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  • Hey, it’s Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create a business

  • and life you love. And I am so excited I can barely contain myself because today’s guest

  • is someone that I’ve admired for so long. He’s impacted tens of millions of lives

  • all around the world and he’s written an incredible new book, which were gonna talk

  • about today.

  • Tony Robbins is a bestselling author, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. For more than 37 years,

  • millions of people have enjoyed the warmth, humor, and the transformational power of Mr.

  • Robbinsbusiness and personal development events. He’s the nation’s number one life

  • and business strategist. He’s called upon to consult and coach with some of the world’s

  • finest athletes, entertainers, Fortune 500 CEOs, and even presidents of nations. Robbins

  • is a founder of or partner in more than a dozen companies in industries as diverse as

  • a five star island resort in Fiji to custom 3D printed prosthetic limbs. Through the Anthony

  • Robbins foundation and his matching funds, Tony feeds four million people per year in

  • 56 countries. He’s also initiated programs in more than 1500 schools, 700 prisons, and

  • 50 thousand service organizations and shelters. He lives in Palm Beach, Florida.

  • Tony, it is so amazing to have you here. Thank you so much for making the time.

  • Thanks for having me.

  • So I think I told you this way back when you interviewed me for the new Money Masters.

  • You know, I just wanna thank you from the bottom of my heart. When I was in my early

  • 20s I went to Unleash the Power Within

  • Yes.

  • ...and you made such an impact on me and it’s influenced everything I’ve done personally

  • and everything in my business. I just want you to hear, like, who you are, what you do,

  • how you serve, it makes such a huge difference and it means the world to me to have you here

  • today.

  • Oh, that’s so sweet. Thank you.

  • So

  • Thank you for that.

  • Let’s get started because one of the things I admire so much about you is your energy

  • and your passion and your stamina. I mean, youve been doing this for over 3 decades

  • and I know everybody watching

  • It’s getting closer to 4 now.

  • Which is awesome. It’s so incredible.

  • Yeah.

  • And one of the things that I so admire is I feel like you keep getting better, you keep

  • doing more, you keep serving on a higher level. And from a personal just stamina standpoint,

  • tell us a little bit about what you do every day. What are your habits? How do you keep

  • yourself at this high level of service?

  • Well, I think there’s the physical side of it, which, you know, I do the equivalent

  • of an ultra marathon every weekend. You know, I do 52 hours. On the last day I do 26.5 miles,

  • the previous day is 22 miles. So just the physical side, you have to be in incredible

  • shape. And I’m in better shape physically today, both my endurance and my muscular strength

  • and so forth, then when I was 25, which is wonderful. And so I do certain things [inaudible]

  • but I think I should mention first, what’s even more important is the psychological,

  • spiritual side of things because I think energy comes first not from your body. It doesn't

  • come from eating, it doesn't come from sleeping, because I’ve gone without those things for

  • long periods of time and still been able to deliver. It comes from having a mission. It

  • comes from something that youre being pulled by, not something youre pushing on. There’s

  • two forms of motivation. You can push yourself to do things, and there’s only so much you

  • can push yourself to do. But if youre pulled, if there’s something that you want to serve

  • that’s greater than yourself, there’s something that excites you, there’s something

  • that youre about, there’s something youre made for, then there’s a level of energy

  • that most people would never dream of. And we all have that, but most of us don't connect

  • to it and unleash it. So every day I connect and unleash that. Every single day. I don't

  • hope it’s gonna be there, even though I know it will be, even though it’s there,

  • I just… I don't take it for granted. And so I start out my day by a process I do called

  • priming. What priming is, it’s not a meditation but it has meditative qualities. And what

  • I do is I sit down, first thing I do in the morning I go and I jump in the hot tub or

  • a hot water type of experience and then I go to freezing water. All of my homes, fortunately

  • I have to have multiple homes, that I goone of them I have a river I get to jump in.

  • Youve been there.

  • Yeah.

  • There are other places I have these cold plunges. And I do that to train my nervous system to

  • go from 0 to 60 like that. You know, every muscle, every nerve in your body, every organ

  • gets when you hit 57 degree water, it hits. And so it’s just my mental discipline. And

  • the second thing I do is I prime, and priming is I sit down and I do a minimum of 10 minutes

  • because my mindset is if you don't have 10 minutes, you don't have a life.

  • Right.

  • So there’s no excuse. So every day, sit down, and what do I do? I do three and a half

  • minutes where I do an explosive breathing pattern, a pattern that changes my biochemistry,

  • and after I’ve done that, 30 of these intense breaths three times, I close my eyes, I’m

  • in kind of an altered state, and I focus first for 3 and a half minutes on just everything

  • in my life, at least 3 things, that I’m really truly grateful for. And I don't do

  • that in a hokey way, I don't do it in a mental way, I step into my body and I feel it. And

  • I make sure at least one of those things is something really simple: the wind against

  • my skin, the look on my son’s eyes or daughter’s eyes, something that is just very fundamental,

  • but I really… I cultivate that feeling of gratitude, of appreciation for those feelings.

  • I do it for three and a half minutes, then I do 3 and a half minutes where I do this

  • process of focusing on healing, strengthening, and serving, and I start in a circle starting

  • with myself and then I go through all the people in my life and associates and I just

  • send love to them. Again, it may sound corny, but to me it’s… it’s a part of what

  • I’m here for and it’s part of cultivating that energy, that healing and strength energy,

  • strengthening my passion, my appreciation, my insights, mymy capacity, my endurance.

