Rich Habits Podcast - 100: Our 2025 Market Predictions

Episode Date: January 13, 2025

Download our FREE Financial Planning Workbook for 2025!👉 CLICK HERE!---In this week's episode of the Rich Habits Podcast, Robert Croak and Austin Hankwitz share their market predictions for 2025. ---⭐️ Open a Bond Account on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Public⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to lock in your 6% or higher yield today,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Click Here!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠---🚀 Sign up for the Rich Habits Network so you don't miss out on the next big investment opportunity,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠---⭐ Download our FREE Financial Planner –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⭐ Download our FREE Budgeting Template –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⭐ Earn 5.1% on your savings with a High-Yield Cash Account –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⭐ Trade stocks, options, music royalties and crypto on Public –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⭐ Automatically buy stock where you shop with Grifin –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⭐ Protect your family with term life insurance from Suriance –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⭐ Use code “Spotify” for 15% off our 4-module video course –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⭐ Optimize your portfolio with Seeking Alpha –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠---👤 Explore everything Austin does –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠👤 Explore everything Robert does –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠❓ Ask us questions for our Q&A episodes – @richhabitspodcast on Instagram📬 Inquire about working together – [e-mail]---Disclosure: A Bond Account is a self-directed brokerage account with Public Investing, member FINRA/SIPC. Deposits into this account are used to purchase 10 investment-grade and high-yield bonds. As of 1/12/25, the average, annualized yield to worst (YTW) across the Bond Account is greater than 6%. A bond’s yield is a function of its market price, which can fluctuate; therefore, a bond’s YTW is not “locked in” until the bond is purchased, and your yield at time of purchase may be different from the yield shown here. The “locked in” YTW is not guaranteed; you may receive less than the YTW of the bonds in the Bond Account if you sell any of the bonds before maturity or if the issuer defaults on the bond. Public Investing charges a markup on each bond trade. See our⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Fee Schedule⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Bond Accounts are not recommendations of individual bonds or default allocations. The bonds in the Bond Account have not been selected based on your needs or risk profile. See⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://public.com/disclosures/bond-account⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to learn more.Hankwitz Group LLC has an existing business relationship with NEOS Investment Management LLC. The opinions expressed are those of the author, and the author owns several NEOS ETFs.

Hello, mid-sized business. We see your big ambitions, but how do you achieve the wins you want when your technology is holding you back? SAP Grow is built to grow with your business, no matter its size, with AI embedded at its core, working across every system, all ready to go from day one so you can hit the ground running. Bring it with SAP Grow. AI Cloud, ERP for any size business.

Hey, everyone, and welcome back to the Rich Habits podcast, a top of 10 business podcast on Spotify, brought to you by public.com. My name is Austin Hankwitz, and I'm joined by my co-host, Robert Croke. Robert is a seasoned entrepreneur in his 50s, with lifetime revenues of over 300 million, and I'm an entrepreneur in my late 20s with the background in finance and economics. Since quitting my full-time job in corporate finance a few years ago, I've built a seven-figure media business and actively advised some of the most well-known fintech companies around the world. As the show name might suggest, every episode, we talk about rich, habits as they relate to business, finance, and mindset. However, we try and bring you two unique

perspectives, one from an industry veteran, which is Robert, and the other myself, someone who's still in the process of building wealth and figuring it all out. Robert, what are we going to be talking about in today's episode? In this episode of the Rich Habits podcast, we're celebrating our 100th Monday morning episode. In actuality, we've published over 165 episodes when you include our Thursday Q&A show. But this episode is a... officially the 100th Monday morning episode and we are so excited. It's the beginning of 2025 and today we're going to share our market predictions with all of you. Of course no one can accurately predict what the markets will do and we don't claim to be able to do that either.

