Derek interviews Stocktwits CEO Rishi Khanna to talk about social investing, how Stocktwits can help you invest smarter and how they are evolving. Then Derek and Johnny catch up with their travels and Johnny has an update on his status to get back into Ukraine. Rishi Khanna is the CEO of Stocktwits , the original social platform for individual investors and traders with 6M registered members. Before Stocktwits , Rishi was Managing Director at SS&C GlobeOp at SS&C Technologies Holdings In...
Oct 13, 2022•1 hr 15 min
Johnny and Derek discuss an investing game plan for a (hopefully) potential victory for Ukraine in their ongoing war with Russia. They talk about real estate, infrastructure, industry and more in Ukraine around what they’ll need to recover in a post-war environment. Johnny also gives us an update on what he’s seeing from Ukraine and why he thinks a victory over Russia in the coming months could be a possibility. Listen to ILAB 249 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app. Where w...
Oct 06, 2022•56 min
Derek goes on site to the Los Angeles headquarters of Azure 3D Printed Homes to see how their approach to affordable housing with 3D printing differs from Boxabl’s assembly line approach (ILAB Episode 245 ). Derek sits down with co-founder Gene Eidelman to talk how he went from growing up in Ukraine to running a startup to solve the housing shortage. Then Derek and Johnny discuss if they’d invest in this, and how they’d utilize these homes for themselves. Gene Eidelman is a co-founder of Azure P...
Sep 29, 2022•53 min
Sam and Derek do a one on one episode to discuss how your spending habits change at various high wealth levels. The guys break down real cash flow, income growth and spending habits for income brackets from $10-30 Million, $30-100 Million, $100M-1 Billion & $1 Billion + net worth. Sam belongs to one of these brackets already and is able to share his personal experiences on this while for Derek this is more of an aspirational episode as he hopes to be in these brackets soon. Listen to ILAB 24...
Sep 22, 2022•58 min
Derek travels to the Las Vegas headquarters of gaming company Winner Winner to speak with co-founder Cody Flaherty. They discuss how Winner Winner is allowing users to play real machine gaming from anywhere in the world via their mobile phones. Plus, Winner Winner has since expanded to online gaming, live trivia events and more. Sam Marks is an active early investor in Winner Winner and has worked extensively with one of their founders. Sam and Derek wrap up the episode discussing Sam’s investme...
Sep 15, 2022•39 min
Derek travels to Las Vegas to visit the Boxabl Factory, where they are taking advantage of the tiny home/ADU trend happening in housing right now. He sits down with Father & Son founder team Paulo & Galiano Tiramani to discuss Elon Musk buying one of the first casitas, scaling up to multiple factories to fulfill demand, investment opportunities & more. Then Johnny & Derek talk about their experiences with the concept and whether or not they would invest in the company. Each have ...
Sep 08, 2022•1 hr 18 min
Fan favorite Meb Faber returns to the show after a 6 year absence to tell us about the current state of inflation. Johnny & Sam also talk about how inflation has effected them living in Europe compared to what Meb is seeing in the United States. Mr. Faber is a co-founder and the Chief Investment Officer of Cambria Investment Management. Faber is the manager of Cambria’s ETFs and separate accounts. Mr. Faber is the host of The Meb Faber Show podcast and has authored numerous white papers and ...
Sep 01, 2022•1 hr 10 min
An ILAB Callback episode to our original interview with Meb Faber from ILAB 15 . Johnny and Derek create an all-new intro and outro to Sam’s interview to give an updated version of a timeless interview that is very much still relevant to today. We wanted to re-air this interview in preparation for Meb’s return on next week’s episode where he will talk about inflation. Mr. Faber is a co-founder and the Chief Investment Officer of Cambria Investment Management. Faber is the manager of Cambria’s ET...
Aug 25, 2022•1 hr 13 min
Sam interviews author and psychotherapist Jonathan Rios on his book Primal Virtues of the Modern Man. They talk about issues with today’s men and what they can do to get back to their ‘primal’ nature and balance their lives better. Sam and Derek catch up on the show and talk about how this applies to their lives currently and what they are doing themselves to get back to their own primal virtues. Jonathan Rios is an athlete turned mental coach and licensed psychotherapist who is deeply committed...
Aug 18, 2022•1 hr 14 min
Johnny brings the Financial Samurai back to the show, who last appeared in 2016 on ILAB 24 . The Financial Samurai created a popular financial blog and was until recently only known as an image online… but he has finally revealed his identity as Sam Dogen. Dogen has a new book out titled Buy This, Not That. Johnny and Dogen discuss the book, his path to financial freedom, why he stays living in San Francisco and more. Derek jumps in on the intro and outro with Johnny where the guys catch up and ...
