How I Would Invest $1000 If I Were In My 20s

Summary

The video emphasizes the importance of investing in education and skills development to increase earning potential, rather than solely relying on traditional investments like the S&P 500. The speaker argues that skills such as phlebotomy can significantly boost income quickly and encourages young people to live frugally and invest their excess money in courses, coaching, and mentorships. The goal is to build a solid foundation of marketable skills, which can lead to higher earnings and greater financial success over time.

Takeaways

• 💼 Investing in skills and education early in life can lead to significant income growth, potentially surpassing those with traditional four-year degrees.
• 🏦 The speaker emphasizes that investing in assets like the S&P 500 or real estate can be profitable, but it's not the best way to actively increase one's earning capacity.
• 📈 The importance of investing in oneself, particularly in education that increases earning potential, is highlighted as a smart financial move.
• 💡 The concept of 'value creation' is introduced, where one's ability to solve problems and provide value to the marketplace is the key to making money.
• 📚 The speaker suggests that spending money on certifications, like becoming a phlebotomist, can quickly increase one's earning potential and is a worthy investment.
• 🌱 The idea of living frugally and investing excess money in education is promoted as a strategy for wealth creation.
• 💰 A monthly investment of $2,000 in courses, coaching, mentorships, workshops, and seminars is presented as a way to continuously improve one's skills and earning capacity.
• 🏠 The speaker dispels the myth that real estate investments are passive; they require active engagement and effort to be successful.
• 🎓 The transcript suggests that continuous learning and skill acquisition, rather than a single four-year degree, can lead to higher income and success.
• 🤔 The value of learning from multiple sources and not just one 'guru' is highlighted, as it reduces the risk of a poor investment and broadens one's knowledge base.
• 🔄 The importance of replicating successful strategies before iterating and adding personal flair is emphasized for effective learning and application.

Q & A

What is the main point the speaker is making about making more money than those with four-year degrees?

The speaker argues that by investing in oneself through education and skills training, one can potentially earn more than those with traditional four-year degrees, especially if they start early and focus on increasing their earning capacity.

What is an example of a quick certification that can significantly increase one's earning potential mentioned in the script?

The speaker provides the example of becoming a certified phlebotomist, which can increase one's hourly wage from minimum wage to around $25 an hour.

What does the speaker consider a 'safe' investment in terms of personal finance?

The speaker suggests that investing in the S&P 500 or real estate, particularly when started early and over a long period, is a safe way to generate income.

Why does the speaker believe that investing in stocks or day trading is not a good idea for increasing one's income?

The speaker believes that investing in stocks or day trading is not a good idea because it is high-risk and can be seen as a cessation of the desire to make more income, rather than focusing on increasing one's skills and earning potential.

What is the speaker's view on the importance of investing in one's education to increase earning capacity?

The speaker strongly advocates for investing in education that increases one's earning capacity, suggesting that it is more valuable than investing in traditional financial assets like stocks.

What is the speaker's advice for someone who is 20 or 30 years old regarding financial investments?

The speaker advises that at any age, but especially for those who are young, one should live frugally and invest excess money in education and skills that will increase their earning potential.

What is the speaker's opinion on the value of a four-year degree in the current job market?

The speaker expresses skepticism about the value of a four-year degree, suggesting that investing in targeted skill development and certifications can be more beneficial in the current job market.

What is the significance of the speaker's mention of 'the asset side of stuff' in the context of investments?

The speaker uses 'the asset side of stuff' to refer to investments in traditional financial assets like stocks, which they believe should not be the primary focus for those looking to significantly increase their income.

According to the speaker, what is the key to building wealth through real estate investments?

The speaker emphasizes that building wealth through real estate requires active involvement and time spent in the real estate market, not just passive investment.

What does the speaker suggest as a strategy for minimizing the risk of purchasing paid educational content?

The speaker suggests following content creators on platforms like Instagram and YouTube to gauge the value they provide for free, which can indicate the quality of their paid offerings and minimize the risk of purchase.

What is the speaker's advice on how to approach learning from various sources in one's field?

The speaker advises to learn from multiple sources, understand what each offers, and then integrate that knowledge to become just as good or better, emphasizing the importance of not just copying but also iterating on what is learned.

