The Get Ready Money Podcast

Unlocking the Secrets of Investing in Debt and Notes

• Tony Steuer

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On the latest episode of The Get Ready Money Podcast, I spoke with Scott Carson, President of We Close Notes and Host of The Note Closers Podcast about changing the way we think about money and investing in debt.


Key Takeaways:

  • Always get qualified expertise.
  • Tips and resources if you’re struggling with debt.
  • How buying a note works.
  • The importance of compound interest, the rule of 72 and how it can work for you or against you.
  • Failing to plan is planning to fail.
  • Why taking care of your health is part of financial success. 

Connect with Scott Carson: 

Website: https://weclosenotes.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/1scottcarson/


Resource:

Free One Day Class: Http://NoteWeekend.com


Podcasts: 


Mentioned in this episode:


Bio: 

Scott Carson (aka “the Note Guy”) is a highly sought-after guest and host of the popular podcast, the Note Closers Show.  An active entrepreneur, he is an expert in real estate investing, raising capital and marketing.  He speaks regularly at different events and industry conventions focused on real estate, marketing, and podcasting. He also helps thousands of investors and entrepreneurs each year create wealth through his debt buying classes, podcasts and coaching.  An avid sports fan, he spends his free time traveling, gardening, and making memories.  He calls Austin, Texas home.

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The Get Ready Money Podcast and its guests do not provide investment advice. All content is for educational purposes. Guest opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Get Ready Money Podcast and Tony Steuer.

Speaker 1:

Are you looking to get ready, be prepared and transform your financial future? Then you've come to the right place. This is the Get Ready Money Podcast with Tony Stewart, where Tony has insightful conversations with financial experts who are changing the way we think about money. Catch up on the latest financial trends and hear practical advice from Tony and his expert guests so you can build healthy habits that work, Be empowered with tips for implementing small changes that can have a big impact on your financial future. So sit back and get ready to hear from today's guest.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Get Ready Money podcast changing the way we think about money. I'm pleased to be joined today by Scott Carson. Scott is the president of we Close Notes and host of the no Closer Show podcast. In this episode, we'll be discussing Scott's insights on how we change the way we think about money and real estate investing. Scott, welcome to the Get Ready Money podcast. Thanks for joining us today.

Speaker 3:

Tony, honored to be here, as always. Thank you for having me bud.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, now looking forward to this. So you know, to start out, tell us a little bit about yourself. What is your origin story?

Speaker 3:

My origin story, you know. I fell into a vat of toxic waste a few years ago, got bit by spiders. No, no, no, I call Austin, texas, home. I'm known across the country as the note guy, which is a little bit different. I'm basically in a mortgage space, but on a different side of it. Instead of originating, I'm on the de-origination side of things.

Speaker 3:

But I've been an active real estate investor for 20 years previous financial advisor, previous banker for JPMorgan, chase Bank, one and Citibank and for the last almost 20 years I've focused on the niche of buying distressed mortgage notes direct from banks and hedge funds.

Speaker 3:

And that's kind of my origin story is. We buy this distressed debt from banks at big discounts and then we work to try to modify the borrowers who are falling behind on payments in one form or fashion to keep them in their houses, and if they can't come to the table, we can't have a soft landing for them to start paying their mortgage on time. So we try to work a way to get them to walk away from the property with some grace and dignity without having to go through the foreclosure process. And so over the last, like I said, almost 20 years, we bought over a billion dollars in distressed debt and then also helped thousands of real estate investors redefine the way that they invest in real estate and cash flow by coming to the dark side of real estate or the sexy side of real estate is called by becoming a note and debt buyer.

Speaker 2:

Cool, cool. Well, let's go a little bit deeper on that. What is a note?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so everybody's in the note business already for the most part. If you've got a mortgage on your house, a car payment, student loan, debt credit card, your cousin Bubba down the street 500 bucks from Thanksgiving bet on a Cowboys game, you're in the note space. You have an IOU. That's what a note is. It's a debt receivable. You know promise to pay an IOU. And I focus on mortgage notes, where people have mortgages on their, their property. You know their homes and vacation homes and then also commercial properties.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome. Well, that's really helpful, because I think people hear these terms and they're like okay, I feel like I should know that. Now, if you have somebody like your cousin Bubba he bet $500 with on the Cowboys game and Bubba decides not to pay you back because he's just that kind of friend, Is that a non-performing note?

