[00:00:00] AJ: Hey everybody, welcome to the influential Personal Brand podcast, AJ Vaden here, [00:00:05] and I’m so, so excited to have this conversation with [00:00:10] Jim and Mimi do today, hun, because I love getting to learn from people that I [00:00:15] already follow, admire, and respect. [00:00:17] But then super selfishly, I know [00:00:20] that every single thing they’re gonna share today would cost thousands and thousands of dollars to [00:00:25] pay for, and I get. The privilege of learning today along with everyone who’s [00:00:30] listening. And so, as you guys know, I kind of tell you who the episode is for. And you know, I think [00:00:35] it’s important that if I think this is an episode that everyone’s gonna benefit from, I’ll tell you upfront so that you can [00:00:40] set aside the next hour and not wonder is this for me? [00:00:42] So let me go ahead and tell you [00:00:45] why I think this is one of those universal conversations that’s applicable to [00:00:50] everyone who’s listening. No matter what stage of business or personal branding that you’re in, [00:00:55] number one, we’re gonna be talking about wealth strategies. And uh, I think this is part [00:01:00] how do you make money, right? [00:01:01] But there’s another part of it, which is how do you keep the money you make, right? And that’s the [00:01:05] wealth strategy part. And so if you’d like to talk about how do you keep more of all that [00:01:10] money you’re working hard for, then this is a conversation for two. Number two, we’re gonna talk about [00:01:15] understanding the importance of structured. [00:01:17] Wealth management. And I think that is [00:01:20] also important ’cause there’s a concept of money, but then there’s all the tools, tactics, uh, tactics, [00:01:25] practices and best use cases of how do you actually create structure [00:01:30] to handling your finances. Well, everyone can learn something with that. Doesn’t matter if you [00:01:35] have. [00:01:35] $10 in your banking account or 10 million. There are things to be learned about that. [00:01:40] And then what I’m personally most excited for is to learn all the blind [00:01:45] spots, the mistakes, the what to avoid, all the things that you [00:01:50] just don’t get to learn in every day. Business, marketplace, practice, these are the [00:01:55] things that you learn from professionals who’ve been behind the scenes, helped build [00:02:00] their own businesses, have worked behind the scenes with other very successful eight figure. [00:02:04] [00:02:05] Probably even nine figure business owners that you just don’t get the opportunity to have these [00:02:10] conversations very often, and that’s what I’m most excited for. So Jim [00:02:15] and Mimi, I’m so excited to spend the next roughly 50 minutes with you. But I [00:02:20] also want to kind of give a joint bio of both of you so you guys have a [00:02:25] professional bio for everyone. [00:02:26] So this dynamic duo is, uh, the dual founders [00:02:30] of DU Wealth Management, uh, specializing in providing fractional family office [00:02:35] services for seven and eight figure entrepreneurs. And with a combined experience of over 30 [00:02:40] years doing this, they have helped countless business business owners protect, [00:02:45] grow, and pro, uh, protect, transfer. [00:02:47] Which I think is a big part of [00:02:50] conversation as well, their wealth strategically. So Jim and Mimi, welcome to the show. [00:02:55] [00:02:55] Jim: Thanks, [00:02:56] Mimi: aj. Thank you so much for having us here. Great to be, yeah, super excited to be [00:03:00] here. Jen and I will try not to talk over each other. [00:03:04] Jim: Yeah. Which is gonna be [00:03:05] hard because we’ve been married for 32 years, so that’s, [00:03:07] AJ: that’s exactly what Rory and I do like when we’re [00:03:10] on podcast interviews and so now like we have like all these like. [00:03:13] Just best practices of, we [00:03:15] have like an eye and he knows if I’m giving him the eye, like I’m answering this first, [00:03:20] this eye movements. Uh, that’s what we do. But I’m so excited to have this [00:03:25] conversation and where I’d love to start is just helping [00:03:30] people. I think even understand what wealth management is. [00:03:33] That’s a term that’s really broadly [00:03:35] thrown around in different business communities. You hear people talk about wealth [00:03:40] management, but what is that? What do you actually do to manage your [00:03:45] wealth? Mm-hmm. [00:03:48] Jim: You wanna take that? Me? [00:03:50] [00:03:50] Mimi: I’m gonna let Jim take it. Yeah. I, I’m giving him the, i [00:03:55] [00:03:55] Jim: You always gotta ask your wife first for permission. [00:03:57] You know, that’s a smart thing to do. You know, wealth management [00:04:00] comes in all kinds of. Flavors and sizes and everything else. But I think the key is, let’s boil it [00:04:05] down to its essence. And the essence is really the three pillars of wealth management, which is [00:04:10] protecting what you’re making and you’re building, managing what [00:04:15] you’re creating and building, and then also growing what you’re [00:04:20] creating, the money you’re making and everything else. [00:04:22] And I think that people overcomplicate it [00:04:25] because what you really want to do is think about what do you want to achieve with your money? What are your [00:04:30] goals? What matters to you? And if you think about it, there’s a lot of things you can do with your money, but there’s only [00:04:35] three things that will make you happy and the three ways you can be happy spending your money is spending [00:04:40] money on experiences with people you love spending money to get your time [00:04:45] back. [00:04:46] Giving your money away. Those are really the only three ways you can get [00:04:50] happier with your money. So thinking about in that, in that context of [00:04:55] what is it that you wanna achieve that would create memories with people you love? What is it that you would want to [00:05:00] achieve that allows you to buy back your time? [00:05:03] And then what would you like to [00:05:05] achieve that would allow you to give back? And if you do those three things, you’ll be much happier. Mm-hmm. So those would be the [00:05:10] essence of what it means to manage your wealth. [00:05:14] AJ: I love [00:05:15] that. You know, um, I just finished reading this book called [00:05:20] Die With Zero. [00:05:21] Yeah. [00:05:21] AJ: Oh yeah. [00:05:22] And it’s a, it’s a [00:05:25] fascinating, interesting book and there’s lots of things I agree with, a few things I didn’t agree with. Um, [00:05:30] but I think there’s something you can learn from anything. And one of the biggest takeaways is, you know, how are [00:05:35] you spending your money to have better life experiences? Right, right. [00:05:39] And I [00:05:40] love what you said at the very end of the book, which is at the end of, end of your life, right. [00:05:45] No one’s going to put on their tombstone had 10 million in net worth. And it was like [00:05:50] that really simple but common reminder. It’s like memories are what you [00:05:55] have at the very end, right? It’s like, what did you do with the people you loved? [00:05:59] What did you do with the [00:06:00] money you had to help people around you? And that was like a very profound kind of [00:06:05] ending for me of like, yeah, like am I just. Hoarding money away to for a [00:06:10] rainy day, or am I doing it to grow the joy and experiences [00:06:15] of me others and serving the causes that I so deeply believe in? [00:06:18] So I love that [00:06:20] you brought that up right here in the front, because I don’t think a lot of people talk about that. [00:06:24] Mimi: [00:06:25] Yeah, we think about that all the time. The entrepreneurs, business owners, who we work with, I mean, all [00:06:30] of them give back the