney and I started from scratch. And one of the first things I realized is you can be in a new country of very friendly country, and it feels lonely. And that sense of loneliness was so great that I, for the first time, felt, how do people who are alone, how do they feel? You can be surrounded by so many and one could still feel lonely. And that's the first time I felt that feeling. And my heart goes out and I actively seek out people who might be feeling that way because I felt that. But soon enough, I made friends. I put myself out there. I had a great job. It was great being with my sister, terrific friends who I'm still in touch with, dear, dear friends. It was a beautiful time. I was able to rebuild, restart, had a terrific career at Macquarie Bank, wonderful bosses, still in touch with them. They're my mentors. And a couple of years later, decided I want to apply to Harvard Business School. 'Cause you only apply, you only go when you're in your 20s, right? Otherwise it gets too late. And I said, I'm going to apply to one school and I'm doing great in Australia, doing well in my career, but I'll apply to one school. If I get in, that's God's message. And if I don't, I tried, I tried for the second time. Well, that's God's message too. And I applied and a lot of self-doubt. I still remember I couldn't get the words Harvard Business School out of my mouth. When I went to my boss for the recommendation, I went to the bathroom and practiced. Because I felt he's going to laugh me out of the room. That was the level of self-doubt in me. But I did, I applied, and I got in, and it was a really, really amazing time, the 2 years there. It's about to be my 15-year reunion this summer.

Incredible. Well done, Andy, for persevering and overcoming that self-doubt. And I think that's such an important lesson for everyone. And I think actually Dean, from the course that we do together, mentioned that everyone faces fear. It's a natural human instinct, but it's what you do with it that differentiates people. And it's also a muscle that you can train, right? So the more that you face things that fear you and overcome them, you build up the confidence to be like, you know what, there's going to be fear there, but I'm okay. So my heart goes out to you. It really sounds like it was quite the emotional journey, but it succeeded from there. So huge congratulations. A few rapid-fire questions for you, Andy, before we dig deeper into finance. Do you have a favorite quote or piece of advice that was a real game changer for you?

I think one of my favorite quotes is, "If not now, then when?" And I think that resonates across so many aspects of life. When we're feeling fearful, when we're feeling self-doubt, back then in Washington, D.C., when I'm faced with that choice, do I do this or not? 'If not now, then when?' is a pretty powerful quote.

I really like that. Thinking of the word successful, Andy, who's the first person that comes to mind and why?

Well, I think my parents. In spite of the challenges that we had growing up as kids, in spite of the challenges that they had between them, I think as parents whatever their maturity levels were at that time. I think as parents, they really did their— sorry, I get emotional. I think they did their best. And while there were consequences, not all of them positive, I can appreciate the challenges that they both faced emotionally with each other and in life. But they did their best to raised me and my sister may not be the traditional success that people from the outside view, but I would like to call them successful for what they did, given what they faced.

Well, it's a lovely tribute, Andy. Do you have any particular morning routine to set yourself up for success for the day?

Oh yes, it's a new thing. And it's since I've taken this step towards doing something on my own that I've been able to bring this routine in. And there are two joys in life for me, and they're simple. I like keeping things simple. It's making my morning coffee with my wife and enjoying that morning time with my kids, with my wife, enjoying that morning coffee with her. And then taking one of my kids, depends which one on the day, to school. And the drop-off time, drop-off and pickups, I like to do both, are one of my most cherished times in the day. And I really, really enjoy it. Holding their little hands, walking with them, hearing whatever's on their mind. And quite often it's hilarious, or them practicing the words to a Peppa Pig song or Sophia the First song, and I love it. And when I start into my goofy dance along with them, sometimes they'll encourage it, sometimes they'll shush me and ask me to be quiet. But those are my favorite morning routines.

Beautiful. Yeah, it's so great to be able to really connect with kids and play at their level sometimes as well. And we have like dance parties in the kitchen sometimes. Someone actually talked it off. They told me they have evening dance parties with their daughter with glow sticks. Every night, and I thought, that's really cool. I need to up my game with our dance party.

Glow sticks are fun.

I thought that was pretty cool. When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused or lost your focus temporarily, what do you do?

It happens every day, multiple times during the day. So there are a couple of practices that I like doing. So one is I meditate. And I practice TM, but really any form of meditation helps bring the focus back. And that's important. The second thing I like doing is, again, in the spirit of keeping things simple, is trying to see what is distracting me. And it's quite often a trigger. That's how our human minds and bodies react and behave is to something we've heard, something we're thinking about, something we've read that then triggers a certain emotion. And I've been now for a couple of years being actively practicing recognizing if I'm feeling a certain way, it's because of a trigger. And quite often we are so unconscious of recognizing just that one step. What's causing my lack of focus? What's causing my current distress? And I go back to ego, which of course is fear, greed, overwhelm, whatever that might be. And actively recognizing— I'm doing a lot of work on this— is what's causing this trigger. Often it's ego reflecting back on what's causing that fear, what's causing that self-doubt, what's causing that anxiety. Is it a conversation? Am I trying to be better than the other person? Whatever that might be, right? It's a big topic, ego. So actively recognizing that and then once you recognize it, you can eliminate it, right? That's the beauty of recognizing. That's the first step. You recognize it. And then if you're actually working on eliminating ego from your thought, from your body, then you do that and then you feel better. And then you come back to feeling yourself. So I try and do that. I'm not successful all the time. I'm probably successful 25% of the time, but that's better than 0%. And I'm actively working on improving my success ratio there. But that's something that I do.

I love that. And this is also something I've been working on for several years as well. And I think it's realizing that you have a choice, what's triggering you. I mean, the way I find it is more a childhood belief, right? So, you know, you come into the world and figure out how things work, and you develop these childhood belief systems that you then bring into adulthood if you're not fully aware of what's actually behind it, what's driving you, and why do you have such an emotional reaction to something. It's like the emotional reaction you had when you were 4 years old.

