Episode 63

Your Financial Foundation Might Be Backwards

Most people focus on growth first.

But what if the real problem is that the financial foundation underneath the growth was never built correctly in the first place?

In this episode of Make Your Wealth Work, Jason K. Powers and Joe Pantozzi break down one of the most important concepts in long-term financial strategy: building wealth in the right order.

Using a simple framework — Protect, Save, Grow — they walk through why so many people stay financially fragile even while earning good money, investing, or growing businesses.

  • The conversation explores:
  • Where people actually access capital
  • Why dependence on outside lenders creates instability
  • The importance of protecting income, family, and future
  • Why saving creates flexibility and opportunity
  • How wealth grows more effectively when the lower layers are stable
  • And why control leads to freedom

This episode is not about perfection. It’s about getting the order right.

Because one bad event can wipe out years of progress when the foundation underneath your financial life is weak.

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Transcript
Speaker:

Jason K Powers: Welcome to Make Your Wealth Work, a practical show

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for builders, entrepreneurs, and anyone who wants to think like one.

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I am here with Joe Pantozzi, and this is Jason K. Powers.

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Today, we are talking about something most people never stop to really map out.

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When you need cash, where do you actually go to get it?

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And, and does that source help you build long-term stability, or does it

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help you depend on outside lenders?

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through some simple framework using visuals.

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So if you are listening, feel free to jump over to video sometime

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and check out the visuals.

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But first, the common source of cash people rely on, and then the

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order of operation that makes a real financial foundation that's

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protecting and saving and growing.

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And Joe, how you doing today?

Joe Pantozzi:

I'm doing great.

Joe Pantozzi:

I'm, I'm, I'm always, I'm always excited and, and I'm always, uh, trying to

Joe Pantozzi:

think of the, the most fundamental ways to discuss these concepts because the

Joe Pantozzi:

longer I go down the road talking about finance, the more I realize it's, it's a

Joe Pantozzi:

little bit of a veiled subject to people.

Joe Pantozzi:

They're not all that comfortable with it, although they handle money every

Joe Pantozzi:

single day of their lives, they handle wealth every single day of their lives.

Joe Pantozzi:

And, and I, I want you to be comfortable with your wealth because you're

Joe Pantozzi:

gonna have millions and millions of dollars flowing through your hands.

Joe Pantozzi:

And, and, and a passion of ours is to see that you can hold on to more,

Joe Pantozzi:

and more, and more of it so you can do the things that you wanna do, help

Joe Pantozzi:

the people that you wanna help, grow the things you wanna grow, create the

Joe Pantozzi:

inheritance or the gifts, support the causes that you wanna, wanna support.

Joe Pantozzi:

And, and I always say it, it's become kind of a mantra to

Joe Pantozzi:

me, control leads to wealth.

Joe Pantozzi:

So you gotta start with control.

Joe Pantozzi:

Control leads to wealth, and wealth leads to freedom.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: you know, as

Joe Pantozzi:

So there you go.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: were talking the other day about, a person we had spoken with

Joe Pantozzi:

that really, um, was going to do more financing and, and they're like, "Okay,

Joe Pantozzi:

well, I'll just, I'll just finance it more and continue financing what

Joe Pantozzi:

I'm doing." And I think the idea was, you know, most people don't have a,

Joe Pantozzi:

I would say, a capital access plan.

Joe Pantozzi:

They have a next paycheck plan.

Joe Pantozzi:

And that happens so much that these kinds of conversations are needed.

Joe Pantozzi:

Let's understand, where is the money coming from?

Joe Pantozzi:

And, and so I think as we talk today, you know, the goal isn't to, to shame anyone.

Joe Pantozzi:

It's to get eyes open and, and start thinking like an owner your own money.

Joe Pantozzi:

Mm-hmm.

Joe Pantozzi:

Yep.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

Joe Pantozzi:

So I, I wanna, I wanna br- I wanna kind of broaden the conversation

Joe Pantozzi:

about what's possibly available.

Joe Pantozzi:

And, and of course, I have a bias.

Joe Pantozzi:

W- I, I think there are more efficient opportunities, more

Joe Pantozzi:

efficient assets to access, and less efficient assets to access.

Joe Pantozzi:

But it's more important that you have access to some financial

Joe Pantozzi:

assets that you do control.

Joe Pantozzi:

They could be less efficient, but I'd rather you had c- control over less

Joe Pantozzi:

efficient access than no control and being at the mercy of someone who's

Joe Pantozzi:

gonna pull all your strings, push all your buttons, and, and make you jump

Joe Pantozzi:

through hoops to qualify for their loan.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Yeah, that's right.

