Podcast Transcription: How to Unlock Financial Freedom and Create a Passive Income Stream with Justin Donald, The Lifestyle Investor

Ted Ryce: Justin Donald, thank you so much for coming on the show today. I'm super excited to have you here.

Justin Donald: Well, thanks, Ted. I'm so glad to be here. I'm excited to hang with you and so many people in your world, the entrepreneurs and the fitness scene. And I just think that's so powerful, the things that you're doing to make impact and change in the world to help people just better themselves.

Ted Ryce: Yeah. I want to get into that with you about talking about your approach to health, but the way we met is that, I was at an event for my business coaching group that I'm a part of with Micheal Chu and you gave a talk there that floored everybody in the room. Because like me, they’re mostly coaches or maybe agency owners.

And we work hard for our money, just like a lot of the listeners to the Legendary Life podcast. And the thing that you blew our minds with is that: Hey, listen, making money from your job or business is fantastic, but it doesn't make you wealthy, investing is what makes you wealthy. And you talk about a specific type of investing that you do, and that floored everybody.

And I want to get into that, but I thought it was such a powerful moment. I'm like Justin, people don't realize—people want to lose weight with me, but then, even if they're doing well with their incomes like you talked about, they're spending too much money and they're not investing and—or they're investing in things like crypto and they're losing it all.

And they're having difficulty sleeping, they're getting angry, they're fighting with their partner, they're not progressing in the gym, they eat too much or drink too much trying to deal with the stress of money, even if though they're making a lot. And so, that's why I'm so happy to have you on this show. Do you have anything to say about that before we get into you and what you do?

Justin Donald: Sure. I think it's amazing that you are bringing financial education into your show, because it's hard to truly compartmentalize. So it's nice, we can all say, “Hey, you've got your fitness life, then you have your work life, then you have your financial life, then your personal life.”

But it doesn't work that way in real life; one bleeds into the other. If stuff's not right in your relationships, it will spill over into work or into your personal life and other aspects. If things aren't right with money, it will bleed into different parts of your life.

Whether it be physical fitness, whether it be business or personal, it just—you can't compartmentalize them the way that people think or people talk about. So, I think it's really important to talk about financial health, just the way that you talk about physical health.

And I think that when you solve the financial issues, when money is not a problem, when making money is not a problem, then it makes it a lot easier to solve other things, and really it alleviates a lot of the pressure, a lot of the problems, a lot of the issues. And you kind of upgrade to what I like to talk about as: better quality problems.

It's great when your finances are taken care of, because maybe a better-quality problem is how do I invest all the money I'm making as opposed to… how do I invest in the first place? Or how do I make more so I can invest.

Ted Ryce: Powerfully stated. And to jump into that conversation, I would like to start with hearing your journey. Now you've mastered something called Low Risk Cash Flow Investing, and you've been doing this for 20 plus years, negotiating deals with hundreds of companies. Can you talk about where did you start? How did you get started? And can you talk about the type of, you know, how'd you get into the type of investing that you do today?

Justin Donald: Sure. Well, it's interesting because I coined the term “lifestyle investor,” because what I wanted to do is encompass the purpose of my investing. My goal of investing is to create the lifestyle that I want, that my family wants, that my wife wants, that my daughter wants.

And so early on in my career, I wasn't able to articulate that, I didn't exactly know what it was that I was trying to do but once I looked at enough deals. I was like, “Oh yeah, I'm doing this to create cash flow and passive income”. And the reality is most people are kind of a slave to something, a slave to the money they make, a slave to the job that they have, to security and safety, to just the norm or what is regular in their life.

And I think the more that we can get out of that, and the more that we can focus on buying assets that help us buy our time back, income-producing assets. I think that's when life can get really exciting. But early on for me, I just—the whole reason I figured this out was because I had this experience where I was investing in the stock market through a financial planner.

And this planner was kind of telling me, “You’ve got to dollar cost average in”, which means, put regularly investing money into something that they manage and that they make money off of. And I kept getting these statements saying that I was making money, that I had a positive return.

I'm getting positive 7% return for example. But the issue is, that's not really what was happening. So these statements were saying that my average return was 7%, right? It's been a bunch of different numbers, but specifically one time it said my average rate of return is 7%.

