Hey there! Welcome to the Independent Money newsletter 👋 We’ll be exploring the latest financial news and discussing how it affects entrepreneurs like you. Plus, we'll share some awesome wealth creation insights from successful entrepreneurs that you won't find anywhere else.

Let’s dive in! 🏊‍♂️

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In this newsletter, we’ll discuss:

• Current Trends: Lionel Messi is a master of more than just soccer – he can also teach us a few things about investing.

• An Entrepreneur’s Personal Investment Strategy: Learn how the Plant Daddy (and founder of a $59 million plant blog) invests his money.

• An Entrepreneur’s Journey: Learn how Austin Hankwitz’s investing strategy has evolved from employee to entrepreneur and the money rule he lives by.

Current Trends: What Lionel Messi Can Teach You About Investing

Inter Miami fans are still celebrating their hero, Lionel Messi, after he helped the team defeat FC Cincinnati and advance to the US Open Cup final.

But Messi's decision to decline Saudi Arabia's $1.6 billion contract and join the underdog team wasn't purely for the love of the club.

He's a much more savvy investor than fans might think.

While the Saudi Arabian team offered a bigger check size up front, Messi had a lot of other opportunities to make money with Inter Miami, including:

• A larger contract with Adidas

• A cut of the Apple sponsorship revenue

• The opportunity to open up an expansion club for pennies on the dollar

According to various sources, the average major league soccer club is worth around half a billion dollars, so the opportunity to own a club will probably yield much higher returns than simply accepting the $1.6 billion offered by Saudi Arabia.

The lesson?

Play the long game.

It will likely take Messi years to build a club, but once he has that asset, he'll earn the value of the Saudi Arabia contract (approximately $1.6 billion) every three years. And that doesn't include sponsorships and other monetization strategies he could leverage. 

On a ten or twenty year time horizon, he'll make significantly more than if he had just accepted the Saudi Arabia contract.

Even if investing in a solo 401k or IRA doesn't seem like a big payout right now, on a long enough time horizon, you'll see that compound interest on cash balances can multiply your money. You won't pay taxes on investment gains until you withdraw funds, but securities investments can also have losses. (Set one up now or rollover your current one). *see disclosures below*

An Entrepreneur’s Personal Investment Strategy

We love getting juicy details about how entrepreneurs invest their money, and Kevin Espiritu (aka Plant Daddy) recently revealed how he invests his money:

For context, Kevin is the founder of Epic Gardening, a $59,000,000 plant blog. 

Check out the full thread to see other peoples’ investment strategies as well! *This is not investment advice, see full disclosure below*

An Entrepreneur’s Journey

Austin Hankwitz is the co-founder and CEO of Witz Ventures, a venture investing & growth marketing company.

Alongside his co-founder, Christian, he has invested in 30+ startups (including Carry!), and he also has an impressive social media presence with 730K+ followers on TikTok and a Top 5 Business Podcast on Spotify (Rich Habits).

How did your investing strategy change when you switched from employee to entrepreneur?

As a 9 to 5 employee, I was very much focused on my retirement investing and maximizing every single tax-advantaged account I could think of. 

After I began my journey as a full-time entrepreneur, I was quickly introduced to all of the different ways business owners could benefit from investing.

This meant learning more about the Solo 401k, the SEP IRA, as well as other investment vehicles afforded to small business owners.

I also began taking "risk" much more seriously. When I was working my 9-5 job, I had a steady paycheck and knew money would always be there. Now as an entrepreneur, I need to make sure every decision I make with my money reflects the slim possibility this could all disappear tomorrow and what I've been able to save and invest is the extent of it.

What were key financial milestones or turning points in your entrepreneurial journey?

Three major milestones come to mind:

• Hiring employees

• Taking advantage of tax write-offs

• Investing for retirement

Hiring Employees: This was scary. I didn't know much about the process, the different types of taxes that needed to be set aside, or the paperwork I needed to keep up with to stay in good standing with the state of Tennessee. Luckily, I was able to find a payroll provider that walked me through the entire process. Once you're able to figure out payroll, things get easier.

Taking Advantage of Tax Write Offs: The first massive tax-write off I took advantage of was a Section 179 deduction from purchasing a vehicle for my business. I did this back in 2021, so I was able to bonus depreciate the entire purchase price of the vehicle, allowing me to save tens of thousands on my taxes that year.

Investing For Retirement: Getting up to speed on the retirement investing options afforded to small business owners was huge for me. I was able to invest hundreds of thousands toward my retirement in such a short period of time (a few years), compared to only $6.5K annually through a Roth IRA and $22.5K annually through a 401k. 35, 45, and 55-year-old Austin will be very happy.

What’s one money rule you live by?

Cash flow is everything.

You don't become wealthy by cutting your expenses to zero, you become wealthy by intentionally spending money on things that make you happy while multiplying your income (cash flow) throughout your lifetime.

Connect With Austin:

He publishes analysis 2-3x weekly to more than 12K readers in his newsletter, Rate of Return. He also shares a new Rich Habits Podcast episode every Monday morning to more than 30K weekly listeners across all platforms.

What’s Happening at Carry?

Here’s what you can expect in the coming weeks

See the full list of events here. ⏰

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If you want more resources on building wealth as an solopreneur/entrepreneur, check these out:

• The Solo 401k handbook 

• What is a Solo 401k?

• How to Open a Solo 401k

• Common Solo 401k FAQs

• Solo 401k Contribution Calculator