The Personal Finance Podcast - Is the American Dream Dead? (With Freddie Smith)

Episode Date: May 20, 2026

Millennials and Gen Z are not broke because of laziness but a broken system. Here is what is actually going on and what you can do about it.  👉 Join Andrew's FREE Masterclass The Portfolio Pyramid: https://event.webinarjam.com/q05p7/register/o37wxuz?webinar_id=22  What You'll Learn in This Episode Why the American Dream playbook is broken and what replaces it Why luxuries got cheaper while necessities got unaffordable Why two EMTs could build a life in 1996 and cannot today The three-tier middle class divide and why your neighbor pays $55K less than you Whether buying a home in 2026 still makes sense and the two questions to ask first What is actually happening with Social Security and what to do about it The one lever that matters most when the system is working against you Start Here  Join the community built to help you master your money, stay accountable, and reach financial freedom.   👉 Try Master Money Academy FREE for 7 days today!https://mastermoney.co/join/ 👉 Join Andrew’s FREE Investing for Beginners Masterclass https://event.webinarjam.com/q05p7/register/0o8z9io?webinar_id=21 👉 Join The Master Money Newsletter where you will become smarter with your money in 5 minutes or less per week Here! https://expert-hustler-605.ck.page/6aa7bb9a79 Partner Deals Indeed → Get a $75 sponsored job credit ⁠http://Indeed.com/personalfinance⁠ Policygenius → Free life insurance quote ⁠http://policygenius.com⁠ Chime → Get more rewarding fee-free banking at ⁠https://www.chime.com/PFP⁠ Monarch Money → Up to  60% off | MEMORIAL DAY WAREHOUSE CLEAROUT ⁠http://www.monarch.com/PFP⁠ Shopify → Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at ⁠http://shopify.com/pfp⁠   Wayfair → Get 80% OFF on April 25th through the 27th ⁠http://wayfair.com⁠   DeleteMe → 20% off with code PFP ⁠https://joindeleteme.com/PFP20/ Tool/s Mentioned Trulia - https://www.trulia.com  Zillow - https://www.zillow.com  Uber - https://www.uber.com  Watch Next How Companies Are Quietly Robbing You! With Lindsay Owens https://youtu.be/WhfXVmC2DC0  12 Financial Rules of Thumb That Let You Spend More on What You Love https://youtu.be/36HG6VHnA08  How to RETIRE BY 30! (With Cody Berman) https://youtu.be/ffKv6M69SRI  How to Manage Your Money (and Still Enjoy Life) https://youtu.be/BWocw8B-xnY  The Housing Market Is Rigged (Here's How to Beat It) With David Sidoni https://youtu.be/ccXY6vTNJu0  Connect with Freddie Smith  TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@fmsmith319  Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/fmsmith319/  Linktree → https://linktr.ee/Freddiemsmith  Spotify →  https://open.spotify.com/show/2MyR1MAPyqDf6OwCrNwR4b  YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVcu9rrANHgA6WY_tH1vtpA8V6uX1BI3C  Connect with Andrew Instagram → https://instagram.com/mastermoneyco Website → https://mastermoney.co TikTok → https://tiktok.com/@mastermoneyco X → https://x.com/mastermoneyco LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-giancola-45027b340 YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@mastermoneyco/ Question for you: .Do you think the American Dream is still achievable for your generation, or has the system changed too much? Drop your honest take in the comments below.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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it's definitely dead. I think it needs to be redefined. If you look at the boomer generation, they were able to achieve parts of the American dream in their 20s, where now even the first-time home buyer is 40. So it doesn't mean that you can't achieve it. It just seems to be like a two-decade sacrifice for most people to achieve some of those pillar. But why have we created a system that makes an EMT have to go and do that essential job all day and then drive Uber on the weekends just to pay the bills?

And those are 911 operators, ambulance drivers, school teachers. the people that if they all stopped working, the world would shut down. They're the ones being left behind that I'm trying to fight for because they're making 40 to 60K. And they're going to be forced to have to work a second job. So right now, I think we're going through this phase where we're just losing quality of life. On this episode of the Personal Finance podcast, is the American Dream dead? We're going to ask Freddie Smith. What's up, everybody?

and welcome to the personal finance podcast. I'm your host, Andrew, founder of mastermoney.co. And today on the personal finance podcast, we're going to be talking to Freddie Smith about is the American dream dead. If you guys have any questions, make sure you join the Master Money newsletter by going to mastermoney.com slash newsletter. And don't forget to follow us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube,

or whatever podcast player, you love listening to this podcast on it. If you want to help out the show, consider leaving a five-star rating. and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player? What if the system was never designed for us to win? Today's guest is Freddie Smith, and this conversation is going to challenge everything you think about hard work, opportunity, and whether the American dream is still alive. We are getting into a generational wealth divide and why millennials and Gen Z are not

just struggling because of avocado toast. Freddie breaks down the price inversion between luxuries and necessities, why wages stopped, keep it. PACE with the cost of living and what a livable wage actually is in 2026 and why the middle class is fracturing into three very distinctive categories. We're going to get into housing and is buying a home still a viable investment. What does it actually cost to afford a house? And if he cannot buy, is renting okay long term? And then we tackle retirement because the traditional playbook may not work anymore.

