Chad Hufford, Author of "Forging Financial Freedom" | Former Dave Ramsey SmartVestor Pro Talks Wealth
May 02, 2024
Brendan Ecker
Chad Hufford is a former Dave Ramsey SmartVestor Pro, Author of "Forging Financial Freedom: Constructing Blue-Collar Millionaires with Seven Wealth Building Lessons Extracted From the Alaska Oilfield", and Founder and CEO of Veritas Wealth Management. Chad is managing over half a billion dollars as a finance professional. Get your copy of Chad's book today and learn how to make more money, use compound interest to your advantage, invest like Warren Buffett, run a business like Elon Musk, and how to build generational wealth.
TIMESTAMPS: [00:00]: Intro [01:10]: Why "Forging Financial Freedom" is Important [03:21]: Secrets to Writing a Book [05:24]: Best Place to Buy "Forging Financial Freedom" Book [05:57]: How to Write a Book | Frameworks and Processes [09:19]: Foundational Wealth and The Baby Steps [13:29]: B2BGrowthToday Marketing and Advertising [15:36]: The Principals of Investing Wisely [18:26]: Dare to Be Different | Independence of Mind [20:26]: How to Make Money When You Have No Money [22:05]: "Beyond The Beat" and "How I Made My Dorm My Office" [23:53]: Invest in Yourself | Warren Buffett's Wisdom [25:22]: Best Books About Wealth and Personal Development [25:53]: Roth IRAs, Mutual Funds, and Compound Interest [27:24]: The Future of Money and Currency Wars [29:28]: Chad's Greatest Hero and Living Debt Free [32:58]: Secrets to Fatherhood and Parenthood [35:05]: Outro
Chad Hufford is a former Dave Ramsey SmartVestor Pro, Author of "Forging Financial Freedom: Constructing Blue-Collar Millionaires with Seven Wealth Building Lessons Extracted From the Alaska Oilfield", and Founder and CEO of Veritas Wealth Management. Chad is managing over half a billion dollars as a finance professional. Get your copy of Chad's book today and learn how to make more money, use compound interest to your advantage, invest like Warren Buffett, run a business like Elon Musk, and how to build generational wealth.
TIMESTAMPS: [00:00]: Intro [01:10]: Why "Forging Financial Freedom" is Important [03:21]: Secrets to Writing a Book [05:24]: Best Place to Buy "Forging Financial Freedom" Book [05:57]: How to Write a Book | Frameworks and Processes [09:19]: Foundational Wealth and The Baby Steps [13:29]: B2BGrowthToday Marketing and Advertising [15:36]: The Principals of Investing Wisely [18:26]: Dare to Be Different | Independence of Mind [20:26]: How to Make Money When You Have No Money [22:05]: "Beyond The Beat" and "How I Made My Dorm My Office" [23:53]: Invest in Yourself | Warren Buffett's Wisdom [25:22]: Best Books About Wealth and Personal Development [25:53]: Roth IRAs, Mutual Funds, and Compound Interest [27:24]: The Future of Money and Currency Wars [29:28]: Chad's Greatest Hero and Living Debt Free [32:58]: Secrets to Fatherhood and Parenthood [35:05]: Outro
And what we did in this book, brendan, is we took stories of real men and women, blue-collar millionaires, people who didn't make crazy amounts of money but knew how to work hard and how to sacrifice, and we condensed those lessons. You have a job-optional lifestyle where you don't need to go to work, but you're still producing. You're producing what matters in your life and you're going after what is deeply meaningful to you and and not just shutting it down because you have enough money for you to be comfortable. It's about the impact you make in the lives around you, and I think wealth is a great way to do that, to make a bigger impact and to pursue your passions even more fully chad hufford.
Speaker 2:
Dave ramsey, smart investor, pro and founder of veritas wealth management, is joining us again today for a second interview. Chad is handling over a half billion dollars in helping motivated entrepreneurs get to that next level. Chad, thanks for joining us again on a second interview. Your last video did really well. We had over 30,000 views just on YouTube and across the other platforms. We're crushing it too. So again, thanks again for coming on the show and it means a lot, man.
Speaker 1:
Brandon, it's a pleasure to be back and chatting with you. I appreciate everything you do and it's great to be a part of it.
Speaker 2:
Last time we didn't really get to talk about your new book, Forging Financial Freedom, but I really wanted to hit right on that right in the beginning. Tell us about that and tell us about what inspired you to write it.
