Uncommon Wealth Podcast

There’s a parable we came across about the 3 bricklayers: one sees it as a dead-end job, the other sees it as a career that pays the bills, and the other can’t wait to wake up tomorrow and keep building a beautiful cathedral.

The point is, the same set of circumstances can be met with different mindsets. We want nothing less than to help people wake up and feel passionate about whatever it is they are doing. None of that happens overnight, and mindset is just the start.

In this duocast, we talk about what it takes to go from being frustrated about your day-to-day, to living out your gifts and calling that God has given you. We’ve lived it ourselves, and we’ve helped clients at every stage of the bricklayer continuum – and it never gets old (because guess what? We’re doing what we love!)

• The difference between doing a job, making a living, and living your dreams
• How to take the right steps when you are in a job you hate
• How mindset impacts the move from being a bricklayer to owning a brickyard
• How to use your God-given gifts to guide your own destiny
• The problem with golden handcuffs
• Why mindset makes the same experience different for different people
• How to build wealth in multiple ways out of your passion and integrity

If you’ve followed us for any length of time, you know how we feel about IRAs and 401(k)s. They are great, but hardly the only game in town, especially if you don’t want all your money tied up until you are 59.5. That’s where tax-managed investing might come in handy. Investments are a great source of residual income, but there is a lot of mystery and fear surrounding investments.

That’s why we wanted to do a deep dive in this episode. Tax-managed investing isn’t new. It’s been around for a while. But it has recently gained a lot of popularity. As consumers and advisors become more and more tax-conscious, we wanted to dig into this topic so you have a starting point for knowledge on what can seem like a tricky subject.

Why would you choose this strategy (or set of strategies) in addition to an IRA or other retirement accounts? How do taxes affect the rate of return on my investments in a given year? Find out the answers as we tackle these questions and more.

• How to leverage tax-managed investing instead of or along with traditional retirement accounts
• How money managers are able to mitigate tax liability within portfolios
• What tax loss harvesting is
• Why we focus on clients and hire experts to manage portfolios
• The differences between short-term and long-term holdings
• How to use dividend-paying stocks along with tax-managed investing strategies

At the end of the rainbow, you need to have a pot of gold. We’re talking about that 800-pound gorilla, retirement income. How do you build it, how do you get it when you need it, and how do you make it last?

In this episode, it’s just Bryan and Phillip talking together about these retirement income questions and more. There really is no one way to build up income for retirement, but there are some concepts to understand and strategies to decide on sooner rather than later, depending on your personality, job situation, risk-tolerance, and other factors.

How do you fill in the gap between what you’ll be getting from Social Security and maybe a 401(k)? That’s what we’re talking about here. People these days often have 30+ years of retirement to account for, so having a plan for retirement income is a big deal.

We’ll share with you several retirement income systems that people have used over the years, so you can understand which one – or a hybrid of several – might be right for you.

• Three basic ways people deal with retirement income
• Strategies for making your money last through retirement
• Why no one retirement income philosophy is one-size-fits-all
• Understanding the three phases of retirement
• What the “retirement red zone” is
• How to use a bucket strategy for retirement income
• Why $1Mil in a 401(k) might not stretch as far as you think
• 4 factors that could affect your retirement
• Why inflation is such a big factor in your retirement planning

We all need to pay our taxes, but some people hesitate to work with an accountant. If you own a business, you’ve got to get over that attitude. Finding a good accountant who can help with tax planning and so much more isn’t a necessary evil. It’s the right business decision.

On this episode, we’re talking with a fellow business owner and our own tax planner, Ricky De Hamer. Tax laws change in small and large ways all the time, so having a professional who understands business and understands those changes can make a huge difference in your own business.

Tax preparation is just a part of the conversation. We talk with Ricky about tax prep, tax implications for different business entities, and much more. If you wish you knew more about how to find a trusted advisor for taxes and money management, you’ll want to listen in.

Ricky has over 13 years of public and private accounting experience. He’s been a big help to us, for sure. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Accountants Association of Iowa and is currently the President of AAI. He earned his BA in accounting at Central College in Pella, IA.

