In Financial Jeopardy at Age 63 to a $1M+ Portfolio at 69 I David Nassief's Approach to Rapidly Building Wealth

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Welcome to the Durable Entrepreneurs Show, where we talk with the experts that know how to help early stage entrepreneurs get from day one to year six.
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More than half of all small businesses fail in their first five years, but you are not going to be one of them.
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Listen up and apply what you learn to help you survive and thrive well beyond year five.
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I'm your host, Sean O'Hara, and today our guest is David Nassif.
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David is a self-made wealth strategist who has achieved incredible success helping people break free from financial uncertainty by giving them a simple, proven roadmap to build serious wealth on their own terms, regardless of their age, income level, or how late that they feel they're starting.
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Today, David will share how at age 63, he went from terminated employee and two years away from broke to building a seven-figure portfolio by age 69.
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He'll also discuss the proof that even a below average income is not a barrier to building serious wealth.
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And a very high income, on the other hand, is no guarantee of accumulating wealth.
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And a lot more.
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But before we begin, please note that while this is an amazing conversation that you're going to really enjoy, this is not to be taken as financial or investment advice.
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All right, it's time to get down to business.
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Would you please now welcome David Nassiff to the Durable Entrepreneur Show?
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Thank you, Sean.
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I'm excited to be here with you today.
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Yeah, I think you have a lot to offer about different ways to think about building wealth.
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And certainly everybody thinks about their exit strategy as an entrepreneur, but I think what you're going to enlighten a lot of people on is that you don't have to put all your eggs in that exit strategy.
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And that there's multiple tracks that you could be running on the same time.
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And you've made a lot of very significant discoveries on your own journey.
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But starting out, I always like to ask people about a moment in their own journey early on, perhaps, where it seemed like all might be lost, how you persevered through that, and what the major lesson was from that experience that entrepreneurs across the world.
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I definitely have one of the shots.
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When I was 63, I had just gotten fired after 18 years with the same company.
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I would not wish that day on anyone.
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When I did the math, it was brutal.
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If we had drained all of our savings and all of our retirement, we would be scheduled to be broke by age 65.
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At this point, I'm thinking, who in the heck is going to hire me at my age?
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But that wasn't the hardest part.
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The hardest part was the ride home.
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I'm thinking, how am I going to tell my wife, Mary?
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We've been married for 30 years.
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She did not deserve the mess I just threw our lives into.
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So after about two months of dead-end job searching, my heart was not in it.
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I did not want to go back to the corporal.
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I just did not.
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But I had to do something.
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I mean, I had a my family here and I had to support.
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And so, anyways, I decided to take a huge risk.
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And I went to work as an independent sales agent on straight commission.
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No salary, no safety net, no benefits.
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The first months were brutal.
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Constant rejection, rookie mistakes, prospecting everywhere.
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I had no clients.
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Um, no, no.
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I had more no's, I think, than I ever heard in my life in that time period.
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But you know, Sean, that rejection I was being bombarded with every single day.
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I believe it was the resistance I needed to build the mental muscles I needed to get through that nightmare.
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And um, 10 months later, I hit an incredible milestone.
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I was suddenly making more money than my good paying six-figure corporate salary.
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And for a very brief moment, I thought, we made it.
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But then I realized we haven't made anything.
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I says, for 40 years I made pretty decent money the whole time, for most of the time.
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And look where it got me.
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I mean, this is not, this is not making anything.
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And so I really understood something.
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I says, I have got to learn how to invest, but I didn't have time to waste with a bunch of investment theories and everybody with their own agenda and all that kind of thing.
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So I dug deep.
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I read 21 books, I listened to 13 financial podcasts consistently, read blogs, led newsletters, but I kept what I kept doing is taking the best ideas, Sean, and putting them on one piece of paper.
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I eventually ended up calling that, yeah, I eventually ended up calling that my wealth compass because I needed a simple set it and forget it approach.
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I was trying to start a company that was good doing good now, and I did not have time to watch Wall Street and watch all I just had to, you know, make it simple.
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And so I did.
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And um I what happened was six years later at 69, I achieved what I thought was impossible from terrified of being broke to a seven-figure portfolio in real financial freedom.
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John, I now know it is never too late to rewrite your story.
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Because if I can pull that off starting as late as 63, anybody can with the right direction, and I know that is true.
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So inspiring on multiple levels.
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The first of which is just for entrepreneurs in general, grit, right?
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Just that the decisions that you made and the ownership that you took in making this happen, like you were talking about just getting thrown into sales.
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Did you have any sales background prior to this?
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Let me tell you, it was worse than it sounds actually, because when I was in my 40s, I tried to start my own company.
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I wanted to be an entrepreneur.
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I tried to start my own company twice.
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I failed both times, miserably.
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One plunged me into debt, a six-figure debt that took me years to pay off.
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Just it was just a nightmare.
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And so this was not an easy decision.
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I already knew I was a failure twice as an entrepreneur.
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And so, but I was in a position where I had no other option.
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There was no plan B here.
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I would interview with people and they look at me like, buddy, we can hire someone half your age with a third the the cause, the expense of you.
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And they didn't say that, they were polite about it, but I'm just, I know what they were thinking.
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And so that I was I was kind of like a forced entrepreneur.
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But yeah, I'm so grateful it happened that way because I really believed it was in me.
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But one of my problems was when I would my failures in the past taught me something.
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I knew even though I was 63, older, vulnerable, and honestly terrified, I did have something going for me.
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I learned from those mistakes in the past.
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One of the things I learned was I need to sell intangible products, not tangible ones, ones that I really believe in.
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I also learned several other things.
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So I was going at it a lot smarter this time because of my failures than when I was in my 40s and just didn't have a clue about what was good and bad for me, anyways.
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Yeah, so they those those what at the time felt like failures were actually not failures because they ultimately ended up serving you, right?
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In the in the education.
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So the the the the other thing, uh, so I I just love all of that.
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Um, but the other thing I think is a huge takeaway here is that typically the wealth accumulation math that you hear people, and I don't think it's wrong necessarily, but it's terrifying for people who get behind the curve, right?
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The the math is when you're 21 years old, if you put$400 a month in, right, by age 55, you'll be, you know, have X million dollars.
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And then of course the the monthly number that you have to save gets much bigger over time that we're just like, okay, here I am.
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Let's see, can I come up with$6,000 a month to save?
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And and and so, but you're but effectively you blew that whole thing up by going from 63 to 69, building a seven-figure portfolio.
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So that is a true message of hope.
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And I I am really, really interested.
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And I think, you know, just the the fact is that there was a prior generation that if you stayed with a company for you know your career and you worked at PepsiCo or Ford, then the the deal that you were making was I'm gonna be taken care of because I had a retirement, right?
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And obviously, uh during the period of time which you and I are building our careers, those rules changed and it became hey, instead of us taking care of you for the rest of your life, how about you put all the money away and we'll match the first 5% of it at 3% or something like that, right?
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And so, and so now people totally are dependent on themselves, really.
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So I I'm I'm very, very interested in learning about how you did that specifically.
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And and you did mention that when you were doing all of this self-education, you were putting the best ideas down on you said a single sheet of paper.
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To to it sounds like provide you with the overall direction that that served you so well.
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So tell us about that.
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Well, first I got to be saying that you know they have these books out about if you're 21 and start doing this.
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I kept looking for the book that says if you're 63 and you're starting off, what are you doing?
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But I couldn't find one.
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There was no such book.