  • And then I do the last three minutes are what I call three to thrive, which is what is it

  • that I really wanna make happen? And sometimes I do that over what I’m gonna do for the

  • next 6 months or month, sometimes it’s today. I shake it up. But I’m… I see and feel

  • and own that those things are done, and that starts, you know, pretty much my day between

  • those two items. And, you know, then I might work out, some things that I do of that nature.

  • Yeah. And how about eating wise? Has that changed for you a lot over the years?

  • It’s… it’s pretty simplistic. You know, I’m very simple. I eat a salad and I have

  • some protein. I have fish or I’ll have turkey bacon. I don't eat red meat or chicken, but

  • those are the things that I have usually in the morning. And my afternoon, evening meals

  • are pretty simple as well. But, you know, before I met my wife, Sage, the greatest gift

  • in my life, when we first met, she’s a phlebotomist and nutritionist and acupuncturist, so I thought,

  • This is gonna be the easiest thing in the world.” And I’ll never forget, we went

  • out on this date and she had wheatgrass juice and I was like, “Wow, this is gonna be so

  • easy, man. This is awesome.” And then she ordered a hot fudge sundae and I was like,

  • What in the hell are you doing?” and she goes, “Eating, you bastard.” I wish

  • I could give some term around bastard, that I was like too rules driven. And so she had

  • this whole thing, you zig and then you zag. So I do that with her now. I do enjoy other

  • aspects of life, but when I first met her I noticed she zigged a lot more than she zagged,

  • or the other way around. Which way it was. But it’s been a nice balance in my life.

  • So I enjoy food and things of that nature, but I use food mostly as fuel because life

  • gives me so much juice. You know, I’m not looking to get out of food, usually.

  • And how about, because I know for me my mind can go and I have so much excitement, so much

  • passion that at night sometimes winding down. Do you have a wind down process?

  • My wife would say no. I say yes, she would say no. My wife loves sleep.

  • Yeah.

  • My wife can sleep 8 hours, it’s the most beautiful thing in the world. To me it’s

  • like sleep when you die, so that was one of the first things in our relationship that

  • was a bit challenging. Because I’d wanna get up and just go. I’ll never forget, we

  • were in Fiji and it was like even there were supposed to be on vacation, it’s our home,

  • I jump up at 6 in the morning and she’s like, “Where the hell are you going?”

  • “I’ve gotta start my day, run up the mountain, do this.” She goes, “Get in bed, I’ll

  • show you how to start your day.” Like, ok, now that’s a better way to start my day.

  • Totally.

  • But now what I’ve done is I get in bed with her because she’s, you know, she’s a lady.

  • If you get up in the middle of the night, “Where are you going?” “China. Where

  • do you think I’m going? It’s three in the morning. I’m going to the bathroom.”

  • You know? So I’ve learned to get my work done in bed beside her and then she goes to

  • sleep. But I watch silly movies, I watch things to let my brain disappear. Reading does not

  • slow me down because then I start incorporating and using it and my mind goes crazy. I’m

  • underlining everything. But I’ll watch cartoon type movies like Family Guy or something to

  • knock my brain out quite frankly, or I’ll watch some silly series, you know, I’m thinking

  • now of the different ones. What is it? Revenge or something of that nature.

  • Yeah, yeah.

  • Something that my brain can just truly let go, and that’s how I do it for the most

  • part.

  • Awesome. So, I mean, youve worked with presidents, youve worked with people like

  • Serena Williams, and, you know, one of the greatest investors in the world, Paul Tudor

  • Jones. When youre called in to work with these incredible folks, how do you start to

  • prepare yourself? Like, what are the questions that you ask to start to go in to serve at

  • that level?

  • Well, theyre different for everybody, obviously, but what I try to do if I was trying to look

  • at it from a universal perspective, I guess what I really wanna know before I get there

  • as much as I can is everything I can about the person. And I do that because I really

  • wanna know what do they want? What do they want in their life? What’s their mission?

  • What are they after? And what do they fear? What are their concerns? Because I believe

  • life is found in the dance between what you desire most and what you fear most. And if

  • I know those two edges of a person, I know a lot. And then I dig under and I try to learn

  • as much as I can from other people about whatever the challenge may be, and then I go prepare

  • to just learn from the person directly. But I wanna know as much as I can before I go

  • in there. Then I take all that I think I know and then I see what’s really real when I

  • meet them. And I’m digging in to discover whatwhat’s the challenge, what do they

  • perceive it is. And usually, if I were to grossly generalize, if youre gonna help

  • somebody create a breakthrough, you reallyit all comes down to 3 areas. Either theyve

  • altered their strategy. We all have strategies, a specific way of succeeding. Sometimes we

  • alter it, whether it be in sports or whether it be in finance or any other area. We just

  • we forget something, we lose a little edge, we drop something out, and then it becomes

  • a bad habit. Or sometimes it’s a change in our beliefs. Like, you know, you may have

  • done something for decades and been really successful, but now… I know one gentleman,

  • he’s a good friend of mine, that, you know, had 52 Academy Award nominations and he said

  • to me one day, he said, “If I make one more frickinmovie I’ll kill myself.” You

  • know? He’s just like, “I don't want to make a movie, I don't want an Academy Award,

  • I don't want to do these things.” You know? And it’s just like he’s satiated. And

  • so sometimes when people get satiated they lose their hunger, they shift their beliefs.

