Ann Marie:
So thank you for having me on. I really appreciate it. We’ll have fun.
Bert Martinez:
Yes, absolutely. It’s. I always tell people it is about us having fun. If we have a good time, they’ll have a good time. The audience will have a good time. And even if they don’t, at least we did so.
Anne Marie:
Exactly. We know how to do that. Listen, it is. That’s what life’s about.
Bert Martinez:
Yeah.
Anne Marie:
Bring in the energy. Good. So how long you had your show?
Bert Martinez:
Oh, my goodness, many years. Because originally we were on CNN radio and then we were on CBS radio for a few years. Then we had a, an issue with cbs. And, and so I want to say we’ve been on the air non stop for 12 years.
Anne Marie:
Very nice. And you see, do you see it’s really changed. Have you adapted according to what’s going on or according to listeners, how they’re listening? What have you done?
Bert Martinez:
Yeah. You know, right now I think there’s kind of a myth, a myth conception that, that we have the short attention span and that this new generation won’t listen to anything longer than a couple of minutes. And that’s not true because I, I have our, our youngest kids. They’re a set of twins. They’re of that young generation. Right. They’re 22 years old.
Ann Marie:
Yes.
Bert Martinez:
And, and if it’s boring, just like all of us, we’ll turn it off. If it’s not boring, they’ll listen to a two or three or four hour show. It’s just.
Ann Marie:
Yeah.
Bert Martinez:
It just all depends what you’re into. So I think the same thing with attention deficit disorder. Everybody and their dog seems to have it all all of a sudden. And I can tell you that when somebody finds the material engaging, Attention deficit disorder doesn’t seem to exist. Now, could you be tired, you know, after listening to something that you’re really interested in for an hour? Yeah. You know, there’s the old saying that the, the ears can only sustain what the butt and something like that, you know.
Ann Marie:
I hear you.
Bert Martinez:
Yeah. You know, if you get tired, you get tired and you got to stop and take a break and. But I, I, I think that a lot of it is blown out of proportion and then some of it’s real. I mean, I, I interviewing this, this younger generation is slightly different. Going through the whole job hire or the whole. Yeah. Pro job hiring process. There, there seems to be, at least in my experience, from what I’ve observed, Marie, is that, I’m sorry, is it Ann Marie?
Ann Marie:
That’s fine. Either way. Ann Marie is the one. Yes.
Bert Martinez:
Okay. Anne Marie. So, so what I have found through just observing is that a lot of people of our generation, we worked hard to, we, to get where we’re at and we really have a certain level of respect for the money. And, and I’ve noticed a lot of, a lot of, I guess we’re boomers or, or right there. And so there’s a lot of people of our generation that don’t want their children’s to suffer. Like, like supposedly we did. And, and so they’re cheating their kids out of hard work.
Ann Marie:
That you’re absolutely right. They’re cheating them a lot. They gave them the rod. They never taught them how to fish. You’re right. And that is like the worst. They’re absolutely, there’s not even a question. Let me just shut this thing because I can’t.
Ann Marie:
You’re right. There we go.
Bert Martinez:
Yeah.
Ann Marie:
Okay. Thank you. You’re absolutely right. So, yes. So then your listener ranges from 20 to 80.
Bert Martinez:
Yeah, I mean our, I think our, our medium listener age is somewhere in the 38 age group. We have a decent split between men and women. We do cater to business owners, managers, things of that people. And so a lot of our listeners will have children that maybe they can pass down some information to. But I think there’s also, again, from my experience, you know, I don’t Know, I think that when I was in my, let’s say, late, late 20s, you know, I remember reading a few books and going to a few seminars and people saying, start saving now. Start investing now. Invest now, Invest early. Do you know, as much as you can, whatever.
Bert Martinez:
Even if it’s just a few dollars, you need to start investing now. And so, first of all, one of my mistakes because I didn’t understand money is, well, what’s a few bucks going to do?
Ann Marie:
Exactly. I clear. I echo what you’re saying. I absolutely. How is that going to change? Or right later, I can do it when I’m in my 40s.
Bert Martinez:
Yes. Well, my thinking was once I start making some money money, I’ll start investing then. Because at this point, I’m, you know, I’ve just gotten done with some college and, and I’m just trying to get my feet wet and my career launched and this and that. And so when you tell people save for retirement, I think that’s the wrong message. At least it doesn’t work for, for people like myself at that time who don’t understand money. And so I think that a message that might, I say, might have worked better for me would be, hey, start saving now. So you can, absolutely. So you can have the lifestyle that you want or what kind of lifestyle do you want? Well, that’s the time to, you know, so again, a perfect example are my kids.
Bert Martinez:
So we have five kids. Wow, thank you. And really, God bless my wife and.
Ann Marie:
So God bless hers. Right.
Bert Martinez:
And so, you know, Congress got upset.
Ann Marie:
With.
Bert Martinez:
Who’S, he’s a billionaire. And so they found out that in his Roth ira, he’s got like two or three billion dollars.
Ann Marie:
Yep.
Bert Martinez:
And that upset them. I mean, Congress, who is, who, who does insider trading on a daily basis, I know, you know, who are fairly wealthy individuals themselves. The, the, the, the, the two people that, that made the most noise are again, people who have significant wealth. And, and so Elizabeth Warren, she said, oh, it’s just another rich person trying to take advantage of the system. Well, first of all, you guys set up the system and we’re, and everybody should be taking advantage of it, but they don’t understand it. And this guy did. So he bought a bunch of PayPal stock. He, he was one of the founders of PayPal.
Bert Martinez:
He bought a bunch of PayPal stock through his four, his Roth, right. It’s worth two or $3 billion. And so Congress is saying, well, we may have to fix that, because we don’t want to. We don’t want people taking Advantage of it. I’m thinking how ludicrous that a bunch of government people would stop their citizens from saving and investing money. To me, it’s ludicrous that if you and I want to put 10 or 15 or $20,000 a year in our Roth IRA, we can’t. We are prohibited. Depending on how old you are, it’s either 65 or 75 or whatever it is.
Bert Martinez:
But how crazy is that that they’re going to tell you, no, wait, you can’t save that much money? And so anyway, so back to this Congress, there was this possibility that Congress is going to change the Roth IRA rules. So for Christmas, my wife and I got all our, we offered our kids to, to start their initial Roth ira.
Ann Marie:
Very nice.
Bert Martinez:
Out of five kids, one of them took us up on it.
Ann Marie:
Oh, my gosh. And guess what will happen. Guess what will happen if you, if you mention it every year, I bet you every few years one more will continue. Who has saved what, right? More to one, wouldn’t you say that is going to be the best lesson?
Bert Martinez:
Yes, it is.
Ann Marie:
And, and really amazing.
Bert Martinez:
You’re right, it is. And so I, I, I just think that with all the things that are taught in school, both I would say, and let’s just say junior high and high school, I think there’s a lot of fluff that’s being taught. And one of the things that I appreciate about, I have a friend that does homeschooling. She’s got four kids, she does homeschooling. Her and, her and her husband do it. And, and one of the things that I appreciate about the homeschooling program is that if your child has an acuity or an interest in science, they can get more science stuff. If, if that child has, you know, is really into math, they can get more math stuff. Or maybe they’re more musically inclined or maybe they’re more into writing.
Bert Martinez:
And so they can customize their schooling to help encourage that child in an area that they’re already kind of interested in or gifted in, where in our current public school system, it’s one size fits all. And if you don’t fit in it, then you’re kind of messed up. You’re kind of outside the box. You might, it might be a special needs or might be this or it might be that or attention deficit or some other disability. And then we have, and, and my point to all this is that a lot of the stuff that they teach doesn’t make sense. For example, if you and I want to have a music degree in high school we’re still required to take high level math, which I, I consider high level math, algebra, geometry, things of that nature, which we’re most likely not going to use. And so I think that definitely in high school we need to start teaching money principles. We need to really just beating them on the head.
Bert Martinez:
This is how it works. So if you, if you’re able to save just, you know, 100 bucks a month, that means that instead of retiring at the age of 65 or 70 and being broke like our average Americans are, you might be able to retire at the age of 35 or 40 with a couple of million dollars.
Ann Marie:
Absolutely. And you’re absolutely right. Well, the Great news is 23 states in the US have mandated, and you may know this, they have mandated that high school graduates have to take a computer, excuse me, a financial literacy class before graduating. That’s great. And truly, I’m not kidding you, I could care less if they use my book or not. But when I wrote this book, which is for the everyday person because I was a wannabe 10 years ago, right, what happens is they will at least get a grasp, I can guarantee you. I don’t care if they are going to work at Panera after college, if they’re going to go on to college, if they choose to graduate from college. I can tell you, you know, being somebody who didn’t know a thing and had my money literally under the mattress and in certificates of deposit, I knew nothing.
Ann Marie:
And the funny thing is is it really is a language of investing. We truly could have learned this in the eighth grade and understood it. I’m not kidding you. It’s so easy. When I say easy, I’m not saying you take money and do it, but it’s so easy to understand. And this is something. If we only have a listener learn this, it’s worth being on your show. Did you know that one of the six reasons that people don’t invest in the market is because they have student debt and they believe they should pay that off first? And they’re right, you know that.
