October 11, 2024 • 28 mins
In this podcast episode, I welcome a special guest my older brother, Gabe McManus. Gabe joined our team as a book coach this year, bringing his deep passion for personal finance and his unique background in theater and editing to help financial advisors craft compelling narratives for their books.
This episode dives into Gabe’s journey from an avid personal finance enthusiast to a professional book coach, highlighting his approach to helping financial advisors find their unique voice and reach their ideal audience.
Gabe's Journey: From Finance Enthusiast to Book Coach
- Personal Finance as a Hobby: Gabe discusses his love for personal finance and the hundreds of books he’s read on the subject, ranging from classics like Rich Dad Poor Dad to The Millionaire Next Door.
- The Importance of Storytelling: With a background in performance, he shares how he helps advisors translate complex financial ideas into engaging stories that resonate with readers.
Helping Financial Advisors Publish Books
- The Power of the “One Big Idea”: We discuss how impactful books are often anchored by a single compelling idea, I share how our latest book projects are focused on helping advisors clarify their message to resonate with potential clients.
- Overcoming Financial Stress: He recounts his own experiences with finances and how sequencing money management decisions can relieve financial stress. He reflects on stories from our clients, showing how the right financial guidance can transform lives.
- Creating Financial Harmony in Relationships: We explore how the principles in books we’ve worked on, such as managing finances with intention, can foster healthier conversations about money between couples.
The Role of Financial Advisors in Personal Finance
- Beyond Investment Products: Gabe explains how working with advisors has shown him the holistic support they offer, which goes beyond mere product recommendations to include guidance on wealth building and financial independence.
- Pre-Selling Through Books: I talk about how a well-written book can serve as a powerful tool for advisors to pre-sell their services by sharing their expertise and philosophy before they ever meet with potential clients.
Takeaways for Financial Advisors
- Every Dollar Should Have a Purpose: We discuss the concept of giving each dollar a purpose, a core tenet of the books Gabe and I admire, which helps clients build wealth over time by automating their savings and investment processes.
- Write Your Own Financial Legacy: For advisors considering writing a book, Gabe and I emphasize the importance of identifying their unique message and leveraging it to inspire change and attract clients.
- Creating a Ripple Effect: Gabe shares stories of how his clients’ ideas have influenced him personally, even affecting his conversations on the golf course and beyond.
About Our Guest: Gabe McManus is a Theatre Arts Teacher and Book Coach with a passion for personal finance.
- You can learn more about his work: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabe-mcmanus-0350505b/
About Your Host: Paul G. McManus is an accomplished author and expert in helping financial professionals grow their businesses. With over eight years of experience working exclusively with financial professionals, Paul has helped his clients generate tens of millions of dollars in fees and commissions.
Claim your free audiobook copy at: www.theshortbookformula.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to another episode of the Million Dollar
Producer Show.
I'm your host, Paul G McManus.
Today I have not only a specialguest, but I would dare say a
surprising guest.
I have my older brother.
His name is Gabe McManus.
Welcome, Gabe.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Thank you.
Paul has to say that because wewant Thanksgiving to go well
this year, so the most special,of course, right For anyone
that's been following me for alittle bit.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I'm currently living in St Louis, which is completely
out of left field because I'vebeen living in San Diego forever
.
But my whole family's decidedto move from Southern California
out to the St Louis areabecause I run an online business
, joined them, and we actuallyhave Thanksgiving together.
The reason I have Gabe on mypodcast today is that he this
(00:53):
year has joined my company as abook coach.
We've been doing extremely well, especially this past year.
We've been growing rapidly,bringing on a lot of new
financial advisors to help themwrite and publish their first
books, and so Gabe was one ofthe first people I reached out
to to see if he'd be willing tobecome a book coach because of
(01:14):
his background and, really, Iwould say, his passion for
personal finance.
But I want him to introducehimself a little bit and I'll
maybe ask a few questions toguide the conversation.
Gabe, first and foremost it,and I'll maybe ask a few
questions to guide theconversation.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Gabe, first and foremost, tell us a little bit
about your background and whyyou decided to join us as a book
coach at this stage.
This started from sitting inthe hot tub with my brother and
talking about what he does, andit was so fascinating to me
because I love the subject ofpersonal finance.
It's my hobby, I read as manybooks on it as I can.
I also have a background inediting, and so as we started
(01:47):
talking about what Paul's beenup to, it just became it was
such a great opportunity for meto get to go and to work with
him on this.
I don't know that we could haveever guessed that we'd be
working together someday, paul,but it's truly been a pleasure
and getting to work with yourclients.
I think you have some fantasticclients.
It's so interesting to talk tothem about what they do.
Financial advisors work in aspace that I think is amazing,
(02:11):
and they're able to help people,and so my background comes from
the performance side of things.
I've worked for a long time asa teacher working with
performers a lot of theater andI found that there were
similarities because, from thebook side and from the
performance side finding theseways of helping financial
advisors craft their message ina way that reaches audience.
(02:33):
It's just been a great fit anda lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
I think what's remarkable is that you have a
passion for personal financebooks.
I think you actually put thison Facebook somewhere, but in
the last year or two, how manypersonal finance books have you
actually listened to that?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
is a good question.
So on December 31st every yearI list the books that I listened
to and so I go out hiking andI'm listening to personal
finance all the time and peoplethey're usually surprised if
they know that side of things,that I do work in a different
field because they think thismust be my one and only, but
it's.
I try to listen to at least 20,30 finance books a year because
(03:08):
I find the ideas in them sofascinating and how we can apply
them to change our financialsituations.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
What's an example?
Maybe one, two or three booksthat you've listened to that
have made an impression and, byextension, why have those books
made an?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
impression.
That's a good question.
One of them that I go back tooften is the Richest man in
Babylon, which really helped meto think about buying assets and
so they can go to work for you,and so it's not you, it's not
your labor, but it's payingyourself first, and so I've
really tried to incorporate thatinto my life, instead of
everything coming in and goingstraight back out the
(03:48):
Millionaire Next Door.
I love that book.
I love the ideas that it'sreally not about what you're
presenting, but it's about a lotof the people that have the
wealth in America that theydon't live luxurious lifestyles.
I like that idea.
The third one it's a goodquestion.
There's a lot of options.
I feel like I'm going to saythe wrong one, but I think maybe
Rich Dad.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
It's one that I think even a lot of financial
advisors have listened to andhave read.
It's often brought up inconversations.
I listened to that or read itway back when, and the cool
thing about books like Rich DadPoor Dad is that you not only
read it once, but because, ifthe message is done well, what
(04:28):
tends to happen is that you'lllisten to it or read it multiple
times.
So a book really helps peopleshape their philosophy about
their finances, and it alsobecomes a book that people
whether it's your ideal readersor your peers begin talking
about right.
Peers begin talking about right.
How many times have you broughtup Rich Dad, poor Dad in a
conversation to someone to helpeither make a suggestion or
(04:49):
explain your point of view?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
I think it's just Rich Dad, poor Dad.
It's one of those sticky ideasthat just from the name alone
you get the concept and theauthor, regardless of a person,
agrees with everything that'swritten in the book.