Joe Pantozzi:

That's right.

Joe Pantozzi:

Well, let's dive in and check it out.

Joe Pantozzi:

We have, uh, a good graphic coming up here, and it's-- you know, this

Joe Pantozzi:

is about priorities, trade-offs, and building a foundation.

Joe Pantozzi:

A-and this first one we wanna look at is really about where

Joe Pantozzi:

do people access capital?

Joe Pantozzi:

Right.

Joe Pantozzi:

Right.

Joe Pantozzi:

So I'm gonna start with the, with the big boogeyman and someplace where I

Joe Pantozzi:

really want... It, it, it's, it's my desire, my opinion, my, uh, absolutely

Joe Pantozzi:

my bias that you should rely less and less on, and that's outside banks.

Joe Pantozzi:

And, and we can spend the time talking about why you don't wanna rely.

Joe Pantozzi:

Now, you may have an opportunity here or there to get a very, very

Joe Pantozzi:

attractive loan from an outside bank on a, on a spot basis.

Joe Pantozzi:

I mean, I'm sitting in a house with a 3% 30-year mortgage.

Joe Pantozzi:

It's a pretty good loan.

Joe Pantozzi:

Ultimately, I'll pay that loan off, but right now it's a pretty good loan.

Joe Pantozzi:

Do I wanna sit in the house with a 7% loan?

Joe Pantozzi:

No, I don't.

Joe Pantozzi:

But when we're talking about outside banks for lending to us on a regular

Joe Pantozzi:

basis to support our business, to make h- alternative investments, to b- uh,

Joe Pantozzi:

buy a, a second home or build a, build a house near the beach to build investment

Joe Pantozzi:

property, rental property, y- you don't wanna have to go back to that outside

Joe Pantozzi:

bank continually because the vagaries, the volatility of lending practices

Joe Pantozzi:

and terms and rates and payments is ultimately going to, to skew in favor

Joe Pantozzi:

of the banks and not in your favor.

Joe Pantozzi:

And ultimately, all the equity, all the wealth, all the growth, all the,

Joe Pantozzi:

all the profits go to the outside bank.

Joe Pantozzi:

Okay

Joe Pantozzi:

So cash is an obvious, is an obvious alternative.

Joe Pantozzi:

And we, we want people to understand that cash has limitations, but you're way more

Joe Pantozzi:

limited if you don't have cash, right?

Joe Pantozzi:

Is it great to have a million dollars sitting in cash?

Joe Pantozzi:

Better than not having it.

Joe Pantozzi:

But I don't want to have money sitting.

Joe Pantozzi:

I don't want to have cash sitting.

Joe Pantozzi:

Do I want to invest in alternatives and real estate and, and portfolios

Joe Pantozzi:

and the things that clients like?

Joe Pantozzi:

Absolutely.

Joe Pantozzi:

I want our clients to put their money where they want to put their money.

Joe Pantozzi:

We're mostly concerned about building the support system, the lending

Joe Pantozzi:

system, the banking system, the collateralization and understanding

Joe Pantozzi:

the relationship between them.

Joe Pantozzi:

Cash is a great place, is a great asset to have money in, have wealth

Joe Pantozzi:

in, but not long term, right?

Joe Pantozzi:

Market margin.

Joe Pantozzi:

If you have a market account, if you have a stock market account, a Wall Street

Joe Pantozzi:

account, you can access money through loans against that market account.

Joe Pantozzi:

And those loans will be more market rate.

Joe Pantozzi:

It won't be something where you've got a fixed rate for the next 10 years.

Joe Pantozzi:

Your rate is going to fluctuate.

Joe Pantozzi:

There are going to be positives and negatives to borrowing

Joe Pantozzi:

against the stock market account.

Joe Pantozzi:

But I'm going to continue to say it's more positive to have access

Joe Pantozzi:

than not to have any access.

Joe Pantozzi:

So as we list all these things, we're, we're, we're, we're going forward

Joe Pantozzi:

with the premise all these things are positive in their own realm,

Joe Pantozzi:

in their own perspective, right?

Joe Pantozzi:

So gold and silver.

Joe Pantozzi:

Is it easy to cash in gold and silver?

Joe Pantozzi:

No, because it depends on today's, um, spot price, right?

Joe Pantozzi:

Is it easy to borrow against it?

Joe Pantozzi:

Absolutely no.

Joe Pantozzi:

Is it easy to liquidate some and keep some?

Joe Pantozzi:

Of course.

Joe Pantozzi:

It all depends on, on timing.

