Rich Habits Podcast - 188: Q4 Stock Market Check-In w/ NEOS Funds

Episode Date: September 21, 2026

Robert and Austin sit down with Garrett and Troy from NEOS Investments to learn about the markets and their recent partnership with Goldman Sachs. ---🚀 Invest alongside Robert and Austin and 1,100+ other members inside the Rich Habits Network, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠---🗳️ Visit neosfunds.com/vote to call 866-206-8173 to vote your shares today!---🧠 Get 15% off your ULTRA pouches order with code "RICH15" -- visit ⁠takeultra.com⁠ to try them! ---🌸 Join 500,000+ investors using Blossom to track portfolios, dividends, and see what real investors are buying -- all in one social investing app. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠---⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠🏆 Wall Street Favorites⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is LIVE! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to see what Wall Street is buying before everyone else. ---🧿 Protect your family with term life insurance from Suriance! Get a $1M+ policy for $50 or less per month. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here!---⭐ Download our FREE Financial Planner –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⭐ Download our FREE Budgeting Template –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⭐ Earn 3.8% on your savings with a High-Yield Cash Account –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠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---📬 Inquire about working together – [e-mail]---This content is sponsored by NEOS Investments. The creator is compensated by NEOS to discuss NEOS ETFs. This content is for informational purposes only, and is not personalized investment, tax, or legal advice, and does not constitute an offer to buy or sell any security. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Before investing, carefully review the NEOS ETFs prospectus at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠neosfunds.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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Trade ice skating at Nathan Phillips Square for ice cubes in your umbrella drink. Let Porter Airlines fly you from Toronto Pearson nonstop to 10 top sun destinations in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Costa Rica. Enjoy award-winning Porter service Toronto has loved for 20 years and start your vacation as soon as you're on the plane. Book your sunny getaway today at flyporter.com and actually enjoy economy. Hey everyone and welcome back to the rich habits podcast, a top 10 business podcast on Spotify, brought to you by public.com. By the end of today's episode, you're going to understand the biggest news to hit the income ETF space all year, Nios joining forces with Goldman Sachs, what it means for your money, if you're already a Nios investor, why every shareholder needs to actually vote their shares, and where Q4 is shaping up when it comes to the Federal Reserve now hiking interest rates,

the CPI prints, this hot IPO market, we've got a fun episode and I can't wait to dig in. My name is Austin Hankwitz and I'm joined by my co-host Robert Croke. Robert is a seasoned entrepreneur with lifetime revenues of over 300 million. And I'm a multimillionaire in my early 30s with a background in finance and economics. As the show name might suggest every episode, we talk about rich habits as they relate to business, finance and mindset. So Robert, what are we talking about in today's episode? Today we've got two guys back on the show who don't need much of an introduction at this point, Troy and Garrett from Neos investments.

And they're coming back at a pretty exciting moment because last month Goldman Sachs announced it's acquiring Neos. That's Goldman deciding Neos options income ETF lineup is worth building their entire active ETF platform around. So again, we're super excited to have you guys. Troy and Garrett, welcome to the show. Thanks for having us. So before we revisit the Goldman Sachs conversation, because we had you back on the rich habits radar a couple weeks ago to talk about that in real time, I want to zoom out and talk about the macro picture because I just tuned on to CNBC and saw the Federal Reserve as hiking interest rates for the first time in three years. This comes as inflation still has a 3% to it, right? So it's a 3 handle there. Iran tensions seem to be heating back up. We're doing some stuff over there now more actively.

Trump just tried to offer every adult in America $5,000 if the Republicans win the House and the Senate. Anthropic, you know, they have this big IPO coming up, $2 trillion. OpenAI is saying we're not going to IPO now because of AI safety. From where you two sit right now, what is the setup for the rest of the year, especially now that the Fed has hiked interest rates? Yeah, I think what I heard certainly from the press conference today, you know, and obviously seeing the interest rate hike, I think it's still really about. the Fed. And what we're hearing from investors is the same. It's what is this going to look like?

I think the 25 basis points, the market initially took that as, you know, a sign of what their expectations were, you know, and some of that being priced in. But if, but if you heard from worse today, they believe that the economy is in a good position, right? And then in a strong enough position in order to hike interest rates to 25 basis points, obviously he's not looking to give too much of a foreshadow of what's going on in the future, but certainly looking at, you know, more recent economic data, strong jobs numbers, you know, that was obviously a big factor. It seemed like in their, you know, decision, but also just really thinking about where are we today with asset prices. And I think they're a bit more focused on right contagion and the general asset prices

of maybe geopolitical events on energy prices are one thing, but they don't want that to cascade across, you know, into the broader economy for the, for the average investor and the average person, you know, to be paying more at the grocery store. you know, for standard utility-based expenses. So I think that's a big focus of where we're headed, obviously some indications from the rest of Fed governors that there's probably future hikes on the table, but he really kind of took off any type of foreshadowing, you know, coming from himself. So I think overall volatility's here. Volatility is going to continue. Saw a bit of, you know, increase in Fed fund rates today without a ton of guidance going forward, except he did allude to that

it still looks pretty strong in the years coming ahead, that they don't see any. major, you know, issues in the economy as of today, but we'll take that as a data-dependent, you know, approach over the coming months. Can you linger a little bit longer on, you mentioned, like, the energy prices? I think it's important for people to understand, like, the purpose of the Federal Reserve is to help set these interest rates. And they have a dual mandate of keeping inflation as low as possible, while also keeping unemployment as low as possible.

And when inflation rises, that no one's having a good time then, but they also have to think about, wait a second, we can only control. interest rates. We can't control, per se, the price of oil because of geopolitical tensions. Maybe just linger on that a little bit longer and explain for our audience how important, you know, crude oil prices have been this year, especially as we think about where interest rates could go in 2007. Yeah, I mean, Warsh came out and basically stated, like, they can't control specific asset prices, right? They can control contagion and, like, the general overview of the economy and where asset prices are rising as a more broader base.

but they can't control what oil is doing, right? They have no tools in their tool belt in order to just say, okay, all of a sudden, President Trump and the administrations obviously war with Iran. It started. It went away. You saw oil prices go from 70 to north of 100, back down to 70, now back north of 100 because it started and it stopped, you know, it started again. So that's not under their purview to be able to control a specific commodity price or one specific asset price. but I think what they're focused on is utilizing interest rates as a means for broader inflation. And the idea is that if one asset class has inflation, is there contagion that can ultimately be spread across others and then have more rapid and rampant inflation across everything. And so I think that's what they're focused on.

