We spoke to Cam in this week's episode of Moneywise.
Cam (this is a pseudonym btw) is a successful entrepreneur who built and exited a billion-dollar company in his late 30s. With a fascinating background that includes everything from sleeping in his truck in LA to mining Bitcoin before it was mainstream, Cam's journey is anything but conventional.
Like all Moneywise episodes, Cam breaks down his net worth, income, portfolio, and monthly expenses and then I, your humble host, pick it all apart.
We also went deep on: why someone worth $150 million chooses to spend only $5,000 monthly, the psychology of wealth preservation, and the impact money has on relationships.
Below you'll find my summary of the episode along with the entire transcript.
And by the way...this podcast, the concept of it came from Hampton, a community I founded where CEOs and business owners come together in small groups of 8 to help each other grow. Hampton members range from people with newish startups doing $3M in revenue all the way up to publicly traded companies with hundreds of millions in revenue and thousands of employees. Because of Hampton, I get to see these private conversations about business, money, success, and life. I figured some of these private conversations should be public, which is why I started this podcast. If you're a CEO, founder, or business owner, check this out. New Moneywise episodes come out weekly.
Now, below are the notes and the full transcript.
Cam's approach to wealth stands in stark contrast to many high net worth individuals. While his massive fortune could afford him virtually any luxury, he chooses a remarkably modest lifestyle that would surprise anyone who knows his true financial position.
Born with a natural inclination toward figuring things out, Cam grew up without his biological father, learning early to be self-sufficient. "My first car was a '67 Mustang. Not like a fancy one. It was like when I was 13 and my grandma and my mom were like, 'If you want a car to drive when you're 15, figure it out. Here's a Haynes manual.'"
This early independence shaped Cam's entire approach to life and wealth. In his 20s, he moved to Los Angeles with nothing but a mattress in his truck. As he puts it, "When I moved to Los Angeles, I literally put a mattress in the back of my truck, my clothes and everything... I didn't have a place to stay. So when I say I was homeless, it's not 'woe is me' or that I was panhandling because life took a turn. It's because I chose to be."
This determination led him to work seven jobs simultaneously at one point—construction during the day, bartending at night, and running landscaping and demolition businesses on the side, all while pursuing entertainment opportunities through YouTube when it was just beginning.
Cam's financial breakthrough didn't come from his multiple jobs or even his executive position at a media company (which paid $350,000 annually). Instead, his first million came unexpectedly from mining Bitcoin in 2013, which he actually forgot about until years later.
"I started mining bitcoin. And that's actually where I made my first million," Cam explained. "I have about 300 hard drives that I just—I never throw anything away. And 20 years of creating media and all these other different things, I just completely forgot where it was at."
His major wealth accumulation came in his late 30s when a company he founded went public with a multi-billion dollar valuation. This changed everything financially, but surprisingly little in terms of his spending habits.
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Cam's financial life is his decision to live on just $5,000 per month despite having over $100 million in liquid assets. This isn't driven by fear of losing his wealth but by a philosophical approach to what actually creates happiness in his life.
"I have a truck, insurance, house, food. That's about it," Cam shares. While he owns his $3.7 million property outright, even if he were paying a mortgage, his monthly expenses would only be around $13,000—still remarkably low for someone of his wealth.
When asked about this unusual spending pattern, Cam explained: "Until I find the thing that actually spending more money yields something better for me, I just don't see the point. Like almost every financial decision that I've made in spending on something, I've regretted it."
Cam maintains what he calls a "barbell strategy" with his wealth—keeping $10-30 million in a high-yield savings account as his safety net, while investing the rest primarily in private companies.
"I like keeping that in cash liquid. And that's what I will inject into new startups or other companies when opportunities come up. And I will pull from that, and then I'll find ways to replenish it. And that's one reason why I keep my spending low."
This approach has allowed his net worth to fluctuate dramatically, sometimes dropping to $40-50 million or rising to $350 million depending on his investments' performance. The volatility doesn't bother him because of his substantial safety net.
Interestingly, when asked about financial advisors, Cam expressed skepticism: "I have a few. And as time goes on, I don't know the value of them." He noted that their managed portfolios have significantly underperformed simple index funds, adding "if you just S&P index, you would have outperformed it ten x."
One of the most compelling reasons behind Cam's modest lifestyle is his desire for privacy. Most of his family and friends have no idea of his true net worth, and he prefers it that way.
"It changes the dynamic of almost all relationships. I've seen that in so many different ways throughout my life," he explains. This desire for privacy extends to his living situation—he owns a large rural property where he can "feed my cows in my underwear" and "shoot guns in the yard" if he wants to.
The downside to this privacy is a certain loneliness that comes with wealth. "You start seeing the shallowness to some relationships and it becomes very empty, very lonely," Cam admits. When asked if he has close friends, he mentions having "one, definitely... two" true ride-or-die friendships, adding "I would much rather have more."
What truly makes Cam happy isn't buying luxury items or experiences—it's the freedom from financial anxiety and the ability to help others in meaningful ways.
He recalls the moment he purchased a reliable used F-150 truck for $13,000 after years of financial struggle: "That was one of the most gratifying, rewarding purchases I've ever made in my life because I had reliable transportation... to have that stress and that anxiety removed from my life, was such a wonderful thing."
Similarly, he finds profound joy in random acts of kindness, like the time he gave $100 to a homeless man who was genuinely seeking work. "It felt good to share in someone's appreciation," he says.