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But can I tell you, first of all, Sean, what inspired this whole compass thing?
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Because I think that story, it's a very short story, but I think it really helps understand it.
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Uh scientists at the Max Planck Institute did an experiment.
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And what they did is they put people in the center of a dense German forest and they told them to walk in a straight line to the edge.
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Now, these were confident and capable people, but when the clouds covered the sun, the GPS tracking showed they were gradually starting to walk in circular motions.
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Some of them were actually ending up right back where they began.
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And yet each and every one of these people was absolutely convinced they were walking in a perfectly straight line the entire time.
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Sean, that is my life story for 40 years.
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I was working hard, making decent money, and just making what I thought was good decisions, but ultimately ending up back where I began, or actually even worse off when I were than I began.
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And that is a nightmare.
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And so what I did is I said, I can't keep doing this.
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At 63, I don't have any more enough runway left to make these kind of mistakes.
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And my runway was more like a helicopter pad.
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It wasn't really a runway.
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So I needed to get serious.
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And that's when I says, I need to do something different.
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Just one thing that's kind of interesting.
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Before my compass was even finished, when it was just starting, I did I had something in there, a little tool that saved me a quarter of a million dollars.
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And I think this is an important point because you can understand it's not just about making money, it's avoiding losing money that, you know, we all think, oh, we'll never lose money, but believe me.
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So, anyways, I'm now 64.
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I'm now making good money, but I'm so desperate to understand how to build wealth, how to invest, that kind of thing.
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So I go to this fiduciary advisor who I was referred to who recommended something she said was amazing: a LERP, a life insurance retirement plan, long-term care, tax-free income, you know, life insurance, the whole package.
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And when she told me members of Congress invested in it, I was impressed.
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I thought, well, this must be good if they got the inside story there.
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But then she said something to me so interesting.
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She goes, David, if you invest in this with me, I will waive my quarterly fees.
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Now, one of the tools in my unfinished at this point wealth compass was follow the money.
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And it told me to understand how people are getting paid that are giving you financial advice or really any kind of advice.
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Okay.
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And so I thought to myself, well, if she's willing to waive her fees if I invest in this, how much commission is she making off this thing?
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So I went home and I did some research and I found out these products pay salespeople and advisors amazing commissions.
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They have sky-high fees for the client and very poor returns.
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This was the exact opposite of what I told her I needed.
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I needed steady, stable income.
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I didn't have much time left.
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What I that what that exposed for me was she was about to make a fortune while I was going to be back to walking in financial circles circles.
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So I says, no way.
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I stopped the whole thing, kept on my own study path, and found out that there are certain things I figured out how to do.
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One was how to get in the right kind of investments, and we'll talk about that in a little bit.
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Two, how to avoid getting ripped off, which is much more, it's so much subtle.
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The ripping off is so subtle in this industry.
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And everyone thinks they're, oh, I'll never fall for that.
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Believe me, people do every day.
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And then how to accelerate my path.
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I learned how to protect my money so it could build my wealth and not someone else's wealth.
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You know, I have found out, Sean, the hard way.
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If you don't have your own plan, you're part of someone else's.
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For 40 years, I was part of someone else's plan.
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Where'd that get me?
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On the literal edge of a financial cliff.
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That can't happen anymore.
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That's when I said, I need a compass, I need my own direction, I can't be following other people's direction.
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So I don't I hope that answered your question.
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Wow.
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Yeah, no, I and and I'm really intrigued about the details and the steps that you took.
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It's interesting.
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When you started talking about LERP, I was like, oh, LURP, that's the key.
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And it's like, oh, LURP was just the moment that said, no, this is not the path, right?
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The path that everyone else is on is the path that I need to get away from.
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Because it it, like you said, it exposed all of the traps that are not going to serve you well, but were going to serve the financial advisor.
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And this was a fiduciary.
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You know attorneys are fiduciaries?
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So I'm just saying, I'm not saying, I'm not saying fiduciaries are bad.
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I'm really not saying that.
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But I am saying don't be misled by that title and put your guard down because there are bad apples everywhere.
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I mean everywhere.
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Doctors are fiduciaries, I can tell you punches of some very unethical doctors.
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I mean most people like to believe are good people, but if you happen to have that bad one and he happens to have that title fiduciary, don't let it fool you, please.
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Got it.
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Okay.
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No, that that's a great heads up.
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I love that takeaway for sure.
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Yeah, because I think that the perception of what a fiduciary is is created by some of the marketing about what a fiduciary is, right?
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And and a higher level of trust and integrity, but it it indicates something, but integrity has to be judged.
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If I had gone into that LIRP and lost a quarter of a million dollars, which I would I did the math, I did backwards math.
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Good luck trying to sue her because she was this is an industry standard product.
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There's nothing wrong with this.
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I call all over the world, people are buying it.
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Yeah, but it wasn't right for my situation.
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I'm not saying LIRPS are bad in it for every situation, I'm saying, but for my situation, it was a disaster.
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You know, so I don't really want to go that route about you know having to sue people because it doesn't get you anywhere.
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Right, right, right, exactly.
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Yeah.
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So um let me ask you then, can you get into a little bit more detail about the one page wealth compass and and the keys there?
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Yep.
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I can't how it works.
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Let me just say this.
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Um, the one page wealth compass, uh it has like a 3D view of your complete finances.
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Think of the think of it as a a 30,000-foot view of where you're at now and how to get to where you want to go.
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I'll just show it to you.
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I mean, I'm gonna give this to all your listeners free.
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It's here's a secret sauce.
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I'm not trying to hide anything.
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I'll give it to you like this site is the nine steps, not the nine trail markers.
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What you can do, the first thing is say, okay, where am I at on this process?
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Oh, I'm still in debt.
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Consumer debt.
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Okay, well, I need to work on this.
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Is I'm number three.
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I need to work on it.
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So you know exactly where you are, and then you know, then I'll show you how to exactly get where you want to go.
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So that that that clarity, first of all, is just amazing.
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But the second part of this whole thing is it's a companion to the more detailed companion map, step-by-step guide.
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So, you know how this is the 30,000-foot executive view?
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This is the on the ground, step-by-step, take a right here, take a left here, on the details people really need to know.
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It's good to have that big picture view, but now I need some details too.
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You know, can I get them both?
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Okay, and that's the and then why I say this is a 3D view is because the third thing is what I call the navigation links.
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I love these, they're my favorite.
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Every step, every point of this um of this compass has something in parentheses.
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And so say you were in the um say you wanted to get the smart protection fund, okay?
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You say, but I I want to build that now, I'm ready for that.
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I'm at that stage, but I'm not sure the details on how to do that.
00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:33.360
Then it says right here, but chapter five.
00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:39.360
And so what you do is you just go directly to that chapter and get all the answers you need on exactly that step that you're on currently.
00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:50.480
So it really gives you like laser light focus and the tools, not just the motivation and uh feeling good about it, but there's actual tools of how to get there, both a big picture level and the detail that are.
00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:55.519
I like to call it the two-minute financial alignment, because it kind of aligns you with what you really want to go.
00:16:55.759 --> 00:17:00.799
Sean, have you ever read a book and it was a great book, and you got a really good idea in there, but that's gonna be life-changing.
00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:01.840
I'm gonna use that idea.
00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:05.839
And then two years later, you run across that idea and again go, Oh, yeah, I read that two years ago.
00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:07.039
I meant to do that, and I never did.
00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:10.480
Well, that's why I did the compass because you can't do that with this.