  • When you change a belief, you change your biochemistry. When you change your belief,

  • you change the way you execute. You change everything. And we all develop a story. And

  • sometimes stories are empowering and sometimes the mental stories are disempowering. So I’m

  • listening for those, I’m digging for those. And then I also look at their state, because

  • you can do the same exact action from a place of being pissed off or from a place of playfulness

  • and the same action is not gonna get you the same result. And so I’m looking for that

  • quality of what’s going on in them, and then I look and try to find out what it was

  • like before. So Paul Tudor Jones, I went back and I watched videos of him when he was at

  • his best and I saw what hehow he used his body and the way he moved and I saw him

  • now sitting still and kind of slumped over and he’d broken his leg and he talked in

  • a different tempo. So I look at biochemically what’s happening, physiologically, I look

  • at psychologically what's going on, and then I look at structurally what theyre doing.

  • And then I develop a plan to help them get back to where they were and beyond, to a better

  • performance than they had before.

  • Incredible. The other thing that I was fascinated for… I wanted to ask you so bad, youve

  • probably accomplished more than most people do in… I can’t even… I don't even know

  • what time frame. And, of course, you get to talk with people who are at the highest level

  • of their game. When it comes to productivity, what do the top performers know that a lot

  • of people just don't? What are we missing?

  • Well, I think the best performers are focused on outcomes and not activities. If you try

  • to manage your to do list, in the world we live in today where most of us have multiple

  • roles, were trying to be a great businessperson, a great husband or wife, great father, great

  • community member, whatever, there’s just so many roles, you can never get all of your

  • to do’s done. And what helped me in my life was I started at one point saying, I’m not

  • gonna let myself fail every day. I’m not gonna make a to do list and I’m not gonna

  • not write a list so that I don't fail. I need to focus on what matters most. I need to discuss

  • organize my life into categories where I say, “These are the most important outcomes,”

  • and then I know why I’m gonna do it. If you know what you really want, the target,

  • and you know why, you have the focus and you have the fuel, then how to get there, there’s

  • so many ways to get there. And then the most important thing I think that most productive

  • people do is we leverage what we do. We don't delegate. Delegation is I give it to you and

  • then when it doesn't work out, I’m pissed at you. Leverage is I empower you. If I’m

  • leverage, I’m still part of that and I’m gonna make sure you succeed. I’m gonna follow

  • up, I’m gonna make sure before the deadline I touch base with you, I’m gonna make sure

  • you have the resources to succeed. But what I do is empower people to go here’s the

  • outcome, here’s the why. I get you and I aligned with the outcome and the why. You

  • figure out how you wanna do it, I’m open. You want to brainstorm with me, I’ll do

  • it.  Youll probably come up with better ideas than I do. And when you empower people

  • to come up with their own how and they know what and why, you can get the job done 100

  • times faster, especially if youve got a group of people. I’m a big believer that

  • early in my life I thought I was just such a smart person. I’m gonna solve all this

  • stuff. Part of it was being responsible and part of it is ego that we all have inside

  • of ourselves if weve succeeded to a certain extent. I said, this is bullshit. You know

  • what? Instead of one person solving 12 problems, I want 12 people to solve one problem. And

  • I developed that practice and I began to find that people that many people thought weren’t

  • gonna contribute had insights nobody else had. I really got it from Steve Wynn. Steve

  • Wynn is a dear friend of mine and he’s built, you know, rebuilt Las Vegas, he’s one of

  • the most brilliant men I know, a multi billionaire, and Steve really learns the most from the

  • bellmen, from the people that would never make it into the C suite. He learns what customers

  • are feeling, what theyre experiencing, how to have an impact, what needs to be changed.

  • These people are on the front lines. So I’m a big believer that you need leverage. And

  • if youre just starting out in business, I know a lot of people that will probably

  • be watching your shows are watching you because youre a successful businesswoman who’s

  • built your own entrepreneurship, youve done so many great things. I think in the

  • very beginning the hard thing is you think you can only do it yourself and then there’s

  • only so many hours and youve got kids and family and friends and how do I do it all?

  • The answer is you hire someone. You trade with someone. You trade them for 2 hours.

  • That’s what I did in the beginning. Because I remember, I remember, I’ll never forget,

  • I was just really young in my career, very in the early days, and I was running to get

  • to the dry cleaners so I could get my only 2 suits because if I didn't get them, you

  • know, then the place closes and I can’t get on the plane. And I was running to the

  • airport sweating like crazy, and I’m a sweater anyway.

  • You and me both.

  • Sweating like this, trying to get in the door, and it was like, what is wrong with this picture?