Aug 11, 2022•1 hr 8 min
Harvest Returns CEO Chris Rawley joins the show to talk about the different type of agricultural (AG) investments they offer. Harvest Returns has some unique investments including tech plays, indoor farming, cattle, aquaculture and more. Johnny and Derek discuss their thoughts on the food industry as a whole and whether they’d invest in these. The guys also do a quick followup on their car situations since they last spoke about them in ILAB 236 . While serving as a career naval officer, Chris Ra...
Aug 04, 2022•1 hr 17 min
Sam and Johnny go over their wild quarter of life experiences in Q2 of 2022. Both are recording from their actual homes together for the first time, Sam in Barcelona and Johnny in Kyiv. The guys take philosophy of life, updates on the Ukraine war, plus a happy charity update from the school in Bucharest that we donated to earlier this year! Full financial breakdowns for the quarter are available to Patreon members only. Sign up for as low as $5 a month to instantly access when you sign up HERE L...
Jul 28, 2022•44 min
We polled ILAB listeners for your questions and said Ask Us Anything! We received so many questions that we decided to split it into two episodes, one for Johnny and one for Sam. Last week (ILAB 237) was Johnny and now it’s Sam’s turn. Sam will answer questions on investing as well as lifestyle in this open forum style episode. Listen to ILAB 238 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app. Where we are: Johnny FD – Montenegro / IG @johnnyfd j Sam Marks – Barcelona / IG @imsammarks ...
Jul 21, 2022•1 hr 14 min
We polled ILAB listeners for your questions and said Ask Us Anything! We received so many questions that we decided to split it into two episodes, one for Johnny and one for Sam. First up is Johnny, where he answers questions on investing as well as lifestyle in this open forum style episode. Listen to ILAB 237 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app. Where we are: Johnny FD – Montenegro / IG @johnnyfd j Sam Marks – Barcelona / IG @imsammarks Derek Spartz – Los Angeles / IG @Der...
Jul 14, 2022•1 hr 6 min
Johnny and Derek do a one-on-one episode about a subject they are both passionate about – cars! We try not to bring them up too much in the show, but both guys are certified car nuts, so this is a fun episode that hopefully you’ll get something out of as well. Your car is an expense that often gets overlooked as many deem it a necessary cost to live life. Nonetheless, the guys talk how to find a deal in this crazy car market, new cars they are in the market for, cars they love, cars they hate an...
Jul 07, 2022•58 min
Johnny interviews Composer CEO & Co-Founder Ben Rollert on this episode to talk quantitative strategies. If you aren’t familiar with quants, they’ve been used by hedge funds for decades to determine trades and were only available to those with advanced mathematics degrees until now. Composer has created an easy to use tool featuring hundreds of pre-determined strategies aka “symphonies” like following your favorite billionaire investor, buying dips in sectors, hedging inflation and so much m...
Jun 30, 2022•54 min
Sam and Derek provide updates on their drastically down metaverse portfolios. They go over each individual holding and their respective current losses in this bear market. They also indicate why they are still excited about this space and which companies they are continuing to invest in. Individual stock holdings mentioned in the episode: $AI, $AMD, $ATVI, $BILI, $AVID, $EA, $KWEB, $MTTR, $COIN, $NHNCF, $RBLX, $SONY, $U Listen to ILAB 234 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app....
Jun 23, 2022•48 min
Johnny and Derek do a 1 on 1 episode discussing their investment plan for the ongoing bear market. What’s changed in their philosophy, now that everything is not just blindly going up, dealing with inflation and what they’re buying/avoiding in today’s market. Listen to ILAB 233 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app. Where we are: Johnny FD – Balkins / IG @johnnyfd j Sam Marks – Barcelona / IG @imsammarks Derek Spartz – Los Angeles / IG @DerekRadio Sponsor: Shopify Get 14 days ...
Jun 16, 2022•1 hr 5 min
We pull Sam's recent interview from Justin Donald's "Lifestyle Investor Podcast" for our bosses to hear in case they missed it. Sam and Derek provide intro/outro duties to help set up the interview and elaborate further on Sam's journey to a $100M exit with his company at the end of the show. Entrepreneur Magazine calls Justin Donald “The Warren Buffett of Lifestyle Investing.” Imagine being able to earn passive income, long-term equity, and achieve financial freedom while gaining total freedom ...
Jun 09, 2022•1 hr 16 min
Derek interviews European Watch Company representative Joshua Ganjei about the explosion of interest in trading and investing in luxury watches. Joshua breaks down watch culture, what the market looks like, what brands/models are hot and which watches are the most sought after today. Then Derek and Johnny share their experiences with high end watches and how they're looking to get in on this opportunity. Established in 1993, European Watch Company is one of the premier watch dealers in the world...