Ann Marie:
However did you know that within the last 12 to 24 months there was something passed, a law passed in legislation called, and it’s in the book. First chapter, secure secu. Secure 2.0 act. You can look it up online. I was stunned and I was thrilled to have found it before this book was published. The Secure 2.0 act allows companies to match or to contribute to an employee’s retirement fund based on the amount that they on which they pay their student Loans, can you imagine? Yes. Now the deal is, does a company do it? And I will mention, I’ll ask individuals, does your company do it? They said, we don’t know. Well, how are you going to find out? And if they don’t, you need to get a petition with individuals who have student debt to be able to say, we work here.
Ann Marie:
This is something very important for us. We would like to continue to work here. However, we know our comp, your competition does have it and this is a very important thing to consider. So think about it. Paying debt, I don’t care what the amount is. And they can figure it out based on what their companies are willing to match. How magnificent. So when I tell you there is no reason to not invest in the market and here’s many people say I can’t afford it.
Ann Marie:
Well, let me tell you, that’s the second reason I use. I didn’t have student debt. I used every single reason possible. I can’t afford it. Well, what I finally realized is this. It’s not how much you make, it’s what you do with it. I uber more than anything in the way of transportation. Living in New York City.
Ann Marie:
I’ll say, people say I don’t, I don’t have enough. I said, let me ask you a question. You pack a lunch or buy a lunch? I buy a lunch. Oh, so how much you spend minimum of 15. How many days do you drive? Five. Oh, six. Did you say six? That’s 90 bucks. 90 bucks, right.
Ann Marie:
You pack a lunch at home, buy, buy a loaf of bread, buy turkey, buy whatever you’re buying. I convinced so many of them you have to do this. That’s 90 bucks times four. 360. 360. You go out to dinner. You know what, don’t go out five nights a week. When you do, don’t get an appetizer, get a main course.
Ann Marie:
But this is enough. And so you know, when I tell them this, they get it. And then like one young man, if I may share just of last week, I said, so what’s your five year goal? He said, my five year goal is to have enough money to put down for a mortgage. I said, correct. Well, do you doing it? And actually yes, he is doing it. However, when I broke down and they asked him about, he packed a lunch, he, he bought a lunch. He really only had to save. I was working to earn $56 more a day.
Ann Marie:
Just earn $56 more a day, you’ll have $90,000. I think it was within four years to put down for that $300,000 house, that’s a 30%. My whole point is, you know what? When you put it in everyday terms, this is important. However, the. The time to begin. And did I believe it? No. Do I know now? Yes. The time to do it is immediately.
Ann Marie:
Do you know, Bert, if I may, and I’ll stop talking. My grandchildren are 11 and 16. When they were 7 and 11, I was so into this because this book took me, wannabe investor, took me three years to write. I said to them, you’re going to be smarter than me. You certainly I didn’t know this when I was 7 or 11. No more toys for me and no more clothes. You’re going to get a share of stock. Or if it’s an expensive stock, I will give you a fraction.
Ann Marie:
That means part share. And you will be very wealthy women someday. Well, guess what? They now have 19 stocks. They have a charm bracelet and each. They’re each charm. 19 charms. They have an apple. They have a share of Apple.
Ann Marie:
They have a little Starbucks cup. I said, you buy the, you buy the stock, not the coffee. They have a local grocery store. I said, so how’s your Kroger stock doing? They said, we don’t know. I said, don’t you look at the parking lot? It’s full. That means. I’ll give you one last thing. I said, you have to do things that help people understand.
Ann Marie:
The very first stock I gave them was a Disney stock because I figured Disney, even though they. Two weeks after I gave them the stock, the older one said to me, at 11, she said, my Disney stock’s growing. I said, well, congratulations. How do you know? She said, because we went trick or treating and there were so many kids with Disney costumes.
Bert Martinez:
Oh, how smart.
Ann Marie:
The point is, you do it now. And you know what? Like, why would you have all those toys when kids much rather play with pots and pans or whatever they’re playing with when they’re babies, do it. So any didn’t mean to take over there. However, I want your listeners to be financially literate, savvy.
Bert Martinez:
Yes. And, and my journey, just real quick. So when I really started getting into it, I got a couple of, of memberships at Motley fool. And there were, I think three or four. Yeah, three or $400 a piece. And, and they, and, and they kind of helped me. And then, then I started studying Warren Buffett. And Warren Buffett, I think is a genius because he really simplifies investing.
Bert Martinez:
He says, look, this is the way I do it. He talks about. He’ll spend hours, weeks, studying.
Ann Marie:
Yes.
Bert Martinez:
Not the stock, the company, the people involved. And he says, if you’re not willing to do that, buy the s and P500.
Ann Marie:
Exactly.
Bert Martinez:
And, and just make it easy. Nobody, he says, there’s not too many people out there that beat the s and P500. And so I got rid of my memberships and I just follow Warren Buffett. And so whatever he buys, I’m buying, obviously on a much, much smaller scale. And to your point, when you mentioned fractions, this is something a lot of people don’t know. You know, if a stock is, if a stock that you like is trading at, let’s say, whatever it is, 4 or 500, $1,000, $2,000, you can buy a fraction of that.
Ann Marie:
Exactly.
Bert Martinez:
And, and is a great way to get into that stock and get to know the company. You still get all the investment literature. You could, you could participate in the, in the investment calls. You can participate in the, in the annual meetings if you want. And it’s really a great way of, again, playing a little bit bigger than, than without breaking the bank.
Ann Marie:
So you’re absolutely right. Now, I want to piggyback off of what you said. Number one, I want every listener to put on their bucket list to attend a Berkshire Hathaway meeting, which is, of course, but Warren Buffett’s. That was my dream this past May. It’s always the first weekend of May. This. Did you, have you ever been there?
Bert Martinez:
I have not been there. I, I, I was thinking about going last year and somebody was going to make some arrangements that didn’t happen, but it’s on my list as well.
Ann Marie:
Well, let me tell you, here’s what you do. I’m going next year. I’ve already made my plane reservations for next May. All right? And I go, coach, I’m going to take that extra money instead of going first, I’ll invest. I own all of 3 shares of Berkshire. And let me tell you what you do is you get a pass. In fact, you get four passes. So if you don’t do it, let me know.
Ann Marie:
I’m meet you in there and give you one of the passes. Your wife goes, be happy to give her that third pass, just tell me so I can save them. And what happens is it’s the most magnificent thing possible. So what happens is some people think that there’s Berkshire A and Berkshire B. You’re going to want the B because the B is right now, I don’t know what it is, let’s say three, $400. And so the key is one of the things that’s important for your listeners, and this is why I really want them to read this book, the Wannabe investor, and listen, 10 bucks is not gonna change my life, but I guarantee it will change theirs. That’s on an ebook. What happens is this many, not all, but some brokerage firms do not allow a partial share to be bought.
Ann Marie:
Now, I know Fidelity does. I’m sure. Other ones do. You simply have to make sure. And today we’re not gonna go into AI because that is my favorite topic besides financial literacy. You can go on chat gbt and you simply say, does Fidelity Investments allow shareholders to buy fractionated shares? And they say, no. Well, which brokerage firms allow that fractionated shareholder to buy fractionate share? And you do that. So the key is this.
Ann Marie:
But nobody, nobody is allowed to buy a share of stock until 1. They fund their organization’s retirement plan. They max it out every year. So if they are allowed to put, let’s say, oh, let’s say 5% of their pay and they make $50,000, all right, that means they’re allowed to put $2,500 in a year. And let’s say they get paid twice a month. So that’s a little more than $100. That would be $100 a month. Okay.
Ann Marie:
Or $25 a week. And divide that into seven. That’s nothing. Three dollars. A little more than $3 a day. Right?
Bert Martinez:
Right.
Ann Marie:
So the point I’m making is they have to max out their pension plan. You’re not allowed to buy a stock until you max it out every year. And if you say, oh, three bucks a pack of lunch, or I will do shopping therapy at TJ Maxx and not buy anything unless I have a gift card, that’s the case. The other thing people must do before they even think of buying a single share of stock is to have a minimum of three months of an emergency fund. So that means the re. Look, I mean, you know what happens. Look, we live in an apartment in the city. We just bought a washer and dryer.
Ann Marie:
Did we think we were going to. No, you have to have a minimum of three months of an emergency fund. We don’t have a car because we’re in New York. However, you know, you’re going to need new tires. You know, the battery is going to go, you know, all the things. Minimum of three months. Then what you do, you read the book, so you’re prepared. And then you ask yourself, and I’m going to go back to Warren Buffett you must buy stocks, you understand? And on page 75 to 80 of the Wannabe Investor, it also says you must, meaning I do this.
Ann Marie:
Okay. You buy stocks with a moat. M O a T. Do you know what a moat is, Bert?
Bert Martinez:
Yes.
Ann Marie:
Okay, good. Would you explain it and I’ll add to it?