That's right.

We don't even realize what we're doing. And so I think, you know, as you said yourself, one is the awareness or the consciousness of, you know, actually, this person said this to me, which, you know, normally wouldn't really care, but it's because it's triggering in me that thing that happened to me when I was 4 years old, when I was, you know, helpless, right? And so I think it's such freedom that you were saying, and I think through the journey, and I guess it's part of the hero's journey as well, that You know, you work on yourself and you start realizing things, and you realize that you do have that choice to separate from, as you call it, the ego, or, you know, that catalog of stories and things that we tell ourselves that actually realizes, you know, that's not us, that's just a childhood belief that we can separate from.

So yeah, it's so empowering, isn't it, Claudia, when you learn to recognize? It's not easy to learn to recognize. That's work in itself. But once you do, it's pretty empowering.

Yeah. And it's not that you are completely free of it, as you were saying as well, but sometimes I find myself stressed and like, what's going on? And then I just have to laugh at myself. I'm like, oh, there we go, ego or whatever again, you know. And then you can kind of just laugh it off and like, okay, now what do I really want without this emotional charge? So super fascinating area, and I think it's so, so freeing and leads to really such a much more happier life where you make choices from the heart than from what you're supposed to do, whoever made up that supposed to, right?

So it opens up a space for you, it opens up a space for a lot of creativity, and it opens up the space to be present with those who are your loved ones around you. And I've found that it just makes life just so much more fulfilling.

Yeah, I had a mentor once who said, you know, try and see the awe in everything. And I like the word awe because it's almost like this childhood awe, like, wow, I've got hands, you know. And taking it to another level, like, just being curious about things again and not always being like, I have all the answers and I know everything, but actually like, that's really interesting, this perspective. Maybe we should be looking at this in a completely different way. Yeah, a topic I love. So digging in a little bit there. But Andy, let's change gears and talk about the incredible work you're doing now. And I'd like to start on how you define financial freedom.

Sure. So I've thought a lot about financial freedom and what success and what's what that means to me. And of course, you know, we've talked about my story and that journey. And for me today, my definition of financial freedom is back to simplicity. It's for me to be able to have the freedom to be able to choose that I can drop my kids off to school every day and having that freedom that I can pick them up every day. I don't want to miss those. I want to be able to do that, that my mornings are interrupted, that I am not having to answer to a phone call or a meeting or look at what's happening in the markets, but actually focus on my wife and my kids and enjoy that morning coffee. So that freedom and being able to do that is how I define financial freedom. And of course, it's got layers of depth within it, but on the surface, that's how I define it. And second is an ability to make a difference to something that's very dear to me. And look, I grew up with a lot of fear of something happening to my parents and my sister and I being thrown out in the streets of Mumbai, which is a pretty scary thought. And this fear of being orphaned as a child was very vivid and very alive every day. It still lives within me, and it's scary, and it's odd. We talked about childhood fears and triggers. So that fear was very vivid. And what's deeply meaningful for me is to be able to help children, help children who have been orphaned. I want to do more around supporting good orphanages that are doing wonderful work for the children. And being able to do that is also how I define my financial freedom, enjoying time with my family, but being able to contribute to a cause that's very personal and very dear to me.

That's beautiful, Andy. What a great mission. Can you talk a bit more about the work you're doing now and potentially from transitioning away from HBS, and then you went into a hedge fund, right? So you're working in a hedge fund as well. How did you decide to change your career to what you're doing now? Can you set some background and context for those listening?

So I spent about 20 years on Wall Street. I started my career at Goldman Sachs in the mergers and acquisitions department. And I of course worked in Australia at an investment bank. And post-Harvard Business School, I worked at a multi-billion-dollar private equity firm. Private equity is another form of investing on Wall Street where you buy companies outright and you own the companies for a number of years. So that's private equity. So I did that for 6 years. And then I went and worked at a hedge fund where essentially it's you're buying public stocks. You don't take ownership of the company, but you're buying public stocks. And I did that for a number of years. So I spent about 20 years on Wall Street. Well, one of the things that was deep within me ever since I met my wife 12 years ago, she's a doctor and she makes a difference to people every day, real people every day. And that really moved me, especially given the kind of environment that I grew up in, wanting to make a difference for people but not knowing how. And here I was doing big deals, making investments, making money for endowments and foundations. That's all great, right? But I'm not seeing the impact on a person. How am I using my skill set? And it ate away at me, like, how am I making a difference? And finally, I came across an opportunity to teach my niece, who's a senior at college. She was visiting. Hey, can I sit down with you and teach you how to invest? I'm thinking about this. And in 3 hours, she's an architecture major, brilliant student, but no finance background. In 3 hours, she went and designed her own portfolio. And I was amazed. And we spent another 3 hours over the next couple of weeks. And she was investing in what's called a robo-advisor. These things are quite popular now where they automatically invest your portfolio. She moved money from there, half of it, into Fidelity. And as she'd been investing, she's been investing now for 6 months, I recently spoke to her. How's your investment fund doing, by the way, compared to the robo-advisor? She's like, I'm beating it. The empowerment that I saw in her, right? She's 21, but the empowerment that I saw in her that no one's going to tell her how to invest her money, that this is one area of life that seems so complex and so mystical that she can take charge and she can take ownership in creating her own wealth, and that she finally understands it. Let alone the fact that she's beating the robo-advisor, that's a different story, but she's controlling her outcome. She doesn't have to outsource it to anyone. She is in charge. And I saw that empowerment in her eyes, and that was the joy I was looking for. And I said, I think I've found this. If I did this with one person, can I do it with more? So I did a course for 20 people, similar sense of empowerment. And I said, maybe I'm onto something here, because I looked around and I said, is there anyone who's teaching us how to invest? And look, I went to Harvard Business School. Even there, we didn't learn the A to Z of investing, even at Harvard Business School. How stock, for an example, can I give you? And when you look around each one of us, you are a rock star. Others are rock stars. Everyone of your audience, they are rock stars in what you do. But let me ask you this. Who has taught us how to invest? No one. We're on our own. And I found this great opportunity to say, I'm doing great on Wall Street. But I finally found this joy of empowering other people. And I have my version of financial freedom. So why don't I pivot to something I've been searching for such a long time, especially empowering women? It's another story we could go into. But men and women, let's do this full-time. So I came across some tools and resources to be able to build courses. And after teaching my course 3 times, I have finally launched a course with 17 amazing students, and we had a kickoff last night. And my promise is that I'm gonna empower you with the knowledge and the skill set to finally take your first step toward your financial freedom, however you define it, without gimmicks, without BS, without jargon. And that empowerment is going to transcend through all parts of your life. Of course it will, right? And After my 30-day course, which is live small group cohort-based, is I'll take you from being a novice or a beginner investor, maybe you are not even an investor yet, to you having built your own portfolio in 30 days that's ready to invest and that's custom to you. So it's very empowering. I'm super excited. I've seen results before. I just can't wait to do more of this.