Speaker 3:

That's a non-performing. That's a non-performing note. You could sell that debt to your buddy, guido, at 50 cents on the dollar and get 250, and Guido can go collect on the 500. You know what I?

Speaker 2:

mean, yeah Well, that's what you get for betting on the Cowboys, right?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, exactly, they actually decided to win a game for once this year. But you know right, yeah, exactly, they actually decided to win a game for once this year. But it's a little bit different thing. If you've owned a house and had a mortgage on your house before, you've probably gotten a letter from your existing lender at some point that your loan was sold from Chase Bank to ABC Bank or from ABC Bank to Citizens Bank or something like that. It happens all the time.

Speaker 3:

What most people don't realize is that individual investors like me can actually buy that debt as well. Um, you don't need to have five or ten million dollars or more to buy from uh banks. We buy a lot of smaller stuff, a lot of individual notes. I was just doing a video. Uh, a second. We're buying a note in dayton ohio. The borrower owes 40 grand, hasn't paid in three years. And we're buying a note in Dayton Ohio. The borrower owes 40 grand, hasn't paid in three years, and we're buying that note for 25 on a $140,000 house.

Speaker 3:

Our goal is to get the borrower back on track. If they start paying on time again on a monthly basis, that's about a 20% cash and cash return to us, which is pretty good. If they don't pay, I'm the lender. I have the same rights as the bank did. That made that loan to foreclose. If they don't play ball Now, they only owe 40. So if I foreclose, I'll sell it at the auction and I'll make about a $15,000 profit on my $25,000 investment, which is not bad. But if it doesn't sell at auction now, I will own that real estate and own that property, which is about $130,000, $140,000 house that I picked up for $25,000. Our goal, though, is not to really own the house. I don't want to be a property owner. I would actually prefer to keep people in their houses and get the cash flow without dealing with toilets, tents and trash outs. I could obviously turn this into a rental if I want, but I don't like to do that. I like being in the note space and being on the banking side of real estate.

Speaker 2:

So what does WeClose Notes do then? Do you consolidate the debt for investors that they can buy in a pool? Are they buying individual notes?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, great question. When we started doing this stuff back in 2008, we started getting lists of notes sent to us from big institutions and people didn't know, understand what was the note was right. They're like well, is that a property? I'm like no, you have to, you can't. You're not buying the property, you're buying the debt. To take the property back, you have to finish the foreclosure process.

Speaker 3:

So we started teaching this niche of note investing. That's what we Close Notes is. It's kind of our education arm that our podcasts and our webinars and our classes fall under, but we've been teaching investors how to actually buy debt and who to talk to. Now, you're not going to buy from Bank of America, chase or Citi. If you're listening to this podcast, you're behind on your mortgage. Don't call me up and say, scott, I want you to buy my mortgage. Okay, we get plenty of those, but we're tapped into thousands of different banks and institutions that do have debt that they'll give us these lists that we can cherry pick, and so we teach investors how to either go out and identify opportunities on these lists or, if they don't want to do the work themselves, they can do it passively by investing with us and we'll give them a decent return on their money for 12 to 36 months while we work through the asset. Get the bar back on track and then either A foreclose or sell that now-reperforming note back to Wall Street.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so I think the big question that comes to mind, for me and probably for some of the listeners, is are you a debt collector then, or is that part of the role Do you outsource to a debt collector?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I'm basically a debt collector, I'm basically a lender and there are debt collector licenses that you need to have in specific states. Specific states the kind of get out of jail card is that if you are buying notes and have your notes with a licensed servicing company who is licensed to collect debt in that specific state where the loan is, that'll solve your licensing requirements about 75% of the time. So we buy in a lot of those states that we don't have to go get a separate license States like Illinois, massachusetts, north Carolina. They want you to have a separate you know license, debt collector's license on top of the servicing license, and that's okay, cost you a couple hundred bucks.

Speaker 3:

But for the most part when we buy a non-performing note, we're going to board it with a servicer who's licensed in that state and pay them anywhere from like 25 bucks for performing it all the way to like 90, 95 for them to handle the collections, the borrower outreach, the collecting of payments, the sending out of statements to making sure that they're Dodd-Frank compliant and that they're kind of our buffer in communicating with a borrower.