Speaker 1:
Well, what inspired me to write it is seeing the stories and the impact that these principles have had in the lives of our clients and the people around us for the past two decades almost, and realizing like I need to compile this. I need to be able to take some of these stories and take some of these principles and condense them into a book so people don't have to make all the same mistakes and they don't have to learn as much their own experience. They can learn through the experiences of others to see repeatable paths to building sustainable wealth, Because there's a lot of books out there, Brendan, that you know, that might talk about one way and it worked for this guy and it worked for that gal, but is it repeatable? Can anybody take those principles and make them work? And sometimes that's not the case.
Speaker 1:
So with this book is really about is we use the word forging? Because this idea about forging steel or forging iron, like it's it's there's sparks flying, like it's intense, you know, and and that's that's this idea of the mentality behind forging financial freedom there is an intensity to it, there's a determination, and a lot of this book is really about the mindsets behind building wealth and having better financial behavior. Because while there are different routes to building wealth, I'm not saying there's only one way. But if you don't have the right mindset, if you don't have the right attitude or perspective towards money and investing, none of those ways are going to work. Because it does take long-term determination, it takes a lot of perseverance, it takes grit. So that's what this book is developing Not just the practices and the principles, but the perspective and attitude, the paradigm that people have around money. Shifting that because it's almost impossible to act right if we're not thinking right.
Speaker 2:
Oh, yeah, definitely. What are some great little financial tips, any kind of secrets that our audience needs to know, and something that they might find in your book, or I mean, what do they got to read? Where should, why should they get that book and what is that secret in there that they're going to really get?
Speaker 1:
Well, I think one of the one of the big takeaways from the book is what you, as the individual, do matters more than the circumstances around you, and there's a lot of people that are so worried about what they can't control that they don't take hold of what they can control.
Speaker 1:
And whether it's somebody who's trying to produce a perfect budget or find the perfect investments, or people lack execution. And this world pays people not so much for what they know but for what they do with what they know. And there's too many people that have enough knowledge to start moving forward on their financial journey but they aren't executing. And I also think, too, there's people who talk about the stock market, the economy, they talk about presidential race or whose president is in office and their boss doesn't give them a raise or doesn't have enough 401k match or whatever the reason. All those things do make a difference, but they're all outside of the individual's control and people need to harness the elements of their financial life, their life in general, that they can control and start executing on those things and worry less about those things that are outside of their control.
Speaker 2:
I definitely agree. Yeah, Writing my books. It was the same experience and I think a lot of that's kind of what I wanted my audience to get from my books, beyond the beat Beat, and then how I Made my Door, my Office, when I was writing those it was, hey, here's what I went through and here's how I handled and maneuvered these challenges and tribulations and this is how I made it through and that's what I think is so great about books and so great about writing books. It's a bonus, honestly, for society. So where can they get that book?
Speaker 1:
Where can we find it? Well, right now it's available for pre-order on Amazon, and there's also some bonuses that we're doing for your audience. We'll get you the link where they won't just have the book available for pre-order, but they'll get some of the financial diagnostic tools that we help apply the principles in the book, so people get an idea of where they are financially, where they need to be, and then they'll have the book to help guide them along that journey.
Speaker 2:
In between, that's awesome, and tell us more about the process of writing a book, because I know it's a grind For our audience. What should somebody writing their first book? Or, if they want to write a book, what advice would you give them?
Speaker 1:
Well, it's the same advice I would give somebody who is trying to build wealth and build financial freedom. Build financial independence is have a clear picture of what the objective is, but just try to chip away a little bit at a time Because, as you know, it can be overwhelming. And building wealth can be overwhelming too. If somebody goes through some of the tools that we offer and we've got a. One of the things that we talk about is finding your number, and it's finding the amount of money that somebody needs to retire and stay retired comfortably. And there's a question that we ask people do you know pretty much exactly the amount of money you need to retire and stay retired comfortably for a very long time? Very few people know the answer to that number and when they get the number, it can be overwhelming For some people.
Speaker 1:
It might be overwhelming. For some people it might be $2, $3, $4 million, and that's like trying to write a book Like, oh, my goodness, how can I accomplish that? And it's really easy to kick that can down the road Because the objective is so big. But if you break that down to small, bite-sized chunks, it's about momentum. Brendan, you know this, but success in almost any area of life is a momentum game.
