In this episode of The Tactical Empire, Jeff Smith and Shawn Rider unpack the key mindsets and strategies behind lasting financial growth. From the value of early financial education and mentorship to the importance of reinvesting in scalable assets, this episode is packed with real talk and personal lessons from their own journeys. They emphasize how delayed gratification and smart money decisions in your 20s—or whenever you start—can transform your long-term trajectory. If you're ready to shift your mindset and build real wealth, this is your blueprint.
In this episode of The Tactical Empire, hosts Jeff Smith and Shawn Rider delve into strategies for creating a life of abundance, discipline, and high achievement. They discuss the significance of historical education, share personal reflections on financial decisions made in their twenties, and emphasize the importance of mentorship and mindset shifts at any age. They highlight the value of investing early, leveraging resources, and transforming from a saver mindset to a growth-oriented financial approach. Key takeaways include lessons on delayed gratification, strategic investment in assets, and the critical role of mentors in accelerating financial success.
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:47 Historical Adventures and Personal Updates
02:13 Reflecting on Early Financial Decisions
07:03 Lessons Learned and Financial Strategies
12:10 Mindset Shifts and Business Growth
19:27 Encouragement and Final Thoughts
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[00:00:00] How do you find the will to fight back against the world that wants to keep you sedated? S stuck plates? Join us for the tools and strategies you need to create a life of abundance, discipline, and high achievement. This, this is the tactical implied with Jeff Smith.
Jeff Smith: Welcome to another episode of The Tactical Empire. I'm joined by Sean Rider. How are you today, friend?
Shawn Rider: I am great. Making it through the week. You know how it is. I like my consistency. We got sports, shit getting canceled all the time. We got a lot of rain up here in Virginia recently. But you're in, you're making your way through the Commonwealth.
How has your experience been?
Jeff Smith: Oh, good man. Good. I'm, I'm ready to, to move on to the next [00:01:00] park. We're doing Colonial Williamsburg and, uh, the history of the United States, starting at 1700 or something, and, uh, working our way up through the history. Um, I don't know, battle of Yorktown is next on the agenda, and, uh, we will be doing that this week.
And then, uh, it's off to DC next week. Then from DC we're going to Gettysburg to wrap it up with the Civil War. And, uh, so yeah, it's been, it's been a good, good little history lesson for the kids. Hands on history.
Shawn Rider: Hands on. I saw the, the video of the muskets on the wall. I guess I, I don't know where that was.
Where were you yesterday? That was the
Jeff Smith: governor's, the governor's mansion in, uh, colonial Williamsburg.
Shawn Rider: Colonial Williamsburg. I wanna see Jeff in some colonial tights.
Jeff Smith: Hmm. I had a video with armor on, um, gunner and I put the [00:02:00] armor on, so I don't know where that was at, but we'll, we'll get you some, some videos.
Shawn Rider: I missed that one now. Now we're not taking a time machine back to Colonial Times, but we are going back in time today. Jeff, I want us to do a thought exercise. Um, you know, regardless if you're in your twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, or sixties. Hopefully this episode, I think this episode will have some valuable nuggets in it, but we do, everyone has, everyone asks What's the youngest?
Person in your group. And we, we've had like a 21, 20 2-year-old at one point. He's been in the group for a few years, so he's no longer 21, 22. Uh, but uh, we do have a few 20 year olds in the inner circle. Most of the guys are in their thirties, forties, or fifties. But we do have some 20 year olds. So if you could rewind time and go back to your early to mid twenties, if, if you had the, uh, forethought and wherewithal that some of these other guys do in our group, uh, on building [00:03:00] wealth.
Or building the life that you think you desire, what, what are some things that you would have done differently, um, or implemented sooner? What would be like your top three things that would would've moved the needle bigger, faster for you?