• The importance of audited financials
• How to use a tax professional as a resource as you start out and grow a business
• The impact of the structure of your business
• Differences in business entities
• Taking advantage of legitimate business tax deductions
• What the new tax laws mean for personal deductions
• How non-traditional small businesses (like AirBNB) impact your income tax
• Why you might consider a Health Reimbursement Account and how it differs from an HSA
• Why online tax prep platforms are not the best choice for business owners

So much of financial planning is about managing risk. That’s why it is so important to understand the financial “don’ts” as much as understanding the things you should do when it comes to making decisions about your money.

That’s what we’re exploring here in Episode #49; some financial “don’ts” that we hope you can avoid. Some of the big don’ts focus on relationships—marriage relationships and business relationships—as well as who to take advice from. Not all advice is equal, and we’re digging into that hot topic.

We also discuss some don’ts around taxes and investing. What should you invest your time and money in? It can be somewhat subjective, but there are some ground rules you should definitely follow.

This is some real talk about mistakes to avoid and advice on how to recover when you stumble into some don’ts.

• Why you don’t have to feel guilty about investing in your marriage
• What to do when you are in a bad business partnership
• How to avoid analysis paralysis
• Why investing in things you don’t understand is so risky
• Why a tax break alone is not a good enough reason to make an investment
• When to ask for help with managing your finances
• Do not buy a timeshare. Just don’t
• How to measure the value of buying “toys” like boats and RVs

When it comes to launching a business, we wish we knew then what we know now! We are like many, many business owners in that respect. So we wanted to share some steps, a checklist if you will, for launching a business the right way.

Because thankfully we’ve learned a few things in the past 7 years in business together. In our latest episode, we’ll take you through the ins and outs of launching a business, from deciding on a name to finding the right accounting software and support people.

There are huge rewards in owning a business. It is the most powerful source of residual income because there are so many ways to leverage the wealth that you build as you grow a business.

But too often businesses fail because planning takes a back seat to jumping in and moving everything along as fast as you can. We get it. Businesses are usually born out of a passion, a drumbeat inside that doesn’t go away. Take that passion and build your business on a firm foundation with these 7 steps.

• Why business is such a powerful source of residual income
• How to pay attention to the drumbeat inside of you
• What the heck a “value ladder” is
• How to lay the groundwork that leads people to your high-level, high-revenue products or services
• How to find “blue ocean” in a marketplace crowded with sharks
• The importance of a cohesive brand and all the legal and creative work that goes into it
• Building client education into your business strategy
• Why corporate structure is such an important business decision

How do you recover from a terrible loss? And how do you honor the life of the person you lost? And most importantly, how do you create meaning out of heartbreak?

The Uncommon Life is about every aspect of life, the good times and the challenging times. That’s what makes this episode so meaningful for us. We talk with Matt and Haley Phillips, who are the parents of two beautiful children who they got to bring home from the hospital after giving birth – and one who did not come home with them.

Through their experience with their son Fletcher, you’ll find out how they came to understand grief in a way they had not experienced before. They wanted to honor Fletcher’s life and also help people who are going through similar circumstances.

We talk about the financial burdens of a hospital visit for childbirth, even when the child does not return home with you. We talk about what it means to start a charitable foundation from scratch. Hint: it’s not easy!

Matt and Haley Phillips started The Fletcher Foundation after the loss of their son through stillbirth. The Fletcher Foundation is for families who find themselves in a similar season of life, wondering how to cope with the financial and emotional burdens of such a loss.

There is a sacred pain in losing a child, and the Fletcher Foundation is about walking beside families who are going through that pain.

https://thefletcherfoundation.net/

• The financial impact of miscarriage and stillbirth
• How to find support after a miscarriage or stillbirth
• What it’s like to build a non-profit from scratch
• How to be kind to yourself and to loved ones when tragedy strikes
• The challenge of raising money for a tragedy that doesn’t get talked about
• How to set up tax-exempt status for your charitable organization
• How to be there for people who are experiencing griefCreating meaning out of loss

Gold is money. But don’t be fooled, there is a difference between money and currency. Currency can be either backed by a commodity, which historically has been gold and, to a lesser extent, silver or it can be backed by debt via central banking systems, as is the case throughout most of the world today. So while currencies come and go throughout history, gold has stood the test of time throughout recorded history.

