#99: How to Retire Rich & Still Have a Family

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Today, we welcome Joe DiSanto. He spent his childhood riding BMX bikes, breakdancing, and memorizing 80’s movies, but the carefree days of youth wouldn’t last long. By 13 he was working as a busboy, helping his recently-divorced mom, and picking up some of his own tabs. A valuable lesson was learned: If you don’t deal with your money, your money will deal with you. From that point on, he made it his mission to learn everything he could about making smart money moves.

It paid off. By age 30, Joe had wiped out $70k in student loans, bought his first house, and started a post-production company in Los Angeles. Over the next decade, the company grew to 30+ employees with over 5 million in annual revenue, while producing two critically-acclaimed documentaries and an Emmy-winning HBO series. During this time, he and his wife also transacted on 15 residential and commercial real estate properties. But nothing had a more life-changing impact than the birth of their son.

In this episode, we’re discussing…

[2:11] About his background and his work in Hollywood

[7:13] How he and his wife changed their mind about the business when they had a kid

[10:07] He found in real estate a passive income and then create his website: playlouder.com

[10:32] His motto is work smarter, play better, and play louder

[13:59] His point of view about retirement and how he handles money and investments.
[17:15] How he helps people with their money to find creative ways to invest and coaching

[18:39] The courses he has on his website to find financial independence roadmap

[19:38] The three pillars he calls for success

[24:08] How to be conscious about retirement and calculations about how old you are and if it’s more fun spending money or investing smartly

[26:35] How to be tax-efficient (like the secret fourth pilar)

Joe’s Top Tips

“I always had a hope of earlier retirement. And luckily, I managed to get that a little bit earlier than even I expected. And now I try to share that information in my knowledge with both my clients and also anybody who's interested in it through my website, playloder.com. I got to the point of owning a business in the post-production industry in Los Angeles or Hollywood”

“The reason we were able to do that is that I was into finance. I guess probably a lot like your listeners to this podcast and they're looking for unique investing ideas and trying to figure out how to make the most of their savings, I was just like them and managed to make some good moves and figure out a few things and doing that allowed me to compound the money we were saving and get it into a nice position where it's giving us a good portion of our income, is coming from the passive income from a real estate”

“Your business is one thing, but your money enters your life and your business. And it really just only becomes meaningful when it's like in your savings account. And it's in the bank, if you own a business and you spend most of the money in the business tank, you don't take them much well. So, I really started to educate people that you got to take the business, bookkeeping and the business financial management and apply those same principles to your personal life and really do personal bookkeeping, personal financial management, and look at it as one whole system”

“You have to spend some time figuring out how you can utilize your business status and real estate investments to be more tax-efficient, you really have to do in my opinion, the bookkeeping for your business, but also for your personal life. So, tracking your income and expenses really having good data and knowing that you're doing a good job and you're being prudent with your money”

“You have to figure out how you're going to invest those savings it's like keeping as much of the money as you're making while also enjoying your life. I was never really a super frugal person, to be honest, but I was smart about my money. And then I spent money on things that were important to me and I didn't waste money on stuff that didn't matter to me. And then figuring out what's the best way to invest those savings so that they're growing working as hard as they can for you while you're continuing to do your day job”

“I like managing my money I like learning about investments. I like that whole process so for me it was always kind, being naturally inquisitive on a topic that I enjoy, but for others is the last thing they want to do and combine that with limited time because like I said, as you get more responsibility in this world in the job, the hours go up, they don't go down, and the finances fall by the wayside, I think you leave a lot of money on the table. And which ultimately translates into just more years of work”

“And that's part of the problem. It's like I say to people, you go on a road trip, and you have no map, and you don't exactly know where you're going, I guess that could be fun. And the irony is, that could be really fun, if like, you just got out of college or whatever, just want to have a good time”

“If I need to make more, I really need to take that seriously. How do I do that? I think it just changes your mindset to being more entrepreneurial and even at your regular job like I always say to people you know in that case because while not every career allows you to go do a business you know so I say if you can do a business not only do you get the benefit of hopefully making more money controlling your income controlling your time”

“It's a hard challenge for everybody to be proactive on the saving and the financial prudency part, well within everybody's control immediately and most people are not doing anything on that front at all, they don't even like to track any of their expenses in some kind of computer program or whatever a spreadsheet and you're just budgeting app and doing it, that's not good enough you're just you're lying to yourself”.