Outlines

00:00

💼 Investing in Skills Over Traditional Assets

The speaker emphasizes the importance of investing in one's skills and earning capacity rather than traditional assets like the S&P 500 or real estate. They argue that by acquiring skills such as becoming a phlebotomist, one can significantly increase their income in a short period. The speaker suggests that the value one provides to the market and the problems they solve are the keys to wealth generation. They also advocate for living frugally and investing excess money in education to enhance earning potential, rather than traditional savings or passive investments.

05:02

📈 Skill Acquisition and Compounding Earnings

This paragraph discusses the strategy of skill acquisition to exponentially increase one's income. The speaker encourages identifying and learning from successful individuals in a chosen field, suggesting that by doing so, one can become just as good or better. They stress the importance of fully understanding and replicating successful methods before innovating. The speaker also highlights the value of broadening one's skillset, using the example of a videographer who also learns editing, social media, copywriting, and management. They argue that by expanding one's expertise, an individual can dramatically increase their earning capacity and become an entrepreneur, ultimately compounding their wealth at a much faster rate than traditional investments.

Keywords

💡Investment

Investment in the context of the video refers to the act of putting money into financial assets or acquiring skills to generate returns over time. It is central to the theme as the speaker emphasizes investing in one's earning capacity rather than just traditional financial assets like the S&P 500 or real estate. The speaker uses the example of investing in a phlebotomy course to illustrate how quickly one can increase their income.

💡Earning Capacity

Earning capacity is the potential to generate income, which the speaker argues should be the primary focus of investment. It is tied to the video's theme by advocating for spending money on education and skills that increase one's marketable value. The concept is exemplified through the idea of becoming a certified phlebotomist to triple one's hourly wage.

💡Phlebotomy

Phlebotomy is the medical practice of drawing blood for laboratory testing, diagnostics, or research. In the video, it serves as a practical example of a skill that can be acquired quickly and significantly increase one's earning potential, thus emphasizing the value of targeted educational investments.

💡S&P 500

The S&P 500, or Standard & Poor's 500, is a stock market index that measures the performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the U.S. It is mentioned in the video as a type of financial investment that can be safe but may not yield high returns compared to investing in one's skills and abilities.

💡Education

Education in this video is not limited to formal schooling but includes any form of learning that increases one's skills and earning potential. The speaker encourages investing excess money into education, such as courses, coaching, and mentorships, to compound one's earning capacity faster than traditional investments.

💡Day Trading

Day trading is the practice of buying and selling financial instruments within the same trading day. The speaker dismisses day trading as a viable investment strategy, labeling it as 'stupid' and suggesting that it does not contribute to long-term income growth.

💡Value

Value, in the context of the video, is the worth or usefulness of a product or service provided to the marketplace. The speaker discusses how the value of the problems one solves and the charges for it determine earning potential, emphasizing the importance of providing high-value solutions.

💡Wealth Building

Wealth building is the process of creating and accumulating assets to increase one's net worth. The video's theme revolves around wealth building through enhancing earning capacity and making smart investment decisions in education and skills rather than traditional financial assets.

💡Entrepreneurial Degree

The term 'entrepreneurial degree' metaphorically represents the collection of skills and knowledge one acquires to be successful in business. The speaker suggests viewing individual courses and mentorships as components of this degree, rather than expecting a single investment to guarantee success.

💡Coaching and Mentorships

Coaching and mentorships are forms of guidance and learning from experienced individuals. The speaker promotes investing in these to accelerate skill acquisition and earning potential, using the monthly investment of $2,000 as an example to illustrate the potential impact on one's career.

💡Skills Stack

A skills stack refers to a combination of abilities and proficiencies that complement each other and enhance one's professional value. The video emphasizes the exponential increase in value that comes from broadening one's skills, such as combining videography with editing, social media, and leadership skills.

Highlights

Investing in oneself by acquiring skills can lead to higher earnings than a traditional four-year degree.

Early investment in assets like the S&P 500 can be profitable but should be approached with a long-term perspective.

