Overcoming Challenges with Sal Pitti: From Air Force to Financial Success

Join your host Justen Arnold in this inspiring episode of Strive 365, where we welcome Sal Pitti, President of The Pitti Group Wealth Management and esteemed Air Force veteran. Broadcasting from ROC VOX studio, this episode is a journey through resilience, personal development, and financial expertise.

Delve into Sal's transformative experiences in the Air Force and how his challenging upbringing shaped his approach to life and work. He discusses the transition from a corporate role to founding his wealth management firm, revealing the hurdles faced and the invaluable lessons learned.

Sal opens up about maintaining a positive mindset amid personal challenges, including his divorce, emphasizing the importance of self-created happiness. He shares practical financial advice for securing a prosperous future, covering risk management, the value of education, and smart accounting practices.

Beyond financial wisdom, explore the significance of mental, emotional, and spiritual growth. Sal highlights the impact of community service on his life, encouraging others to contribute while pursuing their own success. He offers effective strategies to combat procrastination, insights on self-motivation and discipline, and tips to avoid common financial misconceptions for a secure and thriving future.

Concluding with a poignant success story, this episode with Sal Pitti truly embodies the essence of 'Strive 365'. Whether mastering financial strategies or navigating life's complex challenges, his insights are a treasure trove of inspiration. Tune in, and remember to like, share, and subscribe for more empowering content on Strive 365!

About Justen Arnold:

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**Discover My Literary Journey:** Check out my new book, "Purpose Through Pain: Living a Limitless Lifestyle in the Presence of Adversity," at [www.justenarnold.com](https://www.justenarnold.com), a heartfelt exploration of overcoming challenges and finding strength in adversity.

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Episode Transcript

(00:20):
Hey, welcome to another empowering episodeof Strive three sixty five, your go
to source for conquering life's challenges andthriving, no matter they're hurdles where they're
seeking mental, physical, emotional,spiritual growth. We're here to guide you
toward a better life. And I'myour host, Justin Arnold, coming from
the amazing and incredible Rock Fox Studio. Today we're on our to have Sal
Pity. He's the president of PityGroup Wealth Management and a distinguished Air Force

(00:44):
veteran with a wealth of experience.Sal is a true beacon of a wavering
determinent, determination and personal development.Just from our few conversations that we've had,
so get ready for an invigorating conversationon breaking barriers and inspiring to your
best self with the exceptional So Sal, once you introduce yourself, that's a
great introduction to Justin. Hopefully Ican live up to that. Well,

(01:07):
thanks for having me on your show. I appreciate it, and uh yeah,
I hope. Uh. You know, some of the things we talked
about today can inspire your listeners.And you know, I'm kind of a
I'm kind of uh I guess quietto go get her if you will,

(01:29):
just I don't do a lot ofyou and you know, my kids know
me as just flying under the radar, being persistent at what I do.
And you know, I can happilyshare some of my stories with you and
your audience to know if you wantto start out and with anything specific,

(01:55):
tell you a little bit about myback on I guess maybe that'd be a
good place to start. I mean, I mean, I'm sure we'll get
into it. But you said you'rea quiet go getter. What do you
mean by that? Yeah? Youknow, I nowadays with social media being
so prevalent, I'm on social media, but I really don't pay a lot

(02:19):
of attention to it, and Iknow post a lot of things. But
I see a lot of folks thatyou know, they're on there twenty four
to seven doing their thing and promotingthemselves or owning their business, and it
works for them, are seems towork for them. I guess, you

(02:42):
know, without knowing specifics. Butyou know, I've always been pretty self
motivated. I know what I tendto know, what needs to get done
and the people that I need tobring into my circle to get things done,
and I try to surround myself withpeople of like mind, that like

(03:05):
interests, and you know, Iguess I'm not out there besides today,
my son that wrangled me into this, I thank you, But besides today,
I'm not out there, you know, yelling from the the street signs
or you know, putting myself outthere on on social media and stuff like

(03:28):
that about about our business. Althoughwe did recently hire marketing firm to help
with some things. But I don'tpersonally like to grab all the spot.
I guess that's the best way toput it. Man. That's a humble
and a humble thing to say.And in just from our short conversations,

(03:50):
I can see that and just fromhearing it an yeah, your son,
which we'll get into, but youknow, your your similar story to myself.
And as far as in a lotof the guests that we have and
here being self motivated, knowing whatneeds to get done, you know,
people that are going to build youup. I'll touch briefly on the social
media. I'm with you on that. I actually was so resistant to it,
but I was having I've hired numerousbusiness coaches, so I run a

(04:14):
gym, a training facility, andall of them. It's like marketing on
social media, it's where all yourclients are, and they're I'd like to
believe they're right, but majority ofmine have come from word of mouth.
So like I would say, Idon't know, I don't have like a
specific percentage, but I would probablyput it about ninety seven ninety eight of
my clients are about the report,repeat clients, customers call it, which

(04:38):
you will. But I started upticking. I hired a new person because I
wanted to be able to work withmore people and have more mobility with my
business, just because of where mylife is. And so I started working
to try and come online. AndI've been very active on social media,
and I can tell you it doeshelp, but you've got to have boundaries
and limitations and like set time stampsand be veryly diligent to not be distracted

(05:03):
because it's so easy with the algorithms. But anyways, I won't go down
Matt rabbit hole, which you wantto later, but yeah, it was
your son. Your son watched atleast one, if not more, episodes
of our podcast or listened or something, and he reached out to me like
right away on social media on Facebook, I believe, and man, that

(05:24):
kid loves you, so he talkedyou up, man. And that not
that people don't reach out to me. I have people that reach out to
me, but it was unique tosee a son and talk up a father
so much that I was like,I have to at least be curious and