Claudia von Boeselager: It sounds really exciting. And maybe for those listening who are not familiar with this topic, Can you talk a little bit about the importance of just getting started?

Yeah. Look, it's very important to get started. And of course, it's easiest when we start earlier the better, in our 20s, maybe as teenagers, because there's this concept of compounding, right? We can go into the 3 mistakes that average investors make. But before that, what keeps us on the sidelines is fear. Look, is the market going to crash? Why don't I just wait for the market to crash and then come back in? The problem is you can't time the market, and we can go to a really interesting statistic there. But the second is the concept of compounding. So say I have $1,000, right? And I invest $1,000 and say the market gives me a— let's just make the math easy— 10%, right? So I've got 10% on $1,000, so I've earned $100 during the year, right? Now next year, my balance starts with $1,100, and say the market gives me another 10%, right? So now I've earned 10% on $1,100, right? So I've earned $110. So I've earned $10 more. Now this seems like Mickey Mouse money, right? Andy, big deal, I earned $10 more. Come on, that's like 2 lattes at Starbucks, right? What's the big deal? And therein lies the problem, because we don't notice these small changes for the— I would say for the first 10 years, right? Compounding really kicks in after 15 years, 16, 20, and that's when the increment that you're earning is like just growing so big. It is phenomenal. I got to show this to you on a spreadsheet because the human mind cannot comprehend how big the difference is. Let me just give you an example, very simple example, and I teach this in one of my free workshops. So think of two of my friends. They're both comedians, they're both 30 years old, and they've just won their first contract, and they both earn $80,000 a year, right? Think of this as an individual's income or your household income. And they both save 15%, so about $1,000 a month, so 15% of their pre-tax income, which usually people put in retirement, whatever. So they both save that money, $1,000, right, every month. Now one of my friends, Prince, decides to put it in the bank, right? He doesn't want to invest, he's scared. My other friend Natasha decides to invest in the market. And look, historically the market has earned about 7% over the last 22 years, the U.S. market. And let's say inflation is 2.5%, right? I know I'm throwing a lot of jargon here, but we'll keep it simple. So inflation is 2.5%, that's how things get expensive every year. Both of them earn $80,000 a year, and let's assume they earn that throughout their careers.. And Prince keeps putting it in the bank, the 15%, the $1,000 a month, and Natasha keeps investing it. By the time they retire at the age of 65, Natasha has close to $2 million, but inflation adjusted, it's about a little over $1 million, right? Prince, inflation adjusted, They earned the same amount of money. They put exactly the same amount of money away. Natasha retired with $1 million inflation adjusted. Prince has $300,000. He will have to work for the rest of his life past retirement. He cannot retire. And that is the most vivid example I can give you of the power of compounding and starting early and building significant generational wealth.

Yeah, and basically earning money while you sleep, right? You're not being paid for an hour of input but actually just putting it aside. And 15%, you know, it's not half of your salary, right? It's a percentage and it just grows exponentially. So for all those listeners out there, get started. It's never too late and better to get started, right?

Yeah, it's better to get started. Again, the best thing is like, yeah, should I have gotten started when I was 20? Sure, But if I'm 30, if I'm 40, if I'm 50, we still have hopefully long lives ahead of us that we can invest. But the second thing is, of course, is learning how to invest that well. Let's not put all that money into one asset class or one stock or what the hype is of the day. It's important to learn how to invest that money systematically in a smart way so that we're not succumbing to What is the flavor of the day, or what is the hype? So let's understand how to invest that well. And that's my mission, is to teach people that it's not complex. You can put in the upfront time, and then once you put in the upfront time, you spend less than half an hour a week.

Can you break that down and explain to people? There's a few terms you use that they mightn't be used to. So one is about a diversified portfolio, and then how does one set something up and then only spend half an hour doing it? That is growing so exponentially?

Sure. So look, I'll give you my secret sauce. At the end of the day, it's pretty simple. So what does diversification mean, right? That's jargon. So the best way to explain is— are you a dancer, Claudia von Boeselager?

I like to dance. I don't know if I'm any good at it, but I like to dance.