But when I looked at the amount that I had, I felt like I had put close to that in. So like, if my return was really 7%, I would have a lot more and I'd been investing for a while. So, I did my own math and I figured out, wow, I am actually losing money, but somehow these financial institutions are manipulating the numbers to say that I have a positive return.

This is crazy. And then what was even worse for me is that my financial advisor planner was making money even when I wasn't, that just about did it to me, and so I said, “All right, from here on out, I am going to be in charge of my investing, I am going to become educated, I'm going to learn and I'm not going to rely on someone else.

And even if I do at some point in the future rely on someone else, it's going to be a choice, I'm going to know enough about all this.” And then I just started meeting people who were very successful. My goal was to find someone to mentor me, find many someones, find a peer group of people that played the game of life and business and fitness and finances and investing at a higher level than I was.

And really just kind of copy what they do, just emulate how they show up. And that really paid dividends, because I learned from a lot of people, a lot of wealthy people, that most of them didn't invest very much in the stock market, where at that point I was a hundred percent in the stock market, outside of what I was investing into my business. And I just learned a new way to do it, and that's really where everything began for me in the whole world of alternative investments.

Ted Ryce: Amazing. And that's kind of the advice that I've been given is “Hey, just buy these stocks and be very wary of people talking about investments and…” And when you gave your talk at the Champ Dev LIVE event, it was like, wow, there's something here that I need to know more of.

And I would ask you, Justin, people come here and to this podcast to listen to this podcast about health. And I would even ask you—although I know it's not something I've heard you talk about. I've listened to a few of your interviews in addition to hearing you live. How does—you talk about the interconnectedness of things?

How do you look at the investing or financial side of our life affects our health? What’s your views on that? Your perspectives on that?

Justin Donald: Well, I think it can impact it in different ways and I think one can feed the other. So, for example: I think if you are not in a good place financially, I think that puts stress on you, probably on your relationships by default or as a byproduct.

It likely puts stress on you from a physical standpoint, it can be demotivating. I know a lot of people that at one point in their life, maybe they were fit or more fit than they are today, but they kind of fell off a cliff as things in their personal life or things in their investment life, or even with their job just wasn't working out well.

But on the flip side of the coin, I've also seen the power of being physically fit. And that doesn't mean you have to have washboard abs, but it does mean that you're taking care of your body and you're doing things so that you can be in a place to better learn and educate yourself. For me, when I'm at my peak performance or at least I'm consistently working out and eating right, I am more aware, I feel I'm a better learner, I see more things.

So I think each feeds the other. And we have to be careful, the stresses that we put on our life. Good habits breed other good habits, but vice versa is true too, right? So bad habits can breed other bad habits.

Ted Ryce: And it makes me…when you talk, I think back to my parents growing up. And my parents were both attorneys, they were both making—let's say they were making almost 500,000 a year combined in the 80’s and 90’s, where that was quite a bit of money, right? And I also saw them struggle with investments, investing in things and it falling apart. And there was this pattern of their investments and falling apart.

And then, there is also a pattern of how they reacted to it. Now I love my parents, and so I say this with love and for anyone who's listening here, and I know family is so important to you, Justin, it's something they've talked a lot about. And I saw how my parents—the financial thing led to overeating and drinking a lot.

And I know there's a lot of people listening right now, that might be in that situation. Maybe they are, they've got a business that's making money, they're in a high-level professional career, income's high, but the financial pressure is kind of making them crack because of maybe investments that went wrong or not really properly managing their money.

And you have said that you're on a mission to show entrepreneurs, executives, and hardworking folks from all over the world, how to achieve wealth, the lifestyle of their dreams, the right way. Can you talk a little bit about some of the people who you've worked with or some of the stories that you can share of people who are in that situation and how their lives changed as a result of your instruction and guidance?

Justin Donald: Sure. I think your words just ring true. And I think that those of you who are not making as much money as you want, there are also like gifts to that, because once you start making a lot of money, and everyone defines a lot of money differently but when you define it as a lot of money or the majority of people around you define it as a lot of money, there are a lot of shackles that can exist there.

This is like the golden handcuffs where it's hard to escape the lifestyle that you've become accustomed to, it's hard to leave something or change something. So even from an entrepreneurial space, if you know something works, it becomes harder to innovate, to create something better when you know that if you do X, you get Y as a result.