Mike’s Top Tip’s

“Believe me we pay taxes but we also are smart and I don't like people that complain and bitch about all these things, but then we'll do anything to fix it. Yeah, okay, quit, I mean, quit bitching to me about it, change your lifestyle whether you do passive income investments, or go into business yourself, there are ways that you can also save with your income, by doing depreciation and write-offs, so you can not owe as much tax”.

“If you're interested in getting ahead in life retiring early, and having more control of your life, even though I work a lot of hours, I control when I work, And, then I can go golf if I want in the morning, or I can work in through in my RV or I can work up at my cabin. These are the different things I'm still working on. But I get to choose where, when, and I have more control, I'm happier. And that's what we all want, I think”

Resources from Joe

LinkedIn | Instagram | Play Louder

+ Read the transcript

Mike Stohler
What if you could be doing something smarter with your money that creates income. Now, if you're wanting to get ahead financially, and enjoy greater freedom of choice, if you want a comfortable retirement, and you know you'll have more choices, if you can do more with your money. Now, if you've wondered who else is creating ways to make their money work for them, and you want actionable ideas, with honest pros and cons, and no fluff, Welcome to the richer geek podcast. We're here helping people find creative ways to build wealth and financial freedom. I'm Mike Stohler, and in this podcast, you'll hear from others who are already doing these things, and learn how you can too. All right everybody welcome back to the Richer geek podcast. Today, we welcome Joe DiSanto. Yeah, you know, it's, uh, I love your website, your your, your business name. Play louder, you know, because that's so I think what all of us want to do, we work hard, but we also want to play hard and play louder. Have fun. Actually, today, we're just going to talk about little bit how you help people afford that type of lifestyle? As far as, you know, how can they retire with having a lot more money, still, with raising families and all of that. But anyway, before we dive into that, how you doing, Joe?

Joe DiSanto
Doing great. Thanks for having me on. Mike, I appreciate it.

Mike Stohler Now, going over your website, and your bio, you've done a lot at a very young age. Thanks. So tell me about you know, everyone's always curious about Hollywood and, and all that fun stuff. So tell us a little bit about who you are.

Joe DiSanto
Yeah, well, Joe DiSanto, I'm a Virgo. I am a Virgo actually and that's partly partly what makes the doing a lot by young age you know have happened Virgos are like pretty serious people but um, but yeah, I'm, I'm currently what I call semi-retired and I work as a consultant being a CFO for small businesses and one family office and then also essentially a business manager for you know, higher income higher net worth individuals. And but I didn't always do this. I was I feel like I'm, in a sense more like maybe your audience members are in the position they're in whether they own businesses or not, I was out there, you know, just doing my career, making some money. And then in trying to try my best to figure out how to make the most of the money I was making, keep the most of it, turn that into more money so that I could eventually retire. And I probably, you know, I always had a hope of an earlier retirement. And luckily, I managed to get get to get to that a little bit earlier than than even I expected, which is great. And now I try to share that information in my knowledge with both my clients and also anybody who's interested by through my website, play louder calm. But what I was doing is, is owning, eventually, I got to the point of owning a business in the post production industry in Los Angeles or Hollywood, as you mentioned, and we actually had post production and production. And we grew my partners and I started the company when I was about 30. And we grew to two, but 30 a little over 30 employees full time employees in our probably our height when we were producing what my bio describes, you know, our Emmy winning television show that we produced we had about 60 people that year. But we what we would do is work for both for the commercial industry making television commercials, also the film and television, eight industries, so making television shows and feature films. And you know, for your audience who's not too familiar with that business, or what post production is, when you're making any one of those things, commercial or feature or television show. First you start with production. You go out and shoot it and you get it in the can as they say and back in the day you were shooting film and the film came in cans. You would load it in the camera and then you take it out and in like a dark bag and put it back in the can and that's where that got to in the Canon came from well now it's pretty much got got it on the hard drive. But after you shoot the shoot the content, whatever you're doing, it's just raw material. And you go into the editing process to create a editing process. And you actually put it together as it was intended to be. And then after editing, you go through all these other processes, like color correction, and sound design and sound mixing and visual effects work and all that. And then you produce a final well used to be a tape, and now it's a file, and you deliver that to wherever it needs to go, whether that be a studio, or an ad agency, or whatever. So I, you know, worked my way up in the post production industry actually, ironically, was a photography major in college, and was always kind of into math and art. And I ended up getting into photography, because it was kind of like a good combination of, of a technical art form, you know, working with cameras and dark rooms, and sort of a technical process. And then, naturally, that, you know, led me into doing digital imaging and Photoshop and all that sort of stuff. And then when I got to college, I managed to find the post production industry, which I oddly I didn't know much about, I kind of thought I was gonna be like a photographer's assistant, and actually go the route of being a photographer, but I found the post production industry, which essentially video instead of just still images, and worked my way up, and eventually, you know, my partners and I kind of hopped out on our own and started our own company. But this was in two, we started the company 2006. So, you know, in at that time, and even today, you know, for a service business, like post production, you actually need a location, you know, you need an office, you need space, you need, you know, amenities you need. And honestly, post production in Los Angeles, New York and the big markets, it's, it's half the work that you do, but it's also part hospitality, people come into your studio, and the studio is beautiful. I mean, it's not like your regular office, it's like, you know, a nice, awesome loft house and we had a chef in a bar and, you know, we would really basically treat our clients