Yeah, yeah. See, I'm a bad dance partner, right? I literally dance like a duck. When we got married and I took dance lessons, my dance instructor was like, Andy, you move like a duck. And I'm a bad dance partner, right? But my wife still likes me. That's good. But the reason I bring this up is the whole idea, what is a diversified investment portfolio, is basically choosing bad dance partners. So what does that mean? You want to pick investments, and I'll break that down in a second, you want to pick investments that are bad dance partners. That is, they don't quite move in sync with each other. They're bad dance partners. So for example, what we call the Joggerness Correlation, let's forget about that term. Let's see what bad dance partners. So for example, gold doesn't quite move in tandem with the US stock market. That is a great asset class to throw into your investment portfolio. International equities, so international stocks, I'm speaking from the US perspective. So say you have US stocks, and you have European stocks, they don't quite move one-to-one together. Emerging markets don't quite move one-to-one with European stocks or with US stocks. Bonds, fixed income doesn't quite move together. So you can go into some layers, but again, keeping it simple, you can create an investment portfolio. The portfolio is basically what you assemble together, your money in different investment funds. Look, you don't need to have more than 5 to 10. It's an idea of simplifying your investment portfolio. You choose 5 to maybe 10 bad dance partners so that you're not overexposed to one geography. You're not overexposed to one asset class like equities or fixed income, or quite often we like real estate, so most of our money's in real estate. That's also not great for long-term wealth building. So you combine these asset classes that are bad dance partners, and there's an art and a science to it, but let's keep it simple. It doesn't have to be complex. And you find this and you find the right ratios that are right for you, for your risk, for your investment horizons, for your value system. And once you put in the upfront time and you've created this portfolio, which is based on long-term trends,— then short-term trends shouldn't mean that you need to go change your portfolio because again, you're a long-term investor. You're not looking for a get-rich-quick scheme. So short-term things shouldn't make a difference. And the half an hour that you're spending is really reading up news because once you invest in 5 to 10 funds, you can keep on top of them. Say one of your investments is Japan. You invest in the Japanese stock market. Naturally, you'll be learning, you'll be reading what's going on in Japan. So it's those kinds of one-degree incremental changes that you're making. And then every 3 months you come back and you, what we call, rebalance your portfolio. You go through the steps that you did when you first set up your portfolio, see if there's some new thinking you're learning, and then you're off to the races for another 3 months. And then as you learn more, you keep making some shifts. As your life goals change, you change that portfolio. But this is not something where you're looking at the stock market every day. Every week. You're actually living your joyous life, but you know you're not gambling with your money. You know that you've understood the concepts and you've put your money— you invested your money thoughtfully and systematically.

And that empowerment is so great, it's so beautiful. And the fact that it's just half an hour a week, right? I mean, do you have some client examples of successes or game-changing lifestyle changes that came out of investing this way?

A couple examples. One is a new student who's just signed up for my course. And, you know, look, I'm a father of two, and I know how demanding it is wanting to juggle everything in life right now. My friend, he's got three kids, and he is a very smart professional. He's doing really well. But he's spending 5 hours a week trading, and because he doesn't quite fully understand it, he's only investing maybe 5 to 6% of his income. So he's not even moving the needle because he's not playing full out, and he's spending 5 hours a week on this. And after my course— and it's not just to talk about my course, but the change this person, my friend, is going to make is Having understood the investment concepts, he'll feel more confident about putting more of his wealth and invest more of his wealth so that will actually move the needle. And it's going to save him 4.5 hours a week to spend time with his wife and kids. And that just makes me so happy that it's a win-win on both fronts for him and how satisfying What are the memories and experiences that he's going to create this point forward? So I'm just so excited about the change that I'm about to see in his life and that he's about to see. And the second example I could give you is of my niece. You know, my niece who I told you about, who invests, has been investing for 6 months and just started out. Days when the market goes down, I send her a quick text message saying, hey, by the way, don't worry about it. This is why the market is down. She's like, Andy, I'm not even worried about it. You know, I don't look at the market every day. I'm a long-term investor.

How great is that? How empowering at 20 as well. I mean, as you said, it's not taught. And I mean, I find it, you know, so incredible. But yeah, it's not even taught in business school. How does one invest personally? You know, you learn professionally, and especially if you go into finance, and I have a background in finance as well, but you're not taught, you know, this is how you do your own portfolio.

Why not?

Right? We should be really teaching our kids, you know, that this is how to do it and build wealth from a young age. So amazing that the work that you're doing. And did you have any practices to be a smart investor and keep calm?

I think one of the best things that you can do as an investor is to cut the noise out. Right? And what do I mean by that? News channels, right? There's so many news channels. There's so many periodicals, there's forums, right? What is all this? It gives me a headache. Most of it is gibberish. Most of it is nonsense. Most of it is quite often promoting— whoever is speaking is promoting their agenda. Most of it is noise. I don't listen to most of it because it's just gonna cloud my mind with noise and distraction. I like to go into the quiet of my own mind. At the end of the day, I think investing, once you learn the handful of investment concepts and terms, investing is common sense. All of us have a lifetime of judgments, mistakes, and experiences. We can make so much money investing in ideas and companies that we use and understand well. Quite often that can come with an understanding of some basic terms and concepts, and having the space in our minds to think quietly, especially on a day like yesterday when the market is going down big and fear sets in and panic sets in and the primitive mind takes over, which is designed to see a saber-toothed tiger and freeze or panic and sell and run. And what works well for me is Taking that moment of quiet, there is no rush. Think carefully, recognize what the trigger is that's causing the deep pain in my gut, or whatever it might be. Cut out the noise, speak to a trusted friend, or listen to the one or two people that I respect, and then think back and think through the strategies and say, do I make a decision? Do I sell? Do I buy? Do I trim? Or do I do nothing? So if I were to summarize that, it is simply to cut out the noise and find that inner calm and inner space to think quietly with logic and reason.