00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:16.079
Because if every week you have a two-minute review just for yourself, okay, I put it on the calendar at four o'clock every Friday.
00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:18.799
I look at this, and I look where I'm at and where I'm going.
00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:25.200
And if every week you're looking at and you never get off the step because you haven't even started, after a while, you just say, I gotta do this, I really got to do this.
00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:29.359
And so it really it's a behavioral life, too, to get you actually doing.
00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:32.960
So we read so many good books, but we don't necessarily change your behavior.
00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:38.559
This kind of in a positive way forces you that change to get you on the right path to financial independence.
00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:43.599
I really believe clear direction beats misdirected speed every time.
00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:47.039
For 40 years, I was spinning my wheels.
00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:52.160
Once I got the clear direction with the compass, within six years, I did what I couldn't do in 40 years.
00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:55.279
I couldn't even come close to what I did in six years and 40 years.
00:17:55.440 --> 00:18:01.200
That makes a huge difference, whether you're an entrepreneur, whether you're working for a company, no matter what your life situation is.
00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:03.200
Very, very encouraging.
00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:17.119
And one of the things that I'm thinking about as you're talking is having that appointment with yourself scheduled to check in, it forces you to confront the fact that you're not getting past the step that you're on, too, right?
00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:19.039
Like I'm still here.
00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:22.480
Um, and there's there's nine trail markers on this, right?
00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:23.519
Am I right?
00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:27.039
And so can you can you snapshot some of the more important ones that you're gonna do?
00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:29.599
I'll tell you every financial book that I've ever read leaves it out.
00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:31.680
And it's career and income success.
00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:35.680
They all assume, oh, you're you're making all the money, so now let's talk about investing.
00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:38.240
Well, no, no, no, not everybody on this planet is making all the money.
00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:43.279
Matter of fact, I'd say most of the people are are I wish they made more and really some of them really need to make more money.
00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:44.799
And so that's the first thing I address.
00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:51.599
And I give you real practical tools in the book on on that, because one thing I was good at for 40 years, I was good at making well above average income.
00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:55.359
I mean, that's I'm not I'm just saying that's just that I was terrible at building wealth.
00:18:55.440 --> 00:18:59.119
I mean, like disgustingly terrible at building wealth, but I knew how to make money.
00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:00.480
So that key is important.
00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:02.319
Um, another one is the debt freedom.
00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:09.839
Now, I am not against like certain kind of debt, like for example, real estate debt, for example, or a home.
00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:11.759
That's uh that's appreciating.
00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:16.720
And in some cases, that's bridging you cash flow, if whatever, depending on your situation.
00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:23.519
But I am against credit card debt, other kind of consumer debt that either are buying depreciating assets, that kind of thing.
00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:24.640
So that's what these steps are.
00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:27.599
They just take you through the logic and in an order.
00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:29.039
And the order is so important.
00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:33.680
I mean, I I I could tell you stories about the order and how critically important it is.
00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:45.759
So I'm just curious, then part of your own life lessons learned up to the point when you were 63 and had to completely change your direction.
00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:50.319
Not just change your direction, but even learn how to do it before you could do it.
00:19:50.480 --> 00:19:52.559
But was consumer debt for you personally?
00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:54.319
Was that part of the undertone that you were dealing with?
00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:55.359
I dealt with that in my life.
00:19:55.440 --> 00:20:04.000
I'm not saying I by any means I'm not perfect, but but fortunately, my wife and I, when we were in our 40s, I think maybe early 50s, we we we that was one of the few things I did right.
00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:06.799
Okay, I said we need to get out of consumer debt, honey, and she agreed with me.
00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:07.839
So we but we did.
00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:16.000
But but um, so I can't that was a problem for me in my life, but not at 63, fortunately, because if that would have been on top of that, it would have been worse.
00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:16.960
Right, okay.
00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:18.960
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:22.720
So so can you tell us, thank you for sharing all of that.
00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:31.359
Um, what you said earlier was that at 63, you had basically a two-year clock running financially, right?
00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:33.440
Um when you did the math.
00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:48.880
But but then after six years of changing your habits, improving your education, your insight, and and everything that you learned and everything that you executed on, you built a seven-figure portfolio, right?
00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:52.480
So, so can you tell us a little bit about specifically?
00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:54.559
Yeah, let me tell you very specifically.
00:20:54.799 --> 00:20:59.599
First of all, I had a uh from 63 to 69, we're talking about a six-year window here, okay?
00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:05.039
I doubled my portfolio three times in that six-year period, which is unheard of.
00:21:05.119 --> 00:21:09.839
Okay, and uh, but let me tell you, I wasn't day trading, I wasn't chasing crypto, or I wasn't trying to try in the market.
00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:12.799
I was dumped doing something so boring it would put you to sleep.
00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:16.160
I developed or discovered a way to invest.
00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:21.279
And the crazy thing about it, Sean, was when the market was down, I was thrilled.
00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:25.680
When everyone else was panicking and selling, I was buying more shares discount prices.
00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:29.920
My only regret was the market wasn't down more during that six-year period because I hadn't even done better.
00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:34.480
But what really got me, and I think it's interesting for your listeners to understand this, is the math.
00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:36.319
There's this thing called the rule of 72.
00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:46.480
And it's what it simply says is this if you're getting a say a 10% return on your money, it will double your money every 7.2 years or roughly every 86 months.
00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:51.440
Now, once I started my compass, my first double occurred in just 30 months.
00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:59.680
My second, 13 months, my third, 29 months, for an average of 24 months, way less than half.
00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:02.240
The expected 86 month time frame.
00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:04.400
But my secret, my secret wasn't the return, Sean.
00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:04.960
It really wasn't.
00:22:05.279 --> 00:22:08.079
My secret was I was doing several things that a lot of people don't do.
00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:10.880
One is I was saving a good portion of my income.
00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:14.880
Now remember, I got back to making good money, and I says, we can't squander this.
00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:16.720
We're given this chance and opportunity.
00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:20.880
And so we carved out a good chunk of that every month to go into savings.
00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:25.440
Second thing is we took that savings then and we put it in the right kind of investments.
00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:28.000
And I'll tell you specifically right now what I'm talking about.
00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:31.599
Low cost, totally diversified index funds.
00:22:31.759 --> 00:22:35.200
What I mean by that is we only I only own two funds.
00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:36.799
This is how simple my portfolio is.
00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:38.160
I mean, it's incredibly simple.
00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:38.960
Two funds.
00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:42.160
One of them is I own an index fund for the total U.S.
00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:47.200
market, which means I own every publicly traded stock in the United States.
00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:52.960
My second fund I owned was every publicly traded stock outside the United States.
00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:57.680
So I literally, Sean, own every publicly traded company on the planet.
00:22:57.839 --> 00:23:02.240
For me to go broke, the entire economic system of the world would have to collapse.
00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:05.200
So I pretty feel fairly safe on this one, okay?
00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:12.400
But but the but the third thing I was doing was I would use the market volatility to work for me instead of against me.
00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:22.160
Once I understood it, the emotions, I could put them aside, I could get rid of those emotions, and I ended the cycle of buying high and selling low, which so many people are trapped in.
00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:27.680
I was able, Sean, to build my portfolio twice as fast with half.
00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:35.839
This is the important part, with half of the risk compared to how so many people are doing it and compared to how I was doing it for 40 years without my compass.
00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:38.559
And that to me made a huge difference.
00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:44.000
I mean, a huge difference in and my I I compressed the time that was needed to get there.
00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:46.079
That's incredible.