Unless you are mining it, gold does not produce income. It is a resource that throughout recorded history has protected purchasing power over a long period of time.

In episode #46 we are going to be digging into gold – Why has it been a source of wealth, adornment, and means of transacting business for so many thousands of years? How can it be used today as a hedge to protect your purchasing power? And what does this mean for you today?

Until the rise of central banks, the world operated basically on a gold standard. In our latest episode, we discuss the ramifications of this change and we’ll even get into some comparison and contrast between gold and cryptocurrency.

• The historic roots of gold as a source of wealth
• Why the end of the gold standard is so significant
• Why gold has remained so valuable throughout history
• Why gold is still a good investment
• Similarities and differences between gold and cryptocurrency

More and more people are dipping a toe or diving right into short-term rentals. AIRBNB and similar platforms are making it easy to market and get paid for sharing your home with perfect strangers. Short-term rental can be a great way of offsetting some of your mortgage costs.

Over the past several years, we have become big proponents of utilizing short-term rental as a way to test the waters in terms of using real estate as a source of residual income. This always begged the question, “Do you do short-term rentals?” For a lot of people, offering your primary residence seems like a pretty scary idea but we want to help take some of those fears away.

We’ve been fascinated by it and last year Phillip and his wife decided to go for it. This episode is about how they started, what they experienced, and mostly what a positive experience it was for them to offer their primary residence, get paid for it, and build some family memories in the process. That’s not to say there isn’t a cautionary tale in there as well.

Find out the answers to burning questions, like, “Why would you do that?” And “Where do you put your stuff?” The market for short-term rentals shows no sign of slowing down so if you’ve ever thought about it, this episode has some first-hand information that will help you decide if it’s right for you.

• How to use your home as a short-term rental when you are on vacation
• What to know before you consider short-term rental
• Being strategic about what you want to get out of your short-term rental experience
• How to prep your home to use as a short-term rental
• What to do with your stuff when renting out your own home
• How to automate as much of the rental process as possible
• How to leverage the power of AIRBNB to market your short-term rental
• What to do with a worst-case-scenario guest

Starting any new business involves a leap of faith. But the reward is that you get to use your gifts to do something you’re passionate about. When you are aligned with what God has gifted you to do and what you are passionate about, even though it’s not an easy path, the burden is light. We see it again and again in our work with entrepreneurs.

That’s why we are so excited to talk with guest Scott Behrends. Scott took what might seem like a quirky passion – an interest in athletic training based on the obstacle courses and the general mayhem of American Ninja Warrior – and turned it into a business.

We talk with Scott about the power of niching down, clear communication, and what it takes to build a business while keeping your day job. It’s never been easy, but in those moments when he got nervous about the path forward, God pushed him through the doorway and on to the next steps. That’s when exciting things can happen in our lives, and we talk with Scott about all those peaks and valleys along the way.

Scott married his high school sweetheart and has 3 kids (occasionally more because they are also a foster family). He attended the University of Northern Iowa and studied Personal Training, but then changed his major to Computer Science. He keeps up with all things tech and has worked in IT since graduating.

Scott fell in love with ninja when he first saw American Ninja Warrior. It was the sport he always wished existed as a kid (he was a climber)! When his sons kept making obstacle courses in the backyard & timing themselves, Scott recorded them & uploaded one to YouTube. “Backyard Ninja Kids” was born, and it now has over 4,500 YouTube subscribers & over 7,000 Instagram followers. Scott and his sons (Ben & Jason), daughter (Lia), and wife (Lindsey) have enjoyed being part of the ninja community.

Scott and his two business partners recently started Ninja U, a gym with the vision to encourage, educate and engage kids of all ages.

• How to grow your passion on a budget
• How to shift a hobby into a business
• Why niching down is the smart business move
• The time investment it takes to build a business
• The importance of choosing good partners
• Why building a business is likely to be one of the most challenging times in your life
• How God expands your capacity when you need it most
• How to be open to the unknowns as you prepare your business for the future
• Why the burden is light when you are in alignment with God’s purposes for you