Bert Martinez:
Okay. You know, a moat is basically, I don’t know, it’s a safety feature that goes around the castle or in the business world, a moat would be a competitive advantage, something that is hard for your competitors to break down.
Ann Marie:
You’re so right. And you know what? Most people didn’t know this until the mid-90s when Warren Buffett spoke to a group of finance students at Columbia University. And Professor Greenwald had invited Warren Buffett and, and he said, he asked Mr. Buffett, he said, Mr. Buffett, how do you decide what stocks to buy? And Warren Buffett said, I only buy stocks with a moat. And when he asked what it was, he said, let me give you an example. Apple has a moat. Why? Because it has name recognition.
Ann Marie:
One, because it has a network. That means we have an Apple phone and we can communicate with our iPad, which also is part of the cloud. That’s two, it has intellectual property. God only knows Apple does. It is, it was. It’s very challenging to make the shift. So it’s very difficult. Example, we want to buy Samsung.
Ann Marie:
Do you know what it takes to change everything? Are you kidding me? That’s another reason. So there are several reasons and that’s what a moat is. Now I’m going to tell your, your listeners this. You know, people say, what should I buy? And I say, I’m not you, I’m me. So in chapter of the book helps you to identify are you low risk tolerant, medium risk tolerant or high risk tolerant? And if you’re low risk tolerant, then you may have a very small percentage of your investments in stocks. If you’re medium risk tolerant, then you have more than somebody who’s low risk, however, less than somebody who’s high risk. And I’m going to tell something, you might know this, I read CNBC, I read about this. Individuals younger than 44 typically prefer to other than the, the maxing out their pension, they prefer to invest in real estate.
Ann Marie:
Individuals over 44 prefer to invest in equities and stocks, which is fascinating.
Bert Martinez:
Yes.
Ann Marie:
So the key, the secret is, is there something right or wrong? No, just should you do both? Yes. And I know there’s a listener out there who is a business owner and says, well, my, I don’t have A company because I work for myself and I say, you darn well bet you better get started on your Roth ira. And a Roth IRA lets you contribute. It’s so. It’s so important. You know, this is like Greek. And when I tell you, it’s incredible when I say to you, and I say this from my heart because at this point, when I’m talking to your listeners and telling them about this book, the wannabe investor, I have to tell you, I have. Yes, it’s on Amazon.
Ann Marie:
I have no webinar to sell them. I have nothing to sell them except to help them create their own success. And you know, I’ve had more people, when I’ve been on podcasts, email me or text me because I say, as long as you don’t say something silly, I’m more than happy to answer your questions. I care. I genuinely care. That’s what it’s about. And they can. Could I give my email address so they can email me anytime they want?
Bert Martinez:
Certainly.
Ann Marie:
Thank you. Ann Marie. A N N M A R I E at and then my name, Ann Marie Sabbath with one B S A B A T H dot com. So it’s Anne Marie Sabbath dot com and this is what they can email me any question. Now, it’s important they should read the book. Okay. However, let’s say they feel good. This is a nice thing about this book in a simple way.
Ann Marie:
Do you know people can actually read the Bernie Siegel’s books? Who’s the professor at Wharton? He’s this. He’s in the sixth edition of his book Stocks in the Long Run. I didn’t understand that until after I figured out what these 50 cent words were. This is what happens. You can do this. And this is the case. Do you know, I have to say, if there is a listener out there, I’m gonna smack you if I ever hear you say this. I don’t have to learn about this because my husband does it.
Ann Marie:
Are you really kidding me? Are you really kidding me?
Bert Martinez:
Right? And sometimes it’s the reverse, right? I don’t have to do it sometimes. My wife is doing all that. you know, know what? There’s a. I can’t remember in which book, but I remember there was a tragic tale of a scenario where there was a husband and wife and they got divorced. The husband failed to update his beneficiary.
Ann Marie:
Oh my gosh.
Bert Martinez:
He passes away. His beneficiary was his ex wife. So his new wife didn’t get any money. So not only are you wrong, because the person that holds all the knowledge could drastically disappear out of your life. But a real quick pointer is make sure you have your beneficiaries up to.
Ann Marie:
Date in a heartbeat. Yes. And it’s, I mean it’s so important to always do that, to continue to update them at the same time. It’s important even if people. There’s a whole chapter in here about working with financial advisors. Good. If you want to work the financial advisor, you should do that. There are a lot of different types of financial advisors.
Ann Marie:
You need to at least learn, understand what they’re saying so you do not nod and say, okay, okay, okay. You should be able to ask questions, intelligent questions. So many people are intimidated. Do you know that so many people do not even open their monthly statements because they don’t know how to read it. And guess what? An entire chapter about how to read your brokerage statement. Because these are things I didn’t know, so I figured I didn’t know it. There’s another person or two in the world who don’t. So this is very important.
Bert Martinez:
I want to, I want to. Oh, first of all, for everybody listening, I’m going to put all these links and Marie’s email address in the show notes and things like that. Now you wrote another book that, let’s see, hold on, where, where did it go? It’s the what self made millionaires do that most people don’t do. It’s 52 ways to create your own success. Thank you.
So, all right, so let’s talk about this book a little bit as well, because I, I like the fact that there’s 50, 52 ways to create your own success. And, and one of the things that I do love about this book I started reading is, is that you go through the, the, and I think we could just do a whole thing on the misconception of what people think millionaires do with their money.
And you know, one of the things that, that tickles me is the, I’ve had the pleasure of hanging around people that are way, way more successful than I am, that, you know, some of them, some of them, a couple of them have their own private planes and, and most of them have a considerable amount of wealth.
Bert Martinez:
And as I observe these people, even with the people with the big toys, they’re still pretty frugal with their money. But they might, they might, they might stop at a coffee shop, but unless you bring it to their table, they’re not, they’re not tipping the tip jar.
Ann Marie:
Well, the key, this, here’s the deal. You know, I Interviewed. Let me tell you how I ended, why I ended up writing this book. I wrote what self made millionaires do that most people don’t. Because I have a friend and she was always late. And I don’t do late. I don’t do windows and I don’t do late. And she always complained about money.
Ann Marie:
And I thought, how could this be? And I would say to, I couldn’t say to her, you need to be early. I would always show up early, always be kept waiting intentionally because people who are kept waiting make others feel vulnerable. When you need a favor, they’re more likely to say yes. So I said I need to figure out what it is that she does that. And in fact I dedicated to her that self made millionaires do better. Well, number one, self made millionaires. And here’s the deal. If you can manage your time, you can manage your money.
Bert Martinez:
Yes.
Ann Marie:
Now I’m going to tell you I was late for 35 years. I was born two weeks late. I was late for my wedding, not really. You know, I got out of the house like five minutes late. Remember my parents yelling at me, come on, come on. Anyway, you’re get to the church on time. And what I realized, I was 35 before I said I can never be late again because I started a business which lasted for 33 years. I realized something that I want your listeners to hear.
Ann Marie:
You ready? You never will be late. When you write down the time you have to leave, not the time you have to be somewhere, that’s what you do. So it’s a great tip, I promise. So I knew we were going to begin talking today, so I made sure that I said to myself, I will be accessible 15 minutes ahead. So that was the time that I wrote. Now another thing is this. If I want you to talk the most important ones, when I say the most important, the ones that I want your listeners to do asap, I want them to do whatever they do, find their passion so that their work feels like play because you’re going to get burned out if you don’t. Now example, I love telling people what to do.
Ann Marie:
That’s what I’ve done my whole life. And once I start close my business, I continue to write more books because I love telling people what to do based on what I don’t know, based on what I didn’t know that I learned. Now another thing that is essential and I know so many of your listeners will nod when they hear this podcast, you must manifest, you must do this, document your goals and tell no one. Most People talk it and they don’t walk it. And so if there’s somebody listening, what I want them to do is they may say, okay, I’m going to give myself 30 days. What is my five year goal? Don’t tell anybody when they figure out what it is. And remember, if you don’t know, it’s not the answer, it’s the question. There are many times when I need to move forward, I’ve accomplished my goals.
Ann Marie:
Like, now what? It’s like, not the answer, it’s the question. Once you know, you document your goal, you put it under your mattress, you put it, the little note, in your wallet. If you have a car, put it in the glove compartment of your car by your registration and put it in the notes section of your phone. And then act as if I have manifested cars. I’ve manifested. My poor husband. He didn’t have a chance. He didn’t have a chance because I knew exactly what I wanted.
Ann Marie:
I tell you something, I guarantee you manifestation works like no other. I wrote something down about, oh, 2014, and I went into a wallet I don’t use anymore in my dresser. I mean, I tell you, it was like, omg, I opened, I had that note. I opened it because I, I mean, I know what I want subconsciously. And it was like, OMG, I am one month away from accomplishing it now. Remember, that was 10 years ago, 2014, and I did it. And let me tell you, you never stop. You always do things for the good of all.
