CHRIS PANAGIOTU | CAPitalize your Finances

My guest in this episode is Christopher A. Panagiotu the author of CAPitalize Your Finances: The How-To Financial Framework That Takes You from Compoundingly Clueless to Monetarily Magnificent. It was recorded on the day of Warren Buffett's 93rd birthday and Chris shared some of his thoughts on the Oracle of Omaha.

Warren Buffett said something like this: "I became a better investor because I run a business, and I run a better business because I'm a good investor." Ever since Chris started his own company, Capitalize Your Finances, he learned a lot about the financial statements of businesses. His bookkeeper helps him to keep track of every detail on his balance sheet, profit and loss, and cash flow statement. He wants to know everything about his numbers.

It's so important to look at any company and understand how they make money, how they spend it, and how they grow it before committing your hard-earned capital. Compare their earnings to their price and see if they are undervalued or overvalued. And don't get emotional, just follow the facts.

Happy birthday, Warren. You're an inspiration to me and many others.

TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS AFTER THIS BRIEF MESSAGE

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Chloe (1s):

Stocks for Beginners, Phil, Muscatello and Fin Pods are authorized reps of MoneySherpa. The information in this podcast is general in nature and doesn't take into account your personal situation.

Chris (12s):

All of these super investors, the one theme that they have technically, two, they're incredibly calm, levelheaded, and they all are able to see the world for what It is. And a lot of these investors start giving it back later in their life and a lot of them wish that they could have sooner.

Phil (32s):

Hi and welcome back to Stocks for Beginners. I'm m Phil. Muscatello. Do you feel competent and confident when a friend, family member or professional colleague mentions a personal finance topic? Is your understanding of financial terms still at a very basic level? Joining me today is someone who wrote a book on this and put the cap in, capitalize. Hello Chris

Chris (53s):

Phil. It is so great to be here and You know. I really wish I knew you before we had the audio come out because just that intro alone, right? I don't know what It is about. You Aussies down south, but you have the most legendary relaxing voices in the world and if this doesn't work out, you've got a second career.

Phil (1m 15s):

Fantastic. Well, You know I have worked in radio my whole life, but to my regret, I never was on air until now having a podcast. I've always been behind the scenes. But anyway, that's the way the cookie crumbles and You know. We reach these points in our lives, don't we?

Chris (1m 28s):

That's right, that's right. Well and You know what better late than never And. I'm really glad that you're here and I'm excited to chat with you and your listeners about capitalizing One's finances.

Phil (1m 37s):

Okay, well we better introduce you then. Christopher. A Panagiotu was introduced to investing at the tender age of 10. Chris feels extremely blessed to have discovered Lucia Capital Group and in 2015 he began his journey to grow what is now capitalize Your finances. In his nearly seven years at Lucia Capital Group, Chris built his practice from scratch going from zero to nearly a hundred million dollars. That's funds under management, I'm assuming Chris? Yes. In that time span outside of the office, Chris hosts the podcast, capitalize Your Finances, roots for the Oregon Ducks, and most importantly love spending time with his wife Stephanie and baby girl Abigail.

Chris (2m 14s):

Yes. Just,

Phil (2m 16s):

Well, let's have a look at your origin story then. How did you start investing at the age of 10?

Chris (2m 21s):

Yeah, so, and for those of you down south that are not familiar, I graduated from the University of Oregon. Their mascot is the Ducks for US American football is obviously like basically a religion up here. So that is where the Oregon ducks come from. I know when people listen to that, they're like, who the heck are the ducks? I was like, if you come to the States, you'll know exactly what what we mean.

Phil (2m 42s):

But oh, that's okay. We un we understand football here in Australia as well. Good.

Chris (2m 46s):

Okay, good. So regarding the origin, I remember actually it's, it's funny, so this may come as a shocker to you, but I was kind of a stinker when I was little. I never did anything majorly bad, but I got a lot of looks from my mom. Like, You know you probably shouldn't do what you're about to do. And then I would, I would do it. So locally at the time there was a small little coffee shop called Starbucks that was flourishing in the Pacific Northwest and my mom had some coffee and she told me not to drink it. And so she goes around the corner and at nine years old I, of course I took a sip 'cause why listen to your mom and fell in love with it.