And I just think that the more that we can create passive income, the better decisions we all make, because the decisions that we make that don't stem from financial as the primary mover, you know, is the primary litmus test, I think are going to be better decisions, right?

So, a lot of times you might not bring in an executive or someone in the C-suite to help you run your business when that would be better for your business, but that means you're making lesser. What if it doesn't work out or it's going to be tight on cash flow? But what if money was taken care of and yet had enough passive income to cover everything you need? Well, then people make different decisions.

And so, my goal is to kind of help people uncover that. So in my mastermind, Lifestyle Investor Mastermind, we've had 21, 22 people in the last year that have achieved financial freedom that…

Ted Ryce: Amazing,

Justin Donald: They thought light years away and we were able to do it in a year and two years, which is really cool. And by the way, that's not normal. It generally takes longer, right? So I don't want to set any false expectations. It took me longer, but I think just every step you take—something I say on my podcast, on the Lifestyle Investor Podcast, I always end every episode with this question.

What's the one step that you can take towards financial freedom and towards building a life by design, not living one by default or on autopilot, but living life on your terms? And I think gaining clarity for what that is, and creating even one passive income stream.

Even if it's not big, maybe it only covers a utility bill, but that's better than not having it. And then you layer in another one and another one, eventually you're covering your mortgage, eventually you're covering your whole life.

Ted Ryce: So inspiring, especially one of the things that happened for me during Champ Dev is my goal from making a lot of money with my podcast and my business shifted. And I started to see like, “Oh, well, we're doing well right now, we're growing and it's amazing”, but it's also, there's a cost to everything, right? Justin,

There's a cost to not making more money, there's the cost of making more money. People don't talk about this stuff and we talk about it in society, like “No, just make more money, you'll solve so many problems”.

And it's like, there's so much of a cost. And one of the things that I'm seeing is: I want to spend more time doing the things that I love with the people I love, right? And also, you mentioned “Where you have those golden handcuffs on”, and you're all of a sudden making more decisions, not about what would bring the most positive experience to your life, it's like, what makes sense with the numbers?

And so, can you talk a little bit about…I would even love to hear your thoughts, something that people don't talk enough about. What is the psychology of investing, the way you approach it versus how other people approach it?

Justin Donald: Sure. Well, I think some of it…Like, when it really boils down, Ted is, most people have no formal education with investing. So, what they're doing is kind of the best they know how—it's maybe what their parents did, maybe it's what they learned in school, but the schools are promoting the things that the financial institutions are paying them to promote, because they're kind of in charge of our financial education, right?

The people that want our money the most, are the ones that are influencing what's being taught and what's normal is that you just give up control, give your money to a financial advisor or planner that is going to put it with a big wall street firm. I mean, that's really what most people do.

In the world of entrepreneurship, you have this other caveat, that is, a lot of entrepreneurs put the majority of their money back into their business. And there's pros and cons… So, if your business works out, then what a great decision. If your business doesn't work out, then it was a board decision, but you won't know for years down the road, right?

So, for anyone to put all their eggs or most of their eggs into one place, their one business that's just high risk. Businesses will continue to function without taking a hundred percent of the returns or close to that and reinvesting them back in. You can figure out a budget, I mean, everyone started a business probably with less of a budget than they have today, and they were able to get it off the ground.

And so, that's one thing. You've got other people that are primarily in the stock market. So business owners, their majority goes back into their business and then whatever doesn't go in there maybe goes in the stock market. So they're not really diversified.

So, I just think that the big thing to do, the big focus is: how do I diversify in a way that serves me best, that serves me long term? And how can I create cash flow, before I do any of these high-risk investments that a lot of people do? Which is angel investing in these different businesses or overloading too much into one's own business.

So, I'm not sure if I even adequately answered your question, but I just think that being around other people…like, the way you get an education is you spend time with people that have done the thing you want to do. So, for anyone in the fitness space, you don't hire a coach that isn't in shape, you hire a coach that's in shape, because they've accomplished the things that you want to do.

And the same is true in money and investing, is you hire people that can coach you and teach you. And then you surround yourself with a peer group of like-minded individuals that are just playing the game at a higher level, so that you can be a small fish in a big pond.