But by sharing our thoughts of market expectations, you'll get a better understanding of how we're positioning our investments, businesses and mindsets relative to our market expectations. 2025 has already started out rocky as the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ 100 are experiencing intraday swings of over 1%. The Joltz report shared some ugly layoff revisions for the months of October and a bleak outlook for November, and the 10-year yield continues to tick higher, bringing mortgage rates with it. So we don't share these things to scare anyone, but it's very important to understand what's moving your portfolio and your investment. on a weekly and monthly basis, and we're here to provide that. I'm really excited for this episode, Robert,

because despite the easy money, having already been made in the markets throughout 2023 and in 2024, 2025 will be a year of success for those who know how to position themselves accordingly, use technology to their advantage, and most important, take notes and take action. So kick us off with your first market prediction for 2025. Yeah, I really like this one and I'm excited to talk about. and that is the IPO market will heat up.

And just so we're all on the same page, IPO is an acronym that stands for initial public offering. An initial public offering is the first time a company's stock begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ, aka you can buy the stock in your public.com app for the very first time. And as you all know, the IPO market has been on life support since 2021. That year we saw a staggering 900. 808 IPOs following only 429 in 2020.

That's over 1,300 companies who raised capital in the public markets and whose stock was made available to invest into. So that is some real, real economic growth. So let's talk about where we're at now. It's been cricket since then, Robert. Only 151 IPOs hit the markets in 2022 and a measly 100 in 2020 and only 210 in 2024. With the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates and the S&P 500 now posting strong gains for two consecutive years, investor sentiment, and our opinion, is shifting in a positive direction. Bull markets create ideal conditions for IPOs. Think about it.

Higher valuations, more available capital, and more appetite for risk from investors. Appetite for risk, Robert, is the main theme here that I want our listeners to understand. Buying stock in a brand new company that's listed on the NASDAQ or the New York Stock Exchange, is very risky. However, we believe investors are hungry to begin doing more of this in 2025, and the markets are going to act accordingly. We expect pent-up demand to play a huge role in 2025 for the IPO markets. Companies that have delayed their IPOs during this market slowdown we saw in 21 and 22 are now ready to strike while conditions are hot and continue to improve year over year. This includes Stripe, SpaceX, OpenAI, Klarna, and maybe even Databricks. The pieces

are in place for a vibrant IPO market in 2025, and it's a sector will both be watching closely for the right opportunities. Yeah, and one more thing I would like to add is with the launch of the Texas Stock Exchange in late 2025 or early 2026, this should really bolster the IPO market even more. It is said that the Texas Stock Exchange

will be lower cost and easier to deal with from a paperwork and regulatory situation, more so than the incumbents like the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ. And we'll both be keeping a close eye on any company that officially files a form S-1 with the SEC. So make sure you're also keeping an eye out for this form. It essentially means here's everything about our company and we're going to list soon. So Austin, what's our next prediction? Our next market prediction for 2025 is a bleak one and that is that volatility is coming. It reminds me of that meme of like, winter is coming. Well, you know what? Volatility is coming in

The last few years have not been very volatile in the markets. The worst pullback we had in 2024 was only an 8.5% correction in August during the Yen-Carrie trade panic. I think that was on August 5th. Crazy day. It was a similar story in 2023. We had a max drawdown of about 8%. This is not normal.

The run that the S&P 500 had during the year of 2023 and in 2024 was the best consecutive years for the index since 1997 and 1998, and we all know what happened after 1998, 1999, 2000.com bubble. It was a big thing. Now, on average, the S&P 500 experiences a pullback every year of about 12 to 14 percent, according to J.P. Morgan. I firmly believe we'll see a couple double-digit pullbacks throughout the year of 2025. And part of the reason markets were so resilient is most market participants were still pretty bearish going into 2024, meaning there was a lot of cash on the sidelines that had yet to make its way into the markets. And the average Wall Street investment bank expected the S&P to rise a mere 1% in 2024. And considering we finished the year up nearly 24%, these forecasts were wildly off base.

