CW 1082 FBF - Critical Thinking, the Financial Media Talking Heads, Tax Liens & Cuba

Welcome to this week's edition of Flashback Friday. Your opportunity to get some good review by listening to episodes from the past that Jason has hand picked to help you today in the present and propel you into the future. Enjoy.

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Welcome to the Creating wealth show. This is your host, Jason Hartman with episode number 773. 773. Thank you so much for joining me today. And it is a new year, so happy New Year. Felice ono nuevo. And I don't know how to say it in any other language, so that's going to be the limit. I wanted to welcome Naresh back to the show. He's here to talk to me about a variety of issues as we kick off a new new year. Naresh, welcome. How are you?

Happy New Year, Jason. It's a pleasure to be back on. I think like eight months was a lot that was the last time we spoke.

It absolutely blows my mind how fast time goes. And you know, that's a tie in for real estate investors because many of you have seen these various infomercials and your email box is filled with various offers and get r quick schemes and you know, time flies. It goes so amazingly fast. And to most people, the passing of time and that's not exactly a positive thing. You know, we get older, our bodies don't do what they used to do. We don't look as good as we used to look. You know, kind of when you're young, you feel like you're bulletproof and you have lots of opportunities and. What am I talking about, Naresh? You're still very young. I'm. I'm almost young, I'll put it that way.

I thought you were. You looked 20 years.

Well, hey, youth is wasted on the young, as they say, right? You know, it's just amazing how quick time goes. So it's been eight months since you've been on the show. Now, these are, by your calculations, not mine, but I'm. I'm assuming you've got accurate information there. And, you know, if you bought some properties from us eight months ago, it's definitely gone up in value. I mean, I can't think of really an exception. The market has been going up for eight months. So, you know, you. You've gotten some. Some good returns on that investment probably by now. And it's only been eight months. But it's amazing. Eight years can fly so quickly. And the point is to get started, to not worry about how slow the process is. And why can't I have it all now? And why doesn't instant gratification work in real life? Why doesn't it look as good as that cheesy real estate guy on the infomercial at 2am when you can't sleep? You know, just get started. Get your investment portfolio going. Everybody starts out the new year with all these New Year's resolutions. All the gyms and health clubs are filled to the brim. They're super crowded in January. Talk to any of those people that work there, and they'll say, you know, by about the first, second week of February, it starts to taper off, and then they're just making a bunch of money off these recurring revenue members memberships where you pay monthly but don't really use it. So that's just human nature, folks. But let's, you know, let's make New Year's resolutions. Let's stick with them. Let's increase the size of our investment portfolios, secure our financial future for many, many years to come, and maybe create generational wealth for generations to come for your offspring and for the future. You know, one of the great things I love about Dennis whateley, episode number 150. And by the. I'm going to invite Dennis Whateley back on the show. He was such a great influence in my life, but he talks about this concept. He says, plant a shade tree under which you know you will never sit. Plant a shade tree under which you know you will never sit. In other words, leave a legacy. And income property, the most historically proven asset class in the world, can really help you do that. So it is an amazing thing. It's an amazing time to be alive, and let's make 2017 an amazing job. New Year. So happy New Year to everybody. Now, Naresh, we got a bunch of things to talk about first. I mean, you know, we got to talk about the benefits of smoking Are you kidding me? Yeah, yeah, I know. That was an amazing thing I teased everybody with on the show last week on a prior episode. And listen, I don't think there really are any real benefits to smoking overall. I think smoking is disgusting. It's terrible. I hate the smell of it. I hate the taste of it. It's just gross. But, but my point was on that episode last week was the idea that it is a. I believe. This is just my belief. This is. There's no research that I know of on this. I'm not going to cite any academic paper from some professor that works 12 hours a week and gets overpaid and has tenure and can never be fired, who works at a left wing liberal brainwashing institution called a university that's massively overpriced. But hey, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. So it's just my humble opinion that it is a sign of intelligence if one can hold opposing thoughts in their mind at the same time and evaluate them separately as well as together. And that's what we're going to talk about when we talk about smoking. And I think smoking is awful, but there are some benefits. So, you know, why don't we just start with that and get it out of the way real quick. Naresh, do you smoke? Are you a smoker?

I'm not a smoker. I can count. Count on one hand how many times I've smoked in my life.

Yeah, so it's me too.

It's like you.

It's gross.

Yeah, the. The smell gives me a headache. The after effects, you know, even trying it, I didn't get the. The high or whatever. It is a relaxation that many people feel. So, yeah, I'm not a smoker. I actually, I can't handle it. But one thing I can do just like you is I can handle talking about the benefits of it.