Perhaps most touchingly, Cam speaks about the joy he gets from his rescue pit bull: "I fucking love that dog... Every day he lays on the porch, soaks up the sun... they bring you so much joy and unconditional love."
"I feel like a lot of people with similar upbringings always feel like the carpet is about to be pulled out from underneath them."
"The incentive of people thinking that they stand to benefit from your death or whatever—by removing that, it hopefully helps offset some of that stuff, but I'd just rather them not know."
"Buying a Bentley doesn't do anything for me. These things, I think a lot of people find that it's a quick dopamine hit, but it doesn't really move the needle. Well, at least for me."
"I think it's meaningful relationships and meaningful work."
"I realize that, like so many people, going down the same path would have gone in a tragic direction because it takes a level of obsessive compulsiveness to be successful in some of the stuff that I've done, and that can lend itself to alcoholism or drugs or women."
[00:00:02] Cam: I was like, I need to prepare for this because I know you're going to ask this.
[00:00:05] Sam Parr: That's insane. If that's true.
[00:00:06] Cam: A lot of people would call me crazy for this.
[00:00:08] Sam Parr: But a couple of episodes ago, we talked to my buddy Neil Patel, and we talked mostly about his crazy monthly burn, which is probably 200 grand, if I had a guess.
[00:00:20] Sam Parr: Yeah, it's a lot, but he's still making substantially more than he's spending. And plus he feels good about where his money is going, so all power to him. However, I wanted to do a follow up on this because shortly after speaking to Neil, I spoke to a friend of mine who's a member of Hampton. His name's cam. That name is made up because he wanted to stay anonymous and you'll understand why. And the reason I wanted to have him on money wise is because if you thought $200,000 a month in expenses is crazy, get this. Cam only spends $5,000 a month. Now, why is that crazy? Well. Here's why. What do you think your net worth is roughly right now? Like, try to be conservative with the private companies valuations mostly liquidity or just the principal.
[00:01:05] Cam: Yeah, I would say 100 to 150.
[00:01:07] Sam Parr: And just to clarify, we're talking about $150 million. That's what he has liquid. And he still only spends $5,000 a month. This is a bit of the opposite of what Neil is doing. And I thought it would be an interesting topic as we'll learn more shortly. One of the main drivers for him not spending his insane amount of money is that he loves his privacy, which now you understand why we're going to be using an anonymous name and we're going to call him Kam. In this episode, we're going to get to the details about how much Kam is worth, where his money came from, what he invests his money in, and why he's only spending $5,000 a month.
[00:01:45] Sam Parr: I'm Sam Parr, and this is Moneywise. There's a ton of resources and podcasts out there that teach you how to make money, but there's not really a lot that teach you how to deal with all the life changes that come with making a whole bunch of money. And the reason I know this is because I'm co-founder of a company called Hampton. It's a private community for CEOs who are doing around $25 million a year in revenue, and I'm able to see all types of interesting conversations that wealthy people have behind closed doors. And that community and those conversations is what inspired this podcast and Moneywise. We provide advice by speaking to real people who have been through the same things and who are radically transparent about the numbers. So let's get into this episode about cam, the man who's worth $150 million and only spends $5,000 a month. So in a few minutes, we'll get to where that 5KA month goes, and maybe more importantly, where it doesn't go. But first, let's learn a little bit about Cam's background. Cam has a wonderful attitude. It's sort of like I'm just going to get in and figure it out. I love that, and so I wanted to ask him about where that came from.
[00:02:46] Cam: My first car was a 67 Mustang. Not like a fancy one. It was like when I was 13 and my, my grandma and my mom were like, if you want a car to drive when you're 15, figure it out. Here's a Haynes manual. Right?
[00:02:58] Sam Parr: I heard you mentioned that your grandmother and mother were important. I don't know if you're insinuating that maybe your father wasn't important or wasn't around. Maybe. Is that true?
[00:03:08] Cam: I had a stepdad, and it more impacts my family than it does me. But I didn't grow up with my biological dad. I was told that he, um, disappeared whenever I was younger, and I always thought that that was one of those coping stories that a parent tells someone when somebody doesn't want to be involved in their life or whatever it is. And when I was about 30 years old, I got a call from a state law enforcement agency that was in the process of digitizing certain DNA records, and they found my dad's body in like 93, and he was a cold case, and they were just informing me of it. And I found that from a psychological standpoint, I've found that I've I've tried to please male role models in my life, be it superiors at companies. So like, I'm an over performer in trying to make those people happy.
[00:04:04] Sam Parr: At 30 years old, by the way, cam had a drastically different net worth than where he is today at 4230.
[00:04:11] Cam: My net worth was probably, I don't know, a few thousand dollars.
[00:04:15] Sam Parr: So now let's take a look at how he went from being worth just $3,000 to over 150 million. Cam's the kind of guy who's always doing something slightly crazy, and a lot of times those crazy things have worked out for him. For example, listen to the story about when he first got a career in entertainment and moved to LA with no job, no plan, no home, nothing.
[00:04:39] Cam: When I moved to Los Angeles, I literally put a mattress in the back of my truck, my clothes and everything. And this is pre Craigslist days and I didn't have a place to stay. So when I say I was homeless, it's not woe is me. I was panhandling because life took a turn. It's because I chose to be In my opinion. I don't see this as a sad thing. It's.
[00:04:58] Sam Parr: Were you actually panhandling?
[00:05:00] Cam: No no no no no no no no no, I was just I was sleeping in my truck by definition, I was homeless.
[00:05:05] Sam Parr: You're camping?