Ted Ryce: That's very much me and my business coaching group, it's fantastic. Growing the business and the same is true in my own coaching group, where people pay me to be a part of the group and people get great results in my program, I mean, it's so simple.

I don't want to go down too much of a tangent with this, because it's kind of interesting when you say about education and it's promoted in a certain way. People think coaching and masterminds are weird. Now they might have read Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich and The Mastermind, that's the first place I've ever heard of it, but it's so simple once you're a part of it and you're—that's basically what my coaching group is, right? People are all losing weight, getting great results.

It's just, it's not the norm to join coaching. However, all the people that I know provided the coach…I've had a bad experience with coaching, that I've talked about on the podcast or business coach. But it provided that you're with the right people, there's nothing that can fast forward you as quickly to achieving what you want as that. It's so powerful, but it's just not normal to do it. And I'm hopefully kind of shifting that for people.

Justin Donald: I think you are. And the interesting thing is the vast majority of people have never even heard of Mastermind. So when they do hear about it, they're like, “What's that? That's weird”.

Ted Ryce: “What's that? Is that a cult, secret organization?”

Justin Donald: But if you look at the most successful people, this is what the successful people do, right? So, most people have never heard of it, but they don't have the highest level of success, the highest levels of success and whatever it might be, however you rank it or judge it, these individuals are around other like-minded people.

I mean, this is just is fact, gets that you are going to become like the people you spend most time with. That's just a fact. And I think when you're committed to paying someone to educate you, you're going to want to get a return on that money, right?

And then you're pot committed, so you're more likely to do something than just maybe learning it on your own or learning it vicariously through a friend. But I think those ancillary things help also, I think all of them together, that's where you get the magic happening.

Ted Ryce: I realized something about that recently. I was just like, “Wow”, people say they want to do something, but if you're not putting…but if we get down to it, your level of financial investment is really—in my opinion, at least for Americans—that's really the level that you're committed. How much are you willing to invest, to achieve a result. Otherwise, it's just talk, right?

So many people say that and there's nothing wrong with it, there's nothing wrong with realizing, “Hey, you know what? I'm not that committed”, but that's something I've been thinking about lately. “Oh, do you want to do it? Yeah”. “Okay. Well, Put your money where your mouth is”, ''Ooh, that means I'll have to do the work. And now that I'm thinking about it…”,

So, there's nothing wrong with not wanting to do the work. I think none—I don't know about you Justin, it's like, there's a part of me that's naturally lazy and doesn't want to do things. I just get myself to understand, like, if this goal is so important to you, you've got to put your money where your mouth is, you've got to follow up with action and that's how you get results. Justin?

Justin Donald: For sure.

Ted Ryce: Do you have a follow up thought?

Justin Donald: People live their life out of so much scarcity, and scarcity mindedness. And so, you've got people that kind of script every dollar, and it's like, “This money is so important. I can't lose it because I'm not going to make more money is so finite” but that's just not the reality. And the people that you see thriving are the ones that are like, “All right, I'm going to do this”.

And if it doesn't work out, I'm going to figure out another way. And I'm going to learn some great lessons from this investment, whether it be into your fitness program, into a real estate deal, into an educational program at a university, whatever it is. The mindset of like, “Hey, I can afford to do this because I can go create more income later, I've got time.”

And then the big thing is: how do you spend your time today, so that you can make money without it costing time tomorrow? That is the key equation, and when you can figure that out and you can truly buy your time back, you might have to work harder now or smarter now, or both, but once you have your time back, it's incredible, the life that you can build and lead with those you love most doing the things that you want to do the most.

And you can do all that along the way. But if you can keep stepping one step closer to the goals that you have of buying your time back, which I think that should be everyone's greatest goal, to spend it however you want to. You can change the world however you want, you can spend it with the people that matter most. I think if we can do that, great things are going to happen.

Ted Ryce: I'm with you on that. And for those of you who are listening right now and wondering “When are you going to share, like, what are the top three investment strategies of 2022.” I want to dive into some of that, but what I want to tell you right now is: you can also go to Amazon and get just in Justin Donald's book, The Lifestyle Investor, The 10 Commandments Of Cash Flow Investing and Passive Income and Financial Freedom.