And you got a unanimous vote today, you know, to go 25 basis points and then see how the data continues. Other governors are talking about, you know, potential for, you know, two, three hikes. But until, you know, the president gives really the indication of, of, what's going on there. They're going to continue to be assessing this data and not giving a ton of guidance on what the broader Fed thinks going forward. But that's really what their mandate is from Congress. I want to talk about inflation and rate expectations because right now it feels like we're shifting almost month to month. And the 10 year yield was above 5%, which is a 20 year high. What's your read

on where rates go from here now that the Fed is hiking again? And how should that change the way people think about income generating investments like the neospons you know it's a great question i think you know as we're discussing we had the the rate hike today it looks like as of now at the end of october when we have the next meeting there will probably be another rate hike but what does that mean for income investors today i think people are still looking to source income from other places than their fixed income portfolio i think when you think about a lot of the products we have out there sourcing income off the volatility of the options market around an underlying reference like the S&P or Bitcoin or gold or real estate, I think is still going to be probably attractive

to a lot of investors, even if they're getting these quarter point hikes over the next few Fed meetings. I think in the end, people are always searching for income. They're looking to do it in an efficient matter while still being invested in those different markets. I think when a lot of people look at their portfolios. They like where they are, whether it's their in-growth portfolio, or they have an energy portfolio, or they have these alternative portfolios, and they want to figure out how they could source income there. So I don't think it changes much from that perspective, but I do think it helps a lot of people that do sit on cash, keep money in the bank and maybe have CDs or other products like that in money markets, where they can have a little bit more

income off of that, you know, cash portfolio. I appreciate that breakdown. And we're definitely going to get more into that. But before we do, for anyone who missed it, because I want to come back to this, I think it's the best news ever. Can you guys give a quick refresher on this Goldman Sachs partnership? What exactly was announced and where does the partnership stand right now? Yeah, sure. We'd love to. We're excited about this one because of the capabilities and the team coming together going forward.

But in early August, Nios agreed to join Goldman Sachs asset management. And so our entire team, myself, Troy, everyone here at Nios, will be joining Goldman. once we get, you know, the final deal across the finish line. But why we're excited about that is what we've seen in Goldman from investment capabilities, team capabilities, cultural fit, and the opportunity also to continue doing what Nios does today is really exciting. If you think about coming together with, you know, a huge global organization and leveraging the infrastructure and those capabilities on top of our team doing what it is that, you know, we focus on for the last four years here and excelling and continuing that, it's exciting. And I think,

the two major factors that even came into play initially to even have those discussions was investor first mindset. Everything we do has always been about the investor and the shareholder first. Goldman sees that in the same purview within the asset management business. And two, a solutions-based approach. What is it that you can create for investors allowing them to expose their views, whether it be on the income side? But even from Goldman's perspective, because they're so large, they do that across everything. Right. And so the idea was, investors first solutions-based partnership and then having the teams come together, you know, to really keep persevering and pressing on that and innovation going forward. So we're really excited about it.

Yeah, it seems like just so many tools adding to your tool belt to give you guys more freedom and more breath to be able to do more things. But walk us through our listeners, myself and Austin. Why does this partnership make sense for Neo specifically? And out of everything you've learned in this Goldman deal, What are you two most personally excited about? So I think where it makes sense is, while we've grown a lot as a firm, we have 19 ETFs out there. We have a large amount of assets under management over $30 billion now. For us, it's really being able to offer these products to everyone. And even at our size and growth that we've had, we're still not available on a lot of platforms.

So there's many investors out there that don't have access to the Neo-CTFs, to what we're building here. and I think with the global reach and the support of Goldman Sachs, we're going to be able to hopefully push that forward over the years to come. So for us, it's exciting that we continue to get to grow what we started. Like Garrett said, they have the same idea, the same mindset, the investor first, meet the investor where they are. And after spending so much time with them, realizing that they really view things like we do as a solutions provider and just trying to build out these different solutions, slice up that acid allocation pie, and really offer these different solutions, these different ETAFs to anybody out there who wants to invest in an ETAF. So that part's really exciting to be able to continue the growth that we've had with their support and be able to go to different parts of the world where we haven't had access specifically for these products.

Yeah, the one thing I'd add to it is like product innovation from my perspective as well. Like, excited to see the things that we can do together. I mean, we've already talked about, you know, a lot of different ideas, how the markets, you know, could potentially react over the next couple of years. Again, as we just talked about interest rates, you know, what does that do within fixed income products and capabilities, you know, there? The fact that they're approximately a three and a half trillion dollar organization with thousands of investment professionals, you know, there are things that we don't do today, right, that they have capabilities for, and to be able to bring that in with the thesis, the investment process and the

stuff that we do, I think is super powerful for really unique and interesting, innovative investments to constantly meet investors where they are as we see these markets, continue to evolve over the next, you know, many, many years. What else can we be bringing, you know, that help people achieve their own specific goals or risk tolerances or, you know, or income needs? So I think that's going to be really exciting. Speaking of meeting investors where they are, for people like myself that hold SPY, QQQQI, BTCI, all your other NEO's funds, what is actually staying the same day to day and then what's changing? I mean, the tickers are they going to change? Am I getting G's put places on my screen that I didn't know? Like, what's changing? What's staying the same?

That's a good question because it's come up. Obviously, so we're talking to advisors and people that invest in these funds. Tickers are staying the same. The team here, we're very happy to say everybody's coming to be part of the greater Goldman Sachs asset management organization. Next time we talk, if the deal is closed, we're still going to be sitting here, same background. We're not going anywhere. So we're excited about that, that how the products are run. We're really just hoping to be able to use that support that Goldman Sachs is offering through all the innovation, all they've done on the portfolio management side.

their business to help enhance our products and continue to grow and bring out more products. Now before we ask Garrett and Troy, our next question, got to give a shout out to public.com, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public, you can build a multi-asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, cryptocurrency, and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index using AI. And it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work.

It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one-of-a-kind index, and even lets you back-tested against the S&P 500, all with just a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities. They are completely customizable based on your thesis, not someone else's. So go to public.com slash rich habits and transfer your portfolio today. That is public.com slash rich habits. paid for by public investing and full disclosure in the podcast description. All right. Let's now jump back to our conversation with Garrett and Troy. All right.

