The question... "As someone in my 20s often finding myself as the youngest person in the room with clients or colleagues, I struggle to connect with clients on a personal level due to a lack of shared life experiences. This challenge impacts my communication and presentation skills, which I believe could benefit from improvement. Given your expertise and experience, I would greatly appreciate any advice or tips you may have on overcoming imposter syndrome when age is a primary factor. Additionally, I'm interested in learning about effective strategies for enhancing communication and presentation skills, especially when faced with clients whose experiences may differ significantly from my own." My answer...

No matter how much you have, two things will always be simultaneously true: 1- You don’t have enough. 2- You have more than enough. It doesn’t matter what we’re talking about. Time, money, love, energy, resources, etc. Not only are both things true, but there’s also nothing you can do to change the situation. What you can change, on the other hand, is your worldview. In particular, what kind of mindset do you have? One of scarcity or one of abundance? You can choose, you know. You can simply decide to focus on the fact that you have enough. Or, if you really want to, you can fixate on the fact that nothing will ever be enough. But I don’t think that will make you any happier.

I think the key to being a really good financial professional is to be a better human.

There were so many things that stuck out to me about our January workshop at The Society of Advice with @baritessler. But the One Thing that was particularly impactful for me was this... 💥 How can I make more money and have more impact with more ease? This is something I'm actively paying attention to right now, and Bari talked about it! You can watch some of what Bari said in the highlight reel from the call...

Small consistent things done over time produce massive results. It's the interrupting of the compounding that causes the problem. But this doesn't just apply to money. It applies to behavior and habits, too.

At the top of the market, we can’t buy fast enough. At the bottom, we can’t sell fast enough. And we repeat that over and over until we’re broke. No wonder most people are unsatisfied with their investing experience. It makes far more sense to ignore what the crowd is doing and base your investment decisions on what you need to reach your goals, then stick with the plan despite the fear or greed you may feel. To do otherwise would be following a pattern that has proven to be extraordinarily painful.

Real Financial Planning in 10 slides:

Just imagine what might happen if you quit worrying about things you have no control over and quit obsessing over things that don’t matter. Where else might you be able to invest that extra time, energy, and attention?

What if financial happiness is not about getting more but about wanting less? What if things start out as wants and become needs not because the thing itself has changed but because our feelings about it have changed? What if you can never really get enough of something you don’t need?

I want to share something with you that might feel a little bit heavy. You may also wonder what it has to do with money. The truth is, it doesn’t have anything to do with money. Not everything I share does. In fact, this has to do with something more valuable than money, and that’s how we treat each other. So let me tell you a story. Years ago, I was in the airport when I found out one of my best friend's mother had just died quite suddenly. She was at dinner with a friend, felt sick, and was gone within a few hours. I learned this through a message from my mom, who heard about it on the local news. I called my friend. Imagine this scene for a second: There I am, in Terminal 2 of the San Diego airport, calling someone whose mother had just died. He answered. He was crushed. We cried. His mom was one of the few people who always saw past my stupid behavior in high school. She always loved and accepted me, despite my being quite unlovable at the time. She gently influenced me to be better by not trying to influence me at all. She was amazing. My friend knew that better than anyone. He told me about her last moments in the hospital. He told me about begging the doctor to do more. Life. Is. Heavy. And then I boarded a plane. I thought about everyone else on the plane. I wondered if the airline employee scanning my boarding pass could see that I had been crying. Were my eyes red? Swollen? I wondered if there would be room for my bag in the overhead bin. If the person next to me would be nice. In that moment, I couldn’t help but think about how odd the situation felt. All around me were strangers. I knew no one. And as far as I knew, no one had any idea what I was dealing with. I thought about the flight attendant, the man sitting next to me, and the woman across the aisle. Did they have a sick child or a friend in the hospital? Were they on that plane in a race against time? What about the person who had been yelling at the gate agent or, for that matter, those who were yelling on Twitter while I checked it standing in line? As I turned away and stared at the Pacific Ocean through the little window from my seat on the plane, I was left with a bunch of grief and two big questions. What burdens are all the people on this plane carrying? And how would I treat them differently if I knew? In the moment, this was a very emotional experience. I wanted to treat everyone the way we all deserve to be treated. I wanted to give everybody room. I wanted to be more patient. What’s crazy is that just a week later, I was rushing through another airport and tapping my foot impatiently as the guy in front of me fumbled with his things in the security line. That feeling of goodwill faded away so quickly. I don’t want it to fade away. I want to hold on to it. How do we do that? How do we hold on to that feeling of goodwill? I don’t know the answer… but I do think asking the question is a good start.

