Before you ever get to investment strategies, there are a handful of core financial truths that shape almost every success or failure story with money. The problem is most people either overlook them or don’t fully understand how they apply in real life.

In this episode, Johnny Dean and Rick “The Professor” Plum, CFP®, explore five financial truths that many people have heard but haven’t really absorbed. Why do some people struggle to build wealth even with good investments? Why do others build it and then lose it? What role does behavior play in long-term success, and how much of your plan depends on things going exactly right? And perhaps most importantly, is there really such a thing as a shortcut when it comes to investing?

Along the way, the conversation ties these ideas back to real-world planning, especially how strategies like the Bucket Strategy are designed to work with these realities, not against them. Tune in and learn all about the five basic financial truths!