The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

The Most Important Non-Fastlane Thread You will Ever Read (Investing Content Inside)

Anything related to investing, including crypto

fastlane_dad

8 Figure Fastlane Graduate
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
636%
Jun 20, 2017
413
2,626
41
Scottsdale, AZ
This thread is not super FASTLANE inspired - but if there is one non-fastlane thread that you pay attention to and take action on THIS IS IT.

If your plan IS to make FASTLANE money – you should start building your mental game to handle that money -- starting TODAY and I will show you exactly how to do that and where to begin!

Please follow me along on this thread as this will jumpstart you way ahead of the game on the investing journey. And there’s nothing that can prepare you better (aka. become a smart and patient investor) other than pure time in market and experience, which you will gain if you start with some of the basic advice I give here!

ALSO - a quick disclaimer – I am not a certified financial advisor and please do not take anything on this thread as financial advice. Do your own research. Consult a professional if you so choose.

What I’m going to give a brief rundown on today is INVESTING – mainly investing in the markets (equities and bonds) – and why it is imperatively important to start doing this DAY ONE when you read this.

Why do I like and RECOMMEND passive, hands off investments like this ?

Because I need time and history tested method to easily invest in that can keep and grow my wealth – while still diverting majority of my focus on other fastlane businesses I’m working on building up! This gives me a plan and direction – without having to keep checking and rechecking my actions daily. Best of all – this plan works for ME, and chances are it will WORK FOR YOU given a long enough time span.

I waited to learn the simplicity of DIY investing until I was years into my FASTLANE business. My personal example is that I was making upwards of $3MIL / year, spending only very little of that annually.

What did I do during that time? Let all my money SIT IN CASH! Core reason for that is that my MENTAL COMPOUNDING game had not been properly established. I'm writing this thread because I believe that if I came up on a thread like this years ago, I would of been significantly richer by now !

I was pre-occupied with making money, and everything else fell by the wayside.

I was afraid of investing, did NOT trust financial advisors – and felt like maybe there’s a BETTER use of my money – coming in around the corner.

I kept putting this off, and not only losing the possible returns I could have had along the way – but WORST OF ALL, not building my mental fortitude of emotional compounding to learn how markets fluctuate, how I withstand and tolerate risk, and learn proper time horizons to let wealth grow.

Most people leave this OFF to their employers, or their ‘financial advisors’. Worst case scenario is that some NEVER do this, or wait until it is TOO LATE.

What I am showing and advising you to do is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme. This is NOT your ‘fastlane plan’ – you have the rest of this forum to consult and work on that.

What I’m showing you here is something you MUST start even if you have absolutely ZERO knowledge on anything else fastlane related. This will be one of the best actions you can take – where your future self will thank you.

Most financial articles, advisors and gurus focus on how important FINANCIAL COMPOUNDING is. What I’m working on showing you is that its just as important to compound your mental strength to be prepared to handle large wealth for when it comes.

If you currently have $50, $1000 or $1MIL it doesn’t matter.

You need to establish mental fortitude in seeing your wealth ride up and downs of the markets. If you start this by 18, in twenty years (when you are 38) you will have 20 YEARS of experience doing this. This is nothing to sneeze at – especially if your career / fastlane business is at the peak during those years.

So brief points on things to consider and HOW to start

1 – Open up a Vanguard , Fidelity or any other low-cost brokerage accounts.

2 – A conservative place to start is to split your investing between 50% stocks and 50% bonds. Think something like the following - US equities and Bonds ETFs (VTI and BND).

3 - Once a week / month etc invest a consistent amount you are comfortable with. If you only got $50 and want to keep it even more simple, invest in a single fund (such as FBALX) – they don’t have a minimum and will spread the allocation for you.

4 - For a slightly more intricate plan you can do US stocks, International Stocks and US Bonds at a ratio of 60/10/30 or some other percentage depending on your willingness and ability to take risk. I use that percentage myself for my risk and time horizons.

If you want to learn more, and customize the portfolio to your risk tolerance, look up (three fund portfolio) and base your allocation on your variables that are more important to you.

There are many lessons in this that will be parallel to building up a fastlane business, process and fortitude required to build something successful.

Good luck on moving forward, and if you have any questions on the advice above please feel free to ask! Please don’t hold off and start taking action on this today no matter your age as proper investing (especially in DIY form) will reward you for years and decades to come in the future.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

Albert KOUADJA

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
84%
Mar 13, 2022
309
259
This thread is not super FASTLANE inspired - but if there is one non-fastlane thread that you pay attention to and take action on THIS IS IT.

If your plan IS to make FASTLANE money – you should start building your mental game to handle that money -- starting TODAY and I will show you exactly how to do that and where to begin!

Please follow me along on this thread as this will jumpstart you way ahead of the game on the investing journey. And there’s nothing that can prepare you better (aka. become a smart and patient investor) other than pure time in market and experience, which you will gain if you start with some of the basic advice I give here!

ALSO - a quick disclaimer – I am not a certified financial advisor and please do not take anything on this thread as financial advice. Do your own research. Consult a professional if you so choose.

What I’m going to give a brief rundown on today is INVESTING – mainly investing in the markets (equities and bonds) – and why it is imperatively important to start doing this DAY ONE when you read this.

Why do I like and RECOMMEND passive, hands off investments like this ?

Because I need time and history tested method to easily invest in that can keep and grow my wealth – while still diverting majority of my focus on other fastlane businesses I’m working on building up! This gives me a plan and direction – without having to keep checking and rechecking my actions daily. Best of all – this plan works for ME, and chances are it will WORK FOR YOU given a long enough time span.