[00:05:06] Cam: Yeah, I was a city camper.
[00:05:08] Sam Parr: But he worked his way up from city camping pretty quickly.
[00:05:11] Cam: I was, without exaggeration, working seven jobs at one time. I would wake up in the morning at 530, and I would go work construction, and I get out at 330. I go home, I take a shower, and then I go to the bar and bartend and then side hustle. I had a landscaping company, demo company. I was doing so many different things and this was the start of YouTube, so I was still auditioning and doing the YouTube side hustle and everything else. And even through, ironically, this whole process, like I found it easier to juggle multiple jobs. So when I was an executive for this media company, while I was still an executive at our CPG company, I would split time between the two. So I was it's constantly juggling those jobs. I feel like it helps me focus a little bit more. The average person, it might make them distracted, but I've always had multiple jobs in that it gives me a sense of security in a way that allows me to focus on the work and not paying bills.
[00:06:16] Sam Parr: That sense of security, I think, actually ties in to why he spends so little. And no, it's not really all about the fear of losing his wealth, which is pretty common. It has more to do with how he perceives the value that money offers him. We're going to get into that in a bit, but first I want to get into Cam's personality even a little bit more. This guy's a disruptor. This whole podcast, it actually went on for a few hours and we had to trim it down for this episode. But he really is a disruptor and he's incredibly fascinating.
[00:06:41] Cam: I taught myself how to program early 2000 around the iPhone and YouTube in 2006 and 2007. I actually had a YouTube app in the App Store for years before YouTube did, and that kind of curated these relationships through studios at agencies disrupted a bunch of different industries. One was the entertainment. I don't know if you're familiar with casting notices or anything like that.
[00:07:07] Sam Parr: I mean, yeah, just from like TV shows of, like seeing, like behind the scenes of what it's like.
[00:07:11] Cam: So back in the day, well, even now probably there were three casting services actors access now casting and LA casting. And what they would do is they would have a breakdown of all the different roles available. And so it would be an 18 to 45 year old male or like playing high school student or whatever these things are. But it would be so many different ages, sex, ethnicities and everything else. So what I did was I started scraping all their websites and aggregating it and parsing it so that actors could just see all the ones that applied to them, even to the point where one of the guys from the the big companies I was at this point, I was just moved to LA. I was renting a porch and I was teaching myself how to program. And this guy calls me and he's like,
[00:08:05] Cam: Hey-- you're a hard man to get a hold of. And I'm like, can I help you? He's like. Well, you're the one with that actor's app, right? And I said, yeah. And he's like. Cut the shit. You need to take it out off the App Store.
[00:08:17] Cam: He's like, well, dude, they still have to pay for your service. I'm just storing their credentials in a mobile app and allowing them to parse all your information. It's a value add to your service. It makes it better. And he's like, I'll sue you till you don't have any more money left.
[00:08:29] Cam: I was like, okay, cool. Awesome. Thanks. So that was kind of like my foray into the world of tech.
[00:08:36] Sam Parr: So if you hear that, you'll hear, this guy's got some great work ethic and he's really smart. And again, in my opinion, really, really interesting and fascinating. And had I met him when he was young and just figuring it out, I definitely would have bet on him and thought, this guy's got something in him that's gonna make him big and successful at whatever he does. The funny part is he actually made his first million dollars by accident.
[00:08:56] Cam: You know, I've always been what I tell people. A subject matter enthusiast. And so in the libertarian subreddit, early days, like 2013, I started mining bitcoin. And that's actually where I made my first million.
[00:09:09] Sam Parr: Didn't you forget that you had done that?
[00:09:12] Cam: I did, yeah. And so there's a lot of people that will claim to, oh, I used to do that and I lost the hard drives or whatever. Well, I actually have about 300 hard drives that I just I never throw anything away. And 20 years of creating media and all these other different things, I just completely forgot where it was at. So I hired a company to catalog one of my company's media storage and everything onto a server, and I was like, hey, could you do this for me personally and do it chronologically by year? Because I knew approximately when I was mining and they did, and I didn't tell them exactly what I was looking for, and I was able to find it based off of that.
[00:09:52] Sam Parr: And, uh, at this point, it's we're in March. I think it's like I don't pay attention to Bitcoin. It's an all time high though, so surely you you've done well right.
[00:10:01] Cam: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:10:05] Sam Parr: All right. So let's get his timeline straight a little bit. In his 20s cam moves to LA with nothing but a mattress in the back of his truck and a dream to work in entertainment through his 20s. He works his butt off on a bunch of different odd jobs, and by 30, he's still worth only a couple thousand dollars. However, in his 30s, I think something around 32, that's when his hard work starts to pay off.
[00:10:25] Cam: So I actually had a really good executive compensation through a media company. I say really good. Ten years ago I guess it was really good, but it was 350,000.
[00:10:35] Sam Parr: Around the same time, in his early 30s, he starts his own company that will soon be worth $1 billion, and when it goes public, everything changes for cam. At what age were you when like, your net worth surpassed liquid $100 million.
[00:10:53] Cam: Uh, probably 38.
[00:10:55] Sam Parr: You said you own your home outright. I think you said that. And then, if I remember correctly, I think you said you spend $5,000 a month. Is that true?
[00:11:05] Cam: Yeah. So again, I was I was like, I need to prepare for this because I know you're going to ask this.
[00:11:09] Sam Parr: And so that's insane if that's true.
[00:11:11] Cam: Yeah. So a lot of people would call me crazy for this. But so I have a truck, insurance, house, food. That's about it.