Chris (3m 26s):

After I got scolded, I remember being immediately hooked to coffee. I loved it. And I thought, man, it'd be really cool to get a piece of the action. Now, I grew up in a financial literate household. I have no relation with with my father anymore, nor do I, I desire to. But he was a Warren Buffett, not just a fan, almost like a cult follower if you will. And so he understood investing And. he said, Hey, you could get a piece of this by buying a business And I. I thought that, I mean I'm holding my iPhone but pretend that this is a piece of coffee or, or a cup of coffee. I thought that was me owning, which was You know silly And I.

Chris (4m 7s):

Remember from my 10th birthday, although it's

Phil (4m 10s):

Not, it's not a bad analog though to think of it that way. Yeah,

Chris (4m 13s):

Yeah, I understand. No, yeah, it wasn't that. I mean it could have been worse. So for my 10th birthday, I actually received the Intelligent Investor And. it was the intelligent Investor with Jason Zweig's translations after every chapter, which was super helpful. Now with all that being said, I understood I'm being generous here, maybe 0.5% of the book. It was very painful. But the big things I understood was I need to get involved. I need to get into this And I. Remember my grandparents had set aside a couple hundred dollars for my college fund. And you also gotta understand that was May 31st, 2001. And the first two investments I made were Starbucks and Microsoft.

Chris (4m 54s):

I understood, hey, you need to invest in what You know and you need to invest in things that you think are going to be around forever. And at the tender age of 10, I knew everyone was drinking Starbucks also, again, we're in the Pacific Northwest. That is where it was started. And then also coincidentally, that's where Microsoft started. And for me, my Crohn's was really bad growing up. I've had Crohn's disease my whole life. And so I went from being athletic to not being able to go outside. So I became friends with all of my buddies that play video games. And at the time, all of the computer games were on Microsoft. There was no other way. So in my elementary mind I'm like, well, everyone plays video games, right? And made those two purchases right after that, obviously nine 11 happened, the bubble burst in the.com crash and my whopping $400 portfolio was cut in half.

Chris (5m 44s):

And I was devastated. But then I remember my mom telling me to go reread the book, And I, reread it again. I understood a little bit more of it. And that's really what got the ball rolling in understanding there's a huge difference between volatility and a business doing bad. I understood to remove emotion very quickly and that really set the stage for me, compounding my knowledge into what I have today. It's

Phil (6m 11s):

Incredible when you think about it though, that volatility in terms of the price of a stock going up and down is far greater than volatility of earnings, isn't it? Those earnings will be a lot less volatile and that's just something that we lose sight of when we see the all that red on the screen.

Chris (6m 28s):

Yeah, well, And I also going a step further on that and look, I, I might get some slack from some of my followers. Of course I'm a Warren Buffett fan, but I'm not like he's not God, right? Like there's no perfection there. One thing that he says, And I Guess said and still says is, I became a better investor because I run a business, And I run a better business because I'm a, I'm a good investor or something like that. And he's also really good at just like spitting out those one-liners that are philosophical and you feel both incredibly smart and then more dumb after you've heard it. And I would extrapolate on that.

Chris (7m 9s):

I didn't really start to understand the world of investing until I spun off of my previous employer and started capitalizing your finances. And the reason why I say that is now, oh, You know You know your balance sheet You know you, profit and loss You know your cash flow statement. The big three And I actually had my bookkeeper customize our practices, big three statements with just obsessive detail. And my C P A made fun of me. He's like, you're not gonna sell. I'm like, well no, but I need to understand the details because then if I have right Microsoft as an example or Starbucks or whoever comes across my desk, I now have a true business owner's mindset on it.

