The School of Greatness
How To Take Control Of Your Financial Health To Create Lasting Abundance
Fri, 23 May 2025
Leave an Amazon Rating or Review for my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy!Mastering your money mindset unlocks freedom most people never experience. In this power-packed episode, I speak with three financial titans who reveal the psychology behind wealth creation. Vivian Tu ("Your Rich BFF") breaks down her practical STRIP method for financial health, sharing why asking for raises beats cutting expenses every time. Noah Kagan opens up about his journey from feeling unworthy at AppSumo to creating an $85 million business, explaining why self-worth drives financial decisions. Alex Hormozi delivers the brutal truth that suffering only lasts a moment while achievement memories pay dividends forever. This conversation transforms how you'll approach money, relationships, and success whether you're starting your wealth journey or looking to level up.Vivian’s book Rich AF: The Winning Money Mindset That Will Change Your LifeNoah’s book Million Dollar Weekend: The Surprisingly Simple Way to Launch a 7-Figure Business in 48 HoursNoah’s book How I Lost 170 Million Dollars: My Time as #30 at FacebookAlex’s book $100M Leads: How to Get Strangers To Want To Buy Your StuffAlex’s book $100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No (Acquisition.com $100M Series)In this episode you will learn:Why asking for a $5,000 raise is easier than cutting $5,000 in expensesHow to use the STRIP method for financial health: Savings, Total debt, Retirement, Invest, PlanWhy being a "B+ student with an A+ personality" often earns more than technical expertsThe critical difference between putting money in retirement accounts and actually investing itWhy protecting your reputation matters more than any short-term financial gainHow changing your environment is essential for changing your financial behaviorsThe reason most successful people delete everything that doesn't directly support their goalsFor more information go to https://www.lewishowes.com/1775For more Greatness text PODCAST to +1 (614) 350-3960More SOG episodes we think you’ll love:Vivian Tu – greatness.lnk.to/1551SCNoah Kagan – greatness.lnk.to/1572SCAlex Hormozi – greatness.lnk.to/1723SC Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy!Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX
Chapter 1: How can I improve my financial health?
If someone is financially sick and unwell and their financial health is unstable, what are a few strategies they can do to either increase their income or get back to financial wholeness?
I would say something that people struggle with realizing is that these changes you'll have to make, they're not permanent. They're only temporary. Yes. And you are going to be uncomfortable. It's not going to be fun. And I am very anti. Cut out the avocado toast. Don't buy the coffee. Rah, rah. OK, I am. Yeah, but. If you are in a truly a dark, dark hole and there's no ladder to crawl out.
Cut it out. Like you literally have to cut it out. You have to make some temporary changes that are very uncomfortable. And to your point, like we focus so much on cutting out every single little discretionary cost. Do you know how hard it is to cut out $5,000 worth of expenses? Do you know how easy it is to ask for a $5,000 raise? A $5,000 raise happens every single day.
That is par for the course. That's not anything special. Cutting out $5,000, do you have any coffees you have to cut out? You know how many meals you can't go out to? Do you know how many friends you might lose in that process? So again, I think it's really, really important to be asking for that raise. And I mean 10%, 15% every single year. Are you going to get it every year? Probably not. But...
You get 7%, great. You get 8%, great. You gotta ask and you gotta remind them pretty much for six months out of the year that you deserve that raise and that you want money, that you are money motivated. Because if you ask in December when everybody else is asking for money, You're at the back of the list, back of the line.
You want to be on top of the pile when your boss starts thinking about who's getting a raise this year.
What can someone do who is an employee to be really smart and intentional about getting a raise? Yeah. How can they show their value, their work ethic, that they're getting the results that's going to increase revenue in the business? As opposed to just saying, give me a 20% raise or a 10% raise because I deserve it.
Yeah.
How do they enroll through actual results as opposed to, I just want a raise.
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Chapter 2: What is the STRIP method for financial wellness?
But go ahead.
No, I was going to say, it's also like doing an elevator test or a airport test when you're looking at a resume. How many times has someone asked you about your past job experience in detail? Frankly, not that many times. You know what everybody beelines to on my resume? What's that? They look at the very bottom and they're like interests, activities. And they're like, oh, that's weird.
I see where it... Literally, that's weird. you were a cheerleader in college? And I'm like, yes. And they're like, really? And I'm like, yeah, why? Don't I seem so fun and bubbly? And like, you know, it's the same day that I'm wearing all black and I look so depressed. Or they'll look at the bottom of my resume and they're like, interest, mob movies. What's your favorite one?
And I'm like, Goodfellas, obviously. And then we get into a 20 minute debate and I waste 20 minutes in our interview. But you only now have 10 minutes to ask me technical questions. And if I ace those 10 minutes of questions instead of 30 minutes, I now look like a genius because every question you asked me, I got right.