Day trading is discouraged as it's considered a less effective way to increase income.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of investing in one's earning capacity through education and skill acquisition.

Becoming a phlebotomist as an example of a quick certification that can significantly increase one's hourly wage.

The value of solving problems for others and charging for it is a key to making money.

The speaker argues that the biggest investment is in one's ability to earn money and provide value.

Living frugally and investing excess money in education can exponentially increase one's earning potential.

Investing in real estate actively requires time and effort, contrary to the passive income myth.

The speaker guarantees that investing in oneself can surpass the earning potential of those with four-year degrees within a year.

One-on-one coaching is highlighted as an effective way to learn new skills.

The importance of viewing educational investments as part of an entrepreneurial degree, not as a one-time wealth generator.

Learning from various sources can decrease the risk of purchasing educational content and broaden one's knowledge.

The concept of replicating successful strategies before iterating and adding personal flair.

The speaker discusses the importance of identifying missing 'bricks' in one's skill set to progress.

Skills can stack exponentially, and broadening one's horizon can lead to higher-paying roles.

The wealthiest individuals compound their wealth by focusing on increasing their earning capacity rather than passive investments.

Transcripts

i [ __ ] guarantee you that you will be

making more than people who have

four-year degrees you'll probably start

making money by the end of the first

year i was at brooke's house and she had

seven 20 to 23 year olds at her house no

cat one morning one of the guys was up

early and he was like hey right now i've

got a thousand extra dollars like where

do you think i should invest it you know

i've got my 401k and i've got you know

whatever stuff and it was cute it was so

interesting to me because like he was

looking for an investment vehicle that

was going to yield him a return i want

to be very clear about this if you

invest in the s p 500 you know real

estate things like that and you start

really early and you do it for a long

period of time you absolutely will make

money it is a very safe way to live life

but the moment you start investing in

kind of the asset side of stuff which is

like the s p stocks in general and

you're not day trading or doing that

stuff because that's that's stupid the

moment you do that is actually the

moment in my belief that you're actually

ceasing to want to make more income hear

me out if you're 18 years old and you

graduate high school tomorrow you are

now eligible on the marketplace because

you have no skills besides your high

school diploma you did no job [ __ ] off

the whole time don't watch youtube to

learn stuff which is not you but just

imagine in two days you could go and

become certified as a phlebotomist and

go from making 750 or whatever the

minimum wage is to what phlebotomists

make at 25 an hour you would triple your

earning capacity after two days and

spending 500 if you can triple your

income for the rest of your life the 500

certification in two days do you think

it's worth the investment

probably and so the problem is that

people think about the biggest

investment as the stuff that they take

their money and they put it into and i'm

gonna be over i'm gonna be trite right

now your ability to earn money to

provide value to the marketplace and

solve problems for other people is how

you will be able to make money there's

the value of the problem that you solve

and what you charge for it the bigger

that number is the more you can charge

that gap between their old problem and

the solution that value is the

percentage that you can take and put in

your pocket as something that you have

now created in this and it could be a

service it could be products it could be

whatever your earning capacity is going

to be the thing that generates you

wealth do you want to be smart with your

money and save it absolutely because

that gives you way more that you can

play with but when you're 20 even when

you're 30 and in my belief whatever age

you are i believe that you should take

all of the excess money live as cheap as

you can take a hundred percent of that

excess money and invest it in education

that increases your earning capacity

because what happens is when you take

that money like that phlebotomy course

right you take twenty five dollars an

hour time two thousand hours a year

you're not a fifty thousand all year

income cool if i can live on 20 because

i'm 20 years old and i can live with

buddies and we can eat ramen soup and

whatever and i got 30 left over after

taxes 25 whatever 25 grand can buy you a

lot of education i would rather you or i

would rather me or somebody who's 20 or

somebody who's 30 take 2 000 a month

because that's what 25 grand is and

invest it in courses coaching

mentorships workshops and seminars every

month i'm putting that 2k now you could

put 2k into one opportunities you're

like dude i think real estate's cool

cool we're not doing real estate as my

passive income we're doing real estate

is i'm gonna get into the real estate

game and i'm gonna make it my active

income and by the way everybody who