I want to jump into something that I think everyone's interested in understanding, and that is the proxy vote. This is a part I really want to spend some time on today because I know a lot of our audience holds NEO's funds and might have gotten something in the mail or in their inbox that they didn't totally understand. So explain it to everyone in plain English. What is a proxy vote?

and why is this specific one happening right now? And why does their vote matter? Because, you know, a ton of our following. They're fully involved in buying and investing in NEOS funds. But I want to make sure that they're up to date on what's happening with this proxy vote. Yeah, absolutely, Robert. A proxy vote is the ability for anyone who owns an ETF or a 40-Act mutual fund to be able to vote their ownership of the fund towards whatever that matter could be.

This is just like any other fund. Nothing is specifically unique to Nios. that needs a proxy vote, any of these types of structures, these mergers and organizations, or other ones can be out there, changes of certain investment strategies. There's a lot of different reasons investment managers might reach out for someone to vote their proxy, but allows the investor to vote their shares. And so for us, we obviously reached out for our matters is adding some trustees into the Neo-C-T-F trust and also the ability for the merger and for Neos, you know, and Goldman to come together. So we're excited about obviously that as, as everybody knows,

we just talked about. And so you might have received either a phone call, a text message, an email, or, you know, a small mailer to be able to, you know, vote your shares. And so we really need everybody to vote their shares. And so as you think about whatever means that you were, you know, reached out to, there should be somewhat of a simple way to be able to obviously respond and engage in that, to be able to choose to vote your shares. I've already voted my shares, by the way. We'll pat myself on the back there. So it sounds to me, though, that people, at least how I understand it, We're voting on the continuity of Nios, right? We're not voting on new strategies.

We're not voting on, you know, new underlying whatever. We're not voting to make a trade or some sort. Like, we're voting on Nios, merging with Goldman Sachs asset management, and then continuing to be innovative over time, introducing new products like, but we're voting on the continuity of Nios here. We're not voting on some obscure. We're handing in the reins over or something like that. That's correct.

Yep. You said it really well. And you mentioned that this is not unique to Nios in this gold. partnership, but people vote their proxy all the time. Maybe linger on that a little bit longer. You know, I think I've been asked to vote stuff in the past. I remember getting a bunch of calls from QQQ, you know, a couple years ago about something going on there. So like, you know, that's one of the things that I think people forget about is, okay, I bought a share of stock. Like, I'm a shareholder, but like, no, like, you're a shareholder. You have obligations. You have rights as a shareholder.

You have a voice as a shareholder. So maybe linger on that a little bit longer as to like how important it is and and how common, right, proxy votes are. Yeah, it's very common. So companies might reach out to, so if you own actually a stock, they have some type of a voting matter going on, they're going to reach out to, you know, to vote your shares. Same thing with ETFs. There might be a variety of different reasons they reach out. I think QQQ was one that obviously was in the market more recently because, you know,

with almost 500 billion probably worth of assets. There's a ton of people that probably received, you know, those votes. And so, yeah, it's allowing you to vote your shares, your ownership, whether that be for a company and something the company is looking to do an ETF and what the broader ETF issuers is doing. So certainly not unique in any sense. But I think, Austin, you said it well. When it pertains to us and NEOs, it's around the continuity of the team continuing to be able to manage the products and join forces with Goldman to do that. Same team, same office, same tickers. And that's really what you're voting to be able to

keep. I think it's important to exercise that right. You know, as a shareholder, as you mentioned, Austin, you have a right. It's not an obligation, but it's a right to vote in these circumstances. So it's something to take serious when you're a shareholder of any company. 100%. And I want to address this too, because I've personally got questions about this inside the Rich Habits Network. When you go vote your shares of your Neo-CTFs, it's like you're voting to add someone to a manage, like it's got a bunch of names going on, right? So like maybe you guys want to talk about like who, like what actually are people voting on here? Like, you know, understand that this is the continuity of Nios and the innovation of the future, but also like it's one thing to say that and look at that. And then

it's the other thing to pull it up and you're like, wait, I have to hit yes or no one, this person I don't know. Like what is going on? Yeah, so the two voting matters are the new investment management agreement. So as Nios and Goldman come together, we need a revised investment management agreement. So you're, that's the first one that might show up on it or it could be the second one. The second is the independent trustees. So I think as some of the audience might know, all ETFs are public vehicles, right? They're listed on an exchange. They're also governed and overseen by an independent board of trustees. And so, we are asking for a vote to approve the Goldman Sachs independent trustees. I believe there's approximately

about 14 of them. And so they oversee the current Goldman Sachs, and a variety of trust and products. And then we would be asking shareholders to also elect those trustees as independent trustees going forward. So those are the two matters. Those are common, you know, to be done within this type of, you know, overall process. So you might have gotten proxies before for, you know, again, a new investment management agreement for two companies to come together, but you've also might have the ability to vote on new trustees. You've probably seen even a corporate entity of, you know, a new board of directors, you know, or individual joining the board of a public company. That's why you'd see somebody's name listed. That's not portfolio managers, you know, that that is an independent

trustee that oversees the trust and the funds. That's the explanation I was looking for because I've got a lot of people saying, I don't recognize what's going on here. So that's, that, that is perfect. Now, the only follow-up I have to that is, why am I not one of the cool trustees looking over? Come on, dude. I would be great trustee. I could even spell S-P-Y-I, mind you. I know how to spell it. So lock me in.

And I think the important thing here, and then we can jump to our next section, one that I'm really excited about, is for people to understand if you're invested in these funds and other funds and you get these invitations or these mailers to vote, get involved and do things that involve your vote. because I think it's important for you to understand the process is better. Because as you build wealth and start investing more and more in these NEO's funds, you want to understand what's happening behind the curtain. And this is a good way to do that. So if someone's listening right now and you own these Nios funds, what's the easiest way for them to go vote their shares? Because I think we need people to understand how do they do that?

If they see the mail or they see the email or whatever they get, how do they go ahead and actually do that process so they have an understanding how to get through it. Sure. They've probably either received the text message and email or maybe through snail mail. They've actually gotten a mailer where they have a QR code they could they could look at and go to the website. You could always go to neosfunds.com slash vote and it kind of walks you through what you need to do there. But it's really important that one of those that's coming through to you because they will continue to reach out to you until you get your vote in one way or another. So it's important to think about that, look at the proxy material and then vote accordingly. Bingo, bingo. Bingo.

