On today's episode of Gathering The Kings. I I'm an under the incredibly strong belief that 401 ks are basically a ponzi scheme perpetrated by the government middle of low class people. I if my kids and my wife are truly my number one priority, and I'm gonna live my values, then I'm going to put that $300 away before I spend The other dollar on anything else. What's up, everybody? I'm Chaz Wolff, Gathering the Kings coming back to you again here today with another incredible Kings.
King Jason Van Dine. My brother. How are we doing? Hey, Jess. How are you doing, man? I'm doing well. We are here and, your story, man, you have a reach that, that gets out there across well, it's a big industry, but but across a lot of people in the industry. And so I wanna I wanna get to your story, man. Tell us what kind of business that you have. So I own a quite wealth strategies, which is a wealth and tax planning firm.
And we specialize in bringing high level strategies, you know, that are usually reserved for wealthier people. You know, down to what I would consider the average American. And we try to help them utilize those strategies to hit their financial goals. You know, and kind of, like, reduce the stress in their life associated with money. Yeah. Those two Kings.
The reducing stress related to money and planning and and predicting wealth, I think, are incredible, ways to serve people, especially since you, like you said, you you're able to help more of the masses. So I wanna learn how you do that, but I wanna know why The why take the strategies of the wealthy and bring it to us regular Joe's.
Yeah. I think it's I I think that America and the American system does a wonderful job, right, specifically our our brand of capitalism does a wonderful job of making wealthy people. Right? We have a lot of the wealthiest people. But I've I've read statistics, like, for every one new millionaire that's created three or four people fall from the middle class to the lower middle class. Wow. And, and I just I don't in in a democracy, right, where everyone gets a vote.
I just don't think that's great. For our society. So, you know, one of the main reasons that we do what we do is, you know, I don't think I'm gonna change The the world or the, you know, the country or make it better, but you know, what I do think is that in some small way, I can help equalize that table at least a little bit more than it is today. For more of The, of the average Americans. So, for example, our firm doesn't have a, a minimum to invest in, right?
We have an at we're gonna keep adding financial advisors and licensed para planners to be able to handle any client that comes in. So do we have clients with, you know, 50, 60, $80,000,000? Yeah. You know, we do. But do we have clients with a $120, who that's a 100 that's all of the money they've ever saved, and they really need us to be efficient with it and watch it? Yeah. You know, we've got a platform and we've got personnel and a and a great team to be able to handle that.
Yeah. I I I think that, yeah, obviously, the the spectrum there is is big. It's easy to say 80,000,000 and a 120, but the gap there is obviously just ginormous. What what do you find that is the I don't know, the the what do you like, what's in it for you type of a thing? I I and I mean by this, like, by helping lots of other people, I'm sure there's satisfaction of The taken the 120 person to some sort of financial literacy, security reaching their goals.
Like, what what how is that different at that level than it is helping the guy go from, you know, 80 to a 100,000,000 So I I think you can really improve both of their situations. So the 120,000 person just has a different set of issues and problems than in in 80 dollar person has. They both have issues and problems, though. So, what I think the difference is is how they view the help the $80,000,000 person knows everyone is Chaz happy to help The. Right?
And they're just looking for the right type of advice. The 120,000 person Our industry has not done the best job always of being fair and reasonable and, you know, being working in the best interest of the client and especially on the on the lowest end. So, you know, how I think the biggest difference is how happy those people are. Right? You can see, like, they're like, you don't get a client of $80,000,000, come with a 120 grant. And the people with 120 grant buy you Christmas presents.
Yeah. Right? And then it's it's not so it's not that they it's not that 80,000,000 Kings on Easy Street. Again, they have their own problems. Yeah. The people that you're helping that really are not get don't have a lot of other avenues to get really solid quality advice. They're just so thankful for it. So it causes a little bit of a different relationship. You know, between coming up.
That's interesting that you say that because, you know, there's, you know, I think that there's a lot of businesses out there that are are trying to only work with the best, the best, because they can afford it. And, typically, maybe it's a little easier or it's the 8020 Paleto principle, but you're you're flipping script here a little bit, The maybe the 80 20 is for you, what you're doing, which is fine.