We dive deeper into Social Security and what is happening with Social. security and how we need to think about our money moving forward. And what you can do right now, even though the system is stacked against you. This one is going to hit. So without further ado, let's welcome Freddie to the personal finance podcast. So Freddie, welcome to the personal finance podcast. Thank you so much for having me, man. I'm excited to be here. We found out we're pretty much neighbors, Tampa and Orlando. So I love it. Exactly. We're going to do something soon here in the future in person. We have to because I think that is way too close to not do something in person for sure. So I'm really excited to have you here because you have some really engaging stuff that you've

been talking about over the course of the last couple of years. And I think it's one of those areas that most people feel the weight of this. Most people feel the struggle that they are going through, you know, throughout their everyday life just in the way that the economy is operating. But in addition, just the way that they are trying to think through and manage their finances. And that's a big, big topic that I would love to dive deeper on this today. But the first question I have for you is, is the American Dream dead? I think it's nuanced. I would say the old school American dream, how a lot of us millennials thought of the American dream of buying a house in your 20s, married with two kids, a white picket fence, tire swing, and a golden

retriever in the suburbs. I think for the typical worker these days, it's definitely dead. I think it needs to be redefined. But I think you can still achieve the American dream. It's just kind of an unreasonable time frame now. And I think that's the big difference. If you look at the boomer generation, they were able to achieve, parts of the American dream in their 20s, where now even the first time home buyer is 40. So it doesn't mean that you can't achieve it. It just seems to be like a two-decade sacrifice for most people to achieve some of those pillars. So I think that's where the frustrating part lies. And I think it's been a big shift for a lot of folks. Even for me, when I bought my first home,

it was 2014. And I remember buying that house. The house now is probably worth, you know, right around $400,000. I bought it for $169,000. I mean, it dramatically shifted just over that time frame from 2014 to 2020 and everything in between as we saw this big overall shift. And I want to talk about the baby boomers a little bit here as we got to go through this today because I think a lot of baby boomers out there and a lot of folks maybe listening, their parents don't understand what's kind of going on right now. And they're like, why aren't you just working harder or doing some of this stuff? So what privileges did some of the baby boomer generation have that maybe millennials and Gen Z

simply just don't have today? I mean, the most apparent thing is that the cost of living and wages in the 60, 70, 80s, even in the 90s, were closer together. So everything made sense that if you truly did put in 40, 50 hours a week of work, you could grab a house, you could have a little bit of a savings, drive a used car, get some Christmas presents, play a little tea ball. You weren't rich. They were paycheck to paycheck as well, but they had a family, a house they owned, some savings, a pension, a lot of them did. So I just think for the typical worker, you had access to the American Dream much sooner and the cost of living and wages were closer together, where now, again, American Dream is

still accessible if you're making $200,000. You're going to be living a great life in America right now at $2,300. But for the 40K, 50K, 60K person in their 20s, it's going to be a harder road than it was for the boomers just because cost of living is like this and wages are like this. So it's going to take a much longer sacrifice to try to obtain some of that. And I think that's what's going to start changing our culture because we're no longer going to be like, oh, let's buy a house at 28. It's going to be like, hey, let's get married later. Let's have kids later. Let's get a house later. And I think there's going to be a lot more exploration and exploring opportunities and ideas for our generation because I think the old way is just kind of, you know, not as accessible.

There's a lot of, you know, a lot of outdated advice that a lot of folks have gotten from their parents and there's a lot of shifts in the way that we need to operate with our money and our finances and the way we need to think about money. And what I've seen across the board, and I know you have a lot of followers and listeners who have kind of talked about this to you as well, where they say, hey, some of these older generations just do not believe the economy is harder today. Why do you think that is? Why don't you, why do you think that a lot of like the baby boomer generation just doesn't understand what is happening today?

I think just because they never truly had to go through that in their life. They went through hard times where things were tight. But even when I've spent, and so has many of the people who follow my stuff, I mean, countless hours trying to show the information. And they always seem to just come with the solution that will work for the individual, but not for the group. So it's like, oh, I can't afford 2,000 rent. And they're like, we'll find one for 1,500.

And it's like, okay, fair enough. But there's six in the whole city that's 1,500. So what about the 300 people looking for the apartment? Like, that's the disconnect for some reason. It seems like the boomers are really, it's hard for them to kind of believe a reality that wasn't in their lived experience. Like because apartments were never 2,000 for them, it's almost like, well, that can't be true. And you're like, but look at Trulia. And they're like, no, no, we'll find one for 1,200.

And I'm like, that's one. There's 300 of us looking for an apartment right now. So it's just this fun banter back and forth. I like to try to keep it light because some people really go after the boomers. And I do with facts. I never attack them personally. but they do have a stereotypical kind of energy about them that we just want to shake them a little because they're in charge of a lot of these companies that are responsible for wages. They're responsible

in politics. Like 60 out of 100 senators are boomers. 40% of the House are boomers. Five out of nine of the Supreme Court justices are boomers. And we've never had a Gen X president. Like the past 30 years has essentially been minus the Joe Biden four years, which he's close to a boomer, even though he's silent generation. The last 30, 40 years has been run by boomers. And so we need them on our side to understand this. And so that's kind of the work we're trying to do is like, how do we bridge this gap of two different realities? And I agree with you. I think the biggest thing is kind of coming together and educating them with facts, because overall, if you start to kind of lead with tension or lead in a way that kind of creates conflict, it's just nothing's ever going to get done.

And I think that's what I love about what you're doing and some of the stuff that you guys are working on right now. And really, you have a book coming out. that I think that book is going to be very powerful just to educate people on exactly what's going to happen in terms of how we kind of think about that. And it's going to be a really, really important thing overall. So when we think about this, overall, we have this big issue right now where there's been a big difference between, you know, other generations and how affordable things are and the millennial generation and what we're having to deal with right now. Why is everything so unaffordable right now? Is this a temporary problem or is this a structural one? At first, I was hoping it was just a temporary problem.

I was a little, not naive to it, but just new to it three years ago when I started seeing the housing prices. And I said, well, this has to be temporary. Like, prices go up and down. This is probably going to come down. And when you started to look at the facts that you're like, oh, it's really not going to. Like, I truly don't believe that the cost of living is going to come down in a meaningful way.

And I think that's where we need to start. And it's not depressing. It's just the truth so we can work around it. will health care, housing, daycare, and college significantly come down 30, 40, 50 percent? No. And if it did, we have a disaster on our hands, if we have that big of a crash. So if the cost of living isn't going to come down that much and wages aren't going to go up, well, then what are we left with? So I'm starting to think outside the box of like, I think the system itself needs to change with AI coming. And I think we need to focus more on

alleviating the tax burden on everyday Americans is where we should focus our energy, because I think it's more likely to change the tax code in this country and fix that to help middle class people keep more of their money to get ahead, then it will be to force corporations to double people's pay or to make apartments $800 overnight. I see the structure changing being a better option, but also letting people know you can't hold your breath waiting for the United States government to change the taxes for you to get ahead in life. So it's got to be a balance of trying to take personal accountability of what you

can do to make more money and pay off debt, but also we need to start pitching the politicians and looking for people who truly understand why the system is broken and how we can get money back into the middle class folks' hands because it's going to start creating a little bit. Now, not depression, but just like a loss of hopelessness. Like if you're 17 years away from buying a house, it's like sacrifice is cool. You know, delayed gratification is cool, but 17 years, it's a little much. Absolutely. And I think overall, this is one where, you know, we're looking deeper.