I waited to learn the simplicity of DIY investing until I was years into my FASTLANE business. My personal example is that I was making upwards of $3MIL / year, spending only very little of that annually.

What did I do during that time? Let all my money SIT IN CASH! Core reason for that is that my MENTAL COMPOUNDING game had not been properly established. I'm writing this thread because I believe that if I came up on a thread like this years ago, I would of been significantly richer by now !

I was pre-occupied with making money, and everything else fell by the wayside.

I was afraid of investing, did NOT trust financial advisors – and felt like maybe there’s a BETTER use of my money – coming in around the corner.

I kept putting this off, and not only losing the possible returns I could have had along the way – but WORST OF ALL, not building my mental fortitude of emotional compounding to learn how markets fluctuate, how I withstand and tolerate risk, and learn proper time horizons to let wealth grow.

Most people leave this OFF to their employers, or their ‘financial advisors’. Worst case scenario is that some NEVER do this, or wait until it is TOO LATE.

What I am showing and advising you to do is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme. This is NOT your ‘fastlane plan’ – you have the rest of this forum to consult and work on that.

What I’m showing you here is something you MUST start even if you have absolutely ZERO knowledge on anything else fastlane related. This will be one of the best actions you can take – where your future self will thank you.

Most financial articles, advisors and gurus focus on how important FINANCIAL COMPOUNDING is. What I’m working on showing you is that its just as important to compound your mental strength to be prepared to handle large wealth for when it comes.

If you currently have $50, $1000 or $1MIL it doesn’t matter.

You need to establish mental fortitude in seeing your wealth ride up and downs of the markets. If you start this by 18, in twenty years (when you are 38) you will have 20 YEARS of experience doing this. This is nothing to sneeze at – especially if your career / fastlane business is at the peak during those years.

So brief points on things to consider and HOW to start

1 – Open up a Vanguard , Fidelity or any other low-cost brokerage accounts.

2 – A conservative place to start is to split your investing between 50% stocks and 50% bonds. Think something like the following - US equities and Bonds ETFs (VTI and BND).

3 - Une fois par semaine / mois, etc., investissez un montant constant avec lequel vous êtes à l'aise. Si vous n'avez obtenu que 50 $ et que vous voulez que ce soit encore plus simple, investissez dans un seul fonds (comme FBALX) - ils n'ont pas de minimum et répartiront l'allocation pour vous.

4 - Pour un plan un peu plus complexe, vous pouvez faire des actions américaines, des actions internationales et des obligations américaines à un ratio de 60/10/30 ou un autre pourcentage en fonction de votre volonté et de votre capacité à prendre des risques. J'utilise moi-même ce pourcentage pour mes horizons de risque et de temps.

Si vous souhaitez en savoir plus et personnaliser le portefeuille en fonction de votre tolérance au risque, recherchez (portefeuille à trois fonds) et basez votre allocation sur vos variables les plus importantes pour vous.

Il y a de nombreuses leçons à tirer de cela qui seront parallèles à la création d'une entreprise, d'un processus et d'un courage rapides nécessaires pour construire quelque chose de réussi.

Good luck on moving forward, and if you have any questions on the advice above please feel free to ask! Please don’t hold off and start taking action on this today no matter your age as proper investing (especially in DIY form) will reward you for years and decades to come in the future.
Thanks you for your advices.
 

MaxT

Bronze Contributor
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
98%
Oct 22, 2020
323
318
France
This thread is not super FASTLANE inspired - but if there is one non-fastlane thread that you pay attention to and take action on THIS IS IT.

If your plan IS to make FASTLANE money – you should start building your mental game to handle that money -- starting TODAY and I will show you exactly how to do that and where to begin!

Please follow me along on this thread as this will jumpstart you way ahead of the game on the investing journey. And there’s nothing that can prepare you better (aka. become a smart and patient investor) other than pure time in market and experience, which you will gain if you start with some of the basic advice I give here!

ALSO - a quick disclaimer – I am not a certified financial advisor and please do not take anything on this thread as financial advice. Do your own research. Consult a professional if you so choose.

What I’m going to give a brief rundown on today is INVESTING – mainly investing in the markets (equities and bonds) – and why it is imperatively important to start doing this DAY ONE when you read this.

Why do I like and RECOMMEND passive, hands off investments like this ?

Because I need time and history tested method to easily invest in that can keep and grow my wealth – while still diverting majority of my focus on other fastlane businesses I’m working on building up! This gives me a plan and direction – without having to keep checking and rechecking my actions daily. Best of all – this plan works for ME, and chances are it will WORK FOR YOU given a long enough time span.

I waited to learn the simplicity of DIY investing until I was years into my FASTLANE business. My personal example is that I was making upwards of $3MIL / year, spending only very little of that annually.

What did I do during that time? Let all my money SIT IN CASH! Core reason for that is that my MENTAL COMPOUNDING game had not been properly established. I'm writing this thread because I believe that if I came up on a thread like this years ago, I would of been significantly richer by now !

I was pre-occupied with making money, and everything else fell by the wayside.

I was afraid of investing, did NOT trust financial advisors – and felt like maybe there’s a BETTER use of my money – coming in around the corner.

I kept putting this off, and not only losing the possible returns I could have had along the way – but WORST OF ALL, not building my mental fortitude of emotional compounding to learn how markets fluctuate, how I withstand and tolerate risk, and learn proper time horizons to let wealth grow.

