Gen Z Millionaires in Training. Dan Sheeks

ob Wheeler (00:01.929)
Dan, do we have permission to record this podcast? Awesome. I’m glad your answer did not change. That is awesome. Alright.

Dan Sheeks (00:04.779)
Yes.

Bob Wheeler (00:11.638)
Dan, welcome to the show.

Dan Sheeks (00:14.624)
Thanks for having me, glad to be here.

Bob Wheeler (00:16.93)
So I’m going to read you a couple of definitions. I think you’ll appreciate them. Freak, a person who has withdrawn from normal behavior and activities to pursue one interest or obsession. Two, one who is markedly exceptional or extraordinary. Sheik’s Freak, a young person obsessed with making intelligent financial decisions to allow themselves to reach early financial independence and live their best life. What possessed you?

to obsess about helping young people change their money mindset.

Dan Sheeks (00:51.34)
That’s a great question, Bob. Thanks for having me. And to answer that question briefly, it’s kind of been a career, a lifelong journey of working with young people. I’ve been a public high school teacher for over 20 years in just south of Denver metro area. And I teach business classes, which is a lot of fun and happens to be also connected to money.

Bob Wheeler (01:15.406)
Absolutely. Well, let me answer this. So I know you’ve done some investing and you’re obviously into the fire movement financial independence retire early and You’re probably doing pretty good. So why teach why give back?

Dan Sheeks (01:34.888)
Well, now my wife and I are doing just fine financially and we’re very blessed and fortunate. But when I began teaching, again, over 20 years ago, that was not the case. I had a significant amount of credit card debt and student loan debt. And as we all know, teachers don’t make a whole lot of money, especially at the beginning of their careers. So I have not always been in a great financial situation, that’s for sure.

Bob Wheeler (02:01.61)
Yeah, well, and I know for myself, like when I was in college and doing accounting, when it actually started getting complicated, because the first couple of years it was like, oh, this is easy, but it got complicated. I found that when I taught other people, I learned the principles and integrated information so much better. And so I actually learned more when I taught the other students, because I became like the group leader. I learned a lot more when I was in it because I’m in it. I don’t know if that’s true for you.

Dan Sheeks (02:32.832)
Yeah, it’s been true for me, but also it’s a strategy I use as a teacher and most good teachers do is I have my students Many times teach topics to their classmates Because of that very reason when you are teaching something you kind of take ownership and you want to be prepared Generally speaking and you kind of learn Out of necessity because you’re gonna be teaching those topics. So it’s a great teaching strategy as well

Bob Wheeler (02:57.738)
And you wrote a book, First to a Million, A Teenager’s Guide to Achieving Early Financial Freedom. You tailored this book to Gen Z, and I’m wondering why you chose to focus your teaching there, and are there any unique opportunities or challenges that you see for Gen Z when it comes to finances?

Dan Sheeks (03:21.704)
Yeah, that’s a great question. I’ll start with the first part. So why, the first two million in my book, why did I focus it on Gen Z? Two reasons really. One, because that’s my wheelhouse, right? I’m working with teenagers all day every day and I love doing it and I’m passionate about it and they give me energy. So that kind of made sense. But number two, my book is kind of an introduction to the early financial independence movement or community and strategies to get you to early financial freedom.

And there are some books out there, Set for Life being my favorite, that are for more millennials or Gen X, more adults, right, about these strategies. But there was nothing as far as a book for Gen Z around these strategies to teach them about early financial independence. And so I kind of felt based on my background of I’m a real estate investor, I’m an entrepreneur, I’m a high school teacher. And my wife and I.

Um, we were on a path to early financial independence. Now we’re in this fun little place called coast fi. Uh, it just seemed like I was meant to write that book. And so that’s why I chose that demographic. And then the second part of your question was, Oh, challenges for Gen Z. What’s interesting and this, I love this. So I feel like other than just, you know, maybe a lack of confidence and experience, which, which you only get when you get older.