[00:11:19] Sam Parr: You do have a mortgage?
[00:11:20] Cam: Well, yes. I'm like, it's hard because you don't want to say, hey, just because I paid it off or, you know, that doesn't technically count towards a monthly. So if you were a larger property in my area is $3.7 million, right? So it's a small house ish. It's like 2700 square foot.
[00:11:39] Sam Parr: But a sick, like a sick piece of property.
[00:11:42] Cam: Yeah, it's a big property. It's old. It's over 100 years old. It's visceral. It's tangible. To me. It doesn't feel like a McMansion. But if you were to break that down into a 30 year or a 15 year mortgage, that would be a substantial amount of money. So on paper, if you were to break all my costs down as somebody paying monthly, it would probably be 13 grand a month.
[00:12:03] Sam Parr: Which is still nothing considering you're considering where you're at.
[00:12:07] Cam: But I do spend about 5000 because I paid off my truck. My insurance is 10,000 a year, and that's general liability umbrella policy. That's for everything.
[00:12:17] Sam Parr: That's just an insane number I would have. You might win an award for the highest net worth with lowest spend. What do you think your net worth is roughly right now? Like, try to be conservative with the private companies valuations. Mostly liquidity or just the principal?
[00:12:33] Cam: Yeah, I would say 100 to 150.
[00:12:35] Sam Parr: Do you have like a job at the moment or are you incubating companies?
[00:12:39] Cam: I'm incubating companies.
[00:12:41] Sam Parr: You're not day to day. The good ship lollipop.
[00:12:45] Cam: No, I kind of went through that existential crisis of achieving my number and what I thought my number was.
[00:12:53] Sam Parr: And what was your number that you, that you originally set out?
[00:12:57] Cam: It changed. Originally it was probably 20 million, and now it's still kind of that number. That 10 to 30 is essentially my baseline for liquidity. I like to stay.
[00:13:10] Sam Parr: The Fortress of Solitude.
[00:13:11] Cam: That's it. Yeah. And so Raymond James has an enhanced savings account that allows you to be insured up to 50 million. It yields 5%. And for me, that 10 to 30 million is kind of a safety net. I know that's a lot of money in a broad spectrum, but that reoccurring monthly interest allows me to be flexible in the event of an investment coming up or life happens or whatever.
[00:13:41] Sam Parr: So do you do like a barbell strategy where you have, let's say, 20 million in that Raymond James account, and then the rest is where.
[00:13:48] Cam: Businesses.
[00:13:50] Sam Parr: Privately or publicly.
[00:13:51] Cam: Almost all private. Yeah.
[00:13:53] Sam Parr: No way. Really?
[00:13:54] Cam: Yeah. It's at least for now, because I know it's crazy. I feel like I have imposter syndrome here, having this conversation with you, because, like, I don't get to have these conversations with people that often the only thing I know is, is building, and it's the only thing that gives me security in the future is knowing that I'm investing in myself.
[00:14:16] Sam Parr: But the reason why I'm so surprised is so let's just say that you've got 20in this Raymond James account. I would assume that means you have north of 100 million in privately held companies, like in terms of like just the principal invested, not the actual value.
[00:14:32] Cam: Correct. And it fluctuates. It would probably make the average person panic. And that's why I have that safety net, because it's been down to the point of, I would say, 40 or 50 million and up to 350 million EUR.
[00:14:46] Sam Parr: Net.
[00:14:47] Cam: Worth.
[00:14:47] Sam Parr: Like your liquid net worth?
[00:14:48] Cam: Yeah. Just in the last few years. And it's extremely volatile. And I think that I'm comfortable with that number of the smaller portion on the end of the barbell, instead of being 50 to 75 million. I'm comfortable with the 10 to 30.
[00:15:04] Sam Parr: Why is it 10 to 30? That's a huge range. What are you drawing?
[00:15:07] Cam: Well, the rest of my net worth would be tied up into companies. And I like keeping that in cash liquid. And that's what I will inject into new startups or other companies when opportunities come up. And I will pull from that, and then I'll find ways to replenish it. And that's one reason why I keep my spending low. So it naturally grows back up to that point over time. But yeah, that's just where I feel comfortable.
[00:15:35] Sam Parr: Where's the rest then? So that would imply like something around $70 million. Is that partially in the company that made you money or.
[00:15:44] Cam: Yeah. I still have a lot of stock in companies.
[00:15:47] Sam Parr: Got it. And so when you want to start a new thing like Jones barbecue and foot massage.
[00:15:52] Sam Parr: Or like, whatever you're working on where you're incubating, you just sell shares and then deploy it into the new one and you'll be like, I think $500,000 is enough to get this seeded. We'll see what happens.
[00:16:03] Cam: Yeah. So what I'll do is I'll look, I'll say, hey, look, the price of Bitcoin is this the price of these stocks are this. Do I feel that it is oversold or overbought. Or where do I feel the price of that stock is valued or that asset be it Bitcoin or whatever. And if need be I'll just pull from my cash reserve instead of taking the taxable event.
[00:16:26] Sam Parr: Do you have a money manager or a wealth advisor?
[00:16:30] Cam: I do, I have a few. And as time goes on, I don't know the value of them.
[00:16:36] Sam Parr: That's what a lot of people say. I don't particularly like them, but I'll make the argument as to why they're valuable, I think, which is sometimes emotionally, if you want to sell, they'll be like, maybe don't sell. And maybe that's it. Actually, maybe that's the only value that they provide.