Joe Pantozzi:

Better to have it than not to have it.

Joe Pantozzi:

What about real estate?

Joe Pantozzi:

Well, how can I liquidate real estate?

Joe Pantozzi:

Well, I could borrow against it.

Joe Pantozzi:

First mortgage, second mortgage.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason's more familiar with HELOCs than I am, but various types of loans against

Joe Pantozzi:

real estate, then we can obtain collateral capital to put into the next venture.

Joe Pantozzi:

So we can capitalize our first piece of real estate to buy our second

Joe Pantozzi:

and on and on, just giving kind of a general treatment about these assets.

Joe Pantozzi:

Life insurance to me is an obvious asset that you can borrow against, go

Joe Pantozzi:

to the insurance company and get a great attractive rate, long-term rate, low rate,

Joe Pantozzi:

interest-only rate, et cetera, et cetera.

Joe Pantozzi:

Great.

Joe Pantozzi:

Again, we're just listing the assets right now.

Joe Pantozzi:

CDs.

Joe Pantozzi:

I don't come across a lot of people who have CDs, but certific- certificates

Joe Pantozzi:

of deposit are an attractive option for very short-term money, six

Joe Pantozzi:

months, a year, 18 months, et cetera.

Joe Pantozzi:

401s.

Joe Pantozzi:

Do you have access to cash through 401s?

Joe Pantozzi:

Of course you do.

Joe Pantozzi:

Very limited opportunity.

Joe Pantozzi:

You can only borrow $50,000.

Joe Pantozzi:

You can't borrow more than that.

Joe Pantozzi:

You've got to pay it back within five years.

Joe Pantozzi:

It's got to come out of your paycheck.

Joe Pantozzi:

You've got to continually be employed at that employer in order to have access.

Joe Pantozzi:

The, the, the money that you're borrowing against is going to receive the

Joe Pantozzi:

interest rate that you're paying back.

Joe Pantozzi:

It's not going to receive market rates and your interest payments both.

Joe Pantozzi:

So you're going to have limited market growth on the borrowed funds.

Joe Pantozzi:

There's pros and cons.

Joe Pantozzi:

Alternatives.

Joe Pantozzi:

We can go anyplace with alternatives.

Joe Pantozzi:

There's limited, uh, liquidity depending on what the alternative is.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Crypto's

Joe Pantozzi:

But the point I...

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: big one.

Joe Pantozzi:

I'm sorry, go ahead.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Crypto is a big one.

Joe Pantozzi:

Sure it is.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

Joe Pantozzi:

the opportunity for liquidity?

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Right.

Joe Pantozzi:

Right.

Joe Pantozzi:

You can sell s- you can sell

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: like, you know, when I

Joe Pantozzi:

some.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: whole list, when I look at this whole list, it

Joe Pantozzi:

Mm-hmm.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: you know, most of these opt-- while they're op--

Joe Pantozzi:

while they are options, most of these are either restricted or

Joe Pantozzi:

volatile or illiquid or expensive.

Joe Pantozzi:

Right.

Joe Pantozzi:

Now, the reason I want to keep on listing these things is I want our clients to

Joe Pantozzi:

become comfortable with the fact there's not only one place to access capital.

Joe Pantozzi:

I think it's more important for folks to understand you're going to

Joe Pantozzi:

need access to capital throughout your life, so you're going to want

Joe Pantozzi:

to make diversified investments, and we use that word very generically

Joe Pantozzi:

c- because that could go anywhere.

Joe Pantozzi:

It could go into business, it can go into real estate, it can go into

Joe Pantozzi:

ideas, opportunities, inventions that your friends or family or, or

Joe Pantozzi:

people you're close with come across and you want to take some money and

Joe Pantozzi:

put it into somebody's new idea.

Joe Pantozzi:

Eventually, you're going to have kids that you want to pay

Joe Pantozzi:

for college or private school.

Joe Pantozzi:

You don't want to go into the, into the market to get money for tuition.

Joe Pantozzi:

So there's an endless, uh, stream of needs during your lifetime, and where I

Joe Pantozzi:

find people mostly leaning on is on the, the debt market, credit markets, loans,

Joe Pantozzi:

toxic credit cards, um, SBA Um, lines of credit that are fluctuating and that

Joe Pantozzi:

don't give clients a long-term promise of what that loan's gonna look like.

Joe Pantozzi:

I, I... A long time ago, I had a seven-year ARM on my house.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

Joe Pantozzi:

Screaming rate.

Joe Pantozzi:

It was in the fours, I think, threes and fours.

Joe Pantozzi:

After seven years, you absolutely had to refinance, didn't you?