  • I could be doing something that’s so productive and I’m standing in line at the dry cleaning

  • place. This is just nuts. And so I was really… I was like 17, 18, 19, I don't know what I

  • was, and I said, “I’m gonna hire somebody.” Two hours a day, that’s what I need to start

  • with. And then it was 4 hours. And so my view is I don't do anything that someone else can

  • do better, and I don't do anything that isn’t the highest and best use of my time. Now,

  • when I say that, that’s gross generalization. There are things I still do. But for the most

  • part, by finding people and getting clear on outcomes on the why, what I call RPM. Youve

  • gotta know the result, youve gotta know the purpose, and then youve got to have

  • a massive action plan. And the plan can change, but that RPM, the stronger the RPMs the faster

  • that car is gonna move. And I try to do that not just through myself but through other

  • people.

  • Beautiful. So last thing I wanna talk about before we dive into the monster book, which

  • I can’t wait to get to, is this idea of slumps. I know a lot of times youre called

  • in when someone’s, you know, either hit a plateau or theyre having a tough time.

  • So two questions. A lot of folks that write in, theyll ask me questions or theyll

  • just comment on the blog, and they find themselves in a tough spot. Maybe theyve experienced

  • a certain level of success and, like you said with your friend Peter, it’s just like I

  • don't want this anymore. I don't know what I want next. Any common patterns or things

  • that you can share about slumps and how we can support ourselves to get out of them?

  • Well, most people hit plateaus and the most important thing when you hit a plateau is

  • not to be pissed off and stressed out about it because stress won't make it better. It’s

  • also not to take it lightly and go, “Oh my God, this doesn't matter.” It’s that

  • delicate balance where you say, “Ok, how do I get from where I am to where I really

  • wanna be?” And if you don't put the emotional charge on it it’s easier, but that’s hard

  • easier to say and harder to do. The pattern that I see in slumps, whether it be an athlete

  • or, you know, a financial trader or an actor, any of that nature it is, number one thing

  • that causes a slump usually is you get too comfortable. When you start doing something

  • and youre really successful, a lot of people lose their hunger. If you ask me what is the

  • single most important element of any human being that separates their level of success

  • from the rest of the world, it’s hunger. It isn’t intelligence, as valuable as that

  • is. There are people that are incredibly intelligent that can’t fight their way out of a paper

  • bag. You show me somebody that’s not only hungry but doesn't lose their hunger, they

  • will dominate everything. And you see that in the greatest sports stars, in the greatest

  • entertainers, the ones that justit’s… theyre insatiable. And because of that,

  • you like being around them because there’s this energy about them, this passion about

  • them, and very few people maintain that. And you lose your hunger, you go into a slump.

  • You get overconfident. Another pattern that happens that gives people a slump is when

  • something changes in their world that theyre not prepared for like, you know, I’ve been

  • doing this forever and, oh my God, now my relationship is messed up. Or, you know, I’ve

  • been working hard at being a lawyer and now my wife’s upset or husband is upset with

  • me. What do I got to do here? And what it does is it throws people off their rhythm.

  • And so I try to figure out what’s happening in their environment and show them how they

  • can win in both categories simultaneously. A third one is when people do something where

  • they get mad at themselves, kinda like a Tiger Woods, and then theyhe’s got all the

  • skill in the world. Nothing changed in his skill. But for that year and a half or whatever

  • it was, I mean, he was beating himself up. You know? And in that state, it’s kind of

  • a self sabotage. And so depending on what form I find I enter in and I make the changes

  • and theyre almost always changes, again, in the psychology of that person, the emotion

  • of that person, because were allwe allwe have these great minds. Everybody’s

  • got a great mind, or at least available of a great mind. But were emotional creatures

  • and we forget that because we live in a society that tries to value thought much more than

  • emotion because emotion is scary for us. Emotion can come really fast. And so some people try

  • to avoid it at all costs, other people overwhelm by it. My view is that emotional intelligence

  • is a wonderful thing but I much prefer emotional fitness. Intelligence is a capability. Fitness

  • is a state of readiness. And what I do is I train myself to always be ready, and that

  • makes you execute. And I think too many people settle for I know this as opposed to I’m

  • doing this, and I try to train myself and others to be in that state of readiness all

  • the time because that’s where life is really fulfilled at the highest level, I think.

  • I do too. Agree 100%. So let’s move on to this monster book, which it is a monster in

  • the best way. It’s the most beautiful thing. So do we have a copy that we can kind of bring

  • in? I just wanna hold this thing up because it is so awesome. So, Tony, I got the galley

  • from your team, which it’s likealright, y’all. Youre seeing it right here. Were

  • gonna talk about this right now. I truly believe in my heart of hearts that every human being

  • needs to get this book, they need to read it for their family, for their friends, and,

  • most importantly, the last couple of chapters about service, I was in tears. I loved every

  • bit of it. My copy is highlighted cover to cover, I’ve already taken action on a lot

  • that’s in the book.

  • Yes.

  • This is your first book in 20 years.

  • Yes.

  • Why this topic? Why now? And what makes it different than all the other money books that

  • are out there?

  • Well, one of the reasons I haven’t written a book is I hate writing. Just being honest.