legacies that they’ve created. And so that’s why we love what we [00:06:35] do and the people who we serve. [00:06:36] It’s, it’s just again, about giving back [00:06:40] experiences, creating memories, like you said. [00:06:42] AJ: Yeah. I think that’s at the end of the day, [00:06:45] right? It’s like, what are we making all this money for? Right? Like what is it all for? So I, [00:06:50] I’d love to kind of. Start with that because a lot of the people that you work with have made a lot of money, [00:06:55] right? [00:06:55] Mm-hmm. And I would love to hear from you guys, like what [00:07:00] are some of the most simplistic but. Helpful strategies [00:07:05] that you have learned from very, very, very successful and wealthy people, including your own [00:07:10] practices that anyone can employ to help them have the same wealth strategies [00:07:15] as you know, today’s billionaires. [00:07:17] Jim: Yeah, probably the, the first thing I would say is [00:07:20] the most important thing, or one of the most important things is having the [00:07:25] right team. Because every entrepreneur over their lifetime, and this is true of whether you’re an entrepreneur or not, [00:07:30] over your lifetime, you’re gonna pick up an accountant, an insurance agent, a [00:07:35] banker, maybe an investment advisor. [00:07:37] You know, an attorney maybe to do your will [00:07:40] or your trust or maybe an attorney for your corporate world, you’re gonna get these different professionals. And if [00:07:45] you picture those like spokes on the wheel, on a wheel like I have behind me, usually that’s what we call a [00:07:50] financial flat tire. ’cause they’re usually not all A players, they’re not talking to each other. [00:07:54] And the [00:07:55] worst part is you are in the middle of that wheel trying to manage that team when you don’t have the time and you don’t speak the [00:08:00] languages of tax, legal insurance and investments. So the first thing I think is [00:08:05] to evaluate your team. To try to uplevel that team so you have a [00:08:10] players that are pulling for you and serving you and not serving themselves in silos, [00:08:15] which is what we see a lot. [00:08:16] AJ: I have a question about that because I think it’s very hard [00:08:20] to find a good team, the right team, maybe good’s not the right word, [00:08:25] that the right team for you. Right. And I think one of the things that we have discovered is it’s [00:08:30] exceptionally difficult to find. Really amazing vendors, [00:08:35] partners, teams. Mm-hmm. [00:08:37] So how do you, how do you do that? Like, how do you know that you have a [00:08:40] good one? How do you know that what you’re entrusting someone with, which in this case is a lot of [00:08:45] our livelihoods, right? Our finances. Our finances of going, right. It’s not [00:08:50] only that, hey, they’re not gonna do anything corrupt or, you know, experience malpractice, [00:08:55] but it’s like they’re making good decisions and I, I can trust them. [00:08:58] Like, how do you discern [00:09:00] that? [00:09:02] Mimi: Yeah. One of the things is to look for [00:09:05] specialists. There’s a lot of generalists out there and, um, who, who say that [00:09:10] they serve entrepreneurs and some retirees, et cetera, and so [00:09:15] entrepreneurs and business owners. Needs specific strategies, specific tax planning, [00:09:20] specific wealth strategies that we’re talk, gonna be talking about today. [00:09:23] And if they don’t [00:09:25] specialize, it’s just kind of like, I think it’s their correct information. [00:09:30] It’s like if you were to see. You needed a surgeon in a certain area, let’s say [00:09:35] a heart surgeon. Um, you wouldn’t go to a surgeon who, an orthopedic [00:09:40] surgeon who just specializes in limbs, hip surgeries, knee surgeries and [00:09:45] things like that. [00:09:45] So specialty is one of the things to definitely look at. [00:09:49] Jim: Yeah, I, I [00:09:50] got two ways I’d answer that aj. One is what everyone on the call could do to [00:09:55] evaluate their team, and then the up level, which is finding someone who can do that for you, who has [00:10:00] expertise. Mm-hmm. [00:10:01] Right? [00:10:01] Jim: Because always if you find an expert that can do it for you, that can be the right answer. [00:10:04] So [00:10:05] if you’re evaluating your team, which you should, I would say everyone on the call, write down your [00:10:10] professionals on a wheel, your account, and your attorney, your insurance agent, and then rank them one to 10. [00:10:15] And then once you rank them one to 10, one being should have fired ’em yesterday, 10 being [00:10:20] they’re the most amazing advisor you’ve ever met, then ask yourself, why am I rating [00:10:25] that person a seven or a nine or a two? [00:10:28] Right? Because if [00:10:30] you don’t really have a good reason why you’re rating your professional ’cause I often hear entrepreneurs will say, well, [00:10:35] I like my so and so. Why? Because they return my calls and they’re nice to me. Okay, well there’s [00:10:40] more to that to decide if someone’s a really qualified professional. [00:10:42] So there are five areas that I would say you should look [00:10:45] at. The first area is education and credentials. Second area would be looking at [00:10:50] their regulatory history, which you can look up on the websites, whether it’s your state board of [00:10:55] Accountancy, your state board of insurance, your uh, bar association. [00:10:59] The third thing would [00:11:00] be their specialty, as Mimi said, what’s their specialty and how does that apply to you? Also, their [00:11:05] experience. How long have they been doing this? Hmm. And then the fifth thing is their personality and their follow through. [00:11:10] If you’re trying to get a first meeting to evaluate a professional, and they can’t even. [00:11:13] Get the meeting set [00:11:15] up or they don’t follow up and let you know when the meeting is, then you can’t trust them to do a good job when you’re [00:11:20] actually working with them. So those are five areas you can look at. Now, the up level is when you get to a [00:11:25] place where you can hire a firm that actually builds your team out for you. [00:11:28] And that’s really what we [00:11:30] talk about in the fractional family office, where you have a firm that knows how to build those. I [00:11:35] know we’ve been doing this for 26 years, our company that we started together in 1999, and we’ve [00:11:40] got over 500. Of the top professionals in every area of tax, legal, [00:11:45] insurance and investment. [00:11:45] So when we have a new client, we evaluate their team and then we go, Hey, your accountant’s no [00:11:50] good. Let’s bring in an A player that we’ve worked with before. Your insurance agent is not the best. [00:11:55] Let’s get an A player that we’ve worked with before. So that would be the next level, when you can actually afford to [00:12:00] hire someone to build the team and run the team, and to manage the team for you. [00:12:04] AJ: Yeah, I [00:12:05] think that’s really good. And I, I love, you know, the specialist component of it. ’cause I think a lot of people are [00:12:10] like, I just want a one stop shop. Right. And that means you’re getting just [00:12:15] surface level experience over everything and deep experience and nothing. I think that [00:12:20] happens a ton. ’cause people don’t have the time, right? [00:12:22] And they’re just like, I just need one person who can do all the things. [00:12:25] And that at some point is no longer serving you very well. And then I love the other part of, hey, [00:12:30] evaluate who you’ve got. And I love those five criteria. I think those are really healthy. And then [00:12:35] knowing when have you outgrown them. [00:12:38] And I think that’s the up level part. At [00:12:40] some point you continue to be successful in what you’re doing. You could [00:12:45] likely outgrow the team you have. So it’s making sure that you’re evaluating those in the plan. I [00:12:50] think those, those are really good, healthy parameters to start this conversation. So you [00:12:55] mentioned this Mimi with like, what are some of those wealth strategies and tax strategies we’re gonna talk about?