Chris (7m 56s):

And I can live the earnings like you said, and understand that hey, they, they're really not volatile at all. But then you compare it to the price, you're like, okay, well this is so out of whack and there's no emotion. None And I think it's healthy. But I wish people truly understood if you're gonna be a better investor, it's great to run a business because once you run a business and You know the numbers, like there's no nerves in the world of investing for me ever. But

Phil (8m 23s):

That's the basis of value investing. And I, just wanna preface it that we're recording today on the 93rd birthday of Warren Buffett. So happy birthday Warren. Happy

Chris (8m 32s):

Birthday Warren.

Phil (8m 33s):

Yeah, and this is something that I think it's a trap we all fall into. We hear these great quotes and then we feel that we can spit 'em out when we're feeling confident talking to family and friends at functions. As we mentioned in the introduction. However, they're a lot more nuanced than that and You know you really have to think about 'em and you don't just spout them. You've actually got a really understanding and, and what we're just talking about now is about value investing and buying companies at good value. Can you expand a little bit further on that?

Chris (9m 1s):

Sure. And I can tell you right off the bat, so there's this whole perception in our industry on the investment side of the aisle, because I'm on the planning side of the aisle, I happen to be obsessed with the investment side, which I would rather do it my way than learn from the the other side. That's another story. But value versus growth. So there's this notion of you either buy a business because you think it's gonna grow and you're investing in the fact that you're banking on that growth to occur, which means it's gonna be expensive. Or there's a company that may not necessarily grow as much, but it's so cheap that once it gets back to what it should be valued at, you're gonna earn a nice little return.

Chris (9m 44s):

That's value.

Phil (9m 45s):

Yeah, they're such arbitrary distinctions, aren't they?

Chris (9m 47s):

Yeah. I can tell you probably up until two years ago, I would've considered myself a value investor through and through. Two years ago I read Uncommon Stocks and Uncommon Profits by Phil Fisher. And without getting into the weeds of it, 'cause I'm sure most of your listeners have read it, and if you have not, you need to. Phil Fisher was the first investor of the past, a legendary investor of the past that got me to think, okay, You know sometimes companies that are more expensive, they deserve to be more expensive, but that doesn't mean that they don't have value. And then you look at companies that would be considered value companies and they have so much room to run, they have an incredible runway of growth.

Chris (10m 37s):

But maybe most people You know, they may or may not be able to see it. And so two years ago I had this come to Jesus with myself going, screw the whole terminology. Like ask anyone that runs a business. Like if someone came up to me and said, Chris, is your company more like of a large cap value or a small cap growth? Like I would look at you, well I'm kind, but if I wasn't kind I would look at you like a deer in the headlights. I'm like, what do you mean? Like what business owner doesn't want their business to grow and provide value to themselves? And so You know a couple years ago I started scrapping that whole ideology and it's been really healthy for me because the best investors that I've gotten to know And I, I've gotten to interview some, some amazing ones.

Chris (11m 21s):

I got to meet Robert Hagstrom a couple years ago. He's become a good friend. Gautam Bade, the hedge fund manager came on. We have Guy Spier coming on our show in a couple weeks. So I've gotten to know all of these guys and gals and the one common theme I've seen is none of them fit into a box. And they all have different flavors of getting to the success that they've gotten to. Mohnish Pabrai is another great one, but as long as they have that fluid mentality of investing, I think that's what separates them from the rest. And so I've just, I've cloned their framework, And, I've done that for myself. Now one thing I, I do want to to mention above and beyond that, so a lot of these investors out there, they only invest in one particular asset class, whether it's Stocks or bonds or whatever the case is.

Chris (12m 13s):

And in fact, in a couple weeks I'm actually coming out with an episode on the endowment model, which is how I've grown my net worth. I grow my client's net worth if it's prudent for them. And I got a chance to really dive into the weeds of Yale's endowment and David Swenson, Dr. David Swenson, r i p. and that opened my eyes to a whole new world of investing. And You know you combined how Yale's grown their endowment with Charlie Munger's advice of as long as your money's doing what needs to happen for you kind of forget what everyone else thinks. He has more colorful language, he's earned it at almost a hundred.