Speaker 3:

So they're talking with a borrower, collecting information. We're going to obviously let the service know which way we want the which way we want the story to go. We'd like them to do a, b or c before we could get to get to d. So that's. The great thing is that we have, you know, vendors all across the country that are working on our behalf to control. So it's kind of almost a passive investment for a lot of folks that want to get into real estate but don't want all the hassles of rehabbing or dealing with tenants. They can have a, you know, by performing paper that's just paying them on a monthly or quarterly basis directly and have a third party servicer who's collecting it and doing all the heavy lifting for them.

Speaker 2:

Well, that's cool and I think for some of our listeners is. You know, there are funds that you can buy that do similar things, that purchase distressed debts. Now this can be a higher risk investment. So neither Scott nor I is endorsing this or making any promises or obligations or throwing in every single disclosure that you can think of. You know that this is purely for educational purposes. Exactly, and here's the biggest.

Speaker 3:

Don't just go invest in something because you heard something on a podcast. I can't tell you how important that is. No matter what you're investing in, you got to learn about that type of niche, whether it's crypto, mfts baby, let's learn some MFTs fix and flip and rentals or, in my world, note investing, whether it's performing or non-performing Non-performing is what I buy most of the time. That's where somebody hasn't paid their mortgage in a period of time and we get a bigger discount for that. But then we have to either go through the route of foreclosing or really doing some heavy lifting and working out with a homeowner to get them back on track on a payment plan. But that's why we always start teaching classes and doing so much online with our YouTube channel and podcast. Because it is a niche. People don't know about it. Many folks in our age may have watched Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones, and that's actually a movie about the note being sold a note story. You know what?

Speaker 2:

I mean, oh, that's right, I forgot that. That's the core of it.

Speaker 3:

You know, the note gets sold from his brother-in-law at the bank to investors who are going to wipe, wipe, wipe him out, you know, plow under the cornfields and um, he's, you know, trying to save the family farm. I mean, there's a bunch of stories. Uh, the big shorts with christian bale, you know, is it another great movie that I love is kind of more of an example of what I do looking at spreadsheets a lot of times and then doing our due diligence to identify deals from the duds and and finding good deals, not only for my stuff but also for our investors and our students yeah, that's awesome and those are two great movies.

Speaker 2:

You know the field of dreams I always think of. Was it shoeless joe jackson coming out of the cornfield?

Speaker 3:

that's correct, baby, that's correct so great movie um you know, rip james earl jones, who just passed away here recently.

Speaker 2:

You know, but, the voice of darth vader yeah. So now here's the flip side, and I think this might be helpful to a lot of listeners. So, for the people who are struggling in debt and trying to work through this, do you have any tips for them on what they can do?

Speaker 3:

Yes, and I'm so glad you asked that because, no matter what the talking heads say, how great America is doing and the economy is doing yeah, the stock market is doing great, but a lot of Americans are struggling to get behind.

Speaker 3:

We are seeing an increase in people defaulting on their mortgages defaulting on car payments, student loan debt, credit card Default rates of that stuff are all up across the board. First-time homebuyers on VA loans or FHA loans is one of the highest default rates. And here's the thing Before you ever buy a house, if you're buying a brand new house, look at what your tax rate is going to be. A lot of people default on their mortgage after the first year. They're buying a new home because the tax basis is just on the lot, not on the improvements in the land. So in states like Texas, wisconsin, florida that have high property taxes, that can kill you once your property is reappraised and now it has a new tax rate and you're not expecting your payment to go up by $300, $400 a month or more in some cases, if you are behind because you've been laid off your hours have been reduced.

Speaker 3:

You're going through the big D and don't mean Dallas. The best thing you can do is reach out to your lender and tell them what's going on. Many of these lenders have programs especially since we saw it happen in COVID where they're allowing you to do a forbearance agreement, maybe skip a couple months of payments that doesn't initially hurt your credit score to give you some opportunity to get back on track, because the last thing they want to do actually the last thing the bank really wants to do is actually take your property back. Okay, but communicate with your lender, tell them what's going on. We talk with our borrowers a lot of times our servicer does and there are things that we are willing to do. We're willing to give them a 90-day forbearance agreement to allow them to get back on track. We're allowing them to maybe split up their payments to twice a month versus once a month. It's changing.