[00:13:00] [00:13:00] Let’s talk about those. What, what are the wealth strategies that [00:13:05] we, as entrepreneurs need to be aware of? And then I’d love to talk about taxes ’cause I find [00:13:10] taxes fascinating and frustrating at the same time. But, we’ll, we’ll start with the [00:13:15] happier of these two topics. The, the wealth strategies. What, what do we need to know as entrepreneurs? [00:13:19] [00:13:20] What do we don’t know that we should know? Maybe start there. [00:13:24] Mimi: Yeah, I know one [00:13:25] of the things that, especially in our industry, entrepreneurs are listening to friends, [00:13:30] listening to, uh, professionals who really don’t understand how to give [00:13:35] professional advice specifically to the business owners. And, um, so.[00:13:40] [00:13:40] The main thing is, number one, to look and find a professional who specializes [00:13:45] in working with, uh, business owners, and then also looking for somebody who [00:13:50] isn’t there to sell products. Uh, there’s so many who kind of a Backended [00:13:55] way come in and say, you need this type of a product because it’s going to [00:14:00] save you this, or it’s gonna help you with text. [00:14:02] Planning and really what’s behind [00:14:05] the scenes is commissions. It’s about, so if a professional comes in to sell you a [00:14:10] product, because there’s a big commission at the end. So that’s something definitely to, to look out [00:14:15] for since that is often sold as a wealth strategy or a [00:14:20] wealth plan. Um. And some other things. [00:14:23] So anyways, Jim, what are, [00:14:25] what are some of the other things that [00:14:26] Jim: I, I like to think there’s sexy things about wealth planning [00:14:30] and then there’s, and there’s things that are not sexy at all and entrepreneurs love the sexy stuff. [00:14:34] Mm-hmm. [00:14:34] Jim: So, [00:14:35] I, I wanna scratch that itch, but let’s start with the non-sexy stuff, right? [00:14:37] So when I talk about the main pillars of [00:14:40] wealth management. Protect, manage and grow. Protect means things like insurance. Everybody hates [00:14:45] insurance. [00:14:45] Yeah. It’s [00:14:45] Jim: like a necessary evil, but overpaying for insurance or not having the right [00:14:50] coverages mm-hmm. Could put you at risk if you ever get sued, if there’s a problem with your business. [00:14:54] So you [00:14:55] know that protect is really important. Also, entity structure. [00:14:58] Mm-hmm. [00:14:59] Jim: I’ve seen entrepreneurs, [00:15:00] they get. All these complicated entities way before their time, that becomes difficult to [00:15:05] manage. They don’t manage ’em correctly. They’re not keeping them compliant, which risk blowing up. Even if [00:15:10] you get sued, if you’re using it to protect you or. [00:15:13] Too simplified. They don’t have enough [00:15:15] stuff because they’ve grown enough wealth where they need more on the entity structure. So I could spend a lot of [00:15:20] time on that, but those are not sexy, but those are critically important. Then on the more fun stuff, like grow, [00:15:25] entrepreneurs love to grow their money, and one of the problems entrepreneurs have is [00:15:30] that, and what we fall into this category. [00:15:31] Mm-hmm. You start with something that has a possibility. Right? [00:15:35] We started our company 26 years ago. No one would’ve believed we could have made it. Because most businesses [00:15:40] fail. So we’re believing in possibilities. There’s a possibility we could make this work. And [00:15:45] then guess what? We did it. We made it work. [00:15:47] We created this really successful company, sold to our [00:15:50] employees in 2022, still running the Business Inc. 5,004 years in a row. All [00:15:55] these things, right? So we’re like, we believe that we can make a possibility come [00:16:00] true. Then we have all this money we’re making and now we have to invest it. And guess [00:16:05] what? [00:16:05] The tendency of the entrepreneur is to invest in things that have possibilities. [00:16:10] Hey, my friend’s doing the startup. I believe in possibilities ’cause I made this possibility come true [00:16:15] and I want something that’s gonna make incredible returns like my business. So they end up putting [00:16:20] their money in these deals where they lose their money and, and I don’t know if you’ve ever done this, [00:16:25] aj, but here’s the recipe, right? [00:16:26] Hey, here’s someone I like, they brought me a deal. It’s very exclusive. [00:16:30] Most people don’t have access to it. Uhhuh, I gotta get my money to ’em in two weeks ’cause it’s oversubscribed. And [00:16:35] I look at the idea and I love the idea this can’t miss, and then I look at the financials, [00:16:40] it’s all up and to the right. [00:16:41] I’m gonna make so much money off this deal. I throw money in and then guess what? I [00:16:45] lose all my money. That’s what entrepreneurs all the time do all the time. ’cause they wanna invest [00:16:50] in possibilities. They’re gonna make ’em these huge returns like their business. But what you need to [00:16:55] do is realize you are the very unusual that [00:17:00] made it work and you succeeded now to keep your money because. [00:17:04] Creating a [00:17:05] business to make a lot of money is one thing, but keeping your money as the other. So to keep your money, you have [00:17:10] to invest in reliable, predictable investments, and those aren’t sexy [00:17:15] and no one likes to do ’em. You’re like, I don’t wanna invest in the reliable, predictable, the [00:17:20] real estate and the stocks and the private equity and the venture capital, and [00:17:25] maybe not too much venture capital, right? [00:17:27] I wanna invest in Bitcoin and my friend’s startup company. [00:17:30] So that’s a recipe for disaster. So when you start making money, you have to have, first of all, a [00:17:35] game plan or a strategy. ’cause too many entrepreneurs are living by tactics. Mm-hmm. So in the [00:17:40] art of war, there’s a, there’s a quote I love it’s tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.[00:17:45] [00:17:45] Mm-hmm. So before you start investing, you should have your overall investment strategy. That means how much [00:17:50] of my money is gonna go into real estate? How much is gonna go into stocks? How much is gonna go into private equity [00:17:55] or private debt? How much is going to going to go into crypto and then stick with my plan. [00:17:59] And within real [00:18:00] estate, I don’t want it all in multifamily. Look what happened the last couple years. So I’m gonna wanna spread it [00:18:05] around in different parts of real estate, because you get rich by being concentrated in a business, [00:18:10] but you stay rich by being diversified outside of that business. Mm-hmm. So you need a strategy [00:18:15] that you can stick to, otherwise you’re gonna run around like you’re in Vegas. [00:18:18] Throwing money at cool [00:18:20] sounding stuff and 10 years later you’re gonna say to me, like a, a lot of entrepreneurs say to Mimi and I, [00:18:25] I made so much money in the last 10 years. Where did it all go? Mm. And that [00:18:30] happens unfortunately too often. I. [00:18:32] Mimi: Yeah. And AJ for us being in the industry [00:18:35] 26 years with our business, we made mistakes as well before having our team, [00:18:40] having our own fractional family office. [00:18:42] And, uh, same thing without having a strategy [00:18:45] and specific investment allocation. So we, we ourselves have, [00:18:50] it’s, it’s, it’s easy to fall, so you need the right team and, and the right strategy in place [00:18:55] that’s best for you. [00:18:56] Jim: Yeah. And just to, to build off of that. I, I urged [00:19:00] Mimi to, to make this investment that we made in 2005. [00:19:02] Now, if you do the math, that was 20 years ago [00:19:05] and it was a million dollars, and I was 100% sure. Remember, I was a very smart investor at the [00:19:10] time. I thought I knew more than I knew, which is an overconfidence problem entrepreneurs have. So I’m like, [00:19:15] this is a. A hundred percent. This is gonna make it, we’re gonna make millions off of this deal.