Hence, we were right again, which is awesome, but there's more to the story for sure. There's definitely more to the story. While I think 2025 is going to be a fine year for stocks, Robert and I both agree the easy money has been made. It's going to be much more challenging to make money this year than the other two, which is why our main prediction is that we're going to have multiple double-digit pullbacks in 2025. We could even see maybe a 10, 15, 20% pullback as the S&P 500 begins to revert back to the mean. If you just look at the indexes price performance in the last six to 12 months, it's just been way out of the ordinary. Now, I'm not expecting any new, like, massive highs, but we're also not expecting any massive lows. We don't think that there's going to be a crash coming that's going to send us all to the hills.

We think the S&P 500 is likely going to tick up 4, 5, 6, 8%. It's going to be very normal year for the S&P 500 in 2025. Very single-digit normalcy here. Now, we'll be positioning ourselves for the volatility in the following way. NEO's ETFs has recently launched a new 540, fund called NUSI, NUSI. It's the NASDAQ 100 hedged equity income strategy, and I need everyone to pay attention because it is working. And you can go see its work right now. It's so cool. So what they're doing, the NUSIETF, NUC, is they're buying all of the same names inside of the NASDAQ 100, just like you

would with QQQ. But they're selling a covered call against those holdings, which is exactly what they do with QQQI, but then they're taking the income from that covered call and they're using it to buy a put option on the NASDAQ. Now what that means is as the NASDAQ price falls, their put option contract goes up in value. As that put option contract goes up in value, the value of the new CETF, NUSIETF will go up as well. We saw this yesterday in the markets, Robert, QQQQQ was down by, I think it was 1.8%. Yep. Nusie was only down by 0.6%.

Right? So 1.2% better. Now it still was in the red. That happens. I mean, nothing's perfect here. But it didn't lose as much as the NASDAQ did. And even today, the NASDAQ is down about 70 basis points, so about 0.7%. NUCY is up just a little bit against that.

So if you are like me and you want to position your portfolio for what we think is going to be a volatile 2025, adding NUSI and you. to your portfolio could be a good idea. Go check it out. Go learn more about it. Obviously, don't just jump into things without doing your own research. But I will absolutely be buying a ton of NUCY in Q1 and in Q2 as I expect a volatile rest of the year. And don't let all of this scare you. We're not trying to have you create knee-jerk reactions and get out of the market and sit in cash. That is why we're here. That is why the Rich Habits podcast exists, why the Rich Habits Network exists, to give you our insights every single week to make sure you know how to respond to these market conditions as they

change. There is no set it and forget it with Austin and I. We are always here to help you guys understand what's going on in the markets and educate you so you can make great decisions. The education piece is the most important part there, Robert, because the Rich Habits podcast is resources, it's tools, it's everything you need to be successful with your money. And speaking of education, Robert, why don't you talk to a lot? our audience about the new digital tool that we created for them, the Rich Habits Financial Planning Workbook for 2025. Yeah, I'm really excited about it. It's hot off the presses. I'm so glad we got it finished for right at the beginning of the year because that's when people are really excited

about their financial situation. And I think this is a really valuable tool. It's free to all of you. All you have to do is download it and go to town. But it'll really help people with budgeting, debt payoff, net worth tracking. There's just so much built into this tool. I'm really proud of it. The team did a great job with it. And I'm so excited that it's launched and live and ready for each and every one of you. You can find it in the show notes or in either of our stand stores. So make sure you take a look.

That's right. Completely free. It's a digital download. It'll get emailed straight to you. Click the link in the show notes below. It's going to be very obvious right there. Now, Robert, take us in to our last market prediction for 2025. Yeah, this one is near and dear to my heart.

So I hope I get it right for each and every one of you. and we really nail this for you guys. But that is the crypto bull market peaks. As you know, we've been in a crypto bull market now for over a year, and Bitcoin delivered 124% return in 2024, 108% in 2023. And if you didn't have crypto or Bitcoin in your portfolio, what were you thinking? We've been talking about it for years right now.