And I think it's a very interesting, you know, observation from you to kind of think through the tax structure and the way that we're looking at this. Is there anything that you think people should know about that in terms of, you know, pitching their senators or pitching people in their area of, like, some of the things that may be coming up down the line that we can do to kind of help with that situation? Or are there things that you feel as though people should kind of know, know about going forward so that we can try to make a change or try to make a difference. Like you said, I think it's balancing the things you can control, which is, you know, you're investing, making

sure that you have, you know, increasing your income over time. That's one of the most powerful levers that you can pull, obviously, in addition to making sure your debt is paid down. But are there things maybe that are currently outside of our control that we can kind of work towards together as a unit to try to help push forward within legislation? I think there's some talking points where if I was running for politics, I could have like three bullet points that would sound good, like a lot of politicians do. But as you extrapolate that out, it's really a full system change. Like, I'm got, if you had talked to me a year ago, I would have had different, like, here's a couple things. Like, banning stock buybacks would be a win for the people. I think that's a little

ridiculous that they still allow that to happen. That should be going to wages. And it would just feel good to mend this, this divide between the rich and the poor, things like stock buybacks, getting rid of super PACs where these rich folks are able to basically buy elections. It was team bring back pensions for a minute. but the way that work is going to evolve, I don't think people are going to stick to a company long enough for pensions to work as much anymore. And then basically just figuring out a way again,

how can you incentivize people to pay people more money? And if we can't do that, then there's going to be the only thing to do is then to cut the taxes for the working class people. So I think that's where we're at. But the whole thing that I try to educate people on is painting a picture of, for instance, that we bring in $5.2 trillion in tax dollars.

But we spend $7 trillion. So I show here's the deficit going on the American, the U.S. Amex card, you know, the debt, the 40 trillion. Here's our deficit. So when the politicians are saying we're cutting our deficit, they're not reducing our debt. They're just spending less on the credit card. And I try to like break down numbers to show people, here's how that works. So if a politician's implementing, let's do a 1% wealth tax, we can clap. It's kind of a little virtue signal. I'd vote for it. But you're going to generate 100 billion. We spend $7 trillion. Why are we focused on a 1% wealth tax when that will truly do nothing? It'll just be a political win. So that's what I try to be different about, is look at the politicians both sides of the aisle and say, even raising the federal income tax on the highest earners, if you run the math, it's not going to help. All you're going to do is punish like heart surgeons and small business owners. You're not going to touch the 200 million plus people that people are trying to siphon some of that wealth from.

So I just try to break it down in every single angle talking about stock buybacks to talking about, you know, everything that created the wealth divide, inflation, borrowing money, how it's, you know, hurting our purchasing power. And with all of that to put a button on it, I'm just right now all in on throwing the tax book out completely and and reef and figuring out a new way to do it. Because I think that's truly the only way to help the working class in the middle class at this point. Absolutely. There definitely has to be some sort of restructure in the, way to think about that and we even look at like healthcare and some of those areas too. I think it's just really, really important that we kind of die deeper into that. So that's wonderful for sure. And it's practical too because when you think about AI coming, I want to celebrate it. I'm a tech guy. I want to celebrate. Like, I want a drone to deliver me a burrito.

I'd be down for that. Like, let's see the technology. But if you look at the past 50 years, the GDP per capita has gone up, the productivity has gone up, and the wages have not. What do you think is going to happen in 10 years? when AI, I mean, the productivity is going to be astronomical and the history has shown us they're not going to share those gains with us. Right. So if we can change the tax incentive to line up perfectly where you can, you know, we can get, it'll be kind of too long to go into like what my

idea is, but even like a gross revenue tax of some sort, but something that can siphon a little at the point of sale so that you can get rid of some of the loopholes and things can be more transparent as we're starting to grow so much wealth in this country. Like, we're going to make so much money. And it would just be awesome if 20% of it would actually trickle down to the middle class. Right. And that's the, that's the big thing. And, you know, for the longest time, I was the person who was like, hey, money's not political. Money's not political. But it's becoming increasingly more political as time goes on, especially since COVID. And I think some of the stuff that we have seen over the course the last couple of years, we are really, it really is impactful in terms of,

you know, some of the changes that need to be made and some of the things that we need to have done. So it's going to be very interesting overall for sure. Yeah. One of the things I love that you talk about is, is you talk about what a livable wage is. What do you think a livable wage is in 2006? I would say average. I get a lot of comments that are, you know, people, because you live in different parts of America, it's much different. But I would say on average, taking the averages across the board, I would say about 30 bucks an hour.

And how far off are most people from actually earning that? Like, what do most people actually earn right now in addition to kind of thinking through, well, is this way off? How do we fix this problem? Yeah. Well, I mean, I mean, if you look at some of the, again, if you're looking at the average, if you're looking at the median, if you're looking at the average person in general. But I would say the heartbeat of America, what I call the typical worker, the essential worker, they're making anywhere from 40 to 60K. Like, if you drive around Tampa, you drive around Orlando and you look at Ace Hardware, you look at Publix, you look at Star, you look at Star, you look at Star, bus, gas stations, school buses, ambulance drivers, like, like America, like the people building the road, like, the most essential typical workers are making 40 to 60 grand.

And that was enough money 30 years ago to have the American dream. Now, unless you're 57 and you're making 60K, but you bought a house in 2002 or 2015 or, you know what I mean, where you got in and your kids are grown, you're not burdened with daycare or college or housing, 60K is okay. If you're a 27-year-old with student loan debt and you're making 60K in a place like a Tampa or even Orlando, it's going to be tough. You're going to need a second job to move ahead. But why have we created a system that makes an EMT have to go and do that essential job all day and then drive Uber on the weekends just to pay the bills, not to get a pool, not to go on vacation, just to pay the bills?