Speaker 1:
It's not about how much you do at one day, it's how much you do every day. And there's a quote I use in the book that says Rome wasn't built in a day, but it was built every day, and people need to remember that the big accomplishments in life, they don't happen all at once. It's slow and steady progress that is executed over a long period of time. I had to remind myself of that a lot because it was overwhelming and I just said okay, today I'm going to write for an hour, I'm going to try to get a thousand words out on paper. None of those words might make it into the book and that's okay because I executed what I need to do to stay on track.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I definitely agree, and that's kind of what I that was my experience when I was writing my books. It's like all right, how do I just stay proud, how do I stay productive, how do I get things done, how do I stay on track? And for me, what really helped was just okay, one chapter every time I get on the computer, every time I get on the laptop, one chapter. And if I can get a chapter done, then it would be, like you said, a thousand words. It would be a certain number. So that's what I'm really excited about is that you're out here doing it and I want other people to get out there doing it too, because it's a good experience. You got to write your story and I think in both of my books I talk about that how you got to write your story, how you got to teach people and you got to return the favor in a sense. So that's why I think it's a really big deal and I love again that you wrote it.
Speaker 2:
Forging financial freedom 100%. It's going to be a big one, ladies and gentlemen. And so why is financial freedom so important in 2024? Why be wealthy in 24? Why does it matter in a world where AI can just do everything for you. Why not just go the easy way? Why not take those baby steps? Why? Why not just try to get rich quick using the internet which is great, which is I love all of that. I love being versatile but why should you just really stick to those baby steps and that financial kind of foundation? Why does that matter so much?
Speaker 1:
Well, a couple of things. That's a really good question. Number one get rich quick is not working for many people. If it did, there'd be a lot more wealthy people, and in 2024, a lot of what we see is not true wealth, it's purchases, it's consumption. We see people on the internet on TikTok, on Instagram who don't have wealth. They have a lot of debt and they bought a lot of things, but they don't actually have sustainable wealth. So there's a lot of people out there that are faking it, and the problem is they're giving financial advice and broke people are listening to other broke people about how to get wealthy.
Speaker 1:
And what we did in this book, brendan, is we took stories of real men and women blue collar millionaires, people who didn't make crazy amounts of money but knew how to work hard and how to sacrifice, and we condensed those lessons into repeatable processes that anybody can follow. Now it's not going to be easy and it's not going to be quick, but it's tried and true and these are sustainable and they're things that people can duplicate. They can duplicate the results other people have got. These are tried and true principles that have worked for a very, very long time. We're adapting it to today's environment, but these are not untested. And the other thing too even if somebody is able to get rich quick, sustaining that is a whole other thing. And a lot of times when people trip into wealth which again doesn't happen very often the thing that made them trip into wealth is they're not the practices that are going to help them remain wealthy. So they have to pivot and shift and go back to basic, long-term principles to maintain that wealth. So maybe it's a big inheritance, maybe you got lucky buying into a company you just right place, right time, whatever you gambled in the stock market and you won.
Speaker 1:
I had a kid of a client call me and he's like I just won $2 million in Vegas and my, my dad said I'm not allowed to cash the check until I talked to you. And he was like 25, 30 year old kid and his dad's worked with me for a long. Yeah, you know. And so in those times again, I've been in the business for almost 20 years. That's the only time I've gotten that call where I got rich quick. But even he realized if you wanted to maintain the wealth that he stumbled into. And I'm not advocating gambling at all, because for every winner there's thousands or hundreds of thousands of losers, but he still realized I need those long-term sustainable principles if this wealth is going to last me and do anything positive for my life. And the other thing that you said, too, is why is wealth even important?
Speaker 1:
I've got a chapter in the book called we talk about purposeful pursuit. Financial freedom is not a finish line. I've got a chapter in the book called we talk about purposeful pursuit. Financial freedom is not a finish line, and a lot of people treat it as such that once you get enough wealth where you no longer need to work, that you get to rest on your laurels, you somehow just stop and shut it down. And that's not the case at all.
Speaker 1:
I believe wealth, true abundance, is living a life full of freedom and purpose and having the ability to pursue those dreams, to pursue those purposeful pursuits, and not be hindered by a day-to-day job, by a nine to five. And that's the idea that we want this idea of a job, optional lifestyle where you don't need to go to work but you're still producing. You're producing what matters in your life and you're going after what is deeply meaningful to you and not just shutting it down because you have enough money for you to be comfortable. It's about the impact you make in the lives around you. I think wealth is a great way to do that, to make a bigger impact and to pursue your passions even more fully.