(05:45):
check this thing out because that hasn'thappened. And like, I've had people
reach out want to be on,like why haven't you had me on yet?
Like almost like upset, and I'vehad people just like you should put
me on, but this was differentbecause it was like somebody else reaching out
for somebody else, and it justhappen to be a father's son, and
I just thought, and it's gonnabe something cool about his dad. So

(06:06):
yeah, yeah, so it wasyour son, which is awesome. Like
I assume that you guys just havesome amazing relationship obviously personally way beyond professional.
I don't know how much you knowabout Anthony, but he is he
can make friends with anybody. He'salways been a very social person, always

(06:30):
been, uh, you know,wife of the party type. Guy,
got a great sense of humor.You know, I'm not exactly sure why
he looks up to me, butI think that I think. I h
I try to lead by example andbe, you know, be as good

(06:53):
of a person as I can be. And I think he sees that I've
got two boys, Anthony Matt,and they're both quite different from one another,
but they do share some similarities.Anthony again really outgoing. Matt on
the other hand, a little bitmore reserve. But Matt always has to

(07:16):
be around his friends. He lovesbeing around other people. Maybe not quite
as an extrovert as Anthony, buteverybody loves both of them for their own
reasons. And you know, they'reI think the one common truth that they
have is they're both very good people, very honest, very trustworthy, very

(07:45):
sincere. And I've tried to raisethem to be humble as well, and
I think those are great qualities andI think they see that in me.
I try to live at every dayand uh, you know, I if
I did one thing right, uhyou know, or while raising them,

(08:07):
I certainly raised them with the rightvalues. Or I should say we raised
that. My my now ex wifeand I, Uh, I think we
did a great job raising our kids. Uh so that's our probably are one
true success story. Man. Youto speak khigy of your children and they

(08:30):
at least from my experience briefly withAnthony, Uh, he speaks highly of
you, and at least from myexperience, I feel like that's a rarity.
You know, we're a father andson. I speak Kylie for example.
A lot of the people I workwith, and you know, I
do both personal training, life coaching, nutrition, especially a life coaching component,

(08:50):
there's relationship issues. There's father issues, there's mother issues, There's there's
things like that, sibling issues,and so it's it's and maybe it's just
because of who I'm around, uhand the stories that I hear, But
I just find I feel like it'sunique. You know, it sounds a
relationship. I think I know aunicorn, but I feel it's unique.

(09:13):
Yeah. I think my boys notonly do they work together and they work
with me every day, but theylive within a mile each other, and
they're always taught. Uh. They'vebeen pretty much best friends growing up and
remained that way. I Ah,I feel from my perspective. On the

(09:37):
other hand, you know, Igrew up in a family of four,
and I'm I can't stay that I'mclose to two out of the I'm really
close to one of my brothers,but two other the other siblings I rarely
talk to, not purposely, butwe just don't have a lot in common.

(10:01):
They now both live out of state, and I don't see them a
lot. But I don't think we'veever been truly close siblings, with the
exception of me. What I'm theoldest out of the four and my youngest
brother Rob. We just seem tohave the most in common, and I

(10:22):
think we we hit it off becauseof that. That's just interesting, you
know, siblings, Like I havetwo older brothers, and you know,
there's one I get along really well, but he's totally different than me,
and there's one that say similar.I don't really talk to you that often.
And I have three children, andof course, you know, to
give you their ages, giving anidea the thirteen ten or thirteen eleven.

(10:46):
My goodness, they're fourteen now,because they just had birthdays eleven and seven
and about to be eight in November. Two girls and a boy in the
middle, and they're all very different, but they all get along great.
And hope that's days. But yeah, you know, I wonder, do
you ever wonder if like your relationshipswith your siblings or maybe how you grew

(11:07):
up could contribute to the way thatyou fathered or parented and the relationship that
you have with your children. Yeah, that's a great question. I think
about that a lot. You know, I wonder because I do see I
would say the most out of allthe families that I know, and looking

(11:33):
at their siblings, the kids,I don't see a lot of them very
close. There's always some I don'tknow whether it's sibling jealousy or competitiveness or
whatever the case might be, butyou don't find very very often that brothers
and sisters family members remain close.I kind of see them trail apart and

(12:00):
circumstances. We brought up our kidsover seats. I don't know if that
had anything to do with it.But they spent their childhood, most of
their childhood, uh in Italy whenwe were stationed in the Air Force,
and you know, they had torely on each other, they had to

(12:22):
be around other people that didn't speakEnglish. Uh, you know, they
had to adapt to babysitters that didnot speak English. They had they arm
do they know Italian? For that? Like the figure it out? They

(12:43):
picked you know when we lived there, they certainly picked it up a fair
amount. I don't think today becausethey hadn't practiced in quite a number of
years. I don't think today theycould string a sentence together, but certainly
they understood and someone was speaking tothat what was being set. So I

(13:05):
think kids picked that stuff up quickerthan adults too, But that might have
had something to do with it.I don't know. I Like I said,
I think about that a lot,and I'm not sure what the cause
was to have two kids that areso close to one another and still remained
very close friends today and coworkers.So let's talk about that. At the

(13:28):
Air Force. You know you're inthe Air Force. How long were you
in the Air Force? For Iwas in the Air Force for five years
ahead my wife action spent when Igot out, she was still in.
I think she spent close to twentyyears, and if I remember correctly,
So you guys met in the AirForce. We met in the Air Force

(13:52):
back in the eating So, okay, I was in, I was stationed
and it'll red and she was stationedthere as well. We met a couple
of years in after after living there, So correctly, I'm wrong. You
served in the intelligence field? Correct? Correct? And so and so what

(14:13):
were you What were you doing therein Italy or can you not tell us?
I'm telling you now. It usedto be classified it I would have
to killing you, but I canaway, Scott, you may want to
hear muff this one. No,I'm kidding. We actually had a communications

(14:35):
base, big antenna that surrounded thebase and the idea there. We were
part of NATO and we would spyon Russians during the Cold War. We
would intercept communications via voice morse codedata transmissions. We would take that communications

(14:56):
data and tell the National Security Agency, which was in Fort Meade down Maryland,
what was going on, where theywere will be troops to where they
were flying their military aircraft, whereVIPs were being shuffled to. All in

(15:18):
anticipation that if something were to breakout, we were going to be prepared
in advance, so we knew whereuh you know, they were sending tanks
or if a VIP was visiting aforeign country, we plot their aircraft location.
Mm hmm. So it was reallyinteresting. I mean, I'm not

(15:39):
a not exactly sure how I endedup there, but I did score pretty
well on an aptitude test and theygave me the option of going to Mina,
North Dakota, uh Okawa, Japan, or San Beto, Italy.