And that's the most frustrating part. And one little statistic I think is interesting for people to look into. if you look at an EMT, I did this comparison from 1996. Two EMTs in 1996 could fall in love, and their income together was greater than the median household income. So this essential job, with two of them falling in love, were more than the median, was enough to purchase an average house,

raise a family, health care was affordable, and they could do that. Like how beautiful. That's the America I'm talking about. Today, EMTs together make about, if they got married, make about 90K, which is the median household income. But adjusted for inflation, that income has gone up 0% in 30 years for EMTs. So they've had a 0% wage increase in 30 years where housing's up 50%, cars are up 60%, health care is up 200%. College is up 100, 200%, depending on when you look at it.

So those are the kind of things that I point to of like, well, he would say, oh, the system's not broken. and just work harder. It's like, I mean, this is just 30 years. We don't even have to talk about the boomers. This is 30 years. And those are 911 operators, ambulance drivers, school teachers. The people that if they all stopped working, the world would shut down. They're the ones being left behind that I'm trying to fight for because they're making 40 to 60K. And they're going to be forced to have to work a second job. And so unless you can alleviate all their tax burden or they can somehow start making, you know, 30 to 50 percent more, that that's what we're trying to solve right now.

And I think about this a lot for a lot of listeners right now. When you see essential workers like this and you see this where the essential work that we need to have happen, the folks who are working jobs that need to happen, like you said, EMTs and teachers and folks in that area who cannot afford to buy a house, that's where you know the alarm bells need to start going off. And that's where I think there's a big difference maker there. I just think about myself growing up, like my mom was a teacher for 30 plus years. my dad worked at a like a he owned a small grocery store and like we were able to afford and buy a house during that time frame and then as time has gone on the same exact jobs probably would not be

able to buy a house in today's day and age and I think this is the the biggest problem that Freddie and I are trying to talk about right here is is most people need to realize that the alarm bells need to be going off people need to understand what is happening here because if this gets progressively worse we are in a world of trouble and I think that is a big overall arching emphasis of what kind of is happening there. Now, we're looking at the middle class here. We see, you know, a lot of these middle class jobs, there's a lot of pressure coming from all different directions. Throw on top, you know, the price of gas right now and all these other things. That's even, you know, throwing more fuel on the fire. But you talk about the middle class,

and I love this. I love when you kind of break this down. You talk about the middle class being divided right now and you have kind of like three different divisions that you talk through. Can you explain why the middle class is divided? Two things. The middle class is divided based on just when you were born. So again, somebody who worked at a grocery store or owned a small grocery store in the 80s could have purchased a house, raised a family, upgraded to a second house. That house is now worth $800,000. They got a few hundred thousand in their 401k. They're worth $1.3 million, and they worked at a grocery store, which is incredible.

That's the American dream. Wouldn't you come to a country that you could work at a local grocery store and end up with $1.6 million in an $800,000 house with four beds, two bathrooms, and a pool? that's the American dream where now it seems like you have to become an extraordinary human being with extraordinary skills like you have to make like two, three hundred thousand

to now purchase the home next to the middle class boomer who worked at the grocery store so the grocery store boomer is now living next to a like a lawyer which it has nothing to do with the human value of it. It's just the skill set of going to a job

that takes two weeks of training compared to someone who has to spend 12 years of training to do that. So it just depends on when you are born, but the big three is what I define as the biggest separator is if you have, if you're a millennial or Gen Z or you're most likely dealing with high housing cost, whether it's rent or a mortgage, then you're dealing with your student loans and you're dealing with daycare. So you could have three neighbors living right next to each other. One has a house paid off. So property taxes, homeowners insurance, let's just say a six, 700 bucks, no college, no daycare. So their big three is $700 a month.

The Gen X are living next door could have bought a little later, maybe even how you talked about buying in 2014, around like $220, I think, was around the median household income. You got yours for a little cheaper, you were saying. But now your house has probably doubled, and so did many other people.

But you have a low interest rate. You bought it. Your loan is small compared to the millennial who's buying the $450 house today right next door. So you can have three people living right next door with totally different payments, $600, $1,500. and 3,200, same exact house.

And then you add in college and daycare, this millennial couple needs $75,000 just for the big three where the boomer couple in the same neighborhood, right next door, needs $20,000 to live. Exactly. So that's the middle class being divided to me, is that when we grew up as millennials, there was kind of like this socioeconomic feel

where you would go to your friend's house and when the dad was a plumber, the whole neighborhood was like a plumber, a firefighter, a nurse, a doctor, And then you had, or not a doctor, but a nurse, but then you had like the richer neighborhoods and people like now the whole middle class because the middle class no longer really exists. It's like upper middle class. Like you have to be upper middle class to be middle class. And I think that's the big area, which I love when you break these down because I think that's the big area for most people is a lot of folks right now are struggling with these high housing costs. And a lot of times they're looking at either, you know, they're paying rent right now and they have no control over that in terms of what is happening and when the rent increases and those types of things.

but addition to one big one, and this is almost the silent one that you, that I love that you emphasize is daycare. So like daycare is one of those things where it can, if you have one or two kids in daycare, it can cost you thousands of dollars every single month. I mean, it'll cost more than your mortgage or your rent will if you have multiple kids in daycare. And I think that is one where you start to add in some of these other things. In addition to, we have tons of listeners who have student loans who are going through this process of trying to figure out what to do with those student loans. The rules change every single year and they're just trying to figure out, hey, how do I get these things paid off. That's the big thing I want to do, and they're getting hit in all directions.

And it is one of the biggest struggles that we see across the board. So I love that you break those down because I think, you know, between these different areas, in addition, if somebody makes a mistake where they, you know, they buy a brand new car, for example, now they have a car payment, and then all this stuff just starts to really unravel very, very quickly. It's no wonder that a lot of folks in the millennial generation cannot build wealth. And I think that's the big key here that I think a lot of us need to kind of look at and break down. And when it comes to wages. You know, they have not kept up with the pace and the cost of living over the course, you know, of the last couple of years. When does that gap become impossible to close?

