Why Your Investments Are Making You Broke (The Noise Tax)

Does Apple invest in index funds? No.

Does Berkshire Hathaway diversify into crypto? Never.

Does Amazon park its cash in gold and silver? Not a chance.

They buy companies. They build capabilities. They invest in their vision.

So why are you — a business owner — doing the exact opposite?

I’ve spent over 25 years working with business owners. I wrote Killing Sacred Cows — a New York Times bestseller. I built and sold an Inc. 500 financial firm. And along the way, I did something most people don’t talk about: I turned $8 million into zero.

Not through bad luck. Through distraction disguised as opportunity.

IPOs. Oil and gas. Real estate. Over 100 rental properties. I told myself I was being smart. Diversified. Sophisticated.

I was none of those things. I was scattered. And when 2008 hit, every single one of those investments needed my attention at the same time. I couldn’t sleep. I gained weight. My hair turned gray. I was at vacation with my family — and my wife was at the pool alone, shopping alone, because I was working a real estate deal that lost money.

That experience taught me something that most financial “gurus” will never tell you: for business owners, outside investments aren’t signs of being smart. They’re signs of self-doubt.

The Noise Tax Nobody Talks About

Every minute you spend watching CNBC, checking Coinbase, reading about what the Fed might do — that’s a minute stolen from your business, your team, and your vision.

I call this the Noise Tax.

Unlike a real tax, you don’t even notice you’re paying it. It’s like inflation — stealing from you slowly while you convince yourself you’re staying informed.

Here’s the truth: what people call “being informed” is actually being distracted. What people call “news” is an agenda. What people call “financial advice” is bias.

The financial media doesn’t make money when you succeed. It makes money when you watch. And fear keeps you watching.

In 2020, I checked Coinbase every single morning. In my 20s, I wasted time and money on oil and gas deals. Hard money lending. Real estate that had nothing to do with my actual expertise. The cost wasn’t just financial. My real estate partners went bankrupt. My parents were invested with me. There were moments — dark moments — when I wondered if my family would be better off without me.

All because I invested in things that didn’t match who I am.

Escapism Isn’t What You Think

Here’s what nobody says out loud: most business owners don’t chase bad investments because they’re greedy. They chase them because they’re afraid.

I call this Escapism — and it doesn’t look like laziness. It looks like the opposite.

Escapism is when driven, ambitious people avoid the hard thing by filling their time with easier things that seem productive. It’s easier to study someone else’s business on the stock exchange than to fix your own. There’s less emotion. Someone else to blame.

But you’re playing a losing game.

I see it constantly: business owners making $500K, $700K, even $1M a year. Burned out. Time-starved. They’ve got a retirement plan, some crypto, a random real estate deal their friend told them about.

Take that same money. Take that same energy. Invest it in a COO, a marketing system, or buying back your time. Income grows. Stress drops.

They won’t do it. Why? Because investing in themselves feels risky. But putting money into an index fund somehow feels safe.

The irony is staggering.

What the Wealthiest People Actually Do

Warren Buffett said: “Diversification is protection against ignorance.”

Think about what that means. If you know what you’re doing, you don’t need to spread your money across 100 things. You put it in the one thing you understand best.

The wealthiest people I know didn’t get rich from the stock market. Some diligently dollar-cost-averaged for 30-40 years and now have a few million. Great. But 91% of people worth $5 million or more own a business. The wealthiest got rich from their businesses. Then — and only then — they used that wealth to create personal financial independence.

Not by gambling on things they didn’t understand. By doing more of what they already know.

Focus grows wealth. Diversification preserves it. Do them in the right order.

This is also why I talk so much about Investor DNA: the risk is not just the investment. The risk is whether the investment matches your knowledge, passion, and skill set.

I worked with a construction owner who grew his business from $40M to $100M in revenue. You’d think that’s a win. It wasn’t. His life got worse. Less family time. Less take-home pay. More complaints, more stress, more headaches. He got to tell people he ran a $100M company — but he didn’t have peace of mind. He didn’t have time. He didn’t have joy.