Joe DiSanto You know, just just amazingly well and cater to them and wait on them and, and try to provide like the most fun enjoyable experience while they were working on their project with us. So it was a really interesting business, you being in the hotel business know a little bit about hospitality. And it's, it's, it's, it's got its unique, unique kind of challenges and attributes as well. But it's a nice combination postproduction of, of technical art. So it ultimately was like, the perfect place for me to land and in terms of a career, and we were luckily able to get the business going. And it managed to be a success. But it was a lot, it was a lot of fun. But it's a very demanding career. I mean, I feel like actually, every Career Career is a demanding is, you know, it seems like whoever I talk to, they're all like, you know, once you get up to a higher level, and in a lot of responsibility, everybody seems to be working 60 plus hours a week. But, you know, essentially, I did that, you know, 60 plus all the time for years. But got tired. And then we had a kid. And I was like, Holy moly, how do you do this now, that's crazy. Kids, like kids take up a lot of time as, as turns out. So my wife and I sort of decided to reevaluate her whole situation and we sold on her business, my partner's graciously Cash me out, and we moved to Florida, where we could essentially have, you know, lower overhead, and hopefully work less so that we can spend more time with our son. But the reason we were able to do that is because I was always you know, into finance, you know, I guess probably a lot like your listeners if they're listening to this podcast and they're looking for unique investing ideas and trying to figure out how to make the most of their savings, you know, I was just like them and managed to make some good moves and figure out a few things and doing that allowed me to compound the money we were saving and, and get it into a nice position where it's giving us a good portion of our income is coming from the passive income from a real estate. And so I really only need to work part time and kind of cover my my monthly expenses now. beyond what the passive income doesn't cover, so it's pretty awesome. I'm pretty psyched. I feel like you know, I it was no accident, you know, but you set out doing this stuff and you don't really know how well you're gonna do you just have to Do your best and hopefully get some good breaks, which I have to say I did particularly in the real estate category. And here we are today now I'm on your podcast, sharing whatever value I can.

Mike Stohler
So now you have, you've decided to have this website, your, you've decided to pay it forward a little bit. Play louder.com is a website that does what you