Immediately you have this senseof oh, there's a different way,
that I can go here and that thechoices that I make are going
to impact whether I'm headingdown the rich dad road or the
poor dad road, and so that helpsme.
(05:13):
I was just talking to a highschool student the other day who
had just picked up that bookand he was getting inspired by
it, and I think it leads to goodconversations and to some good,
inspired thinking on thesubject.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Another one that you mentioned is the millionaire
next door.
I think I read that 10, 20years ago To your point.
Essentially, what I would callthe one big idea is that
millionaires actual millionairestend to live below their means,
and it's counterintuitive inmany ways, because the people
that spend their money, buy thebig house, get the fancy car,
(05:46):
live lavish lifestyles.
We mistakenly think thatthey're actually wealthy.
Oftentimes they might be highincome or they might be in debt
or some combination.
So I want to introduce theconcept in this conversation
about what we call the one bigidea.
In the past month released thesecond edition of my book, the
(06:08):
Short Book Formula, and I'veupdated it with a lot of new
information.
I've refined it.
I've also created a whole newsection of it where it's all
about marketing strategies forfinancial advisors.
That once you publish a booknow what, how do you really turn
this into a 10X investment ormore?
For financial advisors?
That once you publish a booknow what, how do you really turn
this into a 10x investment ormore?
I want to highlight that foranyone who's either already
(06:31):
purchased my book this is ahighly recommend getting the
second edition or, if youhaven't purchased my book, you
can do so.
Just make sure to look for thesecond edition, and those are
available on Amazon.
But in chapter two of the bookI introduced the concept of the
one big idea.
What is the North Star for yourbook?
And just the books that we'vetalked about so far, from Rich
(06:53):
Dad, poor Dad, to theMillionaire Next Door and to the
Richest man in Babylon thesehave all been impactful because
they really come back to one orthe other idea.
Would you agree with thatassessment?
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Yeah, I agree that one big idea.
It's so important because youwant to be clear in your
messaging.
If it gets too scattered, it'seasy to lose an audience, and so
something that's going to stickin their head long after
they've read it is the mostimportant thing that you can do
when thinking about writing yourbook.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I want to have some fun here, because this year
Gabe's taken on a number of newclients as the book coach and I
think what's most interesting atleast from my perspective and
Gabe, I think you'll agree withthis is that even though you've
read all these books aboutpersonal finance, you started
this as what I would say askeptic when it comes to
financial advisors.
Tell us a little bit more aboutyour skepticism, but I'll give
(07:42):
you the through line that we'llget to is that Gabe has changed
his tune.
But let's start with theskepticism.
What, despite all thisinformation you've had and being
interested in money andpersonal finance, what's been
your position up until recently?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I want to throw another book out there and this
is something that I've listenedto more than once and it's
Unshakeable by Tony Robbins.
In that book, a lot of themessaging is about avoiding fees
, about investing in an S&P 500index fund and letting your
money grow and not having iteaten away by fees, and so I
think a lot of my skepticismcame from that angle, thinking I
(08:19):
don't want to talk to somebodywho doesn't necessarily
outperform the market and I'mpaying my money in order to get
that advice.
What I didn't realize is thatthere's so much more to it than
that, and so a lot from talkingto financial advisors now
because now I'm having realconversations and realizing that
there's so much more, thatthere's so many more things that
(08:41):
they bring to the table thathelp me as an individual, that
are going to help their clientsin order to turn their financial
lives around and to reallybegin to build wealth.
And that was a missing piece,because on my own it wasn't
happening, and I think thatthrough the advice and through
talking to advisors, I'verealized how important it is.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
That's such an important thing, especially as
an advisor, to listen to,because you have invested a lot
of time, energy, in what you doyou provide.
What I've done for the pastclose to a decade now, really
since 2016, when I startedworking more or less exclusively
with financial advisors is thatI've unlike Gabe, who's
(09:21):
listened to a lot of books andgot a lot of advice that way
I've just been.
I've worked with close to 500financial advisors, and
oftentimes it's interviewingthem and deep diving into their
value proposition, their stories, and so I've learned a lot just
by talking to all these,directly to all these financial
advisors In that time.
To me, it's been fascinatingbecause when I started out, I
(09:42):
spoke to more advisors that weremaybe more, a little bit more
life insurance based, and so Igot to understand the benefits
of life insurance, such as wholelife insurance, and I was
through that.
I was motivated and inspired toinvest in a whole life policy,
which I'm happy that I did andat that time I chose an advisor.
Her name is Nancy and I choseher because I just felt that I
(10:06):
trusted her.
I felt that she was an expertat what she did.
I felt that I could trust herand she would help me make a
decision that was in my bestinterest, and so I wasn't scared
of her trying to quote unquotesell me something.
I was already sold on theproduct and she would help me
make a good selection, and partof the reason I bring that up is
that who's your realcompetition, right?
I think there's probably twocategories that come to my mind,
(10:28):
which is number one.
It's the do-it-yourselfers,it's the people like Gabe, who
are just skeptical, that don'tsee the value.
They've listened to books andessentially they come from a
perspective that just invest inthe S&P 500, broadly speaking,
avoid fees at all costs, andthey've gotten that advice and,
whether it's right or wrong,they've gotten that advice from
(10:51):
books, from authoritativesources that, like Gabe
mentioned Tony Robbins, and Ithink there's another one that
comes to my mind at least, andprobably most of us have watched
the movie the Wolf of WallStreet, and there's just a fear
that an advisor is a salespersonand is going to take advantage
of you.
I've used an advisor before toinvest in a specific product,
(11:11):
but I've not actually hired afull-time financial advisor that
I work with on an ongoing basis, and so Gabe and I are going to
in a moment we're going tostart talking about one of the
clients that's come to us.
His name is Steven.
We're not going to disclose hisfull name because we've not been
given permission to do so.
We haven't asked him.
His story is remarkable andit's had a big impact on both of
this and Steven, if you'relistening, hello, we're about to
(11:36):
talk about your story, butwe'll keep your last name and
book title private as of thismoment.
But we do want to reallyhighlight you because you and
your ideas have had a profoundimpact on the two of us and it
gets into the idea of the onebig idea.
Gabe, I'm going to toss it backto you now.
You worked with Stephen as hisbook coach and just tell me,
based on coming into that as askeptic to where you are today,
share with us what transpiredand what impacted your thinking.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Working with Stephen really did change my thinking on
it very quickly.
And when you're talking, paul,about that one big idea, when I
had these conversations withStephen, what I found myself
doing was the next day when Iwas with friends or out on the
golf course, that I wasrepeating these ideas, that I
was talking to friends andsaying have you thought about
this?
Does your financial advisortalk like this?
(12:18):
Do you have this message?
So I realized that it wassomething unique and special
because it had me thinking aboutit.
We've had long conversationsabout those ideas and so I
thought that really showcaseshow one big idea can really just
start reaching out and for yourclients, when they get to
talking about it, it's such abig winner.
(12:39):
His ideas I feel as ado-it-yourselfer and we had open
conversations where I would sayhere's my concerns.
I want to backtrack real quickand say, tony Robbins, I still
love your books and your ideas.
