Invest Like a Boss

Sam interviews author and psychotherapist Jonathan Rios on his book Primal Virtues of the Modern Man. They talk about issues with today’s men and what they can do to get back to their ‘primal’ nature and balance their lives better. Sam and Derek catch up on the show and talk about how this applies to their lives currently and what they are doing themselves to get back to their own primal virtues.

Jonathan Rios is an athlete turned mental coach and licensed psychotherapist who is deeply committed to remaining undomesticated. He works extensively with addicts, performers, veterans, stay at home mothers, business professionals, and spiritual seekers. He is a military academy graduate and former division 1 athlete with a deep appreciation for the warrior ethos. He currently lives in Jupiter Florida with his wife and four daughters.

Listen to ILAB 242 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app.

Where we are:

• Johnny FD – Ukraine / IG @johnnyfdj
• Sam Marks – Barcelona / IG @imsammarks
• Derek Spartz – Los Angeles / IG @DerekRadio

Sponsor:

• Shopify
  Get 14 days free and access Shopify’s full suite of features to get selling online today! Just go to Shopify.com/ilab to get started

Discussed

• Jonathan Rios: Primal Virtues of a Modern Man
• Instagram: Primal Virtues/

Like these investments? Try them with these special ILAB links:

• ArtofFX – Start with just a $10,000 account (reduced from $25,000)
• Fundrise – Start with only $1,000 into their REIT funds (non-accredited investors OK)

*Johnny and Sam use all of the above services personally.

Time Stamp:

• 11:30 – Tell us about your recent retreat in Wyoming?
• 13:38 – How did you get into psychotherapy ?
• 16:30 – Describe your approach and how you arrived at this unique style?
• 22:19 – Can you expand on the word, “Decadence”, you used in the book?
• 28:04 – What was the motivation for writing this book and the “3 needs of men”?
• 41:40 – Let’s talk about what “Love” means?
• 45:44 – What are some other projects you are working on?

If you enjoyed this episode, do us a favor and share it! Also if you haven’t already, please take a minute to leave us a 5-star review on iTunes and claim your bonus here! 

Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. Read our disclaimer here.

Johnny brings the Financial Samurai back to the show, who last appeared in 2016 on ILAB 24. The Financial Samurai created a popular financial blog and was until recently only known as an image online… but he has finally revealed his identity as Sam Dogen. Dogen has a new book out titled Buy This, Not That. Johnny and Dogen discuss the book, his path to financial freedom, why he stays living in San Francisco and more. Derek jumps in on the intro and outro with Johnny where the guys catch up and discuss the Financial Samurai’s hitting points and what they agree/disagree with.

In 2009, the world was falling apart, and my net worth was taking a beating. I thought it would be a good idea to start a personal finance site to help myself and others make sense of chaos.

After all, I had spent 10 years working at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse, studied economics at William & Mary, got my MBA from UC Berkeley, saved aggressively, diversified my investments, and still got financially rocked!

Since the global financial crisis, more than 90 million visitors have stopped by Financial Samurai to learn, share, and grow.

After writing over 2,500 personal finance articles, I’ve used my knowledge and the perspectives of so many to write an instant Wall Street Journal bestseller entitled, Buy This, Not That: How To Spend Your Way To Wealth And Freedom. The book is your secret weapon to getting ahead in this hyper-competitive world. 

You can buy a hard copy on Amazon or any book retailer. By the time you finish BTNT you will gain at least 100X more value than its cost. After spending 30 years working in finance, writing about finance, and studying finance, I’m certain you will love Buy This, Not That.

Today, Financial Samurai is one of the largest independently-owned personal finance sites in the world with roughly one million organic visitors a month. And it’s all free!

Listen to ILAB 241 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app.

