Top Tips to Alternative Investing and How to Reach Financial Health with Chris Odegard

In this episode of 'A Magical Life,' host Magic Barclay interviews Chris Odegaard, a prolific investor who transformed his financial future after losing 55% of his assets in 2009. Following the wisdom from Robert Kiyosaki's 'Rich Dad Poor Dad,' Chris transitioned to alternative investments and rebuilt his wealth several times over within nine years. Chris shares his expertise on how financial stability impacts overall health, three essential hobbies for a well-rounded life, and tips for achieving wealth. He also discusses the implications of digital currency and offers guidance for those starting from scratch post-divorce. Chris emphasizes the importance of continuous education, including his own book, "Get Off Your A$$ And Manage Your Money."

Schedule a free virtual coffee chat with Chris on his website: https://theprolificinvestor.net/

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Transcript

Magic Barclay: 0:42

Welcome back to a magical life. I'm your host, magic Barclay. And today Chris Odegaard joins us and he is the prolific investor. Chris is an average guy who had a white collar job in the corporate world and followed the only thing he knew for decades, conventional wisdom and conventional investments. This worked relatively well until 2009 when he experienced an Ill quiddity event where he lost 55 percent of his assets and thousands of dollars per month in cash flow. Then Chris read Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad, and his mind was open to a different type of investing, investing in real assets and private deals. Mostly insulated from the volatility, risk and taxation of the stock market. In just nine years, Chris recouped the 55 percent he had lost and multiplied it many times over and now shares his experience and knowledge with you through his book. Get off your A. Dollar sign, dollar sign and manage your money. Why you need alternative investments and his alternative investment blog at the prolific investor. net. Welcome Chris.

Chris Odegard: 2:00

Hey, magic. Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it.

Magic Barclay: 2:03

Okay. So I ask everyone the same three questions and everyone gives me different answers and coming from the finance background, really excited about yours. So he comes the first one and that is what can your expertise do to accelerate health, not just physical, but also emotional and spiritual health.

Chris Odegard: 2:23

Well, I, you know, it's funny because, people all around the world have different ideas about money. And some people say money is evil. And, the truth is money is just a tool. And I heard somebody say that, money can't buy you happiness. And the rebuttal to that was, well, neither can poverty. And the truth is, is that, uh, when people have enough money to, you know, cover their basic needs and a little extra, everything in their life becomes easier. You know, when you're not worried about when you're going, how are you going to pay the mortgage or the rent or the car payment or the babysitter? you have the time to go exercise. Your mind isn't, consumed with, you know, where that next dollar is going to come from. So I, it's really at the top of the list. I kind of think in terms of importance, because it makes everything else in life easier.

Magic Barclay: 3:10

Well, it does. I mean, when you're not stressing about money, you know, you're not stressing as much and of course, stress affects your health. So definitely. Now, what are your top three tips to creating wealth? Not just the financial, but also the personal and emotional wealth.

Chris Odegard: 3:27

Well, looking at it at a broad picture, and I can't, I can't claim this as my own, but I can't, I can't quote the source either. But, something I heard one time that really stuck with me is that everyone should have, Three hobbies, and one is something that exercises your creativity, and the other one is something that keeps you physically fit, and the other one is something that makes you money, and when you think of all those three things put together, that really goes well for a well rounded life. And so I can think, you know, in my life, uh, well, I actually enjoy making money. So that's just one of my habits, you know, how I do it through alternative investing. And, uh, my creativity is through writing and, uh, you know, the educational stuff I do as well as music. And then, and I just happen to be one of those weird person who likes to go to the gym. So it's kind of like, you know, mind, body, and I guess finances all wrapped in there.

Magic Barclay: 4:24

I love that. All right. Our final standard question is around weight. Many people battle with their weight. So have you ever battled with yours? And if so, how did you win that war? And what can you offer the listeners who may be battling with their weight, maybe with their finances as well?