I am not knocking it.
I still don't want to pay feesand I still believe in the S&P
500 index, but now I've seenthat there's a broader picture,
also With Stephen's ideas.
(13:00):
It really was challenging mythinking and so all of the
locked in positions that I had,I found myself nodding along and
saying, yeah, it was like hewas getting into my head that,
yeah, that took place between meand my wife at the time, and
this is something that I'mdealing with.
And oh, and there's answers too, and here's how you can stop
(13:20):
working.
You can stop dealing with thesame problems and you can move
on to cooler problems, and Ireally liked that, and so I
think it helped transform mythinking on the subject, and it
shows that when you're clearabout your message, you can
really have a great impact onpeople in the way they think,
especially about their money.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
I would add to that that, working with so many
financial advisors as my clientgenerally, oftentimes people
will say, hey, we should talkabout this and another, and
normally I politely decline, atleast until I get to know them
really well.
And the ideas that Stevenbrought just during the very
first call just be clear.
He was buying into my services.
He was there to start as anauthor, but he shared, he took
the time to share his idea forthe book, and I was genuinely
(14:00):
impressed.
And it was super genuinebecause by the end of the call
he essentially said hey, I'mhappy to set up a call with my
team so we can see how we canhelp you.
And up until that point I wouldnever have said yes, but I was
genuinely impressed by the idea.
And this is probably a fewmonths back and since then I've
become a client, and it's onlybeen probably a month or so now
(14:20):
that I've been a client, butI've been very happy with
everything that he's done.
I wanted to make sure that Iwas making a good choice for
myself, as we all do, as yourprospects do, and so, even
though I had said yes to thefirst call, I wasn't convinced
yet Right, and so by the veryfirst call it's.
He was in a situation where, Iwould argue, most advisors would
(14:41):
love to be, where he didn'thave to pitch me, he didn't have
to educate me, he didn't haveto sell me.
He could have just said signhere and we'll move forward.
And I would have said, sureCause I was already pre-sold, I
was already on the ideas and Isaid, no, take me through the
process.
I was just curious, really, asto see what he did, but I was
pre-sold going into that call.
(15:03):
Again, that's one of the thingsabout writing and publishing a
book is that ultimately, if wecan capture those ideas and use
it as a marketing tool to get itto your prospects in advance of
that first call, it'll helppre-sell them on the value that
you bring.
Or if they come to you and theyhaven't read your book, if you
give them the book, say, betweenmeeting number one or number
two, and you give it to them asa homework assignment to read
(15:23):
before that next meeting, youcan pre-sell them on that second
meeting, which allows you to bea lot less salesy.
It allows you to save a ton oftime because you're able to more
quickly take someone from Idon't know who you are to
suddenly, where have you been mywhole life?
But so I'm getting a little bitoff track here, but I did think
that was useful to share, andso let's talk briefly about the
(15:45):
big idea or a couple of thetangents that were impactful for
you and me, gabe, in terms ofhis book specifically, what was
it?
What was the big idea, or whatwere some of the ideas that are
memorable to you?
Speaker 2 (16:01):
I think, starting off , it's about he used the word
sequencing that there's thingsthat we want to do in life and
he's not saying no to any ofthat.
So it's not just the frugalityof don't buy lattes and so you
can have more money, but it'sthat you can do all of these
things and he wants you to doall of them, but it's the right
order.
So taking your money and takinga hard look at what you spend,
what's coming in and what'sgoing out, then putting it into
different buckets and so you'relooking ahead.
(16:22):
One of the ideas was that wespend Christmas every year,
maybe if you're buying Christmaspresents or other presents for
other holidays or birthdays andthen we act surprised when we
get there.
That wasn't part of my budget,but that we can start
anticipating some of these costs, like auto repair, new tires
for the car, things that come up.
But when we look at it and putit on a spreadsheet, that it
(16:44):
really becomes clear about whatwe're spending.
And then taking a certainamount and making that what you
can spend on your weeklyspending and paying yourself
into a different account.
So, based on that, I haveseveral different bank accounts
now, a couple of checking and afew savings and things are
organized in a different waythan they've ever been organized
before.
And I'll tell you, thetransformative part about it is
(17:06):
that before I had budgeting apps, I never really used it.
I thought I can only spend thismany thousand this month and it
just didn't really work.
But now that spreadsheet's openall the time and I'm thinking
how can I make this work betterfor me, how can I improve it and
get it to the point where,instead of dealing with the same
old problems every month, whereI only have this much coming in
(17:29):
and it's all going right backout, where I can get to the
point where I can save more andI can contribute more to my
retirement and I can start tobuild real wealth and have money
to do things.
And those are the coolerproblems that he talked about.
So I think the way that it wassequenced about we start here
and then we're moving towardsthese much better goals I
thought that's something that Ican really get behind and is
(17:50):
going to change the way that Ithink about my money and the way
that I manage my money.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
I'm going to take the liberty of throwing you under
the bus for a second.
Not throwing you under the bus,that's phrased wrong.
I'm going to get into the realmof TMI perhaps, where you're
like why'd you say that?
But I did hear you say it.
I think you did mention thatyou have an alimony payment and
I can imagine that for couples,one of the biggest arguments is
personal finances.
In the book, stephen talks abouthis own journey with his wife,
(18:19):
kelly from say, 20 years ago tonow, where they started out and
he would question her purchases,and he described himself as
judge, juror and executioner andhow his system helped to go
from that dynamic, which wasn'thealthy, to now a very healthy
dynamic.
This is in the book so I canshare it.
I believe he's gone fromessentially starting out in his
twenties with no net worth andnow he has, I want to say, $9
(18:42):
million of assets, and he's only44 years old and it's a
remarkable quote, unquote ragsto riches case study, which is
part of really why I think Gabeand I were attracted to the idea
is because it's like it's notjust theoretical, it's like hey,
here's exactly what I did, thisis what my wife and I did which
is just really impactful.
But just from maybe thatperspective of his approach and
how it actually can help couplesgenuinely potentially heal some
(19:07):
of that discord that they mighthave when it comes to personal
finances, especially if one's aspender and one's a saver.
I know it's probably too late.
I don't know if you had comeacross some of these ideas maybe
a few years ago.
What are some of the lessonsthat you've?
Speaker 2 (19:20):
learned that's exactly right, and that's what I
told him several times in ourconversations is where were you
15 years ago that this wouldhave been so useful to hear back
then?
But that was one of thosenodding my head moments where
he's talking about his wifecoming in with the target bags
and immediately the questionsare coming out of his mouth
about how much did you spend anddid we need that?
(19:40):
And I thought, yeah, that wasme all the time, and that
there's always going to be inrelationship.
There's going to be the yesperson and the no person, and if
that doesn't get worked out ina harmonious way, it leads to
trouble in relationships.
And so I was just on the golfcourse this morning and my
friend was telling me about somepurchases that his wife had
made, and so we were talkingabout, if you have common goals
(20:02):
that you can get onto the samepage of look, here's where we're
trying to go, and so this iswhy we're limiting our spending
during the week.