Yeah, so. So here's the funny thing I've realized about smoking, which I think is terrible if, you know, listen, my mom was a smoker when I was a kid. She got hypnotized for $75 and completely quit smoking. And she was kind of a militant smoker. I mean, it was really, you know, she would just smoke like a chimney. And it's an awful habit. It's very addictive. So listen, if you're a smoker and you're listening to this, I'm not picking on you. I don't fault you for it. I just say that you've been victimized by these ToB companies of a Very serious and addictive substance. And listen, there are lots of addictions. We've talked about addictions on prior episodes. When we do 10th shows, we've talked about that, where we go off topic and discuss something of general interest. And we all have certain addictive behaviors. Nobody's immune to it. I have them every. I'm sure every human being has them, whether one's addicted to being right, or addicted to smoking or drugs and alcohol or gambling. I mean, look, I just moved to Las Vegas. Thankfully, I don't get gamble, so. And, you know, my friend Stephen, he said an interesting thing. He's probably listening to this podcast episode. Hey, Steve, he said a really interesting thing to me the other day. He said, and he lives in Las Vegas, too. He said, living in Las Vegas really develops your character. And I thought, wow, that's a counterintuitive way to look at it and see. I love it when people look at things like that, when they look at them in a really intelligent, counterintuitive fashion. And that's the way we look at investing in many ways. And I thought, wow, that, you know, I mean, you live in Sin City. And he says, yeah, you've got to have a lot of character to live here, because you can succumb to any one of a number of temptations. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, you can get anything you want. And I thought, well, that's an interesting way to look at it. You're right about that. So one of the funny things I've noticed is, you know, I'm a bit of a workaholic. There's an addictive behavior for you. I just. I love work, I love business. I find it endlessly fascinating. I became what I would consider to be financially independent and financially free many years ago, yet I still work a lot because I actually like it now. I don't know, maybe if I had something else to do, I could replace one thing with the other. But, you know, sometimes I will just be in. I mean, when I used to work in an office, now I work at home. I'll just be cooped up all day because I'll just be working and I'll be inside, and I go outside and I see someone smoking, and I think, ugh, that's awful. Get away from that. They're just polluting my air. Especially in the morning when you've got nice fresh air, right? And, you know, then you just got some smoker 100ft away, and you can smell it, and it Ruins it and. But I thought, you know, I used to have a guy, Ben, that worked for me several years ago when we had a big office. You know, we had a big giant office in Orange County, California. Like, I don't know, Almost, I think, 6,000 square feet or something, and beautiful class A office and bunch of employees there and all that good stuff. I had several different offices over the years. And he would go out and smoke, and I was really kind of annoyed by the loss of productivity, of course. Where do I want him? At his desk working. And he would be out smoking all the time. And I thought, this guy gets more fresh air than I do, you know, and he probably sees more of the sky and more of the natural beauty and more sunsets and sunrises possibly than I do. Because he's outside. Because. Because the smoking laws are so restrictive. You got to go outside to smoke so you get some fresh air. He might take a walk around the block, get some exercise. Being a single person and having spent a somewhat, probably too, too much time in bars and nightclubs, going out and socializing and even restaurants, you know, you see people outside smoking, and they're more social because what a great opener to meet a new friend. Hey, do you have a light? Do you have a cigarette? Can I bum a cigarette off you? You know, I've noticed this behavior, whereas inside the bar or nightclub, nobody's talking to each other, even though that's what they're ostensibly there for, to meet new people. Right. But they're. They're, you know, mostly not doing that. And outside the smokers, they're socializing. So it's just kind of interesting. There are some actual benefits. And, Naresh, I sent you an article earlier. There are actually a few health benefits. I almost don't even want to go over that because it sounds like we're recommending this terrible habit that, you know, causes cancer and heart problems and all sorts of health problems and, you know, makes you look 10 years older than you are pretty quickly, and, you know, it's just not good. But. Any thoughts, Naresh?

Well, first off, the social benefit. You know, I remember when I was in school, in college and graduate school, the smokers would all hang out together. And when, especially at the beginning of school when you don't really know anybody, you have no friends, you're trying to meet people. It's like the smokers instantly became a clique. And so going back to your social benefit, even now, like you said, if you go out, even to, you know, like a holiday party, you see Complete strangers outside, they don't know each other. They might be spouses of someone at a company and they just, you know, they start talking to each other and they know each other within a matter of 10 minutes. And I actually grew up thinking that smokers were cool.