[00:16:50] Cam: Again, I go back to incentives. I'm very cautious as to the advice people give me, especially when there's an incentive in any one side of their decision making process. And so typically what I'll do for those guys, I'll say, hey, here's your bucket. This is what you're going to make your fee off of. If you want to advise me on this other stuff. You're not going to get paid for it, but that could potentially increase the size of your bucket downstream. So it only behooves you to give advice in both of our mutual best interests here, and not just getting fees.
[00:17:25] Sam Parr: Do the advisors do anything crazy? Are they actually buying individual equities or are they just doing normal?
[00:17:31] Cam: They are. But that's their bucket. It's not doing well.
[00:17:34] Sam Parr: Have any of them outperformed?
[00:17:36] Cam: Not even fucking close. Not even close. Like benefit of the doubt, I'd like to give these people 5 to 10 years to see how things go. But if you just S&P index, you would have outperformed it ten x.
[00:17:51] Sam Parr: That's wild. Which I guess that means that like over the last 12 months it's been 28%. So that means yours has been 2.8% or something like that.
[00:18:00] Cam: Again, the poor kid in me is always hesitant though to think that. What's the saying? Prior performance isn't indicative of future results. And it's like, okay, well we've as an economy, as a country, we've been so hot for so long, we printed so much money. Are we due for a lost decade or something? So like if I went all in index, that's what would happen. We'd probably get no returns for ten years.
[00:18:32] Sam Parr: That is so funny. This is exactly what my other friends have said, which is, well, I just know the moment I do it, it's gonna crash. And I'm trying to tell them it's not about time in the market, baby. It's time in market. Put it in there and forget about it.
[00:18:45] Cam: Yeah, yeah.
[00:18:46] Sam Parr: While cam has set himself up strategically to have a really nice safety net and giving him room for risk and new opportunities, he still has an anxiety that exists with a lot of self-made entrepreneurs. This anxiety a lot of our guests have had and we've talked about this, and we'll always probably continue to talk about it. And it contributes to why he's uncomfortable spending too much on his lifestyle.
[00:19:06] Cam: I feel like a lot of people with similar upbringings always feel like the carpet is about to be pulled out from underneath them, even through that whole process of the company growing. It was just an arbitrary number on Shopify or wherever. Hey, look, sales are this okay? But tomorrow it might not be. There's so many variables that could go wrong. For me, that's why that safety net is important. But the whole process is almost surreal.
[00:19:32] Sam Parr: This feeling, it's deep rooted. I don't think this feeling for cam or for me or for people like us, I don't think it's ever going to totally go away. But like a lot of anxieties, it could be managed for cam. He's organized his finances to the point where that anxiety is mostly dormant. Again, I've struggled with this and therapy and books and talking to friends. By the way, shameless plug for Hampton. It definitely helps being around other people who have this anxiety, being around other people who have been there, done that and experienced the same issues that you have. It helps. But interestingly, the whole money anxiety thing or it running out, that's not really the reason why cam super conservative about spending. There's another and definitely a more complicated reason why cam doesn't like to spend or buy a lot of flashy stuff. It's the impact that wealth has had on his relationships. This goes back to when cam first made some money and he got wealthy, and he chose not to tell his family, not to tell a lot of his friends. And in fact, he implied that his family still really doesn't even know. And most of his friends, they don't really know exactly how much he's worth.
[00:20:42] Cam: I feel like there are probably signs to some capacity, and people know of the companies that I've either founded or are I'm a part of. The level at which people are accurate is they're either way high on the spectrum, because I think that our company went public at a couple billion dollars valuation, or they're way lower. They probably think low millions to he's a billionaire.
[00:21:06] Sam Parr: So like I when I made it a little bit, I was kind of transparent with my family at first, and then I sort of regretted it because they would make jokes to me like, oh, why don't you get us a boat? And they're kind of joking, but I'm like, I don't really like that joke. And I feel like there's some truth to it of, like, you actually want me to do that, but it makes me feel really uncomfortable. And so at this point, I actually don't talk numbers or anything about that with my family. What was your reasoning for not talking about it with yours?
[00:21:34] Cam: It changes the dynamic of almost all relationships. I've seen that in so many different ways throughout my life. And so I've kind of made a pact to myself, like, I'm really big. Like, people ask me what I do for work. It's like, well, I do so many different things. I have to focus on really three key components incentives, inefficiencies, and optimizing or optimization.
[00:21:55] Sam Parr: That's not very fun to say at a cocktail party.
[00:21:57] Cam: It's not.
[00:21:57] Sam Parr: But so what do you do for work? Yeah.
[00:22:00] Cam: You can distill a lot of things down to those core concepts. And I think the incentive of people thinking that they stand to benefit from your death or whatever by removing that, it hopefully helps offset some of that stuff, but I'd just rather them not know because it's never going to be on the table. If and when I have kids, there will be core needs met, but there will never be excess made available in the event of my passing. The incentive is for us to enjoy the time that we have here, but it's not going to be a fat paycheck for anybody if I pass.
[00:22:41] Sam Parr: Now, this whole thing of family and friends and money, this is a huge topic. I think we should do an entire episode on this eventually. And the truth is, is that it's not really black and white of who loves you and who wants to be your friend, and also who just wants to use you for your money. There's a ton of relationships that you can have that are real and genuine. But money definitely muddies that up. Sometimes it could be big, like family members asking for loans for things that you don't think that you should be paying for. Sometimes it's small, like going out to eat and people looking at you and just assuming that you're going to pay. Like at the end of the day, that's not that big of a deal, but it's just a really small example about how that relationship between money and friends and family, it can get kind of weird. Now, in my opinion, that doesn't mean you shouldn't share your money with people. I think you should. I think that, personally speaking, one of the biggest sources of joy for me is using some of the luck that I've had to make my friends and family's life a little bit better just to bring them a little bit joy. We've had a lot of guests on here and we will have guests on here. We'll say the thing that brings them most joy is giving their money away or treating other people. But what does get weird is when you start feeling the pressure to do that.