And so if you're both trying toget to the same destination,
then maybe it helps people tobridge that gap and to reconcile
the different wants and needs,and then it's not a matter of
because then if you've got a setspending amount and it's been
(20:25):
transferred, hey great, was itout of that?
Perfect.
Then you don't have to worryabout what's being purchased,
that you're making decisionstogether.
So I think to me that was arevolutionary idea, because in
my marriage we didn't have agreat system for talking about
finances.
It usually was more of a stresspoint, which I know it is for a
lot of people.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
From my perspective, I think what he does a
remarkable job of is talkingabout behavioral finance, but in
a way that's very relatable.
So it's not just a theoreticalconcept of behavioral finance,
but it's actually he does itthrough the stories about
himself and his wife and peoplethat he's come across over the
course of his career, and thenthe very beginning.
One of the things he talksabout is that when he was
(21:03):
starting out as a financialadvisor and he was in his early
twenties, he would speak tocountless retirees and
pre-retirees in their fifties,sixties and seventies and what
he discovered was that everysingle one of them one of the
three things at that stage intheir life which was time,
health, no financial stress, sothat they weren't financially
stressed at that point that theyhad choice in terms of what
(21:24):
they did Did they retire, didthey continue working, did they
do something else but time,health and choice.
And beyond that, what herealized was that the people
that were coming to him a lot ofthem retired, if they saved in
a 401k had done a decent job ofaccumulating money.
Maybe they had a couple hundredthousand, maybe a couple
million, whatever it was, it wasbecause of the automation of
that allowed for that and at thesame time, if he asked that,
(21:45):
maybe they had a million intheir 401k.
But if he asked them, how muchdo you have in your bank account
?
It was maybe a couple thousanddollars.
And so suddenly he wasn't ableto work with them per se because
they didn't have the cash orthe money to do it.
But ultimately what he found wasthat his aha moment was that
when every dollar has a purposebefore it's spent, you can
(22:07):
really that's the behavioralaspect that you can change
people's behaviors much moreeasily, I would say and make a
much bigger impact versus simplytalking about different
financial products andstrategies.
In other words, he calls it theout of sight, out of mind
account.
So every dollar, before youeven hit someone's bank account,
goes to a third party account,out of sight, out of mind
(22:29):
account.
It reminds me a little bit ofthe book Profit First, but which
is meant more for businessowners, but it's a similar
concept.
And so by the time the moneygoes into your spending account
or accounts, it's already beendetermined how much and for what
activities.
And so, like myself, I've neverbeen much of a saver and I've
never budgeted, which now to meseems ridiculous, but the
(22:49):
process becomes super easy onceyou think about it in the way
that he sets it up, and so everydollar has a purpose and you're
now you're just accumulatingmoney on autopilot, similar to
how people accumulate money intheir 401k on autopilot.
Now he's helping me toaccumulate money on autopilot
that before would have ended uplikely being spent, and so,
(23:09):
again, just a remarkable system.
So I guess I haven't thoughtthrough the one sentence.
To describe is one big idea.
There's a couple of differentthings that come to mind, but
perhaps one is that every dollarshould have a purpose because
there's elements of automation,there's elements that are
similar to other systems, otherbooks, but probably the one that
I haven't necessarily heardfrom others is that every dollar
(23:31):
should have a purpose from dayone.
I think that would be mytakeaway from his one big idea.
What would you add to that, ifanything?
Speaker 2 (23:39):
I think that's a clear way of putting it.
I think that every dollarhaving a purpose that helped to
change my thinking about it,because I really was living
prior to that and thinking aboutit in that way, it's like a
financial lie and I think that'sone of the things that he was
willing to say that the industryis lying to you when people are
telling you, yes, you can dothis, that they're wrong, and
(24:00):
people don't want to tell you no, and I hadn't been told no, I
wasn't telling myself no, butthat really, if it's not there
and when you're looking- youdeserve that latte.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Go ahead, buddy.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Yeah, if only it was just a latte, but it's usually
bigger things.
You want to take a trip, youwant to do something and again,
it's not that you shouldn't doit, but if the sequencing hasn't
been done correctly, thenreally you're not in a position
to do it.
Sometimes you have to make hardchoices earlier, and so when
you give every dollar a purposeand say, do I want my dollars
going to this or do I want to beable to save into the buckets
(24:33):
for travel and so I can have theopportunity to do it, and then,
if it's there, fantastic, enjoyyour trip.
And so I thought that's goingto leave me instead of just
spending.
I'm not a huge spender whereI'm spending crazy on credit
cards.
I try to follow other bookslike total money makeover and
get off of credit cards andthings like that.
But it feels so much better ifyou've really done the
sequencing correctly and soyou've given that dollar purpose
(24:55):
.
It's in my travel bucket.
And so now, when my golf buddieswant to go to Phoenix and do
golf and barbecue for a weekend,I'm like perfect, I've got the
money, let's go, and I can enjoyit without feeling like how am
I going to suffer for this later?
Or how's my retirement notgoing to, my retirement needs
not going to get met?
Because I've made these choiceswhen I was younger and not
(25:15):
thinking.
That's what he said it's youdon't know the person you're
going to be.
He's seen so many people reachthat retirement threshold and
they all want the same thing.
And that he said it's thehardest thing to convince
somebody they're going to besomebody that they're not right
now, cause right now we'rethinking in the moment and we
want to do these things.
Now.
We're not looking at who we'regoing to be, but he's helping
(25:36):
through this book and throughthe things that he's talking
about.
He's helping people to lookdown the line.
This is where we all get to and, with that view in mind, look
back and say, okay, now how do Iget myself into a position
where I have that time and thatchoice and that freedom from
stress about money?
Speaker 1 (25:53):
This conversation that Gabe and I just had.
It's because we're bothgenuinely moved by the ideas and
, in the short time that we'vegotten to know Steven and
genuinely moved us, moved ourbehavior and, arguably, have
created a different path for usin terms of the future.
And I just want to bring thisback to you, the listener and
the advisor, whether you have abook or whether you're looking
(26:14):
to write a book just the powerthat a book can have.
Right, you do good work.
You are trusted with so muchresponsibility and you help
guide people in one of thethings that arguably, is most
important for them, being theirfinances, their family and
generations to come.
And how cool would it be if youhad your ideal prospects, your
(26:39):
ideal clients, this engaged inyour message, where, literally,
just like the other books thatwe've talked about Rich Dad,
poor Dad and Dave Ramsey andother ones, where people are
literally talking about yourideas when you're not even in
the room and they're sharing theideas.
This example right here is myhope for everyone in the
(27:00):
services that we do and helpthem to go from advisor to
author so that they can get outtheir message in a much bigger
way and really make a biggerimpact on the people that they
serve and that they want toserve.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
And if you're with us at this point, hopefully that
point's been made and the onlyquestion I have for you is
what's your one big idea andwhen are you going to execute on
moving forward to writing thatbook that can make a big
difference, gabe, while I haveyou here, any final thoughts to
wrap up this session today, Ithink that's a good point, paul,
and we've been focusing in onone of the clients that we've
(27:36):
worked with, but throughconversations with other, I
agree a hundred percent withwhat you said, that they do such
good work for their clients andit's so meaningful Like they've
all seen, this view of whenthey're reaching retirement, and
they have this valuable insightthat they get to see on a daily
basis and can help people thatare starting to approach it or
even just starting out to reallyset themselves up for success
(27:59):
in a much larger way.
