In this episode of Tactical Empire, Jeff Smith discusses the importance of financial conversations and education. He emphasizes that financial discussions should not be taboo and that understanding finances can lead to a better quality of life. Jeff shares insights on infinite banking, the need for financial literacy, and the importance of seeking knowledge to optimize financial success. He encourages listeners to take control of their financial future by acquiring knowledge and making informed decisions.
In this solo episode of The Tactical Empire with Jeff Smith, recorded live from the Tampa Super Show, Jeff dives into the often taboo topic of financial conversations. Prompted by a Facebook post from friend Brian Strump, Jeff explores why discussing finances is crucial for achieving abundance and high achievement. He emphasizes the importance of financial education, tax strategies, and the concept of infinite banking. Jeff advocates for more open discussions about money, highlights the shortcomings of the traditional financial path promised to previous generations, and encourages listeners to seek knowledge and build effective financial systems. The episode concludes with a call to action for listeners to join the Tactical Empire community for further guidance and support.
00:00 Introduction to Tactical Empire
00:30 Live from the Tampa Super Show
00:59 The Taboo of Financial Conversations
02:33 The Importance of Financial Education
06:07 Infinite Banking Explained
10:11 Challenging Conventional Financial Wisdom
12:08 The Need for Financial Conversations
14:00 Practical Financial Knowledge
18:18 Final Thoughts and Community Engagement
Episode 198
Jeff Smith: [00:00:00] How do you find the will to fight back against the world that wants to keep you sedated, average, and stuck in place? Join us for the tool and strategies you need to create a life of abundance, discipline, and high achievement. This is the Tactical Empire with Jeff Smith.
Welcome to another episode of the Tactical Empire. Today, I am rolling with a solo episode. Um, we are down here at the Tampa Super Show. The one of the largest RV shows in the country. I'm here because my wife got invited as a YouTube producer for her channel, for tactical trekkers. Um, so they invited our whole family down to kind of, I don't know, be involved in the media side of things.
And so the kids are having a ball. It's a huge event. And, [00:01:00] uh, so I wanted to hop on here and record a quick episode on Um, something that came up, uh, in a, in a Facebook post actually from Brian Strump, who's a, who's a friend of ours and a friend of mine. Um, and also a member of our inner circle. Uh, but he posted about something that curiously struck a chord with me.
And it was something along the lines of how financial conversations are taboo. And why is that right? And so it's something I really feel deeply about. And I feel it's it's something that we need to correct. Um, not to the point of like,
like divulging your deepest details of your personal information. Um, I just think more people should discuss finances. Um, and one thing I've actually found is that we've, as we've RVed full time, that's something that more and [00:02:00] more people are curious about and they're willing to ask about, um, how you make money if you will, because, um, I, I think typically.
Conventional methods of like how you have a conversation and create small talk, which I disdain generally, um, are, are surrounded by like, what do you do for work? Right. That's like an icebreaker or something like that. But I, I think what we've not done ourselves a service of over the last 40 years is having discussions about finances.
Um, because. The, the communication about finances is what's kind of opened every door for me, um, to be able to create the life I want. And I think that that's available for everyone as well, because the only thing holding anyone back from kind of the life they want to live or being in a more sound financial position is a lot of times it's education.
I mean, there, there's a self control aspect of it, right? If you're [00:03:00] spending. 105 percent of what you make every week and you're in credit card debt up to your eyeballs. I mean, there could be different things going on, um, emotionally, psychologically, things like that. But, um, what I run into most in my work and what we do is like just simple lack of education.
Like we work with a ton of great business owners who are very savvy. They make a lot of money. Um, but they don't have the next phase of things, um, kind of dialed in. Meaning like, you make more money now, like, let's move to the next phase, which is keep more of your money. So it's, it's tax strategies. It's like, What do we own outside of this earned income that we're working on?
Um, what kind of tax advantages are we taking advantage of on a regular basis? So part of moving out of [00:04:00] that quadrant from an employee to a business owner is like, how do you funnel your money through entities? That are benefiting you and making sure that you're categorizing everything correctly so that you can keep more money Thus invest more money and keep it within your financial system And I mean systems are what we teach.
That's the seven levels of financial freedom. That's that's what we just beat into your head, but ultimately the The post was about why is the, why are the conversations taboo? And I think it has a lot to do with, I mean, I, I talk about the generation prior to us, our parents, right. And, and how they have kind of fallen short in a couple areas.
I mean, we were promised. They were promised a, uh, a trajectory of come through the public school system, go to college, get a degree, come out, pop into a cubicle or a manufacturing business and work 30 years for the same [00:05:00] company. You'd get a pension, you'd get all these qualified programs you'd be eligible for, and you would ride off into the sunset when you're 62 and a half years old, right?