Um, I feel like Gen Z is in an advantageous position and they have more, they have more opportunities and they have a better prognosis than adults because when I deal with teenagers in my classroom and even college age students who I talk to all the time, they have yet to make the bad decisions and build the bad habits that many of, uh, the American adults have because

You know, our country is overall financially illiterate, which is why you have this podcast and we’re all kind of fighting the same fight. But you know, I often get asked, why did you teach teenager or why do you teach this to young people is because they haven’t yet built themselves up a bunch of credit card debt or student loan debt. They haven’t engaged in lifestyle inflation where they have started to spend money lavishly on things that they don’t really need or even want.

Dan Sheeks (05:39.9)
And they have their credit scores not tanked because they don’t even maybe have a credit score yet. So it’s easier to start when the slate is blank than to go and I think, you know, the people who work with adults have a tougher road because many of those adults have dug a hole that they first have to get themselves out of.

Bob Wheeler (05:44.43)
Right, right.

Bob Wheeler (05:57.654)
Yeah, absolutely. Well, let me ask, I’m curious about this because I think every generation maybe sees things different. It’s a different mindset a little bit. I’m wondering because you’re in the trenches, you see it more, but for somebody like myself or somebody that’s a little older, you know, just work hard. Or what do you mean this life balance? Or what do you mean slow down? Or like, we have these certain beliefs. And so sometimes maybe we’re not as compassionate.

or empathetic to the younger folks who are saying, oh, it’s hard to buy a house or it’s, yeah, we’ll just do it, right? And so I can find myself sometimes being impatient in seeing that they don’t see it the way I see it.

Dan Sheeks (06:42.704)
Yeah, I think my take on that is that the generations, they do change over time in some, but when you really get down to it, every generation, whether that’s Baby Boomer, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z now, we’re all kind of the same. And every older generation looks at the younger generation and says, you guys have it so easy or you guys are entitled. I mean, that was said about my generation, certainly when I was a teenager, I felt like people were judging Gen Xers. I’m a Gen X.

And just similarly to how we are now judging Gen Z. But if anything is different about this generation is that I think they have a lot more pressure in emotional roadblocks and navigating with social media and all the technology and information so readily available. I mean, it’s overwhelming for me to.

to digest information and weed through information. I’m sure it is for them as well. Just being a little bit more naive and immature sometimes. So I think they’re doing great, of course, every generation as the top goal getters and achievers and others that are not so work ethic minded, but Gen Z is doing just fine.

Bob Wheeler (08:06.282)
And do you talk with your students about like the pressures of social media where, look, Billy’s flying all over the world and Billy got his first million when he was 10. Uh, I can’t keep up, so I better present so that I can at least appear to be successful. So I’m going to show all the amazing things and not ever mention about my struggles or where I’m feeling isolated or where I don’t measure up.

because it feels like there’s such a potential. Um, and I know still in my generation, people are still presenting instead of actually saying this is what’s true for me.

Dan Sheeks (08:44.256)
Yeah, I mean, that’s one of the main disadvantages or of social media, right? So I talk about that in my book, I talk about that in my classroom, and I talk about that in my online community that I run as well. About the fact that many of the Instagram lifestyle that’s portrayed, or whether that’s Snapchat or TikTok, that’s portrayed through young people’s social media accounts is often not the reality of their life.

And young people get that, but even if you understand that to be true, it’s still, it can be hard to not get caught up in comparing yourself to what is presented from different people on social media. So I think that is a battle for not just Gen Z, but for maybe everybody.

Bob Wheeler (09:25.898)
Yeah, for all of us, for sure. You talk about millionaire mindset in your book. Can you tell us what millionaire mindset means to you?

Dan Sheeks (09:36.98)
Yeah, I talk about a millionaire mindset or entrepreneurial mindset in that the young person who is going to start taking action now when they’re young, which by the way, that’s why my book has got that freakish kind of theme to it. Because young people who are going to take action now, they are exceptional, they are unique, they are the minority by far. And I see that in my classroom all the time.