I'm currently reading a different book, but I have yours in the queue, because I need to figure this out, I want to buy my time back. But you also have a course available as well. And if you're listening right now, make sure you go to www.justindonald.com. So that's J-U-S-T-I-N-D-O-N-A-L-D.com

And Justin, I think one thing that I feel I have to talk about, because it is 2022— I'm actually in Brazil, and then I was in Portugal, and before that I've been all over the place in the past few months. But when I talk to my American friends or family, it's like, It's recession time in the US.

Can you just address that and address—I've heard a lot of fear, and people have shared their concerns about that. Can you talk a little bit about how you approach it in terms of psychologically and in your investments? How do you think about that whole thing?

Justin Donald: I think at the end of the day, no one really knows what's going to happen. Whatever happens someone's going to say “I called it, I knew it, I've been saying this forever”, but it's the same people that have been saying it for five, 10, 15 years and you're bound to get it right.

No one really knows. I mean, right now it looks like we're headed towards a recession. If the Fed prints more money, then it's going to push that, it's going to kick that Can down the road a little bit further. If we lower interest rates, it's going to kick that Can down the road a little bit further.

And so, but we might be speeding up inflation. I don't see that inflation is going to slow down much anytime soon. And in the right markets in real estate, I think those are still going to stay pretty strong, even though we're seeing slowdowns in some of the biggest cities.

So, when it comes to what's going to happen? No one really knows. So I think the best thing to do is to make decisions as if things are going to get tougher, and if they don't, great, but if they do, you're prepared. But keep in mind that there are great deals all the time and there's opportunity all the time.

And many of the most successful investors and entrepreneurs out there will tell you that: in recessions, in tough times, in times of panic, that's where some of the best opportunity lies. So, I think it makes sense to be cautious, but at the same time, if you've got a good opportunity, and you have smart people that are also part of it, that have done the research or have expertise that are kind of along for the ride.

I think it's wise to get your money doing something for you. So if you're sitting in cash, because you're afraid to pull the trigger and you just likely aren't going to pull the trigger, that's probably not good. If you're sitting in cash because at some point, you're going to pull the trigger and you're waiting for better prices.

And you think that you'll get a good enough deal that it'll offset the time that you're sitting in cash where it's not growing, technically you're losing money, right? We're at 9.1—the CPI is 9.1%. So that's fine.

But if there's a great deal that's out there…you think about real estate, long term real estate goes up. There are a lot of other…I mean, we could cover tons of different things that are just going to over time, go up. I mean, even index funds, if you want to be in the stock market in public equities over the long haul, those are going to go up.

You just got to be careful about timing there, that you don't retire or need to retire when we could be in another recession and you lose half the income that you've made and you don't have enough time to make it back. A lot of people that happen in 2008.

So, I just think that we want to be buying assets so that the dollar, as it keeps devaluing—the more money we print the higher inflation is, the less valuable our money is. So, it loses purchasing power every day.

So if we can at least buy assets, then we're hedging a devaluing dollar, and if we can buy assets that have cash flow, then we're producing utility that we can use that money today and have some appreciation as well. And you can do that in businesses, you can do that in a lot of different areas.

Ted Ryce: Yeah. So exciting to think about that and I love how you're bringing up “You need to be cautious”, but you can't Just sit there and not do anything or you'll pay a penalty, because your money is—the inflation, your money's becoming worthless.

What was interesting about the talk that you gave is: You talked about how trailer parks were your start. And if I think about what's popular now, Crypto and all these things that are so popular to invest in or startups, like you said, angel investing.

Can you talk about a little brief primer in how you approach cash flow investing, the investments that give you cash back so that you're actually making money right away? Not in maybe 10 years or when you're retire.

Justin Donald: So, for me, I think the most important thing Ted, is that: people figure out what it costs them to live, what it costs them to survive at a bare minimum, on a monthly basis.

And then what it cost them to live their current lifestyle on a monthly basis, and then what it would cost them to live their ideal lifestyle on a monthly basis. And from there, figure out some investments that produce the cash flow to cover those. So first get to that survival income. What does it cost bare minimum for you to survive?

