Hey there. Welcome to issue #7 of The Frugal Rich Newsletter. I've been thinking a lot this week about how quickly things can change. How quickly you can go from in debt to debt-free, from side hustle, to 6-figure months. Today's edition is about the one principle that has shaped more of my life — my career, my finances, my marriage — than almost anything else. It changes things, and it changes them rapidly. Once you see it, you'll start spotting it everywhere. 

My only goal here is to help you build real wealth without sacrificing the things that make life enjoyable. 

In this email, you’ll find: 

But first– 

I landed my very first internship in a way my classmates didn't even know existed.

At The University of Central Florida, business students were required to attend these "Career Expos".

Picture: Big draft rooms with hundreds of sweaty college students nervously pitching themselves for analyst internships at Lockheed Martin, Siemens, or Marriott Vacation Club. 

I attended ONE in my whole college career. It felt so silly to hand over my resume and a poorly designed business card just to watch it disappear into a STACK of hundreds of others.

I remember thinking — there is absolutely no way this works.

So I stopped going.

Instead, I found my first internship in an unlikely place: church!

I volunteered a lot back then with my church, and through that, I ended up volunteering alongside a financial advisor. 

Not to brag (maybe just a little brag), but this wasn’t some entry-level guy. Turns out he was the Vice President with 15+ years at his firm. 

After getting to know him and sharing what I actually wanted to do (help real people with their money, not crunch numbers for a Fortune 100 company), he literally created a marketing position for me on his team.

Instead of being another anonymous intern lost inside Lockheed Martin, I was an active team member who could see every part of a real business.

And it set me up for my first big-boy sales job…but that’s a story for another time. 

I’m not sharing this to start a protest against Career Expos. 

Buuuttt, I was recently reminded of this memory because I was reading the Proximity Principle by Ken Coleman.

Which brings me to —

Ken Coleman's Proximity Principle comes down to this one sentence:

"In order to do what you want to do, you need to be around people who are doing it or have done it."

Sounds a little too simple, right? 

But think back to my first internship. I got to skip being another faceless resume in the overflowing stock of resumes and jump right into a real role where I was getting invaluable experience. 

Heck! Don’t even think about my story. I’m nearly positive you have a version of your own. 

Can you think of a moment when you knew the right person at the right time and it helped you take a Clifford the Dog sized step in the right direction?  

Proximity to the right people creates opportunity. :) 

Distance…kills it. :( 

Coleman identifies 5 types of people you need in your orbit:

The 5 people you need nearby

Since we’ve been talking about college, it only seems fitting to give you homework this week. 

If you want to take action: 

It’s this kind of thinking that can lead to small changes that compound (like regularly volunteering your time at church) and huge changes that impact you, your kids, and your great great grand kids (like moving across the country). 

Reply back and let me know one thing that comes from your brainstorm. I’d love to hear it. 

Question: Do you recommend investing in an index fund? 

Answer: As a general recommendation, investing in index funds is a great idea ONCE you're ready to start investing. 

They're low cost, they're already diversified, and they're based on the idea of "buying the market" instead of  "beating the market."

My only question that follows is this: Are you READY to start investing?

When you have people relying on you, like a spouse or children, it's important to have a couple things in order before you make a full jump into investing:

If you're rockin' with your HYSA and it's got an emergency fund for you and your family, great work!

And if you have no high-interest debt like credit cards or personal loans, go for it!

I would start buying index funds inside a tax-advantaged retirement account first.

So that would mean prioritizing a Roth IRA or a Roth 401(k), before opening up another type of investing account.

For me personally, the main index fund I buy inside my Roth IRA is FXAIX or VOO. Pretty much the same darn thing, except VOO is what we consider an "ETF."

Make sure you do your research and I'm excited to see you leveling up your money game!

(PS– I put my entire portfolio here so you can see for ideas on what index funds would make the most sense for you)

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