Joe DiSanto
Yeah, so my motto is work smarter plan better play louder. And I feel like that's what I've tried to do and have been able to do and am doing, you know, now I'm enjoying a lot more free time. Now that I'm in this position, but what the website does, my website really is a blog. And in in basically I'm just giving all sorts of information, my own, you know, my own information from from my life and what I've learned over the years just away free, whoever wants to read it, I'm sharing all my thoughts and all the stuff I've cobbled together. So that's the website. Now I also though get paid now to manage people's money and be the CFO of businesses as well. So I'm like, basically a part time CFO and business consultant, I have about a half a dozen clients, some of which are actually creative companies in Los Angeles, old friends of mine who also own companies. Now I have some other kinds of companies as well. And I really just manage their money, help them make better business decisions. All the things that a CFO would do I help them a lot with tax planning, and, you know, those sorts of things. But what ended up happening is, you know, I started managing the money of some of the owners as well, because what I kind of preach as to my clients is that especially the business owners, it's like, Hey, you know, yeah, your business is one thing, but your money enters your life and your business. And it really just, it really only becomes meaningful when it's like in your savings account, you know what I mean? And it's actually your money in the bank. what's what's you know, if you own a business and you don't, you know, you spend most of the money in the business a tank, you don't take them much Well, what's the point of that? So I really started educate people that you got to you got to actually take the business, bookkeeping and the business financial management and apply those same principles to your personal life and really do personal bookkeeping, personal financial management, and look at it as one whole system. And, you know, it essentially involves just just the same things that you would do when you're running a small business, it's like, you're financially prudent, you look at how you're making money, if you're making money, what's the best what's the best money you're making it all your best income sources, stuff like that, you really do have to be tax efficient, you know, you have to really spend some time figure out how you can utilize your business status and real estate investments to be more tax efficient, you really have to do in my opinion, the bookkeeping for your business, but also for your personal life. So tracking your income and expenses really having good data and knowing that you're doing a good job and you're being prudent with your money. And then you have to figure out how you're going to invest those savings it's like keep as much of the money as you're making while also enjoying your life I'm I was never really a super frugal person to be honest, but but I was smart about my money. And then I spent I spent money on things that were important to me and I didn't waste money on stuff that didn't matter to me. And then figuring out what's the best way to invest those savings so that they're growing and really working as hard as they can for you while you're continuing to do your day job. And hopefully, you know, those those investments are going to advance your to what I like to call the promised land, or some version of retirement sooner than later, you know, and people use the word you know, I think when sometimes they use the word retirement, especially to younger people, you know that it's just that's something they're not thinking about, like I don't know, it's too far off in the distance. It's too abstract. But a lot of young people especially in the blogosphere now that blog a lot and they kind of have friends in that realm. The fire of movement is a pretty serious thing financial independence retire early. So a lot of people now are really talking about it more, it's financial independence is essentially getting getting off the hamster wheel so to speak, whether that be a golden hamster wheel or not, sometimes I would call my left la the golden hamster wheel. And basically, you know, kind of taking back your time and and being able to do more of what you want, whatever that might be in a day and it doesn't always mean not working or working. It's not working at anything at all and just like golfing all day or something like that.

Joe DiSanto
But it means you having more choices about what you can do with your time. And if you don't get there by accident and you know I've been surprised as I've been doing this consulting work and learning more about other people's finances and how other people manage their money and stuff and realizing that most of time they're just not managing their money I mean they're just not putting much time or effort or energy to it and these are smart you know successful people people that do make a lot of money you know, they're professionals or their business centers and they just don't have the time or and or the interest you know, that's the other key component You know, I think about managing your money is kind of like exercising it's like some people really love exercising and they would just do it anyway and they get the health benefit of something that they like to do. I don't like exercising ironically. But I like you know, financial things I like managing my money I like learning about investments I like investing money I like that whole process so for me it was always kind of fun and and you know, me being naturally inquisitive on a topic that I enjoy, but for others is this the last thing they want to do and you know, combine that with with limited time because like I said, as you as you get more responsibility in this world in the job, the hours go up, they don't go down, and the finances fall by the wayside, but you really do I think leave a lot of money on the table. And which ultimately translates into just more years of work. Okay, I was think of money you don't save you could have in money you don't make from investments that you should have been in your you're not just not making money, you're just tacking more years of work on to the end of your life. And, and ironically, it's, I liken that to the tax bracket system, you know, it's like, it's funny, you know, the more money you make, the more taxes you pay, right? You know, cuz you graduate into this, there's a graduated system and taxes, but it's like you're tacking you're tacking more work on to the end of your life where you're really not going to be wanting to do more work like at that point, yeah, be like at 60 Plus, you're just like, I'm just tired, you know, you're like, I gotta work 10 more years now because I didn't feel like doing my finances or figuring out what to invest in. And I know hopefully, you know, for your audience there if they're looking at your podcasts, they're engaging in this kind of thing and they're they're seeking out investments and so maybe I'm preaching to the choir, but you know, I have some some folks I actually also just do some coaching like individual people will find me through my website and they'll they'll book some time with me and I help them get set up with Quicken and I help them figure out what they're doing with their money and I just kind of act as like a personal trainer for their money some of them it's like they have a lot of savings but they're just sitting in CDs You know, you're just like wow, I mean you got hundreds of 1000s of dollars in CDs you don't think I don't think that's gonna cut it, you know, I think you're gonna have to get a little more creative than that,

Mike Stohler
or you know, 401 k, it's in their IRA. And

Joe DiSanto
So I try to help people I guess in some sense, I help people identify a lot of the things that the folks that come on your podcast talking about, and you've really had some some interesting great guests that you know, are really experts in their niche in their product and there's just it really is a great wealth of info so congratulations on collecting some great opportunities for people.