(16:02):
If the choice was obvious, it'sI'm Italian. I took Yeah, the
Italy destination. I mean I mightjust loved it. Yeah, I would
have picked Italy over like Dakota wantsto go there. Yeah, we haven't
planned any trips there, so I'msure there's some cool stuff. No offense
to the Dakotas that might be listening, right right. No, So you

(16:25):
so you served in intelligence? Didyour wife do in the Air Force?
Just curious? She was also inthat field, so she collected the data,
would bring it to me. Iwould analyze it and then I haven't
sent it on. So that washow we met. Mmm. Interesting,
So you served in the Air Force, you served in the intelligence field?

(16:48):
You were you in other countries otherthan Italy or just Italy? Well?
For work? No, for theAir Force, I was not, but
I did get to travel a lot. We worked crazy schedule. We'd work
three day shifts from seven in themorning till three in the afternoon, have

(17:11):
a day off, worked from threetill eleven pm, have a day off,
and that eleven pm to seven andthen they give us three days off.
During that three days off, Iwas out. I wanted to travel.
I wanted to see the country.I wanted to see Europe. We'd
take ferries to Greece, we'd takea bus, Norse. We just do

(17:37):
whatever we could and fit it in, try to fit in that three day
span. Well, would you saythat experience too, I mean, even
though it was like twenty for yourwife, I think you said in five
for you, would you say thosehave like shaped you in any way?
Or is there anything absolutely no doubtabout it? Well, the first thing
I can I can tell you isI don't need a warm clock. I

(18:00):
hear that body, My body wakesup. You know, the discipline of
being in the military, you learn, I guess above all else, being
disciplined, whether it's discipline at workwith your superiors or your coworkers, or

(18:23):
being able to get up on timefor your shifts, being able to get
the job done without someone overseeing yourevery move, being able to live in
a foreign country without mommy and daddyat age eighteen and making it on your

(18:45):
own. Uh, you know,I think I think it was a great
experience. And if it you know, if it was up to me,
I think it would be a greatexperiences for everyone coming out of high school
to experience, you know, servingin the military for a year or two.

(19:07):
Just understand what that sacrifice means.Two you know, potentially give up
your life for the for the goodof the country if needed, and uh,
you know, it gives you arespect, uh, not a way
of what the US represents, buta respect for all the other people around

(19:32):
you that signed on the dot andline uh that you know are basically uh,
you know, I'm nine to elevenAnd then almost brings a tear to
my eye to think think about havingthis discussion today. Yeah, because there's
a lot of military people on thelines today and doing their thing, trying

(19:56):
to protect the US from oeriencing somethinglike that. Again, Yeah, is
that why you signed up? Notinitially? Initially, I got to be
honest. I signed up because wecame from a relatively poor family. My

(20:18):
mom and dad came over on theboat when they were young. They only
finished grade school education. They didn'tspeak a word of English when they came
over, and my dad worked,you know, three jobs trying to support
the family and you know, putclothes on our back and do it on

(20:41):
the table so I signed up topay for college. We didn't have the
money. My parents weren't able topay. I had nothing at age eighteen,
and I didn't want to take outthousands of dollars worth of loans to
go to college. But I knewI wanted to go to college. I
knew I wanted more for my life. I knew I wanted I knew I

(21:07):
could achieve more, and that wasa way that I could do it through
the GI. So that was myinitial intent when I signed up three Air
Forces to help pay for college.So I ended up getting my bachelor's and
my master's degree while I was inthe Air Force in those five years,

(21:32):
while also raising FAMP. Yeah,and man, we were just at the
air show here and there. They'reall out there and it's just amazing,
like all that they offer. Infact, they changed even their recruiting age
now to like I think, likethe Air Force it was, I don't
remember what it was, but nowit's like almost like I was there and

(21:52):
they're trying to recruit me because I'mI assume something fit. I'm like,
I'm forty two, I've aged out. I was like, actually, we've
changed things now, I'm like what, I'm good. But what's interesting they're
making If you're in good shape orgood health, and you know, maybe
you have a college degree like whichI do, it's you know, you'd
be surprised so people that are outthere and you can still serve you haven't

(22:15):
changed out if you're in your thirtiesand maybe even according to them, maybe
they're trying to tell me, butforty two, I think it'd just be
in state work. It'd be likereserve type stuff. But anyways, I
digress. So is there any othermemorable moments or lessons or things you wanted
to share? And we'll still talkabout air Force because I want to get
into like you know, I knowyou receive some awards and stuff, but

(22:37):
is there any memorable moments you canthink of or lessons that you haven't already
shared. I think I think beingbrought up in an Italian household where you
know, I saw my dad.You know, he wasn't the dad that

(23:00):
that I was, and wasn't thedad that my kids now are to their
children. My dad was a workaholic, he not you know, not into
being it. You know, mysoccer be if I could even go play

(23:21):
soccer it was more taking, youknow, taking the next painting job or
working up working at the bakery,or you know, he bought this house
with twenty five acres on it hada put to put an apple farm on
there and some land to grow tomatoesand corn and beans, and put a