Let's now jump to interest rates. We're talking about the Fed before this. I want to get back to it. A lot of people assume all income strategies live and die by interest rates. You think bonds, you think Treasury, all that fun stuff, right? But Neo's funds generate income fundamentally differently. One, please explain to the people who might be new. What is a covered call option contract? What's a section 1256? How are you all generating income in your NEO's fund ETFs here? And then maybe even talk a little. bit more about how you're able to do that with these commodity-based ETFs, companies that aren't exactly, you know, paying a dividend or inside of an index or like, you know, BTCI or things like that, maybe explain that as well. Sure. So I'll start with the cover call. So really simplistically, thinking about what is a covered call strategy and investing is you're going to own some type of underlying asset. Maybe that could be Apple. Maybe it could be the S&P 500. And you're along that getting exposure to that underlying company or index. You're going to sell a call option. meaning you're going to sell the ability for someone else to buy the additional upside in your

portfolio. And for that, they're going to pay you for that. So if you sold an Apple covered call that maybe is 1% away or 2% away from where Apple's stock price currently is, you might get paid, say, $2, you know, per contract for that. If Apple stays flat or goes up only to that level, say 2%, you're going to retain that $2. If Apple goes up further than that $2,000, if Apple goes up further than that 2%, say 5, 6, the other person that paid you $2 has the ability to call the upside from you. So you've sold a call option, the call the upside. So from Apple's performance of above 2% to say 5, they're going to get that participation. And so the idea is you want to utilize a cover call to generate income.

And you're saying you're willing to give up some of the upside appreciation above a specific level in order to generate income in your portfolio. That could be means for volatility reduction or pure income needs for your overall portfolio. So when you're thinking about this, as Garrett walked through, it can be on the S&P 500. It can be on an individual name like Apple. But there's also all these alternative ways where you can source this volatility and source this premium from the option market, whether it's a product like our Bitcoin product in BTCI or our boosted Bitcoin product in XBCI, but we also have products in gold, MLP and energy infrastructure, which is one of our newer funds.

We launched that last December, and that one's not only had great performance, given what's going on geopolitically in the MLP and energy infrastructure world, but it's had a great asset raise as well. So that is another product that, you know, most people don't always think of, you know, whether it's Bitcoin or gold as being income producing products, but when you pair them with an option portfolio that can harvest that volatility and think about what that option market is doing, you can potentially have a monthly distribution from these products that traditionally you would not have had.

So we really think about it, again, trying to meet the investor where they are. They like their Bitcoin. They like that gold position they have in their portfolio, but that gold position traditionally never paid them anything unless they sold some of it. So how do we meet them where they are and build a product where they can potentially earn income on a monthly basis? from that same underlying holding. So that's where we really look at things as we look forward

and try to bring out different products that might make sense for everyone's portfolio. Let's take a minute and talk to everyone listening what it takes and how they can build out an actual diversified portfolio. Because we've talked about gold exposure, MLPs, U.S. equities. How do you think about the average person out there that's watching today or maybe already owns some Nios funds?

How do they combine these pieces? because I want everyone to understand what does a well-built income-focused portfolio look like using these building blocks? Yeah, Robert. So I think the first and foremost, any investor needs to look at their risk profile, right? What are you comfortable investing in? What it means for you? And I think that's really important because it's not going to a party and standing around, you know, a table and somebody talking about, right, their best investment in their portfolio and you should bowl up on it as well.

It's exactly mentioned diversification and meeting yourself. at where your risk tolerance is. And so as you think about diversification, what does diversification mean, right? It really means that you don't want two or three or your entire portfolio of investments all moving in the same direction at once. Why would you not want that is? Because when things go down, they're all going to go down. So your entire portfolio is correlated to one another.

And if you're going to see the stock market down 10% and all your investments have a high degree of correlation, not diversified, you're going to be down 10% as well. Is that the risk level that you're low? looking to take. When you talk to a lot of financial advisors and other industry practitioners, everyone talks about building diversification to meet your estate planning goals or your risks and objectives. And so ways to do that is invest across different asset classes as one example. So you could have your equity exposure, you know, say the S&P 500, the NASDAQ or Russell 2000, for instance. But you also add in, right, the total opposite end of the spectrum tends to be

fixed income. Fixed income is risk adverse. It's like to interest rates, not equity markets. yes, at certain times, can they have closer correlation, but you're generally looking to invest in things that wouldn't have equity exposure to offset that. But as Troy was just talking about, there's also alternatives, right? There's other ways to think about asset classes, energy infrastructure, right? Things that are going to be linked to oil, to natural gas, to maybe exploration, if you're thinking like an ExxonMobil, there's a lot of ways to introduce different asset classes. And so if you have a part of your portfolio to understand really diversification, understand what is moving that overall investment. Is it going to be equity markets? Is it going to be

interest rates? Is it going to be commodities? Like we've just talked gold, obviously real estate's a unique one. People think about real estate, but that is susceptible to interest rates. So you kind of understand what a few of these underlying price movements are that are going to affect the underlying investment for you. And then build out that diversification, meaning pick and choose a few of them across differentiated areas, asset classes. And so those risk exposures aren't all moving. together at the same time to where you unexpectedly realize your entire portfolio is down, you know, when one thing happens. Let's linger on this for a minute and speak to the broader audience.

Say there's someone out there that only owns one of Neos funds today, maybe none, and they want to nibble and get started. Where do they go first and what should they add first? Like, what are the natural next steps for someone who's interested in these income-focused ETFs and wants to make them part of their portfolio? I think it's hard to answer that because every, investor has a different risk profile, as Garrett was saying. Every investor is looking for a different outcome, is looking for different exposure in the market. Where we see, obviously, a lot of people

going to first is our larger funds, our SPYI that is the S&P 500 with high income from the option portfolio, or a QQQI, which is our NASDAQ-100, where you're getting that growth of the NASDAQ-100, but having that monthly distribution on top of that. So that's where we see people going, but it doesn't mean it's right for every individual. But if they're looking for that NASDAQ exposure or that S&P or they're starting somewhere in there, you know, we also have Hague products. If they're a little bit more conservative, maybe an SPYH or QQQQH might make more sense, a little less income, but gives you a measure of downside protection with a long put spread on top of it. So it's different for everybody. And, you know, it depends on where you are in your, you know, investing life cycle. Are you

early on you're trying to grow that portfolio? Are you later in that cycle? trying to build up a portfolio for retirement. So it's different for everybody. But we try to offer through our 19 products and growing enough products where someone could look at it and say that makes sense for my portfolio and go from there. One thing I'd love to add in really quick is just like the financial education, right? I think overall the ability to get education on financial well-being investments is higher than it's ever been. And so either if you have an advisor, obviously go talk to your advisor however you don't right the internet and going to either a neosfunds.com website to learn about us right yes what you guys are are persevering and pushing through the market of