Such wise words for many decisions, I would say, in life, obviously for investing. But I think I heard a quote to a podcast that I listened to, and they said if everyone before making a strong argument would ask 3 questions and really think about it and listen, the world would be such a much better place. And listen to yourself and, you know, have a conversation and just have that inner calm.

Yeah, what he said is golden, right?

Quite often we don't think before we speak, and if you just took that, you know, 2 minutes or a minute to ask also 3 questions, I think is really good because it forces you to formulate what you're fearing or uncertain of.

I love that. I'm gonna try that, Claudia. That is great. I'm gonna try that today.

I need to start implementing it. I heard it this morning as well on a podcast I was listening to. So yeah, I thought it was really phenomenal because how quickly are we to, you know, the mind goes to quickly making, okay, that's, you know, assuming it's this and then making decisions based off of that. Or that's how my mind is wired. And instead actually saying, you know, is it really this? And how can you ask 3 good questions around it? So Goes hand in hand with good investing, I guess, right? I think so, yeah. What are some bad recommendations you hear in your profession?

One in particular, and it's all around get-rich-quick schemes. When people don't know what they don't know, it's easy to fall prey to someone teaching something that's very simple I've heard so many people try and teach, look at these 3 signals. When these 3 signals turn green or when these 3 signals point up, that's the time to buy. And when these 3 signals turn red or point down, that's the time to sell. And look at this, I've bought, sold, bought, sold, bought, sold, and I've doubled my money every month or I've doubled my money every year. And then I'm sure there's some paid actors that they get and they say, look, the course paid for itself. And This person is godsend, right? I worked off all my debt and in 2 years I'm a millionaire. It really hurts me to see those kind of gimmicks out there, and a lot of people fall prey to it because they don't know any better. Just, I think the thing to remember is there is no, there is no shortcut, right? Like, even with my course, I'm saying you got to put in the 15 hours of work during my 30 days. It's not, you're going to learn through osmosis. There is work involved, you understand that. And then you get to a point where it becomes a little easier. So that's number one. But number two, that is very often commonly done, and before I realized it, I did it too, so I come from personal experience, is asking a friend who seems so knowledgeable about what they're doing is, hey, can you give me your 5 best ideas to invest in the market right now? I've done this before, way back, way back when. I get asked this all the time. And let me just bust the disbelief and that'll become very evident for people why. Like right now, it's like, Andy, why should I ask you for your 5 best ideas right now? Here is why. One is my investment goals, my risk, my values are different from yours, are different from the third person. So what I might suggest today is based on my personal blueprint, which could be completely different from yours, right? So that's number one. That in itself should be like, okay, well, I shouldn't be asking Andy unless I ask him what all his risk goals are. Do they align with me? That's number one. But number two is these might be my five best ideas today. A month from now, what if I change one of those ideas? Or what if I made a mistake? I'm not God, right? Out of those five, I actually realized, oh my God, I wake up tomorrow and said that analysis that I did was just completely busted and I did it wrong. And that's actually something I should sell. That's not one of my best ideas. Oh shoot, I made a mistake. Am I going to start calling all my friends who I recommended my 5 best ideas to? Now fast forward 2 months, 6 months, a year. I'm not going to be calling people saying, hey, I changed my mind and these are my latest 5 ideas.

Yeah, you're not being paid to do that.

Exactly. No. So it's one of the very common things people do. It's easy to fall prey to, let me ask you 5 best ideas. But why give up your sovereignty when you can empower yourself to find your own 5 best ideas?

Yeah, and I like that word empower because it's so true. I mean, how much more exciting is it to put in a bit of work to understand the stock or the company that you want to invest in and then see it do well, or maybe not so well. But if you're a long-term investor, I mean, the market goes up, I think it's from the 1920s that It's like a nice wave, but it's a wave that goes north, right? So again, to the point of, you know, getting in at some point and not trying to always find the best day to, to go in. And maybe you mentioned before, there's a great statistic around.

It's so memorable, Claudia. I'm so glad you asked. Oh, okay. I would love to share this with your viewers because it is so memorable and it actually got me out of a big mess, a huge, huge mess. Can I share with you what that big mess was? All right, so COVID hits in March, right? So COVID's hit in March 2020. I am about to step into my entrepreneurial venture, so I have no income coming in, and my wealth is invested in the stock market. It's diversified. We talked about what diversification is. But all right, I've been doing this for 20 years. All my wealth is invested in the stock market. I don't know when the income is going to come in, but it's going to come at some point. I know I'll be successful. The market starts going down week 1. Oh, shoot. I've lost money. All right. I'm a long-term investor. Let's just stay with it, Andy. Week 2 goes down again. The thought starts coming, the self-doubt starts coming in. Andy, how foolish. You've invested your entire family's wealth. You've been working for your entire life so far. And how could you put all of that— Yes, the stock market is diversified, but come on, Andy. How foolish. You're losing it all. I've been doing this for 20 years, and that's the words that are playing in my head. You're gonna lose all your money. Week 3, it keeps going down, and now I am panicking. I've done this for 20 years. I pull all my money out of the stock market and go into cash. I go into cash, all right? I go into cash, and I go to bed that night, and the statistic that I'm about to share with your viewers comes to mind.— and there's a separate 4-step framework as well. I wake up in the morning and I remind myself of the statistic. So here it is. If you miss the 10 best days in a decade in the market, right? The market goes up and down, but there are some pretty big updates. If you miss the 10 best days in a decade— Claudia, can you predict the 10 best days in a decade? No. No. No one can. Now, you go back 9 decades, go back to the 1930s, you mentioned 1920s. All right. So you've got 9 decades and you missed the 10 best days in every decade. All right. So what was your total return? Your total return was 28%. If you missed the 10 best days, your return over 90 years was only 28%. Total return, 28% over 90 years. All right. Now, had you not tried to be smart aleck and try to time the market like I was when I panicked and sold, Your total return, and you've had two world wars, you've had hyperinflation, you've had the energy crisis, you had all this stuff, paradigm shifting, China became huge, and all this stuff has happened. The total return had you not tried to time the market was 17,700%. And I've run this study for the last 10 years, the last 20 years, the last 30 years. It's not just looking at 9 years. It comes through every time. Is if you look at a decent amount of time, if you try to time the market versus just stay in, in a diversified portfolio, the returns were astronomically different and higher. I reminded myself, and literally the next day I put money back into the market. And thank goodness, Claudia, because we all know what has happened, and my portfolio is now even higher than where it was before COVID Now think of the disastrous situation I would be in right now had I still acted out of fear and said, let me just stay in cash. And that's the, that's the statistic. It's very easy to remember: 28% versus 17,700%. As long as you're invested in a diversified portfolio.