  • I, you know, I’m on a plane about every 4 or 5 days, I go to 15 countries, I see a

  • quarter of a million people a year. I love the live event, I love the spontaneity, you

  • know, you get to do something new constantly, you get to see what’s really going on with

  • a human being. And writing is an isolated, by yourself process that God bless the people

  • that do that stuff. But I got pushed over the edge because there’s only a few subjects

  • in life that really affect the quality of your life. Right? There’s your body, there’s

  • clearly your relationships, your emotions, and money is one of those places. And I’ve

  • shared with people a lot about this and I grew up with a… in a very tough environment

  • financially. We had no money. There were times, you know, our car was repossessed, there were

  • times we had no food. Soand it didn't last, but it was one of those places where

  • you had that uncertainty all the time. And so when 2008 happened, that’s what pushed

  • me over the edge. Because when I started seeing so many people losing their homes, losing

  • half of what they’d, you know, saved for their whole life, and then I kept thinking,

  • well, the government is gonna do something because this isthis is a raw, horrific

  • situation that’s been brought about by a small number of people. By 2010 when nothing

  • had been done I was mad and I was… I was reading every article, I was watching every

  • documentary, and the final one that just pushed me over the edge was called Inside Job, I

  • don't know if you saw it.

  • I have it ordered on Netflix.

  • Ok, yeah. It’s a… it’s… Academy Awardit won the Academy Award. Matt Damon did the

  • voiceover. But what’s amazing is they systematically showed who specifically virtually destroyed

  • the world economy and then showed that the punishment they got is not only all of us

  • bailing them out, but theyre put in charge of turning the economy back around and giving

  • more money to them again. So at the end of this film, you understand what happened but

  • you have one of two emotional responses depending upon your personality. Either you wanna kill

  • somebody youre so angry, or youre depressed because there wasn’t one solution in the

  • whole thing. It was a beautiful documentary, but not one solution. And I’m a solution

  • guy so I was like something’s gotta be done. I know I’m not the only solution, but I

  • have a unique gift. I have access. Because most people don't know, they think of me as

  • the motivational, positive thinking guy, and it’s never what I’ve been. I’ve been

  • a strategist my whole life and Paul Tudor Jones, one of the top 10 traders in the history

  • of the world, has been my client for 21 years. Literally every single day he emails me, I

  • [inaudible] him a variety of things, I see him face to face. I’ve been with him side

  • by side from the tech crash in 2000, in 9/11, you know, when we went through the subprime

  • crisis, 2008, the fall in gold, and he’s made money every single year for 21 years.

  • And even beyond me, his firm has made money for 28 years, so it isn’t just me. It’s

  • Paul. And I’ve learned from him so much over those decades and I just thought if I

  • didn't just interview him, what if I interviewed 50 of the most brilliant financial minds that

  • in the history of the world. Theyre all alive today. Let me interview them, let me

  • find out can the average person really still win? And, if so, how? Let me getnot some

  • talking head on television telling you the same BS about go put your money in some 12%

  • [inaudible] mutual fund that’s never existed for 10, 15 years, but the truth. And so I

  • began this four year journey and, I mean, I was blown away. My average interview is

  • scheduled for 45 minutes. They went 3 hours, some of them 3 and a half hours, one four

  • hours. And people became incredibly generous in what they shared, and they shared things

  • that theyve never shared before and I’ve put them into a 7 step process so that whether

  • youre a millennial that just got out of college and youve got a bunch of college

  • debt saying, “How will I ever get around this?” I’ll show you how to get financially

  • free. Youre, you know, a baby boomer and you lost a bunch of money in 2008 and you

  • didn't get back in the market, I’ll show you what you can do. Youre a very sophisticated

  • investor and you wanna know what [inaudible] does that’s never been revealed about him?

  • I’ll show you what he does. And so I’m real proud of it and, you know, youve seen

  • the level of diversement I have from the highest level of people in finances on the earth.

  • It’s really pretty extraordinary, it’s because it’s really their work. It’s not

  • mine.

  • It’s… I had so much fun reading it, and honestly I was intimidated by a 600 plus book

  • because I knew we were doing this interview and I prepare as much as I humanly… I’m

  • like, alright, I’m gonna speed read but digest everything. And one of the things in

  • the beginning when you start breaking down the myths.

  • Yes.

  • I just kept getting sicker and sicker and sicker

  • I know, me too.

  • ...with how much the general public, how much people don't know and how theyre taken

  • advantage of. So I wanted to ask you, was there one in particular that just totally

  • pissed you off? There was a ton. I know there’s 9 myths in the book.

  • There’s… I put the 9 most abusive ones.

  • Yeah.

  • I mean, theyre there. Here’s what I’d say, I want to mention one of the myths though

  • to start with, not a myth but a step. I want everybody who’s watching to remember one

  • thing. The biggest myth you have, not that’s been sold to you, that hurts you is the average

  • person thinks finance is so complex because, frankly, the industry tries to make it sound

  • complex. They use words that you don't know so you don't know what to do. You know, what

  • does this mean? And so what happens is we just give them our money and say, “Deal

  • with it,” and we don't realize that system has been set up. It’s not an evil system.

  • It’s set up by corporations that are looking to maximize profit for those corporations.

  • Theyre not looking out for the investor because this investor is second. And we think

  • were first, and were not. So the first piece is youve got to know that youve

  • got toyou can’t wait until you have a ton of money to start investing and think,

  • “I’m not an investor.” What youve got to do is say, “Rather than my Apple

  • phone, let me own Apple stock. Let me own a piece of all of the best companies, not

  • just Apple. I’ve got to become an owner or I’ll always be in scarcity.” If you

  • can invest in business, even a small amount, you can grow. And I don't care how small it

  • is, but youve got to automate it. There’s a gentleman named Theodore Johnson who, he’s

  • amazing, he worked for UPS, started as a driver, never made more than 14 thousand total in

  • a year. That was his highest salary in a year. In his old age he’s worth 70 million dollars.

