In June 2018, I began my journey to live my life with purpose. I wanted to make decisions based off principles that were important to me and I wanted to gain control of all areas of my life. It was during this time that an email caught my attention.
The email was an invitation to a three-day Marketing, Sales, & Advertising conference in California in just a few weeks. The timing was terrible. I was incredibly busy and I couldn’t justify the cost of the ticket and travel expenses. But… something inside of me kept telling me to go.
A few weeks later, I arrived in California and joined 300 highly successful businessmen (that I didn’t know) from a variety of different industries. Five minutes into the conference, I knew this was an experience, unlike others. These guys meant business.
By day three of the conference, a man named Michael got up on stage and began telling his story. Michael is in the financial services industry, and in the early 2000’s he had a large book of assets under management. His clients trusted him to manage their retirement portfolio, which consisted mostly of at-equities tied to Wall Street.
Michael managed their portfolios, following the typical financial planning advice: he invested as much as possible, as frequently as possible, and took on as much risk as possible while his clients were still young.
And then the dotcom market crashed happened. In March 2000, Michael’s clients lost everything
Sitting there listening to Michael share his story, I had an epiphany. I’m no different than Michael. I work at an agency in the financial services industry. I have a lot of clients and a large number of assets under management. I also had been following the typical financial planning advice.
When I heard Michael’s story, my heart sank. This could have happened to me and my clients, too.
This changed my perspective. I decided I was never going to let myself lose everything by following the status quo. I could no longer relinquish control of my money to a company that would continue to make money regardless of whether I won or lost. And, it’s not acceptable for me or my clients to have no control over what happens to our wealth.
Since leaving the conference in June 2018, I have been searching for ways to gain control of my money and create a more predictable cash flow that is guaranteed, protected, and liquid. The more that I learn about typical retirement planning, the more I realize that those strategies may not deliver financial independence—for me or for my clients.
As I write this, it’s almost one year to the day that I made the decision to listen to my gut, jump on a plane, and take a chance on a three-day conference that I knew nothing about. I realize I was in that room for a reason: to hear Michael’s story and regain control of my money.
That decision and these new possibilities have changed my life, my family’s lives, and my clients’ lives. I no longer am one transaction or bad break away from losing it all. I overhauled my business, sold everything, and got out of the “typical financial planning” world. I built (and continue to build) a business based on purpose and principles—of certainty, control, protection, safety, and security.
In June 2018, I began my journey to live my life with purpose. I wanted to make decisions based off principles that were important to me and I wanted to gain control of all areas of my life. It was during this time that an email caught my attention.
The email was an invitation to a three-day Marketing, Sales, & Advertising conference in California in just a few weeks. The timing was terrible. I was incredibly busy and I couldn’t justify the cost of the ticket and travel expenses. But… something inside of me kept telling me to go.
A few weeks later, I arrived in California and joined 300 highly successful businessmen (that I didn’t know) from a variety of different industries. Five minutes into the conference, I knew this was an experience, unlike others. These guys meant business.
By day three of the conference, a man named Michael got up on stage and began telling his story. Michael is in the financial services industry, and in the early 2000’s he had a large book of assets under management. His clients trusted him to manage their retirement portfolio, which consisted mostly of at-equities tied to Wall Street.
Michael managed their portfolios, following the typical financial planning advice: he invested as much as possible, as frequently as possible, and took on as much risk as possible while his clients were still young.
And then the dotcom market crashed happened. In March 2000, Michael’s clients lost everything.
Sitting there listening to Michael share his story, I had an epiphany. I’m no different than Michael. I work at an agency in the financial services industry. I have a lot of clients and a large number of assets under management. I also had been following the typical financial planning advice.
When I heard Michael’s story, my heart sank. This could have happened to me and my clients, too.
This changed my perspective. I decided I was never going to let myself lose everything by following the status quo. I could no longer relinquish control of my money to a company that would continue to make money regardless of whether I won or lost. And, it’s not acceptable for me or my clients to have no control over what happens to our wealth.
Since leaving the conference in June 2018, I have been searching for ways to gain control of my money and create a more predictable cash flow that is guaranteed, protected, and liquid. The more that I learn about typical retirement planning, the more I realize that those strategies may not deliver financial independence—for me or for my clients.
As I write this, it’s almost one year to the day that I made the decision to listen to my gut, jump on a plane, and take a chance on a three-day conference that I knew nothing about. I realize I was in that room for a reason: to hear Michael’s story and regain control of my money.
That decision and these new possibilities have changed my life, my family’s lives, and my clients’ lives. I no longer am one transaction or bad break away from losing it all. I overhauled my business, sold everything, and got out of the “typical financial planning” world. I built (and continue to build) a business based on purpose and principles—of certainty, control, protection, safety, and security.