Joe Pantozzi:

Because then, uh, in the seven years, it was, it was a low

Joe Pantozzi:

rate, and it was interest only.

Joe Pantozzi:

It was amazing.

Joe Pantozzi:

At the end of seven years, it was still interest only, which

Joe Pantozzi:

is a good or bad thing, but now you're subject to market rates.

Joe Pantozzi:

Guess what happened before I refinanced?

Joe Pantozzi:

The rate was about to double, right?

Joe Pantozzi:

Is it terrible?

Joe Pantozzi:

No.

Joe Pantozzi:

But you need to walk into, into these credit relationships with your eyes

Joe Pantozzi:

open, always understanding that I am gonna need a second car down the road.

Joe Pantozzi:

I'm gonna need to get rid of that car.

Joe Pantozzi:

It's worn out.

Joe Pantozzi:

I'm tired of it.

Joe Pantozzi:

It's not big enough for the family.

Joe Pantozzi:

I'm gonna need to get the next car.

Joe Pantozzi:

Cars wear out.

Joe Pantozzi:

They, they rust out.

Joe Pantozzi:

They get in accidents.

Joe Pantozzi:

We need to replace them.

Joe Pantozzi:

We're gonna have a need to finance cars or purchase cars or own

Joe Pantozzi:

cars during our entire lifetime.

Joe Pantozzi:

That's a financial drain if you don't work the math correctly.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Right.

Joe Pantozzi:

Right.

Joe Pantozzi:

That's a repeated thing.

Joe Pantozzi:

I mean, things like cars, we're all in-- Here in America, right, if you're

Joe Pantozzi:

gonna have a vehicle, you know you're gonna need another one at some point.

Joe Pantozzi:

You know you're gonna need another one at some point.

Joe Pantozzi:

Even the short-term cycles, you know, you mentioned tuition, you

Joe Pantozzi:

know, for private school or college.

Joe Pantozzi:

I-as long as you're paying, so, you know, kids in private school.

Joe Pantozzi:

If I pay for my kids in private school, so that's an annual thing we've gotta pay.

Joe Pantozzi:

know that is a recurring expense.

Joe Pantozzi:

I know a car eventually is gonna be a recurring expense.

Joe Pantozzi:

know, investments and business is a little bit different, but you still

Joe Pantozzi:

have some, some type of recurrence time.

Joe Pantozzi:

Listen, this is the name of the ballgame right here.

Joe Pantozzi:

So many of our clients are in so many different kinds of businesses.

Joe Pantozzi:

They're opening brand-new businesses.

Joe Pantozzi:

They're expanding businesses.

Joe Pantozzi:

They're investing in, in different kinds, um... They're

Joe Pantozzi:

becoming serial entrepreneurs.

Joe Pantozzi:

They own a car wash and a grocery store and another, another opportunity.

Joe Pantozzi:

They own different kinds of businesses, a manufacturing business.

Joe Pantozzi:

They want to expand.

Joe Pantozzi:

They wanna sell.

Joe Pantozzi:

They wanna bring in partners.

Joe Pantozzi:

They wanna expand their, th- their products that they sell.

Joe Pantozzi:

They wanna expand marketing, go out of state, out of country.

Joe Pantozzi:

They're gonna need capital all the time.

Joe Pantozzi:

Business owners who have been in business, who have a brick-and-mortar,

Joe Pantozzi:

who have employees understand the need for capital is, is continual.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: we talked

Joe Pantozzi:

What we're recommending... Go ahead, please

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: i-it's, it's... We have all these opportunities.

Joe Pantozzi:

We have this need for access to capital.

Joe Pantozzi:

so I think the question, the common question people... Not even

Joe Pantozzi:

the specific question, but it's: Where am I gonna access this?

Joe Pantozzi:

You know, even from an emergency standpoint, you know, if, if

Joe Pantozzi:

something happens tomorrow, which of these would you access first?

Joe Pantozzi:

Which of these would you actually use first?

Joe Pantozzi:

If you had money coming from all of these different sources, which

Joe Pantozzi:

ones can you actually touch?

Joe Pantozzi:

You know?

Joe Pantozzi:

and so here we are, we're looking for solutions.

Joe Pantozzi:

Like, what are the solutions?

Joe Pantozzi:

What are the solutions?

Joe Pantozzi:

What are the solutions?

Joe Pantozzi:

think too often people are searching for a solution before we even have a foundation.

Joe Pantozzi:

And that's-- We, we wanna skip that part, you know?