Chris (12m 54s):

I think people just become much more at peace with their investment framework and philosophy. I think that's something that's missing on Wall Street and that's what I'm trying to do with my show is bring people that peace.

Phil (13m 6s):

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Phil (13m 49s):

7investing long-term thinking without the mental anguish. So you are A CFP and you're talking to a lot of people that come to you. Do you get that question? Is this is something that I've heard people who work in the industry say is that many people just come up and say, how much money can I make rather than really thinking about their whole of life that is required in terms of their financial journey? That's

Chris (14m 20s):

A great question. I can tell you it depends on what age you're talking. So I'm 32. And. I can tell you from twenties up until mid forties, the questions are basically the same. Obviously if you're a little older, chances are you probably have kids that are older, assuming you have kids and there's things that come along with that. But most people at that stage just ask how do I start if they haven't already? And if they have, generally speaking, they've got an advisor planner that doesn't call 'em, treats 'em like garbage and talks to them kind of like an asshole and pretty low bar, right?

Chris (15m 2s):

Like pretty low bar. I can tell you once you just have to step over it, right? Yeah, I mean yeah like it shuffle over it. I mean it's a piece of paper that's how tall the bar is. And I can tell you from 45 basically till 60 And I guess. And above that is where people get a little bit more anxious. They want to take their foot off the gas, but it's a planning conversation. A lot of people in our industry get very confused on the difference between, and it's alphabet soup over here. There's CFP, there's CFA, I'm a chartered retirement plan specialist as well or a Crip as we say.

Chris (15m 43s):

So the way I explain it to people is you've got a C`FP that quarterbacks the whole thing. And one thing that was really big for me is explaining to people that investments come and go but your strategy has to remain the same and you gotta have a framework with that. Once you understand that, then you open up pieces of that strategy and that's where particular investments, like classes, real estate, Stocks, private equity, whatever, those come into play. And then once you understand that and agree upon it with a client, then at that point you actually start allocating your investments appropriately. It's a totally different mind shift though because a lot of people that have had an advisor planner come into my office and they'll say like at the second meeting, you haven't really brought up like my risk tolerance, And I mean this very respectfully, I don't care.

Chris (16m 38s):

And there's academic reasoning why I care. Like it's one of the worst things that you can ask because then you're selling based on emotion. I was one of the top advisors atBS in Morgan Stanley before I left and went to Lucia Capital Group and then started my own And. I mastered the art of emotional sales. It was the slimiest thing in the world, Phil every day I wanted to come home and take a bath because I just, I, I felt awful. And then I discovered the DALBAR study, which is a study on behavioral finance where it shows that the average person that succumbs to traditional advice loses to inflation by like half a percent over the years.

Chris (17m 23s):

So I just said, screw it, I'm, I'm done. I'm not going there. And so I guess your point on the questions that come up, I'm pretty big on guiding that conversation. So the incorrect questions don't ever arise. 'cause the second you start off on that wrong foot one it's impossible, almost impossible to get them back to square one. And then number two, You know you're gonna do them a disservice and they're gonna be in this constant cycle of emotional unintelligence with money.

Phil (17m 53s):

It's interesting that risk tolerance questionnaire because what you write in an office when there's no emotions involved and when you're feeling good about yourself is completely different to what you're going to feel when that risk or volatility because these terms are interchangeable. When you're actually experiencing it, you're not, you're not gonna gonna know, you can't judge for yourself how that's going to go. So I just wanted to move on. Yeah, so let's talk about that but also to talk about in terms of as, as in a planner and someone who's interested in investing as well, are you more likely to be talking about a whole range of investments as opposed to just, okay, here's a bunch of mutual funds, just put your money in here and we'll set and forget it for the rest of your life.

Chris (18m 35s):

Yeah, and, and let me, let me make sure I understand the question as as well because for you, you're basically asking someone, someone comes in, do I just have like a set amount of funds, like mutual funds as an example?

Phil (18m 48s):

Not so much, not so much that, no, it's just more that most planners or many planners would have a set universe of funds that they just put people's money into. Or do you steer them more into investments that you think might be personally better for them?

