TOP INVESTMENT STRATEGIES WITH ARISTOTLE | 85 SOUTH SHOW

Aristotle emphasizes that building wealth requires two income streams: one to cover living expenses and another dedicated solely to investment. He personally lived off his army salary while investing all income from his barbering business. Alternatively, a single large income stream can be split, with half for living and half for investing, or couples can live off the lower income and invest the higher.

Aristotle states, 'You need two streams of income. One to live off of, one to invest. I live off my army money and I invested my barber money.' He adds that for a couple, 'y'all live off the lowest stream of income and y'all invest the biggest stream of income together.'

For generational wealth, Aristotle advocates consistent investment into long-term assets, particularly during market downturns. He advises waiting for the S&P 500 (SPY) to drop 20% (a bear market) from its recent high. At this point, invest 50% of available capital into diversified ETFs (like XLF for banks, XLV for healthcare, or VT/IWM for broader markets) and top companies (Apple, Meta, Google, Tesla) that are down 40-70%. If SPY drops another 5% (to 25% total), invest another 25% of capital, and if it drops another 5% (to 30% total), go 'full in' with the remaining capital. This strategy leverages market fear for significant long-term gains.

Aristotle explains, 'When the market drops 20%, that is classified as a bare market... You buy during fear and you sell during greed.' He details a staggered investment: 'put 50% of your money in... SPY go down another 5%... I put another 2500 in. SPY go down another 5%. I'm full in.' He recommends ETFs like XLF, XLV, VT, IWM.

Day trading, according to Aristotle, is for generating cash flow and 'freedom,' not for building generational wealth. He learned the 'more size, less trades' rule from rich Jewish friends: instead of trying to flip small amounts for huge percentages, use a larger capital base (e.g., $1,000 from a $5,000 account) to aim for consistent, smaller percentage gains (e.g., 20%). This '20/20 rule' means risking 20% of your trading capital to make 20% profit on that portion. This approach, like hitting singles in sports betting, leads to consistent daily profits ($400/day = $96,000/year) without excessive risk.

Aristotle quotes his rich Jewish friends: 'More size, less trades.' He explains the '20/20 rule': 'I'm going to use 1,000 to make $200. So I'm using 20 I call it the 2020 2020 rule... I'm trying to make 20%.' He clarifies, 'Day trading is the freedom play. It's not the end goal. You just trying to stack up a little.'

Aristotle's journey involved significant personal sacrifice and relentless learning. He gave up non-essential spending (Jordans, eating out, video games, cable) to save and invest. He self-taught barbering and investing, using apps like Acorns to understand compounding, then researching deeper into ETFs and market dynamics. His goal was initially to save $20,000 to leave the army, which evolved into a plan to become a millionaire by age 31 through consistent $3,000/month investments at a 25% return.

Aristotle recounts, 'I'mma give up Jordans. I'mma give up eating out every week. I'mma give up video game. I'mma give up cable.' He discovered investing by Googling 'how to make money from my phone' and used Acorns to learn about returns, then deeper research into ETFs like SPY and VO. His plan was to 'invest 3,000 a month at a 25% return... I'll be a millionaire in 10 years.'