[00:19:20] [00:19:20] And I could tell you why I thought that. And there’s a lot of good reasons why I thought that. But guess what? It didn’t turn out [00:19:25] and we lost a million dollars. Now, a million dollars is a lot of money today. Even in our [00:19:30] situation, a million dollars matters today. But 20 years ago, it was a huge impact on us in [00:19:35] our lives. [00:19:35] But the way I think about it, ’cause I was, I felt shame. I was embarrassed for a lot of years. [00:19:40] I never told people this, but what I learned from that mistake, I like to say. [00:19:45] I paid a million dollar tuition to get an education. Most people never get. [00:19:50] And then I see entrepreneurs reliving this, right? So we’ve never made that mistake again. [00:19:54] [00:19:55] We’ve built a serious portfolio that’s strong and is [00:20:00] predictable because I realized I can’t invest the way I invested my business. I’ve gotta invest to [00:20:05] stay rich, not to get rich. [00:20:07] AJ: I heard a great quote not too long ago is that [00:20:10] it’s only a failure if you didn’t learn the lesson. [00:20:13] Yes. Right. So [00:20:15] [00:20:15] AJ: good. Only a failure if you didn’t learn the lesson. [00:20:17] Yes. And sometimes those are really hard, [00:20:20] expensive lessons, but as long as we learn, you know, is worth it, you know? And, [00:20:25] and one of the things that you said I think is really important since you know so many of the people who are listening. [00:20:30] You know, also in the midst of building their personal brand, AKA, their [00:20:35] business, and they’re on this entrepreneurial journey in some capacity, and [00:20:40] we at brand builders groups unknowingly to most, we do the [00:20:45] unsexy work of strategy. [00:20:47] Right. And often what people think they’re [00:20:50] coming to for us is pretty websites and social media posts and all. And [00:20:55] it’s not a personal brand, nor is it business. Right? And we do the unsexy, [00:21:00] but foundational work of strategy. And what I have found, and I’m sure you’ve experienced [00:21:05] the same, is that that’s what most of us human beings want to [00:21:10] skip through. [00:21:11] It’s like, well, that’s not where the money comes in. And that’s [00:21:15] not where the interest is earned. And for us, that’s not where everything is pretty and [00:21:20] shiny and in the public it’s, it’s the hard conversations and the planning [00:21:25] and the forecasting and all the things that, it’s like, when is it just gonna be done [00:21:30] work? [00:21:31] Right. And that’s what I hear you guys saying. It’s like you gotta have a great team, but then you have to have a [00:21:35] great plan. In other words, a strategy before you just go spending your money. [00:21:40] [00:21:40] Jim: Right. It’s so true. Yeah. And you know, you gotta think about what you’re trying to [00:21:45] achieve. And I always say, automate your saving.[00:21:50] [00:21:50] And even if it’s 50 bucks a month, automate your saving. And it, I used to say this for years, [00:21:55] and then I found out Warren Buffet had said it a few times, so for whatever reason he gets credit. I don’t get credit. [00:22:00] But the quote is, don’t spend and save. What’s [00:22:05] Le left over? Save and spend what’s left over. [00:22:08] And so one thing Mimi and I have done [00:22:10] for years is every December we sit down and we say, how much more are we gonna save and invest this next year than we did [00:22:15] last year? And then we. Put the saving in first. So the save saving happens [00:22:20] automatically. Even if we’re buying a piece of real estate, the money goes out of our checking account into another account [00:22:25] with a one-way door can’t come in ’cause we’re building up to buy that piece of real estate or whatever it might be. [00:22:29] ’cause I need to move it somewhere where I can’t see it. ’cause if it’s sitting in my checking account and I’m pretty disciplined, [00:22:35] Mimi can tell you. But guess what? I like watches and I’m gonna find a watch that I like and I’m gonna spend that [00:22:40] money on a watch. So it will happen to. To the best of you. So safer spend what’s left [00:22:45] ever over. [00:22:45] Because if you spend first we all know this is true. Guess what? There’s nothing left over. ’cause you can always [00:22:50] find something to spend it on. And by the way, like I said at the beginning, you think certain things are gonna [00:22:55] make you happy. Mm-hmm. But they will not. The only things that using money will make you [00:23:00] happy, as I said, is experiences with people you love getting your time back and, and giving it away.[00:23:05] [00:23:05] AJ: Yeah. I think that pretty good. So wise, [00:23:09] Mimi: I love [00:23:10] shoes, but they don’t hold value like the watches do. I know [00:23:14] Jim: that’s a dangerous thing. [00:23:15] My watches have gone up a lot in value, but I people say, oh, that’s a great investment. I said, no. It’s [00:23:20] not an investment. That is not an investment. Because if I start thinking that, then I’ll start buying more [00:23:25] watches. [00:23:25] I do not think watches are an investment. I don’t care what anybody says otherwise. I’ll buy watches. [00:23:30] It’s my throwaway money, and if they go up in value, that’s great, but it’s my money that I know we [00:23:35] don’t need and we’ve already saved first. And then I can myself a, a little reward. [00:23:39] AJ: But, you know, but [00:23:40] that’s, I mean, that, I think that’s, that’s part of the, the plan right there is knowing, hey, this is. [00:23:44] [00:23:45] This is not an investment strategy, right? This is this budget that we have set [00:23:50] aside after everything else. It’s my fun money. It’s my throwaway money, whatever you call it. But that alone is a [00:23:55] strategy that most of us aren’t taking the time to sit down and actually plan for. So [00:24:00] here’s what I would like to do. [00:24:00] I’d like to hear from you guys. Maybe just like each of you share one or two tips [00:24:05] are ideas of like, where would you say are some of the most [00:24:10] effective strategies for building wealth today? [00:24:15] [00:24:15] Mimi: One of the most effective strategies. Please. Well, um, Jim just [00:24:20] gave you one is again, um, saving first. Really, really just because [00:24:25] it doesn’t matter where, what level from a startup entrepreneur to a very [00:24:30] successful entrepreneur is, again, saving first before spending and [00:24:35] just really allocating where you want. [00:24:37] And then number two is how do you want [00:24:40] you. Your money to work for you. Um, and what I mean by that is [00:24:45] everybody, we, we coined a term that’s called Make Rich Real, and it means different things to [00:24:50] each business owner. Each entrepreneur is, is it taking care of my family? Is it [00:24:55] providing for a charity, is it starting a, a new foundation? [00:24:58] Is it [00:25:00] experiences and trips? And so just really allocating to. The wealth that you [00:25:05] make to what is truly important, and that’s in your heart. So many of our [00:25:10] clients have, um, for example, have started, foundations have actual rescue [00:25:15] charities that were wasn’t going to