Mike Stohler
Thank you Yeah, and you know, once our listeners are once they get into real estate, once they start getting into you know, all of a sudden they're getting all these other different tax documents, you know, from from the syndicators or from these general partners and things like that and, and they know that they need to do something so it's nice that you you know, want to pay it forward a little bit. And, you know, I'm looking on your site and some of the courses if you, you know, how to incorporate businesses, some personal budgeting basics, you know, so you do a plethora of the beginner type stuff on how you can analyze real estate. And, you know, by the way, everyone, you know, these are free courses, those three that I talked about them, you can actually get into, you know, let's talk a little bit the financial independence roadmap and things like that.

Joe DiSanto
Yeah, yeah. So kind of the stuff on my side and even just what I talk to my clients better like the three pillars I call of success with this is being business minded, you know, which could mean you know, hopefully owning a business, if not that, you know, maybe being an independent consultant, if not that even trying to be more entrepreneurial at your regular job. But you can, but but owning a business, you know, is is pretty important in a variety of ways. So hence the course there on incorporating and that right, the next pillar is being financially prudent, you really have to pay attention to your income and expense and you know, get the most out of the money that you're making. And you know, so you can get that invested. And that's the personal finance component and just doing personal bookkeeping. And then the last pillar is, you know, investment, focus your investing focus in and really figure out how am I going to get the best return I can on my investable savings, right? So my courses, you know, essentially speak to those three pillars and most of my content in that inevitably filters down to those, those three pillars, um, but the personal roadmap thing is the concept of really just mapping out your whole roadmap to retirement because, you know, I think people are on this trip to like, people, again, people often don't consider what what they're doing throughout their lives in saving, everyone kind of knows our, I need to save, I need to invest, Okay, I'm gonna figure it out, maybe I put 10% of my money do but didn't really, really, really think about why they're doing that, and how it's gonna play out, you know, 30 years from now. And that's part of the problem. It's like I say to people, it's like you going on a road trip, and you have no map, and you don't exactly know where you're going, you know, so it's like, I guess that could be fun. And the irony is, that could be really fun, if like, you just got out of college or whatever, you know, just want to have a good time. But for one year, generally, it's good to know which roads you should be on, you know, when you're going to a destination. Um, so you can map that out, you know, it's like, it's, it's not that hard. So that course there, it inevitably goes into like a longer paid course, if people are interested in that. And I have all these, you know, spreadsheets and stuff. But I really walk people through how to think about where they're going, what their retirements gonna look like, how and calculate how much money they're going to need to save, and how much return they're going to need to get on note that those savings so that they can actually reach, you know, the number they're going to need to do their retirement, and nobody does this, you know, well, maybe the fire people do it. But it's not hard to do. And it's so eye opening, and I think so crucial to like, really get your average person like kicked into gear, about taking it seriously, because there's just, you can't get time back, you know, you can't get that compounding of time back. And that's the tough part, you know, where I'll talk to business owners, and they're like, late 40s. And they just have not seen, you know, they're just starting to think about it. Now. They're like, well, I'm getting tired, you know, this is I don't, I don't think I can do this forever. But I just saved that, you know, and it's not that they've saved nothing, you know, they might have a few $100,000, even 500 Plus, but it's like, it's gonna cost you a little bit more than that, you know, to me, and certainly to maintain the lifestyle maybe they have today, right? So it's like, you want to do that math, you know, and it's not hard so so that that course is really just designed to get people and help them to do that math and see what their goal is. And then, you know, chart a course, to get there.

Mike Stohler
Now that, you know, I think a lot of people would be shocked. Because it's so easy to throw out numbers. You know, you sit there say, you know what, I want to have $5 million. By the time I retire, and I want to retire at the age of 55. You start going backwards. And you're like, Okay, crap.

Joe DiSanto
Yeah, I mean, I honestly I do think a lot of people don't do it, because they're scared to do it. They don't know, they don't want to know the results of the calculations. It might be it might be a little bit of a bummer.

Mike Stohler
And it's more fun spending the money right now. I'd rather have that $100,000 car. Mm hmm. You know, but then you calculate, it's like, you know, if you got a $50,000 car and you put that $50,000 into something, it earned some interest. Yeah, it's just a different way of thinking, isn't it?