Is there a point in time where you think that does become impossible? Or is there a way that we can kind of come back from this and is it the age of AI and the infrastructure that we're building out right now? I think right now we're just, we're going through a, what would you want to call it? I'd say like a decline in living standards. I think people, like human beings are very good at adapting and sometimes that we can be taken advantage of. And that's what I kind of think we're feeling right now, where people are just like, yeah, you know, $20 an hour isn't that much anymore, but just live with two roommates.

And it's just like, okay, you know, I have some cool roommates. That's fine. And it's like, well, what about like Thanksgiving in our apartment's 900 square feet? How are we going to have people over? Like my parents used to have people over in the dog in the backyard and the kids playing. And it's like, well, just just don't, you know, just give up. Like people are starting to just lose. So right now, I think we're going through this phase where,

we're just losing quality of life. And I think the next step before there would ever be like a revolution is I think people are going to start to migrate. That would be some of the advice I'd have for certain individuals. If you can't live in a city, think about going somewhere for two, three years. Like I was even looking at places where my cousin lives in Pennsylvania. There's like a three-bedroom house that's not bad for $1,200 to rent. And I'm like, imagine getting like-minded people and say, let's just go to PA for two years.

live in this place with all three of us so that when we're roommates and making the sacrifice, living in the snow, we're getting rid of our debt, we're packing our savings account to then go back to Tampa or go back to wherever with money to get our job and to get going. But I think people are going to have to make those sacrifices in their quality of life. And I think that's where we're going to be. Is that what you were asking me about where do you see it as when people can't afford stuff? Is that where we were going with that? Exactly. And I think that's kind of where I think people just have to make sacrifices that right now, unless something changes, they have to make sacrifices that, you know, most people are not willing to make in order to kind of achieve

parts of this American dream that we are trying to all get to. I think that's the big thing that a lot of people think through. They are, but, okay, so yeah, here's where I was going with that, is that the frustrating part, however, is that you shouldn't have to do it. Right. I think that's my other argument with, you know, somebody like, I keep using Tampa because you were right here, but if you grew up generationally in Tampa and you've got your parents, your grandma, parents, your best friends, your girlfriend, your husband, your whatever, I kind of don't even like the advice that I gave, but I like to try to come up with some solutions, but people know that. What a shitty thing to think, leave everyone you've known and go to Ohio and live in a town

where you know no one so you can rent for 900 bucks. Right. Like, why is that the advice? Like, I try to push back. I'm like, but they went to college. They have a degree. they're making 62,000. They're not a bum. Why should that person have to go move away from their friends and family? So again, like, that's what makes me think, like, what the hell happened? And that's

why I'm pointing out all the holes that led to this. But yeah, I think we're going to deal with the lower quality of life for a little while. And if AI doesn't come in and mass produce things that are super cheap or something, then I think you're going to get people who are perturbed. And we don't want to get there. Like no one wants to deal with a revolution or civil unrest. But I don't think the people in charge, I think they think they can just continue to get away with it. But eventually people are going to snap when they have nothing left left to lose. Right now, people are making just enough to feed their kids and pay their bills so they can't jeopardize striking or doing anything like that. But once people are below their means where they can't survive, you're going to see people go to

the streets and it's like how sad to have to get there when all you have to do is make some policy tweaks and put people first instead of the shareholders and and just make things better because again, as I went through all these numbers, I'm not one of the people that say that billionaires shouldn't exist or that I hate capitalism. Billionaires can exist. I like capitalism. But when you run the numbers over 50 years, the top 1% kept 20% too much money. That is the only difference of why we don't have a thriving middle class today. They just kept 20% too much. And so why can't we tweak that and try to make a change moving forward rather than wealth confiscation? And again, I go back to my tax thing. That's what I think is the most realistic. But yeah, that's where we're at. I think people

are going to do fine for a while. But as soon as people can't afford anything and they're already working two jobs, then you're going to see some civil unrest. And that's just going to be unfortunate. So if someone is getting to the point in time now or that maybe they're making a little more, they found a way to kind of build up a little bit of wealth. They have some cash savings on hand. They're thinking through, hey, I want to do some stuff to combat against maybe some of this stuff that is happening. I want to make sure that I'm growing my income. I'm growing my money over time. And they're starting to think about buying a house. I know you have some background in real estate. And I think this is a topic that I know you talk about a lot. Is buying a house in

2006. Is that a good investment? Again, depends on your trajectory of life. I would say the simplest answer to if someone should buy is if you can answer these two questions. Number one, can you comfortably afford the monthly payment that you actually did the math on, not just what Zillow or a prequel shows you? Like, what does it really cost? Did you factor in security? Did you factor in pest control. Did you factor in the maintenance? Did you factor in X, Y, and Z? Okay, $3,000 a month, you can afford that comfortably, not qualify, afford. Yes. And are you willing to keep this house for seven to 10 years? I think those are the two most important questions in 2026, because with the closing cost, with the cost of living, if you move to Nashville and you're like, I'm going to buy a house and you don't even know if you like Nashville,

and you try to turn around and sell that in three years, you're probably going to lose money. So I always tell people, can you afford it and are you going to keep the house for at least seven to 10 years to give it time to appreciate? Doesn't mean you have to live in it. You can rent it out and upgrade if you make more money, but just don't buy a house and have to dump it in three years because you're going to lose your ass in 2026. So that would be my advice. When it comes to, is it a good investment? It just depends on the question. Because is it a good investment, meaning will the money you put into your house today outperform the stock market in 30 years?