right strong financial education rich habits exactly to where like you're learning about something but then you want to start to dig deep definitely focus into your research i think that's something we always talk about so forgetting a neos product just in general it's really good to make sure that you're fully understanding you're listening to experts you're doing your own research and feeling comfortable that you're making an investment decision, knowing how that's going to react in your portfolio. And so I think what's been great to see in the market over the many, many years is the ability for more and more education and financial well-being and thoughtfulness to be out there so that people can have a better sense of how to go out and educate themselves on what it is that

might fit for their portfolio. And what I see a lot of, too, in the Rich Habits Network, so many people reach out to me and say they love the NEO's funds for diversification into gold and Bitcoin and some of the other things. So you're right. I think that it's very specific personal finances personal, but I like so many of the tools because I feel like you guys are just covering all the basis for people to explore these NEOS funds and be able to get diversification and income through these products. 100%. And speaking of the Rich Habits Network, something we talk about a lot in there. Garrett kind of took the word out of my mouth, which is just like, do your own research and know what you own. Understand what you have in your portfolio. You know, we talked about diversification and a term

you know, that's kind of fun right now to say is worseification. A lot of people, you know, they might have nine, ten, twelve different positions in their portfolio, but they're all semiconductor stocks. And so they say, oh, I've got a dozen different names in my portfolio. Of course I'm diversified. Well, if it's all the exact same sector and that sector is getting smoked right now, maybe you're not as diversified as you thought. And I thought that's what's so interesting and fun about Neos Fund specifically is, you know, you guys are across the gamut. You've got the S&P, the NASDAQ, but you also have IWR, with real estate or I-A-U-I with gold or BTCI with Bitcoin or MLPI with energy and infrastructure. It's like you could be invested in so many different sort of segments and sectors of the market

while still also optimizing for that tax-efficient income that you all are so famous for doing. So again, congratulations. And we're so grateful to have you back here on the show and can't wait to have you back soon. Yeah, we appreciate the time to come on and just join and answer questions. Definitely, you guys. Our audience loves you. We talk about it all the time. so happy to be working with you guys and having you guys on frequently.

And one last reminder while we still have you all and everyone else is hanging out with us, if you own NEO's funds, check your inbox, check your brokerage app, get your proxy vote in, go vote your shares. It takes a couple minutes. Your vote counts. 100% your vote counts. We promise it does. You can go to Niosfunds.com slash a vote or I bet Troy and Garrett have the phone number

memorized by this point. What's the phone number they need to call? 866-206. 8173. Again, 866-206-8173. Again, gentlemen, thank you so much. Congratulations. And we're looking forward to having you all back. Thanks. See you guys soon. What a fun conversation with Troy and Garrett. I always appreciate it when they join our show because one, I feel like they've just, we, Robert, you ever get that feeling where you're like, oh, I started listening to a music artist before they were popular? I think Ireland has said that about Noah Khan in the past. She's like, yeah, I used to new Noah Khan

years before he got all popular. And now everyone loves them. I feel like that about Nios funds. I feel like we were talking about Nios funds and the importance of having tax sufficient income in your portfolio and the fact that these ETSs exist. I mean, I remember when Nios funds was just four ETSs. I mean, I remember when QQQI came out. It was crazy. And now they're part of Goldman Sachs and everyone knows them and they're growing and other international and they're introducing new things. It's just like, I'm just really grateful that Troy and Garrett join us on the show and share their wisdom and, you know, all the above. Yeah, I agree. Totally. I remember vividly, because we've been working with them and following their journey for years now.

And now to think Goldman Sachs, billions and billions of dollars of assets under management, it's such a cool thing to be there along the ride with a company and guys as good as Troy and Garrett, building these cool products that all of our people, followers and listeners get to really enjoy and invest in. So it's very, very cool. Before we jump into our Q&A section of this episode, we've got a full. fun one for you. Introducing the afternoon slump segment presented by Ultra. Robert, it is currently 358 p.m. right now, Eastern time as we film this podcast episode. And something our audience doesn't know about our podcast is that our Monday episodes and our Friday episodes are both filmed during what

people refer to as the afternoon slump. That 2 to 5 p.m. time frame where you're feeling groggy, you're tired, you're looking for a way to lock back. in, maybe it's to chug coffee or get outside or whatever. So you got to figure it out. It's a three-hour slump, the afternoon slump. Robert, you always bring the energy whenever you're filming these podcast episodes with me. What are some things that you do? What advice can you give people right now listening who are trying to get over their own

afternoon slump as they listen to this episode to lock back in and get and finish the workday strong? Yeah, for me, it's usually a walk because I got to get the body moving because we're sitting here for hours and hours writing and filming. Also, some cold water, a really cold beverage helps me a lot. And you always catch me when we're filming because I'll do some pushups before I jump back into the workload. Yeah, no, I'm right there with you. I've got my cold, ice cold water right here in my massive water bottle.

Back when I was working in the office, what I would do is I'd pop in some AirPods, turn on my favorite EDM music. That would also get me going. But now that I'm an entrepreneur, again, I've got that cold beverage, keeping me rocking and rolling. Gets me feeling myself again. But, you know, something I used to do, Robert, and I haven't done a little bit. Maybe I should jump back into it. And if you're in the Rich Habits Network, you'll remember me talking about this over a year ago. And that is the ultra pouches.

They are nicotine-free, caffeine-free pouches that contain L-thian, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12, and alpha-GPC for enhanced mental processing. That's not alpha-G-G-PT, like a chat GPT, but alpha-GP. My friend Austin Reef, who was the co-founder of Morning Brew, he actually put me on them, you know, like I said last year. And I used to use nicotine. I used to use pouches, like the ones you buy at a gas station. But stop doing that. I think, Robert, it was November of last year. Haven't used nicotine since. I don't use nicotine anymore. Ultra pouches were what I flipped into there. And it was an awesome experience. Ultra very well could help you listening right now. Get over that afternoon slump. If you've been wanting to try neutropic pouches, I highly recommend Ultra. I'm not just saying that because they're sponsoring this segment. I'm saying that as someone who's purchased 30 of their cans and was subscribed to their monthly delivery subscription for

like seven or eight months. Like I used Ultra Pouches all the time. I've got a couple cans still around the house. Ultra Pouches got me going. I was locked in on the next level. So definitely go check out Ultra if you are interested. They make me really excited when I saw Robert. They wanted to sponsor the show. I was like, Ultra? This Ultra? They want to, okay, okay. You've used them for a long time. You really like it.