We've been telling everyone to dollar cost average in and really, really settle in and have a balanced portfolio. on cryptocurrency, and this has been with Bitcoin, but also the altcoins have done even better. So it's our prediction that the crypto bull markets will peak somewhere during the year of 2025 or early 2026, but let's just call it the next 12 to 18 months. There are a handful of indicators that we follow telling us that this is true. Number one, the net unrealized profit loss indicator on Bitcoin usually peaks at 75% when the price of Bitcoin is near a top. And right now we're at 60%. Number two, the Coinbase app in the App Store

usually becomes the number one app, and we've already seen it eclipse and become a top ton app in 2024. So it's close. And number three, and this one's very important, Google search trends data for Bitcoin as well as Wikipedia page visits usually skyrocket when a top occurs, and we've seen that too. So what does this all mean for all of us? us crypto investors. I personally don't think we'll see a 60 or 70% bear market after this market top due to better regulations with a pro-crypto government, further mass adoption of crypto and blockchain, and therefore I think we'll see crypto in the future trade more like other asset categories with less volatility than we've seen in previous years. I think you broke that down

incredibly well, Robert. I entirely agree with you that in sometime at 25, maybe early 26, who knows, we will see the crypto markets peak. As you guys know, we've started talking about adding five to 15 percent of your total sort of invested capital here into Bitcoin specifically. God, I think it was like in 23. I mean, everyone should have just a little nibble of it, right? Just have a little bit of exposure because this is something that went up 100% in 23, 125% in 24. And man, I'm up like 110 grand on this thing. It's pretty cool. But I will take the other side of that. I'd have a different outlook as it relates to what's going to happen after we see a market top, I think there's going to be plenty of 80 to 90 percent pullbacks across alt coins, including Solana, Ethereum, XRP,

chain link, and everything in between. I think there's going to be a lot of pullbacks. And I think we'll probably see a 50, 60, 70 percent pullback in Bitcoin as well after this cycle top. I have no idea, though. This is assuming that the U.S. doesn't create some sort of strategic, you know, Bitcoin Reserve. If that does happen, all bets are off. We're off to the races. I've written Bitcoin to a billion, right? I have no idea what's going to happen after that. But I absolutely plan on selling along the way, getting my money out of cryptocurrency because I'm way over exposed right now and starting to diversify those profits into real estate, blue chip single stocks like Amazon and Apple and Tesla and Vida, things like that. And even paying off my mortgage, right? So I am someone who's a little over exposed to crypto who's really excited to get out, hopefully sometime this year, maybe early 26. Well, I definitely think you and I on next week's live need to do some sort of predictive bet about this. But that is why we do. We do.

We are not always on the same page. I definitely don't see a 50 to 75% pullback in Bitcoin. I agree with you somewhat on some of the alt coins, but I don't think it's going to be Salon or Ethereum or ChainLink for sure. So we'll just have to bet a really nice steak dinner or maybe a jet ski on this and see what happens. Well, here's what I do know. I do know that the IPO markets are likely going to heat up in 25%. And I also know that volatility is likely going to be around the corner for 25 as well. We hope you guys enjoyed our three market predictions for 2025.

And if you're new around here, we talk about this stuff every single week. This is a personal finance, entrepreneurship, and mindset podcast. We talk all about money, investing, building businesses, and making sure we have the right mindset to stay focused when times are turbulent. Robert has been in the game now for decades. I'm learning alongside him and alongside you all in real time. And it's been a lot of fun. Yeah, I agree. I'm so excited moving forward. We've seen so much growth in the rich habits network and for the rich habits podcast.

And we couldn't be more excited to continue bringing you all a ton of value, our insights, our thoughts, what we're investing in and just trying to give you the roadmap, that blueprint so you can have real advice and education on what you should do based on all of our research and all of our experience. So if you've been intrigued by what we've talked about, be sure to. share your email address with us by joining our newsletter. The Rich Habits Newsletter comes out every Thursday morning. And if you really want to get to know us, you can join the Rich Habits Network. There'll be a link in the show notes below where Robert and I host weekly live streams over there. I think about 180 people join every single Tuesday and a couple hundred others. Watch the replays.