Speaker 2:
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Speaker 2:
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Speaker 2:
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Speaker 2:
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Speaker 2:
I definitely agree. Yes, For me. I like real estate. I like gold Today. Real estate, I mean again, I'm not a financial advisor, so I'm not advising anybody. Do what I tell you to do. I'm just saying what's worked for me and what's been a good foundation for me in the past.
Speaker 2:
Again, real estate is definitely more difficult today, but over time I think you know, being a police officer, I'm so happy that I did invest in real estate in particular, and then the S&P 500, over the course of many years I just made decent. You know, like Dave Ramsey said, I basically followed his guide. I would watch his show every day and I just kind of listened to all of those just tragic stories of people and like millions of dollars in debt, Like these people would be lawyers but they'd be 400, 500, 600 thousand dollars in debt, you know, and I never wanted to be like that. So I think it's just so important, like you said, you know, when you're blue collar or whether you're just at a nine to five job, you have to be foundational with your wealth and it is important for your family, for your future and for the quality of that future.
Speaker 1:
So that's why I love the book that you wrote and why you're putting that message out there for sure. Well, and it isn't. It isn't just that these principles do work for everyday people? Um, it's that they do work for every everybody. And what you said is really interesting, because you're right, you can't out-earn bad financial decisions, and so it isn't like oh, I'm a blue-collar guy or gal and I don't make a lot of money, so I have to follow these slow, boring principles. No, everybody should, because whether you're an NFL athlete that is bankrupt two or three years after you retire, or a celebrity, or you're the lawyer that's, it's hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.
Speaker 1:
There's a lot of people out there making tremendous amounts of money, but they don't have much to show for it, because more money doesn't make you a better investor. More money doesn't make you a better financial steward, any more than more horsepower makes you a better driver. You can't give somebody a faster car and expect that they're going to be a better operator of that vehicle. I've got a 15-year-old daughter that's learning to drive right now. I'm not going to put her in the Corvette and say okay, you were struggling with the family vehicle, why don't you jump inside the Corvette. It's more horsepower, it's faster. Suddenly that's going to make you a better driver.
Speaker 1:
You're laughing inside the Corvette it's more horsepower, it's faster. Suddenly that's going to make you a better driver. You're laughing. That is crazy. It's crazy, but that's what people do with money. They think, well, I'm not a very good manager, making a small salary. If I just made more money, that would fix all my problems. More horsepower doesn't fix bad driving. More money doesn't fix bad management. I actually was with Dave Ramsey a couple of months ago and used that metaphor with him. He's like that's great, I'm stealing it. I've got a radio show. You don't, I'm using it. So if you hear that on Dave Ramsey, just know where that came from first.
Speaker 2:
I love that. That's awesome, man. That's awesome. Why do you think most are straddling financially today If they're not like? Maybe they're taking the baby steps, maybe they're trying why else do you think people might be struggling?
Speaker 1:
What are those other reasons? Well, the very first chapter in the book is daring to be different. And it's this idea, brendan, that we have normalized bad behavior in our health, in our finances, in our relationships, in so many different ways. Finances, in our relationships, in so many different ways. It is normal now to be broke and alone and addicted to medication and obese and all these different things. That is normalized, and I go through some of the statistics in my book about just how destructive normal has become.
Speaker 1:
So there's a lot of societal pressure around that and, unfortunately, a lot of people would rather be wrong in a crowd than be right by themselves. And there's pressure to go along with what everybody else is doing, even if it's taking them in the wrong direction, and that could be finances, it could be health, it could be a lot of different things, but it's very, very destructive. People need to be willing to stand alone and do the right thing, and when it comes to finances, that's a big part of the problem. So many people are struggling because they're watching everybody around them doing the wrong thing and thinking well, this is what everybody else is doing, everybody else is in debt.
Speaker 1:
Everybody else took out too much in student loans. They bought a car they couldn't afford and they spent too much time on Amazon. They bought a car they couldn't afford and they spent too much time on Amazon. And everybody around me is spending money they don't have to buy things. They don't need to impress people they don't even like. So I guess I'm going to do it too, and and we just we have to have the courage to be like, to look around us and realize this isn't working. This isn't working. Something has to change, and even if that means I'm swimming upstream and going against the grain a little bit, that's what I'm willing to do, because my future and my family matter.