Chris Odegard: 4:42

I don't know. I think for most people, to varying degrees. you your weight, you know, healthy eating and exercise habits are just a continual battle. They, they've, they've been a continual battle of mine my whole life. And, and I have tried, uh, different things to get down to, to my ideal weight. And, and what I found that most of the time is that they work for a while. But they're never sustainable. And so, uh, now I'm doing a little bit of a different program, and it's, it's a lot about education. What are the, you know, the, you know, the right things to eat. And as my doctor described it, he said, look, Chris, this is going to be at a glacial pace. And so while I'm, um, A little frustrated if the glacial pace, you know, I, I see the scale and I don't see any movement and I don't see much change in percentage of body fat. But what I do see is I can see that my body's changing. It's getting better and my clothes are looking better and, you know, fitting. And so there, there was a change going on, but it's not manifesting itself in, in the, uh, And the traditional measures, you know, my body composition is changing, even though standing on the scale every day doesn't really tell me much. So I think patience is really key. And it's kind of like exercise that what's the best exercise you should do. It's the one that you're going to do consistently and the same thing as whatever weight loss program is, is the one that you're going to be able to do consistently is going to keep the weight off consistently.

Magic Barclay: 6:10

Great. So we've covered it a little bit here, and now I want to open the floor to you, Chris, what is it that you feel the listeners need to hear? Let's start with. You know, you lost 55 percent of your assets. How was the comeback from that? Like, what did that look like?

Chris Odegard: 6:30

when, couples get divorced, it's, difficult on everybody, you know, everybody suffers. Nobody really comes out a winner on that. So when you lose that kind of sum of money, there are a couple traditional ways people think about overcoming that. One is, well, now I have to work longer, uh, so I can save more and, or I have to work longer, so I don't need as much money because I won't be in retirement as long. or I have to, if I do retire. when I thought it was, I'm just going live a much more diminished kind of, uh, lifestyle. And, and those are, that's kind of the scarcity mentality. And the abundance mentality is, well, what if I could make all that up? how do I do that? And so instead of just deciding that, well, I have lost 55 percent and now I'm just going to, you know, live like a pauper instead of a king. a couple of things happened to me mentioned in my introduction, uh, a friend recommended that I, Get this book, which was rich dad, poor dad, which I did. And that was the launching point, to investing in a different way. Uh, that is just more, much more profitable. And, It wasn't a straight line, you know, it was one step forward, two steps back, one to the left, one to the right. I can't say it was a smooth pass, but it certainly got me there. And, to come out of that in, in less than 10 years and quit my corporate job and never have to work again, was really satisfying. And, and I guess the big key is there does, you know, there's this whole other world of investing that most people don't know anything about.

Magic Barclay: 8:00

And so how do people find that alternative investment route?

Chris Odegard: 8:06

Yeah. So you, it's, it's a funny thing because if you think of, everybody that you associate with and work with and your family, you know, they're all investing in the stock market through their 401k or their super annual, I can't even say it, I'll just call it their super, through their super, and, and that's all they know because that's all they've ever seen. And then, and then somebody comes around and says, Hey, you shouldn't, there's a better place. So unless you come across somebody like me or one of my colleagues, you might never know this. So, basically you have to start, searching out alternative investments and books, and I mean, it's, it's a real education process. You have to start reading the right books. You have to listen to the right podcasts and attending different, uh, you know, classes and conventions, and this all doesn't happen at one time. and, my website, I have a whole list of the resources that I use that have gotten me started. And I continue to use today to, um, further my knowledge.

Magic Barclay: 9:05

Okay. So a very common financial situation post divorce, especially for women, and that is starting again from scratch with nothing, maybe in a rental home, You know, maybe with all the bills of the kids and the whatever, how do they get restarted? How do they start climbing their way back into assets?

Chris Odegard: 9:30

It's the education process. You read a book like rich dad, poor dad, you read my book and you, and you go, Oh, there is, there's the stock market. And then there's all these other. Investments. And unfortunately, one reason the traditional method is so popular is because it's so easy. You put your money in, some fund managed by somebody and you never think about it again. But, get in life, proportion with the results are proportionate to the input. And, and so those results are very mediocre. And so by, you know, increasing your knowledge, you find out about this whole other world of real estate and ATM machines and self storage facilities and shopping malls, and, uh, you know, all these other types of things that there are ways that people can, you know, relatively easy, get involved in those, without having to be, you know, a multimillionaire who could just go out and buy one of these things by yourself. So it's a huge, education process.

