The Money Advantage® Podcast | Infinite Banking Concept & Family Banking

At 25 years old, Bruce Wehner had chest pains and thought he was having a heart attack.  The crisis caused him to face his own mortality.  He re-evaluated the nobility of hard work, pushing himself, and hustling.Bruce’s backstory highlights two strategic mindset shifts that have developed him into the person he is today. Because of his experience, he has become a giver with the keen ability to add value to his clients’ lives.The first shift was a decision not to be dependent on another person or entity for his livelihood.The second shift was the move from transactional selling to truly delivering value.Bruce’s early life experiences in business and entrepreneurship led him to embrace business ownership as a way of life.  Because he understands the business culture and unique challenges owners face, he serves them with tremendous value.

His perspective and insights are what have allowed him to personally take thousands of clients through a financial discovery process.  His objective is to put the client in control of their own financial destiny.

We hope that you will find yourself in his story and that his transparent honesty will validate your own experiences.

In case you missed it, in the prior episode, we discussed How The Money Advantage Began.

Table of contentsThe Prevailing Culture of DependenceThe Early Influence of His Father’s BusinessThe Need for Innovation During Creative DestructionThe Undercurrent of a Scarcity MindsetFinancial Academy at the Chevrolet DealershipFrom Business Ownership to Employee, and Back AgainAn Introduction to Cash Value Life InsuranceMindset Shift 1: Taking ControlFinding His Life Work as a Financial EducatorMindset shift 2: The Role of Adding ValueThe Podcast Has MoreEpisode ResourcesUp Next …

The Prevailing Culture of Dependence

Bruce grew up during the ‘60s and ‘70s.  During the years of the Vietnam War conflict in the '60s, the US economy was struggling.  This was an influential time for Bruce as he watched the birth of entitlement programs.

Additionally, in the pre-World War II timeframe, as the industrial revolution began, the economy shifted from being dominated by small businesses, to one driven by corporations and employees.

Together, these changes caused people to develop a mindset of dependence on the government and corporations.

The Early Influence of His Father’s Business

Despite the backdrop of dependence that surrounded him, Bruce learned about business ownership at a very young age.

He was the child of German immigrants. His father, like many others in the immigrant community, owned a business.

From working in his father’s Shell Service Station, Bruce learned about the value of hard work and the necessity of innovation.

He watched his Dad build a self-sustaining business.  His dad developed a team and had the flexibility to leave the business and have it continue to operate.

As a child, he remembers working long hours in the gas station, often from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The Need for Innovation During Creative Destruction

The Oil Embargo of 1975-1976 and Missouri’s Blue Laws restricted his father’s ability to operate his business.

This brought about creative destruction, shifting the industry from true service to self-service and convenience.  Service stations used to include pumping gas for people, tire rotation, windshield washing, checking the radiator and fan belts.  To stay competitive, merchants had to mark down the gas.  They provided gas as a loss leader and added convenience items to bring in profit.

Bruce’s father couldn't expand into the convenience model because his station was landlocked.  He was unable to ride the wave of change and stay profitable in the new environment and lost his business as a result.

The Undercurrent of a Scarcity Mindset

As Bruce looks back, he notices the fear that shrouded his father’s entrepreneurial activities.  Business was a grind,

The Money Advantage was born out of unexpected collaboration in the most unlikely of circumstances. Three financial service professionals in an industry known for its undercurrent of competition, from across state lines, different companies, different levels of experience, and different generations.With the common ground of a desire to bring empowering education to business owners to help them keep and control more of their money, a Go-Giver spirit, a willingness to say yes to the unknown and live it as an adventure, and a little dream to start a podcast and the surprising ignition switch that made it happen.I’ll tell you the story of how we met, why we’ve continued to build a collaborative relationship, why we’ve teamed up to deliver The Money Advantage to you, and what you can expect as a result.

The Reason We Met

Bruce Wehner’s organization, e3 Wealth, based in St. Louis, Missouri, had become disenfranchised with financial services industry.

They saw how difficult it was for a person to get consistent financial advice from their CPA, investment advisor, insurance broker, and mortgage professional, who often worked independently, not collaboratively.

They engaged in a mission to transform the financial industry, building a teamwork model across professionals. The objective was to foster relationships with like-minded financial professionals, to share best practices and best empower clients.

They partnered with the Nelson Nash Institute to create the Freedom Advisor Live event as a step towards building this vision.