survive without, without some of those [00:25:20] I was saying. [00:25:20] So those are the two big things [00:25:23] AJ: I love. I think that’s good. And I think the whole [00:25:25] concept of, I just wrote down safer spend second, right? It’s like [00:25:30] simple, but not often practiced. [00:25:32] Jim: Yeah, I, I, I’m gonna go a little [00:25:35] different direction on that. Uh, the first thing, as I just think about wealth building [00:25:40] strategies, the first thing is have someone, and this could be a firm, this could be a person [00:25:45] that protects you from yourself. [00:25:46] Hmm. [00:25:47] Jim: Richard Feynman was one of the greatest physicists who [00:25:50] ever lived, and one of his quotes was principle number one is don’t fool yourself. [00:25:55] And you’re the easiest person to fool. So if one of the greatest physicists said he could fool himself, you can fool [00:26:00] yourself too. And I see this all the time with entrepreneurs. [00:26:01] They think they’re so darn smart. You’re not that smart. And [00:26:05] I, by the way, I do this my, with myself, and I’ve been investing for 30 years. When I have an [00:26:10] investment and I wanna invest, I’m getting excited. I stop. And I said, Jim, you’re not that smart. [00:26:15] What? Else are you not seeing? Mm-hmm. Now why do I do that? [00:26:18] I do that because it [00:26:20] checks me in my overconfidence, but then I also have our team. I don’t make any investment. Mimi doesn’t make [00:26:25] any investment unless we talk to our investment team. And guess what? I don’t talk to my friends who are other [00:26:30] business owners, I. Because they think like I do, and they wanna do the crazy nutty stuff and they wanna buy the [00:26:35] NNFT and they want all this stuff, which is fine. [00:26:37] You just want to have a strategy. How much of your overall [00:26:40] investment portfolio should go into an NFT? And by the way, the answer is not 80%, right? [00:26:45] Yeah. So having a game plan for that, but having someone, and it’s not someone who thinks [00:26:50] like you. It’s someone who thinks differently than you that can put you in check and have you just [00:26:55] rethink what you’re about to do. [00:26:57] That’s number one. Number two is if you are married. [00:27:00] Take care of your marriage because one of the most expensive mistakes you can make in building wealth [00:27:05] is to have your marriage fail. It is incredibly expensive and distracting and [00:27:10] painful, and you know, on and on and on. Mm-hmm. So take care of your most important [00:27:15] relationship. [00:27:15] If you’re married, which is your spouse, that’s a huge wealth building [00:27:20] strategy that you need to do. And then the third thing, and this will go in a little bit of a different direction, is [00:27:25] taxes. If you’re especially a successful business owner, the tax code is written to help [00:27:30] business owners do better. [00:27:31] And your biggest expense if you’re a successful business owner is gonna be taxes. [00:27:35] So have a well thought out tax strategy, just like you have your allocation strategy that’s [00:27:40] implemented by good people, people you trust and have that updated every single year. [00:27:45] [00:27:45] AJ: Okay, so first of all, I love that comment of like. [00:27:49] Protect your [00:27:50] marriage. ’cause that can be one of the most devastatingly expensive things that is, is the [00:27:55] fallout from not doing so. And I think that’s a very big deal, a very, [00:28:00] very big deal in a culture where divorce runs rampant. And it’s like, well that doesn’t [00:28:05] just affect your marriage. That affects all parts of your life, your team business, your kids, your health. [00:28:09] [00:28:10] Like you protect that. The other things kind of tend to work out. Like we have a policy in our family where [00:28:15] it’s, you know, God first marriage, second kids third. Right. And it’s [00:28:20] like as long as we’re good with God and we’re good with each other, everything else in our life takes care of itself. [00:28:25] But our kids do not like it when mom and dad go out on date night.[00:28:30] [00:28:30] So we have our Wednesday night date night, and every Wednesday they’re like, why don’t we get to [00:28:35] come? And like I’ve had like this ingrained conversation with, and I have my, my boys are little [00:28:40] five and eight and mm-hmm. Literally like. Mommy and daddy need time together. [00:28:45] [00:28:45] Mimi: Yeah. Yes. [00:28:45] AJ: Right. And like mom and dad have to have a happy marriage that we can have a [00:28:50] happy family. [00:28:50] And it’s just been one of those fascinating, interesting things where like [00:28:55] the temptation is so quickly to be like, well, let’s just do a family thing. Mm-hmm. And then all of a sudden the marriage [00:29:00] is not existent. And so I love that you said protect your marriage because that [00:29:05] is a, that is a wealth management strategy of like Totally. [00:29:08] You keep that healthy and [00:29:10] intact. All these other things work. And then you transitioned into something that I wanna spend a few [00:29:15] minutes on talking about taxes. As I mentioned earlier, I am equally frustrated and fascinated [00:29:20] by all things taxes, fascinated by how many, um, [00:29:25] you know, exceptions to the rule there are, and how much you have to know and [00:29:30] learn to know what those exceptions are, right? [00:29:32] Mm-hmm. There’s a few rules and then [00:29:35] thousands exceptions to the rules that just takes a professional. Mm-hmm. And that ain’t me. [00:29:40] Right. And it’s like I cannot give enough time to learn all the things that are constantly at [00:29:45] play and then changing. Um, but then you talked about having a good tax, you know, strategy. [00:29:49] [00:29:50] Right? And that’s just like a business strategy. And that also takes it professional [00:29:55] and it’s, I. It’s unique and different by industry and state and your [00:30:00] setup. So what I would love to hear from you guys are like, what are some of the more [00:30:05] universally applicable tax tips or strategies that entrepreneurs need [00:30:10] to know about? [00:30:11] Jim: Yeah, I, I think I would start with. The [00:30:15] mistakes that entrepreneurs make when they’re trying to do their tax planning, as I said, tactics over strategy. [00:30:20] Yeah. So their buddy said, I, I did a um, 8 31 B micro captive. [00:30:25] Then I’ll do that for myself. Well, it might be okay for your friend. It might be a tragedy for you. [00:30:29] It could [00:30:30] be a big mistake. Right. Or, you know, I structured my business as a C corp instead of an S corp. [00:30:35] A friend of mine did that and supposedly there’s tax savings there, right? So again, you wanna [00:30:40] make sure that you’re not just doing stuff ’cause a friend of yours told you to do these things. Mm-hmm. You need someone who [00:30:45] understands you very well, your business and what you’re trying to achieve and accomplish to [00:30:50] create a good tax plan. [00:30:51] So that’s the first thing is. Tax strategy is about the [00:30:55] uniqueness of your situation. It’s not universal. I can’t say, here’s what’s gonna work for these 10 [00:31:00] entrepreneurs. It’s gonna be different for every one of those 10. The other thing is just like investing. There’s [00:31:05] risk tolerance when it comes to tax planning Now. [00:31:08] First of all, let me say that [00:31:10] there’s tax strategy that are really in the, the area that I would never [00:31:15] touch, right? And so I’ll just give you an example. We’ve seen entity structures, [00:31:20] trust structures. Sometimes it involves a foundation. Sometimes it involves insurance [00:31:25] sales, and magically through all these different entities, you pay no tax. [00:31:29] Hmm. [00:31:30] [00:31:30] Jim: Right. And, and the old adage about