Dan Sheeks (10:06.78)
education, you know, information now to maximize their financial future, then they are going to change their life forever. And so that’s what I try to teach them is that if you can get motivated enough to make some of these decisions now and set yourself up for a bright future, then it’s going to happen.

Bob Wheeler (10:25.066)
Yeah, it’s interesting. I’ve seen this social media video. A guy’s talking to his five-year-old kid and he’s saying, you can have these three Oreo cookies or this stack of a thousand dollars. Of course, the kid wants the Oreo cookies. Why not? Most of us want the Oreo cookies, even if we’re not five. And how do you like impart these?

Dan Sheeks (10:32.684)
Ahem.

Dan Sheeks (10:41.42)
Yep. Yeah.

Dan Sheeks (10:46.881)
Mm-hmm.

Bob Wheeler (10:52.866)
lessons or the tools to start to shift that mindset to say, like, it’s not, you know, some people say, well, your teacher would be greedy. Like I was always told, oh, you’re so money focused. And it wasn’t that I was, oh, I got to just have all this money. It was like, I wanted to have opportunity.

Dan Sheeks (11:12.776)
Yeah, so I mean, it’s, that can be a challenge because every young person is different and their mindset is different and they’re still kind of defining their own values and their own personal goals. But I, when I teach, and I’ll kind of focus on my book, right, in my book, I talk about the idea that early financial freedom or becoming a young millionaire is a great goal to have. But you have to have a why behind that.

do you want to become a millionaire at a young age? Why do you want to build up a small business and become a successful entrepreneur? And the why of FI, the why of your financial independence journey is gonna be a super motivating aspect to your journey because there are gonna be challenges and sacrifices to make along the way. And so in forming their why, I walk them through an exercise where it basically gets them to realize that the real ad,

advantage to having wealth is that you get to have control of your time, which is that non-renewable resource that we never get back. And when you have control of your time, you have real wealth. And it doesn’t matter how much is in your bank account, but when you can decide how you live every day. And so defining your why is, okay, if you reach financial independence earlier than 65, which is that would be early financial independence,

What would you do with your time? What is, do you wanna start a nonprofit? Do you wanna volunteer? Do you wanna start a small business? Do you want to travel? Do you want to start a family and spend more time with your kids because you don’t have to work 60 hours a week? What is your why? And let that motivate you and let that be the real reason for building wealth. Not so you can flash a fancy car on Instagram or talk about how many real estate investment properties you have. That’s not the real why. What is your real why?

Bob Wheeler (13:06.454)
Yeah, absolutely. And I would imagine even if my real initial why is I want to have a flashy car, the question behind that would be why. Why do I need the flashy car? Oh, I’m not enough. I’ve got to impress somebody or I need to be accepted. So I think that why can keep being asked if we want to get really curious as to our motivations and really take a deeper dive.

Dan, we’re gonna take just a moment to test your nerve. Test your nerve is brought to you by the MoneyNerve. And to all your listeners out there, are you tangled up in financial knots you can’t undo? Check out our free quiz at testyournerve.com to start exploring your relationship with money. All right, we’re gonna have a little fun here, I think. What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve done to save money?

Dan Sheeks (13:59.18)
Oh, there’s a few. I’ll talk about this one. So there’s a strategy out there in real estate investing called house hacking. And basically it involves renting out some of your primary residence. And a lot of people who do that, they own a house or not different bedrooms or they’ll buy a small multifamily like a fourplex around the other units. What is, so my wife and I currently house hack in the way we do it, there’s lots of different ways. We have a three bedroom house.

And our basement, which is finished, has one bedroom, one bath, and a living area. And so we rent out our basement. That’s, you know, an easy way to house hack to a tenant who’s awesome. And she pays us. It’s just short of a thousand dollars a month to rent out our base. It’s a nice space down there. Um, now we also have a two year old son. That’s what I think makes it a little bit freakish is that if you ask most couples who were in our forties and we have a young son,

And by the way, we’ve been renting our basement for five or six years before he was born and we continue to do it. That’s, that is not what most people would be comfortable with, but it allows us to have that extra income, which, you know, right now I teach part-time. And one of the reasons I teach part-time is because we have an extra thousand dollars a month coming in from renting out our basement. So for me, I’d rather have the extra time with the spend with my son.

than the space in the basement that we probably wouldn’t use anyway. So we’re saving money that way.