Speaker 3:

There's a lot of things you can do to get back on track. A lot of states out there if you're struggling, look for any type of rental assistance programs. A lot of times they have programs to help you pay your mortgage. There are different community organizations that will also kind of step in and help pay, depending on what state you're in. I don't know them all off the top of my head, but check with your local state and talk with them. I mean, there's modification companies, there's organizations will sometimes pay up to six months of your mortgage payment to keep in your house, or more, depending on what's going on and you know of course you've got to qualify for that stuff. But communicate with your lender, talk with them, let them know what's going on. The worst thing you can do is hide your head in the sand and not call them and then they're going to be forced to start the foreclosure process.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think that's so important For people not to spare is that you may have a lot of options, but you know it's always the worst option with anything is hiding your head in the sand, you know. So getting started figuring out the options, like you said I mean, you listed five or six different options that might apply for people, you know. So that's that's saying don't not deal with it, we've got a deal right now.

Speaker 3:

That's the worst thing you can do with your money. Yeah, we've got a lady right now on a deal it's not my deal, it's one of my students' deals and this lady lives in Round Rock. She's lived in this house for years. The house is worth about $400,000, okay, conservatively okay. She owes about $75,000, but hasn't paid in two years. She just doesn't have the money to pay. And my buddy, cal, who bought the note at a big discount he's willing to work with her. He's like how can I help you If she just pays off the mortgage? It's going to be a good day for him, but she doesn't have the money to do that. She can't go qualify for a traditional new mortgage. What she could qualify, because she's old enough. She could go get a reverse mortgage and pull some of this equity out of the deal and not have to pay a mortgage payment and not have to pay anything. Her heirs would be required to pay off the loan, but she could qualify for that. It's not based on credit score. So Cal's trying to work with her to get her to go through that route, but she's not wanting to do it. And so I'm like well, you could always just give her some cash cash for keys, give her some of her equity so that she can move on and not have to be dealt with as burdened. So that's what they're trying to work with right now.

Speaker 3:

I was once a distressed borrower. I once was facing foreclosure years ago with my first house, back in 2001. So I have a lot of empathy for people that are struggling to get by and can't make their mortgage payment. We were able to, by the skin of my teeth, be able to modify and keep my primary residence and go from there, and so I understand when people are struggling to get by. Things are a lot more expensive these days and the holidays make it even worse.

Speaker 3:

All right, so just don't hide. Here's the best thing. Talk to somebody. Pick. So just don't hide, here's the best thing. Talk to somebody. If you know a mortgage broker, know a real estate agent, pick up the phone and call them. The worst thing we want to do as real estate professionals is find out that one of our friends is losing their house, when they could have picked up the phone and called us and we could have helped advise them to stay in their house, keep their mortgage or, if they have a ton of equity, be able to get out of that house without a foreclosure and still putting some cash in their pocket. Because if it goes to foreclosure that's a crapshoot. You never know what's going to happen. A foreclosure auction, and once you go that far, the bank's not really willing to work with you because you haven't been, you haven't had engaged in correspondence and communicating and telling them what's going on that's awesome advice and to give people a little bit of context too, I would add.

Speaker 2:

This is why it's important to look at the different areas of your financial plan, because you might have some other areas that you might be able to change that could impact your ability to pay your mortgage. So it's not only you know we're talking about focusing right here on paying off your mortgage, but you know this is your overall debt strategy, your savings strategy. You may have some other assets you can tap into that Maybe it makes sense Like normally you don't want to borrow from your 401k plan, but maybe in this kind of instance it does make sense so you protect your credit rating, you don't get in trouble and lose your house is that you need to take a look at all areas of your financial life and start to understand how they work together. So, scott, the next section is we're going to run into what I call the get ready questions. These are quick fire questions I ask all my guests. The first one is what basic money concept do you wish people knew?

Speaker 3:

Oh my gosh, do we have all day Only? I think we have 14 hours left. Okay, so 14 hours? I can't get an answer to one.

Speaker 3:

So the most basic money principle is something I learned as a 24-year-old kid, and it's the rule of 72, the rule of compound interest that if you take the interest rate that you're getting on an investment and divide that into 72, the number that it gives you will tell you how long it takes that investment to double. So if you're getting 6% on a certificate of disappointment, a 401k or something like that, six divided into 72 goes 12 times. So it will take 12 years for that $10,000 CD, making 6% to double to 20,000. And so that's one of the most important values, I think is learning that number and the power of compound interest. Now it also works against you. All right, if you've got a credit card at 24%, like many of them are right now, that means that your balance on your credit card is doubling every three years if you're not paying it off. So understand that concept. It was one of the most eye-opening things out there. And then, of course, plan B would be to pay yourself first.