Remember, you're listening to Flashback Friday. Our new episodes are published every Monday and Wednesday. Well, listen, hey, you know, the tobacco industry has sold generations on that terrible idea that smoking is cool. And fortunately it's become, at least in the US Especially, uncool. It's still unfortunately pretty cool in Europe. And, you know, but I hear smoking is just declining around the world. People are finally getting it. But. But you're right, Naresh. They had an instant club. They had an instant club of friends. Right. An instant social circle because they're smokers, you know. Right.

Yeah. And I even know it's not fair.

Yeah.

And I even know some women who, you know, friends of mine who still tell me, you know, I can only end up with a smoker. Like, I can't marry a non smoker. I have to end up with a guy who smokes that. You know, I guess some, I guess some people are just into that. I haven't heard that from guys so much, but I've heard that from some women.

That's interesting.

Yeah.

You know, I tell you, one of the worst things is you'll see a good looking woman and you'll be attracted to her and then she'll pick up her hand and put a cigarette to her mouth and it's like, oh God, you gotta run the other way. But not for smokers. They've got a broader market. Maybe there's another benefit. This just sounds so crazy to be talking about this. But listen, let's not dwell on it because we got a lot of other stuff to cover, like real estate investing. But. But you know, look, folks, I'm just trying to point out the idea that be able to think critically and hold opposing thoughts in one's mind at the same time. That's really the point I'm making. And especially on social media, I see this and it is so frustrating. And I would criticize your generation for this a lot in a ration. You know, it's probably not your fault in your generation because you've been brought up in these brainwashing institutions, the public school system and the university system that is just, you know, has a real agenda. There's no question about it. And just the lack of critical thinking that I see in places like Facebook is mind boggling. It Is it just boggles the mind. I mean, do you agree with that?

Oh, absolutely. And I'm sure everybody listening to this podcast, it's. I wouldn't even say it's my generation, really. The recent election brought out the worst of critical thinking, in my opinion.

Yeah, yeah. The complete lack of critical thinking skills among so many, especially Americans. I would say Europeans are probably a lot better at this in a way because, you know, they're, they're just more, I don't know, when you got so many countries right next to each other like that, you're just a little more cultural and a little more aware and more into current events because they really do impact you when you're an American. You just kind of kick back and, you know, go to the Britney Spears concert and enjoy your life and it's pretty easy, you know, whatever. Watch the Kardashians, you know, but, but yeah, you know, we've been really dumbed down in this country. I unfortunately, and I know present company is excluded from that. And I mean all of you listeners, because you're obviously intelligent people because you're listening to this podcast, so. But yeah, I mean, it's just amazing what people take as the gospel. The media sells it and everybody just believes it. I mean, you watch, you watch some of the news media and it is just mind boggling the way they just never present the other side of the issue. The way they just ban the bamboozle people. Like, I can watch the news and just have a million questions and poke a million holes in everything they say. And I think a lot of people just don't do that. And that's the problem with investing too, because look at Wall Street. I mean, the vast majority of people in the world that you don't want to emulate, by the way, listeners, you want to be different from them. But the vast majority of people in the world will just walk in to some financial advisor, they'll turn over their retirement plan, they'll turn over their savings and they'll put them in a bunch of massively overpriced mutual funds, bond investments, terrible, I mean, mediocre to absolute crap Wall street type investments. And they'll just work so hard and just lose their fortune or get very mediocre returns, which when you look at that in comparison to the opportunity cost of what they could have gotten, of what they could have achieved, they're losing a fortune. I mean, they really are. It's really just appalling. It really is. Any thoughts on the investing world and how it relates to that the lack of critical thinking skills.

Yeah. Well, one of the problems with the financial media is the people covering, you know, economic news, financial news, and just personal finance in general. Yeah, these are people who, you know, went to, they were liberal arts made, you know, like English majors or even journalism majors, and they have no idea, no understanding of how a business is run or how an economy works or really, they just interview a few sources and get a few quotes and then put together a story. They have no idea what they're talking about. And that's why these people, you know, they're not the ones buying up real estate. They're not the ones running hedge funds or private equity firms. They're just writing words on now, you know, on the Internet and hoping to get eyeballs and, and then.

Right. Yeah, it's, it's, it's clickbait. Media is what most of the media has become, unfortunately.

Right. So if you look at, it's really. Even if you look at cnbc, at the anchors there, or Fox Business, which are supposed to be, you know, business.

