Haley Sacks: The American Dream Is Dead! The New Rules for Building Real Wealth | Finance | E419

Haley Sacks (0:00)

Every person that you admire financially, Oprah, Warren Buffett, Rihanna, any of these people, first of all, they've definitely made money mistakes.

But they also started the same place that you did, which was at zero. And the only difference between you and them is that they took the time and they believed in themselves enough to learn.

Hala Taha (0:21)

My guest today is Haley Sacks, better known as Ms. Dow Jones. She's a finance expert and founder of Finances Cool. Haley is here to share the new rules of building wealth and show us how to start living like a future rich person.

Haley Sacks (0:34)

I've worked with tens of thousands of people on their finances. And what I've realized is, you know, I can tell you anything about emergency funds and how to invest in the stock market. And it all sounds great, but you're never actually going to make a change unless you unpack your why.

Hala Taha (0:52)

I'm going to say a legacy money rule and you give me your take on it. No credit card ever.

Haley Sacks (0:58)

I completely disagree. You absolutely should have credit cards. Having a credit card and paying it off on time is how you build your credit score.

Hala Taha (1:08)

You're an entrepreneur, taxes. What are some of the things that you feel like every entrepreneur needs to know about taxes?

Haley Sacks (1:14)

I think there's this idea that, oh my God, I'm an entrepreneur. I can just write off everything. This is a write off, that's a write off. And there's certain write offs that make you more susceptible to be audited and clothing is one of them. I recently switched to being an S-Corp. But also what's really important too with taxes as an entrepreneur is understanding.

Hala Taha (1:35)

Haley, welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast.

Haley Sacks (1:38)

I'm so excited to be here.

Hala Taha (1:39)

I'm so happy that you're here and that we get to hang out in person.

And before we get into finance, budgeting, investing, you say that a lot of people are getting financial advice for America that doesn't really exist anymore. You say that the American dream is dead. And you also say that long live the new American dream. So let's start there. What is the new American dream? Can you paint that picture for us?

Haley Sacks (2:06)

The new American dream is owning your time and having freedom. For our parents' generation, it was so much about being locked into these corporate jobs for 30 to 40 years. You get your pension, and then there's sort of this light at the end of the tunnel where you're going to have that retirement and your life's really going to start when you're like 65 or whatever. But what I think is that with Gen Z and millennials, we want to enjoy our time now.

We don't want to be beholden to a corporation because we know that they're not loyal to us and we want freedom.

Hala Taha (2:48)

Yeah. You talk about something called a Freedom Fund, which I think is really cool. It's the ability to have money so that you can say no to things.

Haley Sacks (2:56)

Yeah.

Hala Taha (2:57)

Talk to us about the Freedom Fund. Why is it so important to you as a principle?

Haley Sacks (3:01)

Freedom Fund, but also FU. Money.

Hala Taha (3:02)

Oh, yeah.

Haley Sacks (3:04)

I love that. Yeah. I'm sure you feel like that too because you're rich. Where the more money that you have, the more power you have, which is why I'm also so passionate about financial literacy and empowerment for women. Because for women, we couldn't have our own credit cards until 1974

Hala Taha (3:26)

I know. That's crazy. It really wasn't that long ago.

Haley Sacks (3:30)

It really wasn't. I'm a New Yorker. When the Knicks won the championship this past year, the last time that they had won an NBA championship, women couldn't have credit cards. Which was so crazy. That was like a weird marker for me.

But yeah, I think it's so important to have money because it allows you to walk away from things that aren't serving you, whether that is a job that you absolutely hate or a partner that you can't stand but you feel trapped by. I have a story in my book, Future Rich Person. I asked her if I could include this. One of my best friends, Elizabeth, was in a relationship with this guy, Charlie, who was horrible. And he, but they lived together.

Hala Taha (4:14)

He was like a horrible boyfriend?

Haley Sacks (4:16)