Speaker 2:

I love it. So, for people who are watching and listening to this podcast as I say every time, because I would say probably at least 75% of my guests mentioned the power of compounding interest I hope that you understand that this is why they continue to mention it, because this is one of the most fundamental things that can help you, but I'm also glad because not many guests talk about how it can also work against you with your debt. So, again, that's why you take a look at everything and see how it all works. So appreciate you mentioning that. So, scott, what is one simple thing people can do each year to set themselves up for financial success?

Speaker 3:

Oh, that's very simple Just start putting money away. A lot of us I literally had this conversation with a guy yesterday on a podcast People often think about how they need to have like $4 million saved and that seems like the impossible dream. I think 66% of Americans are giving up on the idea of retirement because they say I don't have, I got 50 grand, I don't have $4 million. Well, if you look back at little simple decisions each day and if you get in the habit of, like I said, paying yourself first, putting money away each month $100 a month or $100 a week or something like that give it time and it will compound, as we talked about, it will grow faster than expected dreams. But there are ways to make 6%, 10%, 12% that don't have to be in banking issues that can help you grow your nest egg and help you compound.

Speaker 3:

The idea is and one of the great things that Tony's doing with this podcast is providing a whole variety of different knowledge and information on those different things to help you grow. But plan failing to plan is planning to fail first and foremost. So sit down with a professional if you don't have a game plan. Failing to plan is planning to fail first and foremost. So sit down with a professional. If you don't have a game plan, get with somebody. Even if you're just starting off, it's never too late, and it's only going to get worse if you delay and keep kicking the can down the road.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love it. And that gets back to what you were talking about earlier with debt, and for everybody watching and listening. If you're not aware, you can go to my website, join the Get Ready Money Club. You'll receive a weekly action item that covers, over the course of the year, your entire financial life, so you can start to see what's going on with different parts of your financial life. So appreciate that advice. So the next question is what is one habit that people can change when it comes to their money?

Speaker 3:

Well, I will tell you this. Some people will probably talk about money, but I would say it's probably health. All right, and I only say that because of I've dealt with some health issues in the past and that I've worked hard to get beyond that. I'm being diagnosed with diabetes and working to reverse that, Like I have in the last 24 months. Um, we were only given one vessel and you got to take care of that vessel of your spirit and that's your health.

Speaker 3:

We're not talking going to the gym and being buff like Arnold Schwarzenegger or the two guys from Saturday Night Live. We're talking about making conscious efforts to take care of yourself. Go for a walk, get outside from behind any screen, give that a little bit. Like I just got back from walking about actually 6.2 miles this morning. It's one of the things I do every morning is I get up and walk for an hour or two that's one of the best things and then just adjusting what you eat because your body won't. If you want to be lived for 85 to a hundred, you got to take care of that vessel and if you're putting bad things in, you're going to get bad things out and you're just going to cut your life especially shorter. You're going to have more costs and then, when it comes to insurance and more health issues and that's the best thing I can do Be preventative for your future self. Your future self will thank you for taking that walk today. They're not going to care about how many videos on TikTok that you liked.

Speaker 2:

Exactly. Well and there's a lot of talk I don't know if you've heard it about a wealth span, so you know many people are concerned about how long their wealth is going to continue, but a lot of times their health runs a lot shorter because they haven't taken care of it and they don't enjoy those last few years of their life where they've saved all this money, but then they can't do anything to enjoy it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, nobody likes I mean working 40 years to then retire and not be able to enjoy it, not be able to go out and travel and walk or spend time with your loved ones. That's more sad than anything else. You can't take your money with you, but getting out and making memories is one of the things that my dad really drove into my head, and his last couple years were difficult because he was basically been diabetic for 20 years congestive heart failure and he always talked about making memories. But his last two years were very miserable because he just wasn't healthy, you know, couldn't, couldn't get out and do things and it it really drained the energy out of him and the joy out of life in a lot of cases. So I think that's one thing that drives me the most is not to end up like that. You know my dad was my hero. Bless his soul. Rest in peace. I just want to be a healthier man when I turn 50, 60s and 70s.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, that's awesome, that's great advice. So what money myth are you trying to break?