He was stingy with himself, but generous with his business problems. He needed to invest in his people and systems — not the market.

My client Reagan Archbald runs a longevity and health business. He didn’t buy a mutual fund. He bought a lab. He didn’t put everything into crypto. He studied cutting-edge health technologies, then expanded his office, his team, and his ability to teach. No 30 years of waiting. No scrimping. Just focus, knowledge, and conviction.

The 5-Question Distraction Test

Answer these honestly. No judgment:

1. Do you have investments outside your business that you can’t explain in two sentences? If yes — that’s not an investment. That’s a gamble. And hope is not a financial strategy.
2. Are you burned out, overworked, time-starved? And do you have money in the market, crypto, or real estate you don’t actively manage? That money belongs in your team, your systems, or buying back your time.
3. Did your last investment decision come from a headline, a podcast, or a friend’s tip? If yes, you’re paying the Noise Tax. Distraction disguised as opportunity.
4. Could you invest the same money in a hire, a system, or a skill that would increase business revenue by 20% or more? If yes — why haven’t you? The answer is usually fear.
5. When was the last time you invested in yourself? Your health. Coaching. Education. Rest. If you can’t remember, that’s the first investment to make. I call this investing in yourself first because you are the asset you can actually improve. Not Bitcoin. Not gold. You.

The next big thing is not some investment someone told you about at a dinner party.

The next big thing is you — becoming a better leader, building a better team, serving your customers at a higher level, living the life you don’t want to retire from.

Where Your Money Actually Goes

If you haven’t maxed out your own potential — your team, your systems, your skills, your leadership — you have no business putting money anywhere else.

Not the market. Not crypto. Not gold.

Your money goes into you. Into your team. Into your vision. Into the thing that compounds faster and more reliably than any other asset class in history: your own knowledge and capability.

Last year, I hired someone to cook for me. That decision gave me three extra hours every single day. My health has never been better. Those hours are exactly when I make content like this. Knowledge doesn’t crash. Skills don’t have bear markets. Riches are in your relationships and the people you impact.

The economy is a distraction. The news is a distraction. Crypto, gold, silver, index funds — for most business owners, they’re all distractions. The noise is louder than ever. But every story you buy into that isn’t your story is a thief.

Stop paying the Noise Tax.

In prosperity,
Garrett

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it ever okay for a business owner to invest outside their business?
Yes — once you’ve maxed out your business potential. Warren Buffett’s point stands: diversification is for when you don’t know what you’re doing. When you’ve built a business that runs without you, one low-risk asset outside the business makes sense to transfer wealth from business to personal. The sequence matters. Focus first. Diversify when you’re truly ready to preserve, not when you’re still in build mode.

What is Investor DNA?
Investor DNA is about knowing where your knowledge, passion, and expertise actually live. Real estate isn’t inherently bad — but if you don’t love it, don’t understand it, and don’t want to manage it, it’s wrong for you. The risk isn’t in the investment. The risk is in the investor. Invest in what matches who you are, not what someone else made money on. If you want a quick mirror for that, take the free Money Persona Quiz.

What is the Noise Tax?
The Noise Tax is the cost of time and attention you pay to financial media, market news, and investment chatter. Every minute watching CNBC or checking crypto prices is a minute not spent on your business. Unlike a real tax, you don’t notice you’re paying it — which makes it more dangerous.

Why does investing outside the business feel safer than investing in it?
Because external investments offer someone else to blame. If the stock drops, it’s the market’s fault. If your business underperforms after hiring a COO, that feels personal. It takes clarity and confidence to invest in yourself. Most business owners who resist it are dealing with self-doubt, not wisdom.

What’s the first step to stop the Noise Tax?
Take the Distraction Test in this post. Answer the five questions honestly. Then, before your next outside investment, ask: “Am I running toward an opportunity or away from something I don’t want to face?” If the answer is “away,” that’s where the real investment belongs.

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