Most people leave this OFF to their employers, or their ‘financial advisors’. Worst case scenario is that some NEVER do this, or wait until it is TOO LATE.

What I am showing and advising you to do is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme. This is NOT your ‘fastlane plan’ – you have the rest of this forum to consult and work on that.

What I’m showing you here is something you MUST start even if you have absolutely ZERO knowledge on anything else fastlane related. This will be one of the best actions you can take – where your future self will thank you.

Most financial articles, advisors and gurus focus on how important FINANCIAL COMPOUNDING is. What I’m working on showing you is that its just as important to compound your mental strength to be prepared to handle large wealth for when it comes.

If you currently have $50, $1000 or $1MIL it doesn’t matter.

You need to establish mental fortitude in seeing your wealth ride up and downs of the markets. If you start this by 18, in twenty years (when you are 38) you will have 20 YEARS of experience doing this. This is nothing to sneeze at – especially if your career / fastlane business is at the peak during those years.

So brief points on things to consider and HOW to start

1 – Open up a Vanguard , Fidelity or any other low-cost brokerage accounts.

2 – A conservative place to start is to split your investing between 50% stocks and 50% bonds. Think something like the following - US equities and Bonds ETFs (VTI and BND).

3 - Once a week / month etc invest a consistent amount you are comfortable with. If you only got $50 and want to keep it even more simple, invest in a single fund (such as FBALX) – they don’t have a minimum and will spread the allocation for you.

4 - For a slightly more intricate plan you can do US stocks, International Stocks and US Bonds at a ratio of 60/10/30 or some other percentage depending on your willingness and ability to take risk. I use that percentage myself for my risk and time horizons.

If you want to learn more, and customize the portfolio to your risk tolerance, look up (three fund portfolio) and base your allocation on your variables that are more important to you.

There are many lessons in this that will be parallel to building up a fastlane business, process and fortitude required to build something successful.

Good luck on moving forward, and if you have any questions on the advice above please feel free to ask! Please don’t hold off and start taking action on this today no matter your age as proper investing (especially in DIY form) will reward you for years and decades to come in the future.
Thanks for your topic.
Have you any recommandations on ETF ? in specific domains, general...?
At this time I already have s&p500, nasdaq and cac40 etf's.
Thanks by advance, wish you a great day.
 

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,083
169,517
Utah
I was pre-occupied with making money, and everything else fell by the wayside.

And instead of making 8% in the stock market, you made 80,000% in your business.

Not a bad "oversight" ...

But now that you have significant cash holdings, that 8% can deliver a nice annual sum of "F*ck you" money, completely passive.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Erik_

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
100%
Aug 21, 2022
5
5
21
This thread is not super FASTLANE inspired - but if there is one non-fastlane thread that you pay attention to and take action on THIS IS IT.

If your plan IS to make FASTLANE money – you should start building your mental game to handle that money -- starting TODAY and I will show you exactly how to do that and where to begin!

Please follow me along on this thread as this will jumpstart you way ahead of the game on the investing journey. And there’s nothing that can prepare you better (aka. become a smart and patient investor) other than pure time in market and experience, which you will gain if you start with some of the basic advice I give here!

ALSO - a quick disclaimer – I am not a certified financial advisor and please do not take anything on this thread as financial advice. Do your own research. Consult a professional if you so choose.

What I’m going to give a brief rundown on today is INVESTING – mainly investing in the markets (equities and bonds) – and why it is imperatively important to start doing this DAY ONE when you read this.

Why do I like and RECOMMEND passive, hands off investments like this ?

Because I need time and history tested method to easily invest in that can keep and grow my wealth – while still diverting majority of my focus on other fastlane businesses I’m working on building up! This gives me a plan and direction – without having to keep checking and rechecking my actions daily. Best of all – this plan works for ME, and chances are it will WORK FOR YOU given a long enough time span.

I waited to learn the simplicity of DIY investing until I was years into my FASTLANE business. My personal example is that I was making upwards of $3MIL / year, spending only very little of that annually.

What did I do during that time? Let all my money SIT IN CASH! Core reason for that is that my MENTAL COMPOUNDING game had not been properly established. I'm writing this thread because I believe that if I came up on a thread like this years ago, I would of been significantly richer by now !

I was pre-occupied with making money, and everything else fell by the wayside.

I was afraid of investing, did NOT trust financial advisors – and felt like maybe there’s a BETTER use of my money – coming in around the corner.

I kept putting this off, and not only losing the possible returns I could have had along the way – but WORST OF ALL, not building my mental fortitude of emotional compounding to learn how markets fluctuate, how I withstand and tolerate risk, and learn proper time horizons to let wealth grow.

Most people leave this OFF to their employers, or their ‘financial advisors’. Worst case scenario is that some NEVER do this, or wait until it is TOO LATE.

What I am showing and advising you to do is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme. This is NOT your ‘fastlane plan’ – you have the rest of this forum to consult and work on that.

What I’m showing you here is something you MUST start even if you have absolutely ZERO knowledge on anything else fastlane related. This will be one of the best actions you can take – where your future self will thank you.

Most financial articles, advisors and gurus focus on how important FINANCIAL COMPOUNDING is. What I’m working on showing you is that its just as important to compound your mental strength to be prepared to handle large wealth for when it comes.

If you currently have $50, $1000 or $1MIL it doesn’t matter.

You need to establish mental fortitude in seeing your wealth ride up and downs of the markets. If you start this by 18, in twenty years (when you are 38) you will have 20 YEARS of experience doing this. This is nothing to sneeze at – especially if your career / fastlane business is at the peak during those years.