Chris (19m 3s):

That So again, strategically, so I'll break it down for you. Assuming someone's come in right, they understand, they're like, Chris this sounds great, let's go through a plan. So for your audience they are going to really only like two of the boxes that I educate people on or enlighten if you will, the stock market bucket and the alternative investment bucket. And so I have some compliance issues and restrictions that I have, which also even if I didn't, I would still abide by them 'cause there's illiquidity with alternatives, different risks, whatever the case is. And once we all understand that, as long as I know how much money needs to go in each box, that is when I open it up, And, I make the judgment call on what a client necessarily needs.

Chris (19m 52s):

for example, let's say a client comes in and we're just talking the market and they go or they don't even say anything. I can tell they are nervous Nellys, they're probably not going to stomach a concentrated stock portfolio. I could even take it a step further and say they're probably not gonna stomach a 35 to 40 stock portfolio and they may not even be able to stomach like an EdeTF portfolio. So if you have a mutual fund portfolio which we've utilized for client that might be the most optimal, does it still fit within the box? Does it fit within the box for them?

Chris (20m 33s):

Yes. That's where you just gotta know the client from a risk standpoint. Now if someone comes in and, and You know, like my mom says Chris, do the things right, like they, they just don't care. They just want you to treat them how you would treat yourself. Frankly, I kinda like the concentrated stock portfolio. Why? That's how I got into this business in the first place. I could argue it's less risky because you understand the businesses. But that's a philosophical conversation which was not a pun on your name by the way. So You know you could do that. You could have, 'cause some people are index fund warriors, great, we have those as well. So It is a much more custom thing.

Chris (21m 15s):

No different than the alternative side of things. Some people are so gung-ho on real estate. Well if that's the case, we've got those options. Some people wanna have a a different layer. Lending has become really popular in the actually globally 'cause banks aren't doing it. Thank you. Oh eight. So then lending business development companies become valuable and then some people like owning private equity because they came from privately owned businesses. Well what's kind of cool with that is if you used all of those clients won't appreciate that because what they'll see is they'll see their statement and then they kind of just see this boring ass line over the years.

Chris (21m 54s):

But then behind the scenes as a planner, in my mind I've done my job, I don't wanna hear anyone complain about a boring whatever the return is, right? Of course we want to earn as much as possible, but as long as I earn net tax a six at a low bar, no one will be mad at that. Not a single person. And if they are tough bananas, right? Like maybe I'm not the guy. But I think there's a huge difference between what a lot of these advisors and planners do. They already know where they're investing your money before you sit down, right? I don't have a clue until I actually know what the hell's going on. And then the strategy, the framework of capitalizing one's finances dictates exactly where everything needs to go.

Chris (22m 39s):

And then I put my risk hat on say okay, now that I know right, aggressive Alan or negative Nancy, now we can recapitalize pun intended their plan accordingly.

Phil (22m 50s):

Aggressive Alan and what is it? Negative Nancy? Negative Nancy. Yeah. Are they technical financial planning terms? Are they

Chris (22m 57s):

High level? They don't teach you that in school.

Phil (23m 1s):

So we started out, when I introduced you talking about being confident, talking about finance in a group situation, what are some of the tips that you would say and how we can people turbocharge their investing knowledge so that they can stand out at these social gatherings?

Chris (23m 17s):

Oh, all right. This is unconventional but I think it's the best answer. Listen, so a lot of people in, in this business, when people ask questions, this is part of me putting my sales hat on. So like, I'm sorry, but it's the honest to god truth. When I first started in the business, I didn't have the big name, I didn't have the team, I didn't have the experience. I mean I thought I did, but at 22, people don't believe that there was a lot of things I didn't have. So very quickly I had to realize what can I do that's gonna separate me from everyone else?

Chris (23m 57s):

And, it was mastering the art of sales. And part of that was understanding eyes mouth, what's coming out of it. Body language. And. I studied that intensely. In fact, that's gonna be my second book, capitalize Your Sales coming out next year. And what I started to realize was initially I did it to survive, but then secondarily as I got more comfortable and my business was growing, I started to realize, wait a second, I've been genuine all along. So a lot of these people in sales, they think, oh man, like this guy's gonna teach me how to look up different eyes and match You know what's coming out of their mouth if they're audible or kinesthetic, whatever the case is.