I need to get on it because I have the slump issues myself someday, so I'm definitely going to try it. And for all of you listening, new customers get 15% off with the code Rich 15. That is Rich 15 for 15% off. Go to takealtred.com to get some of these pouches and stay locked in. Couldn't have said it better myself, Robert. Let's now jump to the Q&A section of this episode with the first question. with our first question coming from Kelly L. Kelly L on Instagram says, hello, I hope my two questions reach you both. I have two credit cards. One is the American Express Gold card, and we use it for everything.

We pay it off at the end of the month, of course. And the other card we have is the Marriott Boundless card that we use specifically for hotels. My sons play on a travel team, so we book hotel rooms many weekends throughout the year. My questions are, though, we shop at Costco one or two times a month, spending anywhere between $600 and $1,000 every single month. Costco doesn't accept American Express, so I have to use my debit card and I don't earn anything. Is there a credit card you'd suggest just for Costco? My second question is this Marriott Boundless card that we use for hotels, and just realized we're getting rocked in interest. Last year alone, we were charged $1,800 in interest. I'm not sure it's worth having any suggestions on a credit card for hotels.

Robert, while you do a little bit of a deep dive on your hotel credit card recommendation, I'll talk about this Costco one. I shop at Costco. I love shopping at Costco. Ireland and I go to Costco probably once a month. It's fun. I just use the Costco credit card. The Costco credit card gives you 5% cash back on gas at Costco,

and then 4% cash back on all eligible gas in electric vehicle charging, 3% cash back on restaurants, 2% cash back on all purchases from Costco, and one cash back on everything else. So I just used that one. It's actually funny, Robert. I went to the bank recently because I had a couple of checks that I had to cash out. And I accidentally brought my $15.61 voucher that Costco had mailed me for all of my cash back that I was given for Costco. So no annual fee, if you have that paid Costco membership, I think it's awesome. Awesome. I use it as my actual membership card. So whenever I go there, just kind of scan my my Costco credit card. But Robert, what's your take first and foremost on the $1,800 of interest

they've paid? And do you have any suggested credit cards for hotels? Yeah, I don't see how they're getting this $1,800 number, especially because above in their question, they said that they pay it off every single month. So I don't know where that could come from. So I'd have to have them fact check that first. But as far as other options from this Marriott card, for me, I think another good option would be the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire card. That's a card that I use. And I think this is really good for people that frequently travel. There's a lot of different things you can get on that card that I really, really like. But the thing is I don't get is this $1,800. So I would look into that because I don't know anything about the Marriott Boundless card, but I don't see a world where it costs $1,800.

in interest if you're paying it off every month. Yeah, there's no way. I mean, interest is that. It's interest on debt. And if you don't pay your debt off, you do pay interest. And it sounds like you all were carrying some high interest credit card debt there for a little bit. So please, Kelly L, pay off your high interest credit card debt. I understand.

Maybe there's a great time, Robert, to talk about this conversation. I hear it a lot. I've had a lot. I've had some deep conversations with parents about this. I want to hear from you, Robert. Travel sports. Travel sports are expensive. By like, when I say expensive, I mean, could be in the,

the ballpark of, no pun intended ballpark of tens of thousands of dollars a year that you're paying to have your kid enroll in these tournaments, have the best gear, you're paying for the travel, you're paying for the hotels, you're paying for the gas, you're paying for the, you know, everything else. You know, I want your kids to have fun and do the sports. And I think being a team player is important for, you know, a child's development and like all that stuff. But the last thing I want you to do is, and we talk about this sort of concept a lot, whenever a plane is, kind of going Mayday. You know, they always say put your oxygen mask on before you help your neighbors. And I'm worried that our friend Kelly L here might be putting too much money into

her children's travel team sports so much so that they're paying high interest credit card debt, right? They're going into debt for it, where instead they maybe should be investing some of this money toward their own retirement, maybe saving some money for, you know, a college education for these kids. It's a very tricky conversation to have because I know how emotional some parents can get because every parent thinks that their child might be the next big NFL or MLB or NHL player, but I don't know, Robert, what should take? Yeah, I don't like it at all because I feel like it puts people in a position where they're living beyond their means because I'm not saying travel sports or a scam, absolutely, but many of these national clubs and these larger clubs,

they use high sales tactics, they use fear of missing out FOMO on the parents because they're trying to build this illusion of fake elite status for their kids to get those kids to believe they're going to have this absolute path to college scholarship and maybe pro sports. And it really bugs me thinking about me coming up in baseball and basketball into college sports when I played and all of that because, you know, we had one bat, we had one mitt, we had our own helmet maybe we had one uniform and I see these kids and I see this content now they're showing up with bat bags and gloves and sliding gloves and five pair of cleats and all that

and I just think it's one of those really bad situations where parents feel pressured to keep up with the Joneses and it's who can spend the most on this stuff to try and elevate their kid to the next level of sports. So I don't think it's good for any family financially unless they're already very wealthy because it just costs so much relative to what you gain for the child in the sports. And I definitely don't want to see parents putting this on credit cards or carrying debt that they can't afford to keep these kids in these programs. I feel like we might have just accidentally triggered a lot of parents listening to this episode because a lot of parents do the travel sports stuff and they are, you know, they're doing it. So I just, again, if you can afford it,

please do the travel sports. Let the kid do what they got to do. If you can afford it, but if you're finding yourself swiping the credit card, taking on high interest debt, you know, doing these bad financial habits, maybe there's a different alternative. Maybe there's a happy medium where it might not be as intense travel sports. Maybe it's something a little bit different locally or, you know, who knows there. But that's the whole takeaway here is if you can afford it, rock and roll, spend your money however you want personal finances personal but if you can't afford it always make sure that you are not finding yourself in a bad financial situation to try and make this stuff work and keep up with the joneses with the brand new bats and the bags and the this tournament and

where are you staying at oh i'm staying at the the ritz carlton hotel when i'm going to this where you guys staying at you know all that stuff robert well i'm not hating on anyone let's get this straight i just know that in the history of sports usually it's the people people that show up with all the best gear that have the least talent. And all I'm saying is stay within your budget, stay within your means. And if Billy or Amy or Sally have really good talent, guess what? It's going to cost you a lot less because they're going to get the free ride. They're going to get the scholarships. And you're not going to have to live beyond your means to try and prove something with this fate elite status. You know, and something else, Robert,