  • And how did he do it? All he did is what I teach you is the first step, is youve gotta

  • take a percentage of what you earn and pretend it’s a tax. Youre never gonna see that

  • money again, you automate it, it goes straight to the investment account, and you never see

  • it as money you can spend. He did that with 20%. He said, “I can’t save 5.” Somebody

  • in his family said, “If there was a tax you’d pay it,” and he made it 20%. When

  • you save 20% and you compound it, numbers are incredible. So I show people how to do

  • that. But then the problem is if you do that first step but you don't do the second step,

  • which is you become an insider.

  • Yes.

  • And understand the rules of the game. Then the old adage is a person with money meets

  • a person with experience, the person with experience ends up with your money. That’s

  • how it works. So whatre… I’ll give you 2 or 3 of the myths real fast. One, this

  • myth that someone says, “Give me your money and I’m gonna beat the market.” It is

  • it’s just a lie. Warren Buffett made it clear it’s a lie, Ray Dalio, one of the

  • greatest investors in history, David Swenson who has taken Yale’s money, a billion dollars,

  • and converted it into 24 billion in two decades, the greatest institutional investor in the

  • world. Theyve all said it. Warren Buffett flat out said today, he said, “Listen, in

  • my will 90% of my money, all of that money does not go with any mutual fund. It goes

  • straight into the index.” What the index is, you get a piece of all of the largest

  • companies in the world but it costs almost nothing to get in because over any 10 year

  • period of time, 96% of mutual funds will not even match the market. Now, youre paying

  • for a mutual fund. What this means is you hire someone because you say, “I have a

  • family, I have a business, I have a life. I’m not an investor. I’m gonna hire someone

  • who’s a professional. It makes sense. They would do better than me.” Unfortunately

  • that’s wrong. Because what happens is 4% of them will beat the market, but it’s not

  • the same 4%. So your chances of finding the right onehave you ever played Blackjack?

  • Yes.

  • So if you play Blackjack, everybody knows, you play for 21. If you go above 21 youre

  • gone. If you get 2 face cards and theyre sitting in front of you and youve got a

  • 20 out of 21, you have the chance to stay or say, “Hit me.” If they hit you, there’s

  • only one card thatll get you there, it’s an Ace. If your inner idiot says, “Hit me,”

  • you have an 8% chance of winning. You have a 4% chance of finding the right mutual fund.

  • It’s not gonna happen. So what happens for people is they think, theyve been sold,

  • were gonna do better, and they might for a year or two, but what matters you live off

  • the long term. You don't live off the year or two. And they just don't do it. Warren

  • Buffett has a bet right now with Protege Partners, which is a group that does hedge funds, and

  • he said you can pick 5 hedge funds. You can mold the best of them together. I’m gonna

  • own the market, which costs me next to nothing. Youre gonna get the hedge funds, which

  • cost a lot. 10 year bet, who’s gonna win? Put up a million bucks. Right now theyre

  • 6 years into it, Warren Buffett is at 42%, theyre at 12%. It’s just crazy. So the

  • second thing is after getting terrible performance, people say, “Well, fees don't really matter,”

  • or theyll tell you, “It’s only 1%.” And I… I ask people all the time, “How

  • much are you paying?” And they go, “Uh, I don't know,” or theyll say 1%. One

  • percent is called the expense ratio. That’s like the edge of the sticker price. If you

  • read that 50 page perspectives in your mutual fund, even one of them is 50 pages, which

  • you won’t, you’d have a hard time with a PhD figuring it out. In fact, there’s

  • a man named Hilton Smith I quote in the book who spent two weeks and he’s got a doctorate

  • as an economist, it took him 2 weeks to go through them all and figure out there’s

  • 17 different fees and Forbes says the average fee is 3.12. Now, if youre watching right

  • now, I’m sure I have lost your brain with all of these numbers. Let me make it real

  • for you. One percent versus 3 percent, big difference.

  • Huge.

  • Right? Here’s the difference. Just like you grow by compounding, like Theodore Johnson

  • did, your fees also compound. And people don't know that when they hear that little number.

  • So if you had 3 people and one gets one percent in fees, two percent, the other three percent,

  • they all get the same return. They start out with 100 thousand dollars at 35. For 30 years

  • they accumulate to 65 years old, 7 percent compounded. They all get 7 percent. The only

  • difference is the fees. And when they go to retire, the person at 1% in fees is gonna

  • have 574 thousand dollars. 100 thousand to 574, not bad. If they added not another dime,

  • it’d be amazing. The person at 3% in fees will have 224 thousand dollars. 77% less money.

  • If you wanna win a race and you have a 100 pound jockey on the back of your horse or

  • do you want a 300 pound jockey on the back of your horse? Fees at 3 percent are that.