So brief points on things to consider and HOW to start

1 – Open up a Vanguard , Fidelity or any other low-cost brokerage accounts.

2 – A conservative place to start is to split your investing between 50% stocks and 50% bonds. Think something like the following - US equities and Bonds ETFs (VTI and BND).

3 - Once a week / month etc invest a consistent amount you are comfortable with. If you only got $50 and want to keep it even more simple, invest in a single fund (such as FBALX) – they don’t have a minimum and will spread the allocation for you.

4 - For a slightly more intricate plan you can do US stocks, International Stocks and US Bonds at a ratio of 60/10/30 or some other percentage depending on your willingness and ability to take risk. I use that percentage myself for my risk and time horizons.

If you want to learn more, and customize the portfolio to your risk tolerance, look up (three fund portfolio) and base your allocation on your variables that are more important to you.

There are many lessons in this that will be parallel to building up a fastlane business, process and fortitude required to build something successful.

Good luck on moving forward, and if you have any questions on the advice above please feel free to ask! Please don’t hold off and start taking action on this today no matter your age as proper investing (especially in DIY form) will reward you for years and decades to come in the future.
Thank you for your advice, I spend the last few years learning everything about investing and I´m doing pretty well in the stock market. (I´m the guy who posted if I should go DCA all in crypto because I see huge opportunities there)

I thought I would get rich when I´m investing nearly everything I make from my job. Pretty dump thoughts I guess know after reading the book. It was an eye opener for me, I need to create sth big an increase my active income, then I`m on the fastlane to becoming millionaire.

I would be better for me If I had choosen the path to create a buisness first and make good money before considering investing the money in crypto and stocks.

Now I`m spending my entire freetime with learning things about buisness and I want to start an e-commerce and sell some products.

I read some other posts of you and do you have some advice for a complete beginner? Especially for the niche in which I want to sell products. I did some dropshipping but I`ts only quick money for me with some products which are hyped for a time horizon. I want to create a brand who is sustainable and I can scale.

A very difficult question for me is which product in which niche I want to sell. You got some advice what can help me finding the right product?
 

fastlane_dad

8 Figure Fastlane Graduate
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
636%
Jun 20, 2017
413
2,626
41
Scottsdale, AZ
Thanks for your topic.
Have you any recommandations on ETF ? in specific domains, general...?
At this time I already have s&p500, nasdaq and cac40 etf's.
Thanks by advance, wish you a great day.
See my original post.

I'm a believer in either the 1, 2 of 3 fund portfolio. You can actively invest in either of those, and train your emotional resilience to understand risk, ups and downs and the return of investment over time.

It can be a simple all in one fund such as FBALX. I spell out the two and three fund ETF portfolio in my original post.

The most complicated I'd go is the three fund portfolio. More info on it here.

Once you understand the one, two or three fund portfolio - you would need to figure out your asset allocation between stock and bonds. And then push through the hardest action - actually committing your money. I advise starting SMALL. Let me know of any other questions.

And instead of making 8% in the stock market, you made 80,000% in your business.

Not a bad "oversight" ...

But now that you have significant cash holdings, that 8% can deliver a nice annual sum of "F*ck you" money, completely passive.
In the end everything turned out great (to prioritize fastlane).

BUT if I can 'insert' some additional actions and beliefs on top to my younger self, I would of advised myself to invest small sums into the market early on and consistently, on my own without financial advisor intervention.

This would of helped me understand and learn about it not only through education, but also through the passage of TIME, and what that does to your emotions, feelings, intuition, etc.

I would of been significantly financially 'further ahead' and more educated on the investment scale by now.
Thank you for your advice, I spend the last few years learning everything about investing and I´m doing pretty well in the stock market. (I´m the guy who posted if I should go DCA all in crypto because I see huge opportunities there)

I thought I would get rich when I´m investing nearly everything I make from my job. Pretty dump thoughts I guess know after reading the book. It was an eye opener for me, I need to create sth big an increase my active income, then I`m on the fastlane to becoming millionaire.

I would be better for me If I had choosen the path to create a buisness first and make good money before considering investing the money in crypto and stocks.
You can still and SHOULD invest small sums in both. Just keep crypto to no more than 1-5% of your total investments. I advise you to learn and apply investing to your monthly ritual now. You can start small (and advise you do so).

Now I`m spending my entire freetime with learning things about buisness and I want to start an e-commerce and sell some products.

I read some other posts of you and do you have some advice for a complete beginner? Especially for the niche in which I want to sell products. I did some dropshipping but I`ts only quick money for me with some products which are hyped for a time horizon. I want to create a brand who is sustainable and I can scale.

A very difficult question for me is which product in which niche I want to sell. You got some advice what can help me finding the right product?

Excellent question. @NeoDialectic wrote up an EXCELLENT article addressing your question. LINK HERE!

If you have more specific e-commerce questions, please ask away.
 
Last edited:

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,083
169,517
Utah
BUT if I can 'insert' some additional actions and beliefs on top to my younger self, I would of advised myself to invest small sums into the market early on and consistently, on my own without financial advisor intervention.

This would of helped me understand and learn about it not only through education, but also through the passage of TIME, and what that does to your emotions, feelings, intuition, etc.

I would of been significantly financially 'further ahead' and more educated on the investment scale by now.

Me, likely as well.

However, I lived thru the 2008 crash and the one in 1999 -- watching hundreds of thousands of dollars disappear in a matter of months is what kept my viewpoint on the stock market relatively benign.