Maybe you're eating ramen noodles and you're not going out to eat a lot, but whatever that minimum number is, I guarantee it'll take a weight off you, like you wouldn't believe. And it'll just be a lot easier to kind of—when you know you don't have to work, work becomes different.

You either shift to something completely different you want to do, or you shift the responsibilities of what you're doing to being things that you enjoy most, and you'll outsource the other things. But everything changes when you cover your basic income needs.

I love a lot of things, I think I try to avoid high risk stuff. I've got a small percentage of my portfolio that's allocated to high risk. But that percentage can only be invested from surplus cash flow that I get, the money that is above my lifestyle. Only that money goes to the high-risk investments, because if I lose it, I haven't lost my principle, right? I still have that asset that's producing money for me every single month, right? Or every single quarter, depending on how that looks.

So, I started with mobile home parks, because I saw this opportunity for an incredible return in an asset class that most people didn't like. It is not a sexy-sounding asset class. I mean, my friends scoffed at me when they learned or heard that I was going to invest in mobile home parks, but at the same time, there's so much opportunity there too. You've got limited supply; there's only 44,000 of them in the U.S, you can't make more. It's really hard to get the zoning to make more. About a hundred are redeveloped every year.

So, you've got a supply that's dwindling but a demand that's growing. That is a recipe that I like, that to me is a smart play, plus you've got appreciation, plus you have cash flow, plus you have depreciation. So I can reduce my taxable income because my real estate has some wear and tear.

So, every year I can reduce my taxable income using depreciation, or I can do an accelerated form where I do it all in the first year, or I could space it out differently. But the bottom line is I can buy these assets, that then save me money in taxes. So I buy the assets that produce income, but then I get to pay less than taxes because I own them. It's just incredible.

Ted Ryce: That's sexy.

Justin Donald: And then you got the different type of income earned, right? So, when you work a job, when you pay yourself a salary from your business, that's earned income, that's the highest taxed income there is. Ordinary income when you're getting your distributions, you're cutting a little bit out, but it's still pretty highly taxed.

So, distribution is better than salary, right? So your salary is, you know, you want it as low as you can, but it needs to be reasonable, and then you take distributions. But from there you've got a few different taxes, you've got inheritance tax, but passive income is your lowest tax type of income.

And then if you don't have any earned income, you can become a passive investor by IRS standards, which is an even lower level. So, a lot of the people that I know, that I spend time with earn an incredibly exciting income, but pay next nothing in taxes. I mean, I've had many years before where I've paid anywhere between $0 in taxes to 10%.

Most recently, I think the last few years, I've been around 10 to 12%. And I share that because these are all things that I'm doing, that the IRS tax code says, “Do these and we'll give you...” it's like the government basically wants to give you the playbook, if you will look at it this way, “Do these things, and we will give you tax breaks”.

Because the economy needs affordable housing, they need agriculture, they need solar and renewable energy and all these different things, you find out what the government wants and what they're going to incentivize you to do. And then you go do those things and you pay less in taxes. So, everyone wins.

Ted Ryce: That makes so much sense. It reminds me of some of the breakthroughs. I'm having some “Ha-ha” moments myself right now, as I'm sure the person listening who's been just hungry for this type of information, waiting for someone to explain it in this way.

And it's right, you got to be around people who know this stuff, and who can direct you. What would be—we're kind of coming up on time here, but I would love to finish our podcast with: What would be the best way…? What's one piece of advice you would give to someone right now?

Let's say they're an entrepreneur or high performer and a high-performance career, and they're doing well with their business or career. And what would be that one thing that you would recommend to them? Would it be what you had already mentioned with figuring out the levels of income that you need to survive? Or would it be…? What piece of advice would you say?

Justin Donald: I go in two different paths, one of them is like: what's something you can do to create more passive income? And then the other path is: who do you know that can help support you in doing that?

So, it's kind of like, the who that can help you, who's your—who can you add to your peer group that can help you play the game of investing in business at a higher level, at a safer level, at a more well-rounded level. And then what's one move you can make to kind of pursue that direction. That's what I would say, find people that are doing the things that you want to do, find people that are achieving the things that you want to achieve. And then, take some form of action every day.