  • If I said to you, here’s a deal. Let’s do an investment and here’s how I want it

  • to work. You give me the money. You put up all the money, you put up all the risk. I’ll

  • put up no money, I’ll put up no risk. If you lose, I win and if you win, I win. And

  • if you win, over the life of the time. I’ll get 60% of what you earn, you’d say, “I’ll

  • never do that in a million years.” That’s a mutual fund with 3%. It’s one of the only

  • industries on earth where theyve confused us enough that we don't  understand overpaying

  • by thousands of percent. You could own the stock market, the SMP 500, you can own a piece

  • of all 500 big companies, theyre like the Vanguard 500, and you get the best of all

  • the business. Apple, Exxon, all these companies. And it costs you .17. That means less than

  • 2 tenths of a percent. If you went with a normal mutual fund you might own the same

  • companies for 3.17. That’s like buying a Honda Accord for 20 thousand or 350 thousand

  • for the same car. If you paid 350 thousand and youre looking at the person next door

  • paid 20 thousand, you’d go crazy. That happens every day with finances because people don't

  • know how to look at this. So when they read the book, thatll never happen to them again.

  • Yeah, and this is… I mean, there’s so much. I could talk to you forever, and I know

  • your team is like, “Oh my God, weve gotta get him out of here,” but a couple of things

  • before we wrap up. First, what we discover with the All Season strategy and what you

  • were able to inspire Ray, one of thethe leader of what, the largest head fundhedge

  • fund in the world. It’s absolutely incredible.

  • He’s an amazing man. Let me just give it to you really quick. Ray Dalio is his name.

  • Ray heads Bridgewater, which is the largest hedge fund in the world. A hedge fund is where

  • wealthy people often put their money because they can bet up on the market or down, and

  • be able to do a lot of things as a hedge fund. And a large hedge fund, a good sized one,

  • might be 15 billion. Ray’s 160 billion, so he’s 10 times the size. To give money

  • to Ray 10 years ago you had to have a 5 billion dollar net worth and a minimum of 100 million

  • on the first day or he wouldn’t even talk to you. That was 10 years ago. Now no matter

  • how much money you have he won't do it because he manages money for China, for countries,

  • for giant pension funds. So I get a chance to meet Ray and I did 15 hours of prep for

  • that. You know, just like every… I wanna be able to pitch and catch with him. I was

  • very fortunate to find out that he’d listened to my tapes and was a fan of my work from

  • years before, and so our 45 minutes went close to that 3 hour mark again. And at the end

  • I said to him, were back and forth, back and forth, and he really enjoyed it and I

  • enjoyed it, obviously. I learned so much. I said, “Ray,” I asked this to all these

  • people. “If you could never give any of your money to your children and all you could

  • give them was a strategy, a plan, you know, a portfolio that they could not only succeed

  • with but they wouldn’t have all of the ups and downs that make people get out of the

  • market and lose.” I said, “What would it be?” And he said, “My all weather portfolio.

  • I’ve already designed it, all of my money is in it, my kids money, all of the money

  • that I have for contribution to society is in it,” and I saidand he said, “Because

  • I know I’m not gonna be here forever and I need something that’s gonna work in any

  • market.” And he said, “I’ve worked it all the way back to 1925, I’ve tested it,

  • and it makes money,” and he said, “I did it for myself for years and now I do it for

  • my clients.” I said, “Explain it to me.” So he explained it to me and I’d done my

  • homework, I knew a lot about it already. But at the end I said, “Ok, Ray. Youve really

  • explained this brilliant. Youre showing me why in 2008 people that had half their

  • money in stocks and they thought they were safe, half of their money in bonds, like everybody

  • tells you a balanced portfolio. Theyve both lost money.” He explained why. He explained

  • how you can avoid that. But I said, “Ray, you told me everything but the percentages.”

  • So it’s like bake this perfect chocolate cake and he says, “Bring some chocolate,

  • bring some sugar, you know, use some dairy products,” but youre not telling me the

  • amounts. I said, “That’s…” he said, “Tony, that’s my secret sauce,” and

  • he gave me the whole 5 billion, 100 million. I go, “I know, I know, but you said you

  • haven't taken money in 10 years. Youre not gonna take any money. You know the average

  • person can’t do it on their own. Help the average guy out!” And I was teasing him,

  • pushing him, and he goes, “Well, it’s complex.” I said… “But I’ll simplify.”

  • He goes, “Well, there’s nothing.” I said, “Writedesign one without leverage.

  • The average person can do 15 minutes a year.” He goes, “Well, it wouldn’t be perfect.”

  • I said, “Your idea of not perfect would be better than anybody else on earth.”

  • Totally.

  • So he sits there and he starts scratching this thing out for me, and I’m like feeling

  • this vibration in my body, it was just incredible. At the end, it was incredibly generous, we

  • went and tested it, back tested it, so that means you compare it year by year what it

  • did. Reality, not hoping what it’d do, but, you know, back testing something for a year

  • or 2 years or 5 years is one thing. We back tested it 75 years. The worst and the most

  • volatile times in our history and, interestingly enough, it’s right 85% of the time it made

  • money and the few times it didn't the average loss was 1.6%. The largest loss in 75 years

  • was less than 4%. Minus 3.5. And that was 2008 when the market from top to bottom was

  • down 51%. And that’s the most in loss in 75 years and the average return is just under

  • 10%. And this is something… a bunch of my friends were like, “Bake this into a business,

  • dude. This is, like, incredible.” And I was like, “You know what? I’d love to

  • do that, but this was given in the spirit of free to anybody.”

  • Yes.