00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:55.519
So I I love the boring part, you know, because boring implies safety, but boring also implies lower volatility, right?
00:23:55.839 --> 00:24:08.640
And and and and your strategy there, uh I'm I actually never heard this before, but you know, the the having the one fund, which is the US market, and the other fund, which is everything but the U.S.
00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:09.119
market.
00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:14.240
So yeah, I mean, hey, if that strategy blows up, effectively the whole thing.
00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:16.559
So money is not the least of the money will be the least of my worst.
00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:20.480
Yeah, right, right.
00:24:20.720 --> 00:24:23.920
I mean, that that's pretty that's pretty incredible.
00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:32.559
So uh and so did you just consistently with a dollar cost average discipline.
00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:34.000
Every month, every single month.
00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:34.640
It's so easy.
00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:35.279
Every single month.
00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:41.200
I didn't have to hire any kind of an uh advisor or nothing like that, because here's how complicated my system was every month.
00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:43.200
Okay, I paid myself once a month, okay?
00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:51.920
So once a month, I get on my computer, and when the money hits my personal checking account, I take that percentage of money because I don't get paid the same every month because it depends on my business.
00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:55.519
So I what I do is I just transfer it over to my investment account.
00:24:55.680 --> 00:25:00.400
Part of it goes into the US, part of it goes into the international, and I'm done.
00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:03.680
I'm taking maybe three to four minutes of my time to do this.
00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:06.559
Okay, it's that simple, it's that uncomplicated.
00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:09.440
And it's people just make it so much more complicated.
00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:13.279
And the reason they want to make it complicated is because they think if it's complicated, then you need these helpers.
00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:16.720
Warren Buffett calls them helpers, but they all want a little slice of your pie.
00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:21.359
And these little slices are killing everyone's returns because they're not making you money.
00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:32.160
And then they want to make activity because, oh, if you're active and they change, but what that does, activity is one, it costs taxes, you're making now you're paying more taxes, and two, more expenses.
00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:41.039
It's just oh when I when I saw this and I put it on my compass, I said, it just I just got a calmness about me because I knew I I didn't have to stress, I I knew what was going on.
00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:45.359
Benjamin Franklin says the best investment is education, you know, knowledge.
00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:50.000
And and that's once I got that, it was just like, okay, this is a different game than I thought it was.
00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:52.559
Yeah, yeah.
00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:58.079
I mean, I I I love that that insight and the kind of set it and forget it thing.
00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:07.519
I had a a similar experience, not on the same scale, but I I learned something, and I'm I'm learning a lot listening to you today.
00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:24.480
Um, but it just makes me think of like when my kids were very young, uh, I just said, hey, pick pick a stock, and they're in elementary school, one, uh and I put some money in that stock for each of them, and I said, You can you can have whatever this is worth when you're 25, right?
00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:35.119
And and in the meantime, I'm personally like in the volatility of the market, you know, trying to execute on timing the market, which I've since given up on.
00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:51.519
But one of the reasons that I gave up on that was because I was watching my brilliant moves, you know, be followed by really dumb moves, and and my my obvious inability to predict, you know, every every ebb and flow in the market, which is what I was really chasing.
00:26:51.680 --> 00:27:07.119
And in the meantime, I've got these three stocks that my kids picked that are just sitting there because that was the deal, and I'm watching what's happening with those three stocks versus all of my prowess and trading and finding out, you know what, you're not that smart.
00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:09.599
And and I and I couldn't figure it out, right?
00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:11.599
So I I just love that set it.
00:27:11.680 --> 00:27:16.079
There's a couple things I'm that you're talking about that I think are really appealing.
00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:22.480
One is the discipline, the the the incredible diversification and the simplicity of it, right?
00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:26.640
It's so much low, so much lower stress.
00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:30.640
And and there's so much information coming in.
00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:42.000
If you follow the financial markets uh at all, I almost find that the less I follow the financial markets, and the more I follow like a financial discipline that I believe in, the better off I do.
00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:48.880
The more I'm listening to the talking heads, the more I'm prompted to like, uh, I got I gotta do something, right?
00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:50.319
And I have to do it right now.
00:27:50.559 --> 00:28:14.000
So this is this is really incredible what you were able to accomplish, the results, but it is very, very counterintuitive to what everybody's bombarded with when they're looking at either the the market talking heads or the financial uh advice that's that's being say something because you said something so important.
00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:22.319
These talking heads on TV, the last thing you want to do is turn on cable news financial statements and listen to them because their whole job is to get ratings.
00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:26.799
And when they get sell, buy, do all this thing, you know, that's getting ratings, people are getting excited.
00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:29.200
No, that you don't you want to turn that off.
00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:34.480
I do watch it occasionally, but just for entertainment purposes, I never I would never take advice from them.
00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:40.720
But I find them funny and sometimes I find some of the education about the companies are interesting, but I would never take advice from them because here's the deal.
00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:43.200
I love this quote by Warren Buffett.
00:28:43.279 --> 00:28:48.960
He says the following Forecasts tell you a lot about the forecaster, but nothing about the market.
00:28:49.200 --> 00:28:50.400
And that is so true.
00:28:50.640 --> 00:28:52.559
These people, when they're forecasting, I'm laughing.
00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:54.400
And my wife says, honey, how come you're laughing?
00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:55.680
Because they don't have a clue.
00:28:56.240 --> 00:28:59.680
There's a 50% chance they're gonna be right, and there's gonna be 50% chance, and they don't know either.
00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:00.400
It could be either way.
00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:03.119
You know, and if they're wrong, they're not gonna come on TV and say, I was wrong.
00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:04.400
They just aren't gonna come back.
00:29:04.799 --> 00:29:06.160
You know, so it's just crazy.
00:29:06.880 --> 00:29:08.640
That stuff is it's really better.
00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:11.440
You know, for an entrepreneur, your time is very limited, anyways.
00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:13.519
Please don't waste watching that stuff.
00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:14.799
I mean, it's just not worth it.
00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:17.119
It doesn't do any value, I don't think, at all.
00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:20.000
Yeah, great, great insights.
00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:23.119
And I'm I'm curious also, your asset allocation.
00:29:23.279 --> 00:29:31.839
Um, and and this is you probably have a lot more information on this in your in in your book, but was it equally distributed, the total asset allocation in the U.S.
00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:32.640
is global?
00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:36.880
I'm a real believer in the power of the United States economy.
00:29:36.960 --> 00:29:42.880
And I know we have different ups and downs with different politics, but overall, I think we have the strongest economy on the planet.
00:29:43.039 --> 00:29:44.640
I know I'm prejudiced because I live here.
00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:46.640
Maybe if I lived in France, I'd think that about France.
00:29:46.720 --> 00:29:52.559
But I have um close to 90% of my money in the US and 10% is um in the international.
00:29:52.640 --> 00:29:55.519
And I'm very comfortable with that and it's served me very well.
00:29:55.599 --> 00:30:02.160
But I I I put most of my because I don't think all my eggs are on backslash, because I own every single there's still over 3,000 publicly traded companies.
00:30:02.240 --> 00:30:04.480
So I mean I'm so diversified, it's not it's not funny.
00:30:05.119 --> 00:30:10.880
Yeah, great, great stuff, and it is emotionally less exhausting too, I would think.
00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:11.440
Peace.
00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:13.359
It brings you it brings you peace inside, it really brings you.
00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:14.720
Um yeah, yeah.
