Recently, Michael Wallin and Stacey Andres attended a conference called "Redeeming Money," put on by Kingdom Advisors. Kingdom Advisors is an organization that helps teach, educate and resource those who are in the financial planning industry approach helping their clients plan their future from a Biblical, God centered perspective. This aligns closely with Michael and Stacey's values, and the came away from the conference with a few quotes that illustrate this, including:
"Is your ladder leaning against the wrong wall?"
"I want to steward the much as much as I steward the little."
“Immature people only see things from their point of view. Lordship issues are resolved when I manage it for Him.”
Throughout today's episode, Michael and Stacey will explain their philosophy as advisors, and how they can help you with your financial future.
To learn more, visit our website: https://www.artofwealthunbroken.com/
Jag: Welcome into episode number three of The Art of Wealth Unbroken. I am Jon "JAG" Gay joined again by Michael Wallin and Stacey Andres. Great to be with both of you.
Stacey: Thank you, Jag. Good to be with you
Michael: JAG. Glad to be here today. We've got a great topic that we want to share with the listeners. So we're looking forward to it.
Stacey: Absolutely Mike, a couple of weeks ago.
You and I were down in Orlando for a Kingdom Advisors conference that we weren't really sure what to expect. It was called Redeeming Money. Put on by Kingdom Advisors and for our audience, if you are not familiar with who Kingdom Advisors are, they are an organization that helps to teach. They help educate. They resource those that are in the financial planning industry.
And really their goal is to help advisors take an approach that is biblically sound and God-centered, and have that be the core perspective. So one of the reasons that we both enjoy the conference so much was because it really aligns in so many ways with our approach and with our thinking in regards to financial planning.
And so beyond helping clients address risk, for both you and I, oure bigger desire and our bigger purpose, and what I think we would both consider a higher calling is that we want to help clients structure a financial blueprint that is based on sound biblical principles and on a God-centered worldview. And so we want to dive into that a little bit deeper today.
So, Mike, would you like to share just a little bit more of what that means, what that looks like as advisors. And for the clients that we work with?
Michael: Sure Stacey, I'll take a shot at this. Again, I got a lot out of the conference. We had incredible speakers there. I think a lot of the listeners have probably heard of John Maxwell or read one of the 78 books that he created.
And I almost had writer's cramp, just taking notes from this. We all walk away from these type of conferences, with little quotes that can inspire us daily to do a better job. And one of the quotes that was talked about is Stephen Covey's quote about leaning your ladder against the wrong wall and that actual quote is:
If the ladder that you're using is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster. And I think a lot of our listeners today can probably relate to that. They've either engaged into financial planning in some way one of the elements of financial planning, whether it's the investment side or focusing on tax, or maybe on the insurance side, financial planning is holistic, and you have to look at each of the little small, intricate details of the sub components to make sure you're doing what's right.
Many times Stacey, as we sit and we talk to clients, we identified that they're doing one or two or three of the things really great, but they've completely overlooked an area that is going to derail them. And the name of our show is about identifying those elements that will create broken wealth. And we want to help them overcome that slowly.
So I would say the number one thing, Stacey, is does the client have a purpose for what they're trying to achieve? And that means, and as John Maxwell stated, when he got up there, have an understanding, so you don't have a misunderstanding. And oftentimes couples will sit together. Both of them thinking they're on the exact same page, but they've really never talked through what their long term final goals and results are that they want to achieve.
And that hampers their ability to plan today to ultimately get to that final destination.
Stacey: That is so true. Yeah. That comes up more often than it probably should, but it's never surprising when it does. You had mentioned quotes. And so another quote that I think stood out to both of us, I want to steward the much as I steward the little. That's pretty powerful and it can be pretty impactful of a person to really grasp and understand what that means.
Can you just explain a little bit more about that and why that's so important?
Michael: Again, and that was John Maxwell that was speaking about clients that he had addressed that had came through when he was in the ministry. And one of the things. A client. They had very, very modest means early on in their marriage.
And over the years, they continued to grow and get not wealthier, but they were getting more comfortable. And so through their stewardship when they were in their early years JAG those people out there eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a cheese sandwich. Yeah. Maybe with a bowl of chili in those really lean years.
Jag: Sounds like when I was working in radio.
Michael: Yeah. I thought we could all relate. But you know, in those years we watch every single penny and we have to really know where we're spending that money and that quote, Stacy really came into place as the money got more money at the end of the month, and there was days at the end of the month, they wanted to make sure that their stewardship of the resources that God has provided to them, that they were stewarding it at the same level as they did when they didn't have much.
And I think a lot of our clients as we sit and we talk to them, they have found themselves in that same scenario, where early on, they may have watched every penny, but now they've got very comfortable with their cashflow and they may not be stewarding those resources the same way they used to. And ultimately when they retire, and they're going to be now dependent upon social security or their ability to draw from other income streams. They're going to see a shortfall because their focus has not been on driving their investment strategy to actually get them to the destination that they need to be at. And when that income stream from work stops, they're going to be for some are going to be back like it was in their early years of their marriage.
Stacey: We hear often that, that, that applies in your giving when you're starting out in business or when you're new and you don't have a lot of income and you say, I'm not going to give, or I'm not going to tithe because I just, I have more need left at the end of the month.
And I have money to meet that need. And we hear it said that if you don't give when you have the need, the chances that you're going to give, when you have more just drops dramatically. So all about stewardship, one of the quotes, that was the very, very first session I believe that we were in, they said that poorest people are often those that have the most money
Michael: Because that's all they have.
Stacey: That is all they have. And so a person that has a lot of money, what does that mean? What is their thinking like?
Michael: Well, I think that comes to what is their calling? Do they really want to make an impact in life more than just on themselves? I mean, it's one thing to be comfortable in your own expenditures, but if you've been blessed with great resources, there is great opportunity, how much impact can be done through other people's lives.