(23:48):
fruit stand in the front, anduh, you know, sold his fruits
and vegetables out at the stand.And you know we were part of that
that we were there every day helpingto pick apples and fertilize and spray.
And you know, I think notonly did the Air Force teach me some

(24:14):
discipline, but you get disciplined whenyou're brought up in a and a conservative,
hard working Italian family that has nothing, and you get clothes from hand
me downs, and you know,you learn pretty quick what you have to
do. Or I learned pretty coquite what I had to do to to

(24:41):
not work as hard as my dad. I mean, I work probably as
hard, but I work differently.And I wanted I didn't want my kids
to feel like we did when wewere growing up. You know, I
didn't want my kids to have tobust their butts for school, right after

(25:06):
school, run home and do allthe errands and everything else. I wanted
my kids to enjoy their childhood.So, you know, I guess one
of the lessons that I took awayfrom my childhood was I need to need
to pick myself up and do somethingwith my life. I didn't want to

(25:27):
kind of fall into just doing thesame thing that I grew up. I
knew I needed to do better.I needed to make a decent living.
I wanted to travel, I wantedto meet people, I wanted to explore

(25:48):
things. And that's that's what reallydrove me and where I got. I
think I got my my drive toto do more with my life. Yeah,
it sounds like you're I mean,it sounds similar to like it sounds
similar to me in that I mean, you don't know a lot about me.

(26:11):
But I grew up with workaholics too. I had parents that worked.
There were master's degree educators making prettydecent money, but they had this mindset,
almost a limiting mindset, that thatpoor mindset because their parents grew up
during the Great Depression and they alwayshad they always had work. Even on
the weekends, there was work,work, work. My dad did grow

(26:32):
up on a farm. I actuallylearned, so I grew up in the
sub of Chicago. But I spentmy summers once I couldn't do farm work,
which was basically the age of Iwant to say, like seven,
I would spend my summers in westernIllinois working on my grandma's farm. Hey,
bailing corn huskin, working with pigs, cattle, got stories. I
got stories all day. But so, like, you know, you mentioned

(26:52):
discipline and that kind of stuff,and I agree one hundred percent. It
taught me hard work, like Ican work with my hands. I enjoyed
doing it. It's a sense ofaccomplishment. But it sounds to me like
you learn from your parents on whatyou wanted your pairing to be. Uh
And you didn't say it, butit sounds like you have a level of
respect instead of your not living like, oh, I didn't get to do

(27:15):
all this. You were like,you know, my parents did this,
I'm paraphrasing, did the best jobthey could, and it learned that I
wanted to do it better. Youknow, my parents are doing because they
loved me. But I want tospend time with my kids. I want
to go to my kids soccer game. Same idea. We didn't really go
on vacations. We didn't you know, like the weekends were yard work or

(27:37):
whatever. My dad, Yeah,we did a couple but not really it
because it was always a money thing, you know, so which it probably
explains. I mean, is thispart of why you got into the career
that you're doing. Now, let'stransition a little bit. I mean,
I feel like, from what I'mhearing here, you wanted to teach people

(27:59):
how to learn the matter money betterso they could live, uh, not
work all the time. Maybe I'mjust imagining that's why, but it sounds
like, okay, it's it's verymuch so. H part of why I
got into the business that I gotinto. Not only did I want to
be able to make money. Uh. And by the way, I'll just

(28:25):
say I love the work. Imean, if I'm not physically and mentally
exhausted at the end of the day, I don't feel good about myself.
I need to. I'm sure inyour in your business, well now all
of it physical, mental, Imean, I scheduled time with my kids,

(28:45):
I play hard, work hard,yeah, continue, yeah exactly.
But yes, So getting back toyour question, was it one of the
reasons why I got into the businessthat I did. Yeah, it certainly
was. I always had an interestor a fascination with money and investing.

(29:08):
And there's a million ways people makemoney, right, you know, whether
it's making money through their employer,or making money through real estate or developing
or building, or w two orentrepreneurship or you know. I just always

(29:30):
wanted to think about, you know, what other opportunities are there. And
I took a class, you know, when I was eighteen, I think
it was I was getting ready togo into military and my dad had started
putting some money away with this financialadvisor and he offered a class and on

(29:56):
finance, one on one class.I guess it was called something really basic,
and I went to it and Ithink I raise had just come out
recently, so you could put twothousand dollars into an IRA, and we
talked about that how it would growif I started at age eighteen, and
I had working for Wegmans starting atsixteen and working part time and bringing carts

(30:25):
in from that parking lot or inthe store and saved a little bit of
money, and you know, throughworking at home as well, saved a
moment of money and I wanted todo something with it. So he showed
me at the two thousand dollars ayear and for till sixty five, and

(30:45):
you'll be a millionaire. I waslike, what a millionaire for just two
thousand that's easy, two thousand dollarsa year. Yeah, just a compounding
effect that eight percent. You know, he could easily be a million in
her by the time sixty five.And you don't have to put in any
other money. I don't think Ican say that s word. I was

(31:07):
like, Wow, that's uh,that's really cool. I can do that.
So I did. I started puttingmoney into a couple of mutual funds,
and when I went to the military, I would go to the library
and do some research on you know, where the next two thousand was going
to go into, and uh,friends of mine would come up to me

(31:29):
and ask what I was doing.Back then, there was no internet,
so it was all you know,uh periodicals and uh that talk, right,
And they would come up to meand I would explain what I was
doing and got some of my friendsto do it as well. And I

(31:49):
thought, Jeanes, this is kindof fun. I'm kind of giving advice
to to my friends what they shouldbe doing with their finances and down debt
if they had any So when Igot out, it was just kind of
a natural thing. I thought,this is kind of where I wanted to
go, maybe into banking, maybea Rokeridge financial advisor, typed organization.