And then even better, like the fact that you and I now have something in common because you know that Goodfellas is my favorite movie. I know that The Godfather is your favorite movie. So now we're friends.
Yeah, you're more likable.
Yeah.
It sounds like people hire or they give raises or opportunities to people they like more. Is that what I'm hearing you say? What was the study from? Do you remember this likability study?
Can't exactly remember.
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Chapter 3: Why is asking for a raise better than cutting expenses?
Yeah. I mean, you can't have an A plus personality and just be like a D minus. Like you're still bad at the job. They don't want you around.
Man, I don't know how I got here then. I was like barely past school, you know? Yeah. But it's interesting. We were just talking about this event this last weekend and one of the speakers, Vanessa Van Edwards, she's kind of like a behavioral scientist and studies people and soft skills and all these different things.
And she was like, if you want to be interesting as a human being, it's not about how... much knowledge you know or how funny stories you tell or whatever your history, it's about how interested you are in other people.
It's like your ability to listen and engage and ask more questions and when people feel that you care about them and are interested in them, they're going to be more interested in you. And so it's kind of turning the tables around where you don't need to be that smart, but you need to be present. You need to be engaging.
You need to be able to have courage to ask those questions and look someone in the eyes and just have a good energy. And I think that's part of it as well. That'll take you a long way in a career. So that's what I'm hearing you say around if you're wanting to increase your income is some practical things. What about if you have...
a sick financial health and you're just, you're not sure where your money's at. You're not sure where you're spending your money. You're not sure how much debt you have. You're, you know, buying three lattes a day or whatever it is. And you're just like, huh, I really don't have an emergency fund. I really don't have much savings. I don't have any investments and I'm in debt.
How can they get back to a healthy place? What are practical steps they can do?
Yeah, this is my You're Rich BFF strip method.
Ooh, strip it up.
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Chapter 4: How do retirement savings work?
Got it. Okay. Total debt, that's the T. Total debt.
R stands for retirement. I know, especially my audience, so many people are young and they're like- They're not thinking about retirement. They're like, it's like four years away. It's 30 years away.
It's like- Millennial, Gen Z, yeah.
It will be here before you know it. And again, now I do know where this study come from. Credit Karma did a survey and over a quarter of people over the age of 59- have not a dollar saved for retirement.
Come on. Not a dollar. Over 59? No. 25% don't have anything saved. 27% is the actual. Wow. Not a dollar. Why is that? Why do people wait so long to have zero retirement?
I think on one hand, in part, it's education. It's that thought of like, I'll be young forever. Two, I will say many, many of those people are likely in lower paying jobs. They are, you know, not offered employer sponsored retirement plans. They don't know to create their own individual one. And I think things happen throughout the years.
So, like, maybe you were really responsible about putting away money for retirement. If you get sick, you can't not get treated. It's hard.
Sure.
Life happens. Yeah. But it is important to think about retirement now and this is my favorite part because I love tax bennies.
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Chapter 5: What are the key elements of a financial plan?
It's actually buying stuff with that money. And people forget to do this all the time.
And buying stuff with the retirement money or with separate money?
No, with that money. So like, say you have a Roth IRA and you put $5,000 into that Roth IRA. I know people who have put that money into their Roth IRA for years. And they never allocated those dollars anywhere. That just sat in a cash fund. And it didn't grow. And people will make comments when I make content about Roth IRAs or 401Ks.
And they're like, well, I don't know what you're doing, but my money hasn't grown. I'm like, did you invest it? And they were like, yeah, I put it in the Roth IRA. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. Did you go and buy index funds? Did you go and buy a mutual fund? Did you put your money into a target day retirement fund?
With that money. With that money. Interesting.
The metaphor I talk about in my book is going to the grocery store. So, you go to the grocery store, which is the brokerage, and you have your cash in your purse and you walk in. Imagine just taking a lap around the grocery store and then going home and being like, why is there no food in my fridge? That's what people do.
You actually have to go and buy your fruits and your veggies and a couple snacks for yourself. You have to buy those things if you want them in your house.
But most people aren't aware of that, huh?
No, it's one of the biggest mistakes I see over and over again. So, invest your money with the I and P stands for my favorite part, you got to plan. You do not get to have your happily ever after, you don't get to ride off into the sunset if you don't have a plan. You got to plan for your party.
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Chapter 6: How does money affect relationships?
Yeah.
When you were either dating before this, the the guys on the floor who'd been married and divorced i'm sure you heard some crazy stories of people and i'm sure and i'm sure the divorce rate is higher on wall street than just like middle america i don't know suburbs i don't know i don't know if i would say that really yeah Maybe they just keep it together but they have like separate wives.
Yeah, I don't know. Who knows? Yeah. Three families like on billions or something.
Oh my gosh, I was just going to say dollar bill.
