516: Why the Rich Don't Hoard Cash

There's no shortage of doom-and-gloom in the podcast world—especially in the gold and silver crowd. You know the type. The ones who spend half their airtime warning you that the dollar is about to collapse, the grid will go down, and that only silver coins will save you. I used to buy into that narrative too. I was a card-carrying member of the Zombie Apocalypse school of personal finance. I even listened to Peter Schiff religiously. But as time passed and I realized that zombies would not rule the world, I gradually became an optimist. I believe in the resilience of the U.S. economy. I don't think society is going to crumble, and I'm not prepping for Armageddon. That said, there is one warning from the doom crowd that's absolutely true—and it's not a matter of opinion. It's a fact. The U.S. dollar is losing value. Fast. That might not feel dramatic. But it should. Because it means that if you're sitting on cash—thinking you're being conservative—you're actually guaranteeing yourself a loss. Robert Kiyosaki said it best: "Savers are losers." It's a clever phrase, but it's not a joke. It's reality. Inflation isn't a glitch in the system—it is the system. In a country running record-breaking deficits and drowning in debt, the only viable solution is to devalue the currency. In other words, print more money. And whether that inflation comes in at a "modest" 2% like the Fed wants, or 7–9% like we saw in recent years, the outcome is the same: your money loses purchasing power. A dollar in 1970 had the buying power of nearly $8 today. So if your dad tucked away $10,000 in a shoebox thinking he was doing you a favor, that money is now worth a little over $1,200. Even the money you saved in the year 2000 has lost nearly half its value. Inflation is the background noise of our economy. It's always there, always working, always eroding. Slowly when things are "normal." Fast when they're not. So what do you do? Well, if you're keeping large chunks of money in a savings account paying less than 1% interest while inflation clips along at 3–6%, you are, without exaggeration, bleeding wealth every single day. It feels safe. It looks safe. But it's not. It's a bucket with a hole in the bottom. And you don't even notice until it's almost empty. That's why the wealthy don't hoard cash. They own assets that inflate with inflation. They buy things that grow in value as the dollar shrinks—because they understand the system. They don't fight it. They ride it. Real estate is one of the best tools in the game. Home prices tend to rise over time. Rents go up. But if you lock in a 30-year fixed mortgage, your payment never changes. So while the cost of everything else is climbing, your loan stays frozen. Meanwhile, inflation is silently reducing the real value of the debt you owe. You're paying it back in cheaper dollars every single year. Then you've got ownership in productive businesses. Sure, stock prices can swing in the short term. But long-term? Equities in companies with pricing power—companies that can raise prices when costs go up—often outpace inflation. And as an owner, you benefit directly. And finally, there are the scarce assets. Bitcoin. Gold. Precious metals. In a world where central banks can conjure trillions out of nowhere, things that can't be printed tend to hold real value—or even multiply it. This is how the wealthy play the game. While most people are watching their savings accounts decay quietly, the wealthy are stacking assets that appreciate. They are playing offense in a very predictable system. So those are the basics. But let me give you one more ninja tip from the wealthiest real estate investors in the world: You can print your own money by using debt. Think about it. Let's say you buy a $250,000 property this year using a 30-year fixed mortgage. You put 20% down, so you're financing $200,000. Now fast forward three decades. Even if you paid zero principal and still owed $200,000 in nominal terms, you eroded the value of that debt. With just 3% annual inflation, the real value of that debt has been cut in half. You're effectively repaying $100,000 in today's dollars. That's how you print your own dollars. That's not just hedging inflation. That's weaponizing it. Now if you take nothing else from this rant, remember that currency debasement is not theoretical. It's happening in real time. This week's episode of Wealth Formula Podcast dives deep on this topic and what you can do to prepare yourself for the ever-shrinking buying power of the U.S. dollar.