Probably not. Is it a good investment because it'll be a forced savings account? You're going to build equity and just feel like you're making progress and building memories? Yes. If you look at the investment that way. But I've ran the numbers because you know how people always say, oh, you got to rent. Like some of the gurus are like rent, you're throwing money away on a house. If you really run the numbers, they're not wrong. If you are a disciplined investor and you will not waver for 30 years, the person. The person, who buys a house today versus the person who invests, the person who invests will have more. But how do you know for 30 years that you're always going to be renting lower than you should, that you're actually going to put every penny into it? Because the first thing to go, if things get tough, is your investment. If you're trying to invest like $2,000 a month or something crazy and something happens. So that's the risk. So to sum this all up in 2026, if you've got the down payment, if you're educated, if it's not going to make you house poor, and if you're still going to be able to reach your investment goals,

meaning you're not going to sacrifice your investments just to have a house. If you can do it all and you can afford it and you're going to keep it, it's still tried and true. But to go into it blind or to think it's going to make you rich by getting a primary home, that's where you have to really run the numbers. But it would be just an individual nuance question to each person. Like if I knew their trajectory, what their goals were, I could probably tell them this is probably the route to go.

but just as a general statement, I still think home ownership works, but it's just much more of a serious decision now. And you have to be really educated on all the steps. And you are speaking my language on that, because the number one thing we tell people to do is run total cost of ownership before they even consider buying a house.

And it's amazing how many people don't run the numbers on the biggest purchase of their entire life. I think it's one of those things that can absolutely put you, you could become house poor very quickly if you don't run the numbers on your housing and understand, you know, total cost of ownership in every cost associated with that house before you buy it. For those out there who are saying to themselves, I'm not even close to being able to afford a house yet. I've run total cost of

ownership before. I've looked at this in a number of different ways. Is renting a viable option long-term? Do you think that is something that someone can do, you know, throughout their entire life and be a-okay? I mean, I guess that's the question. You know, how can we predict what the rent prices will be in 30 years? I think if you were just to look at the past, 30 years and you look at it now, it can be a little scary because could the average rent be five or $6,000 when you're ready to retire? Sounds ridiculous, but I think if you asked a boomer in the 80s when they were paying $200 and you said, you know, people are going to be spending $2,000 40 years from now on rent, they'd be like, no way. So could it really be maybe $5,000 or

$6,000? That's the toss up, you know. But if you're going to rent, make it count. Like really make sure you're taking your leftover money and investing it or investing in yourself to create more income. But it's just sad that housing now has to be like a financial decision and an investment decision. Instead of just like shelter, I'm going to pay for shelter, you now have to think about how much you're going to spend, what you're going to sacrifice, what you're investing. But yeah, I don't, that's the one thing we can't really predict is what the rent prices will be. So that's why I think people gravitate toward the house because eventually it's paid off. and it'll be a lower burden for retirement.

But if you can, I don't think it's the end of the world because rents cheaper in a lot of places right now. A lot of folks say the housing issue has to do with a supply shortage. Do you think that building more housing would help solve some of this problem? Because we have a lot of boomers who are kind of sitting on houses and they're kind of sitting in this spot where they're not willing to sell their house for certain prices. So do you think if we build more housing, we could solve some of the housing problems? I think yes and no. I think the real estate market in general is turning very localized, the more research that I'm doing, I think some places, there's prices that are declining a little. I think some places are

still getting multiple offers. And I don't know, it almost just sounds like a political statement. You know, it just sounds good. Like, we need to build more housing. And I'm like, but what housing are you building? Like, we know in Tampa and Orlando, like, what are you really building? Right. It's just four walls and a roof. Like, my wife and I bought a new construction. It's crazy. Like, it's just so, it's just, they just put bricks around it and a roof on it. Like, luckily, I know how to do some of the work inside, so I spruced it up myself. But, like, they're not really building anything, like, remarkable anymore. You know, it seems more of like a profit-driven machine.

And will they do tiny homes? Will millennials and Gen Zs purchase tiny homes when they can rent something nicer for cheaper? I don't know. What's your take on that? Do you feel that the housing would, that the supply would help? Again, theory, sure. And in theory, sure, because obviously supply and demand, you know, regularly, if we look at, there's a very high demand for people who want to buy houses. And if we can find more affordable housing that gets built, obviously there's going to be more people that are able to buy a house. Like, I'll give you an example. So like I have a friend who has been waiting to buy a house and trying to increase income over time. And there have been some new developments that have been opening up in the Tampa area, for example. So he's actually been able to find some of these new developments are some of the best prices out there. And a lot of times they may not be the highest quality in some of these areas. But, uh, some of the builder's building and he could buy a five bedroom house for about $380,000.

Well, that I think is one of those areas where there are more millennials that could afford something like that in some of these different housing situations. But what is the quality of the bill? What is the quality of the house? How long can you live in that house? Those types of things are still questions that I guess need to be answers. I live in a, I built a house as well. And I think it's one where I'm so happy with that decision.

I did that in 2020 during the middle of COVID. I'm so happy with that decision. But it was the right time to do it. nowadays since 2020, it's been a big shift and a big difference for a lot of folks. And so as we start to see the expansion of potentially more housing, because a lot of millennials can't afford the price of houses that are already in existence, I think that could be something where some folks could look, especially if they are developing in new areas. There's a lot of new areas, at least where I am, you know, outside of the city that are

starting to expand and expand rapidly, where they are, you know, building these amazing communities and infrastructure. And I think that's a cool way to do it. But if people are just throwing up housing just to throw it up hoping people will come, I think that's the negative way to do it. It's almost like building up these communities that people actually want to live in so they can live like what we're talking about, the American dream. And maybe make it a little more appetizing, too, for the new generation.

I don't, you know, not so much, like more communal in some way. Like some of these cookie cutter neighborhoods, which I love, I'm very blessed to have great neighbors. It's so new and clean and awesome. But it's also just very, you know, I call it like an apartment home. Like it's an upgrade from the apartment, but it's just basically like just a house that's 10 feet from the other house. And, you know, would it attract more millennials if they took the time to put in like a communal garden or put in, you know, more not artificial turf for their dogs, but like a dog park and make the living in this particular neighborhood, even if the houses don't have that much gingerbread or it's a little cookie cutter? What if the experience in the community was set up to bring more community?