Ann Marie:
And until you get what you want, another One of the 52 secrets is you always, always pay things forward. I was at Whole Foods. Somebody was picking up, getting something to eat and I was getting. God only knows what I was getting. Whatever, let’s say I don’t know what it was I was getting. I was getting flowers because we were having company and she needed to get spoon, a spoon napkin. So I went over, got a spoon, a napkin. I said, here we go.
Ann Marie:
She looked at me like, what’s wrong with you? I said, I said, I love helping people. And my point is that’s paying it forward.
Bert Martinez:
Yes.
Ann Marie:
And you know what? I’m not doing it to be a Pollyanna. You do it if you know, I help people across the street if they’re slow, let’s say. Or remember, you know, it doesn’t matter. Help do it because this is the right thing in life. And let me guarantee you, and I’m sure you do this, Burton, when you need something, I promise it will be there waiting for you. But you have to pay it forward together. You have to put in the universe more you owe me than IOUs.
Bert Martinez:
Yes. And I believe that’s one of the things that we were put on earth to do. You know, there are many religions out there and they all have the, the common goal of servicing other people. And there’s nothing better than giving somebody service that doesn’t know you. They’re not going to be able to repay you. There’s a, there’s a spark that happens. You feel good, they feel good. It’s a win, win.
Bert Martinez:
It’s an awesome, it’s an awesome thing.
Ann Marie:
It’s an awesome thing. Exactly. And you know, I want your listeners to know it’s always pay it forward. You know what if you have to think something positive, it you think something, oh, that person looks good in red, then you say, yes, you really look good in red. Let me give you two more things. One of the self, self made millionaire secrets is they have passive income. And so after I wrote this book and I take two years to market the book, I make sure a minimum of 10,000 copies sell before I get the next one. I might write it before I even think of having it published, assuming my publisher will do it, is you must have passive income.
Ann Marie:
And so passive income includes investments, things that will grow. Now I want to tell you something. I live in New York. I told you I go shopping every single day in my closet. You got it? Every day I go shopping in my closet. And so I’m not going to wear something that’s cashmere now. So I put all of those winter things away basically just on a higher shelf because we don’t have a lot of space. And I’m like, oh, I can’t wait to wear, wear that new wardrobe.
Bert Martinez:
Right?
Ann Marie:
My point is you don’t need new things. I have shoes that I’ve had for so long that the shoemaker, I’ve had them rebuilt four times. The shoemaker says you need a new pair. And we’re not fixing these again. They’re finished. And I listen. My point is buy less, pay more, let them last. Buy things you can wear year round.
Ann Marie:
And so this is what self made millionaires do. And listen, because your listeners are listening to this podcast. I know they have several of them down to a science. Because a self made millionaire learns something new every day. They’re listening to you today. They’re listening to what it takes to be successful. They’re listening to the wannabe, what the wannabe investors about. And so you know what some people try to Dig into your pockets.
Ann Marie:
Run as fast as you can. Some people give you an investment tip. Run as fast as you can, because that’s not you. But you must learn something new every single day. And again, pay. We talked about paying it forward. Be a minimalist. If there’s something you haven’t worn for two years, put it on ebay.
Ann Marie:
Give it away. Give it to Salvation Army. My clothes are so loved I that they won’t even take my clothes at Salvation Army. They say too loved because I wear them. I love my clothes.
Bert Martinez:
Well, you know, one of the things I started doing this year, matter of fact, is, and I got this from somebody else, but you go through your closet and, and you hang everything in the kind of the opposite direction. And when you use it, you hang it in the, in the different direction. And at the end of the year, you can look and say, look, look at all the clothes I didn’t wear. And, and then you have to. You make that decision. Do I give it away? Sell it, whatever. That to me, was a glorious idea. You know, one of the great things about living in New York, I used to live there in Manhattan, many, many, many years ago, is that because space is so.
Bert Martinez:
What do you call it? Valued. Right. As space is so limited that it forces you to be more minimalist. Right, Exactly. And that’s a good thing. It really is, because we don’t really need as much as we think we did. And this is a situation that I think happens to a lot of people when you, when you’re living that college life and you’re so used to stretching every dollar and you’re so used to just being frugal and broke, that when you start making the new career money, you want to. You want to like, oh, I deserve it, so I’m going to buy myself this and that.
Bert Martinez:
And you get into debt and you have a new car or maybe some credit card bills and you take the big vacation.
Ann Marie:
Yes.
Bert Martinez:
And that’s great. I’m not saying you don’t deserve that, but there may be some better things to do. And I’m not saying don’t do some of this stuff, but maybe don’t do as much. Kind of, to your point, do less. And again, as we’re, as we’re preaching today, invest some of that because there, there’s a great little meme out there. And I think this can be applied to a lot of different situations. But the gentleman who or the person who wrote the meme was talking about the Tesla S, a Model S, I believe. And it was and it was selling for like 70 grand.
Bert Martinez:
And he, and of course he says that in five years that that Model S will probably be worth about 10 grand. But if you take the say $70,000 five years later, if you would have bought. No, that’s what it was. If you would have bought Tesla stock with the same $70,000 in five years you would have had a couple of million.
Ann Marie:
There you go. And so this is the case and here’s one of the things I want to make sure your listeners remember. You have. You’re right, it could be Tesla. I want them to do this. It has. They must diversify. So put no more than 10% in any one stock and in any one business sector they’ll see there’s a whole chapter because there are 11 business sectors in the stock market.
Ann Marie:
And with that said they want to study it. This is like learning a language. If you know the phrase do you speak French? And I don’t speak French. Paran. That doesn’t mean you’re ready to go to Paris. That means you are learning. You’re going to learn French. And so it’s the same thing with investing.
Ann Marie:
Take say, you know what I’m going to wait two years, I’m going to make till I wait until I max it out. It can be five years until I have a minimum of three months of an emergency fund. Not when you get a new job and make more. It’s when you pack a lunch. It’s when you have people over for whatever you’re having, have dinner and then they reciprocate or everybody does a potluck. But something I have to make sure your listeners know and this is what self made millionaires do. What they do is they do not put on their credit card anything that they will not see at the end of the month. That means they’re not going to put food on a credit card because it’s not going to be there.
Ann Marie:
They may put. Maybe they’re buying something for their kitchen that they’re going to use. Maybe they’re going to buy something that they mapped out. And you know the other thing that’s critical. So put on there what you know you’re going to see. Otherwise pay in cash. You have to make sure that’s a big one. Or if you’re.
Ann Marie:
This is just really important to do. The other thing that is essential is again what you want to do is if you’re going to people don’t write checks anymore but make sure you don’t have to keep up with the Joneses. So many people who, to your point, have private planes, have this, have that, have that. You know what? Some of them are living in such debt. And I’m going to give you a scenario. I have a cousin whose father worked like a dog. He was my mother’s brother. They were so poor growing up, they were lucky if they got an orange or a pair of socks for Christmas.
Ann Marie:
Well, long, short, long, short of it all. 50 years later, he owned more land, except for GM in his area. And so his daughter, who still, I mean, she showed me something the other day. She bought this credenza from HomeGoods. When she said, It’s $400, I could have bought something for 4,000, but why would I waste that money? She still, she. You think like you’re supposed to. She had a sister, excuse me, a cousin. They came into a lot of money.
Ann Marie:
She ended up having houses in five different states. Everybody’s your friend when you have money. Well, they lost all the money. This, her cousin ended up on welfare. The only difference is how they did it. It doesn’t mean they don’t go out to nice restaurants. It doesn’t mind, you know, matter that My point is, you know what, you want to do the right thing. And I can tell you firsthand, when you add that extra zero to your life.
Ann Marie:
And it will happen, it will happen. If you’re 35 by the time you’re 50, if you do this consistently, you’ll be amazed. And I mean, I can tell you we could talk all night and I know we can’t do that. However, you have to read this book because let me tell you something there, I just give you a scenario. There were twins. They were given, I believe, $10,000 from their grandmother. They said, you’re not, she said you’re not allowed to sell it for. I think it was, I believe it was 25 years.
Ann Marie:
Well, one twin, Jason, took his dividends. So a company will give you dividends sort of as a perk, as a bonus. The. His female twin will allow the dividends to reinvest when the end of the time, when the end was there, he had taken out 250 some thousand dollars in dividends because maybe, maybe they wanted to go on vacation. Maybe they want to do this. Well, the other car, I don’t know what the other. With his twin sister did. Maybe she used cards, maybe her credit cards earned airline points or maybe hotel points.
Ann Marie:
I don’t know what she did. He ended up after that amount of time. I believe it was 25 years with 400 some thousand dollars. Okay. By letting that $10,000 sit, she ended up with one point. I don’t have the exact amount. I can look it up. $4 million by letting the dividends be reinvested because they were compounded, meaning they multiplied.
Ann Marie:
So you, they, you have to do this again. Do you have to know? But why not have a good ending? And I’m going to say one last thing. I can tell you by doing this. And I have done it religiously, religiously for 10 years. I had some money, didn’t have a lot, but I had some okay that I had saved since time I was 42 by maxing out my pension. And I was a business owner. And you know what? Once you add that extra zero to your life and you can afford it, you still think like the person who can’t afford it. I mean, I just sent my husband to Nordstrom because I needed more makeup base while I was making dinner.