Where we are:

• Johnny FD – Ukraine / IG @johnnyfdj
• Sam Marks – Barcelona / IG @imsammarks
• Derek Spartz – Los Angeles / IG @DerekRadio

Sponsor:

• Indeed
  Receive a $75 credit for a sponsored job post when you visit Indeed.com/ilab

Discussed

• Financial Samurai
  
• Buy This, Not That: How To Spend Your Way To Wealth And Freedom

Like these investments? Try them with these special ILAB links:

• ArtofFX – Start with just a $10,000 account (reduced from $25,000)
• Fundrise – Start with only $1,000 into their REIT funds (non-accredited investors OK)

*Johnny and Sam use all of the above services personally.

Time Stamp:

• 15:29 – What made you decide to write this book?
• 18:40 – Do you think there are a lot more people who are like you financially with high living expenses?
• 23:37 – What was your target audience for this book?
• 28:49 – What are your thoughts on Bill Perkins’ book “Die with Zero”?
• 30:18 – Why did you write the book if it wasn't financially profitable?
• 32:32 – Why is adopting the mindset to be rich important?
• 35:12 – Why is it important to maximize your wealth?
• 39:34 – How is focusing on the most Important things in life related to wealth?
• 43:13 – Explain “The Best Time to Own the Nicest Home you can Afford”

If you enjoyed this episode, do us a favor and share it! Also if you haven’t already, please take a minute to leave us a 5-star review on iTunes and claim your bonus here! 

Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. Read our disclaimer here.

Harvest Returns CEO Chris Rawley joins the show to talk about the different type of agricultural (AG) investments they offer. Harvest Returns has some unique investments including tech plays, indoor farming, cattle, aquaculture and more. Johnny and Derek discuss their thoughts on the food industry as a whole and whether they’d invest in these. The guys also do a quick followup on their car situations since they last spoke about them in ILAB 236.

While serving as a career naval officer, Chris Rawley visited dozens of war-torn and poverty stricken countries and began to appreciate the importance of agriculture to every single person on earth. As a professional investor with this new found appreciation, he decided to invest in a farm, but quickly discovered that these types of assets were inaccessible to the average person. The problem drove him to create Harvest Returns in 2016 to democratize investments in agriculture.

Rawley has held corporate management roles in Jones Lang LaSalle, Electronic Data Systems, L-3 Communications, and served as a defense consultant at Special Operations Command with Blackbird Technologies. He has invested in real estate and income-producing agriculture for nearly two decades. Rawley is an angel investor in early stage agriculture and food companies, including the Indian agriculture FinTech company Jai Kisan. He serves on the advisory board of the AgTech start-up AgroFides.

Rawley is a Captain in the Navy Reserve, serving as the Reserve Chief of Staff for United States SIXTH Fleet, and provides oversight for more than 500 sailors operating across Europe and Africa. During his 29 year military career, Rawley has filled a variety of leadership positions in naval, expeditionary, and joint special operations units afloat and ashore. He has deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, throughout Africa, the Middle East, and Western Pacific. Rawley has a degree from Texas A&M University, earned an MBA at George Washington University, and is a graduate of the U.S. Naval War College. He is the author of Unconventional Warfare 2.0 and an avid water sports enthusiast.

Listen to ILAB 240 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app.

Where we are:

• Johnny FD – Ukraine / IG @johnnyfdj
• Sam Marks – Barcelona / IG @imsammarks
• Derek Spartz – Los Angeles / IG @DerekRadio

Sponsor:

• Netsuite
  Join the #1 Cloud Financial System now at Netsuite.com/ILAB and receive a special one-of-a-kind financing offer.

Discussed

• Harvest Returns
• Harvest Returns | Facebook
• Harvest Returns | Twitter
• Harvest Returns | LinkedIn
• Harvest Returns | Instagram

Like these investments? Try them with these special ILAB links:

• ArtofFX – Start with just a $10,000 account (reduced from $25,000)
• Fundrise – Start with only $1,000 into their REIT funds (non-accredited investors OK)

*Johnny and Sam use all of the above services personally.