Maybe it's booking a coffee appointment and getting to know someone, maybe it's finding someone that is a total professional that's been investing in real estate or something for 20 years. So they've already been through a downturn, they know how to handle that.

And you trust them, you trust the results that they've gotten. So what is it? Maybe it's joining a group, it's taking a course, reading a book, connecting with someone. The goal is to take some sort of action and ideally find people that you can do it with.

Ted Ryce: What a great answer to a clumsily asked question. As I told you before this isn't the typical kind of interview that I do because we're so focused on health and fitness, but I believe it's so important, because I've seen again and again how money—or more specifically the stress from a person's financial life affects their health and affects their ability to even follow through if they even join my program, I've had that before.

And so, I want to thank you so much for having patience with me today, but also coming here and sharing your wisdom, your information, and most importantly, your time. It's been such a pleasure to have you, Justin.

Justin Donald: Well, thank you. And one other thing I'd say, Ted, is, I have seen a direct relationship between my level of health and fitness and my capacity to learn and grow my wealth. And I think the more intentional I've been on that health front, the more that has bled into my financial life.

So, really, there's only one point in my life where I could say I wasn't fit or as fit as I probably could have or should have been. And it was a small stint, luckily just a year or two, probably closer to two years. But that was also a time where I stalled a little more than any other time, and I think the times that I've been in the most peak physical state are the times that I have actually—I had some of my biggest breakthroughs financially and from a business standpoint.

So, I do think they go hand in hand and I think it's really important for your community to know the importance of just that foundational level of physical and mental health. The physical health really bleeds over into the mental health. And so, there's just so much that goes right when that foundation is right.

Ted Ryce: Powerfully stated, Justin. And listen, if you are hearing this podcast, if you're listening to Justin and it started to bring up some questions for you, started to plant some seeds about how could you either—whether the recession, if that's in the place that you're in, or if you're doing well, but you just don't know what move to make.

And you want to capitalize during a recession because why not? Hopefully, you have a good heart and you'll help some other people. But it's up to all of us to figure that out, what we do? But Justin has a podcast, he has the book that I mentioned, The Lifestyle Investor: The 10 Commandments of Cash Flow Investing for Passive Income and Financial Freedom.

He has a course, and you can find out all that information on his website, www.justindonal.com. So that's J-U-S-T-I-N-D-O-N-A-L-D.com. Justin, thanks so much for your time, man. I really enjoyed this and I'd like to do it again if you're up for it.

Justin Donald: Well, thank you. This was great, and I'd love to offer just something really cool for your audience. One thing that everyone should know is that all the proceeds in my book, no matter how you buy it, go to charity, a hundred percent of them. And so I support an organization called Love Justice International. That organization stopped human trafficking in 26 countries around the world, they're absolutely incredible.

So, for anyone that wants to go on Amazon and buy it, there's an audible, I narrate it. You can totally do that, but for anyone that would rather just get it for free, I've got this kind of free plus shipping thing that we do for people that I really want to get a chance to engage with their community.

So, if you go to  www.lifestyleinvestorbook.com, as long as you pay the shipping, I'll send you a copy of the book and then some other cool stuff with it. So, that's just another way for anyone that if the dollars are holding someone back, I wouldn't want that. Now less money goes to charity through that option, obviously.

But every book that goes out and is purchased in any way, shape or form is all going to go to that. And there's tons of other stuff that I have too at www.lifestyleinvestor.com or www.justindonald.com like, a free blog, the podcast, but we've got masterclass, we've got a mastermind, we've got all kinds of different, cool things that are in place.

So, there's something for everyone, no matter where you are, if you're a total beginner, if you're an expert, if you're somewhere in the middle, if you make a little, if you make a lot, if you're somewhere in the middle, there's something for everyone.

Ted Ryce: Thanks so much for that, Justin. And just to follow up, if this is a area of challenge for you and you happen to stumble on the Legendary Life Podcast, and you're hearing about all the CEOs and executives, but you're not quite there, please don't make the mistake that I did and waiting until getting in my 40s to start to think about how to handle this area of my life, just take action now, even if it's like what Justin said, small steps, and he just gave you a ton of resources. So, go make it happen. Justin man, thank you so much. It was such a pleasure.

Justin Donald: Thanks, Ted. Great to be here with you and wish you and your audience the best.