And, like you said, that they dohave that one big idea.
They have so many stories, somany things to inform, to help
others, and that when they canzero in on okay, here's my big
idea when that goes into a book,it's going to help to get their
message out and get us talkingtoo.
And I'm on the golf coursetelling my friends about your
book too and get us talking too.
And I'm on the golf coursetelling my friends about your
book too, and I think that it'sgonna make a big impact in
(28:22):
people's lives.
And so I'm excited about thefact that we're talking about
how do you get to that coremessage.
And so when they're thinkingabout it and they contact you
and say okay, I wanna get thisinto a book that it really can
be, a book that helps to changehow people think about their
money and their financial life.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Thank you everyone for taking the time to listen
today.
I thought that I was going tobe able to make a lot more jokes
at my brother's expense.
This is our very first podcasttogether, but we ended up having
, I think, a substantiveconversation, and so thank you,
gabe, for being our guest todayand looking forward to the work
that you do in helping ourclients create these success
stories where they're takingthat next step in their career.
They're opening themselves upto the opportunity to grow their
(29:03):
business, but also to make abigger impact.
So thank you again for all ofour listeners today and we'll
see you on the next episode.
Welcome to another episode of the Million Dollar
Producer Show.
I'm your host, Paul G McManus.
Today I have not only a specialguest, but I would dare say a
surprising guest.
I have my older brother.
His name is Gabe McManus.
Welcome, Gabe.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Thank you.
Paul has to say that because wewant Thanksgiving to go well
this year, so the most special,of course, right For anyone
that's been following me for alittle bit.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I'm currently living in St Louis, which is completely
out of left field because I'vebeen living in San Diego forever
.
But my whole family's decidedto move from Southern California
out to the St Louis areabecause I run an online business
, joined them, and we actuallyhave Thanksgiving together.
The reason I have Gabe on mypodcast today is that he this
(00:53):
year has joined my company as abook coach.
We've been doing extremely well, especially this past year.
We've been growing rapidly,bringing on a lot of new
financial advisors to help themwrite and publish their first
books, and so Gabe was one ofthe first people I reached out
to to see if he'd be willing tobecome a book coach because of
(01:14):
his background and, really, Iwould say, his passion for
personal finance.
But I want him to introducehimself a little bit and I'll
maybe ask a few questions toguide the conversation.
Gabe, first and foremost it,and I'll maybe ask a few
questions to guide theconversation.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Gabe, first and foremost, tell us a little bit
about your background and whyyou decided to join us as a book
coach at this stage.
This started from sitting inthe hot tub with my brother and
talking about what he does, andit was so fascinating to me
because I love the subject ofpersonal finance.
It's my hobby, I read as manybooks on it as I can.
I also have a background inediting, and so as we started
(01:47):
talking about what Paul's beenup to, it just became it was
such a great opportunity for meto get to go and to work with
him on this.
I don't know that we could haveever guessed that we'd be
working together someday, paul,but it's truly been a pleasure
and getting to work with yourclients.
I think you have some fantasticclients.
It's so interesting to talk tothem about what they do.
Financial advisors work in aspace that I think is amazing,
(02:11):
and they're able to help people,and so my background comes from
the performance side of things.
I've worked for a long time asa teacher working with
performers a lot of theater andI found that there were
similarities because, from thebook side and from the
performance side finding theseways of helping financial
advisors craft their message ina way that reaches audience.
(02:33):
It's just been a great fit anda lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
I think what's remarkable is that you have a
passion for personal financebooks.
I think you actually put thison Facebook somewhere, but in
the last year or two, how manypersonal finance books have you
actually listened to that?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
is a good question.
So on December 31st every yearI list the books that I listened
to and so I go out hiking andI'm listening to personal
finance all the time and peoplethey're usually surprised if
they know that side of things,that I do work in a different
field because they think thismust be my one and only, but
it's.
I try to listen to at least 20,30 finance books a year because
(03:08):
I find the ideas in them sofascinating and how we can apply
them to change our financialsituations.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
What's an example?
Maybe one, two or three booksthat you've listened to that
have made an impression and, byextension, why have those books
made an?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
impression.
That's a good question.
One of them that I go back tooften is the Richest man in
Babylon, which really helped meto think about buying assets and
so they can go to work for you,and so it's not you, it's not
your labor, but it's payingyourself first, and so I've
really tried to incorporate thatinto my life, instead of
everything coming in and goingstraight back out the
(03:48):
Millionaire Next Door.
I love that book.
I love the ideas that it'sreally not about what you're
presenting, but it's about a lotof the people that have the
wealth in America that theydon't live luxurious lifestyles.
I like that idea.
The third one it's a goodquestion.
There's a lot of options.
I feel like I'm going to saythe wrong one, but I think maybe
Rich Dad.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
It's one that I think even a lot of financial
advisors have listened to andhave read.
It's often brought up inconversations.
I listened to that or read itway back when, and the cool
thing about books like Rich DadPoor Dad is that you not only
read it once, but because, ifthe message is done well, what
(04:28):
tends to happen is that you'lllisten to it or read it multiple
times.
So a book really helps peopleshape their philosophy about
their finances, and it alsobecomes a book that people
whether it's your ideal readersor your peers begin talking
about right.
Peers begin talking about right.
How many times have you broughtup Rich Dad, poor Dad in a
conversation to someone to helpeither make a suggestion or
(04:49):
explain your point of view?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
I think it's just Rich Dad, poor Dad.
It's one of those sticky ideasthat just from the name alone
you get the concept and theauthor, regardless of a person,
agrees with everything that'swritten in the book.
Immediately you have this senseof oh, there's a different way,
that I can go here and that thechoices that I make are going
to impact whether I'm headingdown the rich dad road or the
poor dad road, and so that helpsme.
(05:13):
I was just talking to a highschool student the other day who
had just picked up that bookand he was getting inspired by
it, and I think it leads to goodconversations and to some good,
inspired thinking on thesubject.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Another one that you mentioned is the millionaire
next door.
I think I read that 10, 20years ago To your point.
Essentially, what I would callthe one big idea is that
millionaires actual millionairestend to live below their means,
and it's counterintuitive inmany ways, because the people
that spend their money, buy thebig house, get the fancy car,
(05:46):
live lavish lifestyles.
We mistakenly think thatthey're actually wealthy.
Oftentimes they might be highincome or they might be in debt
or some combination.
So I want to introduce theconcept in this conversation
about what we call the one bigidea.
In the past month released thesecond edition of my book, the
(06:08):
Short Book Formula, and I'veupdated it with a lot of new
information.
I've refined it.
I've also created a whole newsection of it where it's all
about marketing strategies forfinancial advisors.
That once you publish a booknow what, how do you really turn
this into a 10X investment ormore?
For financial advisors?
That once you publish a booknow what, how do you really turn
this into a 10x investment ormore?
I want to highlight that foranyone who's either already
(06:31):
purchased my book this is ahighly recommend getting the
second edition or, if youhaven't purchased my book, you
can do so.