I mean, totally mind-boggling. And you've quite a share of stock exposure, but you mentioned also gold and some other asset classes. What about crypto, Andy?

Do you look at crypto? Crypto is very interesting, right? And I have a view and I share— I wouldn't compare myself to some of these investment greats, but look, Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch, two very famous investors, have said there's enough money to be made in stuff that you understand and enough money to be lost in stuff you do not understand. Now, crypto has become huge very quickly. A lot of people have made a lot of money. I personally think it's something that's very difficult to understand. Bitcoin is one crypto. Yesterday I read there are 2,000 types of cryptos. And look, it might become the new form of currency. But if it does, I'm starting to think, should I just go out and buy Japanese yen? Should I just go buy the British pound? I have no idea how currency markets work. I would be gambling. I treat crypto as one of those things where everybody's talking about it. High school students are talking about it. The grocer is talking about it. It's similar to the 1600s tulip craze. Everybody's talking about it. Everybody wants a piece of it. I won't go as far as calling this the tulip craze. I don't know, maybe it is. It's cited as an example. Nobody knows whether the tulip craze actually happened or not, but people cite that as an example of everybody got into it and pretty much it was a devastating situation. Now, I don't know how this is going to play out. I don't know how this is going to play out. And I think about it as, do I understand it?

I don't.

And when I talk to someone, within 2 minutes, I'm like, I have no idea what a single word this person just spoke. They might understand it, but I don't. So if they understand it and I don't, why am I putting my money into this when I don't understand it? So I have a 0.2% allocation in my portfolio to Bitcoin. It's lost 20%, but I put in 0.2% because I know that's gambling money. What percentage of my portfolio am I happy to say, if I lose it, I'm okay, I'm not a gambler. And I reluctantly put in 0.2% because if I've got money in there, I'm going to read more about it. And look, I still don't understand it. And my biggest thing is it can go to the moon, or how do you pick which crypto you're going to be in? I would encourage people to really ask themselves, do they understand it? If they understand it, great, take a view. But if you don't understand it, Ask yourself, are you investing or truly are you gambling? And if you're gambling, what percentage of your money are you happy for it to go to zero? Or if it goes to the moon, great, but what's that number?

I agree that that's great advice, and I think just to investing in general, to, you know, take it away from a speculation game. And I think if people are seeing the investing as long-term strategy, I would think people would take more time to actually analyze the underlying, right? So analyze the company, what is it about? Like, you know, is it something I use in my daily life? Do I understand what the product is or not? So I think with anything to invest in, and, you know, obviously disclaimer, everyone, this is not financial advice, and everyone should seek their own financial advisor's opinion. But to just really take the time to understand what's the underlying, what's going on there. I mean, I think Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, they read all day and about the company and the management and the vision, etc. And, you know, they clearly do that very successfully.

So, and that's why the average investor doesn't have the time to do that, right? So that's wherein lies the power of investing using index funds. And very simply, what an index fund is, it's a collection of stocks, right? So the S&P 500 in the US, that's the 500 biggest companies you can get exposure to that with a single stock. And that's a way to perhaps understand asset classes versus digging so deep in individual companies like Tesla or pick your stock. So it becomes more manageable to understand what's going on and to do what's so-called diligence, which is doing your research and understanding. It becomes a lot more manageable for the everyday investor who's busy and doesn't want to spend all day reading or looking at the stock market, let's spend the upfront time and let's understand how we invested at a little bigger picture level and then put our money to work.

Very good. Andy, what has been the most exciting purchase you've made in the last 6 months?

Ooh, I have to say my blue t-shirts, but I know that will not be a very satisfying answer to you. For sure. Look, I don't buy a lot of things. I'm very boring that way. It's this necklace, which I'm most excited about. And it says Y-O-U, you. My 6-year-old daughter made this for me. Nice. And she made this for me 2 months ago and I can't remove it. I can't get myself to do it because one, it's a rubber band. So every now and then it twangs me and it hurts me, but it's okay. But the words are very meaningful to me and she made it, of course. And I was thinking, For a child, that parent is everything. The U is so powerful and she gifted it to me. There's great symbology in that. It deeply resonated for me is reminding myself every time I get distracted and even when I'm with my daughter and I'm thinking about my course or investing, I'm not with her. This necklace is now a reminder that I am a huge part of her life and I can shape how she thinks and what she does. So it's a reminder. So this is very important. It's not a purchase, but for me it's one of the most treasured items that I own. But it also is a reminder to focus on ourselves. You here in this case is me, right? Is what are the actions we can take to be in a better place, to live that joyous life that all of us are meant to live? What are the actions I can take today to cut out the noise, to cut out the need for external validation, to really dig down and deep? Is what is it that's most important to me? And that what helps me live a joyous life. And when I get a little off track, I can feel the beads on my chest and it's a very deep reminder.

