00:00 – Opening 1:03 – Joe's Story 11:10 – How The Dominos Fall 12:28 – Brian's Final Thoughts On this episode, Brian shares a story about Joe and his mental tug of war about how to best utilize his cash assets… Pay off a mortgage? Keep the cash in the bank? Build Wealth? Listen to the podcast to hear the full story and Brian’s thoughts about the situation. “Every financial decision you make – big or small - is like the first domino, each decision has a domino effect and it is best to see how those dominos fall before acting on that decision.”

The truth is that we all, as human beings, carry around this proverbial backpack of beliefs and emotions, and we carry it everywhere we go. And when we show up somewhere that's in a relationship and a conversation having to make a decision, we unpack the backpack. There's no hiding the backpack. It's with us all the time. It is full of of a lot of good things, but mixed in with it our limited beliefs that can wreak havoc with our decision making. These beliefs are just an accumulation of information that you either hear you read, you experience that can have you instantly forming an opinion that then drives your behavior and decision making. It's what drives your thoughts, your opinions, your attitudes and your propensity. Think about it. You eat bad sushi and then you get sick. That belief forms that sushi is bad and you throw that belief into the backpack. You go into a store and have a bad experience. You belief into the backpack. You meet someone for the first time and within ten seconds a belief is cemented in your head and into the backpack it goes. You hear a financial opinion into the backpack. You do it constantly. And at times you may find your beliefs challenged the way you think, your relationships, your attitude, your finances, and begin to question why you believe what you believe. But this isn't always a bad thing. Cleaning out the backpack of beliefs occasionally can prove to be a good thing when you can get rid of beliefs that are preventing you from making important decisions in your life. The psychology of why we do what we do is the topic of today's show. And here to discuss this with us is Chez Barbosa. Chez is going to help break all this down for us and offers some strategies and techniques that could possibly help you make some life altering improvements. I've known Chez and his wife charity for many years and at one time even had him consulting with my company before he made the jump to where he is now. He's been married for 16 years and has three children. He's the CEO and co-founder of True Vine Christian Services, which is a final one C three organization that offers professional mental health, mediation and coaching services. He's a licensed counselor specializing in marriage and family dynamics, along with communication and conflict resolution training. He's also very active in his community, serving as a board member and has leadership roles and other nonprofit organizations. And he earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Southwest Baptist University and his master's in counseling from Missouri Baptist University.

Jessie Naeger, an expert in estate planning, discusses the importance of estate planning for everyone, debunking the misconception that it's only for the wealthy. She emphasizes the need to plan ahead and have the proper legal documents in place, highlighting the risks and complexities involved. The podcast also explores the difference between trusts and wills, the challenges of generational planning, and strategies for managing generational trusts to create more wealth for future generations.

Traditional public markets have been historically viewed as normal when it comes to investing but over the last decade we have seen a shift in this attitude toward finding alternatives to the stock market. Though we have been seeing a shift in investor behavior and attitude about markets for quite some time, COVID has brought a sense of urgency to the conversation for finding an alternative to traditional markets. And it is not difficult to understand why. The abrupt volatility that investors have experienced lately has them going from peak to valley in the matter of days. And any rational investor at one point or another has questioned if there is a better way. Now to be clear, there is risk in any type if investment. There is no unicorn that can deliver all things good but I do believe that a new normal is taking shape that offers investors an updated paradigm of what diversification really is. Whether you realized that this was happening or not, this path is already being paved by forward thinking investors and money managers who recognized this shift several years ago and are now operating under a new normal. I believe what we are discussing here is the answer to what many investors are asking for and its why I decided to spend time today sharing this information with you. Today I have on with us portfolio manager Daniel Wildermuth to discuss the growing interest in private markets and how they differ from public markets.

