The Missing Conversation

Brent Kessel: Ethical Wealth Management, One Small Step at a Time - Episode 54


Listen Later

This week, Robert is joined by a special guest and his step-son Brent Kassel. They meet with a sense of purpose and shared vulnerability here on The Missing Conversation. Brent is the co-founder and CEO of Abacus. Abacus is a holistic wealth management company that invests over 4 billion in companies and projects that, above all, do not create harm in our world. A significant portion of the funds aim to help society and the environment directly while earning competitive investment returns. He is also the author of The Next Fifty Years of the Racial Wealth Gap, and What You Can Do About It, as well as, It's Not About the Money, which was named one of the top five business books of the year by Kiplinger.

Being faced with his own mortality after a surprise health event, Brent began to ponder, how much was enough? Engaging his wife and children he began a deep financial exercise to quantify this. Working with outside experts, including Robert, he began to work out ways to use the surplus to have as much impact on reducing suffering as a family could. Although Brent has dedicated himself to a life of giving, Robert and Brent candidly talk about the fears and complicated feelings around making these non-traditional financial and life decisions. As well as what's involved in contemplating and recalibrating what it means to have a good quality of life both for oneself and the greater world.

Philanthropy as well as a healthy life balance is directional. It is not about waking up tomorrow and being that perfect ideal version of yourself that you wish you were. It is not about radical change and doing it all in one month. It is about ongoing contemplation and directionally guiding yourself with this new kind of habit or muscle that you are developing. This episode encourages us to ask, "What is needed to optimize your most fulfilling quality of life?" This includes your relationship to money and the present state of the country and world.

Read the transcription and listen to this episode on The Global Bridge Foundation website.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Missing ConversationBy Robert Strock