Speaker 2:
Yeah for sure. Let's just say, if I'm let's just say I'm a 16 year old kid, I have nothing in my bank account. What would you tell them to do? What would be your first piece of advice? Avoid debt.
Speaker 1:
Sometimes what you don't do is more important than what you do do, and you know this. I work with a lot of law enforcement folks and you can appreciate this too from your training, your experience. A lot of your safety out there as an officer is not being able to shoot your way out of a gunfight. It's never getting in the gunfight to begin with. Yes, right, being in a position where you know how to de-escalate a situation instead of escalate it Maybe it's waiting for a partner A lot of your training and experience keeps you out of bad situations. It doesn't necessarily help get you out of bad situations. It keeps you out of bad situations.
Speaker 1:
I think for somebody who's 16, they're a fresh slate, clean slate. Don't get into debt. So many people 21, 22 years old they're starting out in life. They've graduated college, maybe they haven't even graduated. They got years old. They're starting out in life. They've graduated college, maybe they haven't even graduated. They got student loans. They got credit card debt and a car loan. They haven't even really started life and they're already playing from behind. Every month they're playing catch up. The beginning of every month, a big chunk of their money goes to pay other people instead of paying their future. That's a really rough way to get started in life and then it becomes a habit and winning and losing both become a habit, and I think in finances, losing financially starts with debt and if you let debt become a habit early, it's really really hard to break that cycle.
Speaker 2:
So why should you buy my books Beyond the Beat A Guide to Success from a Police Officer and Entrepreneur, and my other book how I Made my Door my Office Experiences of a Collegiate Student-Athlete and Entrepreneur.
Speaker 1:
That guy is an entrepreneur. They're entrepreneurs, they sell things to people.
Speaker 2:
Both books aren't just going to make you a better person. They're not just going to get you through the police academy. They're not just going to get you through your college sports career. It's also going to make sure that you elevate in life, in money, in business. That's what my book's about. I'm going to teach you how to be the best possible version of yourself, how to be confident, intelligent, strategic, motivated. How to invest, how to be an entrepreneur, how to actually start a business, how to win at business. A big reason I wanted to write my books is because I want to help people. I want my books to live forever in many ways. How else to live forever in many ways? How else are you going to live?
Speaker 1:
forever. If you want to live forever, you're going to have to write books. If you want to live forever, you're going to have to have a youtube channel don't forget to smash that like button.
Speaker 2:
So that's what my books teach you how to do. Both books are available on amazon. You can get beyond the beat for 20, or you can get how I made my dorm, my office, for 19. It's a pretty good deal. Both of them are pretty cheap and they will give you lots of value that can make you live longer and I'm just joking. You're not going to live longer by reading my books. Then again, maybe you will, maybe you, maybe my books will help you to not make bad decisions in life. Man, I'm glad I called that guy.
Speaker 2:
The guests that you see on my show, my podcast, my YouTube channel they're all authors. Why do you think? All of the guests on my show, my YouTube channel, why are they all authors? I don't know. Why am I making a big deal about it now? Hey, mr Spicoli, I don't know.
Speaker 2:
It's hard to write a book Productivity, staying motivated, staying self-motivated. It's an art form, it's education, it's knowledge. It takes time, patience, energy and learning about these things. Learning that you even need to have all of these different recipes, learning that business is a marathon and not a sprint. Well, my books teach you that. My books talk about how I became a police officer, how I became an entrepreneur and how I made it. How I did it and made it work for myself and also created different streams of income on top of my nine to five police job, which I'm still doing today by choice. If you want to have a nine to five job that you only have to work at by choice, then these are the books for you.
Speaker 2:
Beyond the Beat A Guide to Success from a Police Officer and Entrepreneur. Or how I Made my Door in my Office. Experiences of a Collegiate, student, athlete and Entrepreneur. Get your books now and get them on Amazon, barnes and Noble, anywhere you can get a book. Soon you'll be able to listen to my audio books on Audible. Go on Amazon right now. Click the link below and, ladies and gentlemen, don't forget to like, share, comment, subscribe. Be sure to give us some support. Leave a review. If you're listening to the podcast and not watching the YouTube channel, leave a review. Show us some support so we can keep growing and getting better. We'll be creating more educational content moving into the future. Looking forward to it. Let's get back to the show. All right, what do you think would be that best first investment if you had to give somebody an investment, an option, so to speak.