[00:23:51] Sam Parr: It creates something a little bit uncomfortable, and I don't have the answers on how to handle that balancing act. I certainly haven't figured it out, and I don't know if we have a guest so far that has figured it out, but my personal rule is at this point, I just don't think it's important, and I don't like to bring it up in conversations. And you're going to hear cam say the same thing. And he already has said a little bit of the same thing, not something I don't have a lot of experience with. Thank God, is how to handle intimate relationships a spouse, a girlfriend, a boyfriend, how to handle that when you already have money. Personally speaking, my wife and I, we started together and frankly, she had more money than I had for a long time. And then my stuff kind of worked out and things changed. But it was awesome that I knew I had someone who loved me no matter what. Cam was not in that bucket. So I think we're gonna have to do a whole nother episode on that, because I think that's really interesting for a lot of people. For now, though, I want to focus mostly on family and close friends. And even though I said that, I think you can make it work, there's a bunch of examples of when you can't. And I want to hear a little bit more from cam about when some of those things have or haven't worked out.
[00:24:58] Cam: You start seeing again relationships for maybe not what they are or what they were, but you start seeing the shallowness to some relationships and it becomes very empty, very lonely. Again, you see those different people, how they behave in certain instances as you grow in net worth, the target on your back for lawsuits or whatever gets bigger. I've had people try suing for saying that a dog bit him. All these other different things. It almost makes you close and shut down in so many different ways. And I don't want to be that person, but that's kind of what led me into that. And you start looking at your professional relationships and like, oh, it's all professional relationships. Like, I thought these were personal relationships. And that becomes lonely.
[00:25:49] Sam Parr: Well, do you have a tight knit group of friends now?
[00:25:51] Cam: Well, that's one reason why I joined Hampton. Yeah.
[00:25:54] Sam Parr: Do you have, like, 3 or 4 buddies who these are your ride or dies?
[00:25:58] Cam: I definitely have one. Yeah, I have two. Don't get me wrong. I mean, like, I would much rather have more.
[00:26:07] Sam Parr: I don't think I mean, I've got four guys who I'm like, regardless, I've been with. You've been with me before. You've been with me after. They've got successful, they got unsuccessful. But like, regardless, like any money is meaningless. And I would trust them with my bank account if I like, if I died, I'd be like, here's the passwords. Make sure my family's okay.
[00:26:23] Cam: Yeah. The problem is they don't live here. Like you even question those things. Like where should I geographically live so I can prioritize these relationships in life?
[00:26:32] Sam Parr: But I would say that, like living on, I don't know how big your land is living by yourself on a hundred acre, let's say, 50 acre plot of land. That might be. You might have set yourself up to be lonely, though.
[00:26:42] Cam: Oh, no, that's a completely different thing. That's completely different. I love privacy. I'll go feed my cows in my underwear. If I want to go shoot guns in the yard, I will. I like my privacy because it helps me disconnect from everything and whenever I want to be in it. I can go downtown in 20 minutes, like 15, 20 minutes.
[00:27:03] Sam Parr: So I guess that's not too bad.
[00:27:04] Cam: No, I like to flip switches for sure.
[00:27:11] Sam Parr: The loneliness bit comes up again and again. This is where balance is needed and it's the hard part. I feel like at other points in this podcast, this is where I kind of give some advice or things like that, but I don't know if I have a lot of great advice here. I think that money can definitely be an obstacle with relationships, but I do know that it's overcome. This is a very solvable problem for me personally. I like to give to my friends, but I keep a very close network. There's basically 4 or 5 people who I trust wholeheartedly and everyone else, everyone outside of that circle. I just think I don't necessarily trust them, but they're not in the circle. Once you're in the circle, you can have everything. I'll give you transparency. I'll help you when you're needed. But if you're not in that circle, I think of you sometimes a little bit like a door to door salesman. You're not exactly in the wrong, but I know that you probably want something, and I have to have my guards up until I've been proven otherwise. Now, I don't want to misrepresent cam here. Obviously, managing relationships and loneliness contribute to how he spends his money. But when it really comes down to why cam lives the way he does, it's all about where he finds happiness. This is conscious spending, I love it. And in his case, he has found that spending a lot of his money just isn't the source for his happiness.
[00:28:25] Cam: Until I find the thing that actually spending more money yields something better for me than I just don't see the point. Like almost every financial decision that I've made in spending on something, I've regretted it.
[00:28:36] Sam Parr: Like what?
[00:28:37] Cam: It could be as stupid as a Roomba. Those things are like $1,000 at this point. And it's like, well, okay, I don't really use it and it's not effective. It frustrates me that that money was wasted on that.
[00:28:52] Sam Parr: A fun question I always like to ask on this podcast, which I'm going to ask cam in a second, which is what things has he bought that actually did move the needle of happiness for him?