Time Stamp:

• 12:22 – How did  you get into the agricultural space?
• 16:08 – What are your thoughts on the US agricultural system as compared to other countries?
• 18:59 – How is the agricultural market correlated to the stock market?
• 21:58 – Was it harder to invest in agriculture 15 years ago?
• 23:26 – Can you expand on corporate farming and technology?
• 25:24 – How do prices of crops vary year-to-year?
• 28:19 – What is AG tech?
• 30:01 – Are there any particular animals you prefer to invest in?
• 32:16 – What are some examples of indoor agriculture?
• 36:34 – What concerns are there about climate change?
• 39:58 – How do you come across these deals?
• 41:02 – Who can invest and where can you invest and how much does it cost to invest?
• 44:08 – Approximately how much assets do you have under management?
• 46:42 – How are the returns on investments done?
• 47:34 – How would you say your company is different from your competitors?
• 49:21 – What investment are you really excited about?

If you enjoyed this episode, do us a favor and share it! Also if you haven’t already, please take a minute to leave us a 5-star review on iTunes and claim your bonus here! 

Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. Read our disclaimer here.

Sam and Johnny go over their wild quarter of life experiences in Q2 of 2022. Both are recording from their actual homes together for the first time, Sam in Barcelona and Johnny in Kyiv. The guys take philosophy of life, updates on the Ukraine war, plus a happy charity update from the school in Bucharest that we donated to earlier this year! Full financial breakdowns for the quarter are available to Patreon members only. Sign up for as low as $5 a month to instantly access when you sign up HERE

Listen to ILAB 239 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app.

Where we are:

• Johnny FD – Ukraine / IG @johnnyfdj
• Sam Marks – Barcelona / IG @imsammarks
• Derek Spartz – Los Angeles / IG @DerekRadio

Sponsor:

• Indeed
  Receive a $75 credit for a sponsored job post when you visit Indeed.com/ILAB

Discussed

• WE FUNDED A SCHOOL FOR UKRAINIANS! 🇺🇦🇷🇴 IN ROMANIA!

Like these investments? Try them with these special ILAB links:

• ArtofFX – Start with just a $10,000 account (reduced from $25,000)
• Fundrise – Start with only $1,000 into their REIT funds (non-accredited investors OK)

*Johnny and Sam use all of the above services personally.

Time Stamp:

• 04:08 – Do you think if we had taken different directions in life would we have liked it?
• 14:17 – How is life treating you Sam?
• 17:26 – Describe your experience doing mushrooms?
• 25:54 – What’s happening in Johnny's Neighborhood?
• 35:32 – Invest Like A Boss Charity ventures

If you enjoyed this episode, do us a favor and share it! Also if you haven’t already, please take a minute to leave us a 5-star review on iTunes and claim your bonus here! 

Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. Read our disclaimer here.

We polled ILAB listeners for your questions and said Ask Us Anything! We received so many questions that we decided to split it into two episodes, one for Johnny and one for Sam. Last week (ILAB 237) was Johnny and now it’s Sam’s turn. Sam will answer questions on investing as well as lifestyle in this open forum style episode.

Listen to ILAB 238 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app.

Where we are:

• Johnny FD – Montenegro / IG @johnnyfdj
• Sam Marks – Barcelona / IG @imsammarks
• Derek Spartz – Los Angeles / IG @DerekRadio

Sponsor:

• Shopify
  Get 14 days free and access Shopify’s full suite of features to get selling online today! Just go to Shopify.com/ilab to get started.

Discussed

• Life advice from the generation before you (my bucket list poem)

Like these investments? Try them with these special ILAB links:

• ArtofFX – Start with just a $10,000 account (reduced from $25,000)
• Fundrise – Start with only $1,000 into their REIT funds (non-accredited investors OK)

*Johnny and Sam use all of the above services personally.