(32:17):
But when I got out, Icouldn't find work. Now he was a
guy with a bachelor's and master.Then couldn't find work. I ended up
working for Wait eight for a periodof time, you know, being a
store manager, which absolutely sucked.No, I did that for a minute,
not right, aid, but similar, Yeah, I feel that it

(32:38):
was. I hated it. Oh, I hated them day, but nonetheless
I was putting food on the table, and I had two kids and we
had to pay bills and a mortgageand stuff. So they do what you
do to get by. And thenfinally got hired. I was Dean Witter
at the time. U saw anad applied on Monday. They called me

(33:00):
on Wednesday, and I hired meon Friday. I was extended. I
was going to take a pay cupthough, and I told my dad,
I said, you know I'm makingback then, I was thirty thousand dollars
a year at RT eight. Isaid, I'm going to go down to

(33:22):
years so I can so people canget with ninety four. I have believe
not bad ninety four yeah four.So I said, I'm gonna go down
to twenty one thousand a year,but I'll be able to make commissions and
fees on other revenue products that wedeal with. It's like, are you

(33:46):
crazy, You've kind of family,got a mortgage. Don't do it.
Stay where you're at, right,make decent Monday comfortable, Stay comfortable Baltimore
being uncomfortably comfortable. Yeah right.I said, Now, now, although
I can't, I can't do this. I not only do I hate it,
but I knew I could do more. I had it in yet knew

(34:13):
I work hard, I could besuccessful, and so I did. I
said, uh, I'll take it. And within two years I was making
more than when I left Right eight. Within four years I was making four
times more. Wow. And whenI left Right eight, so you know,

(34:37):
I was on cloud night. Iwas making six figures and h feeling
good about it. But it wasencompassing. I was working my towl.
You know, I would come holdand I'd be working when I got home.
Uh, working on weekends, puttingtogether my next seminar presentation. That's

(35:05):
how we got new business and youknow, I figured one of the the
guy that hired said, you know, Salad, you work forget exactly how
the saying, but if you workhard for the next four or five years,

(35:29):
it'll I wish I could remember thesame You said it so eloquently,
but it'll take care of you forthe rest of your career because it'll just
continue to snowball after that. Peoplewill like you, people will trust you,
they'll refer you said it earlier wordof mouth. That's where you know,
ninety eight percent of our business comesfrom. And that's kind of,

(35:53):
in a nutshell, how I gotstarted. Yeah, so you worked there
and obviously open you transition from acorporate role into founding Pity Group Wealth Measurement,
So that must have presented its ownchallenges. I mean, and did
Dad say don't do it, don'tdo well? You know, twenty one

(36:16):
years as a W two employee andyou know, very successful doing my thing,
but it became came monoton this andI didn't know what I didn't know
as a W two employee in thatbusiness and that role, and you know,

(36:38):
the business had changed. It wasno longer commission based business. It
was more fee based and I startedexploring what else was out there, and
I kind of had a feeling therewas there was more opportunity to be had
going independent versus being being are aW two employee. So it's a digging

(37:06):
and it's a big move. Oneof the one of the biggest fears of
my life was making that transition froma W two employee to your own,
your own business, your own practice. And the reason why is the firm

(37:27):
you leave doesn't want you to lead, and they will go after your book
of business if you will. Sowe had fifty other advisors in the office,
and as soon as you post yourresignation, they try to swoop in
and take your clients from you tostay at the firm. But I had

(37:49):
to believe my clients were with usfor us and not because we weren't at
X Y and Z Brokerage Shirt andI believe that with my soul, my
heart and soul. I truly thought, you know, these people are loyal
to me, They're not loyal toaffirm. So I could work anywhere and

(38:14):
they would follow because they trust me. My son, Matt had been with
me at the time for a buildingeight or nine years already. We made
the decision in twenty sixteen to makethat leap, and in a month I

(38:37):
had lost probably twelve pounds because Iwas so stressed that I wasn't eating because
we were moving all of our businessowner. But within a month, ninety
seven percent of our clients had movedover with us, and within sixty days

(38:58):
we brought over the last three percent. There was a couple of stravelers that
we didn't We didn't burn over becausewe did like want. But yeah,
I mean it was a successful transitionand looking back, uh, you know,
the only regret I had is maybeI should have done it irlic but
yeah and awsome. Yeah, Imean, so I used to work for

(39:22):
a corporate place. I was alead trainer position and it was my wife's
idea to start a business for similarreasons. But more on that. I
within my line of work, youknow you're held to you can only do
this by working for this exactly whenin my arena, health should be have

(39:46):
no really borders or limits, especiallywhen everybody operates at different levels and personalization.
And you know, when I diveinto everything from movement to gut health,
you know the gamut. So whenwhen you're putting almost like ceilings and
walls around people and their Hell,you're limiting the capacity at which they can

(40:07):
truly be helped, which is whyI got into it in the first place.
It was more about the profit versusthe people, and I was frustrated
by that, and somebody I gavethe people the option, you can stay
here. I'm starting this. I'mdoing this for the better man of the
people that I am currently helping andhope to help. And I think,
you know, I had a lotof clients because I was working, you

(40:28):
know, sixty seventy hours a week, and I think only two didn't come
so similar stories. So it's coolto hear that in the financial world.
And so I just wanted to bringthat up because no matter, I don't
just think it's a financial thing ora training like give your hesitant or your
there's fear. I had fear,but when I fully let go, and
I'm sure the same thing for you, it took off. And it took

(40:49):
off for me too, And soI'm glad you shared that. That's a
pretty cool story, and I'm gladyou guys are still around and doing what
are you're doing. So yeah,this popped in my head as we've touched
a lot on kids, and itseems like you guys have a pretty good
relationship. And it's a little offtopic from the financial and we'll get back
to it. But if there's I'mcurious is is there something your kids don't

(41:12):
know that you would want them toknow that could help in their life that
you haven't shared with them yet thatyou feel comfortable sharing on here. That's
a great question. You know,there's probably so much so I I told
her early to that I was prettyquiet. I probably don't communicate to my

(41:32):
kids as much as I should.You know, I'm so proud of both
of them. Is there something mybrain is running in a million bot a
million different directions. What's the firstthing that popped up into your head?