And, uh, that's, that's been. Um, what we're finding as they get a little older is that they were kind of sold a bill of goods with regards to that. But then you don't talk about it like they didn't talk about their finances throughout. Being raised and bringing people up. I just have this conversation over and over again.
If you were raised differently, then I totally understand. But I think money conversations are healthy. Just like I think political conversations are healthy and religious conversations are healthy. The more we understand each other, the more we understand that we're all the same. And so like when it comes to finances, it's, it's really just basic, basic things.
Um, now there's more sophisticated things that people are doing all the time. And as the tax codes change, there's more [00:06:00] different things available to people. And that's part of like networking and having these conversations ultimately. I mean, one simple concept that we could look at is infinite banking.
And it's something that we teach very deeply on. We go, we go deep on it, um, at a granular level, but like that simple concept, if, if that permeated the 75 percent of the people and they understand, stood how to use it at a younger age and, and parents understood how they could invest in, um, infinite banking systems for their children.
At an early age and and you could just throw money in there, whatever you had at that point in time and and partition it off from taxes forever and allow it to grow uninterrupted compounding interest throughout your Children's lives or your life. I mean. I certainly know I started working for a fortune 50 company [00:07:00] when I was 19 years old, and we were highly encouraged to invest in the qualified programs, the Roth.
401ks, the, the regular standard 401ks, the Roth IRAs, things like that, right? Um, I put a lot of money into those when I was younger. Um, not as much as I would have liked, obviously. Um, but I, I was a good saver at that point in time. And I truly wish at 19, I knew about these products, right? Um, I didn't find out about them until I was probably 35 years old.
So I missed out on like 16 years of compounding interest and full transparency when I left my corporate job, I cashed out my 401k, paid all the penalties, paid all the taxes and rolled it into real estate investments. Um, because I wanted control of my money. That was the purpose of [00:08:00] my mission of what I was doing.
I was not going to be beholden to everybody else. My, my boss is at my job, my bankers, my financial system. Like I was building my own thing and I wanted more and more control over the assets that I was willing to save for and the bank accounts I was willing to put together for my family. Um, so I mean, that's why I'm so passionate about this because I know that it can change anyone's life in a short amount of time.
And it's a matter of just understanding. And I didn't have that level of understanding because of the people I was surrounded by, because I was doing what they were doing. Um, so when you're in a corporate environment like that, you just do what the people around you do or what you're. HR department or continuing ed department teaches you is the right thing to do, right?
It's kind of like going with these, um, wealth advisors that tell you, yeah, best with me. And I will [00:09:00] gloss over the fact that I charge you two to 4 percent administrative fees that erode down your overall investment. But like they just gloss over that part, right? So when you look at your overall earning ability.
And how your money makes money for you, that you're working hard to save. You want these products to be efficient too, so that they have low fees or no fees. And then what's the taxability on them? Like, what exposure do you have to taxes and how can you optimize that? Do you need to be buying more things?
Assets? Do you need to be owning businesses? Most people run things through their personal name. Initially, which is smart and I recommend doing that. I don't know, I don't know that you need to overcomplicate things early on. Um, but as you grow money. And you get in a better and better position [00:10:00] financially, there's, there's things to do that are not complicated, that do not cost lots of money, that, that most people just don't know about, and, and it's frustrating.
It's frustrating because, I mean, going back to infinite banking, I don't want to talk about it a ton, but like just as simple as understanding that if, even if you have credit card debt, you can start building wealth. Prior to paying off that credit card debt because there's more efficient ways to pay it off while building wealth with just simple tools and Conventional knowledge would tell you oh just get out of debt.
Dave Ramsey would tell you just get out of debt Wait, get out of debt, and then you can start building wealth. But fuck that. Like, that leaves you, I don't know, 3, 5, 10 years, depending on how much debt you're in. Most of us are in a cycle, most Americans are in a cycle of debt where it's just a hamster wheel of debt and you're [00:11:00] willing to accept these monthly payments.
To get what you need to get, I need to get the next Suburban to fit all my kids in. So yep, we'll take on that 750 payment a month for the next five years. And then as soon as I pay that thing off, we'll buy another one because it's starting to have problems. So now I've strapped myself with this monthly payment forever into perpetuity.
Um, or I have 25, 000 worth of credit card debt. It's going to take me. Three years to pay off, five years to pay off, whatever you're putting off your wealth accumulation for you and your family that many years. If you work a different system with just a small tweak, you can pay that off faster, quite frankly, and have wealth on the back end and I start compounding that interest and avoiding the taxation on your investments day one.
And so three to five years, are you in a better [00:12:00] position financially? Yes. And is your family in a better position financially? Yes. Are you out from under that debt? Yes, absolutely. And so like, I think that the, the lack of communication about this subject is, is a abject failure. I think it's by design though.
They don't teach us anything in school that's related to wealth. Um, I mean, you had to seek out different things. I have, I have employees that are under 30 years old for me, that I have taught to write checks. They don't know how to do it. They don't know how to fill out a check. Um, not that that's a huge deal, just like, but if you talk about everyday practical things, like we did calculus in school or like algebra.