if it sounds too good to be true, so these, sometimes there’ll be a law [00:31:35] firm involved, but it’s always a little law firm. It’s not a big law firm. And there’s just a, a tax court [00:31:40] case. There’s not a tax court case. But the IRS is going after a business owner in [00:31:45] Colorado, it’s a dentist. [00:31:46] And the dentist did one of these fancy things with trust and [00:31:50] entities to pay no taxes. And the IRS isn’t just going for interest [00:31:55] and penalties and taxes owed. The IRS is charging the dentist criminally and [00:32:00] trying to put the dentist in jail, and the dentists sign that tax return just like you and I sign [00:32:05] our tax returns. [00:32:06] So be really careful about taking these ideas without [00:32:10] understanding the risk. That being said, even within the IRS code, we call ’em Bright Line Tracks [00:32:15] transactions. They’re in the code. There’s certain things the IRS. Doesn’t like and tries to [00:32:20] audit and tries to go after. And then there’s other things that the IRS doesn’t go after as often, right? [00:32:24] [00:32:25] So you have a different risk level based on the entrepreneur. So one entrepreneur or one you could [00:32:30] think for any of you on the call. Sometimes we need entrepreneurs that go, I don’t care, as long as it’s [00:32:35] legal, I don’t care. I’ll take the risk. I wanna pay as little in taxes as legally [00:32:40] possible. If I get audited and lose, I understand the risk. [00:32:42] I am fine with it. Right? Other entrepreneurs [00:32:45] will tell me. I don’t want to take any risk. I don’t wanna worry about audits. I don’t wanna worry about having to pay [00:32:50] back taxes and penalties and interest, right? Those are different tax plans for those two entrepreneurs. [00:32:55] Then where do they get the advice? [00:32:57] Right? And so here’s a huge mistake entrepreneurs make. On the one [00:33:00] hand, they’re the accountants, and in general, accountants are historians. They take all your [00:33:05] information, they file the forms. Sometimes they get it right about telling you what you need to pay in your [00:33:10] estimated taxes. But the problem is they’re not forward looking. [00:33:12] They’re not proactive. They’re not digging into your [00:33:15] situation and saying, Hey, aj, your situation, you need to do A, B, or C. Here are different ways to do it. Here [00:33:20] are your options. Let’s decide what we should do this year, next year, and the year after. They’re [00:33:25] usually looking in the rear view mirror, so that’s a problem. [00:33:28] And often CPAs are not up on the [00:33:30] latest tax planning because they’re so embroiled in filing tax returns. [00:33:33] Yeah. [00:33:34] Jim: Then let’s take the [00:33:35] other extreme. They hire someone called a tax strategist or someone who says that they can help them with [00:33:40] tax. Often these people are paid through selling products. Mm-hmm. [00:33:43] Sometimes they’re paid a success fee. [00:33:45] I would recommend don’t ever pay a success fee on tax planning where you say, whatever I save you, [00:33:50] you just pay me 10%. That’s a huge problem. Why? Because you are creating this [00:33:55] environment where that person’s gonna wanna save you as much in taxes as possible, even if [00:34:00] there’s too much risk, even if you might get audited, and you might get into trouble because they [00:34:05] get paid on how much they save you not making a smart decision. [00:34:08] So you wanna pay someone, [00:34:10] you know, a fixed amount. Like, here’s what I’m gonna pay you no matter what. You save me in taxes. You wanna have [00:34:15] someone who has experience, who proactively looks forward, who does this all the time, but not someone [00:34:20] who gets paid in any way other than directly from you. So you don’t want them to get paid. [00:34:24] If they bring an r and [00:34:25] d tax credit expert in and they get spiffed on the side, you don’t want them to get paid. If they sell you insurance, [00:34:30] you don’t want them to get paid a referral fee for someone. They introduce you to. You need them [00:34:35] only to represent you to understand your tax situation, your risk tolerance and taxes, and [00:34:40] then build a tax plan for you. [00:34:41] Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of options in the marketplace ’cause either [00:34:45] people are selling products, getting spiffed on the side or charging success fees, or you’ve got the [00:34:50] accountants that are kind of stuck in the mud, not thinking, but what you need is a firm that. Can help [00:34:55] you build a tax plan in a way where you understand how you’re paying that makes sense, and who can [00:35:00] really build one that fits your risk tolerance and then work with your accountant to make sure it’s [00:35:05] implemented and documented. [00:35:05] So if you do get audited that you have the proof that you did it right. I. [00:35:10] [00:35:10] AJ: Yeah. You know, the thing about this conversation, I think that’s really wise and it’s like there’s only [00:35:15] uniqueness, nothing universal. And I think that’s a really wise statement. Um, and then also referencing [00:35:20] the risk tolerance for everyone who’s listening. [00:35:21] And it’s like, because that is, that’s the truth. Like our entities are [00:35:25] set up differently and our risk tolerance is different. The states are different. I think [00:35:30] where I see so many people challenge, it’s like. Where do you find these people? [00:35:35] Right. And it’s like that kind of back to so many people are defaulting to this one size fits [00:35:40] all. [00:35:40] It’s like, oh yeah, I have, you know, my accountant, right, who’s a CPA, [00:35:45] they do my taxes. And it’s like, but yeah, like you said, they’re a historian, right? They’re not looking ahead, they’re only [00:35:50] doing what’s backwards. And we learned this the hard way when I realized our previous [00:35:55] tax firm, um, there, and, and this was like, this was an aha moment for me as an entrepreneur, is [00:36:00] that. [00:36:00] For the relationship that we had, I had to come to realize like [00:36:05] their job was not to go and find out what applied to me that was my [00:36:10] job and that I would take it to them to vet. And it was like a very aha moment. Mm-hmm. That was, uh, [00:36:15] very eye-opening and frustrating. I was like, I thought this was your job, right? [00:36:19] And [00:36:20] it was like, no, that was my job. And then theirs was just to vet it and go, was it applicable? [00:36:25] And. What hit me is that if I had not been proactive in that none of the things [00:36:30] that we learned that actually applied to us to have us in the right entity structure for our [00:36:35] state and our industry, none of that would’ve actually gotten done.[00:36:40] [00:36:40] And that’s a scary thought for most entrepreneurs who are trusting all of that to just be done [00:36:45] by who they hired. [00:36:46] Mm-hmm. [00:36:47] AJ: So where do people go? [00:36:50] Where do you find these people?