I have some accounts from those eras that I haven't even touched ... the growth doesn't even feel like it would account for the inflation in the last 20 years.

That said with hindsight of the 13 year bull market, I definitely went too conservative. But I likely will stay that way -- I'm at peace with my financial decisions, despite missing out on some big market gains which have been available to anyone with an eTrade account.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

NeoDialectic

Successfully Exited the Rat Race
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
685%
Feb 11, 2022
402
2,754
Phoenix, az
And instead of making 8% in the stock market, you made 80,000% in your business.

Not a bad "oversight" ...

But now that you have significant cash holdings, that 8% can deliver a nice annual sum of "F*ck you" money, completely passive.
Definitely. Your post described our exact mentality towards investing at the time. It is not a bad oversight....but if I could have made more money and acclimated to investing at the same time with minimal time investment, I would have.

I'm at peace with my financial decisions
This is always the most important end goal. Especially when you have already made enough. There is no reason to risk what you have, for something you don't need.

Me, likely as well.

However, I lived thru the 2008 crash and the one in 1999 -- watching hundreds of thousands of dollars disappear in a matter of months is what kept my viewpoint on the stock market relatively benign.

I have some accounts from those eras that I haven't even touched ... the growth doesn't even feel like it would account for the inflation in the last 20 years.

That said with hindsight of the 13 year bull market, I definitely went too conservative. But I likely will stay that way -- I'm at peace with my financial decisions, despite missing out on some big market gains which have been available to anyone with an eTrade account.
You shouldn't invest in a way that makes you not at peace. The message we advocate for should result in peoples "at peace" baseline slowly starting to align with nearly guaranteed conservative strategies. So that they make decisions based on 200 years of data versus much more fallible availability bias (living through X or Y period). The point isn't to make people uncomfortable in their investments, but rather to change their comfort level to match closer to historic reality.

I want to stress that the portfolio we are advocating for is actually VERY conservative and if it doesn't seem like it, it's our fault for not fleshing it out completely and accurately. For this portfolio.....You shouldn't use money that you ever foresee needing to take out in the next 10 years (even if you lose your job!). You shouldn't forgo investing in your business where you can 100x the money, to put money into this portfolio. You shouldn't put money into individual stocks. You shouldn't put money into individual bonds. You shouldn't put money into managed funds with higher than bare minimum expense ratios. You shouldn't put money into small caps, large caps, or any other specific sector.

You should invest an amount you are comfortable with into some reasonable split of domestic total stock/domestic total international stock/ domestic total bond index funds. That may start out as only $100! Then, as you ride out more waves (90s bull, 99 crash, 00 bull, 08 crash, 2010s bull, covid crash, covid bull,etc) your personal anecdotes and availability bias starts to mirror actual long term data and you start being more comfortable investing more and more of your available money that you don't "need" in a way that matches historic reality. You aren't betting on any one company or sector to succeed. You are simply reaping the benefits of the USA economy expanding as technology gets better and more money can be made per person.

The only real risk to this kind of portfolio is you not having the experience/fortitude/disposition to stay the course during turbulent times or the United States of America ceases to exist. For the former, that is why we are recommending to start early. You find out your disposition when you only have 1000s on the line and not millions. Meanwhile you build experience and fortitude. For the latter.... Well not much to be said there. There is always a possibility that the entire US economic system crashes and never recovers. But don't forget! You didn't forgo buying food/shelter to invest this money. This is money that would be just sitting in your bank account. So if this case scenario happens, it isn't worth much by then anyways! It would have been completely eaten by the inflation that printing insane amounts of money on the way down causes. Whatever inflation we see these days ain't nothing compared to real hyperinflation.

So back to your personal circumstance. If you would have invested at the peak before the 99 crash in the fashion we describe, your accounts would be well ahead of inflation by 2013. The same is true of investing right before the great depression, WW2, Black Monday, and every single other catastrophe. But for you in particular it may all be a moot point as you may have more money then you will ever need anyways, so why even do something as boring as this!
 
Last edited:
G

Guest-5ty5s4

Guest
you may have more money then you will ever need anyways, so why even do something as boring as this!
I was under the impression that that was the reason we were all here and this was the difference between fastlane and slowlane. We keep our money out of these boring investments because we have better uses for them... Investing them in our businesses - rocket fuel rather than airing a bike tire.

If you do the math, 8% compounded over 30 years will never do what even a 5% margin product does when you sell it daily, weekly, or monthly.

Of course you want to learn about investments too, but why do it for growth when your fastlane endeavors are the growth?
 

NeoDialectic

Successfully Exited the Rat Race
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
685%
Feb 11, 2022
402
2,754
Phoenix, az
I was under the impression that that was the reason we were all here and this was the difference between fastlane and slowlane. We keep our money out of these boring investments because we have better uses for them... Investing them in our businesses - rocket fuel rather than airing a bike tire.

If you do the math, 8% compounded over 30 years will never do what even a 5% margin product does when you sell it daily, weekly, or monthly.

Of course you want to learn about investments too, but why do it for growth when your fastlane endeavors are the growth?
I don't personally think it's as simply as this. Our businesses were never cash intensive, so I didn't need the money to invest into the business. I imagine if you have a real estate business, you do.

The point of view we are encouraging here takes absolutely nothing away from your Fastlane business or mindset. In fact, it is a perfect supplement. Extremely simple with almost no time investment needed for maintenance so you could spend that time focusing on growing your business.

Slowlaners work normal jobs and then depend on their 401k to maybe have enough money to retire one day in their elderly years.