Just make sure to look for thesecond edition, and those are
available on Amazon.
But in chapter two of the bookI introduced the concept of the
one big idea.
What is the North Star for yourbook?
And just the books that we'vetalked about so far, from Rich
(06:53):
Dad, poor Dad, to theMillionaire Next Door and to the
Richest man in Babylon thesehave all been impactful because
they really come back to one orthe other idea.
Would you agree with thatassessment?
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Yeah, I agree that one big idea.
It's so important because youwant to be clear in your
messaging.
If it gets too scattered, it'seasy to lose an audience, and so
something that's going to stickin their head long after
they've read it is the mostimportant thing that you can do
when thinking about writing yourbook.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I want to have some fun here, because this year
Gabe's taken on a number of newclients as the book coach and I
think what's most interesting atleast from my perspective and
Gabe, I think you'll agree withthis is that even though you've
read all these books aboutpersonal finance, you started
this as what I would say askeptic when it comes to
financial advisors.
Tell us a little bit more aboutyour skepticism, but I'll give
(07:42):
you the through line that we'llget to is that Gabe has changed
his tune.
But let's start with theskepticism.
What, despite all thisinformation you've had and being
interested in money andpersonal finance, what's been
your position up until recently?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I want to throw another book out there and this
is something that I've listenedto more than once and it's
Unshakeable by Tony Robbins.
In that book, a lot of themessaging is about avoiding fees
, about investing in an S&P 500index fund and letting your
money grow and not having iteaten away by fees, and so I
think a lot of my skepticismcame from that angle, thinking I
(08:19):
don't want to talk to somebodywho doesn't necessarily
outperform the market and I'mpaying my money in order to get
that advice.
What I didn't realize is thatthere's so much more to it than
that, and so a lot from talkingto financial advisors now
because now I'm having realconversations and realizing that
there's so much more, thatthere's so many more things that
(08:41):
they bring to the table thathelp me as an individual, that
are going to help their clientsin order to turn their financial
lives around and to reallybegin to build wealth.
And that was a missing piece,because on my own it wasn't
happening, and I think thatthrough the advice and through
talking to advisors, I'verealized how important it is.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
That's such an important thing, especially as
an advisor, to listen to,because you have invested a lot
of time, energy, in what you doyou provide.
What I've done for the pastclose to a decade now, really
since 2016, when I startedworking more or less exclusively
with financial advisors is thatI've unlike Gabe, who's
(09:21):
listened to a lot of books andgot a lot of advice that way
I've just been.
I've worked with close to 500financial advisors, and
oftentimes it's interviewingthem and deep diving into their
value proposition, their stories, and so I've learned a lot just
by talking to all these,directly to all these financial
advisors In that time.
To me, it's been fascinatingbecause when I started out, I
(09:42):
spoke to more advisors that weremaybe more, a little bit more
life insurance based, and so Igot to understand the benefits
of life insurance, such as wholelife insurance, and I was
through that.
I was motivated and inspired toinvest in a whole life policy,
which I'm happy that I did andat that time I chose an advisor.
Her name is Nancy and I choseher because I just felt that I
(10:06):
trusted her.
I felt that she was an expertat what she did.
I felt that I could trust herand she would help me make a
decision that was in my bestinterest, and so I wasn't scared
of her trying to quote unquotesell me something.
I was already sold on theproduct and she would help me
make a good selection, and partof the reason I bring that up is
that who's your realcompetition, right?
I think there's probably twocategories that come to my mind,
(10:28):
which is number one.
It's the do-it-yourselfers,it's the people like Gabe, who
are just skeptical, that don'tsee the value.
They've listened to books andessentially they come from a
perspective that just invest inthe S&P 500, broadly speaking,
avoid fees at all costs, andthey've gotten that advice and,
whether it's right or wrong,they've gotten that advice from
(10:51):
books, from authoritativesources that, like Gabe
mentioned Tony Robbins, and Ithink there's another one that
comes to my mind at least, andprobably most of us have watched
the movie the Wolf of WallStreet, and there's just a fear
that an advisor is a salespersonand is going to take advantage
of you.
I've used an advisor before toinvest in a specific product,
(11:11):
but I've not actually hired afull-time financial advisor that
I work with on an ongoing basis, and so Gabe and I are going to
in a moment we're going tostart talking about one of the
clients that's come to us.
His name is Steven.
We're not going to disclose hisfull name because we've not been
given permission to do so.
We haven't asked him.
His story is remarkable andit's had a big impact on both of
this and Steven, if you'relistening, hello, we're about to
(11:36):
talk about your story, butwe'll keep your last name and
book title private as of thismoment.
But we do want to reallyhighlight you because you and
your ideas have had a profoundimpact on the two of us and it
gets into the idea of the onebig idea.
Gabe, I'm going to toss it backto you now.
You worked with Stephen as hisbook coach and just tell me,
based on coming into that as askeptic to where you are today,
share with us what transpiredand what impacted your thinking.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Working with Stephen really did change my thinking on
it very quickly.
And when you're talking, paul,about that one big idea, when I
had these conversations withStephen, what I found myself
doing was the next day when Iwas with friends or out on the
golf course, that I wasrepeating these ideas, that I
was talking to friends andsaying have you thought about
this?
Does your financial advisortalk like this?
(12:18):
Do you have this message?
So I realized that it wassomething unique and special
because it had me thinking aboutit.
We've had long conversationsabout those ideas and so I
thought that really showcaseshow one big idea can really just
start reaching out and for yourclients, when they get to
talking about it, it's such abig winner.
(12:39):
His ideas I feel as ado-it-yourselfer and we had open
conversations where I would sayhere's my concerns.
I want to backtrack real quickand say, tony Robbins, I still
love your books and your ideas.
I am not knocking it.
I still don't want to pay feesand I still believe in the S&P
500 index, but now I've seenthat there's a broader picture,
also With Stephen's ideas.
(13:00):
It really was challenging mythinking and so all of the
locked in positions that I had,I found myself nodding along and
saying, yeah, it was like hewas getting into my head that,
yeah, that took place between meand my wife at the time, and
this is something that I'mdealing with.
And oh, and there's answers too, and here's how you can stop
(13:20):
working.
You can stop dealing with thesame problems and you can move
on to cooler problems, and Ireally liked that, and so I
think it helped transform mythinking on the subject, and it
shows that when you're clearabout your message, you can
really have a great impact onpeople in the way they think,
especially about their money.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
I would add to that that, working with so many
financial advisors as my clientgenerally, oftentimes people
will say, hey, we should talkabout this and another, and
normally I politely decline, atleast until I get to know them
really well.
And the ideas that Stevenbrought just during the very
first call just be clear.
He was buying into my services.
He was there to start as anauthor, but he shared, he took
the time to share his idea forthe book, and I was genuinely
(14:00):
impressed.
And it was super genuinebecause by the end of the call
he essentially said hey, I'mhappy to set up a call with my
team so we can see how we canhelp you.
And up until that point I wouldnever have said yes, but I was
genuinely impressed by the idea.