builds their wealth and real estate are

actively spending their time in real

estate don't believe what they're saying

they're like dude i did this deal and i

made x amount of money it's like what

was the process of finding deals how

many deals did you look at how many

conversations did you have how many

buildings did you walk how many

different general contractors did you oh

wait there is and there's other stuff

that has to happen right back to the

point let's say that you take that 2 000

a month and you do that for four years

and i'm not saying do the four-year

degree i think that is play if you want

to i don't necessarily agree with it

anymore in the marketplace that

currently exists four years later i

[ __ ] guarantee you that you will be

making more than people who have

four-year degrees you'll probably start

making money by the end of the first

year the amount of like copywriting

courses in books and programs

mentorships and even one-on-one coaching

like i think one-on-one coaching is a

phenomenal way to learn a new skill if

you're like hey i need to know how to

buy media i need to know how to run an

ad go pay someone who runs ads or

teaches people how to run ads when you

make that payment you're seeing it as

one class in your entrepreneurial degree

rather than this one twelve thousand

dollar investment has to make me rich if

you can make that shift it's like this

is my course like when you get your

degree in college you're not like oh i'm

going to take one class in spanish

graduate and get whatever job i want no

one thinks that way but for some reason

to think about that when it comes to

entrepreneurial stuff you're not paying

someone to think that they're going to

be your savior they're not going to save

you from your life do everything for you

no one person is going to teach you

everything i'll do my best on this

channel teach the stuff i know but you

have something to learn from everyone

you know like that wasn't the value that

i thought i was like you can still learn

from that you want to go to the person

who's providing the most value for free

it's the easiest way for you to decrease

your risk of purchase if you follow

someone's instagram you follow youtube

you see the stuff they put out you're

like dude this is really good like this

is a lot of new information that i

didn't know and it's like very tactical

and i understand like hey you already

know that you like the person b you

already know that you're getting value

from the person from the content they

have and so the likelihood that the

thing that they have that's paid is

gonna be worse than that is low you know

hopefully follow lots of people in a

particular space see the one that you

jive with the most you like their

teaching style you don't need to follow

this stuff for forever to like belabor

the decision give yourself seven days

because you know what's really even

cooler than buying one person's buy em

all and then you'll know what everyone

knows and then guess what happens you

become just as good or better now you're

making eighty thousand dollars a year

well now we've got four thousand dollars

a month that we can spend on coaching

and mentorships and learnings and

courses and whatnot i was saying to

myself like i'm gonna be the number one

student here i'll just do whatever they

say i'll see what happens and i'll do

whatever they say i'll see what happens

you wanna replicate before you iterate

before you say i'm gonna put my alex

sauce on before you do that just make

sure that you can duplicate what they're

doing because then you earn the right to

make the iterations even if it's not

perfectly your style copy it first

before you make the iterations if you

see it as a bridge that has many bricks

on it you have to lay all the bricks and

here's the bad part let's say you've got

30 bricks on this bridge to make your

first dollar the first dollar has to

walk across the bridge when you're 28

bricks in you might not have made the

first dollar yet but you're 90 of the

way there and the speed with which

people are able to traverse or cross

that bridge is how well they identify

which brick is missing and where they

put their attention that's where a lot

of people get disheartened is that they

will start building new bridges and get

two three bricks and then they'll start

building a new bridge two three bricks

and they have lots of half built bridges

and they never make it all the way

across let's say you're a videographer

or you like video stuff skills stack

exponentially you got a video skill now

you got an editing skill now you

understand social media messaging

copywriting and branding ooh management

and operations and leadership see how

that person starts to expand you can

imagine how their pay is going to

dramatically increase because now you're

a cmo broadening your horizon and going

deep in these other silos then all of a

sudden you're an entrepreneur one is you

have to make that decision that you're

not going to spend all your money on

stupid stuff the second is that you are

going to spend your money not on the s p

but on the s and me

what

is that you're going to spend it on you

because that thing is going to compound

a hell of a lot faster than 10 a year

you can double triple 10x your earning

capacity the people who are the richest

people in the world they make a thousand

times more jeff bezos made 40 million

dollars an hour last year

it's a lot