Bob Wheeler (15:30.766)
Absolutely. You wrote a book for teens. What’s the most annoying money advice adults always seem to give teenagers?

Dan Sheeks (15:38.54)
Oh man, that is a great question. Here’s where I’ll come to. Adults love to talk about stock market investing and oftentimes that leads to some kind of a stock market challenge or game, right? Like invest in a bunch of stocks. Do you give you $100,000 of make believe money? You go into some kind of software and you invest for a month and see who wins, see who has the most money.

I think that’s annoying because it’s teaching students, young people, bad investing habits. That’s exactly what you don’t want to do in stock market investing is kind of the day trading approach and try to guess what stock is going to perform best. So I think that’s a disservice to our young people, teaching them that mentality around investing in the stock market when really just put it in an index fund and let it sit there for 20 years. That’s the best way to do it.

Bob Wheeler (16:33.114)
Good. What advice would you give your 18 year old self about money if you could go back in time?

Dan Sheeks (16:40.53)
Start saving and investing earlier. That would be it.

Bob Wheeler (16:44.638)
If a genie granted you unlimited money for one day, what are three things you would do?

Dan Sheeks (16:51.884)
One day unlimited money. Wow. I’d like to say I travel, but with one day, maybe I’d go up to the mountains here in Colorado and rent a super nice hotel room or condo or house, invite all my friends up and throw a party, I guess. So one would be rent a house, two would be throw a party, and three would be hang out with my friends.

Bob Wheeler (17:12.738)
Cool. And nobody says you can’t prepay for two years of travel. If you were cast on Shark Tank and could only pitch the investors one of your moneymaking ideas, what would it be?

Dan Sheeks (17:17.777)
Okay, then I’ll do that, yeah.

Dan Sheeks (17:29.488)
Um, I would pitch my online community, not that it’s a money. I mean, it, my own online community is called Sheik’s Freaks and it’s for Gen Z who are highly interested in this stuff. I would pitch that because it is a small business. Um, but I didn’t create it to make money and I don’t make, I mean, it’s self-sufficient and kind of breaks even. But if the shark tank, if a shark got involved and we could use their network to grow the community.

I would love to do that, not to make money, but to spread knowledge and information to Gen Z.

Bob Wheeler (18:04.138)
Yeah, awesome. Awesome. Well, let’s I want to go back to you and ask this about your childhood. What were the core beliefs around money that you had growing up? And did your parents talk to you about money? What was that environment? What was that culture?

Dan Sheeks (18:24.176)
So I grew up with one sister who’s a year younger and my mom we had a single my parents are divorced so we had just one parent and She you know we didn’t have a lot of money for sure so the mindset around money growing up and my house was We did okay. We were lower middle class that we were never Wanting and we never had to you know Figure out where our next meal was coming from we had what we needed right and we were happy

But there, you know, money was always tight. You know, there was definitely a mindset around we can’t spend a ton of money on fancy things and we were okay with that. But what that also taught me was that the stress or just that feeling that it’s always kind of an uncertain, unknown certainty about, you know, how our money situation is, I didn’t wanna have that in my future. It took me several years to find that

entrepreneurship or starting a business is the best way to get out of that or to fix that feeling because you have so much control of how much you make and when you make it. So that’s probably the underlying theme is that we were okay, we were happy, but money was always tight.

Bob Wheeler (19:42.934)
Do you remember thinking back, was there any particular experience or something that might have happened where you said, I will never be in this position again, or I will make sure that I do this? Do you remember ever making any sort of sacred vows around money as a kid or a teenager?