Big difference.

8% on millions of dollars compounded over 30 years meanwhile doing nothing is an insane amount of money. It also cannot be compared to a business that makes more but literally requires you to have to run it for those 30 years (using your precious time on earth). Completely different circumstances and can't be compared. They aren't at odds with each other. They are just different facets of your journey.

Maybe we haven't put enough emphasis on the fact that the reason to do all this early isn't so you make a few extra dollar on the way. Just like running a big business successfully takes a person that grew into the right mindset to handle it...Managing a big portfolio works the same way. We are advocating for you to build your mental fortitude and experience on inconsequential amounts of money, so that you can correctly manage your millions when the time comes.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:
G

Guest-5ty5s4

Guest
I don't personally think it's as simply as this. Our businesses were never cash intensive, so I didn't need the money to invest into the business. I imagine if you have a real estate business, you do.

The point of view we are encouraging here takes absolutely nothing away from your Fastlane business or mindset. In fact, it is a perfect supplement. Extremely simple with almost no time investment needed for maintenance so you could spend that time focusing on growing your business.

Slowlaners work normal jobs and then depend on their 401k to maybe have enough money to retire one day in their elderly years.

Big difference.

8% on millions of dollars compounded over 30 years meanwhile doing nothing is an insane amount of money. It also cannot be compared to a business that makes more but literally requires your to have to run it (using your precious time on earth) for those 30 years. Completely different circumstances and can't be compared.

Maybe we haven't put enough emphasis on the fact that the reason to do all this early isn't so you make a few extra dollar on the way. Just like running a big business successfully takes a person that grew into the right mindset to handle it...Managing a big portfolio works the same way. We are advocating for you to build your mental fortitude and experience on inconsequential money, so that you can correctly manage your millions when the time comes.
That makes sense.

The confusion was really with "investing in your business," whereas if your primary source of income is your business, why you would take money out of it to put it in stocks (pay yourself and be taxed at your income tax rate) when you could keep that money in your biz and reinvest it there, either through expansion, hiring, equipment, marketing, you name it. So many choices.

If you are out of expansion opportunities though, I get it. Or maybe you just want to be diversified. Which I also understand. Disclaimer: I'm not avoiding the stock market at all!
 

fastlane_dad

8 Figure Fastlane Graduate
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
636%
Jun 20, 2017
413
2,626
41
Scottsdale, AZ
That makes sense.

The confusion was really with "investing in your business," whereas if your primary source of income is your business, why you would take money out of it to put it in stocks (pay yourself and be taxed at your income tax rate) when you could keep that money in your biz and reinvest it there, either through expansion, hiring, equipment, marketing, you name it. So many choices.

If you are out of expansion opportunities though, I get it. Or maybe you just want to be diversified. Which I also understand. Disclaimer: I'm not avoiding the stock market at all!
Yes - it needs to be clear that this isn't a system or path to 'make money' if you are starting out or an alternative to investing and building up your fastlane business. TMF message hits the mark on the head all around with that.

This here is a way to preserve and grow your wealth once you obtain it - BUT the key to knowing the 'how' is to start young and being prepared to do the investment once your wealth starts to build up. But more so important to knowing that how - is to internalizing what that all means to being able to actually ACT on it and do it.

Every yahoo article spews out to 'invest' in index funds and bonds and the like - that's fine. What they leave out many times is to actually be comfortable with that investing, to do on your own, you should start as young as you possibly can, investing even minuscule amounts to ride through many ups and downs, and feeling what the risks and rewards are, rather than reading them on paper.

It's quite striking the similarities between investing and business / TMF mentality. You need to start dipping your fingers into it. You have to get used to the emotions of 'failure' or a 'loss'. It will help you understand risk. Increase your long-term horizons, plans and fortitude. Unless you are absorbed in it and throwing your own money on the line - no amount of reading or talking with somehow will establish or instill the lessons necessary for continued, long term success.

This is one of those things (especially it was for us) - that the solution took mainly time (and partially some education) along the way to 'get' what's actually going on here.
 

David Fitz

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
216%
Jan 30, 2020
347
751
Ireland
I'm always intrigued by investing but I have no clue where to start. Is there any books you'd recommend on this for total newbs?
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
G

Guest-5ty5s4

Guest
I'm always intrigued by investing but I have no clue where to start. Is there any books you'd recommend on this for total newbs?
The first real investing book I read was The Intelligent Investor. 99% of it made no sense to me or was useless (you're probably not going to be buying bonds or need to know preferred or convertible stock) but the point they beat in your head over and over that is ABSOLUTE GOLD is investment versus speculation.

I read that at 21 and am really glad I did. Rich Dad Poor Dad was the other one. I'm sure @fastlane_dad has others
 

Mathuin

Provide Relative-Value or Die Trying
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
360%
Dec 20, 2020
669
2,410
Belfast, Northern Ireland
I'm always intrigued by investing but I have no clue where to start. Is there any books you'd recommend on this for total newbs?
If the above is the type of stuff you're interested in, read anything by Jack Bogle
 

Albert KOUADJA

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
84%
Mar 13, 2022
309
259
The month of July is not yet paid in the company that I work for. So my colleagues did not take this delay in salary payment. They were penniless. this is where I took advantage of the situation and made an investment at a rate of 20% by making a loan to them since I still had solvency in my bank account. I became a lender. despite certain family situations that I had to go through this month (July) and which made me spend . I still held on a little. It is true that our salaries are the lowest but if one is well educated financially, he can do a lot with it. like putting some money aside and doing well throughout the month (30 days).