Networks, they're better than the general news media, but not much. I mean, most of them just aren't very bright. They're just parroting back. They lack critical thinking skills. Most of them are just parroting back. And they have to do it because if they get a comment from some CEO of a publicly traded company promoting his or her stock, they have to parrot it back. And they usually want to be friendly with them so they'll get the next scoop and the next interview. They've sold out, really. I mean, haven't they?

Yeah, it's. If you, if you recall in the election, for example, a lot of these anchors were talking about how Donald Trump and even Romney, when in 2012, how they've filed for bankruptcy. Not them personally, but their businesses have filed for bankruptcy. And what a lot of these people don't understand is the difference between Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 bankruptcy and what bankruptcy actually means dissolution or reorganization. What bankruptcy actually means going bankrupt doesn't mean that you personally lose all your money and everyone loses their job and, you know, all hell breaks loose.

Oh, not at all. I mean, listen, I've never filed bankruptcy. I've been, been tempted one, one time. But I, but I, I wouldn't be able to qualify for it, unfortunately, in a way, because it, you know, to a lot of these people, and I, Listen, I, I'm not endorsing this like I'm not endorsing smoking either. But to a lot of these people, it's A business plan. It really is a business plan. I mean, there are, there's a famous real estate guru who basically goes bankrupt every seven years, you know, approximately. And this well known person who will remain nameless. And I'm not sure it's every seven years, but I just know this person's had several bankruptcies. And it's a real estate guru who's out there teaching people how to invest in real estate. And I'm not saying that's terrible, but you know, I'm just pointing out that it's like, listen, run up a lot of debt and then, you know, don't have to pay it. Right? That's bankruptcy. Now that's a lot different than the world of short sales, loan modifications or intentional foreclosures where that contract says either pay the mortgage or return the property to us, return the collateral. That's what the contract says in bankruptcy. There's no such contract. Bankruptcy is dramatically more questionable from an ethical point of view because in bankruptcy you just run up a lot of debt and don't pay it or it gets settled out for pennies on the dollar by a bankruptcy trustee.

And so yeah, yes, but of course, our reporters on CNBC and the anchors, I mean, I just remember them going after Romney and Trump about their bankruptcies. And in Romney's case, he ran one of the largest private equity companies in the world. Of course, if you have a portfolio that big, there are companies that are going to go bankrupt, especially if you're buying them in distress. And you know, he was lynched because of, you know, KB Toys and a few other companies that went bankrupt and was never applauded for the companies that did really well and that did create value for employees, for shareholders, etc. But of course, the media, if you have one bankruptcy, the media will lynch you. And that's what they tried to do with Trump, that's what they tried to do with Romney. And they're just, they're never going to get it. Because again, the training of these journalists is they learn how to write, they learn how to tell a good story, but they don't know the fundamentals of the issues.

A lot of times they don't. There's no question about that. You know, you reminded me. And we got to jump to some other issues here, so let's get off this one. But let me just wrap up this issue with that wonderful quote, the man in the arena. And it's, it's just, you know, it's just awesome. Everybody's probably heard this at one time or another. But it is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man. And of course, that is gender neutral. It's just. I'm just reading what it says, okay? The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marked, marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes up short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. I mean, that's just brilliant, right? It's an excerpt from the speech called the Citizen in a Republic, and that was delivered in Paris, France, in 1910. And I think a lot of people attribute that, I think, to, like, Theodore Roosevelt or something. A lot of quotes out there are misattributed, obviously, throughout history, but I think I've seen that attributed to him before. But maybe he popularized it. I don't know. But he did say something cool, speak softly and carry a big stick, and you will go far. So that's a good one, too. I like it. All right, so you got some questions about tax liens or, you know, let's do quick, quick comments on tax liens and then quick comments on Cuba. And let's wrap it up. You just got back from Cuba, so what about tax liens?

Yeah, so, you know, I went to one of these motivational seminar type of events a few weeks ago, and one guy stood up and started talking about real estate tax liens and deeds. He didn't talk about what they are or how he made money off it all he did. He stood up, he said, I made so much money off these, it changed my life. And he wanted people to sign up for his course so that they could learn how to make money off this, too. So I wrote it down because you and I have never talked about real estate tax liens and deeds. You might have touched on it once or twice on your show before, but.

Oh, no, I've touched on it on detail. You just happen to miss those episodes. In fact, I. I got sued over one of those episodes. See, we've never had a client sue us ever. Never. No client has ever sued us. But, and that's, you know, out of thousands of clients, you know who sues me is the crooks that I out on my podcast. That's who sues me. They don't like it. It's funny. They don't like it. You know, light is the best disinfectant, and they don't like it when you shine light on their little, you know, sleazy activity. So that's.