[00:36:55] [00:36:57] That’s a hard, it’s, [00:36:58] Jim: it’s tough. It’s [00:37:00] tough, you know? And I think, I know [00:37:00] AJ: it’s tough. [00:37:01] Jim: I mean that, and that’s why we created this model of the fractional family [00:37:05] office is because we saw that same problem in our own lives, uh, many years ago. Learned [00:37:10] how a billionaire family created this for what reason? And then we said, I wonder if we could do it [00:37:15] for ourselves. [00:37:15] Mm-hmm. Because really what you’re talking about is having someone in the middle of your wheel. [00:37:20] Who’s managing the tac, the accountant, and the tax planning. Who’s managing the asset [00:37:25] protection? Who’s helping you with your strategy on the investing and putting it all together? And [00:37:30] ultimately, that’s the solution that we believe in most, and that’s what every billionaire does. [00:37:34] The [00:37:35] problem is if you do it the way the billionaire does it, the very smallest family office cost $2 million a year [00:37:40] to run. And Elon Musk and Bezos, they’re spending over $30 million each. On their [00:37:45] family offices. And so that’s why we created this model. So if you are not [00:37:50] working with someone who can build that for you, then you have to be what we call the air traffic controller. [00:37:54] You have [00:37:55] to get in there even though you don’t want to, and start holding people accountable. And so with your [00:38:00] accountant, I would suggest with everybody, if you’re not sure, if you’re accountant’s doing a good job or you’ve outgrown your accountant, [00:38:05] I would go schedule a meeting, pay ’em their hourly fee and say, show me what we’ve done the last few [00:38:10] years. [00:38:11] To legally save on taxes. And in my book I actually talk about this ’cause [00:38:15] we went to our CPA, he had been our CPA since I was a school teacher teaching high school math and [00:38:20] physics, uh, to when we own this business and we’re making a lot of money. And I said that same [00:38:25] question, what have you done for us the last few years? [00:38:26] And he said, well, remember I said that you can always be buy a [00:38:30] bigger house ’cause you get the interest deduction. You always wanna make sure you’re maxing your 401k [00:38:35] and you could give more money to charity to save money in taxes. And that’s [00:38:40] when I realized, I went back to Mimi and we’re like, this guy’s talking about elementary school. [00:38:44] We need someone [00:38:45] who’s in graduate school. So I told us we had the wrong accountant. Right. And accountants aren’t [00:38:50] [00:38:50] AJ: Yeah. For that sake. Yeah. Yeah. [00:38:51] Jim: So you have to be the air traffic controller and they have to be careful [00:38:55] that if you’re gonna entrust yourself to attack strategist, you gotta make sure you understand how they’re getting [00:39:00] paid. [00:39:00] Where their compensation is and, and are they in a position where they’re motivated to [00:39:05] have you take risks that may not be appropriate for how you feel? [00:39:08] AJ: And I think that’s the key takeaway I wanted [00:39:10] everyone to hear. It’s like at some point, and you need to evaluate who you’re working with and decide. [00:39:14] [00:39:15] Mm-hmm. Is this still the right person for the season that I’m in? Right. And it’s like, at some point, [00:39:20] we said this earlier, you may outgrow the team. Uh, and in this case it’s like, hey, there’s, there’s a graduation [00:39:25] that happens where it’s like, this was great. For this one phase, I’m now three [00:39:30] phases ahead. I need, I need a different team, a different thought structure, a different [00:39:35] strategy for where I’m heading. [00:39:37] And I think that’s really good. Everyone who’s listening, if [00:39:40] you guys want to head over, I’m gonna have, uh, Mimi and Jim tell you about [00:39:45] something that they’re offering to this. Uh, call. We’re gonna talk about this waste wait, wait, [00:39:50] wealth waste calculator. And you guys can go and get this. If you go to do wealth, [00:39:55] DEW, do wealth.com/influe influential, and you [00:40:00] can grab the wealth waste calculators. [00:40:02] Uh, Mimi, tell us what that is. [00:40:05] [00:40:05] Mimi: Yeah, it’s a tool that we developed and it’s a way, so there’ll be several [00:40:10] questions and numbers. It, it’s, it’s a fun tool. It’s an actual calculator that you can put in [00:40:15] your number so it, it’ll ask you specific questions and in the [00:40:20] end it’ll give you a number of how much money you are [00:40:25] wasting. [00:40:25] So that’s why we call it the Wealth Waste Calculator. So it, so it’s something [00:40:30] fun to plug in. [00:40:30] Jim: And by the way, our team has spent hundreds of hours creating things on this. Yes. Pretty amazing. [00:40:35] This is not like something that someone did in 10 minutes and one more thing. You know, your listeners might say, well, [00:40:40] when would I be ready for a fractional family office to solve all these problems for me? [00:40:43] Right. And really the [00:40:45] starting point is once you, if you have a business, ’cause this is for business owners, once you’re doing a million [00:40:50] dollars of gross revenue and netting at least 250,000, believe it or not, at that level, [00:40:55] you can start getting help. A fractional family office, and of course this goes all the way up [00:41:00] to where you could be making, you know, tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars, and it could still make sense for [00:41:05] you.[00:41:10] [00:41:14] Did we lose [00:41:15] aj? [00:41:15] Mimi: I know. Where’s aj?[00:41:20] [00:41:23] Jim: We lost aj.[00:41:25] [00:41:30] [00:41:35] [00:41:38] AJ: That was fun. [00:41:40] My, uh, Chrome decided to restart, so I’m going to have you start [00:41:45] over, Jim, when you said, some of you’re probably wondering when is the right time, so if you’ll [00:41:50] start over right there. Okay. [00:41:53] Jim: Some of you may be wondering [00:41:55] when is the right time where you can actually afford to have a fractional family office? [00:41:59] And believe it or [00:42:00] not, the starting point is when you’re a business owner and you’re doing a million dollars of gross [00:42:05] revenue netting at least 250,000. At that point, you can actually get the [00:42:10] essentials of a fractional family office. And of course, from there up to, you know, if you’re doing a [00:42:15] hundred, $200 million of revenue in your business, a fractional family office still could be a really, really [00:42:20] smart thing to do. [00:42:20] So that’s where it would start. [00:42:22] AJ: That’s good. And I think that’s good because that’s a lot lower than [00:42:25] probably most of us were thinking. I think most of people think, oh wow, like Family [00:42:30] wealth office, I probably need to be making $10 million. And it’s like. And, and that’s why I love the [00:42:35] fractional concept of this. [00:42:36] It’s like this is something that you can start way ahead of probably [00:42:40] when you thought so. Okay. I know that we only have a couple minutes left. I’m watching the clock. I promise I’ll only [00:42:45] keep you for the hour that we promised. But I have, um, a quick question for both of you [00:42:50] and then we’ll wrap this up. [00:42:51] But if you guys haven’t already, go to do [00:42:55] wealth.com/. Influential and actually use this wealth waste [00:43:00] calculator. I think it’s gonna be super valuable for everyone who’s listening. Alright. Here’s my question, [00:43:05] uh, for you, Jim, looking ahead the next five years, right. [00:43:10] And as we’re recording this, we’re in spring of 2025. [00:43:13] Right. So looking ahead between now and [00:43:15] call it 2030, what are some of the trends that you [00:43:20] foresee becoming more mainstream or, or more prominent when it comes to wealth management [00:43:25] practices? [00:43:26] Jim: Great question and I’m gonna answer that and then I’m gonna ask [00:43:30] myself a different question. And that is, as far as trends, obviously AI is gonna have a big [00:43:35] impact on things like wealth planning. [00:43:36] It’s gonna have a big impact on everything. But there are certain things that are not gonna [00:43:40] change. And there was a, an interview with Jeff Bezos and the question was, what’s gonna change [00:43:45] in the next 10 years? And he said, I get asked that a lot. The question I don’t get asked, I should get asked [00:43:50] more is what’s not going to change in the next 10 years? [00:43:52] ’cause it’s very hard to predict what’s gonna change. [00:43:55] It’s easier to predict what’s not gonna change and build a company around what’s not gonna change. So here’s what’s [00:44:00] not gonna change in the next five years, which is the most important question. Over time, real estate’s [00:44:05] gonna go up in value. Stocks will go up in value. [00:44:07] Private equity will go up in value. [00:44:10] All certain things reliably and predictably will go up in in value. Over time. They’re gonna have their times when [00:44:15] they don’t go up in value. You want to be investing and reliable, predictable things in a solid [00:44:20] portfolio with a strategy over time. And then forget the noise. [00:44:23] I hear entrepreneurs, they’re always trying to [00:44:25] guess what’s gonna happen next. Forget about it. You’re not gonna be able to guess what’s gonna happen next. And if [00:44:30] someone does, guess what? They’re totally lucky. Mm-hmm. So stop watching the news. Save first, [00:44:35] spend what’s left, get yourself on a good game plan, and then also get a good tax plan.