Magic Barclay: 10:26

Okay, so we've covered how to restart. we've covered the alternative investments. Now here in Australia, there's a war on cash. I do want to touch on this because we spoke about it off air. There's definitely a war on cash. We know the old. Adage cash is king. Many people seem to be going along with this, change in the financial structure that cash should no longer be used, it should all be digital. What are the dangers of that, not only in the short term, but in long term with investing?

Chris Odegard: 11:05

so I have to say that this is not my, my strongest suit here, but I'll tell you what some of my thoughts are is, so when you go to this, digital, country digital currency, First of all, you lose all privacy because they know exactly what you're spending it on and where it's going. And, and, you know, in the United States and probably some other countries during the pandemic, the government just said, here, here's money. And this was kind of the first time there'd ever been any kind of stimulus like that, where they just put money in people's pockets. and that's okay. They send you a check and you spend it the way you want with a, with a digital currency. There could be time limitations Because think of the purpose of money, the money, the government wants to stimulate the economy. So here, I'm going to give you a bunch of money, but I'm going to put a timer on it. So if you don't use it by this particular time, it's going to vaporize and you can only use it for certain types of transactions that, so now you've got the government. Putting an expiration date on your money and telling you how you can spend it. It's like, uh, like your supers and our 401ks that have all these restrictions on them. We don't want that stuff. We want less of that stuff, right?

Magic Barclay: 12:17

I agree. Totally. So, okay. The landscape of finance is changing. The landscape of spending and investing is changing. How can people. Keep hold of what they've got and grow it just some really simple things that they can do today.

Chris Odegard: 12:41

So I guess, you know, this whole thing about cash is king. So there's, there's a little bit of truth to that and there's. Something that's not true about that. So so there's a certain amount of cash that you have because you're gonna spend, and there's a certain amount of cash that you are saving. Well, inflation is really high, but let's just say it's 10%. So if you have a hundred dollars. In the bank account, and you're not getting any interest on it next year. It's worth 90. So if you hang on to cash and it's not in, it's not being invested at a rate that is higher than inflation, you're losing your, your buying power over time. So the only time you should hold on to cash is while you're is hopefully a very short time between your, Next investment, but in terms of just some things that people can do, number one is, be the best at what you, what you do, whatever your job is, because the only the only money that people have to invest is the money that's above and beyond. Their daily expenses. So you need to be the best at your job so that, if your expenses are 5, 000 a month and you make 10, 000 a month, you've got an extra 5, 000 a month to invest. So you need to be the best at what you do. you need to make your, spouse or significant other a priority because, this whole conversation started with, okay, well, what happens when you split up? Everybody takes a big financial hit. That's probably the biggest, you know, a divorce or something like that, other than bankruptcy is probably the biggest detriment to your finances of anything else. and, you know, you need to maintain good credit because if you're, if you're doing it right, you don't only want to use your money to invest, but you want to be able to go out and borrow. and use smart debt to invest in the right types of things. So you not only have your money to invest, but you have the banks, to invest as well. So there's just a, there's a handful of things.

Magic Barclay: 14:39

Terrific. Now we love freebies here. What can you offer the listeners and where can they find it?

Chris Odegard: 14:46

Well, if the listeners want to go to my website, at theprolificinvestor. net, and they can schedule a free virtual coffee with me, 30 minutes long. there's a schedule link. You can get on my calendar, and I'll be happy to, spend 30 minutes or so and chat about this stuff with you.

Magic Barclay: 15:05

Terrific. So the website is the prolific investor. net. You also can be found on YouTube and Instagram and Facebook and Instagram. Facebook is the prolific investor.

Chris Odegard: 15:20

I'm on you can find me on LinkedIn, but uh yeah, if you go to the website, everywhere you want to get a hold of me is, is there. Uh, have a free virtual coffee with Chris, as well as there's a link to the book, get off your a dollar sign and dollar sign and manage your money.

Magic Barclay: 15:33

I never know which, I

Chris Odegard: 15:34

never know how to say the title. I have to wait till the host tells me what's allowed.

Magic Barclay: 15:37

And that's what I say. Thank you very much, Chris. This has been a heck of a lot of fun. So everyone go and visit Chris at the prolific investor. net. Thank you so much for your time, Chris.

Chris Odegard: 15:50

Oh, thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it.

Magic Barclay: 15:52

No problems. And listeners, thank you for your time. For now, go forth and create your magical life.