So our next payday I would have to return on investment 20% of every amount I loan them.

''the problem of money management is not solved with more money but more with financial education..''

@fastlane_dad I Hope I have apply your advices from your thread that you made beetween time on the investissement base .
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Two Dog

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
142%
Feb 15, 2022
436
620
And instead of making 8% in the stock market, you made 80,000% in your business.

Not a bad "oversight" ...

But now that you have significant cash holdings, that 8% can deliver a nice annual sum of "F*ck you" money, completely passive.
@NeoDialectic

Didn't your earlier posts imply something like 15 years to end up with $12 - $15M?

- Putting away $x every year for 10 years @ 8% yields $15x.
- Putting away $x every for 15 years @ 8% yields $30x.

Someone investing $2M annually for 10+ years would end up with $30M vs $21M. It's an even bigger spread over 15 years. That's $$$ that can't be earned back since the time value is gone. Not saying at all that he shouldn't have continued going hard at the business, but a two hour meeting with any competent financial advisor would have put him into an index fund that requires no attention.

It gives you two shots at winning the game while playing exactly the same hand.

I think it's a mistake to focus solely on your business when hedging your bets take almost no effort. Diversification is a basic financial strategy to minimize risk. With the index fund in place, the liquidity event from selling the business wouldn't even be needed. It could have been slammed shut due to regulatory changes, competitors, Amazon whimsy at any time with little impact on net worth.
 

Two Dog

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
142%
Feb 15, 2022
436
620
If you do the math, 8% compounded over 30 years will never do what even a 5% margin product does when you sell it daily, weekly, or monthly.

The fallacy here is thinking the future is predictable and that it's an either-or scenario. You can either run the business OR you can invest. That isn't true. It's you can run the business AND you can invest. I don't know a single wealthy person that waited until a liquidity event before starting to make investments.

How can anyone be confident that any business will generate 5% returns for decades like clockwork?

Situations change. Partners leave, divorce happens, people fall ill, owners get bored, competitors arrive.
 

NeoDialectic

Successfully Exited the Rat Race
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
685%
Feb 11, 2022
402
2,754
Phoenix, az
@NeoDialectic

Didn't your earlier posts imply something like 15 years to end up with $12 - $15M?

- Putting away $x every year for 10 years @ 8% yields $15x.
- Putting away $x every for 15 years @ 8% yields $30x.

Someone investing $2M annually for 10+ years would end up with $30M vs $21M. It's an even bigger spread over 15 years. That's $$$ that can't be earned back since the time value is gone. Not saying at all that he shouldn't have continued going hard at the business, but a two hour meeting with any competent financial advisor would have put him into an index fund that requires no attention.

It gives you two shots at winning the game while playing exactly the same hand.

I think it's a mistake to focus solely on your business when hedging your bets take almost no effort. Diversification is a basic financial strategy to minimize risk. With the index fund in place, the liquidity event from selling the business wouldn't even be needed. It could have been slammed shut due to regulatory changes, competitors, Amazon whimsy at any time with little impact on net worth.
You tagged me, which makes me think you are replying to me. But it seems like we are in agreement, right?
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Two Dog

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
142%
Feb 15, 2022
436
620
You tagged me, which makes me think you are replying to me. But it seems like we are in agreement, right?
We are 100% in agreement. I just wasn't entirely sure about the ballpark numbers I threw out there.

If I write $100 turns into $3,000, everyone goes "Big deal. Waste of time. Next."
When I say $1M turns into $30M, everyone goes "Holy Crap!!! Tell me about it!!!" :rofl:
 

Hong_Kong

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
126%
Apr 7, 2022
215
270
I think it's a mistake to focus solely on your business when hedging your bets take almost no effort. Diversification is a basic financial strategy to minimize risk. With the index fund in place, the liquidity event from selling the business wouldn't even be needed. It could have been slammed shut due to regulatory changes, competitors, Amazon whimsy at any time with little impact on net worth.
This is a great point, there is a name for this concept called "the barbell strategy". It has been historically used by entrepreneurs in risky countries to ensure they have enough capital to start over if they need to (hundreds of years old idea).

If you think of your money in terms of risk and reward, the strategy is to balance in the shape of the barbell (some safe assets, then some very aggressive assets).

While your business is cashflowing by put money into diversified index funds, they will grow (and you can keep adding to the pile). If something happens to your business, by that time your money pile will be larger and you can use it to live off of, and use some to start new ventures.

 

biophase

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
474%
Jul 25, 2007
9,122
43,262
Scottsdale, AZ
When I was working on my business, I took all my profits and paid down my real estate loans. I already had 3 homes before I started my business. Every year I paid down chunks on the mortgage until they were all gone.

Then I took next year’s profits and bought real estate. One home every 1-2 years.

I got lucky when the pandemic hit and all my homes increased in value by over 100%.

In the meantime I was also putting the max in my companies SEP IRA each year until I couldn’t. I should have put it all in the SP500, but I bought random stocks in it.

It is definitely important to be investing while you are making the money. Else why make it?

Investing has probably made me more money than the profits from my ecom biz.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

Hong_Kong

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
126%
Apr 7, 2022
215
270
When I was working on my business, I took all my profits and paid down my real estate loans. I already had 3 homes before I started my business. Every year I paid down chunks on the mortgage until they were all gone.

Then I took next year’s profits and bought real estate. One home every 1-2 years.

I got lucky when the pandemic hit and all my homes increased in value by over 100%.

In the meantime I was also putting the max in my companies SEP IRA each year until I couldn’t.