And this is probably a fewmonths back and since then I've
become a client, and it's onlybeen probably a month or so now
(14:20):
that I've been a client, butI've been very happy with
everything that he's done.
I wanted to make sure that Iwas making a good choice for
myself, as we all do, as yourprospects do, and so, even
though I had said yes to thefirst call, I wasn't convinced
yet Right, and so by the veryfirst call it's.
He was in a situation where, Iwould argue, most advisors would
(14:41):
love to be, where he didn'thave to pitch me, he didn't have
to educate me, he didn't haveto sell me.
He could have just said signhere and we'll move forward.
And I would have said, sureCause I was already pre-sold, I
was already on the ideas and Isaid, no, take me through the
process.
I was just curious, really, asto see what he did, but I was
pre-sold going into that call.
(15:03):
Again, that's one of the thingsabout writing and publishing a
book is that ultimately, if wecan capture those ideas and use
it as a marketing tool to get itto your prospects in advance of
that first call, it'll helppre-sell them on the value that
you bring.
Or if they come to you and theyhaven't read your book, if you
give them the book, say, betweenmeeting number one or number
two, and you give it to them asa homework assignment to read
(15:23):
before that next meeting, youcan pre-sell them on that second
meeting, which allows you to bea lot less salesy.
It allows you to save a ton oftime because you're able to more
quickly take someone from Idon't know who you are to
suddenly, where have you been mywhole life?
But so I'm getting a little bitoff track here, but I did think
that was useful to share, andso let's talk briefly about the
(15:45):
big idea or a couple of thetangents that were impactful for
you and me, gabe, in terms ofhis book specifically, what was
it?
What was the big idea, or whatwere some of the ideas that are
memorable to you?
Speaker 2 (16:01):
I think, starting off , it's about he used the word
sequencing that there's thingsthat we want to do in life and
he's not saying no to any ofthat.
So it's not just the frugalityof don't buy lattes and so you
can have more money, but it'sthat you can do all of these
things and he wants you to doall of them, but it's the right
order.
So taking your money and takinga hard look at what you spend,
what's coming in and what'sgoing out, then putting it into
different buckets and so you'relooking ahead.
(16:22):
One of the ideas was that wespend Christmas every year,
maybe if you're buying Christmaspresents or other presents for
other holidays or birthdays andthen we act surprised when we
get there.
That wasn't part of my budget,but that we can start
anticipating some of these costs, like auto repair, new tires
for the car, things that come up.
But when we look at it and putit on a spreadsheet, that it
(16:44):
really becomes clear about whatwe're spending.
And then taking a certainamount and making that what you
can spend on your weeklyspending and paying yourself
into a different account.
So, based on that, I haveseveral different bank accounts
now, a couple of checking and afew savings and things are
organized in a different waythan they've ever been organized
before.
And I'll tell you, thetransformative part about it is
(17:06):
that before I had budgeting apps, I never really used it.
I thought I can only spend thismany thousand this month and it
just didn't really work.
But now that spreadsheet's openall the time and I'm thinking
how can I make this work betterfor me, how can I improve it and
get it to the point where,instead of dealing with the same
old problems every month, whereI only have this much coming in
(17:29):
and it's all going right backout, where I can get to the
point where I can save more andI can contribute more to my
retirement and I can start tobuild real wealth and have money
to do things.
And those are the coolerproblems that he talked about.
So I think the way that it wassequenced about we start here
and then we're moving towardsthese much better goals I
thought that's something that Ican really get behind and is
(17:50):
going to change the way that Ithink about my money and the way
that I manage my money.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
I'm going to take the liberty of throwing you under
the bus for a second.
Not throwing you under the bus,that's phrased wrong.
I'm going to get into the realmof TMI perhaps, where you're
like why'd you say that?
But I did hear you say it.
I think you did mention thatyou have an alimony payment and
I can imagine that for couples,one of the biggest arguments is
personal finances.
In the book, stephen talks abouthis own journey with his wife,
(18:19):
kelly from say, 20 years ago tonow, where they started out and
he would question her purchases,and he described himself as
judge, juror and executioner andhow his system helped to go
from that dynamic, which wasn'thealthy, to now a very healthy
dynamic.
This is in the book so I canshare it.
I believe he's gone fromessentially starting out in his
twenties with no net worth andnow he has, I want to say, $9
(18:42):
million of assets, and he's only44 years old and it's a
remarkable quote, unquote ragsto riches case study, which is
part of really why I think Gabeand I were attracted to the idea
is because it's like it's notjust theoretical, it's like hey,
here's exactly what I did, thisis what my wife and I did which
is just really impactful.
But just from maybe thatperspective of his approach and
how it actually can help couplesgenuinely potentially heal some
(19:07):
of that discord that they mighthave when it comes to personal
finances, especially if one's aspender and one's a saver.
I know it's probably too late.
I don't know if you had comeacross some of these ideas maybe
a few years ago.
What are some of the lessonsthat you've?
Speaker 2 (19:20):
learned that's exactly right, and that's what I
told him several times in ourconversations is where were you
15 years ago that this wouldhave been so useful to hear back
then?
But that was one of thosenodding my head moments where
he's talking about his wifecoming in with the target bags
and immediately the questionsare coming out of his mouth
about how much did you spend anddid we need that?
(19:40):
And I thought, yeah, that wasme all the time, and that
there's always going to be inrelationship.
There's going to be the yesperson and the no person, and if
that doesn't get worked out ina harmonious way, it leads to
trouble in relationships.
And so I was just on the golfcourse this morning and my
friend was telling me about somepurchases that his wife had
made, and so we were talkingabout, if you have common goals
(20:02):
that you can get onto the samepage of look, here's where we're
trying to go, and so this iswhy we're limiting our spending
during the week.
And so if you're both trying toget to the same destination,
then maybe it helps people tobridge that gap and to reconcile
the different wants and needs,and then it's not a matter of
because then if you've got a setspending amount and it's been
(20:25):
transferred, hey great, was itout of that?
Perfect.
Then you don't have to worryabout what's being purchased,
that you're making decisionstogether.
So I think to me that was arevolutionary idea, because in
my marriage we didn't have agreat system for talking about
finances.
It usually was more of a stresspoint, which I know it is for a
lot of people.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
From my perspective, I think what he does a
remarkable job of is talkingabout behavioral finance, but in
a way that's very relatable.
So it's not just a theoreticalconcept of behavioral finance,
but it's actually he does itthrough the stories about
himself and his wife and peoplethat he's come across over the
course of his career, and thenthe very beginning.
One of the things he talksabout is that when he was
(21:03):
starting out as a financialadvisor and he was in his early
twenties, he would speak tocountless retirees and
pre-retirees in their fifties,sixties and seventies and what
he discovered was that everysingle one of them one of the
three things at that stage intheir life which was time,
health, no financial stress, sothat they weren't financially
stressed at that point that theyhad choice in terms of what
(21:24):
they did Did they retire, didthey continue working, did they
do something else but time,health and choice.
And beyond that, what herealized was that the people
that were coming to him a lot ofthem retired, if they saved in
a 401k had done a decent job ofaccumulating money.