[00:44:40] [00:44:40] And then of course, the things like, like protect, but worry about what’s not gonna change [00:44:45] and what’s not gonna change in the next five years is all those things I just mentioned. [00:44:48] AJ: Yeah, I love [00:44:50] that. I don’t know, um, if you guys have ever read the book by Morgan [00:44:55] Hasell, psychology of Money. [00:44:56] Jim: Love that book. [00:44:57] AJ: Uh, it’s one of my favorite books on money because [00:45:00] it talks about just that, right? [00:45:02] Mm-hmm. It is like long-term in mind, [00:45:05] conservative nature. Focus on the things that are likely not going to change and [00:45:10] ignore the rest is that it’s boring, it’s conservative, it’s not [00:45:15] sexy, but it works. [00:45:18] Jim: Yep. And, and you’re gonna get rich by [00:45:20] building a business. You’re not gonna get rich by picking crypto at the right moment or, [00:45:25] or buying the penny stock or buying that one real estate property that nobody knows is [00:45:30] worth a bunch of money. [00:45:31] That’s not how you’re gonna rich. That’s how you’re gonna stay rich. You’re gonna get rich by being [00:45:35] concentrated in a business. ’cause that’s how Americans get rich. [00:45:37] AJ: I love that. Um, alright, last question. [00:45:40] Um, uh, Mimi, and you know, Jim, you can feel free to chime in, but I’m gonna ask Mimi this question. [00:45:45] It’s like. [00:45:45] In a world where a lot of people have influence, some of [00:45:50] it earned, some of it not. And in a lot of, uh, you know, my world at least, we talk a [00:45:55] lot about influencers versus influential, and you guys work with a lot of influential [00:46:00] people. So I’d love to hear, like, for you, like what does influential mean in [00:46:05] your world, in your workspace? [00:46:08] Mimi: Influential and I, I, [00:46:10] uh, mentioned this a little bit earlier is we are. [00:46:15] Our entrepreneurs, what we do is we unlock resources for them so [00:46:20] that they foster so many different connections to make this world [00:46:25] a better place. And we’ve seen children’s charities grow. We’ve [00:46:30] seen foundations thrive. We’ve seen families [00:46:35] leave a legacy. [00:46:36] Of, um, not just wealth from generation to [00:46:40] generation in gen, but how they’re teaching their kids to think about [00:46:45] money, how they. Money is saving lives. [00:46:50] Something that that’s really near and dear to our hearts. Jim and I never ended up having children. We’ve [00:46:55] been married 32 years and we’ve been working together as a spouse and, and really being intentional about our [00:47:00] relationship. [00:47:00] But we just said what’s really important to us kids. Kids [00:47:05] rescuing them out of poverty. So we’ve started scholarships because we believe [00:47:10] one of the best ways of getting out of generational poverty is through [00:47:15] education. And so we’ve created. Some scholarships. We’re gonna continue creating more [00:47:20] scholarship, uh, throughout the year. [00:47:21] So when I hear [00:47:25] influencers influential, it’s for us. The influencers are the ones who have been [00:47:30] influential to this society by giving back, making a [00:47:35] difference, and being role models for others to look up to in [00:47:40] how they’re truly creating wealth. By the use of the money that that [00:47:45] they have acquired. [00:47:46] AJ: I love that. [00:47:47] I think that’s so awesome. And I [00:47:50] think a lot of people talk about, you know, you know, and it’s interesting, I think [00:47:55] money is a tool, right? Right. And you can wield it for good [00:48:00] just as much as you can, wield it for evil. And it’s like what I hear you saying is like there is a [00:48:05] major opportunity PE for people who have been fortunate enough to build a lot of wealth to create [00:48:10] influence. [00:48:11] And have influential opportunities that can change the trajectories [00:48:15] of lives, families, generations, if it’s used in the right ways. [00:48:20] I love that. [00:48:20] Jim: Absolutely. I, I agree with Mimi and [00:48:25] you know, I, I think every, he agrees with me. I always agree with Mimi. That’s the smart thing. You have to [00:48:30] think where you are and what are your capabilities because influence, a lot of times we think [00:48:35] of like the rich and famous who have influence, but everybody has influence and everyone creates a [00:48:40] ripple effect. [00:48:40] And even the way you and Rory are doing your date nights, right? One of the greatest gifts you can [00:48:45] give to your kids is how you model a marriage. And even though they give you a hard time about like, oh, we [00:48:50] want to go with you. In the future, they’re gonna go, wow. I saw how mom and dad [00:48:55] handled their marriage, and that gives me a modeling of how, like Mimi and I didn’t have the best [00:49:00] parenting as far as marriages and how they were modeled, but we’ve worked very hard to create a [00:49:05] model of our marriage. [00:49:06] So it doesn’t have to be that you give a million dollars to charity, although that’s [00:49:10] fantastic if you can do that. It can also be other ways you influence people every day [00:49:15] in a way that is caring and kind and makes a difference because. The one [00:49:20] person you touch could touch thousands or millions of lives. [00:49:23] You don’t know what you don’t know, what your kids [00:49:25] at their age, what they’re gonna grow up to become, and just what you’re doing right now with those [00:49:30] kids could have ripple effects that blow your mind in 20 or 30 years. So that’s what I would say with [00:49:35] influence. It’s easy for people to look on TikTok or watch TV and go Now, that’s the influential person.[00:49:40] [00:49:40] But it’s the person who’s kind and who can touch others and who can make a difference and [00:49:45] lead people, and guide people and teach people. Those are the ones that have true influence that will matter [00:49:50] when the, you know, in the test of time, you know, in, in the future. [00:49:53] AJ: I. Amen. Well, I couldn’t [00:49:55] agree more, and I, I agree with both of you, and I think the conversation of what it means to build [00:50:00] wealth, keep wealth, but then also deploy wealth for the good of others is [00:50:05] such an important conversation for the growing and scaling entrepreneur to to know [00:50:10] what to do with the money that they’re building so that it does create that lasting legacy and [00:50:15] creates influence beyond them. [00:50:16] So both of you, thank you so much for joining us. On this [00:50:20] episode for everyone who is listening, again, go to do [00:50:25] wealth.com/influential. Check out that wealth waste calculator. Stick around, listen to the [00:50:30] recap episode. That will be coming up next, and we will see you guys next time on the influential personal [00:50:35] [00:50:40] brand.