Dan Sheeks (20:03.192)
I, well, the example I’m going to give it, I was in my twenties and it’s funny because I vowed never to do something and then I went all in on it. So when I, I bought my first real estate property as a, as a primary residence, a townhouse here in Denver in my twenties and it was pre 2008. It was around 2004, 2005. And then as we know, the market, the real estate market crashed actually.

the whole economy crashed in 2008. And I found at that point, I wanted to move out of that townhome, but I found that I owed more than the property was worth. I was upside down as many people were who eventually foreclosed. And I didn’t foreclose, I kept making my payments and turned it into a rental and was losing money every month, but I didn’t wanna tank my credit score and my credit history. So I just bit the bullet and ate the losses for a couple of years until rents went up.

So at that point, I vowed that I will never buy real estate again, because I said at the time, this is the worst financial decision I’ve ever made in my life, was to buy this townhome. But then a few years later, it started appreciation. The market came back. I did sell it for a bit of a gain. And since then, my wife and I have built up a real estate investment portfolio that we have like 20 units. And so that is our main…

source of passive income. It’s our main way to invest. And I love real estate investing now. But back then, I actually vowed that I would never do it again.

Bob Wheeler (21:39.698)
Yeah, no, absolutely. And I’m the other question I’m going to ask, and I’ll give an example of myself. I’m wondering if there’s anything that you’ve carried into adulthood where it still feels like a little bit of a pain point, um, where it still comes up. You live and learn to live with it. Like for myself, I still like to have three refrigerators stocked of food because I still have this scarcity mindset that will come in a little bit. And I sort of have to talk myself off the ledge.

every once in a while I’m like, oh my God, it’s all falling apart. Even though it’s contrary to the facts, I still have this little piece from my childhood because we did struggle.

Dan Sheeks (22:19.268)
Yeah, I think this is, it’s kind of a pain point, but I’ve always been frugal. And I think because I didn’t have a lot of money growing up, that was the mindset. Like you just, you save money however you can. And so here’s a recent example of how maybe I was too frugal, all right? So I’m in my forties, I’m married, I have a kid. Financially, we are fine. But I was going to a conference here in Colorado about two months ago.

And I was leading a breakout session in a round table thing, but I was also attending as an attendee. And so if I were to get a room for the conference, I would have had to pay for it myself, but I didn’t wanna pay for it. So I contacted a couple of friends who I knew were going and I just said, hey, do you mind if I crash on the couch in your condo? And I was only there for one night. So can I just crash there for one night? And they said yes, and I did that. I slept on a couch for one night.

Which in retrospect, like what did I save $150 because I didn’t have to buy a hotel room for one night? You know, it’s not the end of the world, but that mindset of, well, I can sleep on a couch and it’s just me and it’s one night and my friends are happy to let me stay there. So why wouldn’t I save $150? I don’t know.

Bob Wheeler (23:38.558)
Been there, done that. So let’s go back to talking about teens. What would you say to teens or young adults who believe pursuing early financial freedom means sacrificing happiness or fun experiences along the way? How can they find balance?

Dan Sheeks (23:58.22)
Well, that’s a great question because I think a lot of people believe that, that if you’re going to achieve early financial independence, you have to sacrifice a lot and maybe too much. So first thing I would say is. If someone decides they want to pursue early financial independence, which I will say that’s not for everybody, but if that’s the decision they decide they want to do and they’re on that journey to early five.

And on that journey, at some point, they realize they are not enjoying life. They are not having fun. Then they’re doing it wrong. They’re not going down the journey the way they should be because you definitely still need to have balance and you should still be spending money on things you value that bring you happiness and are fun. Maybe you’re a little more creative about some of those things and you choose options that are low cost or even free, but you still can spend money.

One of the underlying strategies in early financial independence is frugality. And frugality to me, it doesn’t mean that you’re not gonna spend money. That’s what being cheap is. Cheap says I’m not gonna spend money. Frugality says I’m gonna spend money, but only on the things I value. And you definitely do need to do that if you are striving to reach early financial independence. I know people, I have good friends who have reached early financial independence very quickly.