That's so beautiful and such wisdom, Andy, as well. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, I think that's probably the coolest purchase or item that anyone has mentioned on the podcast yet, so surprise to you. So beautiful, really, really like them.

Andy, what book have you gifted or most gifted? Yeah, so more recently I have been gifting. It's right here. It's The Common Sense Book of Investing. And because I've been doing my course, I've been gifting this book left and right, but it's this book. It's Common Sense Book of Investing by Jack Bogle, who founded Vanguard Funds. And I like it because it's simple. It's really meaningful. So that's the book that I most gifted, but the book that's most inspired me is a whole different story. Which is? It's The Odyssey. It's one that I had to read for college the summer before I got accepted, but it deeply resonated, right? The journey that's described in that story in a way was a journey that I was on, right? This is what I read right before I started college. And I'd been on a journey, talked about it, and I'm still on the journey, but that was the start of my journey. And I read through His story, I read through the struggles that came. I read through how he was eventually victorious. And I was at the beginning part of that story. And as I look back at my life, I am on that journey. And I keep it right here on my bookshelf. It's a very dear, very close book to me. And it deeply resonates. Life is not a straight up. We make most of it and we live another day.

Yeah. Love that. And I'm sure you're familiar with Joseph Campbell's work, The Hero's Journey. Yes. Yes. It's terrific. And I think it's having that realization that, you know, and as Tony Robbins says, right, that life doesn't happen to you, it happens for you. And when you change your perspective, and again, this goes back to the point we made before about choice, how you choose to interpret, how you choose to react, how you choose to understand that actually what's triggering you and take a moment to think about it, you just live such a much different perspective of life and away from this emotional baggage to actually choosing to be happy, choosing to find the really fun, cool things in every day in life as well. And yes, we'll all have struggles, but it's how you choose to react to them, right?

So yeah, I think it helps me relate better with people. Again, this didn't come naturally to me. Of course, there are people who annoy us, who trigger something, the worst in us, right? And I tried to use this practice on someone who was really annoying for me, but I tried to reframe. And I said, what if I came from a different perspective? Because every person has some goodness in them. And it's just the way I'm perceiving them could be completely different from their reality.. And I tried that and the results were magical. I actually developed affinity and I'm generally a loving person. I don't hold grudges, but every now and then there were one or two people. Then I shifted my perspective for this person. It was just so beautiful that I could actually have affinity and build what is a good friendship. Having changed, it's all in my head, right?

And my perspective. And I guess that's also— can we circle back to investing and finance? A lot of people are scared to get started and to go in. And maybe, you know, just asking yourself, you know, for those listening, the question: what is triggering that fear? Choosing to continue with that fear or to say, okay, no, today's the day I'm going to start building my wealth?

I think that's very important. And if you just unpack that for a second, if you think about our priorities, for most people, it's 3 things, right? It's your family, your career, and your wealth. And look, all of us are busy. Look, with COVID things have gotten even busier and even more overwhelming. And usually, how does the human mind work is if there's something that's complicated, even if you know it's important, but it's complicated and it seems mysterious, and I got 10 other things, I got my family and my career to focus on that I've got a good handle on, or I know how to get a good handle on, this thing is gonna be lower on the priority and I will never get to it, even knowing that it's important. Right. And then what happens is we're not building that wealth for the long term. And we know it's gnawing away at us, but we don't have the time and I don't know how to figure it out. So let's get past, let's get past that fear. Let's get past what stopped us for a number of years. Let's just embrace it. Let's reframe it. Right. Claudia, as you said, let's reframe that and let's find someone, let's find an expert and let's, let's learn how to do this, but let's not fall for the gimmicky. Get-rich-quick stuff out there.

Let's learn it the real way. Yeah. And you do it in such a fun way, I think, as well, which is so refreshing, because finance typically is not thought to be that fun. It depends who you talk to, obviously.

But I don't know if you've gotten a sense of my goofy self, but I'm a naturally goofy person. So, you know, I try and bring that not only to bring a fruity cocktail in a very serious work event. But if I can do that, then Hey, I have all the freedom to be as goofy as my natural self when I'm actually directing this course and have a lot of fun along the way.

I love it. And if you could get a message out to 1 billion people, hypothetically, what would it be? Metaphorically speaking, is it a few words, a paragraph?

But what would that message say and why? Look, given the fear, given the anxiety that I grew up with, watching everything around me, my message would be how can we practice kindness for ourselves first? Because I think if we are kind to ourselves first, we will naturally be kind to others. How can we truly come from a place of authenticity and genuine kindness for ourselves and look for the best in the other person who's across from us, as annoying as they might be, how can we find the best in that person? And I think it starts with one person at a time. Let's not think about my community or my country, but I truly think if we start with one person and train our mindset to truly look for the best in whoever I come across in the next 10 minutes, and then in the next 10 minutes, I think that incremental change will not only make us happier, but I think will make the community in general one by one, I think, a lot kinder and a lot happier place to be.

That's how I'd like it to be. Like that. What advice would you give, Andy, to a smart, driven 20-year-old about to enter the real world?

And what advice should they ignore? One advice would be to work hard, you know, the 20-year-old, to work hard. We're still developing at 20. I know I was. I'm still developing right now in my 40s, but especially at 20, our mind isn't formed yet. I know I let a lot of my triggers that I now understand well, which I did not back then, I let that affect my relationships. In my workplace, in my personal life. I let the work pressure get to me. Instead, if I were to advise my 20-year-old self is work hard, start recognizing your triggers, but believe, believe in your success. Learn from everyone that you encounter. Don't go to the bad in them or the annoyance in them, but learn the same message that I had earlier is learn from everyone that you encounter because you can learn at least one thing from anybody. So bring that sense of curiosity, bring that sense of hard work, bring that sense of kindness, and try and leave entitlement out of the whole equation. And I think with those, just those simple steps, that'll be such a great stepping stone for success in whatever you decide to do. And Wrap that all up with a very, very strong sense of self-confidence, no matter what your story has been so far, that you've got it.