00:30:14.960 --> 00:30:34.160
So so it sounds like uh if I'm summarizing, and and tell me if I'm oversimplifying it, but but really the key for you and make having that exceptional outcome in a six-year time period was the kind of the discipline that didn't really require discipline, right?
00:30:34.319 --> 00:30:37.759
Because you had this set it and forget it type of approach, right?
00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:51.680
And it and it happened on autopilot, and obviously you you you're you're not asleep at the wheel, but but it but it was actually the discipline to put something in place and just and to let that system do the work.
00:30:51.839 --> 00:30:59.839
Uh I I hate to use the phrase trust the process, but it but there's trust but I wasn't trusting someone else's process.
00:30:59.920 --> 00:31:00.640
That's the key thing.
00:31:00.799 --> 00:31:05.599
I was impressing trusting a process that I got from some of the best minds on the planet.
00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:12.160
I mean, I feel like I know personally some of the most brilliant, successful um financial people on the planet.
00:31:12.319 --> 00:31:18.640
I never met any of them personally, but I read their books, I listened to them being interviewed, and I really uh soaked in their information.
00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:23.680
So I'm not listening to any one guy's wacky thing that he came up with because he wants to make money off people.
00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:31.759
I am looking at sound advice from sound people who have track records that are stellar that no one's gonna ever debate about their track records.
00:31:31.920 --> 00:31:40.240
So do you do you feel like uh a part of diversification then um it includes like the bond?
00:31:40.559 --> 00:31:40.880
I do.
00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:42.160
No, no, no.
00:31:42.240 --> 00:31:42.960
I'm in all equities.
00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:53.279
And I recommend anybody that's in their 20s, 30s, 40s, or or at least five years before retirement, like they got five more years before retirement or or longer.
00:31:53.519 --> 00:31:56.559
I recommend 100% equities, 100% equities, no question.
00:31:56.640 --> 00:32:04.160
You're gonna get a best bonds are for people when they are slowing down now and they want to stop earning money and they want to make money off their portfolio.
00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:06.400
What if the market stones for three years in a row?
00:32:06.559 --> 00:32:08.160
You don't want to be cashing out those equities.
00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:09.599
That that would be a disaster for you.
00:32:09.759 --> 00:32:11.200
You need to have bonds as a cushion.
00:32:11.279 --> 00:32:15.680
I don't mean a lot of bonds, but I'm saying, you know, a proportion of your portfolio should be in bonds.
00:32:15.759 --> 00:32:22.799
So when the market has that volatility, you can still sleep good at night saying, okay, I'm fine because I'm gonna just take my money out of the bonds and I'm not gonna get my equity.
00:32:22.880 --> 00:32:27.920
And when the market's hitting the uh new highs, that's when I take the money, I would take the money out of the equity.
00:32:28.079 --> 00:32:28.960
So you want to have both.
00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:35.039
But when you're making the money and earlier in your life, you're not gonna be relying on your portfolio for income.
00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:45.039
So let's go and put 100% equities so you can aggressively grow that in a safe way with safe investments, okay, that capture the entire market.
00:32:46.240 --> 00:32:49.359
Yeah, it's interesting how like the talk track changes too.
00:32:49.440 --> 00:33:01.759
When the market's struggling and you hear about that 60-40 portfolio, like, you know, that that that you should you should and then but then when the market's hot, everybody's just talking about investing in tech stocks or whatever it is, right?
00:33:03.599 --> 00:33:06.720
So uh tell tell me a little bit about Figna.
00:33:06.880 --> 00:33:11.599
I don't know if you've heard of the fire movement or if your listeners have, but fire movement is financial independence retire early.
00:33:11.839 --> 00:33:18.640
A lot of people, especially in their 20s and 30s, even, they want to just work, work, work, work, work, and so they can retire and then they could go stay on the beach or whatever they want to do.
00:33:18.720 --> 00:33:23.839
Okay, I'm not saying everyone feels that way that's in fire, but I'm just saying that's kind of the general uh theory.
00:33:24.240 --> 00:33:30.880
I uh believe in Figna, which is financial independence, graduate to the next adventure.
00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:33.440
For me, I have no desire to retire.
00:33:33.599 --> 00:33:36.160
I'm 72, I am having the time of my life right now.
00:33:36.240 --> 00:33:38.559
My company is doing better than it's ever done.
00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:42.000
My son has joined me since then, and it's wonderful working with him.
00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:42.799
I I love it.
00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:45.200
I look, I love my clients, I love going to work.
00:33:45.359 --> 00:33:50.799
I also love sharing this one page wealth couples with people because so they can get on the right track and they can do the right things.
00:33:50.880 --> 00:33:51.839
And I love my charity work.
00:33:51.920 --> 00:33:53.440
I do, I look forward to that every month.
00:33:53.599 --> 00:33:56.000
So I, the last thing I want to do is retire.
00:33:56.079 --> 00:33:58.640
I mean, I just I could I can't see myself ever retiring.
00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:01.279
Now, maybe this someday I will, but but I'm having fun.
00:34:01.440 --> 00:34:02.799
We live in a beautiful golf course.
00:34:02.880 --> 00:34:04.319
I mean, it's a beautiful golf course.
00:34:04.400 --> 00:34:07.599
And I look at those golfers behind us and I go, I know you're having fun.
00:34:07.759 --> 00:34:10.239
I guess you wouldn't be doing it, but I just I can't do that.
00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:13.840
I that's I got to do something more productive and engaging and things like that.
00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:20.239
So I I I'm not saying everyone, some for some people, their figna, graduating the next venture, may be retirement.
00:34:20.320 --> 00:34:21.039
And that's good.
00:34:21.119 --> 00:34:22.079
But you define it.
00:34:22.159 --> 00:34:27.760
But the last thing I think anyone should do is just sit back, watch TV, and just wait to die or something.
00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:28.320
I don't know.
00:34:28.559 --> 00:34:29.840
That I that's not retirement.
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:30.719
I don't know what that is.
00:34:33.519 --> 00:34:36.480
I am so with you on that.
00:34:36.639 --> 00:34:43.440
The idea of like the idea of every day being Saturday indefinitely is is not appealing to me.
00:34:43.519 --> 00:34:45.920
Like I'll take a good four-day weekend every now and then.
00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:51.039
I'd like to be able to have the flexibility to just travel at will, you know, and things like that.
00:34:51.199 --> 00:34:59.599
But but the I but the idea of it all being discretionary time, that to me is like, you know, kind of there's a chaos there, I feel like.
00:34:59.679 --> 00:35:06.320
You know, it's like we're wired from a very early age to be try to be tested and to grow, right?
00:35:06.480 --> 00:35:08.639
And and to make a productive contribution.
00:35:08.719 --> 00:35:13.920
And I think a lot of our identity gets tied up into what are you contributing ideally to other people?
00:35:14.079 --> 00:35:23.519
And then and then when it comes about to like, oh, what can I do to entertain myself today, even though there are things that I love to do, like fishing, I love music and things like that.
00:35:23.679 --> 00:35:30.719
But it's just like doing it every day, I think would even take it's like, yeah, ice cream's great, but he wants it every single day, right?
00:35:30.800 --> 00:35:32.400
It's it's it's not so great then.
00:35:32.480 --> 00:35:40.239
But so so I feel the same way, and and kind of my career mentor there is actually you brought Warren Buffett up multiple times, right?
00:35:40.480 --> 00:35:45.920
Because he's just like he just has been doing what he loves for his entire career.
00:35:46.320 --> 00:35:50.480
And and so uh, I mean, finally he's actually backing down.