And this is one of the things that I took away and, you know, really felt challenged is really finding causes that I can find purpose in my life and really be able to make a difference in other people's lives. And for some people they may say I'm drawn to that and others may say, they're not. But I think that when we really look back at that dash, that's on our headstone ,between the day that we're born in the day that we die and we really measure what does that dash say about our life?
What's the difference that we've been able to make in other people's lives writes volumes about our character, about our stewardship, about how we viewed money, that it was not the end all, but it was the ability for us to make a positive impact that bettered someone else's life.
Stacey: Absolutely. And you and I've talked about this a little bit.
Last June. I had an opportunity to go to the British Virgin islands. And for me, that was a life-changing event because the whole event was really kind of a, "What's your purpose?" What are you living for? And when you pass away, what is it that you want to be remembered for? And coming out of that, it's just, it has changed my thinking.
It's changed my approach to business and to relationships. And I think from a personal standpoint, I feel that a lot of people never really find their true calling. And that is very unfortunate.
Michael: I saw that change in you immediately, Stacey, and one of the things that it almost gave a flag.
You raised your flag at that time, which really led into creating this podcast that the listeners are here finding out more about what that cause has been in your life and my life. And it goes beyond being a financial planner. I've been doing this for nearly 30 years. And it's not about the income.
It's not about the impact of only helping my personal family, but it's really starting from the standpoint of helping individuals really define what it is that is important in their life. Really build the strategy out around that, and then piecing in the financial element instead of leading with financial.
So many of our peers in the industry really only care about making a transaction, putting money into motion for an individual. And that's just hoping that you're going to hit a goal. Our perspective is let's really build out the narrative of what you want to achieve. Really define that plan and then layer in your financials. That gives us the highest probability of succeeding.
Stacey: Aboslutely. And so as we kind of draw toward the end of our show here today, one final thing that I want to touch on briefly is the difference between us rationalizing a decision and us being satisfied with what we currently have with our current position. Can you just talk a little bit more about that and why being satisfied with what we've been given is so important?
Michael: Yeah, this is... I can unpack this Stacey for about another 45 minute segment.
So we probably have to just sprinkle this in over several of the upcoming shows, but rationalizing and the way they said it was satisfying, even though we know that's not an actual word. When we're making decisions, we are rational beings. And so when we're faced with things and we rationale out opportunities and what it needs to get to, to get to the final solution, often times, what people will do is they will just come to the first conclusion in their mind that will satisfy the need.
And they'll stop the process at that moment. Now, let me put that in layman's terms. What often happens is the market starts changing in our world. And you'll have clients that will immediately get to a knee jerk reaction that says if the markets are contracting. My strategy should be to exit. They get emotional and emotional investing typically takes a 2% to 3% reduction and the amount of return that a client will actually experience.
Stacey: And that's over the course of their lifetime. Annually.
Michael: Annualy. So compound that out and it makes the difference of whether or not you have enough money at the end of your life, or you don't. And that becomes emotional investing because the first conclusion they had was I have to escape this situation where in reality, if they were well-diversified, the rationale would be that I have invested for the long term.
I expect that the market will be favorable at times and not favorable at times. And so I am going to wait the course, I am going to weather through the storms because it's not going to last forever and the markets are going to recover. And so as we look at that, that becomes that rationalizing versus satisficing.
Make sure the conclusion you come up with is well vetted to make sure that it meets your goals today. Midterm and long term. My favorite quote and Stacey, you hear me say this all the time, is people compromise and then they justify. Once you build a strong financial plan around achieving the objectives of what is in your heart and in your mind and what you want to ultimately be known for.
Don't compromise. What you have put together and then justify it so that the consequences are no longer there. Let's not make excuses. Let's do our work on the front end, build it, and then let's execute it and then tweak it if we need to. But don't abandon the process.
Stacey: So one final John Maxwell quote, since we both love him as an author and a speaker.
He said that immature people only see things from their point of view. Lordship issues are resolved when I, or when we, manage those resources for him.
Michael: Absolutely.
Stacey: Can you just speak to that for a minute?
Michael: What John Maxwell had done in his presentation is that he had lent an individual, a hundred dollars.
And then later on, he had asked for the individual to bring him the a hundred dollars back up on stage. Well, the guy had absolutely no issue bringing him the a hundred dollars because it was already, his. So that kind of parallels over that for those listeners that feels that whatever they have is because God has only given them stewardship of it.
And it's really all his anyway. So us giving it back to him is not us giving anything. It's us returning to the rightful owner, what was already theirs. And when we change our mindset, what we typically do is we take a tight grip off and we actually have open hands and giving is done with an open hand, not a clutched hand.
And it is so liberating when we start thinking that way.
Stacey: Absolutely. And so this is more of what you will be hearing over the coming weeks and the coming. When it comes to the planning, philosophy, our thinking behind our process and how we want to help you as clients, position yourselves for the future.
And so thank you guys for being here today. JAG we'll turn it back over to you.
Jag: What's really interesting hearing about your philosophy, Stacey and Mike, and how you're both aligned in this investing philosophy and really how that applies to how you can help your clients and our listeners, should they want to become clients.
Michael: And one way they would do that, JAG is they could go to our website. Art of wealth unbroken.com. Simply go to get more information, they can enter their information. We will have white papers that we will distribute out through our mailing lists, but we also have articles and important pieces of information that we will post onto the website.
And for that mailing list will happy to send copies of that out to each of the listeners.
Jag: Great, the website again is art of wealth, unbroken.com. That'll be linked in today's show notes, Stacey, Mike, pleasure as always. We'll talk again soon. .
Stacey: Thank you, Jag.
Michael: Thanks JAG.