I mean, like the math that my 12 year old does is borderline. Not applicable to life unless she's going to go [00:13:00] become something, a scientist, an engineer, something that specializes in mathematics, right? Now, I think we need to know mathematics. I think it's very important, but I think we do not do our children justice, just as we weren't, um, with practical application of life skills when, with regards to math.
Right? And, and things like that. So, how do you, how do you run tables and underwrite deals and do all of that stuff? Like, I've done a lot of real estate transactions and financial investing, and I barely use, I mean, what I would deem above 8th or 9th grade math, ever. And so, it doesn't take a rocket scientist, it takes awareness.
And so, It's a failure of the way the system's set up, but it's also a failure on our [00:14:00] part. Like, if you're not an, a seeker of knowledge, you're not gonna find anything, right? If you just assume that this is the lot, that you, this is the cards you've been dealt, and uh, this is the life that we can have, like, then, then you're already screwed, essentially.
You have to understand that there's more out there. There's other people doing other things. That, that's what I always recognized. I'm like, if that guy over there is just a, just a guy, right? Just a man like me, whatever. Like, if, if he can do it, I can do it. And, and that's what you all need to understand.
If I can do it, just certainly everybody can do it. And so. It's a matter of seeking knowledge and becoming a lifelong learner and understanding the nuances of what the people that you want to model are doing and having those conversations and also having conversations with, like, people around you. Like, what are you [00:15:00] investing in and why?
What does that look like? What are those returns look like? It doesn't mean you need to do anything. That's what's so that's, that's what I love about Brian's Trump. Cause he's just a consummate questioner of things. He does not go with the flow. Um, and, and this is what I would advise from everybody. I mean, don't just do something because you hear somebody else doing it.
Like question what they're saying. Like if you see things that are too good to be true, and this is especially. Important going into the next four years because I think they're going to be very bullish on crypto and all of the those things, um, and so there will be a lot of information out there that is Little dicey, so you've got to pick your lane and stay in your lane, but also pursue additional sophistication within that lane So like, I invest in real estate, full transparency, life insurance, real [00:16:00] estate, and um, I'm looking at businesses and other things at this point, right?
We've bought businesses and sold businesses in the past, and so like, that's something that we're looking to do more of. Um, with a very healthy level of skepticism on what we want to get into, because we want to protect our time freedom, of course. And so I am identifying asset classes and things like that to just look at what we've got.
We've got a decent portfolio, so maybe it's just optimization. How do we take better advantage of what we've already got through taxes and things like that? Are we paying too much money? Going back to the make more, keep more. Transition and then invest more. So can we just use this flywheel that we've created just to pour more money back into that system?
And will that service what we need? Right? And so I say all this to say that. We should have more conversations [00:17:00] about finances. It should not be taboo. You don't have to tell me your exact numbers, but you Should understand that people around you that are ahead of you it's not always just because they're not buying Amazon or not spending as much at whatever Starbucks is you like I That's one of the things when I started teaching these concepts years ago that I did not want to fall into It is not a scarcity mindset situation.
It's an abundance mindset, but your abundance should be seeking more knowledge, right? I'm not saying go crazy with your money. I'm not saying that everyone, including my family, couldn't cut some shit. Because, like, we do unnecessary things with our money. Everyone does. But you're never going to save yourself to wealth.
You have to acquire more knowledge so that you can optimize what you have within your system. And [00:18:00] I guarantee everybody listening could make more money in 2025 if they were willing to acquire more knowledge, do one thing that would keep more money in their pocket or produce more money as a return on investment with what they're doing.
So I'll leave you with that. I think you guys, I know Sean just did a episode about not consuming a bunch of information, blah, blah, blah. I understand, and I am hugely a proponent of that as well. Um, but understand that your money is one of the most important. Education pillars of what you're going to do.
The more you understand about finances, the more you can grow. And if you have a limited knowledge of finances, your ceiling will always be where you're at or slightly above where you're at. It will [00:19:00] never grow exponentially. It will never grow to the point that You want to step out of the rat race or not feel the pressure of every month's bills.
You can have that feeling in a short period of time if you're willing to just invest in knowledge acquisition and then do small things over time to produce the results that you're looking for. Have a great week. Kick ass. We'll talk to you soon. If you have any financial questions, let us know. As always join our Facebook community, the Tactical Empire community, like and subscribe to this channel.
Tell your friends about it. If you're on YouTube, it's Tactical Empire. Send that to your friends. If this information is valuable or they need to get their finances straight or want to be around a group of people that are moving forward and motivating you. Let us know. Uh, you can always send me messages on Instagram.
I answer every one of them, real Jeff Smith. So have a great week, kick ass, and we will see you [00:20:00] guys in a couple of days.