(41:53):
Then? I think the fact thatI'm so proud of the men that they
have become so Anthony's thirty four,Madis thirty nine. Ah. They are
both husband's fathers to two each andthey've they've become amazing. You know,

(42:23):
mett uh had You know, I'mgonna take one hundred percent full credit for
it now, just kidding. Yeah, I mean you should take some credit
even in your mistakes, because it'snot. I mean, I don't know
much about Anthony's personal life, buthe sure like loves his family at least
that's the majority of what he's likeposting on social Media's kids, his wife,

(42:44):
and everything else, and that seemsto be his joy. Oh and
then he posts about Green Bay Packers, which I'm a Bears fan, so
you know, but I don't tellhim they yeaheah No, But I believe
I think you did a good Ithink the fact that they've become such amazing

(43:04):
dads and to watch them around theirfamilies and their kids is just so hardwarm
me. Besides the fact that youknow, I get to see them daily
at work and they've been very successfulbusiness people as well. But I think

(43:28):
obviously their family lives would probably bethe thing that I'm most proud of.
That's awesome. So our podcast isall about striving and pushing through obstacles.
So it seems like you maintain apretty optimistic or at least positive mindset,
and you stay motivated, especially whenconfronted with any kind of adversity. You're

(43:49):
not looking as defeats. You're lookingat from the way you grew up to
everything you shared so far, sowhether it's your business or personal life,
is there is something you'd like toshare, a specific challenge, lenge that
you face in your career or personallife that you overcame just thinking about the
embodiment and the spirit of striving andthriving through adversity. You know, there's

(44:12):
obviously been a lot. I guessone of the biggest challenges that I've gone
through my life was going through adivorce. That's probably a huge challenge for
a lot of people. But youknow, you just try to stay positive.

(44:35):
You know, I told you earlier, I'd like to try to surround
myself with people of like mindset.I want to be around positive people and
the you know, if someone startsbeing negative, I tell the pay you

(44:55):
know what, that's not going toget anywhere. That's not a good place
to be. Uh. You know, let's not talk like that. Let's
think positive. Think about the factthat you know, yeah, this bad
thing happened, but look at this, you know, you've got so much
good thing, so many good thingsthat are happening. And and go through

(45:16):
divorce, you know, financially,it's it's a killer. You know.
I I could have obviously retired yearsago if I wanted to, although I
probably never will retire because I lovewhat I do and uh, you know,
I love working. But you know, financially it's it's gut wrenching.

(45:39):
Emotionally, it's gut wrenching. Uh. Psychologically, Uh, it's just so
stressful to go through that. You'rehurting so many people, You're hurting each
other, you know, especially whenit's not mutually, uh, on both

(46:00):
parties. The stress form of kids. But you know, you just have
to think about longer term and it'sabout being happy yourself. And if you're
not in a good spot mentally andemotionally, you owe it to yourself to

(46:20):
get there because you don't. Oh, I feel like I don't owe anything
to anyone for my happiness. Ihave to create my own happiness, and
that means being happy mentally, emotionaland physically. I need to stay active

(46:40):
and shit, and I will justsurround myself with the people that help make
me feel that way. They theyhelp, I mean, they can't make
me feel that way, but theycan help buy the support they give you,
right, you know, your kidsand your friends and your family.

(47:02):
Uh, just being around those typesof folks that that can give you that
support and uh you know, youboost up every time you need a little
kick in the pants or hi,a little uh pad on the back or
whatever the case might be. Soyou need people in your life that aren't

(47:25):
that are going to push you ina positive way but also be there for
you and congratulate you at the sametime. I mean, I agree with
you, and I agree with youon that. In fact, I touch
on this in a book that I'vecoming out. The plan is later this
year. But between editing and allthose phases, AnyWho, like you have
to create your own joy, yourown happiness, you know, And and

(47:49):
I'm with you on that, manthat How are your kids, by the
way, with the divorce, you'reAnthony was sophomore in college, if I
remember. Okay, so they wereolder. They take it? How did
they take it? How are theyduring that whole situation? They took it

(48:10):
pretty well. Actually, guys weremarried for a while. How long were
you guys married for the divorce?Twenty one years? Yep. Yeah,
it didn't seem to come as abig surprise to them. I think they
probably sensed some unhappiness between us.So I don't want to put words in

(48:35):
their mouth, but I don't think. I don't think they were too surprised.
Sure, it's you know, it'stough when you see your parents go
separate ways. I'm sure it hadan emotional impact on them. But I
think it's probably good that Matt hadhis own rock and his own family in

(48:58):
place, and Anthony was in aI think a good place in college with
with his own support system and friendsaround as well. So question, if
you feel comfortable answering, is thereanything you would have changed or anything you
think you could have done differently toavoid it? The divorce? No,

(49:23):
you know, I got married.We met when I was twenty. I
was a kid. I was justtrying to figure out, Yeah, what's
what's next. So one of thethings I didn't mention is my oldest Matt
is is my adopted son Cheryl.Cheryl had him prior to us meeting,

(49:50):
and you know when we met,you know, we we hit it off
with your friends. I would helptake care of him from time to time.
I adored I adored this kid,and you know, we just grew
together. We grew up together,if you will. You know, so