All you need is within you. So empowering. This is clearly your specialty, Andy.

Is it? I don't know. It's just my life experience going from what I've gone through.

Yeah, but we can learn so much from others as well and from every walk of life. So no, Definitely resonate with that and agree. What is one of the most worthwhile investments you've ever made? And it could be an investment of money, but also could be time or energy.

It's two things, if I may. One is investing in relationships. I hold my relationships very dear. And look, yes, I have a big Rolodex of contacts. No, but my true relationships Right. I'd say about maybe 10 folks, 10 or 12, going back decades, and some very new friends. I've just made a new friend 2 months ago who I feel I've known for decades. But it's how can I, if I open myself up to genuineness and authenticity, how can I attract that person in my life? And if I do, how can I invest the time with them to truly care about what they also need? And how can we build this beautiful relationship and friendship? And I found those relationships work out to be the best. And those are the best investments that I've made. Oh, my heart feels warm as I think about each one of them right now. So the investment in those friendships and those relationships are very dear to me, very important. And two is investing in myself. I remember the decision to go to Harvard Business School. You won't believe this. It was a dream since I was 12 years old. I didn't get in the first time. I got in the second time. And then I'm asking myself, gee, do I want to spend $200,000 on this? Right? And I'm like, come on, this has been your dream for so long. So making the investment in myself, right? HBS is one big example, but throughout is taking those uncomfortable steps, going away from my family for 11th grade to Singapore. Was a big investment in myself. It was scary. But those were very meaningful and ultimately created who I am today.

Oh, wow. And so many wonderful wisdom pieces. Thank you so much for sharing. For my listeners interested in understanding more about finance in general, where would be a good online resource or book you would recommend them to start with?

My 3 books. Look, I preach what I practice. I keep them close to me. This is Common Sense Investing by Jack Bogle. Peter Lynch. I really admire this guy. If you can look up YouTube videos of Peter Lynch, phenomenal guy. He was one of the most successful Fidelity fund managers. He lives somewhere nearby. Maybe I should go stalk him. I'm one of his biggest fans. This is a very good read, One Up on Wall Street. And then This one, mindset. Look, we've talked a lot about mindset in our podcast today, and Carol Dweck, this is all about growth mindset. If something may seem difficult, if investing is difficult, well, okay, that might be the case today, but I can learn it. It was difficult. It's turned into a growth mindset. I can learn it. It seems complicated, but doesn't mean I can't crack it. I haven't cracked it yet, I'm going to crack it tomorrow. So these are the 3 books that I would recommend to folks. Excellent.

Where can people learn more about what you're up to, Andy?

Social media or your website? Sure. Yeah, I would love it. So I put out a lot of free content. Again, my energy is how can I, at this point in life, having empowered people who are close to me and my friends, it worked. So I know I've got something that is working, is resonating with folks. How can I spread the message to truly come from a place of energy of giving? And in fact, I have left my Wall Street job to focus on this mission that I've been looking for for such a long time. So I'm focused on this full-time. So I put a lot of free content out on LinkedIn, and you can follow me on LinkedIn. It's just linkedin.com/anthony- Gupta, right? And I post 4 to 5 times. And this is the one degree change that I talk about. It's a one-minute read. It's super interesting. It's in my goofy style. So you'll have fun reading it. It's not going to bore you. And you're going to learn. You're going to become a better investor if you follow those. And of course, for people who want to take my course, it's a live course over 30 days. It's twice a week. It's a lot of fun. And you can find more information about my course on anyonecaninvestnow.com. And I'd love to talk to you, love to have you in my course.

It's a lot of fun. Anyonecaninvestnow.com. So excellent. I'll put all of those in the show notes. Do you have, Andy, a final ask or recommendation or any parting thoughts or message for my audience?

Yeah, look, I love what your mission is on longevity and wellness. And it's such an important topic that we need to talk about. And look, you bring an energy that, you know, I resonate with, and I want to watch and listen to more of your podcasts. There's very interesting topics. I think that's why you've got a growing audience, but this topic, you know, of living life fully, longevity, wellness, I think if you find people that we resonate with, And again, not to overwhelm ourselves, but, you know, maybe up to 5 folks that we can follow, we can make those incremental changes in our lives. How great would that be? And I've truly enjoyed listening to your guests and your conversations that you've had on the show. And like you, there are a couple other folks as well that I like to follow. And at the end of the day, the messaging is simple. It's simple, it's entertaining, and I walk away with at least one thing that I can actually remember that I can practice in my life. So my message to you would be find your person or book or whatever resource it is that helps you get closer to whatever it is that you're aspiring and practice it.

Excellent, Andy. Wise words. Thank you so much for coming on today. Such a pleasure to have you on.

Oh, thank you, Claudia. This was just such a delight, so much fun, and I'm glad I really enjoyed our conversation.

Me too. Thank you, Andy. Hey everyone, it's Claudia here. Before you take off, I hope you enjoyed the episode and learned as much as I did. If so, please hit subscribe so you don't miss out on our next episodes. I would also love to hear what you thought, be it your favorite part, quote, or other feedback from the episode. So please leave a written review on Apple Podcasts or on social media. And if you think this episode will help someone in your own life, share it with them. Together we can change our own lives and the lives around us for the better. Until next week, goodbye, farewell, and choose to live well.