What did they sue you for?

For defamation of character. Yeah. So episode number 417 is a tax lien company I invested with. You know, going through this lawsuit and the depositions, you can just tell if we don't win, like gloriously, I will be amazed because they're just the, the guy is just lying. I mean, well, look, that's my opinion that he's lying like crazy. But, you know, that's, that's what people do in court, right? They just lie a lot. So, you know, it's mind boggling anyway. So let me just address in all seriousness the subject of tax liens and tax deeds. I originally heard about this idea back in the mid-90s and I had not heard about it before, even though people were doing it before. You know what? Actually, I take that back. I did hear about it before. I didn't understand it at all. I actually heard about it before, before the mid-90s and, and I got really interested in it. So in about 2004, one of our clients said that he was investing in some tax liens and tax deeds and recommended this company to me. And unfortunately, this company, I believe, screwed me and stole a bunch of my money. And, you know, I've got some pretty good proof of that. But the case has yet to be litigated. It's in litigation now. So I gotta be careful what I say. So in either case, what this concept is is that you, you have a property, someone has a property, and if they don't, this is not about the mortgage, it's only about the tax bill. If they don't pay their property taxes, the municipality that collects those taxes, the county usually will in some jurisdictions be able to sell the rights for another investor to collect those revenues or get the collateral. Just like I was talking about mortgages a few minutes ago. You know, with all these millions of people that did what's called strategic defaults during the Great Recession and some people defaulting on their properties, they gave the property back in order to satisfy the mortgage lender. Well, with a tax lien, it's A little bit different because basically what happens is the, the county needs the money, right? All these, all these counties are, you know, in dire need of money, pretty much, right? So they will take and they'll have an auction and they will say, the person at 123 Elm street didn't pay their taxes. So we are willing to sell the rights for an outside investor to collect the taxes owed on this property. And that investor can buy these for a very low price. So say, for example, the person owes $1,000 in property taxes that they haven't paid, Someone might come along and buy the lien, the $1,000 lien on that property, the tax lien or tax tax deed, they're called both names, depending on where you're located, for $200, for example, for 20% of the value. And then they'll have the right to earn an interest rate on those taxes if the person ends up paying because they got to pay a bunch of late fees and interest charges, right? And that will go to the investor, not the county, because the county sold its rights to collect on that tax lien. But what if they don't pay? What if they don't redeem the tax lien if they don't pay it? Right? Well, then the investor gets the right to foreclose on the property. And this is why you hear people on those late night infomercials at 2am promising the world and not delivering it most of the time saying, I bought this $80,000 house for $200, because that's exactly what happened, okay? They never redeemed the tax lien. Now, you have to go through a very long, slow, arduous process, and it's very technical and legal to properly foreclose on the property. Now, most of them will redeem and pay their taxes, obviously, because they don't want to lose the property. But if you go ahead and do all that and spend the money to foreclose on the property, you could take the property back and end up owning it, in that case for 200 bucks plus a bunch of legal fees and a bunch of your time and, you know, so on and so forth. But the problem is this, like so many other marketplaces in the country and in the world in general has, you know, the cat's out of the bag. The secret is out. People know this. You know, it's been popularized every. It seems like everything's been popularized now nowadays, right? Everybody has heard of every way of making money, you know, and, and you go to those auctions and there's a whole bunch of people bidding for those liens or deeds which caused the prices to go up. And then also the chances of you actually getting one of them and actually having the person not redeem and being successful in foreclosure. Of course the odds go down dramatically after you go through that funnel. But occasionally, and there are stories, and I actually know a guy who bought a big piece of vacant land. Oh, and by the way, that's the other thing you should know about this. A lot of these aren't very prime properties. A lot of them are vacant land that's out in the middle of nowhere that nobody wants or cares about. Very rarely are they nice quality single family homes and good neighborhoods with good schools and, you know, and so on and so forth. The properties are just all over the board. And mostly they're things that nobody wants. A lot of the tax liens go unsold where they'll have the auction and nobody buys them. And then if people buy them, a lot of times they don't end up collecting and they don't redeem. And a lot of times it's not even worth foreclosing on the property. So there's more to it than meets the eye to. You know, you go to one of those seminars and they're just designed to take your money and get you to buy their coaching program for $20,000 or their $2,000 set of, you know, audios and videos and books. And, you know, that's just the way the world is. Right. So you, you know, buyer beware. Caveat emptor is the, the word of the day. Just beware. Yeah, you know, a fool and his money are soon parted. But is it possible to make money? Sure, it's possible. Is it possible to make money buying houses way below market value? Sure, it's possible. How often does it happen? Well, it's really, really rare. And nobody has any actual statistics on this kind of stuff. That's the problem. So the, the stories you hear, if they're real from the testimonials of people who've supposedly done it, are the one in a million story. And they're trotted out there like it's commonplace. And it's not commonplace in anything. It doesn't matter what it is. It could be, you know, the, the I made a zillion dollars in Internet marketing selling widgets online. It could be the, you know, I met a million girls because I, you know, practice this pickup technique. Okay? It could be the I bought tax liens and taxes, tax deeds at the auction, it could be the, you know, the. Whatever. It's always a moonshot. Okay. That's just the way life is with.