00:35:50.559 --> 00:35:53.840
It'll be interesting to see if he's able to fully disengage, right?
00:35:54.000 --> 00:36:00.559
But isn't he like 92 now when he's starting to like turn the secession over Berkshire Hathaway?
00:36:00.800 --> 00:36:18.320
And because he's passionate about what he's doing, as opposed to somebody who's toiling away at something that they don't want to to do, but they're toiling away in in the hopes of one day retiring because retirement means not doing this anymore.
00:36:18.639 --> 00:36:21.840
And what you're saying is graduate to the next adventure.
00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:30.800
And I think for a lot of people, I hope listening to uh this podcast, they're thinking about their next adventure being building their own business, right?
00:36:30.960 --> 00:36:32.559
And and creating something.
00:36:32.800 --> 00:36:36.320
Uh and clearly that's what you have done.
00:36:36.400 --> 00:36:43.199
Uh, and and I'm sure that you've you've opened a lot of options up for other people as well.
00:36:43.440 --> 00:36:48.639
Do you have like, let's just suppose somebody's in that situation where they're like, you know what?
00:36:49.440 --> 00:36:57.440
I have resigned myself to financially, I'm I'm way behind the ball, I'm just trapped, right?
00:36:57.679 --> 00:37:10.159
I mean, obviously, your one-page wealth compass, the book, great tools for them, but but in just giving people um some some hope of like, hey, you know what?
00:37:10.320 --> 00:37:12.320
You can you're not out of time, right?
00:37:12.480 --> 00:37:14.000
You can start now.
00:37:14.400 --> 00:37:21.199
What what do you think is the the case for people initially like looking at their situation and finding the path to hope?
00:37:21.280 --> 00:37:26.559
What what what should they be looking at as what's my very next step in order to change direction?
00:37:26.639 --> 00:37:28.719
Like well, I wish I had this, I really do.
00:37:28.800 --> 00:37:32.480
When I was 63, but seriously, what I would do is I would download this for free.
00:37:32.559 --> 00:37:33.039
It's on my site.
00:37:33.119 --> 00:37:35.679
I'm gonna give you the information, it's free, there's no charge for it all.
00:37:35.840 --> 00:37:40.400
And I would just say the first step I would do is where am I at in the nine trail markers?
00:37:40.559 --> 00:37:42.320
Where am I physically at in those steps?
00:37:42.480 --> 00:37:45.360
And then what do I need to do to get to the next step?
00:37:45.519 --> 00:37:48.880
And then just look at the prefaces, okay, I'm gonna go to this chapter of this book right now.
00:37:48.960 --> 00:37:50.800
And by the way, the book, I gotta say one thing about the book.
00:37:50.960 --> 00:37:57.840
It is written and not like a traditional financial book at all, because most people they don't want a bunch of graphs and charts and spreadsheets and that kind of thing.
00:37:57.920 --> 00:37:59.280
And so many books get so technical.
00:37:59.519 --> 00:38:05.519
Mine is full of stories about failing of mine and other people's and successes of mine and other people's.
00:38:05.840 --> 00:38:11.360
So when you get to that chapter and you're looking at this one principle you're trying to do, first you hear the story.
00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:12.880
It's very captivating stories.
00:38:13.039 --> 00:38:17.760
But then you get when I tell you the principle and or the technique or whatever it is, you go, that makes sense.
00:38:17.920 --> 00:38:18.880
No, I understand.
00:38:18.960 --> 00:38:22.800
And I understand why this guy didn't succeed and why this guy did succeed because it totally makes sense.
00:38:22.880 --> 00:38:29.519
I've had people tell me, David, you could take all the financial stuff out of your book, and it would be such an interesting book to read because the stories are just they're all true, and it's not like made-up stuff.
00:38:29.679 --> 00:38:30.719
And so that's the thing.
00:38:30.800 --> 00:38:35.440
I that's where I would start is where are you on the compass, and then what's your next step?
00:38:37.599 --> 00:38:38.480
Okay, okay.
00:38:38.639 --> 00:38:44.639
It sounds like I love the idea that it's accessible because it's not financial academic speaker.
00:38:46.400 --> 00:38:49.599
Obviously, that that was an intentional choice that you made, right?
00:38:49.840 --> 00:39:05.760
To make it accessible to people who who have this issue, to make it to where it sounds like through the stories that you put in there, to where it's obvious, like, okay, this works, this doesn't work, and and you don't have to hurt your brain figuring it out.
00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:06.960
I promise you.
00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:11.199
What is trail marker?
00:39:11.280 --> 00:39:19.119
You talked about, you know, a great place to start is why not obviously download this one-page wealth compass.
00:39:19.360 --> 00:39:20.960
That that makes a lot of sense.
00:39:21.199 --> 00:39:24.159
And it covers all nine trail markers.
00:39:24.480 --> 00:39:27.360
What is trail marker one for someone to do that?
00:39:27.519 --> 00:39:30.480
Well, that was one we touched on very briefly, was a career and income success.
00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:38.000
If you're under if you're underemployed or you're just frustrated with your job, you know, that's let's get that handled right now, okay?
00:39:38.079 --> 00:39:43.599
Because what happens is if you're making a below what you should be making, then that's going to impact your path.
00:39:43.840 --> 00:39:45.119
You'll still be able to be successful.
00:39:45.280 --> 00:39:54.320
I'm gonna give you a, I'll give you a story right in as soon as two seconds here about people making below average income, people making above average income, and the outcome is very different than you would think.
00:39:54.480 --> 00:39:54.639
Okay.
00:39:54.800 --> 00:39:57.360
But the point is this why not get that first?
00:39:57.760 --> 00:40:00.880
Because so many financial books and never even bring this up.
00:40:01.039 --> 00:40:03.280
That's a big thing for people, though their income.
00:40:04.480 --> 00:40:07.360
As long as we're on the income topic, let me just dispel a rumor, okay?
00:40:07.519 --> 00:40:11.599
That the lie, I should say, that people think, well, I don't make enough money, David, to really invest.
00:40:11.679 --> 00:40:13.199
I'm barely making it myself.
00:40:13.280 --> 00:40:14.159
I don't have any money.
00:40:14.320 --> 00:40:16.639
Well, let me share with you why that's a lie.
00:40:16.800 --> 00:40:23.840
The NBA, the National Basketball Association, the average player makes over$10 million a year.
00:40:24.000 --> 00:40:28.159
I didn't say$10 million in a career, I said in a single year.
00:40:28.320 --> 00:40:35.760
And yet, after five years of retirement, 60% of them are broke, according to the Netflix documentary broke.
00:40:35.840 --> 00:40:37.199
But the NFL is even worse.
00:40:37.440 --> 00:40:45.760
The NFL, after two years of retirement, 78% of these athletes are either bankrupt or in serious financial stress.
00:40:45.920 --> 00:40:47.840
That's according to Sports Illustrated.
00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:57.440
Now let's compare those to Dale Schroeder, a basketball-loving carpenter who moved, who made average or below average income his entire career.
00:40:57.599 --> 00:41:01.119
Yet he chose to live below his means and invest the difference wisely.
00:41:01.280 --> 00:41:04.400
He ended up with$3 million portfolio.
00:41:04.559 --> 00:41:09.039
That's more than most people and the NBA and the NFL making their mega million dollars.
00:41:09.119 --> 00:41:11.199
And this little carpenter guy did it more.
00:41:11.360 --> 00:41:18.800
I tell you, what the compass showed me is making money and building wealth are two totally separate skill sets.