Chris (24m 44s):

As I started to develop, I understood, oh my gosh, all these techniques are just making me better at genuinely listening. And it's really brilliant because I've had meetings with people and they're like, I'm in. I didn't say oh word about what I do now. It's a little different now with the brand and all of that. 'cause then people hear for me and so I don't get that as much. But even a couple years ago, I would have these meetings. All I would do is ask questions 'cause I genuinely don't know what someone needs. And at the end they're like, I'm ready. I'm ready to rock and roll. And in an investment side of things, when I brought people on the podcast, I remember I met Robert Hagstrom.

Chris (25m 27s):

We had an introductory call, look the guy overseas, like billions of dollars. he was a protege of Bill Miller, one of the best investors of all time. He worked Leg Mason, he wrote the Warren Buffett portfolio, Warren Buffett Way. There is nothing on God's Green Earth that I could have taught that guy about investing. But I listened. And that's when he decided to come on the show. We're still friends this day. And I did teach him a thing or two. I'm, I'm gonna pat pat myself on the back there. But that's what I would tell people. If you are surrounded by people that understand the world of investing or they think they understand it, just ask questions and listen. So

Phil (26m 7s):

What have you listened and learned from some of your guests? Oh

Chris (26m 11s):

Boy.

Phil (26m 12s):

Just one or two. You know. Yeah.

Chris (26m 14s):

Well I'm trying to think

Phil (26m 15s):

Of, I know III know I'm, I know I'm putting you on the spot here Chris.

Chris (26m 18s):

No. Hey You know, here's the thing with a shirt like this, I'm always on the spot. So like I, I totally get that. Now I would say one right off the bat was Gautam bade who's become a, a good friend. Shout out Gautam, his book The Joys of Compounding. It was such a great book that I was, my wife can vouch for this. I was actively sad when it was done. Like I wanted more, which You know this guy committed years of his life to this book. So like that was it. He, he tapped out, one of the things that stood out in his book was the Four Pillars of Wealth. So the first pillar is we're all just hustling, getting out there, trying to make it happen.

Chris (26m 58s):

The second tier is living paycheck to paycheck. But that's a compliment 'cause you're not going backwards. And then the third tier is where most people cap out it, not pun intended. And that's where it's like the traditional retirement, right? You've, you've saved some money, put it aside, you've ridden off into the sunset if you wanted to. And the fourth layer, like the final pillar is what was really intriguing to me because that's where you're good. Your kids are good, your kids' kids', kids are good. You could triple your income from portfolio, not that you're going to and you'd still be fine. 'cause at that point you see the world for what it really is.

Chris (27m 40s):

And, I always thought that was fascinating. I've complimented GTO multiple times on that. That would be the single biggest piece that I've learned. And I'm not saying I'm at this level, but I'd like to think my wife And I around in the corner and going on top of that Guy Spier who hasn't come on the show yet. But You know we've had some direct messages on Instagram and LinkedIn. One thing that I'm curious to ask And I think I already know what he's gonna say is, all of these super investors, the one theme that they have technically two, they're incredibly calm, level-headed, and they all are able to see the world for what It is.

Chris (28m 23s):

And the reason why I find that fascinating and I'm gonna ask him, he started to give back his knowledge and a lot of these investors start giving it back later in their life. And a lot of them wish that they could have sooner. And so one of the things I'm gonna ask him is, why did you decide to wait so long? And I think he's gonna say, because I never really understood the value of the goodwill that I had to provide. And I won't give too much away 'cause y'all are gonna have to listen to the episode when it comes out. But those are the two biggest things I've learned from listening, understanding the four pillars of wealth. And then the second one is if you are blessed enough to get to that fourth pillar, It is a shame.