Joe DiSanto
It is I mean, I look you know, I look at the investments like assets, you know, like a car, you know, just different kind of asset that's cooler in my opinion, you know, and it also generates money for you. It's like, wow, that's, that's that's the kind of hobby I'm on. I want to collect those things. Um, but yeah, you know, but what it also does is it helps you to say okay, well, if I need to make more I really need to take that seriously. How do I go do that? And you I think it just changes your mindset to being more entrepreneurial you know and even if even at your regular job is like I always say to people you know in that case because while not every career allows you to go do a business you know so I say if you can do a business not only do you get the benefit of hopefully making more money controlling your income controlling your time and whether or not you work a lot at the business you do control your time so you can spend some time during the days working on figuring out those investments and various things like that you just have a lot more flexibility as a business owner but you also get the tremendous tax benefits of being a business owner and it is it is unfortunate you know for for people in their career that they just can't do a business you know, because it's too much to start or it's too hard or whatever the W two employee does unfortunately on a percentage basis pay the most tax and you know, it really kind of does you know, hamstring them so I say well if you can convert some of your work into a consulting gig where you can you know, ideally get incorporated I think that's the best thing to do but even if you're just making money turning nine you're gonna get some of those tax benefits you know and tax being tax efficient through business ownership and also real estate ownership really can produce a ton more savings for you and then you invest that savings in either more real estate or stocks or whatever else but that that is kind of like the secret fourth pillar I have to say is like you know, just doing your best to be tax efficient and and then taking those extra savings obviously and putting them to work for you. So yeah, so it's like if if they are kind of W two and they it's more about okay well how can you make more money do you need to leave a job and do a diagonal move? Can you get Can you can can Where can you go in your career currently? Like what is what is the job that you can actually see at your places office, that if you get in that position, you know how much money you're going to be making? If there's nothing above you, you know, or if it's not looking good? I mean, it's just it's as serious as you need to rethink what you're doing you know, I mean, it's like and again, I think that sometimes this is pretty heavy and it's a lot it's a lot to consider for people you know, so I understand that but you know, I always feel like you got to know the real facts and then then you got to adjust and make good maneuvers because it's your life and your potential retirement, you know,

Mike Stohler
Yeah, you know, one thing I don't like is you have all these people that they're up in arms because all of us are entrepreneur entrepreneurs. It's not that we're not paying taxes because we are paying taxes but we get a lot of depreciations and write offs and things like that, you know, so I hit it immediately when they say well you guys don't pay taxes. I'm like, believe me I pay taxes we pay taxes but we also are smart and I don't like people that complain and bitch about all these these things, but then we'll do anything to fix it. Yeah, okay, quit, I mean, quit bitching to me about it, change your lifestyle change, whether you do passive income investments, or go into business yourself, there are ways that you can also save you know, with your income, you know, by doing depreciation and write offs, so you can not owe as much tax

Joe DiSanto
Yeah, I mean, the tax components, you know, so important that if you're going to do something on the side, you should orient it towards getting tax benefits. I mean, I don't know why the tax cut is the way it is. I mean, I just suspect that it's because the people who who run this country are very wealthy, real estate and they own businesses so they make the rules so that the rules benefit them so you know, you can complain about that or you can just learn the rules and do your best to get in the game in that sense. And I think you should and I think you need to actually, if you're going to get to where you want to go now one thing I will say about the fire movement, which is is is an important factor. Like a lot of the fire movement is about being frugal, you know, and just you spend way less money so you need less you know, you can save more and you need less and it's not just about saving more today if you if the lower you reduce your cost of living in this retirement phase, the less you will need because you won't need to have your investments produce as much money so that is a way that you know you can you can get closer and get further along by saving you know, if making more money is obviously always a hard challenge. It's a hard challenge for everybody so you can be proactive on the saving and the financial prudency part Well that's well within everybody's control immediately and most people you know are not doing anything on that front at all they don't even like you know track any of their expenses in the you know in some kind of computer program or whatever and a spreadsheet and you're just you know some budgeting app and doing it you know kind of half ass that's not good enough you're just you're lying to yourself