We've eclipsed over 500 members inside the Rich Habits Network. So it's just growing like a weed. And we cannot wait to continue to deliver awesome value to you all, all 2020. Now, with that being said, let's jump into our Q&A section of the podcast. But before we do that, I need to make sure everyone listens up because we are serious investors all at 2025. And if you are also a serious investor, or maybe you want to start investing in 2025, you need to know about public.com. Public.com is where you can invest in everything. Stocks, options, bonds, cryptocurrency, everything in between.

They even offer some of the highest yields in the industry. They have a bond account that pays 6% or high. right now that remains locked in even if the Fed cuts interest rates. So what sets public apart is how they give you the tools you need to make informed investment decisions. They have a built-in AI tool called Alpha that doesn't just tell you if an asset is moving. It tells you why the asset is moving. So you can actually understand what's driving your portfolio's performance. And public is a FINRA registered, SIPC-insured, U.S.-based company with a customer support team that actually cares. This is so, so important. I know I get frustrated when I cannot reach somebody

at a company and I need answers. So the bottom line is your investment deserves a platform that takes them as seriously as you do. So fund your account in five minutes or less at public.com front slash rich habits and get up to $10,000 when you transfer your old portfolio. That's public.com front slash rich habits paid for by public investing full disclosures in the podcast description. And Robert, I haven't shared the stat with you yet, but I found it out a couple days ago. We helped public fund over 6,000 accounts in 2024, which means we introduced 6,000 people to the investor class for the first time. 6,000 people said, hey, I listened to this podcast.

I got the confidence I need to start investing in the S&P 500 or the NASDAQ or Bitcoin or whatever it might be, bonds, high-yield savings accounts, everything in between 6,000 people took the step toward financial freedom in 2024 through us with Public. And that's just the people that used our link. So if you want to be 6,001, go to public.com slash rich habits. We love the platform. We use it personally. It is the best way to start investing in 2025. Yeah, I love it because as everyone can see from our history, we are not shillers. We are not clickbaiters. We just don't do any of that. worked with the same companies like Public for so long because we're investors. We use the platform. We love the platform and all the tools that they offer. So if you notice that, you will see that

yes, we read off these advertisements, but it's for companies that we know like and trust and use ourselves. 100% agree. So let's now jump to our very first question coming from Edwin on Instagram. Edwin says, hey guys, my name's Edwin. I've been following and listening to your podcast for a few months now. A few years ago, my IRA portfolio took an absolute nosedive. I lost more than half of its value. So I panicked and transferred all of my money for my traditional IRA into a company called Bitcoin IRA. I have a couple of Bitcoins and other coins within this IRA now. My question is, was this a good idea? I wanted to get into cryptocurrency, but I'm not sure about this route anymore due to it not being self-custody. Is there anything that I should do instead? Thanks in advance for your help. Edwin,

Great question. First thing I want to make sure we're on the same page about, you should not have all of your Roth IRA or any of your retirement accounts be 100% invested into Bitcoin. That's super dangerous, super risky. Not a fan of that. I have some Bitcoin in my Roth IRA, but it's at about a 10% waiting. My Roth IRA is funded via Bitcoin with the Ibit ETF. It's the I Shares Bitcoin. Spot Bitcoin ETF. We had Jay Jacobs on the show last year to talk about it. Really, really cool product there. Highly recommend. it. So if I were you, I would one, probably sell the Bitcoin and then migrate it off of this platform and put it onto like a public.com. I think they've got Roth IRAs now and traditional IRAs. And then once inside a public, you can then go and buy some Ibit of the ETF, right, allowing you to have some Bitcoin exposure. But I don't think it's a good idea to have 100% of Bitcoin diversify, call it 70, 80, 90% of that into VO, VTIQQQ, you know, index funds and ETFs. Yeah, I agree.