Speaker 3:

Ooh, the money myth. This is the big thing here. This is something I've been preaching for about 20 years. I like to say is let's talk about banking. Let's just talk about banking and what banking does and change the myth up for that. So you go, put money in a bank and a bank has and I say this because I was brainwashed working for a bank a bank will tell you that, oh, 1% to 4% is safe, 4% to 8% is safe, 48% return is kind of moderate, and then anything 12% or greater is risky. Yeah, in some cases. But if you do some research, what the bank is wanting you to do is put money into your savings or certificate of disappointment account and they're going to pay you 1%, maybe 2% or 3%. If you put $100,000 in for 10 years. They're going to take that money and go out. They're glad to give you 1% because they're going to go out and make 6% to 7% on mortgage interest rates, 10% on auto loans, 24% to 29% on credit card debt, and they're glad to give you that 1% and they're making at least five times that or 32 times that in profits. That's why banks are the biggest.

Speaker 3:

Look at something. You are not solely resilient on the banks to go do some things. I mean, that's part of what I love about real estate investing. Of course you need to pick a niche. There's private lending that you can do. There's a whole lot of things you can do to make an above average return, and that was the biggest thing. That was my eyes where I opened years ago. I have to read Rich Dad, poor Dad and a few other things. Don't just invest in bank Because, look, we all want to say, but here's the only thing Jesus saves. Everybody else has to invest.

Speaker 2:

What is Jesus investing in? I think that's the bigger. Sorry for anybody listening.

Speaker 3:

I'm not trying to insult anybody, no, no, no, we're not, it's a joke, I mean, that's what it comes down to. You have to be responsible for where you're at. You have to take responsibility for your actions or lack of inactions and just look to change the course. That's the great thing about us living in the United States. No matter what your political authority is and if you're happy or sad based on the election, it doesn't matter. What happens at DC is probably not going to affect you that much. You have the most control over what you're doing day in, day out, and that means whether it's putting five bucks away or 500 bucks away towards your future life and other things. You are solely in control of your spaceship called life. Okay.

Speaker 2:

I love that. You know you're in charge of your life and you're in charge of your money. So Scott let's get out the time machine for a minute. What advice would you give your younger self if you could go back in time, knowing what you know now about money? Oh, start early.

Speaker 3:

Start early, you know, and save more. That would be the biggest thing. I mean I hustled. I've worked since I was like 12, 13. I grew up in the local hardware store my parents own and I would work on the weekends for people mowing lawns, clearing brush, head buddies. That worked for me.

Speaker 3:

And as kids we get kind of idea, you know. We get the idea about oh, I'm gonna go buy the new pair of Jordan sneakers or I'm gonna go buy the new radio or the new CD or the tapes decks, you know, back in those days and that's great. I wish somebody would sit down and taught me more about hey, you could invest. You can start putting money away into an ESA for your college education 529 plan, or you can start putting money into a Roth IRA because you're making more. I think those things are some of the most critical things that you can teach our younger generation and none of it's taught in high school. It needs to be taught before that, because kids often learn money habits from their parents, who are often, unfortunately, some of the most financially uneducated people out there. Not bashing them, it's just a hereditary disease that we can cure by teaching the proper tools and how to make money last and how to invest properly.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's awesome. And I'm going to give a quick shout out to a tool from a friend of mine with giftingsenseorg. I'll put the link in here. And she has a does it make sense? Score calculator for kids to see if a buying thing whether to buy something or not makes sense. So I was trying to write my note while I was talking and that didn't work out.

Speaker 3:

That's okay, it's good to put that note down for guys like you and me, so we don't forget to put it in the show notes, for sure. Exactly. We take notes Maybe that's the next, next invention of. We close notes for sure, exactly.

Speaker 2:

We take notes. Scott, what is your number one go-to favorite money resource, whether it's a podcast, book, newsletter, app or website, what's, what's the one thing you go to?

Speaker 3:

Wow, that's another long list If we're talking just basic kind of knowledge advice. Your podcast is phenomenal. I also love you're welcome, I also love the Stacking Benjamins podcast. Josal Sihai is a buddy of mine. We've had him on the show, he had me on his Stacking Deeds podcast when it was around, and they've pivoted to a new direction that way.

Speaker 3:

Fincon is a conference that I love going to once a year.

Speaker 3:

It's where money and marketing meet, and I'm surrounded by you know, 2,000 other money nerds in different niches and I could learn something from them.