May 26, 2022•1 hr 25 min
Johnny and Derek discuss in long form what's happening on the ground in Ukraine. Johnny crosses back over the border and breaks down what everyday life looks like now since the war with Russia has begun. They discuss the different regions of Ukraine, where Russia has attacked, what's still open, how people are maintaining "normal" lives during wartime & more. Johnny also gives an update on the state of his properties in Ukraine plus what his plan is going forward in Ukraine. Listen to ILAB 2...
May 19, 2022•1 hr 7 min
A follow-up to ILAB Episode 228 , Sam shares his personal experiences at Bordeaux's famed "En Primeurs" week. He went along with Julien Angevin, who is the curator for Volume Wine Vault. They tell us about the experience tasting, investing and the attitudes that these vineyards carry toward pure wine investors. Listen to ILAB 229 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app. Where we are: Johnny FD – Ukraine / IG @johnnyfd j Sam Marks – Barcelona / IG @imsammarks Derek Spartz – Los A...
May 12, 2022•1 hr 13 min
Sam interviews Cult Wines CEO Tom Gearing for the second time ( first appearance ILAB 161 ), to get a more specialized look at the most important wine region in the world. Bordeaux, France has an annual wine futures purchasing period called "En Primeur" and Tom explains how to get involved in this and find the best values for future wine profits. Then Sam and Derek talk about their thoughts on wine and how we've progressively covered this subject on ILAB. Sam also teases that he will give a firs...
May 05, 2022•1 hr 16 min
Derek interviews Mile Method's Trevor Wright to talk about his secrets of flying around the World for (almost) FREE. Trevor has flown to 133 countries for an average of $16/flight! Johnny also hops on the intro and outro to tell us about his place in Kyiv, which is where he's recording this episode from. Derek and Johnny talk about their experiences with points, flying and whether chasing the points game has paid off or not for each of them. North Dakota-born, Nebraska-raised, Trevor's globetrot...
Apr 28, 2022•1 hr 26 min
This episode contains adult themed content, but we tried to keep it as PG-13 as possible! Johnny interviews "Porno Dan" Leal, who has been a porn producer and actor for over 20 years where he's produced over 5,000 scenes. Dan tells us about the economics of getting into the adult entertainment industry. Learn about how little performers make in scenes and how much they make branding on their own in today's world of OnlyFans. Johnny and Derek discuss takeaways from the interview at the end and di...
Apr 21, 2022•1 hr
Johnny and Sam recap the most tumultuous quarter in ILAB history. Everything from escaping the war in Ukraine and leaving the fate of his properties behind, to then going to Hungary, Greece and now Poland for Johnny. During this time, Sam left Spain and decided to start a motorcycle trip around Thailand. And that's just the lifestyle update for the audio podcast portion! If you'd like the full episode with portfolio breakdowns and the announcement of major changes to ILAB coming soon, you have t...
Apr 14, 2022•44 min
It's tax time in the United States, so Johnny and Sam go over some of the (legal) tax hacks they've learned about and taken advantage of over the years. Many of these may apply to other residents of other countries as well, so find out what you may be missing out on in this episode. If you have more hacks to add, make sure to let us know! Listen to ILAB 224 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app. Where we are: Johnny FD – Greece / IG @johnnyfd j Sam Marks – Thailand / IG @imsam...
Apr 07, 2022•1 hr 5 min
This is our first episode on the topic of digital land investing. Derek interviews WeMeta CEO/Founder Winston Robson to get an introduction to digital land and how it differs from physical land. They go over use cases, restrictions, future potential and challenges for digital real estate. It's super early in the space, but there are a lot of people betting on the future of land in the metaverse. Derek and Johnny end the episode with their takeaways on digital land and potential use cases of the ...
Mar 31, 2022•1 hr 6 min
Johnny & Derek go over everything related to the ever important "Emergency Fund". From how to save for it, where to store it, use cases where it saved them and more. It's extremely important to have readily accessible funds for emergencies, but many people still don't do it! Listen to this episode and get your emergency fund sorted before you need it. Listen to ILAB 222 on iTunes here or subscribe on your favorite podcast app. Where we are: Johnny FD – Greece / IG @johnnyfd j Sam Marks – Bar...
Mar 24, 2022•42 min
A book mentioned many times over on ILAB throughout the years is "Adventure Capitalist" and we were finally able to speak to author Jim Rogers on this episode! Sam and Derek kick off the show both talking about the influence of the book and then jump into the interview. Sam interviews Jim where he touches on his experiences visiting nearly every country in the world, even ones at war during the time. Jim then speaks of his views on the current state of the economy, what markets you should be loo...
Mar 18, 2022•50 min