Joe Pantozzi:

We

Joe Pantozzi:

That, that's a great point.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: you know, and we wanna, we wanna skip it and go, "I

Joe Pantozzi:

just need the solution. Don't-- I don't need the foundation." Well, look,

Joe Pantozzi:

man, we're gonna be having the same conversation in two more years from

Joe Pantozzi:

now don't get a foundation in place.

Joe Pantozzi:

You may fix something short-term, but if you don't get a foundation in

Joe Pantozzi:

place, buddy, you're gonna be making the same decisions over and over and

Joe Pantozzi:

Mm-hmm.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: again.

Joe Pantozzi:

And you know, I've been doing this for a long time and

Joe Pantozzi:

I still hate the word discipline.

Joe Pantozzi:

I still hate the word plan.

Joe Pantozzi:

Because plans are subject to change.

Joe Pantozzi:

I mean, practically when you write the plan down on paper, the next day it's

Joe Pantozzi:

old and obsolete and it needs revision.

Joe Pantozzi:

But you know what?

Joe Pantozzi:

If you don't have that first slice of paper with ideas put down on it, then

Joe Pantozzi:

what you're doing is you're throwing money and ideas and energy and anxiety in all

Joe Pantozzi:

different directions, and you're probably not gonna create as, as, as solid an

Joe Pantozzi:

opportunity, as solid a career, as solid a business as you would if you had a plan.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

Joe Pantozzi:

Sure.

Joe Pantozzi:

nine items.

Joe Pantozzi:

What if you had some money, some measure of wealth in all these nine, nine items?

Joe Pantozzi:

I would say you're a genius.

Joe Pantozzi:

I'm not gonna criticize anybody who has a million dollars in any of these things,

Joe Pantozzi:

or a million dollars divided up in any of these thing, any of these things.

Joe Pantozzi:

My anxiety, my stress level, my worry is for people, um, who are

Joe Pantozzi:

on the rat wheel, who are living on credit and not building up anything.

Joe Pantozzi:

Or maybe they're living on credit and they're throwing too much into

Joe Pantozzi:

their retirement plan because they're so worried about, about the future.

Joe Pantozzi:

But your, your future retirement plan is, is disintegrating in terms of purchasing

Joe Pantozzi:

power while you're, while you're swamped, you're drowning in toxic credit card debt.

Joe Pantozzi:

You're out, you're out of balance.

Joe Pantozzi:

So even that bears a conversation and, and that's where I- Where Jason and I

Joe Pantozzi:

wanna be kind of focused on going back to the basics and saying you need to

Joe Pantozzi:

protect before you do anything else.

Joe Pantozzi:

I've met so many people who don't have that protection plan in place,

Joe Pantozzi:

and when we talk about protection, here, here's a few things.

Joe Pantozzi:

Protecting your income.

Joe Pantozzi:

If you become sick or hurt or disabled in some manner or form, you're

Joe Pantozzi:

gonna need some kind of protection.

Joe Pantozzi:

Either your, your employer, if you have an employer, is gonna continue

Joe Pantozzi:

your paycheck for the next 30 years, which is almost unheard of, or your

Joe Pantozzi:

employer is gonna continue your paycheck for a limited period of time.

Joe Pantozzi:

And so the question becomes, where am I gonna get my paycheck

Joe Pantozzi:

when my guarantee stops?

Joe Pantozzi:

You need to protect.

Joe Pantozzi:

You need to be protected in c- if somebody sues you, slip and fall, hurt

Joe Pantozzi:

on your property, your eight-year-old slaps somebody with a baseball bat

Joe Pantozzi:

and, and they, and they have an injury.

Joe Pantozzi:

I mean, you, you die.

Joe Pantozzi:

You need... Your family needs financial protection in case you die.

Joe Pantozzi:

You need life insurance.

Joe Pantozzi:

You need to be protected in case you get sick, go to the hospital,

Joe Pantozzi:

uh, have, have a, a surgery.

Joe Pantozzi:

You need to protect your future.

Joe Pantozzi:

You need to protect if you have a long-term care event, if you lose the

Joe Pantozzi:

activities of daily living, and you need to, to have ho- uh, uh, help at home or

Joe Pantozzi:

go into a nursing home or a rehab hospital for a short or a long period of time.

Joe Pantozzi:

All these things are elements of protection.

Joe Pantozzi:

And you know what?

Joe Pantozzi:

They're just not fun.

Joe Pantozzi:

And I, and I, I'd rather have those elements in place and never need

Joe Pantozzi:

them than have a, a drastic need and not have the protection in place.