I am sure you would agree that if you talk with ten people regarding any subject, you're liable to get ten differing opinions from those people. Opinions are everywhere and I believe they are the #1 reason most people live their entire lives thinking a lot of things are true when they are actually false. I became a Christian in November of 1998, I was operating my financial business and raising kids while learning as much as I could about my new faith as a Christian. What I learned fairly quickly is that Christians have some pretty strong opinions about a lot of things and money is definitely on that list. I know this because as people would find out that I was in finance they would approach me and freely share their views and opinions about what they thought a Christian should think about and do with money. So with that, today’s podcast is going to be a little different. I had the opportunity to sit down with my pastor Kenny Qualls recently and had a real life conversation about wealth and the bible. He has served as President and Associate Executive Director for the Missouri Baptist Convention, Executive Committee member for The Southern Baptist Convention, President of the National Large Church Roundtable and Ambassador to Missouri for The North American Mission Board. He is heavily involved in global missions, is a mentor to young pastors and is a well-respected leader within our community here in St Louis. For the last 15 years, he has served as the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Arnold where my family has attended for the last 20+ years.

CSFP 033 | The #1 Thing That Successful Investors Are Doing That Average Investors Aren't by Brian Skrobonja: Author, Financial Advisor, Entrepreneur

One thing I have learned over the last six months during a time of growing markets and economy to a sudden shift of social distancing and virtual workplaces due to the covid-19 pandemic, is that people are motivated by two emotions, Fear and Greed. I know reading this can almost seem insensitive or downright offensive but it’s the truth. Think about it... As a parent, business owner, friend, employee, spouse or neighbor, our emotions can lead us into making decisions that we can reflect back on after the emotion passes to realize maybe we could have done better. I see this all the time with people when it comes to investment decisions. When markets are good, people believe markets will go higher and they become eager to ride the markets higher. And when markets are bad, people believe markets will go lower and can experience an onset of panic that if not managed can lead to bad decisions.

“The Truth Will Set You Free!” This is a phrase we have all heard and it originated in the New Testament in John 8:32, when Jesus said to the new believers, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Whether you are trying to figure out the destination of your soul and the meaning of life or simply trying to figure out how to be smart with money and build real wealth, you have to know the truth. You have to know what is real and not just theory, what is fact and not fiction, what is truth and not just opinion. Opinions are like a beating heart, everyone has one and they flow from each of us like breath but you have to protect yourself from being a collector of opinions and be a seeker of truth. People often speak with confidence when sharing their theories, ideas, and opinions explaining them as facts. People also tend to show only what they want you to see. Social media is a huge part of our society these days and if you spend anytime on it at all you quickly discover that everyone is more successful than you are, they have nicer cars, take nicer vacations and their family is better than yours. That is all of course a lie but it can still leave you having these feelings and the feelings can drive behavior. It doesn’t have to be social media, it can be anything that influences your way of thinking. All can lead to irrational decision making and living in this gap between fact and fiction. The Gap is the space between what you think you should be doing and what you actually should be doing.…It is this space between what you think you know and what you don’t know. The biggest mistakes are made in this gap. In this podcast I will discuss The 6 Biggest Mistakes of 2019 and how to avoid them in 2020.

The most wealthy and financially independent people I know realize something that most people don’t. They realize that wealth…true financial independence… is not found in the amount of money that you have. That is what most people believe… they think that if they have a lot of money saved that they will have this sense of independence. And there is some truth to that…accumulating a lot of money is a great accomplishment in this consumer driven society. In this podcast I want to share with you this simple paradigm shift that I believe could be the most significant money lesson you ever learn.

Pensions are becoming more and more of a dinosaur as companies are moving away from them and are replacing them with 401k type plans. There are multitudes of reason why this shift is occurring but the primary reason is due to the simple fact that pensions are unsustainable. Pension had their hay day in the 1960s but began to fail opening the door for the government to enter the picture. The truth is, pensions have been struggling to keep their head above water ever since and outside of government are no longer viable. The point is that at one time pensions were as common as 401k’s are today but times are changing and if you have a pension there are things you should consider to protect yourself from a financial crisis. Whether you are drawing a pension now or are planning to draw from one in your retirement, what I will share in this podcast may impact your future benefits.