[00:29:01] Cam: I'm going to tell you another story. There are certain things, there are certain needs in life that I feel like the average person stress over. There's the basic food component. There's transportation, reliable transportation, depending on where you live. I remember when I got my first job bartending, it was really, really difficult to make ends meet, and I was worried that my alternator was going to go out on my truck and I was going to have to replace it, which I could do, but it was like 200 bucks and that was over what I was making. Plus rent. It was such a agonizing, anxiety driven moment and period in my life. And I got this job working construction because I had this degenerate gambler who came in and I picked college football. At the time I was, I loved college football. This guy came in, he's like, I need a lock. This week. I was like, okay, well, I tell you what, let's make a bet. I don't normally do this, but I'll give you my pick for the week. And if you win, you try me on this construction site that you have across the street and prevailing wage at that point in time to push a broom. The cheapest you could pay anyone on the job site was 37 an hour. You try me on for a week. If you like the way I work, you hire me on. If you don't like the way I work, I'll work that week for free.
[00:30:25] Cam: And he's like, all right, deal. I picked Florida over Tennessee and the Tim Tebow heyday. They covered the spread, and I got the job, and I was making good money, and I saved up $13,000 and I bought a 2004 F-150. It had 20,000 miles on it, and that was one of the most gratifying, rewarding purchases I've ever made in my life because I had reliable transportation. I remember I was counting change for gas to go to the Comedy Store and these other places, and not knowing if my truck was going to break down and to have that stress and that anxiety removed from my life, was such a wonderful thing. There came other points in my life where if you've ever been in Hungary, starving actor groups or entertainers, that when the check comes and everybody's trying to figure out how to split up the check and everything, the anxiety that comes from getting fucked on the check and having to pay an extra $20 when you don't have it. That in and of itself, knowing that I could cover the bill whenever I go out with friends or not, have to worry if somebody wants to split it with my portion is going to be those were the two moments weren't necessarily individual purchases, but those are the points in my life in which I got the most joy. There's never been a single purchase greater than that for me.
[00:31:51] Sam Parr: I agree, that feels awesome for me. It's similar, but not the same of tipping. So if it's like a $50 bill leaving $100 or something like that, that's like the greatest feeling ever. But it's all focused on going out to eat with friends.
[00:32:06] Cam: Yeah. Random acts of kindness are things that genuinely bring joy in my life. Like, I don't mind telling this story because it's not like, hey, for social media. There was that point in time in my life where I was hard pressed for cash. And you do have the panhandlers in Los Angeles, and it's hard to tell what people's genuine intentions are. If they're really looking for work and they need help, or if they're just lazy or whatever it is. I was getting lunch at the construction site one of the first months working there, and, uh, I went to this jack in the box, and this guy was like, hey, man, like, you got any extra work or anything like that? I was like, ah, I don't know, man. He's like, I need some money for some food and everything. He's like, I tell you what, meet me here Saturday morning and then I'll have some work for you. He's like, all right. This was like Tuesday. Saturday morning came around and like, oh, shit, I got to go, I gotta go. Like Jack in the box or whatever. Get breakfast. And dude was waiting out there. He's like, what are we going to do? He's like, we're going to paint or what? He's like, well, how much time do you have today? He's like, I don't care.
[00:33:10] Cam: He's like, I'll work till the job's done. I was like, okay, how much are you going to charge me? He's like six bucks an hour. He's like, okay, awesome. And so I gave him $100 and he's like, ready to get in the truck. And I was like, no, dude, you don't understand. I don't have any work. I was just checking to see if that's what you really wanted to do. He got all emotional and everything. He's like, I just started this job. I'm struggling myself. But it felt good to share in someone's appreciation. It's one of those things where you can blindly give to an organization, or you can try to make a difference, however that is throughout your day. Even even saying hi to people like, I know this sounds corny, but just being a good fucking person to people. Like smiling at someone, asking them how they're doing. These ounces equal pounds for a lot of people. And some people might just be having a hard day. So I found those things give me the most joy.
[00:34:04] Sam Parr: Now, the thing that brings cam the most joy, the thing that's changed his life and makes him happy. The thing that's near and dear to my heart and I completely agree. And that's the joy that you get from having a beautiful, wonderful dog.
[00:34:16] Cam: I had dogs all throughout my youth and it wore on me as I went to Los Angeles, and I ended up volunteering at the LA Valley Animal shelter there, which the waitlist on that was like a year because they don't want people, just tourists coming in and complicating the thing. They want people who are legit going to do that. And even the last few years I have a pitbull as well. I fucking love that dog. Like he he was found in a town close by. He looked like a little chupacabra. Guys at the company called him armadillo, but he had like, really bad mange. I'll send you pictures of him, but his eyes were pretty much swollen shut. He was hit by a car. His hip was out of socket for a while, so much that it calcified, and they had to cut the top of his femur off. Dual cataracts 16 tooth extraction. This dog was like he was going to be euthanized. I was trying to foster him and find a home, and I found that nobody would be willing to do all the things that were necessary to improve his quality of life. And I was like, this is another one of those things that like, and I fucking love that dog. Every day he lays on the porch.
[00:35:21] Sam Parr: He's still alive.
[00:35:22] Cam: Oh, yeah. He, uh, soaks up the sun. He loves everybody who watches him. Is like, if you ever decide to get rid of him, just let me know. I was like, you're not special. He makes everybody feel like that. He's just like, it's just one of those things. Like, they bring you so much joy and, like, unconditional love. I fucking love em.
[00:35:46] Sam Parr: And so that's kind of the answer to the big question. Cam finds happiness in things that money can't really buy. Or at least you don't need a lot of money to have. And that's why he's not really on this treadmill that a lot of our guests are on. It's a treadmill that sometimes I'm on of just wanting to earn more and spend more in order to find happiness. In fact, at one point, I just did a little quick math and estimated that he's probably gonna be a billionaire in 20 years if he just has normal growth of like 7 or 8% a year. Listen to what he said and how he responded to that.