Joe Pantozzi:

And again, goes back to building a strong foundation, putting the

Joe Pantozzi:

protection items in, in place before you start building your wealth.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

Joe Pantozzi:

And protect is the base, I mean, really because simply put, one bad

Joe Pantozzi:

event can wipe out years or decades of progress you without that protection.

Joe Pantozzi:

And we don't walk around being paranoid about it, right?

Joe Pantozzi:

It's not like you walk around being worried about, "Oh, I-- this might

Joe Pantozzi:

happen, that might happen, this might happen, that might happen."

Joe Pantozzi:

It's, it's that old adage, I guess, of

Joe Pantozzi:

hope for the best and plan for the worst,

Joe Pantozzi:

Right.

Joe Pantozzi:

Right.

Joe Pantozzi:

And it's, it's more fun to, to play in the top of the pyramid.

Joe Pantozzi:

It just is.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: yeah.

Joe Pantozzi:

You know?

Joe Pantozzi:

My buddy gives me a tip.

Joe Pantozzi:

I get a hot stock tip or something.

Joe Pantozzi:

My buddy gives me a tip and I invest $1,000, and next year

Joe Pantozzi:

I get a check back for 50,000.

Joe Pantozzi:

That's great.

Joe Pantozzi:

It happens on television, I think.

Joe Pantozzi:

It happens when people buy a lottery ticket.

Joe Pantozzi:

It doesn't happen in my neighborhood So while we're waiting for that pie

Joe Pantozzi:

in the sky to- stuff to happen, uh,

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

Joe Pantozzi:

let's do the ordinary things.

Joe Pantozzi:

Let's make sure that we're not spending more than more than we're earning, right?

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Mm-hmm.

Joe Pantozzi:

I hate discipline.

Joe Pantozzi:

I hate, I hate routine.

Joe Pantozzi:

I hate living between my beneath my, my, my means.

Joe Pantozzi:

But, but the results of doing it are amazing.

Joe Pantozzi:

You know, I hate doing 200 pushups a day but the results are really good.

Joe Pantozzi:

So we wanna get in- involved in those protection elements and put them in place.

Joe Pantozzi:

It's just something you have to do.

Joe Pantozzi:

And then you can move on to the savings element.

Joe Pantozzi:

And, you know, how, how often have you heard some talking head saying,

Joe Pantozzi:

"You've got to have three to six months emergency cash stashed someplace"?

Joe Pantozzi:

Well, everybody knows that.

Joe Pantozzi:

Everybody knows it, but who does it, right?

Joe Pantozzi:

I mean, I do it, okay?

Joe Pantozzi:

But it- it's one thing to know something and to, and to, to wave this thing

Joe Pantozzi:

off and say, "Yeah, I know that. I've heard that before." But it's another

Joe Pantozzi:

thing to, to meet up with a, with a, for example, a short-term disability.

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You're out of work for 10 weeks.

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You got, you got sick.

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You broke your arm.

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You broke something.

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You got laid off for a short period of time, whatever.

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You need to have that emergency savings.

Joe Pantozzi:

Maybe you need emergency savings, then you can pivot over

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to an investment opportunity.

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I'm not saying that that's what it's for, but we're saying it's better

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to have it there than not have it.

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And we're, and we're talking about doing things in this order.

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I mean, this is a recommendation, right?

Joe Pantozzi:

This isn't scientific.

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This, this is just plain basic common sense.

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You can, you can have that protection item elements in place

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for 20 years and never have to rely on them for something drastic.

Joe Pantozzi:

It was still the right thing to do.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

Joe Pantozzi:

So

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then we get to the, to the top element.

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Now we get to where it's exciting.

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Now we've got our, our foundation in place.

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We have finance.

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We're starting to build a capital base.

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We've chosen where we choose to, to store our capital.

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You know, for, for me, it's, it's high cash value life insurance

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policies for many, many reasons.

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We're not even gonna go there today.

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But, and we'll... In, in, in a future podcast, we'll talk about the difference

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between having all your liquidity in cash, all your liquidity in a market

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account, all your liquidity in a CD.

Joe Pantozzi:

So there are pros and cons to all those approaches.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

Joe Pantozzi:

But where we all want to get is we want to- Figure out

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where we choose to grow our wealth.

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And typically where people grow their wealth is the big three.

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It's business, it's stock market, it's real estate.

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And, and you can just rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat.

Joe Pantozzi:

I have a young man around here who's got-- he's not even 35 years old yet.

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He's got 35 rental properties.

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It's, it's amazing.

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How did he, he do that?

Joe Pantozzi:

He followed in his daddy's footstep, who followed in his daddy's footsteps.

Joe Pantozzi:

Well, I don't wanna be a landlord.