Mike Stohler
So you allow people I'm very rigid on this rant you know that's okay because it's you know you're telling the truth it's you know people you know, sorry people that keeping up with the Joneses might be nice for the next 10 15 years. But there's gonna be guys like Joe and I that don't care what the Joneses do and we're going to be 55 60 and we're the ones that's going to be sipping the my ties you know, and you're still going to be working because you have all of these expenses where my house is going to be paid off because I don't need a bigger house every five years Yep, okay my house is fine Mike cars are actually through the business because I own a business so do business expense so how can I not have any personal costs and and you know, minimize my personal costs and that's you know, what, what Joseph and I are talking about it's something that needs to be talked about and I know Joe that you through your website, play louder.com can help people and work these types of issues and getting a foundation established for our listeners. So everyone if you're interested Joseph knows what he's talking about he knows how to help you you know it is a big task especially if you've you were you didn't see your parents go through it you don't have any mentors or advisors that are showing you how to do this is extremely important because in the blink of an eye you're going to be as old as I am and have anything to show for it except for expenses

Joe DiSanto
Yeah, I mean I do think in some ways you know not to be conspiracy theory sounding but the system you know, it does kind of lead the average person down the road of a long life of work you know, there's I watched this I watched this TV show once I can't remember what it was but there was a character playing really wealthy banker like in the late 1800s and he was talking about all these plans he had and he said we're gonna need a compliant workforce to get this done and I was like that's really fascinating but yeah you do you know in almost you need to engineer it so people pretty much will have to be on the team so to speak for a long long time like there's no you know, it sounds conspiracy like but I really kind of believe that you know, I never put it past very very you know, old wealth you know, and power to think like that you know what I mean? So it's like if if if you know, you learn from your parents if your parents don't own businesses or anything like that and like I said, you know, I'm going to teach you kind of just go down the road you know, that that your parents in the system sort of lay out run and it's just the irony is is that like that road, you know, you pay the most tax on on percentage basis, you know, whether that's fair or not, I don't know but you know, it's nothing I can do about it, you know, and it's like, you get sold all this stuff along the way so that you're always got a monthly payment and you know, you and it's like it just drives you into this forever, you know, hamster wheel cycle and I think that does benefit a lot of very rich, powerful wealthy people. You know, it's like they need people to be in that position, you know, so that they're reliant on on the job. That sounds crazy. I've never actually really verbalized that podcast before right because we think I'm nuts but but I don't know I'm like I probably sound kind of sounds right I feel like you know, who knows you know? Yeah, well you know there Yeah, but you know, he is you can change it you know, that's the beauty of our system you can actually just figure it out and go try other things and you know, get get on get on the right side of it, you know, data review of our country in the system, you know,

Mike Stohler
That well, that that is is we are allowed and Google USA to change things if we don't like it, and be an entrepreneur instead of someone that makes someone else money. Yeah, and you know, it's all been good. Well, Joe, I think we're running close on time. Sure. I appreciate it again, everyone, play louder.com And you can go in through and get some courses you can go in and ask Joseph for some consulting. If you're interested about getting ahead in life retiring early, and having more, I guess life control over your control of your life, you know, even though I work a lot of hours, I control when I work, hmm. And then I can go golf if I want in the morning, or I can work in through in my RV or I can work up at my cabin. You know, these are the different things I'm still working. But I get to choose where when, and I have more controlling, I'm happier. And that's what we all want, I think. Exactly. Well, Joseph, it's been wonderful having you on. Thank you for your knowledge, and your time. Have a great time. Thanks for tuning in to the Richer geek Podcast, where we're helping others find creative ways to build wealth, and financial freedom. For today's show notes, including all the links and resources from our show, and more information about our guests, visit www.therichergeek.com slash podcast. And don't forget to jump over to Apple podcasts, Google Play Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcast and hit the subscribe button. share with others who could benefit from listening and leave a rating and review to get the podcast in front of your eyes. I appreciate you and thanks for listening.

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ABOUT JOE DISANTO

Joe DiSanto spent his childhood riding BMX bikes, breakdancing, and memorizing 80’s movies, but the carefree days of youth wouldn’t last long. By 13 he was working as a busboy, helping his recently-divorced mom, and picking up some of his own tabs. A valuable lesson was learned: If you don’t deal with your money, your money will deal with you. From that point on, he made it his mission to learn everything he could about making smart money moves.

After a successful 19-year run in L.A., the couple decided to slow down and invest in their new family. They cashed out of the business and bought into small-town life on the Florida coast. Having semi-retired at age 43, Joe’s efforts are now focused on his educational blog Play Louder, where he shares a lifetime of fiscal know-how to help individuals and business owners navigate their finances, increase their net worth, and plan better for their future.

Passive InvestmentsNichole StohlerNovember 17, 2021podcast, season 1