I'm just kind of looking. I'm sorry that we're just derailing this conversation. Private equity, interestingly enough is getting involved. They are buying up some of these travel sport leagues and tournaments and brands. I'm just kind of looking at some of these things here and it's saying that private equity investments just in year to date, 2006, in travel sports, amateur sports, is over $2 billion versus only half a billion all of last year. So private equity is getting involved when private equity gets involved. Things get expensive and people get emotional and I don't Now, we'll see what happens there. Let's move on. We have another question coming from Alex W. Alex says, hi Robert Nostin. I'm 37 years old and work as a budget analyst for my company,

earning $125,000 a year. And my wife is a nurse making $85,000 a year. We have $235,000 in a taxable brokerage account, $14,000 in a savings account, $173 in Roth IRAs, maxing them out each year. $600 a month goes to our $529 accounts, and I have a defined benefit pension plan with my job. I also have $107,000 and a 457B that's a rough, and I contribute $750 a month to that account. First off, holy smokes, y'all are just doing it right. 37, you're making great money, you've got all this money invested, you have all this money that's actively being put to work on a monthly basis. Incredible situation. Alex W says we have 14 years remaining on our 15-year mortgage. It's $120,000 and the interest rate is 6%. So my question is, should we prioritize?

paying off this mortgage, increased contributions to our 457B, or maybe do something else. Love the show. Thank you so much for all your advice. Robert, 6%. It's on that cusp where, you know, adjusted for inflation. The stock market does about 7.5 or 8% a year. 6% is kind of close. The 30 year yields at 5.5% right now. What should take? Yeah, I think they're in a really great spot. And the first thing that jumps out at me is the 14,000 in cash. That feels really light to me relative to them making a $210,000 household income. So I probably start by building up that emergency fund before getting too aggressive anywhere else. And then after that, I would probably do a combination of adding some more to the 457B contributions and paying down the mortgage because you're right, Austin.

That 6% is right in the middle for me. It's not dangerous. It's not bad. It's just a little bit high. So maybe they could do an extra payment a year or extra payment every month or something like that to buy down that principle a little bit. That's where I would start because they're doing so well everywhere else. Yeah, with 173,000 already in the Roth IRA, they got 100,000 to 457B, a quarter million in this taxable brokerage account. I would lean toward increasing that 457B versus maybe putting more money in their brokerage account, the bridge account.

It's a smooth balance, Robert, because you want to have. millions of dollars in retirement accounts because nine times out of 10 there's tax advantage and it's all fun in games. But you also want to make sure that you have enough money in an accessible, taxable brokerage account that when you're ready to retire earlier, you know, maybe take that leap of faith where you don't want to work full time, want to go part time and be, you know, financially independent and awesome episode we just had here on the show, right? What does it mean to actually be financially free? You got to have that accessible money. So the $235,000 they have right now in that taxable brokerage account. Wonderful place to be. Last thing I will say is make sure that $600

a month going to the $529 accounts, it is not coming from money that should instead be going to a retirement account. You can always borrow money for college. You cannot always borrow money for retirement, right? So make sure you're not contributing toward your kids' education at the expense of your own retirement. Doesn't sound like that, but wanted to call it out. I love that take. You say it quite frequently. You can borrow for college, but you can't borrow for retirement. I hope everyone is taking notes, writes that one down, because we see so many people in the Rich Habits Network and the DMs, in Instagram, everywhere, where they get to a million or two million dollars, and all of a sudden they think they're so wealthy, they can just start giving the money away to their family members

and everybody else. And to me, you need to make sure you can protect yourself, especially moving forward because we're all going to live longer. There's better medicines, all these GLP ones and peptides and all that. So just make sure you've got your retirement covered first because you can always borrow, like Austin said, for college. Now before we jump to our final question, got to give a shout out to Blossom Social. We're officially entering the fourth quarter of 2006. We heard from Troy and Garrett earlier this episode about some Q4 expectations.

And similar to what they said, uncertainty has never felt so high. The Federal Reserve just raised interest rates for the first time in three years. If you told me two months ago that was going to be the case, I'd say you are crazy. So all of this stuff that's taking place right now, it's never been more important, Robert, to have a plan and stick to it. And if you're a long-term investor like us, that plan has never been easier to come up and implement. It is just simply dollar cost averaging into the S&P 500, the NASDAQ, the Dow Jones, AIQ, SPYI, all the fun ETFs and index funds we talk about, and just riding the wave and staying nice, calm, cool,

and collected. Austin, we have been talking about how important dollar cost averaging is for years now. And when the markets feel shaky, it's hard to see your progress. This is why we recommend being a part of the social platform like Blossom Social. On Blossom, you'll be able to see your entire portfolio in a very clean and simple way, your holdings, your performance, dividends, all of it. And you're also able to follow along other long-term investors on the platform, helping you stay motivated during these uncertain times. Not to mention all of the portfolios on Blossom are verified. So if you're seeing someone buy or sell a name, it's because they actually did it in their own brokerage account. I'm on Blossom. Roberts on Blossom. Our portfolios are over there. So if you want to

join us, just search Blossom social in the app store. Head over to Blossomsocial.com on your phone or desktop. There's also going to be a link to Blossom Social in the show notes below. Our final question is coming from Ken on Instagram. Ken says, Hi Robert Nossin. I've been loving the podcast and I figured I'd pick your brains on a very Gen Z question. I'm 26 years old and I'm a live streamer. My streaming platform has made me over $250,000 so far this year. Now, I am in a financial space of being unsure what to do with money when I know that this is a short-term career. I have a Roth IRA setup that I've maxed out for the year and I've been investing about $1,000 a month into my Robin Hood and Charles Schwab accounts

just for these long-term holds you talk about. What is your advice to a young person who may need the cash on hand if this business does fail or eventually dies out? I've been told to start a 401k, but I'm too worried I have most of my money put away that I won't be able to touch into my 60s, being that I'm only 26 years old if I do that. My biggest concern is that I have $110,000 in student loan debt, and my payments are above 10% interest. I'm in an entrepreneurial state, and I'm already looking for new business ventures, but I'm just trying to be smart with my current setup before I start spending, and I feel like my CPA or other old people don't understand that the streaming business is trending today, but could be over tomorrow. Robert, you want to kick this one off?

Yeah, this is a good one, and I really like the question and the totality and the thoroughness of the question. First and foremost, I like what you're doing with $1,000 and having your Roth IRA set up, and I think you said fully funded, which is great. And then the additional thousand in the Robin Hood accounts, but I just, I'm a little bit curious here, 250,000 this year, and let's take away some taxes and look at all that. I don't know your expenses, but it seems like you could be putting away more than $1,000 a month at 26 years old, so I don't know where the rest of the money is going. And then as it relates to the student loan, I would look at it this way.

