How to Learn to Invest Without Losing a Single Real Dollar
Deon Hargrove
Podcast Episode 297
90% Of Adults Can't Answer This Money Question. Can You?
Here's an uncomfortable question: if your salary went up 3% but inflation hit 4%, is your purchasing power going up, staying flat, or dropping?
Only a third of adults worldwide can answer that. In the U.S., it's worse. And that gap isn't an accident. It's the reason my guest this week built an entire app around it.
The Real Reason People Avoid Investing
It's not laziness. It's not lack of intelligence. Deon Hargrove: engineer, entrepreneur, and founder of Smart Investors walked me through the specific barriers keeping smart, capable adults out of the market. One of them isn't what you'd expect. It has nothing to do with money at all.
In the episode, Deon breaks down exactly why so many people confuse investing with gambling, and why that one misconception is costing people decades of growth.
Practice Failing. On Purpose.
Deon's app lets you invest with virtual money in real markets, using real financial data and real news. No risk. And his goal for every new user is oddly specific: he wants you to fail at least a thousand times before you ever touch real money.
There's a method behind that number, and it changes how you think about "practice." We get into it in the episode including the three real-world crashes his app forces users to survive before they're allowed to call themselves ready.
The Entrepreneur Story Nobody Tells
Deon didn't build this app with a team, a runway, or a plan for burnout. He built it alone, believed the wrong myth about how solo founders "should" operate, and paid for it with two years he can't get back.
He also had to admit, out loud, to his friends, that something he'd built with his own hands wasn't good enough to ship. If you've ever built something you were too close to see clearly, this part of the conversation will land.
Why This Episode Is Worth Your Time
This isn't a lecture on compound interest. It's a conversation about the fear underneath money decisions, the barriers nobody names out loud, and what it actually takes to build something meant to fix a problem this widespread.
If you've ever nodded along in a financial conversation while quietly having no idea what anyone means, or if you're building something solo right now and wondering if you're the only one about to burn out, this episode is for you.
Connect with Deon:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smartinvestors01/
Website: www.smartinvestorsapp.com
Don’t forget to go grab the app and get investing today!