These tax lien and tax deeds. How do you go about vetting deals, finding deals, other online marketplaces, or do you just have to go through there?

There are a bunch of things. What I did is I hired an agent, basically an agency to help me buy them because they knew what they were doing and I didn't know what I was doing. And. And I feel like I got burned. I think they ripped me off. In fact, one of the things they did that came out in the deposition is they actually retitled. And this is all episode 417, by the way. Okay. They actually retitled a property in their name. I paid them $17,500 to foreclose on a bunch of properties they told me I should foreclose on. I didn't get a single, single one of them back. And in fact, one of them, they admitted in the deposition to taking it like literally, they stole a house from me. It's. It's mind boggling. So, yes, you've. Your idol gets ripped off. Okay. Occasionally. And I talk about it on the show and you know, and I get sued for it. So that's what happens. But. But yeah, that's a long story. You can Hear an episode 417, and you can hear one of their other clients that got burned. And I've had a bunch of other people come forward to. Just a reminder, you're listening to Flashback Friday. Our new episodes are published every Monday and every Wednesday. Okay. Hey, we gotta wrap up. Is that kind of, you know, fill people in on the tax lien thing? I wanna just get a couple comments on your Cuba trip quickly.

Yeah, yeah, that, that fills most things in. We could talk about C for a while, but.

Yeah, we could. But let's not, because this is a real estate investing podcast or financial freedom podcast. And okay, so. So Cuba, I was there maybe 12 years ago, and it's fascinating. I have this morbid fascination with the disaster known as communism. And I don't know why. I just think it's interesting, you know, to see how people could live in 1959 since they have not invented a machine to travel through time. The closest you can get is to just go to a communist country that hasn't progressed in any way since it became communist. So Fidel Castro the late. Thankfully, I'm gonna say it. The late Fidel Castro who took over in the Revolution of 1959 in Cuba. Okay, that country became. This time just stopped. Time stopped. And, you know, it amazed me, Naresh, I'm sure it amazed you too. Now it is slowly changing. When I went there with Young Entrepreneurs Organization, we got special permission from the State Department, and we chartered a commercial jet. There were, I don't know, 120 of us, maybe out of Miami. That was kind of fun because, you know, we were, like, throwing pillows at the flight attendants and stuff. You couldn't do that without getting arrested on a real plane. Okay, but. But we had our own jets. It was kind of fun. We were having a good time. And. And they flew us to Cuba, and we spent, I don't know, almost a week there. And it's time stopped in 1959. You see all these classic old American cars there that are held together with duct tape and bubble gum. And, you know, Michael Moore said he thinks the healthcare is better in Cuba than in the US what an idiot Michael Moore is. Oh, my God. Seriously? But, you know, what was your experience like? You just got back a few days ago.

Yep, just got back a few days ago. And, you know, last time I was on your podcast, I talked about India because I had just gotten back from India. And there's a lot of similarities between India and Cuba when it comes to, like, infrastructure or the lack of infrastructure. The way people live, the family culture, they're very similar. But India is way ahead when it comes to technology, of course, jobs in Cuba. It's a communist country.

India is not a communist country. And you happen to be Indian, by the way.

We should disclose that, of course, in Cuba. So you brought up the health care, for example. I have no idea what the quality of care is like in Cuba.

Yeah, Doctors make, like, $15 a month.

You hear the media saying that the quality of care is amazing, and that's why Fidel got to live so long. And the mortality rates are much lower in Cuba than they are in the United States. I will say people do seem to eat. You just can't find much junk food there. You can't go to a store.