Chris (29m 7s):

If you are not a steward of that and you give back to those that are starting at the bottom,

Phil (29m 13s):

The stock market is a wealth building machine over long periods of time. Stocks have consistently outperformed any other investment option. But how do you cope with the stress, the noise, and the emotional turmoil that hits you hard every day? 7investing knows the importance of being in the market for the long term. Seven investing offers seven stock recommendations a month. These are their best ideas which are actionable buys in the stock market. They're also a fun bunch of people. 7investing are pleased to offer, offer listeners of this podcast a free trial for a week and 33% off the annual price if you sign up using the promo code Stocks for Beginners. Believe me, this is solid research from experienced advisors who live and breathe the markets.

Phil (29m 56s):

Seven, investing long-term thinking without the mental anguish. It's interesting that you say that they didn't realize how much goodwill that they held and because a lot of these investors, they're very quiet about what they do, they don't wanna talk about it and they don't really feel that they've got any value to add. Yeah, but they have so much knowledge and they, they can help so many people and when they do, they realize it and it's, yeah, hats off to them. Yeah,

Chris (30m 23s):

Part of it, I'll give a couple benefits of the doubt. So like Warren Buffet, I'll just pick him. He's gotta be really careful because he can literally move markets. You know to a significantly lesser extent. All these other investors I talked to you about, I get why they keep it rather closed off because some of them get a little anxious that people listening will just blatantly copy them. However, one thing I've learned, and this actually isn't from an investor, it's from Dr. Craig is SSON, who's one of the head finance professors at B Y U. That was one of my most valuable interviews for me.

Chris (31m 2s):

And his quote hit me hard. And I, I have had a ton in my book. Investing in planning is like salsa. So everyone loves salsa. Some like it sweet, some like it spicy, some like You know tart, fruity. But as long as You know your salsa, you're golden. And I think a lot of these super investors are starting to understand that they can give away some of their salsa because it's never going to be exactly matched. So I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. The one thing I will say, which is interesting, And I think the first person to kind of break the glass ceiling, if you will, was Peter Lynch back in the day. But even Peter Lynch didn't really give his framework away until what, 20 years after he was done.

Chris (31m 48s):

And some of these people, And I, respect them greatly for it. 'cause I struggle with this a lot. I And, I realize this. I actually probably talk and explain too much, but I would much rather do that than not enough and make someone feel like an idiot. But you look at like Peter Lynch for example. Would I go and invest in toys are us today? No, I mean it's literally bankrupt. But in the eighties that was one of his best investments 'cause it was a great company. So a lot of these super investors, what I've noticed is, and I've started to do this in my show, is I want people to have sprinkles of how I thought back in the day.

Chris (32m 28s):

And if you can take that framework and apply it to present day, that's where you're gonna find your best value. But then you gotta put in the work and some people just don't wanna put in the work.

Phil (32m 38s):

And that's right, it's, it's, it's all about putting in the work as well. I mean you can't just capture a a secret source and implement it straight away. There's no way you, because there's nothing about the mindset behind it as well. Is there?

Chris (32m 50s):

No, no, nothing. Well, and and yeah, and you've gotta love it You know. I mean you you,

Phil (32m 55s):

You can't teach passion. You

Chris (32m 57s):

Cannot teach PA Man. Yeah, you could have dropped the mic on that one. You can't teach passion. That's right Phil.

Phil (33m 2s):

So what are some of the common investing mistakes that you've seen people making

Chris (33m 6s):

Confirmation and anchoring bias. I'm not a tattoo guy, I don't have any tattoos, but if I was feeling a little frisky, those would probably be the two tattoos I'd get on my back because those are brutal anchoring. Here's a prime example. Now I'm not giving investment advice here or there, but people that like have invested in Tesla, I'm just picking Tesla 90% and I'm probably being generous here, are not investing based on true fundamentals of the business. They're investing because, and some of these reasons are very valid. They may think electric cars are the way of the future.