Time Stamp:

• 02:01 – Sam talks about his recent coolest experience of his life
• 10:21 – What did Derek do this week?
• 15:02 – Do you have any updates on Mt. Gox BItcoin?
• 24:03 – What are your thoughts on the downturn, and have your strategies changed?
• 28:08 – How confident are you in the accuracy of the projected value of the wine?
• 32:02 – What are your thoughts on buying land in Thailand?
• 37:15 – What was your day to day like when you were living in the UK and then in China? 
• 46:42 – What is the most valuable/interesting thing you learnt while doing the podcast?
• 53:43 – Can you elaborate on your bucket list video?
• 58:53 – If you could share a meal with any 4 individuals living or dead, who would they be?
• 59:48 – Where do you see yourself in the next 10 years?
• 62:02 – Imagine you were married with kids today, how would your life be different?
• 67:29 – What is one of the biggest challenges of traveling all over the world?

If you enjoyed this episode, do us a favor and share it! Also if you haven’t already, please take a minute to leave us a 5-star review on iTunes and claim your bonus here! 

Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. Read our disclaimer here.

We polled ILAB listeners for your questions and said Ask Us Anything! We received so many questions that we decided to split it into two episodes, one for Johnny and one for Sam. First up is Johnny, where he answers questions on investing as well as lifestyle in this open forum style episode.

Listen to ILAB 237 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app.

Where we are:

• Johnny FD – Montenegro / IG @johnnyfdj
• Sam Marks – Barcelona / IG @imsammarks
• Derek Spartz – Los Angeles / IG @DerekRadio

Sponsor:

• Indeed
  Businesses now only pay for quality applications matching their sponsored job description. Get started now at Indeed.com/ILAB

Like these investments? Try them with these special ILAB links:

• ArtofFX – Start with just a $10,000 account (reduced from $25,000)
• Fundrise – Start with only $1,000 into their REIT funds (non-accredited investors OK)

*Johnny and Sam use all of the above services personally.

Time Stamp:

• 08:18 – Where would you diversify your investments right now?
• 13:35 – What are thoughts on the current economic downturn?
• 20:41 – During the bear market, are you buying on the way down?
• 23:17 – When buying a business what are the more creative deal structures to minimize cash to close?
• 28:05 – What are your thoughts on buying land in Thailand?
• 32:40 – What do you think about saving liquid assets?
• 36:10 – How did you get your portfolios to get dividends? 
• 40:40 – How has starting this podcast changed your life?
• 46:40 – Have you ever visited parts of China where your family originated from?
• 49:50 – Who are some of your heroes?
• 51:50 – What do you think life would be like if you were married and have kids?
• 54:44 – What has been your biggest challenge living all over the world?
• 57:33 – What does your average day consist of?

If you enjoyed this episode, do us a favor and share it! Also if you haven’t already, please take a minute to leave us a 5-star review on iTunes and claim your bonus here! 

Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. Read our disclaimer here.

Johnny and Derek do a one-on-one episode about a subject they are both passionate about – cars! We try not to bring them up too much in the show, but both guys are certified car nuts, so this is a fun episode that hopefully you’ll get something out of as well. Your car is an expense that often gets overlooked as many deem it a necessary cost to live life. Nonetheless, the guys talk how to find a deal in this crazy car market, new cars they are in the market for, cars they love, cars they hate and more in this fun riff of an episode.

Listen to ILAB 236 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app.

Where we are:

• Johnny FD – Montenegro / IG @johnnyfdj
• Sam Marks – Barcelona / IG @imsammarks
• Derek Spartz – Los Angeles / IG @DerekRadio

Sponsor:

• Netsuite
  Join the #1 Cloud Financial System now at NetSuite.com/ILAB and receive a special one-of-a-kind financing offer.

Discussed:

• Everyday Driver
• The Smoking Tire
• 
  Johnny’s Porsche he bought in Kyiv
• 
  Derek ordered a Ford Maverick similar to this which should arrive late 2022

Like these investments? Try them with these special ILAB links:

• ArtofFX – Start with just a $10,000 account (reduced from $25,000)
• Fundrise – Start with only $1,000 into their REIT funds (non-accredited investors OK)

*Johnny and Sam use all of the above services personally.