Ann Marie:
And he said, what are these? I said, oh, these are two gift cards that I got from my credit card I saved and now it’s a hundred dollar gift card and two notes. He said, what’s that about? I said, why would I pay the full amount? My point is, you know what, you treat your money like your most precious commodity because the first thing we have in life is healthy. You have to have good health. Your family’s critical. You treat it like a commodity. And by doing that you will be able to if you have children, your children will learn much more from what they see than what they hear. So you do things that are fun however you do it, because it’s the exception, it’s not the rule. I want everyone to be successful is all I can tell you.
Ann Marie:
And we can all do it, we just have to want it and we have to have knowledge. And by somebody who’s not going to try to snooker you.
Bert Martinez:
Sure, absolutely. Well, and again, this is one of those things that needs to be beaten into our, into our society. Because back in the day, you know, they call it the great, the greatest generation. These guys saved. Saving was, was the thing that you did. You save and invest, you saved and invested. We got away from that. And now we have this programming that says, hey, you go get into debt so you can get a college education, so you can get a job and then you, you know, live happily ever after.
Bert Martinez:
Of course now just recently, a lot of companies are saying, you know, we don’t even care if you have a college degree because after 30 or 40 years we’ve realized it doesn’t make that big of a difference. You still got to train people. So things have changed. And once you put on the frugal, what do you call it, Mindset, once you, you know, you realize. Couple things. First of all, you don’t have to keep up with the Joneses. They don’t even care. They’re.
Bert Martinez:
They’re not worried about you. They’re worried about them. And they’re probably gonna, you know, what do you call it?
Bert Martinez:
They’re not gonna. What do you call it? Say anything because you’re frugal. And if they do, who cares? Because at the end of the day, it’s how much money you have. And that money will give you peace. It will give you power. It is a wonderful thing to have. You know, one of the things, when I was in. In sales management, and we, you know, you have these young people that are coming in and they.
Bert Martinez:
They want to buy a new suit. Well, what I would always tell them, and to this day, I do the same thing, is go to the nicest areas of town, and you’ll find a Goodwill in the nice area of town. You can go in there and you get yourself a nice suit, and you’ll spend 20, 30, maybe 50 bucks getting it tailored to your fit. But now you have a nice suit for 50, 60 bucks. You know, so. So that is my. Go to the last two pairs of jeans that I bought, I bought at Goodwill. Exactly.
Bert Martinez:
And. And nobody cares. Nobody, you know, nobody says, hey, those pants look like he bought them from Goodwill.
Bert Martinez:
And if they did say that, I, I would, you know, I’m not ashamed of it. I. I like saving money knowing that, you know, that I. That instead of spending 50, 60, or 100 bucks on a pair of jeans, I got it, I think, for $12. That’s great. One of the other things.
Ann Marie:
Yes, that’s right. I want to tell you, you know how they knew they were from Goodwill? Because they bought them there, too.
Bert Martinez:
That’s right. And you know, one of the other things, when my wife and I go out to eat, on many occasions, we split the appetizer and we split the entree, depending on how big it is. Now my eating has changed. When I was younger and more athletic, I would eat more. I don’t eat as much. And so it’s easier for us to split the entree, especially if it’s, you know, some of these portions are huge. Now, if they’re smaller portions, there’s nothing there to split. But I want to say 80% of time we split the entree 80% of time, we split the spit, split the appetizer.
Ann Marie:
Exactly.
Bert Martinez:
And there’s a lot of different things. But you know, back to these misconceptions that millionaires all for, you know, all go to. For example, there’s this misconception that, that they’ve gotten a leg up because they go to the most expensive Ivy League schools. And it’s not true.
Anne Marie:
It’s not true. And you know what the key is? You don’t want. For some, for individuals who are in their 30s who say, I’m not going to split because I have a big appetite. Well, guess what? Don’t order an appetizer, have that second piece of bread and get a nice main course, a hearty main course. Or if you enjoy a glass of wine or whatever you enjoy, have a glass, you don’t have to have four of them. You know, say to yourself, this is what I’m going to do. And you budget, you say, this is what I’m going to be spending a week going out to eat. And the other times today with hybrid, you don’t have to spend that much.
Ann Marie:
You should be eating at home. You know, again, in New York we go out to eat at least five nights a week right in our own home. That’s the end of it. And we’re going to do tomorrow. I just, you must, you must be listening to us, Bird, because I just said to my husband, we’re going to a movie tomorrow night. I said, why don’t we go to that Greek restaurant and get the same thing we had? And he said, what’s that? I said, don’t you remember? We split a Greek salad, which was enough for four people, and we split a lamb kebab because there were two. He could hardly eat them all what he had. The point is, you’re not being cheap, you simply are being practical or you’re going to take it home for the next night.
Ann Marie:
So this is what self made millionaires do and they take time to think. We talked, these are some of the main ones. But document your goals and oh, I must share this. You must surround yourself with people you want to be. Like when I started my business, let me tell you, there were very few business owners who are women. So what I did is I bought books by women owners and I read about them. How did they do? What did they do? Of course, male owners, of course. However, I wanted to know what I needed to do so that I was taken seriously.
Ann Marie:
So you don’t have to know somebody today. You Go online, you ask ChatGPT. Give me three books that were a great article about a business, female business owner who, who grew her business to xyz. So the point is make positive. You surround yourself with people you want to be like and make sure you mentor. When you mentor, you want to make sure that you are accessible for people who want to be like you.
Bert Martinez:
Yes, absolutely. You know, again, I had the, I’ve had the pleasure of hanging around a gentleman named Wayne Huizenga, who Wayne Huizenga is, if he’s not a billionaire, he’s got to be fairly close. So at one point Wayne Huizenga owned, he was running Blockbuster. He had taken over Blockbuster before that it was waste management. And, and he has been very successful. Does he drive a nice car? He does. Is it the latest model? It’s not, it’s again, he, he does have some trappings of wealth. But, but at the same time it, you know, he, he spent, you know, 20, 30, 40, 50 years accumulating that.
Bert Martinez:
It wasn’t like he was spending it as quickly. He was making it. In a lot of cases, you know, he was driving a beat up car for many years while some of his employees had nicer cars.
Ann Marie:
And that was all right. But you know what the key is? You do have to enjoy it along the way. Yes, in a very good. Because coffins don’t have pockets. Your children will spend it like mad unless they have learned the work ethic and values from you. And so yes, you know, it’s, it’s important to enjoy what you’re doing. However, recognize that less is more. And you know, I can promise you firsthand the chase is so much more fun than the catch.
Ann Marie:
And you are saying the same thing. You can buy a designer pair of jeans. But you know what? You love the chance. You love the chance to be able to find that chase. Let me see if I’m going to find a nice pair of jeans at Goodwill and you do, that’s half the fun. So, you know, I want to make sure I know your listeners learn something from you that’s incredible that they can apply every single time. I want your listeners to please, please do whatever it takes. And I want them to know you’re never too young to invest in the market.
Ann Marie:
That means set something up, buy it. Buy a stock or a fraction a part of a stock for children and do something that you know they’re going to. My, one of my grandchildren wanted to have something related to animals. Well, I didn’t know we weren’t doing chewy I could have. So we ended up looking at stocks and, and I bought her a portion, a fraction share of General Mills because it has a pet division. And so the kids, so she got a little cat as her charm. And so what I’m saying is you want to make positive that you educate people early. And while schools are important, we need to do it by our actions because we said this already, children learn more from what they see than what they hear.
Ann Marie:
And so, you know, it’s educating ourselves and it’s learning, recognizing what it’s going to take to be financially successful so that you can help your children. And I’ll give the last thing I’ve seen. It’s critical once you have earned enough that you can take care of yourself, your future, your children. Self made millionaires are philanthropic. They give back. And by giving back, maybe they make a donation to their favorite charity. It doesn’t matter what the amount is, they give back. And so by doing that it’s a, it’s a full circle.
Ann Marie:
So again, these are not difficult things. It’s not about the money. What self made millionaires do is about their habits. And so that’s why, and this is what I told the person who is a producer with a major TV television show that I’m not going to name, she just didn’t know how she was going to do it. She finally changed her habits by writing down the time she was going to leave and all of the la de da stuff we’ve talked about.
Bert Martinez:
Absolutely. And I do want to hit that again. Writing down your goals, writing down what time you’re going to leave is essential. It’s, it is. So first of all, so there’s something magic that happens when you write down your goals. Your brain is more locked into it. Some people call it energy, some people call it vibration. Whatever, manifesting, whatever happens, it is magical.
Bert Martinez:
And, and there. And, and also humans, we forget really important things because I hear people say, well, you know, if it’s important, you don’t, you shouldn’t have to write it down. Well, people forget anniversaries, they forget court dates, they forget what you know, they forget airline tickets. We forget a lot of important things because we have so many things going on. So writing it down, if it’s important, write it down. It only takes a few seconds. And one of my favorite places to write it down is right there on my phone. I can see my goals every day, right? And then I also use the mirror in my bathroom.