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I don't wanna worry about vacancies.

Joe Pantozzi:

I don't wanna about, wor-worry about people leaving a mess.

Joe Pantozzi:

Okay.

Joe Pantozzi:

Well, then then don't do that.

Joe Pantozzi:

But if you wanna build wealth, you've gotta plan.

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You've gotta decide what your preferences are and what your likes and dislikes are.

Joe Pantozzi:

Where do I wanna build wealth?

Joe Pantozzi:

Well, I wanna build my wealth in alternatives.

Joe Pantozzi:

That's fine.

Joe Pantozzi:

What we're saying, we're not here to, to, to rec-direct you and tell

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you where you should build your wealth and where's the best place.

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We're here to help you create the financial tool so that you'll always

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be in control of the banking equation, the banking function, which if you're

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not careful, will wind up eating your lunch, and, and the banks will wind

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up owning your future income, your future revenue, your future wealth,

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and you're gonna wake up one day and you're gonna pick, pick yourself up

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off the ground and say, "What happened?

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Jason K Powers: Well,

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I just got..."

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: think wealth, wealth building happens more effectively when

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the lower layers are stable, right?

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We, we... Just like the solution before the foundation, you

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know, you get to the grow point.

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If you can get protect in place and save in place and get that down,

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you know, get it stable, growth is a little bit easier at that point.

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And there's something to be said for repetition.

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As you develop the habits of being an entrepreneur, of being a business

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owner, of owning the various asset classes that you choose, um, to put

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into your portfolio, you're gonna, you're gonna develop a cadence.

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You're gonna understand finance way better if you're controlling

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the banking function than if you're delegating it out, because whoever

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controls that banking function is gonna receive the lion's share of the wealth

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Yep.

Joe Pantozzi:

Sure.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: s-summary of this you know, you have protect

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at the bottom for our listeners.

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You know, it's a pyramid, so protect is the bottom layer, the foundation

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of the whole foundation, right?

Joe Pantozzi:

Protect.

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then right above that in the middle is save.

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Now, protect and... Uh, if protect isn't- Stable.

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Isn't solid.

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Save and grow are, are really fragile, you know what I mean?

Joe Pantozzi:

And then save, you can't, you can't grow what you don't keep.

Joe Pantozzi:

So you have save and then grow.

Joe Pantozzi:

If you're not saving, you can't grow.

Joe Pantozzi:

You, you just can't.

Joe Pantozzi:

And so it really, it really is a... It, it really is a matter of understanding

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how they are connected, you know?

Joe Pantozzi:

I've, I've... People go, "Well, I can't afford to do the protect." I've done it.

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"I can't afford to do the protect part, so I'm just gonna save instead."

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And then... And it's wildly unstable because like we mentioned earlier,

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one bad event took you back down.

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And so yes, thank, thank God we had the savings, still, what

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if worse happens, you know?

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does that leave families?

Joe Pantozzi:

I see it happen all the time.

Joe Pantozzi:

You know, working with a lot of clients in the music industry, we see people

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all the time having some life situation comes up, and a GoFundMe page comes up

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because there is no protection in place.

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And it's devastating, and then you're reliant on outside sources

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all of a sudden, and you hope

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that can be covered, you know?

Joe Pantozzi:

And people are doing the best they can do, I get it, but if that's... I think that

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stresses the importance of protection.

Joe Pantozzi:

Like, get, get your bases covered first.

Joe Pantozzi:

And if you've got a family, protect is more important, too.

Joe Pantozzi:

You know, if you've got a spouse and children and-- or you're the primary

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income earner or you, you know, you have a business, protect your business.

Joe Pantozzi:

I mean, there's all kinds of things you can protect you

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really need to get in place.

Joe Pantozzi:

But those are all connected, you know?

Joe Pantozzi:

Get the foundation in place, protect, and then save.

Joe Pantozzi:

You can't, you can't grow what you can't save, you know?

Joe Pantozzi:

And

Joe Pantozzi:

I just put a little example here.

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You know, let's say you make $100,000 and you save 10%.

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You save $10,000.

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In 10 years, you've got $100,000.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

Joe Pantozzi:

Great.

Joe Pantozzi:

You don't have a protection plan in place, you get sick.

Joe Pantozzi:

How long does that savings last?

Joe Pantozzi:

Maybe you could stretch it out for two years, maybe So that means you, if you

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got disabled or sick or hurt or, or, or emotional breakdown, whatever happens,

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you just blew 10 years' worth of savings in one or two years on a disability.