Speaker 1:
A choice. This sounds cliche, but I think one of the most important things is investing in yourself. Warren Buffett said that the biggest investment he ever made was investing in himself. That's what he encouraged others to do. When I say that, I don't necessarily mean college, but I mean educating yourself in a manner that is practical and actionable, and there's some great books out there.
Speaker 1:
I hope that a young person would read my book. Dave Ramsey has some great books Total Money Makeover Everyday Millionaires. One of the best books I've ever read on investing is by Nick Murray. It's called Simple Wealth, inevitable Wealth. Those would be great investments for anybody, but especially a young person. I don't care if you're 65 or 15, but, man, if I would have read some of those books at 15, I would have saved myself from a lot of mistakes. But we talk about an actual investment.
Speaker 1:
I think one of the most powerful things a young person can do is a Roth IRA, because, number one, it gets people in the habit and, like we've already talked about today, brendan, a lot of these principles are about habits.
Speaker 1:
It's not what you do one day, it's what you commit to doing every day that matters. So even if somebody can only save 25, 50 bucks a month. It's creating the habit that I'm the type of person that pays my future self. I'm the type of person that makes a sacrifice today so my future can get better, and every time that that money goes in that account it's a reminder, it's visible proof that you are that type of person. For somebody to start that at 16, 17, 18, 20 years old is a tremendous psychological advantage, not to mention the fact that if you use a Roth IRA now, you've got decades of that money growing tax-free. And when taxes and free are ever in the same sentence, we really like that. So a Roth IRA buying good growth stock mutual funds, you're buying the best companies in the world, literally as an 18, 19-year-old, 20-year-old, and that growth happens tax-free and you get the psychological benefit. That's just a recipe for success.
Speaker 2:
Yep, and then you just hold, then you just you know, eventually you'll be able to have this nice little nest egg for yourself. It's definitely important, one hundred percent, and especially today, going into the future Again. Last time we spoke a lot about the future and what was kind of going to happen, what we thought was going to happen, although you can't predict the markets. If you had to predict what do you think is going to happen? I saw Bitcoin had some movement this past month since our last interview and I was like, oh, we'll see, but now it went back down. So I'm just kind of curious where do you see things going with the markets, bitcoin, crypto, all the crazy stuff, the new stuff?
Speaker 1:
You know what? Yeah, no idea. I know you're not going to like that answer, but again, my focus is more on what people can control and not what they can't control. And I just know, like right now with the S&P 500, it hit new highs recently, but the S&P hits new highs all the time.
Speaker 1:
So people have asked like, well, is the market too high? And I'm just like, compared to what? Because I don't know. I don't care what the market is going to do in the next six weeks or six months, but in five years, 10 years, we're going to be looking at these prices and probably drooling over them. So that's what people need to remember that, regardless of what the market's doing the short to intermediate term, to remember that, regardless of what the market's doing the short to intermediate term, there's tremendous value in executing now, having a good plan for the future and buying the best companies in the world right now at whatever price, and letting them produce earnings and income for the rest of your life. I don't know if it doesn't directly answer your question, but I think, oh, that's a great answer.
Speaker 2:
That's a great answer completely.
Speaker 1:
But I just I don't have a market outlook, any more than most construction workers. You know, a general contractor doesn't have necessarily the inside track on a weather report. He's building a house to last decades and, potentially, generations. It's not based on what people think the weather is going to be, and that's what we're doing too. We're helping people build a financial house that protects them and their families for generations to come. It's not based on what people think the financial weather is going to be next week or next month.
Speaker 2:
Awesome, awesome. And who else kind of motivated you along the way?
Speaker 1:
Who was a great mentor for you, a great role model beside Dave Ramsey, I would assume. Who else kind of motivated you when you were younger to that actually was key in making me choose this industry. It's by Nick Murray. He's become a mentor of mine. Just an absolutely fantastic individual. He's a good man, he's a great communicator and so much wisdom. And this book, simple Wealth and Everable Wealth, is the only book that he's written for the individual investor, because most of what he writes is to other financial professionals. He makes other financial professionals better, but he wrote this book almost like it's a labor of love to the individual investor and it was a big part of me switching from medicine into finance. I was on a plane on the way to a wedding reading it, thinking this is the message I need to get the hands of more people, and it was transformational for me. Um, so that he was a big one.
