Matthew Sapaula, co-owner of PHP Agency, uses the LSRT test (Liquidity, Safety, Rate of Return, Tax Advantages) to evaluate investments and opportunities. He argues for delaying marriage and kids to build a lasting legacy, cites Rich Dad Poor Dad as transformative, and tells veterans and others to think independently rather than follow the crowd.
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Alright everyone, welcome back to the Business Blast Podcast. This is your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Matthew Cipolla with us. He is the Money Smart Guy, co-owner of PHP Agency, and the host of Living Money Smart Vlog. So welcome to the podcast, Matt. I'm excited to have you here, man.
Great to be here, Tyler. Thanks for having me.
Of course. The first question I have for you is, what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Best story of my life in terms of entrepreneurship has been, in terms of my military experience, has been life isn't going to give you what you feel you deserve. You're always going to wish you had a head start. Somebody always had a better, you know, funding or capital or resume or head start in life. But if you keep wishing upon that, you'll always be frustrated with yourself and you won't be appreciative and grateful for what you do have. And once you are grateful for what you do have, you're gonna gather your, your current situation, your current talents, your current resources, your current relationships. And if you're grateful and appreciative, you're always going to make the most of what you have. And you'll be surprised what comes out on the other end. So take a look at what you have right now. Don't worry about what you don't have and make the most of your opportunities today.
And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Oftentimes in the financial world, in insurance world, people always ask us, what's the best place and where should I be putting my money? What's the best business to get involved? I have what we call a LSRT test, L-S-R-T, which stands for— L stands for liquidity, S for safety, R for rate of return, T for tax advantages. And if whatever I'm putting my money into, whether it be an investment, savings, or a business, If I can't get my money out, it's not liquid. If my money is not relatively safe, in other words, uh, is there a chance for me to lose everything, uh, or I'm safe having it, um, if I decide to change my mind and I'm out, I have an exit plan. Number 3, does it have a rate of return? And number 4, does it have tax advantages? If it doesn't have at least 3 of the 4, I'm out. I pass. Because there's power in the word no as much power in the word yes.
Got it, that's great to know. And next question is, what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily like industry-specific.
Be careful of what they say. Be care— always question everything. Always find the difference in varying different opinions. Just don't jump into what Facebook says or what your friends on social media says, or even what the media says. Dive into a subject matter. If you're really interested in a specific topic, in your opinion, and decisions that are based upon that opinion, dive into a matter with people that have been there, done that, with years of experience beforehand, and force yourself to be an independent thinker. And one of the ways you can do that very easily is to continue to read a lot of books and find ways that people have put their years of experience of 20, 30 years It's 200-300 pages. And so, uh, just don't settle for one opinion, get many.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Uh, wait to get married and have kids. Um, don't jump into a lot of relationships. Uh, if you have a process and evaluating who should be your relationship, because that person could be a big distraction. Him or her could be a big distraction. To where you ultimately want to go in life. I'm not telling you to rob yourself of happiness, but I'm just saying that if you really want to have a go at a lifelong legacy conversation and you want to make an impact for the long term, having the right partner with you for the long term that's going to support you and not distract you and understand that you're going to be putting in a lot of hours, and your children will also understand that too as well. That will save you a lot of heartache and grief and money in the long term.
And that actually ties in with the next question is, in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
Key to happiness is really finding ways to love yourself first, finding gratefulness in yourself first, finding wholeness and completeness in yourself first. There's gonna be a lot of doubts, there's gonna be a lot of second thoughts you have in a lot of things that you do, but if you have the ability to say, you know what, no matter what I'm going to go through, and I'm not going to judge myself through the process, I'm going to learn through this process because it's going to create a better version of me. And I'm going to create a better version for every decision and failure I go through. I fail often, I fail forward, I fail, fail forward. And I love myself through the process. It doesn't matter what the haters, the doubters, the skeptics will say. I believe in my vision. I believe in the impact I'm gonna make in this world, the difference I'm gonna make, and I believe in the decision I'm gonna make. And right or wrong, you embrace your decision and you move forward.
And what's the best book you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from it?
Best book is Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Reason being is because Robert Kiyosaki not only was— not only is he Asian, he's Japanese, I'm Filipino, so I resonated with that. Raised in America, resonated with that, had two different father figures giving him different advice. One says, go to school, get good grades, get a good job, so be safe and secure for the rest of your life. That was his poor dad. Whereas his rich dad was his best friend's father, who says, you know, work for yourself, work for free for somebody else if need be for the lessons you'll learn. So therefore you buy assets instead of, uh, giving time to somebody else. So therefore you can have something to kill for 30, 40 years from now. And those, in the varying different philosophies about Rich Dad and his Poor Dad, is paying off even in his life today. Because there's one thing to be said about being safe, secure with a job versus being financially free and financially independent in terms of self-confidence and the delivery you have and the impact and the legacy that you create.
And I love that book as well. And next question is, is what's your favorite quote and why?
Favorite quote? Oh, that's a good one. Um, my CEO, uh, Patrick Bet-David, the CEO founder, he says, hang around the right group of people that are causing you to think bigger and better of yourself, and you watch out, you might actually start thinking for yourself. I love that.
Well, thanks for coming on, Matt. The last question I have for you is, where can people best, uh, find you online?
MoneySmartGuy.com, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, YouTube, Money Smart Guy. You can find me online. Hey, a lot to my veterans out there that is transitioning from the military into the civilian life, love to help you guys out. MoneySmartGuy.com, going from nowhere to somewhere, come from boot camp to the boardroom. God bless you guys, appreciate, appreciate Tyler for having me on.
Perfect, thanks again for coming on, man, we appreciate you too.
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