00:41:18.960 --> 00:41:21.039
Those athletes were pros at making money.
00:41:21.199 --> 00:41:23.760
Making over$10 million a year, don't get much better than that, okay?
00:41:23.920 --> 00:41:27.840
But yet they so many of them, I say most of them, are were terrible at building wealth.
00:41:28.000 --> 00:41:30.239
Dale Schroeder, he wasn't very good at making money.
00:41:30.320 --> 00:41:35.679
He really wasn't, but he was a master at building wealth, especially from what the little he had to do it with.
00:41:35.840 --> 00:41:38.559
And that there's a difference, and people think, oh, I don't make enough.
00:41:38.639 --> 00:41:39.119
That's a lie.
00:41:39.199 --> 00:41:40.159
That's just a lie.
00:41:41.519 --> 00:41:42.000
Really?
00:41:42.239 --> 00:41:45.920
That that that definitely applies to entrepreneurs, right?
00:41:46.079 --> 00:41:50.880
Because specifically, it's all about obviously generating revenue for the business.
00:41:51.119 --> 00:41:58.159
And then beyond that, there's the the skill of producing profitable revenue, right?
00:41:58.480 --> 00:42:02.800
And then beyond that, what are you what are you gonna do with that money?
00:42:03.039 --> 00:42:07.840
Like you said, making money is not the same as building wealth.
00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:11.519
And if you're a founder, you have to be building wealth.
00:42:11.760 --> 00:42:28.880
And going back to what we talked about earlier, uh I'm operating a business with the goal of building a profitable business, but you have to look at this still on a personal level and be measuring your personal wealth to make the whole thing worthwhile.
00:42:29.039 --> 00:42:35.440
And great if the exit strategy works, but if you have this on top of that, double great, right?
00:42:35.599 --> 00:42:49.199
And and and and you're not hedging all your bets on your business being sellable in a market that maybe is going to be in existence 20 years from now, and who knows what all the variables and the valuations can be.
00:42:49.360 --> 00:42:58.880
I was talking to a guy at one time I uh interviewed and he was he had to reinvent his business basically because he was all about um websites and and SEO.
00:42:59.440 --> 00:43:21.519
And when AI came up, all of a sudden he got his business valuation for a loan, and it just like prior to the most recent valuation he had on his business prior to AI, the valuation dropped by 85%, even though his business had grown because the market conditions had shifted so dramatically, right?
00:43:21.920 --> 00:43:27.679
So so anyway, point point is you know these are not mutually exclusive things, right?
00:43:27.840 --> 00:43:36.639
Build your business, make that business as valuable as you possibly can, have a great exit strategy, but but this is also an important piece of the equation.
00:43:37.039 --> 00:43:42.159
And I'm assuming some of your people hope to be entrepreneurs, and some of them are currently entrepreneurs.
00:43:42.239 --> 00:43:47.119
If you're hoped to be entrepreneurs, you gotta do this because I mean this will be get you maybe to that entrepreneurial path sooner.
00:43:47.199 --> 00:43:51.440
And if you're currently entrepreneurs, like you say, you don't want to have all your eggs in one basket in your own company.
00:43:51.519 --> 00:43:52.880
That's one single company.
00:43:53.119 --> 00:43:55.119
Diversify, and this is a smart way to do it.
00:43:55.280 --> 00:43:56.800
Can I mention one more thing, Sean?
00:43:57.039 --> 00:44:03.199
Because this is some something that is probably one The more important things about the building wealth thing that we haven't touched on yet.
00:44:03.440 --> 00:44:04.960
I don't want to have your people miss out on this.
00:44:05.119 --> 00:44:07.119
Um it's about fees.
00:44:07.920 --> 00:44:16.480
People are paying tiny termite-sized fees that are quietly inflicting termite-like destruction on their portfolios.
00:44:16.800 --> 00:44:18.880
Let me give an example of exactly what I'm talking about.
00:44:19.199 --> 00:44:27.360
You got two people, A and B, both starting out in their careers, both putting$1,000 a month away for investments, retirements, whatever.
00:44:27.599 --> 00:44:34.400
Person A invests in a, like I talked about, a low-cost index fund with a 0.03% annual management fee.
00:44:34.719 --> 00:44:47.920
Person B goes to a broker who's charges, I mean an advisor who charges the standard 1% fee, the full 1%, and they put them in an active fund with a 5.75 upfront load and a 0.66% ongoing management fee.
00:44:48.079 --> 00:44:50.000
Now let's fast forward 40 years.
00:44:50.079 --> 00:44:51.119
They're now 65.
00:44:51.519 --> 00:44:58.159
Assuming historical market returns, person A has a portfolio worth$8.5 million.
00:44:58.880 --> 00:45:03.119
Person B has a portfolio worth$4.2 million.
00:45:03.840 --> 00:45:07.599
Same market conditions, same annual contributions, about the contributions.
00:45:07.760 --> 00:45:09.039
The only difference was the fees.
00:45:09.119 --> 00:45:13.519
And those fees were creating a$4.3 million difference.
00:45:13.599 --> 00:45:16.159
And here's the thing: we're assuming they never got a race.
00:45:16.239 --> 00:45:20.239
If we factored races in this thing, that would even be a bigger gap.
00:45:20.320 --> 00:45:26.239
But here's what the saddest thing of all of it is, Sean, is person B probably thinks, feels like he got great service.
00:45:26.480 --> 00:45:28.480
He loves his advisor, great guy.
00:45:28.559 --> 00:45:29.920
They went golfing a couple times.
00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:31.440
He knows the names of his kids.
00:45:31.679 --> 00:45:38.559
Little did he realize that he did the equivalent of funding someone else's retirement with half of his own money.
00:45:38.719 --> 00:45:42.480
And I'm embarrassed to admit this to you, Sean, but I'm going to be totally transparent.
00:45:42.719 --> 00:45:45.840
I, before my compass, I never questioned fees.
00:45:45.920 --> 00:45:48.719
I just, that's the rules of the game, and that's just how you do it.
00:45:48.880 --> 00:45:49.119
No.
00:45:49.280 --> 00:45:54.000
What I later found out was the rules we don't question can cost us the most.
00:45:54.159 --> 00:45:58.559
And in K person B's situation, it cost him$4.3 million.
00:45:58.960 --> 00:46:00.159
And he never knew what happened.
00:46:00.239 --> 00:46:00.639
You know why?
00:46:00.800 --> 00:46:04.800
It happened little, little bit every month, every year, every decade.
00:46:04.960 --> 00:46:06.320
He never even noticed it.
00:46:06.480 --> 00:46:10.159
That's the danger of not understanding the details.
00:46:11.920 --> 00:46:14.000
That is shocking, the difference.
00:46:14.159 --> 00:46:19.039
And effectively half of what he was accumulating with, as you said, was going to somebody else.
00:46:19.199 --> 00:46:31.920
And really, truly, I mean, that that money would have a huge impact on somebody's quality of life in the later years of their life, with you know, dis decisions about what they're going to time that spend their time and money on.
00:46:32.079 --> 00:46:45.360
And then obviously, you know, later on, medical expenses become become huge factors and and decisions and options uh that are available to you based on on what you have and that money not being there.
00:46:45.920 --> 00:46:47.679
That big woo.
00:46:48.320 --> 00:46:52.639
And that example was two highly disciplined people that did it every month and never miss a month.
00:46:52.800 --> 00:46:54.159
That's not the average person, okay?