Jeff Smith: Geez, are we, are we talking about money or like, not chasing women spending less money at the bars, like all that. Like
Shawn Rider: they all play into it. So Yeah. I mean,
Jeff Smith: oh, Jesus Christ. Where to start if I, yeah. Um, yeah, I definitely would've plowed more money into, uh, different things. But I, like I said, I mean, I, I didn't know about high early cash value life insurance at that point in time.
I mean, I would say that. Like, if I had a time machine, I would definitely go back and get some education about those and start investing in 'em sooner than later. Um, 'cause if I had [00:04:00] a bigger bank, we would be that much further down the road at this point. Right. And, uh, so that, and I probably would. Have not worked for someone else for as long as I did.
Um, my situation was a little different in that I was working at a Fortune 50 company, and while most people would say that, that's golden handcuffs, and it did turn out to be that after a period of time, but like I really was a savvy. Individual with regards to it, because we had a huge continuing education opportunity.
Um, and there was a lot of, like on the job curriculum that I could do, courses I could take, and I, and I did, and I mean, I, I really broadened my financial exposure. Um, I, I really. Dug in and took a lot of courses, a lot of certifications. Um, I, I did the series six, uh, [00:05:00] certification courses and, uh, I never sat for the tests for series six and series seven, but I, I did a lot of those courses and so I utilized that time to educate myself.
I partied too much, a hundred percent and uh, spent a lot of time distracted because work was so easy. Um. But I made good enough money that I could have really, I could have done some serious damage then. Um, if, if I would've been more focused and I had better guidance and mentors. I didn't have any mentors at that point in time either, which I think was a big downfall to not downfall.
I mean, I've turned out whatever, fine. Um, but. But I could have accelerated things like tremendously quicker had I known someone like myself when I was 20 years old and, and been like, Hey, like, you should do these things at this age and like you're gonna start seeing the [00:06:00] returns on things. I mean, I bought an apartment complex when I was 26 years old, so I didn't get too far down the road before I was doing.
Some things and learning, but I was learning those lessons like the hard way. Um, 'cause like that's my, that's how my family is. Like that's how I grew up. Like, I've gotta do it. I've gotta burn myself on the stove myself. I can't believe you about it. And so, uh, and usually for, I have to burn myself on the stove twice because like, that's just how dumb and hardheaded I am.
And, uh. So I didn't know anything about scale. I didn't know anything about leverage. I didn't know anything about using other people, how, not using them, but leveraging other people to get things done at, at that point in time. And, and I would've loved to have somebody, um, to, to teach me that stuff. I didn't grow up in the business world.
I was just, I, I was wired to be unmanageable. And, uh, that's what kind of led me [00:07:00] to the path that I'm on at this point.
Shawn Rider: Super interesting. I mean, I think some of my, my, my things, the top three are the same, but my experience is different because I've, I've always been a saver. So like, my mistake wasn't that I partied too much, um, or, or invested in the wrong thing.
My thing was, I. Gotten into a low paying career as a teacher, but it was like something that I enjoyed 'cause it would allow me to coach football. Mm-hmm. And anyone that's been a high school football coach knows that you're getting paid like 2 cents an hour when it comes down to what you, so like I was just like.
Living my passion, right? But the passion came with absolutely zero financial upside. Um, I did end up starting a business with a business partner, my first gym when I was 22, 23. But I don't think I truly grasped like how big that business could be and how it could financially benefit me. Um, it ended up getting to that point, but I think I [00:08:00] probably, uh.
Started off way too slow with the expectations on how to grow that. So my mistakes are that like I was a saver and I only saved in the bank. So obviously if I had learned about IBC and life insurance and it connected with me at that time, I would go back in time and start doing that sooner, but. Even if I had just taken the money that was in the bank and invested it in the stock market in the early mid two thousands, uh, 2000 and teens, I, that money would've at least rode the greatest bull market.
So eventually I probably would've came to my senses and been able to pull that money, and it would've grown better than what it had grown just sitting in the bank. But I was one of those people who never had money growing up. So seeing my bank account go up every month because I was a saver and not a spender, to me that was a return on my money.