Well, yeah, that's one problem with capitalism, you know, and it's not really capitalism. It's crony capitalism, which was what we have in the United States. Unfortunately, these, you know, big disgusting food companies have taken over the country, and they. They fill our food with antibiotics and. And pesticides and hormones, and it's killing us, obviously. You know, listen to my longevity show for more on that. Or my holistic survival show where you learn a lot more about that stuff. It's you know, Monsanto, the crony capitalist company that's just, you know, poisoning our food supply.

Yeah. And, and going back to healthcare, what you said. Yes, the doctors don't get paid that much, but at the same time, because it is a, you know, I guess a universal type of system, the medical system is honest. Whereas here in the United States, you have big pharma in there, you have the FDA in there, you have insurance companies in there. And you hear all the time about dishonest CEOs of hospitals, dishonest doctors.

Oh, the pharmaceutical companies are just disgusting. I mean, you know, they're, they're doing the same thing that, you know, Monsanto type companies are doing in the food world. It's, it's unbelievable. I mean, just folks, if at all possible, just try to avoid pharmaceutical drugs as much as you possibly can. You know, that's my advice. I mean, I just, I don't want to take any of those things, you know, I mean, granted, granted, I'm sure I will someday need some drug, but I just want to avoid them because the side effects are just mind boggling how dangerous those drugs are.

Yeah. And I actually went into a pharmacy just, just for fun, just to, I didn't want to buy anything. I just went in to talk to the pharmacists and see how much medication in Cuba and none of them speak English, so there was a language barrier. And these are trained pharmacists. And I started, you know, just naming some medications off the top of my head and they're selling these medications without prescription. Here in the United States you would need prescriptions, but they're selling them there for, I mean, quarters, not even dollars, but quarters.

Well, but relative to the typical Cuban income of, at the time I was there, it was like $10 a month. I'm sure it's higher now, but not much. I mean, you know, that's. Yeah, yeah. Well, I don't know if that's affordable at all.

Yeah, it, well, for, for us it certainly is for, for them. I read a lot of different statistics. One of the statistics was $125 a month. That's the, the average for some people. I said it's a little more than a hundred a week. I don't think that's the most lucrative.

Business in Cuba is prostitution. That's very lucrative. The oldest profession, you know, and there, there's a lot of that going on there. But, but yeah, you know, that all, all depends on inflation and the prices of everything else, obviously, and so forth. So, you know, we Just don't really have a good reference point for that, unfortunately. But. But you know what. What else did you think of it? I mean, like, did you. Do you agree with me that it was like going back to 1959? It was like a time warp, was like going in a time machine. I mean, when I was there.

Oh, yeah.

There.

There is very little Internet. You have to buy this Internet card for $10, and it goes super slow. It's hard to get.

So they didn't have any Internet. Yeah.

When you were there, there was probably nothing. So people don't use smartphones like we use here. You know, I had to go back to using a map. My Airbnb, they have Airbnb there. So I was staying in an Airbnb, and my host.

That's impressive.

And I think the way they run it there is these hosts in Cuba. They have people here in the United States, like family members who run their accounts and who just manage the whole Airbnb process. So my host gave me a map which came in extremely handy because there's no gps, there's no Apple maps or Waze or anything. And the taxi drivers, I was finding places on the Internet and I was telling taxi drivers, you know, take me to Fusterlandia. And they're like, I. I've never even heard of that. And so I would have to show them on the map. You know, here's the address, and it should be in this location. So you find out more about Cuba on the Internet here in the United States and the locals, even though over there, that.

That's quite fascinating. It really is. Yeah. But. But here's the thing. You know, this is one of the things I think Obama did that I agree with. There weren't many things I agree with that Obama did, but there were a few. You know, that old credit card bill from the beginning of his presidency I thought was pretty good, or, you know, I thought the credit card companies are just ripping people off. So I'm glad that he made some rules about that, and I'm glad that he lessened the tension with Cuba. And I just hope it opens up, because I believe the best way to convert a country is not to. Not to be their enemy, not to be at war with them. It's to have a bunch of rich Westerners living the good life, traveling there and just giving an example of how much more there is to the world than the locals have. And then the locals will rise up and change their own government. And it may be a slow process, but it always Happens eventually. And so, you know, that's what I think should happen. So lessening the travel restrictions to Cuba. And by the way, I should mention that the Venture alliance is seriously considering a trip to Cuba for my Venture alliance mastermind group. You can find out more@venturealliancemastermind.com and we are seriously considering a Cuba trip. So we've been to Dubai and that's been our only international trip so far, but we're considering Cuba. So if you want to go to Cuba, maybe you can go with us, join the Venture Alliance.