Chris (33m 47s):

Could be true, could not be don, don't know Tesla could be the top electric car manufacturer. Could be true. Then you've got people that are just cultish obsessed with Elon Musk. And that's a huge danger because if he's gone, what do you have? I made that mistake. I was a a Ali Mullooly fan at Ford when he came and left Boeing after he saved him and came over to to Ford. I'm like done. Great American brand. Great American man, great foundation and framework. I'm in high dividend. They couldn't afford it, but I was lured to it. So those are some of the common mistakes that I see people anchor into these companies and hold on for reasons that are either wrong or just insane.

Chris (34m 37s):

And then another mistake that I see, and this has died off a lot in recent years, but I'm probably gonna get some slack from this. don don't really care, but I'm going to, cryptocurrency is a cultish obsession. And I'm not saying everyone that invests in it has that cultish following. In fact, some of my best friends in the business have Very good reasons as to why they have invested in it. But I think people are looking for these massive home runs and grand slams and you also compound that with inflation and things are really, really tight for a lot of people.

Chris (35m 18s):

They get kind of desperate. And I'm afraid to say it, those mistakes are only going to hurt people more.

Phil (35m 25s):

So Chris, tell us about the podcast and the book. Just give us your little pitch for listeners of the podcast.

Chris (35m 31s):

Yes. So the podcast Capitalize Your Finances on Spotify, apple, and YouTube. There are three types of episodes. There are solo episodes where Chris Frey, Panagiotu v Cap and Capitalize comes and tells you exactly what you need to know about capitalizing your finances. The second type of episode is where we have super investors come on. And those are the Gautam guy, spear, Robert Hagstrom of the world. And those are a little bit more sophisticated on the investment side. The last type of episode, and this has been rather new, we have celebrities from all walks of life coming on the show in telling you how they've capitalized on their finances.

Chris (36m 17s):

So for example, Faheem Manir, who's best friends with Joe Rogan, really good comedian, he came on our show and basically laid out what you need to do if you wanna be a successful comedian. And he's one of the top in in the country. We mentioned football. Alec Ingold has become a really good friend of mine and he's a fullback for the Miami Dolphins. And he came on and talked about capitalizing your finances as an N F L player, maroon five famous band, Ryan Ducek. The drummer's become a really good friend of mine and he came on and talked about his experience of being a drummer in a band like Maroon Five. So if you wanna be a musician, capitalize your finances, listen to one of the best.

Chris (36m 58s):

So those are the different types of episodes that we have. And the purpose of the show is I want to give as much of this information back freely as I can because it doesn't matter if you're focusing on yourself, if you're trying to become a better investor and learn from super investors or you're trying to figure out what career you're going to pursue, capitalize your finances will be able to solve the financial side of that equation. Now the book is My Framework, capitalize Your Finances, the How-to Financial Framework that takes you from compounding clueless to monetarily, magnificent, available on Amazon, paperback, hardback, audio coming soon and Kindle if you're really cheap.

Chris (37m 39s):

and that is my framework in a nutshell. That's 22 years of my committed knowledge, effort, blood, sweat, mainly tears into one book because for whatever reason, if I am not blessed enough to meet you that are listening, but you want to have someone like me in your back pocket for 20 bucks, you can do the whole thing on your own.

Phil (38m 3s):

Chris, we've covered hardly anything in the questions that I prepared for this interview. So at this point, can I invite you to come back on, we'll do another episode in a month or so in your new podcast studio?

Chris (38m 15s):

Yes, Phil. I would be more than honored and once the new podcast studio is all up and running, I cannot wait to come back on. Anytime you need me, I'm here for you Matt.

Phil (38m 25s):

Fantastic. Chris, thank you very much for joining me today.

Chris (38m 28s):

Thank you.

Chloe (38m 29s):

Thanks for listening to Stocks for Beginners. If you enjoy listening, please take a moment to rate or review in your podcast player or tell a friend who might want to learn more about investing for their future.

Stocks for Beginners is a production of Finpods Pty Ltd. The advice shared on Stocks for Beginners is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. Stocks for Beginners exists purely for educational and entertainment purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Philip Muscatello and Finpods Pty Ltd are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708, AFSL - 451289.