It's like, oh, you're not spending, so your return is getting a bigger bank account. Um, so that's number one is I, I was a saver, but I wasn't savvy with growing that [00:09:00] money. Two I I, I. Was too slow in the first three or four years of building my first business, um, I could have pushed, I worked a lot, but I could have pushed the growth a little bit more efficiently.
And I think that ties back to one thing you said, which was not having a mentor. I was hardheaded in my, um. Early to mid twenties, and I viewed mentorship as an expense, not an investment. So that definitely was a bit delayed on my end. And now, you know, mentorship and education is still, uh, way more important now than, than before.
Um, so those would be the two main things. I think at the end of the day, I, I also, as, as someone building a business, I didn't invest enough in my leadership skills in regards to being able to communicate effectively. Um, I don't believe in completely changing who I am. Uh, but [00:10:00] I, it took me a while to realize that.
People want led differently and you need to talk differently to different people. Um, still not certainly an expert in that field and probably shy away from that more than I should. But I also have learned, um, that I don't want to build a business with 50 employees. I'd rather build a small business with less than six people and then outsource the rest to professionals.
And so for me, I understand that it's a lot easier to fire. A professional company then fire an employee. So those are things that, um, I would probably go back in time with and just put my money to work sooner. Um, maybe not, I wouldn't say work harder 'cause I was a hard worker, but work more efficiently and, and press on the right levers to grow the business.
I, I was a believer back then of the old classic, uh, build it and they will come. And so it was like, oh, I have a business [00:11:00] so it will do well eventually. And so I was a very passive business owner in terms of being a business builder. So, um, you know, maybe there's some, some. Some parts of that story that relate to a lot of people.
Uh, we, we come across a lot of guys that are savers, uh, and stewards of money, and they've invested, they're just not invested in things that, that benefit them. So, um, those are probably some of the mistakes. On the last episode, we talked about making mistakes. Uh, you and I both have. Lost money. But that is the, the cost of real life tuition, so to speak, is in real life you're not paying, uh, uh, tuition like a college tuition.
You're paying to make mistakes. And those are the greatest lessons is when you actually lose real money. That's ultimately not the goal is to lose money. Uh, but every time I have. Uh, made a mistake and it costs me money. It definitely, uh, has more impact on me than just reading a case study in [00:12:00] a, uh, a textbook or a, a course that I was taking.
So those are definitely, is there anything else that popped into mind as, as I was going through some of mine that were related to yours?
Jeff Smith: Yeah, I mean, I think that from, from a business perspective, I, I definitely talking about. Changing your mindset from like hiring a coach or a mentor, like for speed and for like to limit your errors.
It is, and, and, and framing that as an investment instead of an expense is super important. The other thing I like. Most people start businesses to replace their job because they're, they hate their boss or they hate their situation and they wanna make enough money to compensate them for what they're doing, right?
So if they make five grand at their job, their, their goal or their target is to go out and build this business to pay them $5,000. And I, [00:13:00] I think young people, at, at least I went through this where I was like, I, I didn't understand. Th that side of things, you've gotta be more driven to build an actual business that can pay you that without your involvement than just go you're, otherwise, you're building yourself a job.
And, um, from a business perspective, like I think that lesson is super important to understand because if you peel off all of your profits and, and take them as. Compensation for yourself. You're not building really anything. So like you need to understand where you're reinvesting and, and we have this conversation all the time within the group.
Like you need to either be reinvesting in your primary business. Like gangbusters until you have completely maxed it out, because usually that's your highest ROI. And then once that is kind of tapped out or you've bled it dry, not bled it dry, that's the wrong term, but like taking it to [00:14:00] the max of where it can get, um, from a profitability standpoint, then you've gotta go ahead and invest on.
Into other assets that can, then your goal should be, can you meet and exceed what you're bringing home from that company with the profits that you're taking out of that company. So you make 20 K at the business, can you make 20 K with the assets you're buying from the business? 'cause then you're in a great position.