Time Stamp:

• 04:08 – What is the cost per month of owning a car?
• 08:00 – Derek’s parking side hustle
• 09:26 – Is car ownership the worst investment?
• 11:16 – Derek’s other instagram
• 12:17 – Johnny’s and Derek’s favorite car podcasts
• 15:40 – Johnny and Derek discuss options of renting cars
• 19:50 – Johnny bought a car
• 33:21 – Derek is ordering a new car
• 38:04 – Johnny used to own a Miata
• 41:11 – Johnny’s first car

If you enjoyed this episode, do us a favor and share it! Also if you haven’t already, please take a minute to leave us a 5-star review on iTunes and claim your bonus here! 

Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. Read our disclaimer here.

Johnny interviews Composer CEO & Co-Founder Ben Rollert on this episode to talk quantitative strategies. If you aren’t familiar with quants, they’ve been used by hedge funds for decades to determine trades and were only available to those with advanced mathematics degrees until now. Composer has created an easy to use tool featuring hundreds of pre-determined strategies aka “symphonies” like following your favorite billionaire investor, buying dips in sectors, hedging inflation and so much more. After the interview, Johnny and Derek go through some of the various pre-determined “symphonies” and which ones they’d execute in their own portfolios.

Ben Rollert has over a decade of experience in product and data science leadership roles. He was previously VP of Product and Data Science at Breather, a work space as a service company. Ben has been an active trader and investor since he was a teenager, and founded Composer in response to his own frustration with the difficulty of implementing automated trading strategies. Today, he serves as CEO of Composer, the premiere no-code platform for building and investing in algorithmic investing strategies. Composer has raised funding from First Round Capital, Alumni Ventures and Packy McCormick’s Not Boring Fund.

Composer is the next generation of active investing. Invest in a portfolio of rules-based strategies. Or build your own. No code, no spreadsheets, no manual investing. Let algorithms execute trades for you. Choose from our growing collection of ready-made strategies. Explore momentum, paired switching, and other hedge fund-like styles. Open up a strategy to view its performance and live holdings. See how it works in both visual form and in plain language. Use the strategies as is or edit as you wish. You can also use a no-code visual editor to create and modify strategies.

Listen to ILAB 235 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app.

Where we are:

• Johnny FD – Montenegro / IG @johnnyfdj
• Sam Marks – Barcelona / IG @imsammarks
• Derek Spartz – Los Angeles / IG @DerekRadio

Discussed:

• Composer

Like these investments? Try them with these special ILAB links:

• ArtofFX – Start with just a $10,000 account (reduced from $25,000)
• Fundrise – Start with only $1,000 into their REIT funds (non-accredited investors OK)

*Johnny and Sam use all of the above services personally.

Time Stamp:

• 07:55 – How do you explain to someone what Composer is?
• 08:53 – Was this possible 10 years ago?
• 12:04 – How does Composer compare to index funds?
• 16:42 – How does “buy the dips” work?
• 18:03 – How does the “risk on/off leverage S&P500” work?
• 21:53 – Are any features you find stand out more than the others?
• 24:35 – What are the biggest benefits of Composer?
• 32:11 – Who can invest, and what is the minimum to start investing?
• 34:18 – What fees are associated with composer?
• 37:06 – Derek and Johnny review

If you enjoyed this episode, do us a favor and share it! Also if you haven’t already, please take a minute to leave us a 5-star review on iTunes and claim your bonus here! 

Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. Read our disclaimer here.

Sam and Derek provide updates on their drastically down metaverse portfolios. They go over each individual holding and their respective current losses in this bear market. They also indicate why they are still excited about this space and which companies they are continuing to invest in. Individual stock holdings mentioned in the episode: $AI, $AMD, $ATVI, $BILI, $AVID, $EA, $KWEB, $MTTR, $COIN, $NHNCF, $RBLX, $SONY, $U

Listen to ILAB 234 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app.