And in retrospect, they look back and they said, I did it. I did it too fast. I sacrificed my, my sanity, my health, my happiness on the way. And I, I got there very quickly, but several years of, of sacrifice. And they said, I would not do it that way again. I would, I would spend some money along the way more than I was to, to have some happiness. And if I didn’t reach financial independence for an extra five years, give or take. Oh, well, right. It’s, it’s about being happy. That’s.

To reach financial independence, I think, is a happiness venture, but you need to have happiness while you’re on the journey too.

Bob Wheeler (25:59.594)
Yeah, I think so many of us, and I was guilty of that, of forgetting that it’s supposed to be fun the whole way. And that tends to be my measure now when I’m doing something and I’ve been in it for a little bit, I stop and say, wait a minute, am I having fun? Like, because if I’m not, what’s the point? And it’s not that I should need to be having fun and laughing every moment. Uh, and it’s important to me that the whole point of this journey is to be able to enjoy life. And so if I’m not enjoying it along the way.

Dan Sheeks (26:17.973)
Yes.

Dan Sheeks (26:21.562)
Ahem.

Bob Wheeler (26:29.474)
we all know it’s the journey, not the destination. I’m not ready to get to my six feet under. So I’d like to have a lot of pleasure and fun along the way with a little bit of integrity and transparency.

Dan Sheeks (26:34.36)
Mm-hmm.

Dan Sheeks (26:41.952)
Yep. I agree.

Bob Wheeler (26:45.294)
On your Sheik’s Freaks community or in it, you provide accountability partners and a supportive environment. Why is having a community so critical, especially when pursuing non-traditional goals like early financial freedom?

Dan Sheeks (26:58.392)
Hmm. That, yeah, because it’s all about networking. It’s all about the community. It’s all about who you spend the most time with. It’s all about having friends that you can lean on when times get tough because they will. And so that’s what my community is about. It’s bringing together those freakish, like-minded young people who are taking action now to reach financial independence early in life.

and surrounding themselves with other like-minded people that are of the same mindset. And that is everything. I mean, the people in my community are meeting their lifelong friends. They’ve traveled across the country to meet other members and spend time with them. It’s really fun to watch and fun to be a part of and very rewarding, much like being a teacher is being rewarding, just on a different level. And so, yeah, I mean, you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with. So if you’re in the community, you’re spending time with people who are doing

We’re doing exactly what you wanna do or maybe even a step or two ahead of you, and that’s where the magic happens.

Bob Wheeler (27:59.57)
Yeah, that’s awesome. For parents who are listening, what money mindsets and beliefs do you think are most important for them to model and instill in their kids at a young age?

Dan Sheeks (28:14.224)
Well, if I’m talking to parents, and I’m sure a lot of your listeners are parents, one of the first things I would say, and I’ve written plenty of blog articles about how to be a good parent when it comes to teaching money. I think the biggest mistake I see as a high school teacher is when parents, and I’m not saying college is bad, but when parents are just close-minded to the idea of alternative post-secondary education pathways.

than a four-year degree at an expensive school that is potentially going to burden their child with student loan debt. So I would say first parents be more open-minded to the idea of some alternatives than to the four-year college degree that is very expensive and only getting more expensive. But then another good piece of advice is to include your child, no matter how old they are, but earlier the better in…

in the small business that is your household. Every house is a small business. There’s money coming in, there’s money going out, there’s a budget, hopefully, some kind of a budget. You have to pay bills every month. And so include them in the decision making, include them in, show them all the numbers in the spreadsheet, the budget, have them click the mouse to pay the bills every month so they get kind of introduced to, oh wow.

you spend $150 on cable or Netflix or cell phone bill every month. I had no idea that was that much. If they’re actually doing it and they’re paying on the website, it makes it real, because it is real, right? And so I think including your, in having conversations about money at the dinner table on the drive to soccer practice, those are just two small examples of things that parents can be doing.