'cause you've got, you've built this business that's an asset itself and you've got assets paying you the same amount of money. Ultimately, that's where you wanna get to. When I was 20, I didn't understand any of that shit. I was trying to like, okay, we're profitable by this much. I should go teach a class.
I should go like, take as much, I should go make this repair on a real estate myself because I can go ahead and then take home 75 more dollars at the end of the day. And if you, if you don't have like a long term understanding of what you're trying to do, you, you miss that all the time and you, you step [00:15:00] over dollars picking up nickels or whatever the saying is, right?
Mm-hmm. And so. Like I, I think the younger people need to do a, a, a bigger time horizon understanding of that stuff. And I mean, we've got one guy in the group that was, I, I think he's in his mid to late twenties at this point, but he, he's been the best example I've ever seen of that. Um, I've known him for probably four years now, but he, he has plowed all of his money back into assets and he's got nearly three quarters of a million dollars invested.
And he's not even 27 yet. And, and so he'll have a million dollars of investment money invested in cash flowing assets by the time he's 30, which is just tremendous because that will 10 x and then 20 x in his once, once you allow time to catch up with what he's doing. [00:16:00] Yeah. And uh. So he's gonna be able to do whatever he wants, which is cool to see.
So it, it's rare that you find somebody with that level of maturity and that level of willingness to delay gratification. I.
Shawn Rider: You just took the words right outta my mouth. I was like, that sounds like delayed gratification in my mind. And like I thought I was delaying gratification when I was being a really good saver.
But the opportunity cost on putting that money to work either in getting the proper real life education through mentorship. Or actually starting to, I knew nothing about cashflow assets, right? Like my grandpa owned a business and my grandma on the other side owned a business. Uh, but we didn't talk about money growing up.
I mean, my parents went to work 40 to 60 hours a week, got paid hourly. So, um, when, when, when I got into my teaching job and was like, oh yeah, I'll be making $40,000 a year, working half the year. That's awesome. I'm gonna have so much time. To, to coach football and, and [00:17:00] work out. And eventually I had started a business.
So I built the business, but like, again, I was way too passive about it. Um, I didn't think big enough. Uh, I, I probably, um, invested a lot too much in my, my, my, my fitness. I'm glad that I was into fitness, but I probably worked out, uh, way more than I should have at that time. I could have spent better time, um.
Surrounding, but again, you can only go far as to who's around you. And the people around me weren't, they were other teachers. Right. They were making, you know, 40, 50, 60 grand. And I remember I was a, I was a, I was a finance and economics teacher at a high school and one project, um, I had the students go and interview other teachers and like ask.
It was like a questionnaire and one of the questions was like how much their family income was. And I'm surprised that most of the teachers answered this, but I remember one teacher didn't. Now I know why they didn't. [00:18:00] Uh, 'cause it's, it's kind of, uh, it's not kosher to share your, your, your annual income with a, a teenager that is, uh, in the school system that you teach in.
But I do remember one of the, one of the students came back, brought the questionnaire. Um, and both of the husband and wife, the teacher that he interviewed is a husband and wife couple that worked in that school system. And I remember they checkmarked the highest option was a hundred thousand plus and that was the highest option.
'cause that's as big as I could think. Right. And, uh, they had checked Mark a hundred thousand plus and like, that blew my fucking mind as like a 24-year-old high school teacher. I was like. Holy shit. Mr. Smith and Mrs. Smith are making over a hundred thousand dollars a year. That's fucking crazy. But now in like the back end, I'm like, I saw how much they worked.
They had a child and uh, after that's W2 income, so after taxes, they were probably taken home like 70 grand a year. And I'm like, wow. That's [00:19:00] really not that much for someone that has a house and a mortgage and two cars and a child. So, uh, damn. I really, my, my mind has grown a lot since the 24-year-old teaching.