Bert Martinez:
I write things there. And so it’s a lot of Fun. And look, one of my goals that I accomplished like two years ago, two years ago took me 25 years to complete.
Ann Marie:
Now let me ask you, we’re not allowed to talk about our goals until we accomplish them. So will you share the goal that you’ve accomplished? Bert?
Bert Martinez:
Sure. So I wanted to, when I was younger, in my 20s, I had entered a bodybuilding show and I wanted to do it again. And it took me roughly 25 years to do my second show, but I had written it down. And you know, life, you know, first of all the priorities would change. You know, it’s important. It’s not, it’s super important. It’s not that important. As I explained to Anne Marie when we got started, my wife and I have had, we have five kids.
Bert Martinez:
So when you’re juggling career and five kids and all the other stuff, sometimes things have to be put off. But it was always there and I was able to finally accomplish that goal. I competed and I was lucky enough to place in the top four. So I didn’t win, but still I was excited to finish that goal and just.
Ann Marie:
Yes, Bert, I have to interrupt you, I have to interrupt you because I want your listeners to hear something you said and then I’m going to correct you. You said you were lucky to achieve that goal. Guess what? You create your own luck. You work like a dog to do that. So I’m going to say we create our own luck. One other thing I’m going to say to Bill and I want your listeners to hear this, you said it’s very important to document your goals. I want to give them a perspective just like you document yours. When you think about what you want, you’re one third of the way there.
Ann Marie:
It’s a thought. When you document your goals, it is a tangible, you see it, you see it, it’s there. So when you look in the mirror, you see that go. When you look at your phone notes touch, you see that go. So it’s a tangible, that means you are 2/3 of the way there. The thought has become a tangible. The last third. You’re not going to say I can do it within five years, I can do it within two years.
Ann Marie:
You simply say this is my goal. And I always say, I always say later, if I think I can do it in 10 years, I’ll say 15 because it’s better to under promise and over deliver so that you’re not disappointing yourself. And so the last third will happen and, and you’re working on it subconsciously. So right now Bert is Two thirds of the way where his next goal is because he’s thought about it and he’s documented it. You’re two thirds of the way there. That is the secret. The last third happens because subconsciously you work at it and because call the person God, Buddha, Allah, power, universe, whatever it is, it so happens. If we can leave your listeners with this, wouldn’t that be wonderful?
Bert Martinez:
Absolutely. Absolutely. So many people think that writing stuff down doesn’t make a difference. And I think that it makes a huge difference. It’s been proven time and time again. And for people who are watching and listening, try it. If you’ve never written down your goals, write them down. And even if you forget about them, there’s something magical.
Bert Martinez:
Matthew McConaughey, there’s a great video and he talks about he had written down one of his goals and like a lot of times it happens he misplaced the. The paper that he wrote his goals down. Well, he found it again. It was 10 years later and everything on that list had come true.
Ann Marie:
Absolutely. And let me tell you, you’re so right. And one of the things that people realize, once they know when they are in sync, their words are so powerful because your word is your wand. Florence Shin said that in a book that’s age old, what happens is when you ask for something, when everything is aligned, it happens. It’s magic. I’m going to give you a scenario. I hired a narrator for a book that’s coming out because I have a small publishing firm. It’s coming out October 1st.
Ann Marie:
We hired her. The author decided she was the one. And so we had a conversation telling of telling her she was chosen. And she said, when will I get the final manuscript? I said, the editor’s working on it. You will definitely have it as soon as I get it, and it should be. And I knew it’d probably be by last Friday. I said to her, you will have it easily by Tuesday. The minute I said that, I tell you, I couldn’t believe it.
Ann Marie:
I got an email. Ding. It was the editor who had set the finished manuscript. And I said to her, you wouldn’t believe it. She said, what? I said, the second I said you would get that manuscript, it came. She said, have you ever heard of the book the Artist’s Way? I said, you bet your bottom dollar. So my point is, you do. You are aligned.
Ann Marie:
You have to believe it to see it. And again. And you know what, and bless and please. And this was the last thing I have to say with self made millionaires. Be grateful for what you have, you have to ask, right? What for what you have in order to have more. But sometimes just be happy. The greatest wealth is health. It’s like the best.
Ann Marie:
This is what it’s about. You know what you make something, I mean just recognize this is what it’s about. And again, once you know how to invest and it’s like a turtle that you don’t have to have a lot. The turtle won the race compared to the hare. Go slow and sure and it’s there. So I’m going to share that again and I know you’ll tell your listeners anytime your listeners have a question. There’s no hidden agenda. I’m not going to ask them for the email addresses.
Ann Marie:
I’m not going to do all that nonsense. They are welcome to email me and well, I guess I’ll get that. And either not going to get any spam from me because that’s not how I operate. Remember we have, my goal is help other people. That’s my goal in life. I’m refired, not retired. And that’s what I want to do.
Bert Martinez:
Excellent. Excellent. Okay, so let me ask you this. So if somebody has, let’s say they have $20,000 in their investment account.
Ann Marie:
Yes.
Bert Martinez:
And they’re, it’s performing well, but they also have $20,000 worth of credit card debt. You sell the equity, pay off the credit card debt, what would you suggest?
Ann Marie:
Well, there are different forms, there are different ways of looking at that. First of all, the average, according to Bernie Siegel, and this is in the book the average, it depends what their credit card debt is. They may have 18% credit card debt. You know what? They darn well better pay it off because if they’re going to make over a 20 year period, average 6 point some percent a year and they have 18 credit card debt, they better pay off that credit card debt. That’s the end of the story. And first of all, you know what? You have to have a credit card. I don’t care if you put $15 a month on it because that is the way to build your credit score. You have to build credit.
Ann Marie:
You have to build a credit score. And by doing that, you have to owe something and pay it and something that most of your listeners don’t know. I get it. My daughter’s a bean counter, she’s an accountant. And she said to me, mom, what you want to do is let’s say you owe $500 on a particular credit card. You can pay it a week early and that’s going to help your Credit. However, if you pay $100 or $250 twice a month or $100 before it’s due five different times, it will actually build, it will improve your credit score more than if you paid it on time because your debt to credit ratio goes down.
Bert Martinez:
Right. And, and also on that same theme there every time you make a payment. So again, taking the same $500, if you paid it again, you’re, you’re paying it 100 bucks a week every time you make a payment kind of resets the interest rate. So in some cases when you’re paying multiple payments per month, you get, it drops the interest rate a little bit, but a little bit can sometimes make a difference. So. Absolutely.
Ann Marie:
So there’s so many, so many things that people need to learn. I’m going to do one more thing and this is not the wannabe investor. However, I learned if you have a mortgage and let’s say you have, whatever you have, let’s say, I don’t know, $3000 a month mortgage, if you pay $1500 middle of the month, let’s say the beginning of the month and then the other $1500, this is for the following month. Or let’s say you owe on the first of the month. So you take fifteen hundred dollars and you pay for the second month. Let’s say for September, you pay August 15th, you pay half a month, you have half to two weeks ahead. By doing that over a twelve month period, you will end up having an extra, how can I say it? You will actually be making an extra payment because the interest will be less because you’re paying it down.
Bert Martinez:
Right.
Ann Marie:
I don’t, that’s an important thing.
Bert Martinez:
Yes, so absolutely correct. And again, it’s the magic of this compounding interest. When you’re making these additional payments, it does something with the interest rate. I think also that if you make an extra mortgage payment per year, it takes your 30 year mortgage into like a 20 year mortgage, saving you tens of thousands of dollars in interest payments. I think there are several experts out there that they, they like having a 15 year mortgage. I don’t agree with that. It’s, I’d rather have a 30 year mortgage and then pay it off in 15 years. That’s what I prefer to do.
Bert Martinez:
But whatever works. I mean, and something that you said in the very beginning is find out what works for you. Because everybody’s different. Everybody’s got different goals and they have different needs. So find out what works for you. All right, let me ask you this, Marie. So. Or Anne Marie, what were you doing prior to becoming a best selling author? Were you always in finance? Talk about how you got started and how you got to where you’re at today.
Ann Marie:
Okay, well, thank you. I don’t want to burst anybody’s bubble. I was never in finance. Here’s what happened, okay? I owned a consulting firm and I told people how to be successful through etiquette for 30 years. And the way this whole thing came about is when I retired and my partner, my former partner, passed away. I like men. And I decided after six months I was no spring chicken. I said, I want to find a partner.
Ann Marie:
So I joined eharmony, which is a dating service, and I wrote down exactly what I wanted manifested. The poor man, okay? And so what I did is we met, we dated a little while, and he’s retired from the New York Philharmonic. I actually upgraded big time. He’s read from the New York Philharmonic hired under Leonard Bernstein, God rest your soul. But it is true, anyhoo. And so what happened was he had retired. I said to him, so what do you do? You don’t pitzy cotto all the time. What do you do? He said, well, I’ve been invested in the stock market.