Back in August 2023, the One Thing I took away from the 90 minutes I spent with Members as part of The Membership is this... Look for the crunchy bits! Crunchy bits are those emotional moments in a client meeting. Often, the most important thing for us to help a client resolve is something that's mentioned as a side note. As Paul Wheaton wrote in the chat, "I’ve often noticed it [crunchy bits] shows up as like an aside the client says. For example, they are recounting some story and then they take a brief detour in their story or throw in a line." Here are some examples… "Oh, yeah, it's always cold at the house." "My dad always used to say that." "My mom taught us that." If we pay attention and notice the crunchy bits, it turns out that they are whole point, right? It could be that the most important thing about money starts just as a side note! When would that have come up in your risk tolerance questionnaire or your intake forms? The crunchy bits come up because you noticed a little sentence and there seemed to be a feeling behind it! Watch the highlight reel for this call here: youtu.be/Hht_Hfbj3LM Intrigued about The Membership? Join The Membership now to get your first month free. Cancel anytime. Claim your seat here: thesocietyofadvice.com/the-m… I'll see you on our next live call. Live up!

Amy Mullen was our guest for our October 2023 Worldwide Chapter Meeting for The Society of Advice! We don't often have financial industry professionals and experts in our field as guests. We've mainly stuck to people outside the financial planning industry. But...

Our September 2023 Worldwide Chapter Meeting for The Society of Advice was with @BStulberg. Brad talked about his new book, “Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything Is Changing – Including You.” There were a lot of great moments on this call, but my One Thing I took away from our 90 minutes together is this: We are guides in a changing landscape, and it's important that we understand the VALUE of that! Our value isn't in drawing a line of certainty. Our value isn't in selling certainty. Look, don't get me wrong… We've got to be great at drawing lines on a map, right? Of course! Making plans, using calculators, and building spreadsheets, we've got to be great at it… world-class rock stars! The technical piece of our job is important, but that's not our VALUE. Because the technical piece doesn't matter at all if we can't help people continually recalibrate and course-correct to what they're really after. Friends, that's what we covered in the call. It was so good! Intrigued about The Membership? Today, I am inviting you to come and see… Join The Membership now to get your first month free. Cancel anytime. Your seat is waiting for you... thesocietyofadvice.com/the-m… I'll see you on our next live call!

How much money is "enough?" As a former Managing Director at BlackRock’s hedge fund division, @khemaridh left behind the hustle of Wall Street to embark on an introspective journey to redefine his relationship with money. What ended up being "enough" for him? Here's a hint: it includes a cross-country move, two little kids, and a lot of surfing. On 50 Fires: A Podcast About Money and Meaning from Executive Producers Chip and Joanna Gaines, I have frank, funny, and often difficult conversations about money - the kind we were all told not to have! - with guests from all walks of life. Listen to the first episode here... link.chtbl.com/50firespod

Money: it’s a necessity, but sometimes it becomes an obsession. For @bryce, a venture capitalist who also happens to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, balancing faith, morality and financial success is a personal challenge. On this episode, I asked Bryce to ponder the Devil's Golden Question... How much money is enough? We share our personal experiences growing up in the Mormon church, wrestling with cultural pressures around money specific to our faith, and ultimately recognizing that the most important things in life cannot be monetized. This discussion is not just a theological exploration, but a personal reflection on lessons learned with money and how it shapes our views of life as a whole! Listen to the episode here: link.chtbl.com/50firespod

At the top of the market, we can’t buy fast enough. At the bottom, we can’t sell fast enough. And we repeat that over and over until we’re broke. No wonder most people are unsatisfied with their investing experience. It makes far more sense to ignore what the crowd is doing and base your investment decisions on what you need to reach your goals, then stick with the plan despite the fear or greed you may feel. To do otherwise would be following a pattern that has proven to be extraordinarily painful.

Boom! Finally made it into @people Magazine! My mom now loves my work! people.com/chip-and-joanna-g…