Where we are:

• Johnny FD – Balkins / IG @johnnyfdj
• Sam Marks – Barcelona / IG @imsammarks
• Derek Spartz – Los Angeles / IG @DerekRadio

Sponsor:

• Indeed
  Receive a $75 credit for a sponsored job post when you visit Indeed.com/ILAB
• Support Invest Like a Boss: Join our Patreon

Discussed:

• 195: Diving into the Metaverse with Virtual Reality Picks - Invest Like a Boss
• 196: Breaking Down Sam's $500K Metaverse Portfolio - Invest Like a Boss
• 197: Jon Radoff Gives Us the Metaverse Vision Quest - Invest Like a Boss

Like these investments? Try them with these special ILAB links:

• ArtofFX – Start with just a $10,000 account (reduced from $25,000)
• Fundrise – Start with only $1,000 into their REIT funds (non-accredited investors OK)

*Johnny and Sam use all of the above services personally.

Time Stamp:

• 05:55 – Let's start by talking about crypto
• 11:35 – What about private investments?
• 19:24 – Let’s talk about my favorite mataport?
• 23:05 – Let's talk about bmobile
• 28:58 – What about stocks?
• 38:44 – How do you predict the stocks and what do you buy into now?
• 41:20 – What is our benchmark?
• 47:14 – Is now the time to invest in the metaverse for the first time?
• 51:59 – What is the plan going forward?

If you enjoyed this episode, do us a favor and share it! Also if you haven’t already, please take a minute to leave us a 5-star review on iTunes and claim your bonus here! 

Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. Read our disclaimer here.

Johnny and Derek do a 1 on 1 episode discussing their investment plan

for the ongoing bear market. What’s changed in their philosophy, now that everything is not just blindly going up, dealing with inflation and what they’re buying/avoiding in today’s market.

Listen to ILAB 233 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app.

Where we are:

• Johnny FD – Balkins / IG @johnnyfdj
• Sam Marks – Barcelona / IG @imsammarks
• Derek Spartz – Los Angeles / IG @DerekRadio

Sponsor:

• Shopify
  Get 14 days free and access Shopify's full suite of features to get selling online today! Just go to Shopify.com/ilab to get started.
• Support Invest Like a Boss: Join our Patreon

Discussed:

• 222: Emergency Funds 101 - Invest Like a Boss
• 167: 2021 Bitcoin Outlook with Stephan Livera - Invest Like a Boss
• 186: Bitcoin & Altcoins with CoinFlip CEO Ben Weiss - Invest Like a Boss
• 218: Saifedean Ammous Explains The Bitcoin Standard - Invest Like a Boss
• 203: Venture Capital Fund Access for All with Sweater Ventures CEO Jesse Randall - Invest Like a Boss

Like these investments? Try them with these special ILAB links:

• ArtofFX – Start with just a $10,000 account (reduced from $25,000)
• Fundrise – Start with only $1,000 into their REIT funds (non-accredited investors OK)

*Johnny and Sam use all of the above services personally.

Time Stamp:

• 03:33 – What is a Bear Market?
• 06:11 – Gas Prices all over the world
• 11:10 – How much do you think car and housing prices have changed?
• 16:38 – What is happening with crypto?
• 22:26 – How has the NFT market changed?
• 28:26 – What is the first thing to do to change with the bear market?
• 31:45 – What is the second move to make?
• 34:55 – What categories have not decreased with the bear market?
• 38:34 – Do you buy more or do you sell with the bear market?
• 44:02 – Do you know how many recessions they had in the last 20 years?
• 54:49 – What is an I-Bond?

If you enjoyed this episode, do us a favor and share it! Also if you haven’t already, please take a minute to leave us a 5-star review on iTunes and claim your bonus here! 

Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. Read our disclaimer here.