It is definitely important to be investing while you are making the money. Else why make it?

Investing has probably made me more money than the profits from my ecom biz.
My stratedgy as well. "Make hay while the sun shines". AKA make money online, dump it all into real estate and ETFs.
 

Awoken

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
67%
Dec 12, 2021
30
20
2 – A conservative place to start is to split your investing between 50% stocks and 50% bonds. Think something like the following - US equities and Bonds ETFs (VTI and BND)

Hey firstly thanks for the post, this was really informative! I feel that without reading this I would have dismissed investing until the event of liquidation, and would have solely focused on my business.

One question I have is that I am from the UK and your recommendations are for US equities etc. Would it be wiser for me to invest in UK equivalents, as I believe there are fees for me doing so with the US versions?

Thanks again
 
G

Guest-5ty5s4

Guest
The fallacy here is thinking the future is predictable and that it's an either-or scenario. You can either run the business OR you can invest. That isn't true. It's you can run the business AND you can invest. I don't know a single wealthy person that waited until a liquidity event before starting to make investments.

How can anyone be confident that any business will generate 5% returns for decades like clockwork?

Situations change. Partners leave, divorce happens, people fall ill, owners get bored, competitors arrive.
See above about removing money from your business and being taxed at your marginal income rate... and 5% was not a “return,” it was the margin on your product. Generally you wouldn’t even do business if your margin is less than 20, 30, even 100% on a product or service, so... and if it stopped it would be because you stopped doing business or the business was failing (losing money).

If you charge a customer $100 per hour for a service but you pay the worker $50 per hour what’s your margin? Exactly. Is this service going to stop existing? Don’t think so. Robot work? Oh your margins got even higher.

Kind of similar, kind of different.

Speed is much greater. Work is much greater.

And again... I have stock investments. I have real estate investments. I’m just discussing the distinction here.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited by a moderator:

Two Dog

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
142%
Feb 15, 2022
436
620
Where's a good place to post content related to reducing the tax impact of selling your business?

Normally, it's going be treated as an asset transfer and subject to personal income taxes. That's the worst treatment and could cost up to 50% of the gross sale proceeds. Knowing about how to structure the deal / business to reduce taxes (often all the way down to 0%) has considerable benefits. It could literally double the owner's net takeout.

Three ways to zero taxes come to mind immediately: Investing w/Roth IRAs (ala Peter Thiel), Qualified Small Business Stock and Puerto Rico's generous tax exemptions for citizens. If you're within three years of a potential sale, it's well worthwhile getting some tax mojo. You won't find a better ROI on the time spent.
 

Two Dog

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
142%
Feb 15, 2022
436
620
I'm always intrigued by investing but I have no clue where to start. Is there any books you'd recommend on this for total newbs?
The other recommended books are great, but pretty specialized. You should start in grade school with Investing 101.

The hard part about open questions like these are having no idea about the person's current position. A poor person with only $10 in the bank is far better off than a newly minted doctor earning $300K with $750K in student loans, car payment and a mortgage. She's already locked in for 20 - 30+ years of Slow Lane.

Learn the basics about financial instruments, markets, returns, mutual funds, index funds, stuff like that. You don't need to spend much time to become financially literate: 3 - 5 books and fifteen to twenty hours of reading will put you miles ahead of 99% of the population. Being a media darling doesn't mean the information offered doesn't have value. That's why I'm including Ramit Sethi.

The two most important things to understand about personal finance are:

1. It's PERSONAL finance.
Everything you read and do should be interpreted solely on how it applies to your situation.

2. Personal finance is 95% psychology and 5% high school level math. The psychology part might be even higher.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Two Dog

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
142%
Feb 15, 2022
436
620
Most of my library is 1,500 miles away in storage, but here's a few worthwhile titles.

Organized in order of complexity. Same ones I'm using with my kids while we're traveling.

Remember: You're NOT learning how to Get Rich Slowly. You're learning to NOT do stupid things with Fastlane money.

IMG_3275.JPG
 

NeoDialectic

Successfully Exited the Rat Race
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
685%
Feb 11, 2022
402
2,754
Phoenix, az
Where's a good place to post content related to reducing the tax impact of selling your business?

Normally, it's going be treated as an asset transfer and subject to personal income taxes. That's the worst treatment and could cost up to 50% of the gross sale proceeds. Knowing about how to structure the deal / business to reduce taxes (often all the way down to 0%) has considerable benefits. It could literally double the owner's net takeout.

Three ways to zero taxes come to mind immediately: Investing w/Roth IRAs (ala Peter Thiel), Qualified Small Business Stock and Puerto Rico's generous tax exemptions for citizens. If you're within three years of a potential sale, it's well worthwhile getting some tax mojo. You won't find a better ROI on the time spent.
I'm guessing it will depend A LOT on the type of business but our sale was taxed almost entirely at capital gains level. The majority of the sale is selling Goodwill (things like Brand, Reputation, Etc).

I know that we looked at alot of different options before the sale and almost all of it fell into either the "seems too good to be true" category or the "creative accounting that is all fine and dandy until you are audited and then you have to convince the guy in front of you that blue is really red if you squint just right". We weren't really cool with any of it. I like sleeping at night and taking my risks elsewhere.

I think the biggest actual tip that one could apply is geography. This applies to not just the sale, but also throughout the life of your business. Paying zero income tax can make huge differences in take home yearly pay. It can make an even bigger difference at sale. Alas, I don't like picking where I live based on financial reasons. I live where I want to.
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top