Why do you find that that person who maybe The rest of the industry for so long has maybe mistreated in in what you just said. Why is that now valuable to you or why why why where is the availability, because you said you're gonna keep adding people. I I was reading in, in your show notes here Chaz, you know, there's less people joining the industry every single year as financial representatives than than people leaving.
So it's like there's this huge issue of people not going to be able to be helped coming in the future, and you're choosing to help, really, everybody, but but the but the people that have never been helped before. Get, like, help me understand. Well, every consultant in the industry, if they've anyone ever watches me doing this, they're gonna say this guy is an idiot, and he does not understand how to how to run a business. Because every every consultant says says that and says the same thing.
Right? They're all saying you need to literally I mean, I've hired some of Right? And they say, you need to fire the for your same thing, Pareto principle of 80 20. You need to fire the lowest 20 to 40 percent of your clients Right? And then you need to focus on the wealthiest ones so that you can get referrals and you can become a specialist in in just the wealthiest clients.
Right. What I hear when I when people say that is you need to take the people that have no chance of ever kind of having the same lifestyle that you have because they have helped gotten you The, and now you're going to fire them from your firm. Right? The people that the foundation, they're the foundation of our firm. They helped me get to the to the level that I'm at now. And the idea that I'm gonna somehow abandon them or not work with them anymore, it it just doesn't work for me.
So you know, on a client. And, I mean, you know, without getting too specific into, like, the the exact economics of it, but if you have a client with with 5, 6, 7,000,000 dollars, you know, you're gonna charge them much less, right, per dollar of assets that you manage. They're going to be much more complex. The the amount of time that you have to spend with them is not even close. Right? It could be twenty times as much.
The the level of staff that you have to have that help support some of those more complex cases is totally different. So the economics of these larger, wealthier, more complex cases The, and maybe as amazing as everyone Kings, whereas the clients that are, you know, of, of average wealth, right? I mean, the people that are like their hand. You know, that that just needs some help and they've got $400,000 and really no one is giving them good solid advice.
They're just getting really high commission products. You know, you meet with them once a year. You tell that you can give them the advice that they need because they're not as complex. Right. But you're still giving them really, really great service. You're there. If they have a question, they can always call. But the the team that you need, right, the complexity, the amount of time that you need to spend with them, it's all lower.
So I don't see how if you don't if you wanna Chaz long as you're willing to create the team to service that, I I don't see any reason why I can't be a a business where again, we're not The Salvation Army. Like, we're a for profit company. Right? I mean Yeah. Exactly. You know, they're they're that's a it's it's a profit center for us. And, and I think if you can if you can help people Chaz, you know, can't usually get it and, you know, have a healthy margin.
I don't know why more people aren't doing that, but The, goodness, they're not because it leaves way more. So, you know, it's so bad if you're hiring these consultants. That's right. I love it. And, really, I guess I've I'm hitting on it because what I have found, at least at not not every business owner.
Of course, that's a really big generalization, but business owners that I know and business owners that I think of as the the backbone of this country, the ones that are probably listening to the show right now, are maybe they've got a couple million or 10 or 20 or a 100,000,000. But but the majority of them are probably what we're describing. They've got a couple $100,000, or they're in the process of running a business that could produce that soon.
And so The what they need is somebody like Jason to give them real information is really what it comes down to, right, because because otherwise they're just, like, left to Google. Or here's what here's what actually happens. Or it's even worse. Right? I've even worse. Yeah. Take that guy. That's right. Don't don't read the whole thing. Just just get a snippet of it on TikTok. Second. You should be fine for your You'll be fine. You'll be a millionaire tomorrow.
Right. But I guess what I'm what I'm saying is that you know, the the business owner who who I mean, even is is making a couple $100,000 a year, there's strategy for that person and The the higher wealth individual or the financial person isn't necessarily spending the quality time with them. So let let me parlay this right into give us one of your, you know, one of the strategies that you guys are using right now for this, you know, regular Joe that we've kinda dubbed.
Maybe someone who's listening who's like, oh, man. I wonder what Jason could do for me. What's what's one of the wealth building strategies that you guys use right now? Yeah. I mean, so for us, we really started strategy, not a not a product but for example, I I'm an under the incredibly strong belief that 401 ks are basically a ponzi scheme perpetrated by the government against middle of low class people. Right?