Bob Wheeler (30:05.898)
Yeah, absolutely. And it’s not, we don’t all have to follow the same path. I have a friend whose high school kid has dropped out of high school because he’s making high five figures and will probably be making six figures by the time he gets to 21. And a lot of people are looking at them saying, you’re crazy. They’re like, our kid’s super smart. Doesn’t he’s feels like he’s wasting his time at school and he’s generating. He pays rent at home. He does all these things and it’s not traditional and it’s definitely hard for them.

but it just felt like we can’t force him down a path that just doesn’t make sense for him. So I appreciate that piece. Dan, we’re at our M&M moment, our sweet spot, money and motivation. I’m wondering if you have a practical tip or a piece of wealth wisdom you could share with our listeners.

Dan Sheeks (30:54.864)
Yeah, so I’ll share this one. I get often asked, you know, in my book, first two million, what’s the one thing you hope the readers take from your book? If there was only one thing that they could take and then utilize, what would that be? And the answer that I give is the concept of pay yourself first, which I borrowed from The Richest Man in Babylon. So it’s been around a long time, but I think that one concept or that one strategy

is really all you need to achieve early financial independence. If you pay yourself first, a fairly significant piece of your income, let’s say 25% or up, then you can’t not reach early financial independence. Mathematically, it has to happen. The average American is saving 5% to 8% of their income. So, every percentage point that goes up over a course of several years,

the age at which you reach financial independence comes down. And so that would be the one thing, the most important thing is to start implementing that strategy as soon as possible, build that habit now and let it carry over into the future.

Bob Wheeler (32:05.95)
Yeah, that’s great advice. And for people that aren’t quite sure what pay yourself first means, look it up, read about it because everybody’s different definition is slightly different, but it really comes down to like taking care of yourself first. It doesn’t mean you pay yourself and then never, ever, ever use it. Um, right. Cause some people think, oh, then I can never, ever touch it until I die. Well, then I’m dead. So, uh, it, but pay yourself first and learn to do that, I think, is a great piece of advice.

So Dan, I, you know, a couple of my takeaways, it really is engagement, community, conversation, because if we’re just doing it alone, uh, if we’re just going down a path and not getting any feedback or getting any kind of support, maybe it all feels for not, or we don’t even know if we’re going in the right direction. The other piece I think is really important. And I talk about this as well is the why. Um, why am I doing this? Why am I going down this path?

Because if we don’t know the why, then it may just feel like drudgery or a chore, or I got to do it to make my parents happy and to really find that, why am I doing this for me? And the other piece is to actually enjoy the ride, have some happiness. Don’t like save that for later. And for me, the question is, am I having fun? Is this fun? Because if it’s not, I want to pivot.

Dan Sheeks (33:11.503)
Ahem.

Bob Wheeler (33:31.926)
in a place where I’m going to have enjoyment. It doesn’t mean I have to take myself out financially to have fun. And so learning to find that balance of being able to get back my time, have control of my time, as the one resource we can’t replace, and really just enjoy the journey. So I appreciate that you’re working with young people, creating community, creating support systems, writing books, and having these conversations so people can look to have a different choice.

Dan Sheeks (34:01.844)
Yeah, I appreciate those words. And it’s like I said, I think we’re both fighting the same fight, slightly different demographic age-wise. But we’re just trying to inform and educate people about the fact that money isn’t that complicated, and we can all master it.

Bob Wheeler (34:17.482)
Absolutely. So Dan, where can people find you online? Where can they find you on social media? You’ve got a book, if you want to hold that up, where can we find your book?

Dan Sheeks (34:25.932)
Yeah, the book is called First to a Million, Amazon or the publisher is biggerpockets.com. If they want to get in touch with me, my email is dan at sheiksfreaks.com or you can DM me on Instagram, LinkedIn. Yeah, and then my website sheiksfreaks.com is a website for Gen Z with lots of different blog articles and then my community Sheiks Freaks. You can learn more about my community on the main website sheiksfreaks.com.

Bob Wheeler (34:55.986)
Awesome. Well, Dan, thank you so much for taking the time. Appreciate it, and I wish you the best.

Dan Sheeks (35:01.922)
Thanks, Bob.

Bob Wheeler (35:05.83)
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Thanks so much. Yeah, I think it’s.