Yeah, exactly. But how much does money affect intimacy and relationships when one person has more than the other, when both have a lot, when both have a little? What have you witnessed and personally but also what have you experienced from your research?
Yeah. Anybody who says money does not impact your relationship is a liar. Okay. It is truly every year they do some, somebody does a study. It's money and sex, money and sex, one and two, one and two. They go back and forth between who's number one, who's number two. But like, those are the top two reasons always.
And imagine if true physical intimacy is up there and money's right next to it, why don't we put just as much time into maintaining the money piece as we do the physical intimacy piece?
On making a relationship or marriage work, you mean? Correct.
And I think maybe this is just a phenomenon that I have witnessed And I will say this from a heteronormative relationship standpoint, but we have a lot of guy friends who make a lot of money and you are one of two dudes, okay? You either want a partner, truly. And I know some of these guys, their wives, girlfriends, whatever, are the coolest, most inspirational.
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Chapter 7: What makes billionaires different from millionaires?
Why did COVID bring you peace? Because I recognized that how I was approaching business, I had a plan. I was like, here's what we're going to be doing. Here's our budget. Here's our business. And I have a plan that I can follow. So that was part one. And part two is I didn't really like how I was living. I was engaged. And it Didn't work out. Really? Yeah.
My business partner had a line he was recommending. He said to me, he's like, are you getting what you're getting or are you getting what you want? From the relationship? Yeah. Not from as a business partner. He's great. Shout out Chad. He's amazing.
So you were engaged, maybe there were some ups and downs and you weren't fully clear.
Yeah.
And he asked you that question. Yeah. Are you getting what you're getting?
Or are you getting what you want? And what was the answer? I'm not getting what I want. And that's hard, right? I think most of us, this is the thing I've noticed about advice, especially watching interviews and interviewing people. Most of us know the truth. We know our truth. It's just hard. And we don't want to accept it. Everyone has courage.
Like I did this ayahuasca thing, which I know is more common now, but I did it years ago and courage to me was I was afraid of it, but I did it anyways. And then I was still scared and there was a whole crazy story about this, but coming out of it, I was like, oh, I realized I can do hard things and all of us can do hard things, but we have to face the hard thing. Yes. And we all have it in us.
And so for me with breaking up with the fiance, which was tough and I knew what was that like? That was probably one of the more bigger regrets in my life that I didn't do it sooner because I wasted her time, wasted my time. Yeah, that's tricky. It was two years of just like back, and everyone's gone through this.
It's not unique for me, but it was two years of, okay, let's try to make it work, but I know I'm not really good for you and I don't feel good about myself. And so it was like, eventually when COVID happened, that was kind of our, we had some issues that went down and I was like, I can't do this. Like, I can't spend, the specific thing I thought was like, do I want 40 more years of this?
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Chapter 8: How can I achieve true success?
I don't mean poor, but like they probably don't have the money. Most rich people don't even be posting about it. Right. And so I started, I rented a Malibu beach house. I rented a lake house in Austin. I started doing these things. I got like an RV for a month and I just kind of like drove around and like hung out in the RV.
And I was like, wow, having some nicer space to live makes me feel a lot better. And so those kinds of things led me in a direction where single for a while, started doing dating coaches. had a business plan that I was executing for AppSumo, so I felt in control of the business. And then I felt like, I'm actually going to start taking care of myself.
And then I also felt like I could take care of others then too, as I was feeling better about myself. And that, I think the past three years, I've felt much better, just been much calmer.
What has money and relationships taught you about when you've been in a relationship that you weren't fully sure of?
was gonna work out what was your views around money during that time were you more anxious and stressed were you more abundant thinking like where were you at with money it's easy to be abundant when you have money i'll tell you that it's hard when you and that's what most people they're struggling with money that's why i'm like let's talk about entrepreneurship because that's a way of you can changing your situation which everyone can do and i had a friend who said no you're here and you're here where you want to be and it's actually closer than you think
I was like, really? He's like, yeah, it's much closer than you think. You thought it was a bigger gap. I thought it's a gap. I thought there's something I don't know. I thought there's something outside. And it's something I think we're both, as we've gotten older, it's all inside. Yeah. Just being kind of like, hey, it's okay. Yeah, of course. It's okay.
Now with my ex, it was not that there was a good or bad thing about money. It was just how we treated each other with it. Like I didn't really spend a lot of money on myself.
So what did you do with your money? Because you were making money every year. Was it just compounding in a bank account? Yeah.
Was it in stocks? What were you doing? Yeah. My father built his own business and then lost it to drugs and alcohol. And it was, it was a sad, like, that's definitely for me. I think a lot of, a lot of men, we want our fathers to recognize us. And I was fortunate. I have a great mom and a great stepfather. But for me, that, that father attachment. Yes.
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