My husband, Lucas and I, wealth strategists in Virginia, heard about the event through the Nelson Nash Institute.  When we listened to their teleconferences, we discovered a team doing the same work, that had much more experience.

We booked plane tickets and attended the first Freedom Advisor event in November 2015 with the desire to find mentors.

It Was the Start of a Collaborative Working Relationship

We took immediate action on the lessons we learned, changing most of our client process. One of the changes was implementing a financial picture process with our clients. As I worked with clients, I discussed our recommendations with Bruce to gain further insight.  As a result, we had frequent conversations over the two years that followed.

How The Money Advantage Was Born

One of the many areas of common ground was that Bruce and I are educators by nature. We both believe in the power of education to give people the confidence to make decisions.

Bruce had the experience of sitting down with over 4,000 clients.  One of his unique abilities is strategic thinking.  Through his volume of real-life experience, he has developed the skill to lead clients in thinking exercises that support clear decision-making.

My unique ability is communicating complex ideas in a way that’s fun, simple and doable.  I’m able to put ideas down on paper and into a process and communicate them in a way that helps people come to their own conclusions.  I'd been creating video and blog content for over a year, and wanted to produce higher quality educational content with more depth and context.

I had been creating video and blog content for over a year, and I saw podcasting as the next step to produce higher quality educational conte...

The Money Advantage was born out of unexpected collaboration in the most unlikely of circumstances. Three financial service professionals in an industry known for its undercurrent of competition, from across state lines, different companies, different levels of experience, and different generations.With the common ground of a desire to bring empowering education to business owners to help them keep and control more of their money, a Go-Giver spirit, a willingness to say yes to the unknown and live it as an adventure, and a little dream to start a podcast and the surprising ignition switch that made it happen.I’ll tell you the story of how we met, why we’ve continued to build a collaborative relationship, why we’ve teamed up to deliver The Money Advantage to you, and what you can expect as a result.

Table of contentsThe Reason We MetIt Was the Start of a Collaborative Working RelationshipHow The Money Advantage Was BornThe State of the Financial Services IndustryThe Needs of the Independent ThinkerThe Change We Wish to See in the WorldThe Podcast Has MoreAdditional ResourcesUp Next …

The Reason We Met

Bruce Wehner’s organization, e3 Wealth, based in St. Louis, Missouri, had become disenfranchised with financial services industry.

They saw how difficult it was for a person to get consistent financial advice from their CPA, investment advisor, insurance broker, and mortgage professional, who often worked independently, not collaboratively.

They engaged in a mission to transform the financial industry, building a teamwork model across professionals. The objective was to foster relationships with like-minded financial professionals, to share best practices and best empower clients.

They partnered with the Nelson Nash Institute to create the Freedom Advisor Live event as a step towards building this vision.

My husband, Lucas and I, wealth strategists in Virginia, heard about the event through the Nelson Nash Institute.  When we listened to their teleconferences, we discovered a team doing the same work, that had much more experience.

We booked plane tickets and attended the first Freedom Advisor event in November 2015 with the desire to find mentors.

It Was the Start of a Collaborative Working Relationship

We took immediate action on the lessons we learned, changing most of our client process. One of the changes was implementing a financial picture process with our clients. As I worked with clients, I discussed our recommendations with Bruce to gain further insight.  As a result, we had frequent conversations over the two years that followed.

How The Money Advantage Was Born

One of the many areas of common ground was that Bruce and I are educators by nature. We both believe in the power of education to give people the confidence to make decisions.

Bruce had the experience of sitting down with over 4,000 clients.  One of his unique abilities is strategic thinking.  Through his volume of real-life experience, he has developed the skill to lead clients in thinking exercises that support clear decision-making.

My unique ability is communicating complex ideas in a way that’s fun, simple and doable.  I’m able to put ideas down on paper and into a process and communicate them in a way that helps people come to their own conclusions.  I'd been creating video and blog content for over a year, and wanted to produce higher quality educational content with more depth and context.

I had been creating video and blog content for over a year, and I saw podcasting as the next step to produce higher quality educational content with more depth and context.

Even though it was my desire to start a podcast, it was my husband Lucas that made it happen.  On a hunch, he called up Bruce and asked if he would co-host a show with me.

Bruce said yes!

Imagine my surprise when I stood face to face with my dream. It was for now, not someday…

Lucas and I believed that partnership with Bruce was just wh...