Ann Marie:
I said, for how long? He said, 55 years. I said, you’ve got to be kidding. Nobody. And he didn’t tell anybody because his wife wasn’t interested. She was interested. Teaching, raising the kids. It wasn’t on her list. His kids could have cared less because they just didn’t get it.
Ann Marie:
They weren’t at that stage. So I said to him, I have to learn how to do it. Will you teach me for 10 consecutive years? That’s up until last year. And he still teaches me. Ten consecutive years he taught me something. He would say, he’d forward an article to me, read this. He would teach me. If we were together after dinner, we weren’t very interesting.
Ann Marie:
We go back to his place or my place, and he would teach me about technical analysis. And then I could hardly wait to do that. The whole thing. I’m me tell you, this book isn’t boring because there are 40 Allanisms. Because his name is Allen. And if you put an ism. If you put something, a prefix or a suffix at the end of the word becomes a word. So there are a lot of Alanisms.
Ann Marie:
However, again, it’s not a dry book because when I was writing about bonds, I said to him, tell me about bonds. And he said, I’d rather talk about blondes. I said, that’s enough. I have a Deadline. Stop it. And so my point is we. I learned when I tell you 10 years. So in the seventh year of learning I said, well, I bet that a lot of people are like me because I learned that 40% of Americans are not in the stock market.
Ann Marie:
And so I said I have to do write this wannabe investor because everybody’s not going to have access to you. So I wrote it, wrote it, wrote it. And then I asked him questions and then I’d write it. And I had three editors to include one who is an independent contract with Motley Fool. I had to get it right. I had the most critical people who knew about investing reading it because I had to get it right. And so that’s how it came about. So that’s why I’m not a financial person.
Ann Marie:
I’m not going to say let me have your business so I can manage your foot. No, I’m an everyday person. And let me tell you who learned an extraordinary thing and added as I said, I’m not bragging. I simply want your listeners to know added a zero to my net worth because for 10 consecutive years I did this. And again, I do not trade stocks. I invest in stocks. I keep a minimum, have a minimum. And you.
Ann Marie:
I don’t even. I probably have 10 stocks max. And they’re in different business sectors because. And so my style is different than other people’s. This really works. It’s an everyday language. People shouldn’t buy it and start investing. You know, say to yourself, I mean, there’s actually a one hour a year strategy that’s in that book.
Ann Marie:
And I’m not going to go through the whole thing. However, it’s a whole chapter. Dogs of the Dow. That means the dogs of the doubt. You do it one the first business day of the year and I took maybe 10% of what I had and I tried it the first year because I was scared to death. And so my point is it’s an everyday experience. Experience. Most people didn’t have time to watch their funds take something or do virtual trading.
Ann Marie:
Write it down and pretend you bought it. And then every month see where it is. And then after 12 months see what the average would be. Not even counting the reinvestment.
Bert Martinez:
Yeah, well, and one of the things that you’ve said is this decade that you invested in learning and, and the thing that I learned from Warren Buffett and from any other expert is that Warren’s a big on there’s no point in trying to time the market. That timing the market is where people get hurt. The most, you know. And so he says, I know that I’m going to buy Apple today and in 10 years from now, I’m going to sell it for more than I bought it for. That’s all I know. And so it’s, you know, he’s thinking 10 years. Most people are thinking a few months. You know, they’re like, oh, oh, my stocks, my stock went down.
Bert Martinez:
And if, and this is something that you mentioned earlier about investing in companies that you know like and trust, you know, so if you know Disney, you believe in Disney, you believe in Coca Cola, you believe in these companies. And so you bought it at this price and it goes down, that means it’s at a better deal. Buy it again. Buy it again. I love chasing down a stock that I believe in and getting that my average cost way down. And then it comes right, you know, as it comes back up, I feel like though I’ve done something. So absolutely, it’s, it’s that mindset of you invest and forget it, just leave it alone.
Ann Marie:
You’re right. And you said it. Warren Buffett saying is exactly that. It’s not timing the market, it’s your time in the market. And that’s why 10 years is essential. It’s essential. And again, do not let somebody give you a tip about a hot stock because again, run. You have to know yourself.
Ann Marie:
It’s like same thing for clothes. You have to know what is your style. Do you like this, this or this? It’s your style. It’s what your comfort level is. Can you sleep at night? That’s the key. With confidence. And so again, what Alan taught me is not his style, isn’t my style. I had to identify my style.
Ann Marie:
And that’s the case. However, my recommendation, there’s a whole chapter in the book, you should not buy a newly issued stocks, newly issued publicly traded companies, because that’s when a company grows. And if you want to help it grow, then buy it. However, if you want to buy a stock that is established, then buy a stock. And I’ve said it, this is the third time that’s a minimum of 10 years old. That’s what Warren Buffett does. Why would we go against the master?
Bert Martinez:
Right? Well, and, and so the way I like to look at IPOs or newly issued stocks is I, I, I just kind of like what you’re talking about earlier. I watch it, I just put it on my watch list. And so what typically happens is the stock again comes out and, and because people are promoting it, it’s going to go up and then it’s going to come back down. And so this is an advanced thing. I, I do it very, very infrequent. I do it very cautiously. And so if I see the stock go up, I will short it for just a little bit. And just, this is just a cash grab.
Bert Martinez:
It’s not an investment strategy per se. You can lose quite a bit of money by shorting a stock. And, and so anyway, if you watch an ipo, you will see that within a year that stock that was at maybe a hundred dollars or fifty dollars might be at five or six dollars. And again, if you believe in that company, now would be the time to buy it. Look, at one point, Tesla was at 2530 bucks.
Ann Marie:
That’s right. That’s right.
Bert Martinez:
And I didn’t buy it at 2530 bucks.
Ann Marie:
That’s right. And you know what? And that’s, you’re absolutely right. Some people know the word Nvidia, which is the AI stock.
Bert Martinez:
Yes.
Ann Marie:
Listen, some of us bought it. Well, I’m not telling you what I bought it at. However, Cousin bought it at $15, I bought it at $34 and I’ve had it for 10 years. And if you. And it went to $1,200 and then it split, and we need to talk about a split, people think they would rather wait until a stock split. So if you had one share of Nvidia, oh gosh, beginning of June, first week of June, and it’s for twelve hundred dollars, some people say, oh, I’ll wait until it splits. Well, you could have bought 1/10 of a share, a fractionated chair for $120. It doesn’t matter.
Ann Marie:
The point is it’s no more valuable when it splits. It’s simply that if you had one share of stock at 120, at $1200, you’d have 10 more shares. You have 10 shares of stock because it’s split 1:10 to 1. So the key is you want to learn about this and then you have to learn something new every day. You know, I watch CNBC the minute I get up before I even have my coffee because I love Squawk Box. And I will listen to many of these. You have to decide what’s your favorite. Charles Payne is a two o’ clock.
Ann Marie:
You can listen to his podcast when most of us don’t have the time at 2pm Listen to things noon to 1. If you’re having lunch, then have lunch with whatever it’s called, noon to 1 at CNBC. You don’t have to believe everything. Everybody does listen. And then you decide what your strategy is and decide who you want to have as your mentor. And so to your point, I think, I hope that we’ve shared things with your listeners to know you have to get your feet wet, don’t jump in, you know, wait a year, wait two years. Simply listen and see what you see what it’s about. And I’m going to tell you all these 50 cent words become.
Ann Marie:
People try to intimidate you. They’re not 50 cent words. They simply may be multi, three, maybe three syllable words. They’re not difficult. If you can learn a language, you can learn how to invest in the stock market. It’s strictly the language of investing.
Bert Martinez:
Right. And to your point, if you are dealing with an advisor and you don’t understand, ask if the advisor makes you feel stupid, get a new advisor. They work for you.
Ann Marie:
Yes.
Bert Martinez:
And so there, there are different types of advisors. And so the one that I feel most comfortable with is a fiduciary one who’s got a fiduciary designation meaning they can’t do anything other than help you as opposed to, let’s say just a plain stockbroker. He can sell you whatever he’s going to make money on.
Ann Marie:
Right.
Bert Martinez:
He doesn’t have to look for your best interest, but somebody with a fiduciary designation has to look out for your best interest. And that’s a, that to me is, first of all, it’s great that we have that designation, but it’s, it’s terrible that not everybody has that same standard that if I’m a stockbroker I can put, I can sell you whatever crap I want as long as I make money on it. And the standard is, except I forgot what the standard is, but it’s the lowest standard. And bottom line is it should be if I’m really, if I really care about my customer, I should be looking out for my customer, period, all the time. But anyway, it’s not always that way. So if you’re dealing with somebody, they’re making you feel dumb. Get a new person. There’s just too many out there to choose from.
Bert Martinez:
And it just, it’s, it is learning a new language, it is learning something new. And you might have to hear that word three or four or five times before you go, oh yeah, I understand that, what that is now. I now understand what a reverse split is, or I understand what a 10 for 1 split is or, or whatever the deal is. And so it’s, it is not that difficult. Just like anything else you get into it, you start playing in the sandbox and you’ll understand.