Maybe they had a couple hundredthousand, maybe a couple
million, whatever it was, it wasbecause of the automation of
that allowed for that and at thesame time, if he asked that,
(21:45):
maybe they had a million intheir 401k.
But if he asked them, how muchdo you have in your bank account
?
It was maybe a couple thousanddollars.
And so suddenly he wasn't ableto work with them per se because
they didn't have the cash orthe money to do it.
But ultimately what he found wasthat his aha moment was that
when every dollar has a purposebefore it's spent, you can
(22:07):
really that's the behavioralaspect that you can change
people's behaviors much moreeasily, I would say and make a
much bigger impact versus simplytalking about different
financial products andstrategies.
In other words, he calls it theout of sight, out of mind
account.
So every dollar, before youeven hit someone's bank account,
goes to a third party account,out of sight, out of mind
(22:29):
account.
It reminds me a little bit ofthe book Profit First, but which
is meant more for businessowners, but it's a similar
concept.
And so by the time the moneygoes into your spending account
or accounts, it's already beendetermined how much and for what
activities.
And so, like myself, I've neverbeen much of a saver and I've
never budgeted, which now to meseems ridiculous, but the
(22:49):
process becomes super easy onceyou think about it in the way
that he sets it up, and so everydollar has a purpose and you're
now you're just accumulatingmoney on autopilot, similar to
how people accumulate money intheir 401k on autopilot.
Now he's helping me toaccumulate money on autopilot
that before would have ended uplikely being spent, and so,
(23:09):
again, just a remarkable system.
So I guess I haven't thoughtthrough the one sentence.
To describe is one big idea.
There's a couple of differentthings that come to mind, but
perhaps one is that every dollarshould have a purpose because
there's elements of automation,there's elements that are
similar to other systems, otherbooks, but probably the one that
I haven't necessarily heardfrom others is that every dollar
(23:31):
should have a purpose from dayone.
I think that would be mytakeaway from his one big idea.
What would you add to that, ifanything?
Speaker 2 (23:39):
I think that's a clear way of putting it.
I think that every dollarhaving a purpose that helped to
change my thinking about it,because I really was living
prior to that and thinking aboutit in that way, it's like a
financial lie and I think that'sone of the things that he was
willing to say that the industryis lying to you when people are
telling you, yes, you can dothis, that they're wrong, and
(24:00):
people don't want to tell you no, and I hadn't been told no, I
wasn't telling myself no, butthat really, if it's not there
and when you're looking- youdeserve that latte.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Go ahead, buddy.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Yeah, if only it was just a latte, but it's usually
bigger things.
You want to take a trip, youwant to do something and again,
it's not that you shouldn't doit, but if the sequencing hasn't
been done correctly, thenreally you're not in a position
to do it.
Sometimes you have to make hardchoices earlier, and so when
you give every dollar a purposeand say, do I want my dollars
going to this or do I want to beable to save into the buckets
(24:33):
for travel and so I can have theopportunity to do it, and then,
if it's there, fantastic, enjoyyour trip.
And so I thought that's goingto leave me instead of just
spending.
I'm not a huge spender whereI'm spending crazy on credit
cards.
I try to follow other bookslike total money makeover and
get off of credit cards andthings like that.
But it feels so much better ifyou've really done the
sequencing correctly and soyou've given that dollar purpose
(24:55):
.
It's in my travel bucket.
And so now, when my golf buddieswant to go to Phoenix and do
golf and barbecue for a weekend,I'm like perfect, I've got the
money, let's go, and I can enjoyit without feeling like how am
I going to suffer for this later?
Or how's my retirement notgoing to, my retirement needs
not going to get met?
Because I've made these choiceswhen I was younger and not
(25:15):
thinking.
That's what he said it's youdon't know the person you're
going to be.
He's seen so many people reachthat retirement threshold and
they all want the same thing.
And that he said it's thehardest thing to convince
somebody they're going to besomebody that they're not right
now, cause right now we'rethinking in the moment and we
want to do these things.
Now.
We're not looking at who we'regoing to be, but he's helping
(25:36):
through this book and throughthe things that he's talking
about.
He's helping people to lookdown the line.
This is where we all get to and, with that view in mind, look
back and say, okay, now how do Iget myself into a position
where I have that time and thatchoice and that freedom from
stress about money?
Speaker 1 (25:53):
This conversation that Gabe and I just had.
It's because we're bothgenuinely moved by the ideas and
, in the short time that we'vegotten to know Steven and
genuinely moved us, moved ourbehavior and, arguably, have
created a different path for usin terms of the future.
And I just want to bring thisback to you, the listener and
the advisor, whether you have abook or whether you're looking
(26:14):
to write a book just the powerthat a book can have.
Right, you do good work.
You are trusted with so muchresponsibility and you help
guide people in one of thethings that arguably, is most
important for them, being theirfinances, their family and
generations to come.
And how cool would it be if youhad your ideal prospects, your
(26:39):
ideal clients, this engaged inyour message, where, literally,
just like the other books thatwe've talked about Rich Dad,
poor Dad and Dave Ramsey andother ones, where people are
literally talking about yourideas when you're not even in
the room and they're sharing theideas.
This example right here is myhope for everyone in the
(27:00):
services that we do and helpthem to go from advisor to
author so that they can get outtheir message in a much bigger
way and really make a biggerimpact on the people that they
serve and that they want toserve.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
And if you're with us at this point, hopefully that
point's been made and the onlyquestion I have for you is
what's your one big idea andwhen are you going to execute on
moving forward to writing thatbook that can make a big
difference, gabe, while I haveyou here, any final thoughts to
wrap up this session today, Ithink that's a good point, paul,
and we've been focusing in onone of the clients that we've
(27:36):
worked with, but throughconversations with other, I
agree a hundred percent withwhat you said, that they do such
good work for their clients andit's so meaningful Like they've
all seen, this view of whenthey're reaching retirement, and
they have this valuable insightthat they get to see on a daily
basis and can help people thatare starting to approach it or
even just starting out to reallyset themselves up for success
(27:59):
in a much larger way.
And, like you said, that they dohave that one big idea.
They have so many stories, somany things to inform, to help
others, and that when they canzero in on okay, here's my big
idea when that goes into a book,it's going to help to get their
message out and get us talkingtoo.
And I'm on the golf coursetelling my friends about your
book too and get us talking too.
And I'm on the golf coursetelling my friends about your
book too, and I think that it'sgonna make a big impact in
(28:22):
people's lives.
And so I'm excited about thefact that we're talking about
how do you get to that coremessage.
And so when they're thinkingabout it and they contact you
and say okay, I wanna get thisinto a book that it really can
be, a book that helps to changehow people think about their
money and their financial life.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Thank you everyone for taking the time to listen
today.
I thought that I was going tobe able to make a lot more jokes
at my brother's expense.
This is our very first podcasttogether, but we ended up having
, I think, a substantiveconversation, and so thank you,
gabe, for being our guest todayand looking forward to the work
that you do in helping ourclients create these success
stories where they're takingthat next step in their career.
They're opening themselves upto the opportunity to grow their
(29:03):
business, but also to make abigger impact.
So thank you again for all ofour listeners today and we'll
see you on the next episode.
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