I would get my base built as much as humanly possible. In your situation, I'd love to see. see you have $200, $250,000 between the Roth and the traditional brokerage account, making you money while you sleep before you tackle this $110,000 of student loans. Even though they're high interest at this rate, I'm sure there's a way you can go into forbearance or renegotiate a way to get this interest rate down. If you can't, then that changes the game. But my fear is if you attack the loans first at this 10%, which is considered high interest,

you're going to put yourself in a position where it might be years where you can keep investing. So I don't know if you can get the rate down to 6%. Then I would say build more of your base first before you tackle these solely. If you can't, then I think you've got to just buckle up and go after the student loans first and foremost. Yeah, what a weird situation. Yep. One, congrats on making so much money as a streamer. That's amazing.

Make sure that you're setting money aside for taxes. You're getting paid directly from the streaming platform. the streaming platform is not setting aside money for taxes for you. So when you file taxes next year and you owe $65,000 to the IRS, like make sure you have that $65,000 in a savings account, do your quarterlys, right, do a quarterly tax estimate, you know, give the IRS 20, 30,000 and say, here you go, right? Because the last thing you want to do is owe IRS money. You never want to owe them money. So the next piece of, you know, this I want to dig into is, yeah, that 10% interest, it's high interest, right? I mean, I would argue that that's high interest. So,

Here's the thing. If you can go back and refinance your student loans do that. If you can get them down to five, six, seven percent, that changes this entire equation because you can keep around a five and a half, six and a half percent student loan much longer than you can keep around a 10 percent student loan. And the reason I say that is because, you know, year to date, the S&P 500 is up 10 and a half percent, but inflation right now is running at about three and a half percent. And so that means that a real return of 7% right now is the S&P 500. And so what I'm trying to get at is 7% over here for money is invested, 10% interest you're being charged to pay off your student loans, can't out invest high interest debt, right? You've got to figure that out. So if you can't refinance these

student loans at a five and a half, six and a half percent interest rate, then yeah, it's one of those things where listen, beef up that emergency fund, max out that Roth IRA, continue to max out that Roth IRA, continue to keep that emergency fund beefed up. But everything else, pay off those student loans. I mean, if you made a quarter million dollars this year, you might even have a hundred, 10,000 sitting aside somewhere that you haven't yet used or, you know, maybe that's why you're asking us these questions because you've got this big windfall of cash and it's just sitting and you don't know what to do with it. If you can refinance them, that's great. Let's refinance it to five and six and a half percent. Let's go put $100,000, $200,000 in the S&P or the NASDAQ or the

Dow Jones in a taxable brokerage account on public.com slash rich habits. And now you've got this great base built that's going to, you know, continue to double and triple and quadruple for you throughout your lifetime. And then as you continue to make more money, then you can start to make the decision of, do I put more in the stock market? Do I start to pay off these student loans? How do I think about that? Here's what you don't want to do. You don't want to put yourself in a situation where you are forcing your monthly expenses to go up. What does that mean? You're taking on a new car payment. You're taking on a new car lease. You're taking on a new lease for a luxury apartment. You're taking on a mortgage, right? You're putting yourself in a situation where your fixed

cost every single month are now elevated than where you were before, which now means if the streaming stuff does dry up and the quarter million dollars is not another quarter million next year, maybe it's $80,000 next year. Your monthly burn is now twice as much in 2007 because you went into car debt and have a car lease or because you upgraded to the luxury apartment and you took on the mortgage or whatever it is. And now not only you're making less money as a streamer in 2027, but you're also spending more money just to survive, and it's a recipe for disaster. If you are in a situation where you don't know if your income is going to be what it is next year, you know, volatile income, all that fun stuff. Well, not fun, actually. But if you're in that situation, the best thing you can do is have a beefy emergency fund, keep your monthly burn as low and predictable as you can,

and keep as much cash on hand as possible so that if things do switch up on you here, you have that liquidity. Now, the only kind of like caveat to that is once you have that $100,000 or $200,000 invested, that's enough cash on hand where you can start getting a little bit aggressive about the student loan.

So do that, think about through that stuff, but congrats on being a streamer. That's very exciting. I'm not a streamer like that, making a quarter million, so I respect it. Yeah, the only thing I would add, Austin, is the other way to look at this as well is assuming that there,

getting paid as a 1099 contractor. So they're going to receive that Schedule C from the platforms. They could think about adding an S election. So they're combining that Schedule C, that 1099 contractor status with an S election. And that would give them a better tax situation so they could pay less taxes. And then they could also, and you know more about this than me, but they could also set up a SEP IRA as well to help them with some of the tax benefits because they can contribute up to 25% of their net self-employment earnings. So there are some other things we can add in there, too, to help you in this situation because you want to definitely get ahead of it in case the streaming dries up.

Yeah, it just comes down to what they said before is being worried about putting money in a retirement account that they can't touch until they're in their 60s. Everyone, thanks so much for joining us on this week's episode of the Rich Habits Podcast. Major shout out again to Nios Funds, Garrett and Troy, shout out to y'all for joining us. Be sure to come back on Thursday, where we have our Q&A. episode. And then of course, every Friday, we've got our rich Habits Radar episodes. Y'all have loved those episodes as of late. Lots of headline news, lots of IPO chatter. You know, it's Robert myself talking about the biggest headlines impacting you and your money. We appreciate it.

I mean, it's one of our, I mean, I'm not going to say it's the most popular episode, but y'all are really starting to come in on that one. Yeah, I definitely love the Friday episodes because I feel like they're just kind of in your face, off the dome. What's moving money? what's moving the markets. And it's in real time because we film these and write and do all the work right before we launch them. So I love the Friday episodes and they're definitely growing a lot. But also don't forget, for any of you that are following along on this podcast, you've been doing it for a while.

Make sure you check out the seven-day free trial for the Rich Habits Network. You can go in, kick the tires, check out the courses, check out the school community, join one of our lives and really see what the Rich Habits Network is all about. We have 1,100 members right now, people that think it is the best thing they could be doing with that time to level up their financial needs, their business, their mindset, and really learn more about what moves the markets and how to build wealth. 72 people in the month of September so far have joined the Rich Habits Network. Why are you not the 73rd? Robert, like, let's rewind. 203 people joined us in August. 70 plus people now in September. Like, it's just people are waking up and they're realizing that the rich habits network is something they need to try. Again, I want to just emphasize the word try because we have a seven day free trial.

There's no, I need to, you know, subscribe or something. It's just you're poking around. You're giving it the good old college try. You're joining a live stream. You're seeing if it's right for you. And if it's not, that's totally fine, but you gave it a try. And that's all we ask. If you've enjoyed the podcast, if we provided you value, try the rich habits network.

Thank you.