Maybe that would be more attractive if they could invest a little money to do that to get people to buy. But I think it has to be more unique. And then also the trouble that we're having is that the boomers and all of the Gen Xers too, a lot of their wealth is tied up in housing. Yes. And the last thing they want to do is allow new developments to come in. And I understand, you know, they don't want their house to drop 200K. But if you were to flood the market and get the money to flood the market with housing, you're going to be back. the homeowners who were like, I don't want my house to go down 200k.

So I think it's going to be this tug and pull where the boomers are going to eventually in 20 years, 15 years, it's going to be like a crazy two decades. But they're going to eventually get rid of these bigger houses or these older houses. And I think either the millennials will take it over and live in them or we will accept less money. But right now, I think that's the battle. Because who's going to vote to go, yeah, yeah, let's bring in 1,200 new homes and ruin the housing value. I think even Trump mentioned that in a

in a press conference like a month ago where he was like, you know, people's wealth is in their homes. I don't want to do anything to hurt their value. And I'm like, I mean, I get it. But how are you going to make housing affordable while also keeping the housing currently priced at what it is unless they're tinier homes? Or you start like you said, building further out where it's a little

inconvenient so it's cheaper at first until they start building around it. But this is the speculation. I mean, I I could talk for hours on all the speculation of housing because it's just interesting as hell in all different areas. But I don't know. I still don't know if, to back to your original question, I really don't know if supply would make that big of a difference if they would ever actually do it in a meaningful way. I guess that's the thing. Will they build some houses?

Sure. Would they flood a market? That's what we'd have to wait and see. And I agree with you. I think that's the biggest thing is these have to be built in a way that and that it is a community. Like the one that I live in, we have everything from, we have four dog parks. We have three pools. We have all these different like football fields and soccer fields for kids to play.

All the community events are like all there. We have all this really cool stuff in this community. Like parks all over the place. And so they developed it in a way where like we even have like a local place where people can go and eat and hang out. And there's bars there and all that kind of stuff. And it's really, really cool the way they did this. Yeah. And that's what I think you have to do if you're going to build these a little bit farther out.

Make it a place where people want to go. Make it a place where people want to spend time and kind of be together. we just hang out with our neighbors outside all the time. And it's very cool to kind of see that community come together. That's how you can do it the right way. And I think the problem is a lot of a lot of these builders will just start to slap homes in locations that don't have any amenities or anything extra that people are actually going to want to do. And they're going to regret that decision, you know, because they're going farther out just for a cheaper price. Yeah.

And there's no, dude, there was even my brother-in-law and sister-in-law live in a, they live in Winter Garden. I don't know if you're familiar with the Orlando area, but they live in Winter Garden. and their community built a school and a grocery store in the community and has all the stuff you just mentioned. And everyone drives golf carts around to drop their kids off. That's how we all have this thing. So it's like, oh, they made all these friends trick or treating. We go there every year. It's sick.

I'm like, this is amazing. But I go, oh, that's so appetizing to move there because you're getting more than just this. Because that was my point. If you're going to spend $400 on a house, how cool if it's in a community. So you're getting lifestyle with that high price. just to get a box in the woods for 400, it's like you've got to have community with it to make it worth the millennials who can afford it, you know?

Exactly, exactly. So I think that's the big key, and we'll kind of see what happens here. I know a lot of people are kind of, they're battling back and forth and debating. Wood housing expansion be something that would help, and it's left to be seen, which I think will be very interesting.

The other thing that a lot of people rely on, and a lot of baby boomers right now are relying on this because they've built up almost too much wealth in some of the houses, for some of them out there is Social Security. And you talk about Social Security in some of your videos and kind of the conversation to have. And they have been saying that Social Security is going to go away for decades and decades now. But what do you think about people in how they think through Social Security?

What do you think is going to happen? Do you have any ideas around that and can people rely on it? I'm more so in the camp of like, hey, focus on the things you can control. Make sure you try to invest in your retirement accounts and try to do some of these things. But what do you think about Social Security going forward? Is that something that's going to be around? I think it was a noble idea at the very beginning, just like many programs that we have in America. I think it was led with a big heart.

And I think at first people go, this is going to be great because Social Security started off with just 1% for the employee and 1% for the employer. And it's like, okay, well, we can help people retire with dignity, not a big deal. Then they added in Medicare, also important. But now we're up to 15.3% for payroll. And for anyone who might not know, because it took me years to understand all this, but, you know, payroll taxes, 50% The FICA that you see on your paycheck is half of the payroll tax. And then your employer is paying the other half. So there's 15.3% going towards Social Security and Medicare. Well, we have so many boomers. Boomers have 70 million of them alive and well. They're the damn near the biggest generation. Millennials, there's about 70 million of us too. But they're all about to retire. And Social Security is not what I thought where all the money that's being taken out of your paycheck is going into a fund. Like imagine the boomer fund that the government has at a bank account and all the boomers who paid into it are just getting their check. It doesn't work that way. It's a pay-as-you-go system. So our FICA is being taken to fund 80% of the boomers and silent generations social security checks. So without us working, they would run out of money. But we're not putting it in for our own. We have to rely on our kids and grandkids to keep working so we can get our social security. So that's kind of like the shaky part because it's turned into something else. But here's when we're going to figure out about Social Security.

Because there is a reserve that is paying out 20%. So the workers pay 80%. There's a reserve paying 20. The reserve is set to run out in 2034. So in 2034, the boomers and the silent generation will either have to take a 20% pay cut or they'll have to raise taxes or borrow that money to fund that 20%. So I think that's going to be the first contention where we're going to have a big discussion. about Social Security. But again, with AI, I think it's going to be much simpler in the future

that everything turns into some sort of basic income just to clean all this up. Like the idea that you've got so many segmentations of welfare and social security and all this stuff, it's like they could just simplify all this to a basic income and get rid of all of it and it's just one check that you can give to people if AI gets that productive. I feel like that might be more of what our generation will get is some sort of universal basic income more than a social security check. I just can't see a world where I just I can't see it after 30 or 40, but I don't think people get nervous because they think, oh, is that mean I'm paying in and not going to get anything? No, but I don't think it's going to be exactly what we've been seeing

for 50 years. There's just too many flaws. So I think something will change, but I don't think we won't get money. You know, they're not going to leave us hanging out to dry. Right. But it's going to change. But it's definitely going to be a shift. And I think most people just need to make sure that as long as you're focusing on what you can control, which is your own retirement, that's going to be the big key. And then Social Security can be that benefit on top that can help bridge the gap between what else is left, I think is the big important thing. Because even thinking through this, as you were talking, I was thinking through, well, even the millennial generation, they're having less children than the baby boomer generation did. That means less workers are coming into the workforce to help pay for Social Security. It becomes this cycle that becomes one of those things that probably is going to be more and more a problem. It's not sustainable. Yeah. I think, if I remember correctly, I want to say there were 12, I think it was like in the 50s maybe, there were 12 workers for every one beneficiary.