But yeah, if we could go back, uh, you know, maybe we'll be moving, uh, a lot farther, a lot faster, but better now than never better a few years ago than, than, uh, than never figuring it out. So anything else you want to add for the people, Jeff? If not, we can send them out.
Jeff Smith: Well, I think this, this episode applies to like your mindset more than actually your true physical age, I think.
And, and it's, it's your financial mindset on like when you, when you shift into that growth mindedness and like what you want to be doing. 'cause now I've been doing this for whatever, 25 years of growth, right? And, and so like. But, but we're talking in the last episode about a guy who is, is my age, who's just getting into it, right?
And so like. [00:20:00] It, it doesn't matter necessarily the age that you're starting at, it's, it's really where you're at with your mindset. Like you said you were a good saver, but like how, how quickly at what age did you flip the switch to start saying, you know what? I think I might do something different than my parents did, or I might take a different path.
'cause like there's other people out there doing these things that their life looks interesting or they look like they have more free time. Than I do. And so like what are they doing differently? Curiosity is what is is a huge thing about this. It doesn't matter necessarily how you spent your twenties.
Like I said, we can fix all this. If you're a great saver and you're not 24-year-old Sean, but you're 44-year-old Sean, you're probably gonna have a shitload of money because you've been a great saver for 20 additional years of being a great saver. So how fast with that mindset shift can we do like. A, [00:21:00] a serious 180 with their lifestyle because now they've got some capital available and we can take this and we say, Hey, this, this is gonna feel a little tense for a minute 'cause it's not what you're used to doing, but we can turn this around to where it's paying you quickly.
And so, I mean, I just wanna make sure that like. People don't get lost in the weeds that we're talking about 20 year olds. And like the, the reality of it is, is like anytime you're ready to make this like mental shift, it doesn't matter when you start it, it's just a matter of like how quickly you can change things for yourself and the better financial position you put yourself in.
Um, that's where like. It's kind of a gap in the game type thing. Like you're looking for the positives out of it. Oh, I'm 45 years old. I should have done this 20 years ago. Well, the fact is you've got some shit. You've got a house, you've got some cars, you've got a job that pays you like you've done well with regards to what you knew and, and the [00:22:00] knowledge that you were equipped with at that point in time.
And now you're going out and trying to do something different and, and like those guys. As long as they're not buried in bad debt, usually can change their entire life by 50 and then they're off to the races for the next 20, 30, 40, 50 years depending on how well they're taking care of themselves. And like, I think I would just rather know and open my eyes and become enlightened at some point in time that there's a different way than than write it all the way to 70.
And so. It's not necessarily an episode about 20 year olds. Just to understand that,
Shawn Rider: that's a great clarification. I probably couldn't say it any better. So if, if you are ready to flip the switch, that's really, that's all it takes. Easier said than done, but, uh, if, if you're feeling a pain point. With what you've been working on and the financial benefit of that, or you see this money in the bank and, and, and you're scared to lose it.
You're scared to [00:23:00] deploy it. Like that's your body and mind telling you that there, there's something better out there that you can be doing and that that's why you're listening to this podcast. That's why you landed on that. Us on YouTube or wherever you found us, Instagram. You've been thinking these things.
You've been searching these things. That's why you've come across our content. This is what we work on with people. If you wanna work with us, follow us on all socials, get on our website, reach out. DM us, Jeff. Send the people out.
Jeff Smith: Guys, we are tactical empire on all social platforms. We have a tactical empire community that's free and Facebook.
Um, if you have any questions, go in there and post some questions. We'll answer 'em directly. You can DM Sean and I, if you have any questions about any of this stuff, um, we've got a variety of free education that you guys can hit us up for. We're, we're happy to help. We just want to you to level up your life and continue to push your boundaries.
So have a great week. We'll talk to you. Thanks for listening. Go like and subscribe to our YouTube channel and give [00:24:00] us a shout. We'd love to talk to you.