(50:14):
I was a kid, he wasa kid, and you know, we
just I think we bonded, andthat was probably one of the reasons why
Cheryl and I ended up getting marriedwhen we did. But we were I
was just too young. I probablyin hindsight, didn't know exactly what I

(50:37):
was doing at that time or whatwhat true love really was. But you
know, we stuck it out.My wife and I know currently two people
very close to us, they're gettinggoing through the divorce processes and their kids
are younger. Their kids are onyou know, in and around our age,
they're still under eighteen. It's painful. Yeah, so I can learn

(50:59):
him and we're witnessing it and we'rejust there for them if they need us.
But let's let's bounce around. Sowe have a hu minutes left.
We got to get to the financiallike that's driving right. So I'm sure
you could talk all day. Wecould spend four hours on this. But
you know, in your experience asa financial planner, like what on this
podcast you could advice could you givethat some could take with them to help

(51:22):
them strive, whether be securing financialfutures or practical steps to achieve financial goals
or anything that you're like, Man, I can give somebody this. I'd
like to tell them this right now, even if they never hire us or
hire anybody something along that. Yeah, my best advice I think that I

(51:43):
could give someone is don't lose money. And I know it sounds people are
gonna lose money. You're gonna losemoney in the markets, and but what
I mean by that is you can'tlose money. You can't. You can't
lose so much money that it willset you back and never recovered from it.

(52:12):
So your losses have to be small. So you're going to make mistakes,
right, whether you're in my businessor you're an investor, or you're
in a different business, You're goingto make business mistakes, you're going to
make investment mistakes. Those mistakes haveto be minimal and minimal subjective. Right

(52:35):
to a multi millionaire, you knowthey could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars
and that could be minimal. SoI think the key is keep your mistakes
small, keep your risk, knowwhat your risk, your loss of risk
is your potential risk, I shouldsay, and what the potential outcome could

(53:01):
be. And from there you justhave to make informed, smart decisions with
your money where to put it.Take classes, get involved with a good
account learn about tech squads, youknow, being around people that will that

(53:27):
you trust. You don't have tobe an expert in all your affairs,
then your financial affairs, you justhave to be surrounded by people that are
experts. I'll add, shop aroundfor a good accountant to just like you
would a doctor hopefully or any otherprofessional, even a train like I'm a
trainer, you know, shop aroundto one that works, because I made

(53:47):
the mistake. I'd just go infrom with a friend's recommendation. I'm sure
he's good, but he wasn't goodfor me, like at my first accountant
when I started my business. Butmy third accountant and who he still are
out into this day and he's worthevery penny, and so I just wanted
to give that to and like I'velearned tax laws because of him my first
two. I just trusted him waytoo much. But that was my naivity

(54:12):
to a new business owner and notknowing. So don't make my mistake.
But I'm glad you brought that upbecause I haven't brought that up into podcasts
before. And that's not just forbusiness owners, that's for anybody. Like
shop around. You might be good, but there's always better I'll give you
a small example like write offs.For example, there are things I wasn't
writing off for like two maybe threeyears in my business because they weren't asking.

(54:32):
And then finally I had the countthat I have the day who asked
really good questions, and one ofthem was like, where's all your entertainment
expenses? It's like I can writethat off, right, And numerous of
other things like what he's like,well, if you do business or like
I wrote a book for example,if you like go to a like a
book thing, or you go ata concert and you sell abate like you

(54:54):
mentioned all these things. Started listening, I was like, I had no
idea, so and it's all withthat the taxis and I've learned. No,
that's great advice. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, so that's actually really
really good advice. And I wasgoing to ask me you kind of already
talked about it was is you know, what are some misconceptions and mistakes?
And it sounds like you've touched onthat, unless there was anything else as

(55:15):
far as some common mistakes you comeacross. Yeah, I mean I've seen
people just make get involved with somethingthat I feel like is going to be
so detrimental that they'll never be ableto bounce back from. I mean,
those are the the life change andlife altering mistakes. And you know,

(55:39):
like I said, I and maybeit's the conservative up bringing that that I've
had, but it's worked for me. You know, I take chances here
and there, but I know whatmy limits are, you know, And
I would I would encourage everyone,just as you said, to shop around.

(56:00):
Find a good financial advisor, finda good fitness coach, trainer,
find a good accountant to find youknow, find people that work for you,
doctors especially. You know. Oneof the things I'll just leave you
with this one last thought. Youknow, my my dad, who was

(56:24):
the if you would have seen himin his day, he was probably looked
like you, very fit, veryactive, eighty five years old, never
sat down for you know, morethan thirty minutes at a time, just
because he hadn't meet at some point. But he ends up having a stroke

(56:45):
a couple a couple of years agoand now finds himself in nursing home and
it's the most devastating thing that thathe had to go through, for sure,
but also on the fam on thefamily side, and it's yeah,
another another I guess part of thatis we had to you know, learn

(57:10):
a lot about how to protect hisassets and you know, making sure that
he got into the best care facilityfor his situation. So shopping around for
care facilities and making sure that you'reyou're talking to the right people that can
protect his nest egg to the bestbest way possible. But you know,

(57:37):
there's a million examples I could probablythink of, but I just wanted to
share that one. Well, youlook leaning healthy. I mean, is
it the twelve pounds of stress thatyou lose every year? But like,
what do you do before we wrapit up here? Yeah, physically,
I stay active. I know thismorning before I started work, I went

(57:59):
for forty five minute walk. Ilike the golf I usually push my cart
and walk the golf course. That'ssuch a key, right Yeah. I
mean it also helps me mentally gaugefor the day and I think start thinking
about things. And I work outwith weights, you know, not to

(58:23):
the extent that you do, butjust to know that you might be doing
the exact same workout. I wantto feel good in the clothes that I
wear, right, my genes startto get tight around the waist and once
you say that it affects your personally, professional, or mental like all of
that, right, the movement totallyabsolutely, and like you know, you're