00:46:54.320 --> 00:47:03.360
So we could be talking about the difference between having a portfolio when you retire that you barely get by with versus having one half that size.
00:47:03.519 --> 00:47:06.639
This is a lot more serious because people I can get by with$4.3 million.
00:47:07.039 --> 00:47:10.079
Yeah, you could, but that's probably not going to be the situation for most people.
00:47:10.159 --> 00:47:11.119
You know what I'm saying?
00:47:12.719 --> 00:47:13.760
Yeah, right.
00:47:13.920 --> 00:47:14.320
Yeah.
00:47:14.559 --> 00:47:16.559
Well, especially as longevity, right?
00:47:16.719 --> 00:47:21.360
Uh life extends, you know, much longer in the world that we're in right now.
00:47:21.519 --> 00:47:33.679
So, well, David, you you've shared so much valuable information with us today that is definitely eye-opening and encouraging and actionable.
00:47:34.000 --> 00:47:36.559
And uh I just want to say thank you.
00:47:36.800 --> 00:47:37.599
Thank you so much.
00:47:37.760 --> 00:47:41.519
So so powerful and encouraging and insightful.
00:47:41.679 --> 00:47:42.880
I really appreciate it.
00:47:42.960 --> 00:47:46.800
Uh, I wanted to wrap up just asking you a couple questions.
00:47:47.119 --> 00:47:54.400
One is first, when you do have your own downtime when you're not thinking well, you're not thinking about it.
00:47:54.480 --> 00:47:56.079
You're everything's on autopilot for you.
00:47:56.159 --> 00:47:57.280
You're set it and forget it.
00:47:57.440 --> 00:48:01.679
But but but but you know, I'm in all seriousness, how do you relax and how do you mind?
00:48:02.079 --> 00:48:05.199
I get up at four o'clock every morning and I just love the morning.
00:48:05.280 --> 00:48:08.400
Here, first thing, I never I don't get any calls, I don't get any emails.
00:48:08.639 --> 00:48:10.079
My my family's asleep, you know.
00:48:10.480 --> 00:48:11.679
I got the place to myself.
00:48:11.760 --> 00:48:15.920
I'm I that I'm kind of a creative person, and that's one of my creative juices really flow.
00:48:16.079 --> 00:48:18.000
I just love the that's sacred time for me.
00:48:18.079 --> 00:48:19.119
That's cherished time.
00:48:19.280 --> 00:48:24.239
And from four to about six o'clock in the morning, I get so much stuff that I want to get done.
00:48:24.320 --> 00:48:25.280
I don't mean business stuff.
00:48:25.360 --> 00:48:28.079
I'm not talking about, I'm talking about stuff I enjoy, that kind of thing.
00:48:28.159 --> 00:48:34.000
And I just I love getting up in the morning a couple hours before most people do, and I use that time so well.
00:48:34.159 --> 00:48:36.480
I just it's I guess it's time I cherish everything.
00:48:37.840 --> 00:48:38.559
That's great.
00:48:38.719 --> 00:48:43.440
So let me ask you the the next question about that is to get up at four in the morning.
00:48:44.000 --> 00:48:45.440
But I'm 72, so I'm an old guy.
00:48:45.599 --> 00:48:45.840
Okay.
00:48:46.320 --> 00:48:48.960
So, anyways, you look great.
00:48:49.039 --> 00:48:50.960
You don't look like that between 8:30 and 9.
00:48:51.119 --> 00:48:57.440
I mean, yeah, I know that sounds crazy for uh the your 47-year-old listeners, and when I was 40-something, I didn't I didn't get up at 4 o'clock.
00:48:57.679 --> 00:49:01.119
If you're gonna get up at 4 a.m., you're right, you can't you can't be up at 11.
00:49:01.199 --> 00:49:04.800
Uh uh I I and I I couldn't function like that, that's for sure.
00:49:04.960 --> 00:49:05.760
So, okay.
00:49:06.000 --> 00:49:07.519
Well, thanks for sharing that.
00:49:07.679 --> 00:49:19.199
And um, lastly, I just want to ask you the obvious question people who want the one-page wealth compass, the book, how do people either follow you, connect with you, um maybe work with you?
00:49:19.920 --> 00:49:23.039
I don't work with anybody, but I but I do it indirectly, and let me tell you how.
00:49:23.199 --> 00:49:25.679
So they go to onepagewealthcompass.com.
00:49:25.840 --> 00:49:29.840
The first thing they're gonna see is download the free PDF one page wealth compass.
00:49:29.920 --> 00:49:33.840
When you put your email in, it'll send it right to your email, and you'll also be enrolled in my free newsletter.
00:49:33.920 --> 00:49:37.199
And it's not the boring kind of newsletters that just you know you delete all the time.
00:49:37.440 --> 00:49:42.480
These are great stories, great enhancements to the helping you understand the compass better, things like that.
00:49:42.559 --> 00:49:43.119
And that's all free.
00:49:43.199 --> 00:49:44.800
There's nothing, there's nothing to pay for, nothing to buy.
00:49:45.039 --> 00:49:46.000
Matter of fact, I don't sell anything.
00:49:46.320 --> 00:49:47.440
I'm making really good money.
00:49:47.599 --> 00:49:51.440
My last double, which is the one after my third one, it was a seven-figure double.
00:49:51.519 --> 00:49:54.400
Okay, so I don't really, I'm not, this is this is a passion project for me.
00:49:54.480 --> 00:49:57.119
So I'm not looking to get anyone in anyone's wallet here or nothing like that.
00:49:57.280 --> 00:49:59.840
And if you want to buy the book, I recommend it because it goes beautifully.
00:49:59.920 --> 00:50:02.960
It's um it's the other half of this compass, and that's very inexpensive on Amazon.
00:50:03.039 --> 00:50:05.840
You can get it through my site through Amazon or just go directly to Amazon yourself.
00:50:06.000 --> 00:50:07.440
And and that and that's really what it is.
00:50:07.519 --> 00:50:08.159
I have a blog there.
00:50:08.239 --> 00:50:11.920
You can read some of the things that maybe from the past, but that's really it.
00:50:12.000 --> 00:50:14.000
I I the nice thing about this, you don't need me.
00:50:14.079 --> 00:50:14.960
You don't need advisor.
00:50:15.039 --> 00:50:15.599
This is so simple.
00:50:15.679 --> 00:50:17.599
You can do it yourself with the right direction.
00:50:17.679 --> 00:50:18.400
You can do it yourself.
00:50:18.559 --> 00:50:20.719
So just go to onepagewealthcompass.com.
00:50:20.800 --> 00:50:22.800
I'll give you the information for your show notes if you like.
00:50:22.880 --> 00:50:24.159
And and just that's about it.
00:50:24.239 --> 00:50:26.079
I don't it's don't let's not make it overcomplicated.
00:50:26.320 --> 00:50:28.320
Just like you haven't made anything complicated.
00:50:28.559 --> 00:50:33.360
You've achieved great success by making complicated things uncomplicated.
00:50:33.599 --> 00:50:33.920
Thank you.
00:50:34.079 --> 00:50:35.280
David, thank you very much.
00:50:35.440 --> 00:50:37.119
I'm extremely appreciative of your time.
00:50:37.199 --> 00:50:42.639
And as soon as we're done here, seriously, I'm going to I'm going to onepagewealthcompass.com myself.
00:50:42.800 --> 00:50:43.360
Thank you, Sean.
00:50:43.440 --> 00:50:43.920
I appreciate that.