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Where if you had some kind of a disability insurance or plan, either

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yourself, an individual plan, or through work, you would, you would

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protect that $100,000 you just saved.

Joe Pantozzi:

So, so an event like that will wipe out years and years and years of savings,

Joe Pantozzi:

and that's why the two are related.

Joe Pantozzi:

I don't wanna get into a lot of numbers today.

Joe Pantozzi:

We can put calculators up on the screen until the cows come home.

Joe Pantozzi:

We could talk about the, the numbers, the calculations, the

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interest rates, the periods, terms, present values, all that stuff.

Joe Pantozzi:

But you have to get the big picture and understand why I'd wanna

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protect myself in the first place.

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I have obligations to myself, to my family, to my

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creditors, um, et- et cetera.

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Maybe to my employees if I have a business.

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I wanna keep those doors open of that business.

Joe Pantozzi:

So this is, to me, kind of a fundamental and, and basic discussion, but it needs

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to be at the ground level before we can get more exotic and more sophisticated

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and, and put some teeth into a plan.

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So

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Sorry.

Joe Pantozzi:

to helping in any way I can.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Yeah.

Joe Pantozzi:

And we're not

Joe Pantozzi:

Good

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: of things that stop you from resetting to zero each

Joe Pantozzi:

time, and I think that's important.

Joe Pantozzi:

And it's-- And that's where Joe and I come in, in helping people map out your

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own foundation, you know, and help you think through it and understand, am I at?

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Where do I need to be?" And let's help you draw

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word.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: is just helping you map that idea out and come up with a plan.

Joe Pantozzi:

That's it.

Joe Pantozzi:

It's simple, you know?

Joe Pantozzi:

It's, it seems basic, you know, as we talk about it.

Joe Pantozzi:

We're not here to, to, to put you down.

Joe Pantozzi:

I hope nobody is listening going, "I can't believe they would

Joe Pantozzi:

talk to me that way," you know?

Joe Pantozzi:

Like,

Joe Pantozzi:

I'll,

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: it was really to get the wheels turning in your head and understand

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maybe I'm not doing it in the right order.

Joe Pantozzi:

what you're doing is well-intended, but maybe it's just in the wrong order,

Joe Pantozzi:

and we just need to re-reprioritize things and reorganize things.

Joe Pantozzi:

I'll s- I say this all the time.

Joe Pantozzi:

We're never gonna suggest something to you that we haven't done.

Joe Pantozzi:

I'm not gonna suggest that you own something that I don't own So we

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absolutely eat our own cooking.

Joe Pantozzi:

Well, we are, uh, our own first best customers.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: That's right.

Joe Pantozzi:

we guide are, are, are basic and fundamental, and they, they need

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to be practiced over a period of years.

Joe Pantozzi:

You're not gonna fix a problem that took you 15 years to, to create overnight.

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Maybe you'll solve it quicker than 15 years, maybe a lot quicker, but

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you have to take one step at a time.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: That's right.

Joe Pantozzi:

I think we'll leave it at that,

Joe Pantozzi:

Great.

Joe Pantozzi:

Jason K Powers: Make Your Wealth Work here with Joe Pantozzi, and

Joe Pantozzi:

name is Jason Powers, here with my awesome new Alpha Omega Wealth hat

Joe Pantozzi:

that I love so much and I'm gonna wear on every episode I think now.

Joe Pantozzi:

Um, hey, if you want help building your own foundation, protect, save,

Joe Pantozzi:

grow, and creating a system where your dollars can do more than one job, head

Joe Pantozzi:

on over to alphaomegewealth.com/podcast to connect with myself or Joe.

Joe Pantozzi:

Book a call, let's talk.

Joe Pantozzi:

We have no agenda.

Joe Pantozzi:

Let's talk and understand your situation and see makes sense for you.

Joe Pantozzi:

You know?

Joe Pantozzi:

So guys, if today was helpful, please follow, like, subscribe wherever

Joe Pantozzi:

you're listening or watching.

Joe Pantozzi:

Leave a quick five-star review or rating and share this episode

Joe Pantozzi:

with one person who would benefit.

Joe Pantozzi:

We will see you next time

Joe Pantozzi:

Hey.

Joe Pantozzi:

Awesome.

Joe Pantozzi:

Thanks.

About the Podcast

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Make Your Wealth Work
A practical show for builders, entrepreneurs, and anyone who wants to think like one

About your host

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Joe Pantozzi

Joe’s advice is based on more than just his decades of experience. His suggestions are based on thorough, timely, and vetted research to ensure that when you work with Alpha Omega Wealth, you’re putting money back into your pockets and NOT the pockets of bankers or lenders.