it's scary. When I read the question, I thought I read it wrong. So Edwin, definitely you need to get diversified. I don't use Bitcoin IRA, but I would look out for their fees. I did a cursory read on their fee structure. And it's just higher than I would like to see. So any of your Bitcoin holdings, I would rather you see you just own the actual Bitcoin yourself, have the keys and be on your way. But definitely you need to get that diversification in order because you are way to risk on in cryptocurrency with this strategy. Our next question comes from Marissa P. Marissa says, I've got $50,000 being sent to me over the next few months from being a

surrogate. I owe $17,000 on my vehicle with a 5.5% interest rate. I have student loans totaling $70,000 with interest rates between 4.5% and 7%. What would you recommend me putting the lump sum of this money toward? It would be amazing to get rid of a bigger chunk of my student loans so I can start freeing up my monthly income, but I'm not sure which one I should pay off first. Robert, you want to take this one? Yeah, I love this question because it always ruffles a lot of feathers.

I look at it this way. I would invest the money in the market. I would dollar cost average the 50 grand, maybe $10,000 a month for the next five months from when you get it. I would get that invested into that basket of index funds we talk about all the time, get your Roth IRA maxed out. And in my opinion, I would leave the car loan alone because of the fact that at 5% interest, I think you can make more money with your money than that pretty. easily in the markets. And then when it comes to student loans, in my opinion, especially with the new government we're seeing now and the inauguration right around the corner, I would rather

see you kick the can down the road, make the minimum payments on the student loans until we see what this president does with all of the student loan debt. So that's what I would do. I know a lot of people want to immediately pay off debt. But in the end, if you can make 10, 12, 14 percent with this money over the next four or five years, why we see what happens with student loan debt, there might be a haircut, they might lose all the interest on it, it might be interest free. We don't know what's going to happen. We've seen many, many programs come up over the years to help people with student loan debt. That's why I can never rightfully tell someone to just pay it off. So I'm going to take the other side there. Marissa, if I were you, I would pay off the vehicle and I'd pay off the 20,000 student loan.

You mentioned that you wanted to get rid of a big chunk to free up your monthly income. This will allow you to now have $290 more a month from the student loan in $5.52 from the vehicle coming in at $842 a month. 842 probably changes your life. That's only $1,000 a month. That's $10,000 a year. So if you pay this stuff off, you still have $13,000 you can go and invest. And now that you've got an extra $10,000 a year freed up, that's now $23,000 total that you can invest within the first year and now $10,000 a year after that and after that. I love this idea of being able to invest $10,000 a year. Obviously, there's going to come a day where you're going to have to go get another vehicle. But, you know, $2.90 a month, completely freed up against the student loan is

probably a good move. But yeah, $842 a month will be freed up after you pay off this vehicle and your student loans with still having $13,000 left over to go invest in the markets. So that's how I'd approach it. It's kind of a hybrid between, you know, paying off and then also kind of investing. Because I agree with Robert that you absolutely should want to invest money in the markets. And paying off your student loans. That's what people don't understand, Robert, is like, they forget that debt is simple interest, where investments are compound interest, right? So, like, we can invest money into the markets, let's call it $10,000 a year, and let's say it goes up by 10% and becomes $11,000, but now that $11,000 goes up, then call it $12.50 goes up, right?

Because it goes up year over year, more and more, whereas the debt is just simple interest, and it gets, you know, cut across the way. So that's how I would approach it. It'll allow you to invest. It'll allow you to free up some of those monthly. bills and then also now have $10,000 more a year, $842 a month, to begin investing aggressively toward your retirement. I love it. And I really, really appreciate that other approach, too. So our last question comes from Kristen W. Christian says, hey guys, I've really enjoyed your podcast. I'm using my wife's account as I don't have an Instagram. Oh, okay. Well, hi Kristen W's husband. I have a question I wanted to run by you guys. I'm in business with my family and I'm ready to

exit if possible. I make about 100,000 a year from my ownership stake in this business. I've been offered $1.2 million for my stake. I've looked at these dividend ETFs that you've mentioned on the podcast like SPYI and QQQI. So my question is, would you suggest that I take my $1.2 million and put it into something like these NEO's funds to replace my annual income with? I'm 34 years old and I only have mortgage debt. This is a really good question. Robert, you want to kick us off? Okay, Kristen's husband, I love this question and you're in a great position. I'll give it a stab first and we'll see what Austin has to say. I love that you can sell your position, get that 1.2 million out there, figure out what your tax situation is and then get that money invested. And what I like about it is,