Speaker 1:
And brendan, my dad, is the other one. I, I, I think my dad laid a lot of that groundwork for me. I saw I can't if we talked about this last time, but I, he used to teach classes in our church uh, financial class, biblically based financial, financial classes before Dave Ramsey was even a thing. There was a guy named Larry Burkett and he had this class called Ground Financial. He was the pioneer before Dave Ramsey. He paved the way for Dave Ramsey a little bit. Dave Ramsey, of course, has just blown that space up, but my dad used to teach that. So, even as a kid, I saw people's lives being transformed through better financial behavior, better financial management. Because, as you and I both know, when somebody feels confident and takes control of their finances, that discipline, that perseverance starts to ripple through other areas of life. It doesn't just remain in finances, and the other side is also true. Anxiety and fear around finances, frustration that ripples into other areas of your life. That stress goes into your relationships, it goes into your physical health. So if people can take control of their finances, it doesn't just help them build better financial health, it helps them build a better life.
Speaker 1:
I saw that happening as a kid. Growing up, I saw my dad not just teach it but model it. That's what was so important, because he wasn't a hypocrite. I saw my dad did these things that he taught other people. I got to see the benefits of that.
Speaker 1:
I was in my early 20s when he paid off his house. He was 100% debt-free and so he was still pretty young in life and I saw the blessing that he was able to make for other people because he had extra money. He had margin in his life to be generous and to give to others, and he didn't do it boastfully and showy, but I would sometimes find out the things that he did for other families in our church. Like man, that's so cool, like that's that's what having having a financial path allows you to do. Is is that doesn't just doesn't just protect you and your family. It allows you to to make an impact lives of those around you. So those are my two inspirations. I think early in life was my dad, and then, as a young adult, nick Murray, and then, later on, dave Ramsey.
Speaker 2:
Awesome, and I guess the last question I'll ask is if you are a new dad out there, because a lot of my, a lot of my friends are having children, and so I think it's a useful question for them. If you're a new father and you're worried about, okay, you know, when my kids grow up, how am I going to raise them the right way, to think the right way and to make the right choices? And so if I'm not here one day, they know what to do. You know, what would you say is some great advice for them? I would assume it would be much like what your dad did for you yes, um, again, more is more is caught than taught.
Speaker 1:
so you can teach a kid all day, but they're going to watch your behavior. They're going to listen to what you do more than what you say. But beyond that too, I think vulnerability is huge. I mean, as a father, I've got to be somebody who owns up to my mistakes and lets my kids. I'm not perfect. I mess up, because I want my kids to be able to come to me when they make a mistake and and and I want them to see my flaws.
Speaker 1:
And a lot of dads like we try to be this tough. Like you know, we're unshakable, we're never scared and all that. And I think our kids, our kids, need to see the chinks in our armor. I think they'll respect us more and it gives them the freedom to try new things and fail. They don't feel like they have to be perfect anymore. So I think that's a big one.
Speaker 1:
And specifically around money, it's normalizing conversations about money. A lot of people grow up in households where the only time money is never talked about, or sorry money is never talked about, except when it is a stressful conversation. The only time money is talked about when it's a negative, when there isn't enough when a mistake was made, when the bills aren't being paid and it's brought up under negative connotations. So just normalizing conversations about money, I think, is I mean, it's very specific to money, you were talking bigger, but so I think, on a general thing, model, the behavior you wanna see your kids executing, be vulnerable and specifically the money, just talk about it. You don't need to be an expert, but just make it normal to have discussions where they can grow up being open and honest about financial matters.
Speaker 2:
Awesome, that's a great answer, man. Thank you so much for coming on our show again. Tell us again where can we get your book Forging Financial Freedom? It's out there for everybody. It's a fantastic book. I'm definitely going to get it. I read some samples on Amazon, so it's really good.
Speaker 1:
Yep, forgingfinancialfreedomcom, and you can also find us at VeritasAlaskacom if people have questions and want more help.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely All righty. Thank you, and I can't wait to have you on again. Man, we'll be growing this podcast more and more, so, honestly, we'll be, we'll, we'll definitely have you on again. You got a lot of great wisdom, a lot of great advice, so definitely a pleasure.
Speaker 1:
The pleasure and honor is mine. Thank you, Brendan. Thanks for watching.