Ann Marie:
You’re right. And I want to build on what you said. It’s important. If your listeners have a financial advisor, you want to ask them, are you a fiduciary? And if the person says yes, you’d say, I would like you to send me documentation. If the person is not comfortable with that, then I don’t know that that person has that designation. This is essential because if somebody who is a fiduciary main, your interests are in his best interest, and if they’re not, that person will actually lose his license.
Bert Martinez:
Right.
Ann Marie:
So this is essential. You can do that. And again, there’s an entire chapter on that. I’m looking at the table, at the glossary, the index, and it’s right there, 139, page 139 to 145. Real important. Absolutely. So again, you know, it’s raising levels of awareness. That’s what it is.
Ann Marie:
And again, we can all do it. We work too hard for our money to have somebody who might not even have two nickels to rub together manage your money. Are you kidding me?
Bert Martinez:
Right. Well, and again, it’s, it’s, it’s. We work too hard for our money to let somebody who doesn’t care about us mistreat us, abuse us. The way most of these stock brokers make their money, they, they make money when they sell you a stock or buy a stock on your behalf, have. And when they sell it. And so again, be aware of that. And there are some, there are some different financial instruments that I wouldn’t mind talking about this, that are. See if I got the right, what’s the right phrasing here there.
Bert Martinez:
It has to do with the commission structure or the load, the fee. Some of them are, are, have low fees, some of them have no fees. Some of them have high fees and they don’t necessarily disclose them very easily. So if you could maybe talk about this a little bit because this is so important, you might be. I think a lot of the 401ks are like this. You might be investing in a 401k and you see that the average out there is 6%. But then you look at your statement and you made 2%. Well, the reason why is because there were some fees in there that, that took most of your money.
Anne Marie:
You’re absolutely right. And I fight with people all the time. And again, I don’t manage their money, but they say, oh, I have a mutual fund or I have an etf. I Don’t pay. Well, in this book there is. We did the advantages and disadvantages of each. Each type of financial vehicle, savings account, checking account. Those are the safest bonds, treasury, the mutual funds, etc.
Ann Marie:
And some of the disadvantages might be, okay, people have to make money. Don’t kid yourself. But again, in mutual funds, there are management fees and they are in such fine print that you can not even see them. You cannot. But you know what? These people have to make a living. Now you can manage your own. If you say, I’m going to put this in and that’s the end of it, then you, you have a call center example with these brokerage firms like Fidelity, Maryland, Schwab. They’re all very good.
Bert Martinez:
All.
Ann Marie:
And there’s a whole list of brokerage firms that are credible. All right? What happens is you can actually open your own account. You can fund your account and have it go automatically. Money go automatically from your checking account, even when you get paid automatically to that you’re not. You’re. And you say, okay, I’m going to buy 10 stocks, I’m going to see or I’m going to do Dogs in the Dial once a year. But you put things on paper, try it for a year before you do anything or have. It’s all right to have mutual funds or ETFs.
Ann Marie:
It’s all right to pay people if you want a small fee. If you make money, then that’s great. It’s just like it’s. Alan always says he loves paying taxes because that means he made money. So the most important thing is you want to see. But don’t ever kid yourself. There are definitely fees with these. So again, you know, don’t, don’t fool yourself into saying, no, we don’t.
Ann Marie:
We don’t have it. People have to make money. So mutual funds, definitely, definitely as ETFs, they do have fees, management fees. If there’s somebody responsible for your brokerage account, they call you once a year to see how your tennis game is. Listen to me. They, they are definitely getting a commission and it’s all right, you know, or when they sell it, they are. The key is just know that don’t look foolish going in.
Bert Martinez:
Right. And to your point, these people are doing their job to make a living.
Ann Marie:
Yes.
Bert Martinez:
And I don’t mind somebody making a living. I do not. In fact, I, you know, one of the deals that I have with, with one of my brokers is I will pay him his full commission if I execute a deal that he brought to the table.
Ann Marie:
Very nice.
Bert Martinez:
He found the stock and, and he, and, and we buy, then he gets his full commission. Great. However, if I buy a stock, if I do and I execute a stock, then he gets a, a much less would call it a discounted commission because I did all the work, I’m taking all the risk. Now what I have done lately, and I want to say lately in the last five years is I started moving away to, I started using Robin Hood and now my bank Chase has a free trading as well. And even these guys with their free trades, they, they’re still making a quarter of a penny on some of these trades. They’re making a fraction of money and that’s how they make their quote, free trade happen. So nowadays you don’t really even need a broker. To your point, if you feel comfortable buying for yourself, investing for yourself, use Robin Hood or go to your bank.
Bert Martinez:
They probably have something that’s very comparable that allows you to buy. You can have a Roth, a Roth ira. You can, you can do, besides the Roth ira, you can just have a basic trading account and, and, and make things happen for yourself. And I love the fact, Marie Anne Marie, that you’re, you’re basically just focusing or not focusing, but just repeating. Guys, you don’t have to invest everything today. Start a little bit here, a little bit there. Get over that fear, right? And, and buy companies that, you know, don’t buy the stock to try to make money, make the quick buck tomorrow. I, for the long haul.
Bert Martinez:
Hey, you know that Coca Cola is not going anyplace. If you like Coke or maybe you’re a Pepsi person. There are a lot of great companies out there that pay dividends. Again, Coke is one of them. Apple is one of them. There is something sweet about that dividend check or that dividend amount. And, and I remember the first dividend I got was like $0.59 or something.
Ann Marie:
I was like woo, that’s right. And you know what? And again, remember, you don’t use your dividend. Now some people, what Alan does is he does not reinvest his dividends. He keeps that in a pot, meaning in his accountant. That’s the extra money that he uses to maybe invest in a new stock. So that’s, everybody has a different strategy. Not me. What I do is if I know XYZ stock paid a dividend, I want it to get that back.
Ann Marie:
So what happens is that money is reinvested. So I may have an itsy bitsy more of a share, maybe a percentage of a share of that dividend. However, it’s so important. Again, some brokerage firms require a minimum for you to. In order for you to open an account. Others don’t. And so Gilson, there are so many you call. Do you use a call center? They’re open 24 hours a day.
Ann Marie:
And, and I’m going to say, well, I like banks. I would not open an investment, a brokerage firm through a bank because there’s going to be something. Oh, if you have any questions, let me know. That person’s going to be getting some call an 800 number. I’m telling you, the Mayor, lynch, the Fidelity, the call that do that. Because while the stock that you, that you use, maybe they’re going to give. They buy and sell so many stocks that they’re going to get a discounted rate and they’re going to help you with that. I’m simply saying don’t buy anything.
Ann Marie:
First read the book. I don’t care if you read somebody else’s book or my book, but read the book and then watch something. I don’t care if you read one article, they first read the book. I met somebody this past weekend and you should have heard me here. You’re in Arizona. I was in. Where was I? I was in Cleveland. And I gave her my business card.
Ann Marie:
And it happens to have on it. And this is. Anyone who’s an author has to have this. So here’s my business card. And on the other side is the QR code that with my name, address that goes directly to Amazon. And she said, she said, what’s that? I said, don’t worry about that. Here’s the contact information. When you come to New York, let me know so we can get together.
Ann Marie:
And she said, wait a minute. She said, let me see that book. I said, what do you mean? She said, I have that book at home. And I had never met her. I said, that is an author’s dream for a stranger to have the book at home. That was the first time that happened with this book. My point is, you learn something. And I said, why do you have it? She said, because investing is something I don’t understand.
Ann Marie:
I just don’t understand. And my dad was in investments. He’s passed away, God rest his soul. She said, I just wasn’t willing to listen till my ears were not open to listen. And so I said, I have to learn. I said to her, you read the book. We’re going to spend two days together and I’m not going to tell you what to buy, but I’m going to explain to you when you decide. So again, this is so important.
Ann Marie:
And again, you will all have Alan because you’re going to see what a wannabe investment investor needs. And the only foolish question is the one you don’t ask. That’s such a simple phrase. You have to do that. I’m learning 24 7. It’s so important. There’s so many great, great podcasts out there. We’re having, we’ve taught you so much today through this podcast.
Ann Marie:
And again, email, email Bert, email me. Ask any question you want.
Bert Martinez:
I love it. I love it. We’re going to end on that note. Like I said, I’m going to put everything here in the show notes and if somebody wanted to reach out to you or go to your website, what’s the best website for you?
Ann Marie:
Thank you. It’s my name, AnnMarieSabbath.com and it has my books and so they can email says contact. They can email me anytime and I’m there for them without question. And it’s also in the back of the book so it’s ready for you. Actually it, you also have that because I always forget about this one. But you can also go to the wannabe investor.com and so you know that because that actually goes over to my want annmariesabit.com so most important thing, let’s help other people and they in turn can pay it forward.
Bert Martinez:
I, I love that so much. Ann Marie Sabath, thank you so much for stopping by today. Looking forward to having you back.
Ann Marie:
I’d be honored. Thank you, Bert.
Bert Martinez:
All right, we’re out. That was good.
Ann Marie:
Yes. Well, you make it so easy. It’s like having a nice conversation.