  • So it’s there. Somebody can go to the library and get my book and they can just copy the

  • thing down. But it’s… it's available to any human being and anybody can put it there.

  • Now, that’s not the only strategy there. I have David Winston's strategies, I have

  • all the best.

  • Tons.

  • But his strategy is the smoothest ride. Because the biggest challenge, if you look at the

  • last 30 years or 20 years, 1993 to 2003, the average investor in mutual fundswell,

  • the market did 9.2% per year, really nice, on average. The average mutual fund investor

  • did 2.5%, and that’s before taxes. Youre gonna double your money every 36 years doing

  • something like that. It’s just

  • Getting killed.

  • ...it's not gonna happen.

  • No.

  • Youre getting killed.

  • Ok. As we wrap. So youre not earning a dime off of this book.

  • No.

  • No. So tell us all about your passion for making a difference and what happens each

  • and every time someone purchases a copy of this incredible thing, which everyone needs

  • to get.

  • Thank you. I'm really proud. It didn't start out that great, frankly, but I was writing

  • the book and as I mentioned, you know, I was a kid, we had Thanksgiving, no money and no

  • food and somebody came to the door, knocked on the door, delivered this food, and it was

  • life changing for me because it wasn’t the food, it was that my father had always said,

  • Nobody cares about anybody else.” You know, he built that belief system into us.

  • And then I saw that strangers really care. And so I swore some day I’d do something

  • to give back, so when I was 17 I fed two families. The next year 4 families, the next 8, and

  • I didn't tell anybody but after the third, 4th year I was like, “I could use some help.”

  • So I got my friends involved and my companies, and then it built to a million people and

  • then 2 million people. In the last 4 or 5 years I’ve been matching the 2 million my

  • foundation does personally with another 2 million, so we feed 4 million people a year.

  • But while I was writing this, Congress last year passed a new budget that nobody seemed

  • to pay attention to where they cut food stampsthey don't call it food stamps anymore, but

  • it’s food stamps, by 8.7 billion. Basically limiting 2 million people from having food.

  • And so I work with all these nonprofit organizations that are already struggling, and I… it just

  • made me crazy and I thought, “Ok, what if I…” I’m working my ass off with this

  • book but, you know what, I can… I can donate all the profits. Not a percentage. And then

  • I thought, “What if I donate it all in advance? Whether I make money on the book, it doesn't

  • matter. I’m gonna do it in advance. How many people could I feed?” and it was 10

  • million. And I was like, “Wow.” That excited me. And it just grew a life of its own. As

  • time went by I started thinking, “How can I really get people’s attention about it?”

  • And so I finally decided that I’m gonna feed 50 million, I’m writing the check,

  • actually, next week. Personally I’m gonna feed 50 million people upfront and in addition

  • to that I’m working with Feeding America, theyre the best hunger relief organization

  • in the United States. And theyre gonna partner with me to get matching funds so we

  • can feed 100 million people. And it’s just exciting. I’ve fed 42 million people in

  • my life, I’m gonna feed more people this year, andso for anybody who gets a book,

  • you know, if I sell a million books, 50 meals for every person that’s there. If I sell

  • 100 books itll be 500 thousand meals. But it doesn't matter, I’ve done it up front.

  • And I’m… I’m… I’m not doing it because I’m a good guy, I’m just paying it forward.

  • I… people forget what a little bit of caring can do for, you know, to inspire or to move

  • somebody. And I don't even know to this day who fed my family that day, but if they're

  • out there, if theyre still alive, I hope they see and hear this story and know what’s

  • going on. My guess is theyve passed because I’ve shared this story many times and no

  • one’s volunteered to share what it is. But that person made a giant difference. It wasn’t

  • just feeding, it was caring, and that’s what I think changes people’s lives.

  • I think that’s the thing that I so admire about you. I’ve been to so many of your

  • events, I will continue to be a supporter, a fan, a friend.

  • Thank you.

  • I think youre one of the most incredible human beings in the world and your heart and

  • your soul shows through in everything that you do.

  • Thank you.

  • Thank you so much for being here.

  • I appreciate it.

  • And for everybody, you have got to get your hands on this book. Were gonna have links

  • below, were gonna be tweeting and sharing about it. It will change your life, the life

  • of your family, and, like I said, at the end there’s a beautiful piece about why it’s

  • so important for all of us to make a difference. Tony, thank you so much. I love you.

  • Thank you for having me on, it’s so beautiful to see you again.

  • Thank you.

  • Thank you.

  • Now Tony and I would love to hear from you. What’s the single biggest insight that youre

  • taking away from today’s episode? And, more importantly, what’s the biggest action youre

  • gonna take as a result of all of this goodness?

  • Now, as always, the best conversations happen after the episode over at MarieForleo.com,

  • so go there and leave a comment now. Did you like this video? If so, subscribe to our channel

  • and I would be so appreciative, especially for this one, if you shared it with all your

  • friends. And if you want even more awesome resources to create a business and life that

  • you love, plus some personal insights from me that I only get to talk about in email,

  • come on over to MarieForleo.com and make sure you sign up for email updates. Stay on your

  • game and keep going for your dreams because the world really needs that special gift that

  • only you have. Thank you so much for watching and I’ll catch you next time on MarieTV.

  •                                                                                                                          

Hey, it’s Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create a business

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