[00:36:11] Cam: I mean, that is if you manage your money. I don't know if that's going to be the case for me, because, again, you go through these existential crises where it's like, what do you need? What are the things that you need in life? I think it's meaningful relationships and meaningful work. And buying a Bentley doesn't do anything for me. These things, I think a lot of people find that it's a quick dopamine hit, but it doesn't really move the needle. Well, at least for me.
[00:36:45] Sam Parr: Now, one thing to keep in mind cam got wealthy in his late 30s. That's still incredibly young. The likelihood that people are ever going to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars is quite low. The likelihood that you're going to make hundreds of millions of dollars in your 30s, that's very, very, very low. Now, the question that I had for cam was, was he happy that he didn't make money earlier? Was he happy that he was kind of just barely getting by in his 30s and 20s?
[00:37:08] Cam: Without a question, given my age, I feel very fortunate in that I lived in a time in which my youth I didn't have cell phones, dial up internet, took ten minutes on AOL to download a photo or anything like that online. I used to love to ride motorcycles. I raced and did stupid stuff on motorcycles all the time. I even mounted a high eight camera system on the tank. Me doing wheelies, going like 130mph and stuff with no helmet. Friends in the back of a pickup truck with a hi8 camera recording it. And now, like the GoPro generation. Like I, you know, I wingsuit and do other extreme sports from time to time. I think about having GoPros in my 20s, and it would be detrimental to my success in so many different ways.
[00:38:00] Sam Parr: You're like a smart and sober Johnny Knoxville. You've seemed like you've done a very good job of channeling really good craziness into right directions. Yeah, it's almost like as if, like, I think really high caliber people, their oven burns hot is what I say. And they're like a car whose wheels are spinning super quickly, but they're on like a stand and it's like important to point it in the right direction before you drop the stand and let it flaw. Because with someone like you who's wheels are spinning so fast, if you get it off just a few degrees in the wrong direction, you let it ride for ten years. You're going to be hundreds of miles apart. For some reason, you found that perfect direction where the wheels were pointed correctly.
[00:38:41] Cam: It's hard not to get emotional right now, even, because this is a level of gratitude that is woven into my life every day. I realize that, like so many people, going down the same path would have gone in a tragic direction because it takes a level of obsessive compulsiveness to be successful in some of the stuff that I've done, and that can lend itself to, again, like alcoholism or drugs or women, whatever these distractions or things are, that may not again. Success is subjective in so many areas, but it could have gone in a less constructive path for me, for sure.
[00:39:22] Sam Parr: Now let's close this bad boy out. I just want to say that spending $200,000 a month like our past guest, Neil, or spending $5,000 a month like cam, I don't think it really matters. It could be 1000 a month, or it could be a million a month. The answer isn't actually relevant. What matters is that you're spending it on things that make you happy, that make your life better. My friend Ramit, he calls this conscious spending. I love that phrase that's being conscious about what you spend. And so you make sure that you're only spending money on things that make you happy, and you're not spending money on things that don't make you happy. So if you're cam and you spend five grand or you're Neil and you spend 200 grand, it's a huge spectrum. Doesn't really matter. Chances are the answer is going to be somewhere in between. It could be greater. It could be less, but it doesn't really matter. What really matters is that you're being thoughtful about it, and you're doing what you think makes you happy, and you're trying to make this work. I swear, you're the gold I've been running for on it. Like I woke up in one the top rock.
[00:40:17] Sam Parr: Now, my friends, that brings us to the end. That's this episode of Money Wise. Now, before you go, you've made it this far. Just give me 30s. These episodes, they take a ton of work. I've committed to doing a few more, but I'm only going to keep going. If you, my dear listener, let me know that you love these conversations and you love these episodes. So please, if you're using iTunes, go to iTunes and leave a review and let me know. Tell me what other episodes you want, what ideas you have. Tell me if I should keep going. Give me your feedback. And also, by the way, if you hate these things, you can let me know there too. I'm also on Twitter. The Sam Parr. I need to hear from you. Should I keep making these? Because they make a ton of work and I only want to do them if you absolutely love them. And obviously I've got to do a shameless plug for Hampton. If you are a CEO, a founder, you own a business that does anywhere from 2 to $200 million in revenue. You have to check us out. Join Hamptons.com. It's my private community where me and my co-founder, we review and vet every single person who applies to make sure they're the best type of person we want. And because of this, we're able to have these really awesome conversations that only happen behind closed doors for people who are high earning, who are on their way to making a big hit, who have already made their big hit, and they're trying to figure things out.
[00:41:27] Sam Parr: It's awesome. These type of conversations that we have in the community have been life changing for me, and I think a lot of our customers, as well as a lot of people who have been on this pod who are Hampton members. So check us out. Join Hampton. Com. And finally, I complain about this podcast being a ton of work because frankly, it is. But it's not really a ton of work for me. It's a ton of work for Lower Street. They're the agency who I hired to make this podcast a reality. I work with Jackie and Harry and Alex and it's been awesome working with them. They produce podcasts like this for all types of companies, who want to get the word out and create cool stories. They make it super easy to produce, to write, to find guests. They've made my life much easier. So yes, it's a ton of work, but thankfully it's not a lot of work for me. You can check them out if you're interested. Lower street. All right. See you next week.