is that is a huge lump sum for someone of 34 years old. So you can get that invested, get it into this basket of funds we like, start making some income, make some gains and really set yourself up forever. for retirement because you have such a long time horizon for this money to work for you and work while you sleep. So I really love this situation and where your heads at on it. And I think it's a great idea because of the fact that you have so much time for this to really compound on itself and turn into $2, $3, $4 million in the next 20 years. So I think it's a great idea. And I'm really happy for you that you have this situation to be able to move forward. And you also then take risk out of your scenario because you never know when this family business could go awry.

The markets could change. Something could change about the product or whatever it is you offer and your income could drastically go down and so could the value of your proportional share. So that's how I look at it. Bird in hand I think is always better than two in the bush. So that's my opinion. I agree entirely. I just ran the numbers for you, Kristen's husband. And we're talking about a million dollar difference here. So here's how I always think about it, And I want everyone to also kind of walk with me here. Opportunity cost is everything.

So this guy is saying, hey, I can get $1.2 million today. Go invest the money into, let's just call it, the S&P 500, which is like the benchmark for making money elsewhere. And let's say he gets an annual return of 8%. He doesn't touch it for 12 years. That's going to be $3.1 million. Now, the reason why I said 12 years in this situation is because it takes him 12 years to make the same. $1.2 million if he's making $100,000 a year. You guys follow on me here? So that $100,000, if he just got that $100,000 at the end of every year, and then he invested it into the stock market, over that

same 12-year period of time, he's only going to have $2 million. So either you get $100,000 a year for 12 years and you invest all of it every single year and you end up with $2 million, or you get the $1.2 million today and you invest all of that at the same rate of return for the next 12 years, which is how long it would take you to get this lump sum anyway, and you would have 3.1 million. So it's a million dollar difference here over a decade. I think it's a no-brainer. Burn the hand is a great idea, a great way to explain that, Robert. 1.2 million, cut the check, pay those long-term capital gains. And to answer your question specifically, yeah, drop into an SPY, put into a QQQQI, maybe a NUCI, right? There's a bunch of different ways to approach that. But if you're looking for income, having $1.2 million in a Nios fund, like an SPYI,

or a QQQI should result in about $100 to $120,000 a year, maybe a little bit more of tax-efficient income, which is the key here, tax-efficient. That is right. Yes, I love this situation and this question and a great job explaining it. Everyone, thanks so much for hanging out with us on this week's episode of the Rich Habits podcast. Our 100th Monday morning episode, Robert, kind of crazy to reflect upon, like thinking about we published over 160 episodes and this is our 100th, like, you know, Monday morning

themed episode. So it's been a wild ride, man. I'm really excited for 2025. And I've got one more prediction for 2025. I believe, because we've been on such a role, we're going to see the number one spot on Spotify in the coming six to eight weeks. That's my prediction. Okay. I would love that. You guys all know that friend or those friends that are living beyond their means, have credit card debt and are not positioning themselves for financial freedom, share this podcast with them. Get them involved and get us to number one. Well, I will say too, Robert, you don't have to even share this episode. We've got so many episodes.

They're all titled very, very well where you can go in and say, hey, what is something I'm looking at or looking for, looking to learn? And you go back through the catalog of 130 episodes, 160 episodes here, and you can really begin to pick it apart. So go find the one that resonates most with you, share it with a friend. And don't forget to download the Rich Habits financial workbook planner. It is a wonderful free resource and tool that everyone can download. You go print it out on your printer or whatever you want to do when you write in it.

You can help you pay off your debt. It's going to help you budget. It's going to help you build that emergency fund, track your net worth. It's completely for free. It's down in the description below and in both Robert and I Stan stores. And we'll also share it with our email subscribers as well. So everyone, thank you so much for joining us on this week's episode of the Rich Habits podcast. Have a great start to your week.