(58:45):
doing all the right things. Ialways tell people, you know, walks
are great, you know you don'tI say, you have to run,
but lifting weights is probably one ofthe best things. And you can create
a cardio environment. And I alwayssay, especially as you age, you're
losing muscle and bone density, andone of the best ways to increase that
and minimize it's loss is resistance training. So it doesn't have to be the
crossfitter, doesn't have to be thejustin Arnold. It's just like you know,

(59:07):
I just say, try to moveevery single joint every single day and
try to like stimulate every muscle group, especially the major ones. It's really
simple, but it's not easy,right, you know? And then that
comes down to like motivation, procrastination, laziness, and motivation. So why
don't we just wrap it up onthose tones like what are some other personal

(59:27):
growth, mental, emotional, spiritualthings that maybe you're doing? And how
old are you? I don't thinkwe even said it. I'm fifty eight.
There you go, at fifty eightthat you've been doing maybe for a
long time, or things you wouldlike highly encourage people that to incorporate it
into their lives to help them thriveevery day. Well, yeah, I

(59:52):
mean spiritually I am. I guessI'm a pretty spiritual person. Although I'm
not the type of person that's goingto go to church every Sunday. Those
days are gone. I want tohave my beliefs, and I think I

(01:00:13):
just I guess my my view onlife is that, you know, life
is a journey, and I wantto be I want to be healthy,
I want to be active, Iwant to be around a while. I
want to feel good about myself.I want to expand my my knowledge and
my friendships, and I want toenjoy that journey every day. And if

(01:00:37):
you're not taking care of yourself,you know, some things that are beyond
your control. Right you have astroke tomorrow and you know your life changes
forever. But the things that Ican control, you know, my blood
pressure and my cholesterol and those typesof things. I want to get checked

(01:00:58):
if there's something wrong. I wantwant to make sure that I catch it
quickly. Seeing too many of myfriends will end up with medical issues that
they just kind of put off andyou know, probably my dad is one
of those that you've seen this wholetime. You've just seemed really calm like,

(01:01:19):
and you just talked about like controllingwhat you can. But is there
do you meditate or you just alwaysbeen this way? Like No, I've
always been this way. People tellme that all the time and they talk
to me. You're like so relaxedfet you're talking. Yeah, but yeah,
I mean it's just been I don'tget real agitated or anything. I

(01:01:43):
don't get super excited over anything.I got it pretty you know. I've
got a band that I work withit and networks for me. But I
like to have fun and I liketo have a positive mental outlook. But
there's nothing specifically that you're doing,Like you're not You're just who you are,

(01:02:04):
Like do you attribute to anything?Nothing? Like you don't, Like
my dad was always stressed out.So I didn't want to be like,
there's there's nothing you attribute to oryou're just that way. I think I
wish I could put my finger onOh, this is why I am the
way I am and might be genesmight be the way I was brought up.

(01:02:24):
I'm not sure, but you know, I work with a high pressure
by stress environment. When I'm managingpeople's lively, I'm managing there their entire
net worth, And if I getexcited, or if I get depressed,

(01:02:45):
or if I get emotional, I'mnot going to make the best decisions.
I'm going to make emotional decisions.And I have to take emotions out of
my everyday life because of that.So I think that's what it is.
I think that's what it is becauseso many people have these high stress or
do the same job you do andcarry it home. You've made the correlation

(01:03:07):
that you can't make it emotional tobe the most successful with your client.
So you' it sounds like you've wantto attached that detached, that which is
created a mindset, and that's probablypart of your subconscious So I think you've
just answered that it's a it.You're welcome. I'm glad I could be

(01:03:30):
able so well. I mean,this has been a great episode. We
covered a lot. I know peoplewill find value, especially on that last
part, but all throughout your storiesand even if anything, your son's I
know are going to listen to thisand love it. Uh And but is
there anything else before we wrap itup here that you'd like to share that
you're like man, whether it bea success moment, whether it be something

(01:03:52):
you want people to hear in casethey never hear your voice again. That's
no. I mean, I justwant to say thank you to you for
you know, bringing me on boardand letting me tell a little bit of
my story. And I certainly hopeit has an impact on even one person

(01:04:14):
out there that listens to it.That would be a success in my opinion.
But yeah, no, I appreciategiving me the opportunity to share.
Yeah, man, this was chill, Like I'm ready to go meditate and
drink a glass of tea after justsaying no, you're cool, dude.
I really appreciate it, and thankyou again. This has been a real
pleasure. It's really cool to hearyour story and how you're able to like

(01:04:41):
where you came from to where youare now and the family legacy that you're
leaving, and just what you've beenable to do with your life and just
the mindset you've had to just keepstriving through everything and what you grew up
in and using your examples and justa positive The way that you talk about
your life has been incre so thankyou very much, sal And you know,

(01:05:02):
for those that are listening, youknow, we know that one person
can benefit. And if you heardthis and you're like, man, I
think somebody could benefit, that's whereyou like it, that's where you subscribe
to it, and that's where youshare it, because this is not we
do not make any money for himthis podcast. This is completely free,
giving out to you to provide aservice to help at least one person,

(01:05:24):
just like Seal said, and we'rehelping dozens, if not hundreds, just
by what we're seeing and we're hearingfeedback and we're loving it. So keep
sharing, keep liking, and we'reon all platforms if you did not know
that, if you heard this onSpotify, we're also on YouTube, and
we're on every single platform possible.So again, like share, a subscribe,
and we'll have his information on theshow notes below, so look for

(01:05:46):
that. You do need a financialadvisor, because man, he'll definitely calm
you down for sure and put thingsin perspective and he's got a team of
people to do it. So thankyou very much for tuning in to another
episode of Stripe. I have threesixty five. Take care