Speaker 3:

And that's been probably one of the most valuable things in the last three or four years is going to FinCon and getting a chance to network and meet amazing individuals like yourself and others out there and learn what they're doing in their niches, and when I need an expert on a field that I'm not an expert in, I'm able to reach out to them and truly get counsel.

Speaker 3:

One bit of advice I would tell folks out there if you're looking for advice or counsel on something, don't go to your family. All right, opinions are like assholes Everybody has one, and if your family member is not doing the things you're trying to do or trying to accomplish, they're not the right person to go to. You want to go see somebody who's in the position that you want to be, or is an expert in that, and actually get their counsel not their advice Much more valuable than just asking your cousin Bubba, who you owe 500 bucks to, about buying a term policy or investing in real estate, or whatever it might be. Go talk to the experts, it'll be well worth your time.

Speaker 2:

I love that because I think people overlook that is. You know you have to consider the source of whoever's giving the advice is. Are they qualified to give the advice? It's just like, would you take medical advice from your cousin? Probably not, you know. You'd go and find somebody who knows what the heck they're talking about.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, cousin Bubba, if he can't fix it with Miller Lite, windex and some duct tape, find somebody who knows what the heck they're talking about. Cousin Bubba, if he can't fix it with Miller Lite, windex and some duct tape, he ain't going he ain't dealing with it.

Speaker 2:

I used to do outdoor sports and that was the thing. Duct tape was always our number one go-to Use duct tape for everything, but it's not always the best solution. It's not always the best solution. So, to close out, what is your number one tip on changing the way we think about money?

Speaker 3:

Number one tip about how to do it is first get educated. Read, listen to podcasts, watch YouTube videos. It can be overwhelming, let's just put it that way Very overwhelming, especially if you're behind the eight ball and getting started a little bit later in life or like are just awakened to new financial concepts. That's what I love about your year long and your newsletter, tony, with you doing focus on one thing each way each month, and then the emails that go along with it emails that go along with it. Life is like an onion. There's different layers to it and you're going to hit different layers depending on where you're at, where you live and what you do for a living. The best thing I can tell you is just get educated. Read books, read, podcasts. Just start going out there. We have so many opportunities to learn and change the direction you're in here in the United States and others, so go do it. If you're not happy with where you're at, guess what? Go change it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's awesome. That's great advice. So, scott, where can people find out more about you? Where can they tune into the note? Closer show.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, our podcast is on any any of the podcasting platforms out there. But you can go to weclosednotescom is our main website. That'll give you access to our podcasts, our educational stuff. If you'd like to learn more about note investing, we have a free class that we give away to folks. It's kind of a teaser, kind of the Cliff Notes version of our three-day longer class. If you go to noteweekendcom that's noteweekendcom you can sign up for the free class, catch the replays. The last one we taught usually ninety nine bucks but we were given away for free for you, no credit card required. Three and a half hour class. That's a great way to start feeling if notes are right for you. Of course, if you have any questions about investing or real estate stuff like that, I'm always available by going to talk with Scott Carson dot com. Book a call with me. I'm always glad to help answer any questions I might have or point you in the right direction if I don't know the answer.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome and for everybody watching and listening. As always, there will be links to all these resources in the show notes so you can connect with Scott, you can tune into the no Closes show, check out the free course. So, scott, thanks again for joining us today on the Get Ready Money podcast.

Speaker 3:

Tony. It has been an honor, as always. Buddy, Looking forward to continuing the conversation later date. And for those of you guys listening out there, we as podcasters, we love you to do one thing Go over Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you're listening and leave a five-star review for Tony. We love to see those things. It tells us we're doing a great job and leave a note, leave a comment. If you're not gonna leave a five-star review bug off, go do something else, but five-star review and leave a comment. That'll be great for us to see what you like. And, like I said, Tony's kicking ass and taking names of this podcast and we'd love to hear feedback.

Speaker 2:

That's awesome and I appreciate the warm words, scott, and appreciate your time and, yeah, you know, if you can leave a positive review, it really does matter and helps us out and allows us to continue providing this great content, and so thank you, as always, for tuning into this episode of the Get Ready Money podcast. If you learned something today, as Scott mentioned, please leave a review, tell a friend, subscribe. You know the things to do. Until next time, let's change the way we think about money. Thank you.

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Tony Steuer

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