Yeah, well, you brought up Michael Moore. And just the last point I have about Cuba, people like Michael Moore and even that San Francisco 49ers quarterback who refused to stand for the national anthem and he wore a Fidel Castro shirt. They almost brag about Cuba and Castro saying their people are so literate and.

None of these hypocrites actually move. Well, that is, is true, actually. None of these hypocrite leftists, you know, why don't they just move? If they like it better there, there's nothing stopping them. I'm, I'm sure Raphael, is it Rafael Castro, you know, Roll Castro. Yeah. Thank you. Fidel's brother. I'm sure he would be glad to have Michael Moore and you know, any professional athlete that would be just a big feather in their cap to see Cuba recruit them. So why don't they, why don't they.

Go, yeah, these guys. I don't know if Michael Moore's been there, but I, I know the 49ers quarterback has never been there. And I even here in Tampa, of course I live in. I live in Tampa. And the reason why I went to Cuba is because I went to an investing seminar on investment opportunities in Cuba, which there are none, by the way, but it was an interesting seminar and that's what got me interested in. Interested in going. And one of the points that people kept talking about is the people there are so smart, they're so literate. 97% literacy rate. And after coming back, it's the most.

Literate country in the Caribbean, from what I understand. But, you know, that's not saying much, but. Okay, go ahead.

That's what I was going to say. The definition of literacy varies from country to country. So here in the United States States, if you're not, let's say at a third grade reading level, by the time you reach adulthood, you could be considered illiterate or maybe first grade. In Cuba, I think those standards are set much lower. And I say that because the people there, there's 20th century literacy, in my opinion, and there's 21st century literacy. If you're not able to.

Good distinction, by the way.

Yeah. If you're not able to write by using a computer or text message or, you know, kind of digitally, if you're not able to write, then in my opinion, you're not 21st century literate. And the people in Cuba, they can't. The only people who could speak English, and I don't speak Spanish, so I struggled a bit, but it's like the only people who I could speak English too, where the waiters and the hotel managers, outside of that, people couldn't even speak a word of English. Maybe two or three words here and there, maybe some bad words, but that's about it. And they couldn't speak French or Arabic or Mandarin or any of the other major languages that this world has. They couldn't speak that either. So these pro Cuba people go around saying, oh, they have such great quality of care. They people are so literate there, and I couldn't communicate with a majority of them.

I mean, in all fairness, though, do you speak Spanish?

I don't speak Spanish.

Yeah. Okay, but so, I mean, in fairness to them, what I don't get what you're saying.

So the point I'm making is if you were to go to, let's say, India, for example, and you, you, you talk to the most educated people in India, and if you talk to the most educated people in Cuba, you'll notice that the most educated people in India, it's almost like English. And it's not just India, it's in really many other countries out there, if you're very educated, they almost see English as a world reserve language. You know, of course, a dollar is a world reserve currency.

Right. That's a good comparison. I like it.

But the English, it's a world reserve language. And in Cuba, these people who are supposedly the smartest in their class, you know, they end up becoming waiters or working at restaurants. And that's what you get in a communist nation.

When you have central planning, you have a total misalignment of talents and capital, and it's just a mess. It's a disaster. And we could talk about that for another three hours easily, but we won't. So, Hayden Resh, we gotta wrap it up. This is some interesting insights on, on Cuba. And, you know, when we have you back on the show, maybe we'll go into that a little bit more. I just want to remind everybody to go to jason hartman.com and join us get your tickets for our Meet the Masters of Income Property event. It's only once a year, it's coming up in January, and it is the day after the inauguration of our new president. So we're gonna have a lot to talk about out there and some interesting insights. Love them, hate them, whatever. It's going to be interesting nonetheless. And there's a lot of investment issues that you need to think about. We're going to talk about Trumponomics, Fedonomics. You're just going to find this to be, I think, a very interesting Meet the Masters event. We've got lots of local market specialists coming out, bringing their teams with them to present properties to you to talk about their management techniques and a bunch of different stuff. So it's going to be a good event. Naresh, thank you so much for joining us today and I want to wish all our listeners a very happy New Year. We're here to help you in the new year to secure your financial future, to increase your financial wealth and to just enjoy your life, do more, have more and be more. And we are glad we could be your partner in that. So check out jasonhartman.com, click on the Events section. Join us for Meet the Masters. Naresh, thanks again for joining us.

Thanks Jason. It was great.

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