Now I think there's two workers for every one beneficiary. So you know what I mean? So it's like what, so unless AI or massive immigration is going to create that, you know, that workforce. But again, why Social Security is under attack, like all of these things just make sense. you already have so many millennials who don't have enough money at the end of the month to take responsibility for their own retirement. And yet they're seeing 7.65% being taken for the future that they don't even know what it's going to look like. And it's like if we could just have that extra 7.65% now to invest ourselves or pay our bills.

But then people are saying, well, what happens if everyone's broke in 30 years with no retirement? And it's like, people are struggling now, guys. like you got to we got to make decisions to help people now and we'll get we'll we'll we'll figure it out in the future but but yeah if you have the funds i would 100% invest more because social security i don't think's going to cover much especially if you don't own a home can you imagine and i think that's the that's the big key is both people need to focus on on their own retirement i'm going to ask you one other question before we get into the rapid fire here so what are some of the top things that maybe millennials that are listening right now or Gen Z listeners can do right now to get ahead in an economy,

despite the system kind of working against them right now. Are there anything that you have found across the board maybe from some of your followers or listeners that have kind of been helpful for them? At this stage, just to be super blunt, and this sounds like boomer advice, because it doesn't solve the problem for all Americans. But if there's somebody who's ambitious, who's like, I can't be in the rat race, I got to figure this out. The best thing you can do right now is focus on a skill set that can make you more money. I don't think you can save your way to success anymore. Have an emergency fund, invest, but your income, growing your income is going to be, air quotes, easier than trying to downgrade your lifestyle and cut out coffee and go live in a tent somewhere and save that extra 800.

It's like, go make the extra 800 is going to be simpler than trying to continue to cut because life is just so expensive. But that will work for many, but again, it's not practical for all Americans. And I think that's the number one lever that you can pull is that income lever. It's the number one thing to focus your time and energy on. And it's the one area that can really just make that dramatic impact. Every single time that you try to cut back, you can only cut back so much, but you can increase your income exponentially. And I think that's really, really important for most people to note.

Awesome. So I'm going to jump into just a couple of other rapid-fire questions that we ask a lot of our guests. So the first one is what part of your work or life makes you come alive? I would say interacting with others, collaborating, is even doing this, like, is so fun to me, just chatting it up. Yeah, I would say collaborations, working with a group of people and community and being around others and building something together. What is your biggest fear around money? Not having enough of it to pursue an idea or opportunity that I know, would be good for my soul in my life and having to pass on that opportunity because I didn't

have the funds available that happened a few times in my life. I love that one. That's a great one. I think it's one where a lot of, we've seen this where a lot of folks who can't take, I remember this when I was younger too, people who can't take advantage of opportunities. A lot of times they don't have cash on hand to be able to do it. And I think that's a, that's a big one. How do you plan to level up your finances this year? The advice I gave a little earlier, 100% focused on continuing to build skill set, continuing to collaborate, continuing to earn more income

to open up more doors for me to expand and chase those opportunities and ideas. So I would say I'm at the level in my life or my stage right now where elevating my income is my most important step. What is the best money advice you've ever received? For the subset of people who are business owners, salespeople, and creatives,

I think investing in yourself first, I think for everybody. But investing in yourself is got to be the greatest money advice. Because, again, it goes back to being able to build income or being able to have that network. The opportunity is endless when it comes to investing and becoming the best version of yourself. So I would say that's the greatest starting point for everyone, is put it all back into yourself to you can create something. The last one is my favorite one, and it is, what does wealth, mean to you. Kind of a theme here. I kind of like this. I've figured a lot about myself just in these questions. Wealth to me is having the freedom and the financial capability to explore

opportunities and ideas that set my soul on fire. I love that. That's a fantastic answer. Well, Freddie, thank you so much for coming on the show. Can you tell people more about your book when it comes out and more about you, you know, you, your social channels, everything else that you have going on? Yeah. Well, first of all, thank you for having me on. Huge fan of your work. I love fellow creators that are all in the same space. I think we're all doing something very unique and us collaborating, I think is awesome. And yeah, for the past three years,

I've just been kind of figuring out all this stuff and trying to hold politicians accountable. And I've been making videos on TikTok and YouTube and Instagram and Facebook and just building a really great community trying to give a voice to everybody who's struggling right now. And it ended up landing me a book deal a couple years ago. I actually got a copy here.

It's called Generation Fucked. how millennials and Gen Zs were robbed of the American dream and how we can fix our futures. Basically, a preview was the conversation that we just had today. A lot of that about Social Security and the Federal Reserve and the wealth divide and the national debt and the boomer generation, the Gen X and millennials and the livable wage. And so everything is broken down in the book of how we basically got led to this point in our American history here of why is the middle class struggling and what we can do about it. And even my tax plan I threw in there because it's what I'm

excited about right now. So just some ideas, just to get people's minds to think and what they can do to move forward in this crazy world that we're in. And that's where I'm at right now. So I'm just continuing to grow my podcast, my socials, my book. It's kind of all going together and just continuing to meet awesome people like Andrew here, where we can collab and shoot the shit and help people out. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Freddie. We will link all those up down below in the show notes as well. We'll link the book and everything else so the people can pre-order it. And really excited. thank you so much for writing it and kind of spreading this message. I think it's a really, really powerful thing. So thank you again for being here, Freddie. We truly appreciate it.

All right. Thank you.