They they are they're you can make up up probably up to about a $115,000 and still be in the in the 12% tax bracket, which is super low. Right? It's very, very competitive. So these people have been told do your 401 k, you know, by everyone. Right? And then people who love them, their uncle, their dad, right, the the the guy next to them at cubical are are working at the plant that says, you gotta do your 401 k. It's probably good advice for a lot of people.
But if you're, you know, in in average American, right, you're making a 100, 150,000 You're doing Chaz. You're getting down into the 12 percent tax bracket. You're you're saving 12¢ on every dollar that you put in. And then you're doing the right thing. Over time, it's accumulating into this huge number. But then when you pull that money out, a 100% of it is taxable at an unknown future tax bracket. Right. Which is a huge problem. Most people are not in a lower when they retire.
I'd say the majority of our clients are not. They're probably in the same, right, when they retire. So now you get this this tax break on this little dollar amount that you contribute. You gotta pay on the whole thing. And then social security, which I know for people that are like, I'm I'm forty five years old Chaz are my age and younger, are not accounting on it, but it's it's there. Right? And I think it's gonna be there in some way, shape, or form.
Well, Social Security is tax free, right, whereas as a, as its base. But when you pull money out of your IRA, if you take out too much and too much is not a big number, a lot of times it's 15 or $18. Right. That money then causes your social security to be taxable.
So not only are you getting taxed on your 401 k, which is much, much, much bigger than this little amount that you put in over time because it's grown but you gotta pay the income tax on that dollar plus it's causing all of your social security to be taxable, which will probably be several $1,000,000 over your lifetime. Right. You know, social security. That that will be taxable now versus not.
So, like, even just the simple advice when someone is young or just starting a business on, should you be doing a Roth 401k or IRA or pretax 401k or IRA can make a gigantic difference over time. You know? So, I mean, that's one of a million examples Chaz, again, for That would be for a very, like, typical client, just that advice. And we give it to clients, kids constantly, right?
When they say, Hey, do you mind just talking to my kid 10 minutes and just getting them on the right track so they don't have all the problems, you know, especially single digit millionaires, man. They're they're the most anxious of anyone. Right? I mean, I mean, people on, that have less than a 1,000,000, they kind of know where they're at, and they've they've they've generally kind of embraced that. People with over 10,000,000 are not that worried about money.
But the single digit millionaires, man, they are they're very they don't have a big income because pensions are gone. They've got money, but they saw the great recession The saw what happened last year. The market was down over 20%. You know, they're nervous, and they're uncomfortable.
So, so for the for the the Gathering type of American, even something simple as that where we're helping these clients, and they said, please talk to my Kings, because I see how just as the little bit of advice 25 years ago would have helped me avoid this whole situation. Yeah. Absolutely. We're itching at good decision making, and that's kinda where the show originally started was, you know, I I just genuinely believe that we are where we are based on the decisions that we've made.
And there's probably no better industry, really, than, you know, financial planning or wealth building Chaz you know, plays right into that thinking because, you know, I'm making decisions today based on my current situation so that my future is different financially and and wealth wise. So what I mean, you've got a lot of examples with clients. Obviously, you're building your own, you know, financial situation.
What's one of the best decisions that you've done or maybe one of your you've you helped one of your clients do Chaz we can share with listeners right now that they can start doing to build wealth. Yeah. I mean, it it's really, really simple stuff. Again, it's not rocket science. You know? So, like, one of the things that I think is the coolest thing that a lot of, like, I'm doing and a lot of my friends are doing is we're doing 529 plans, which are college savings plans, but in our in our name.
Now I've I've a doctorate. Right? I don't I don't need any more education. Right? But I I'm doing a 539 point in my name. Now I have twins that are nine years old. Okay. Right? So I don't have grandchildren anywhere near, you're right, anywhere near the the doc here. But I'm doing the 5 a 529 for each of my children so that they can go to college. But I'm also doing it in my name. The reason is it falls outside of my state when I die, the government doesn't tax it. It grows tax free forever.
There's no age limit, and I can transfer it to as many generations as I want without a tax refund Gathering. Yeah. So we're not, and it's again, it's just a super small amount of money. We're saving a whopping 300 bucks a month into our into my 529, then I'm gonna flip down to my kids who will then pay for my grandkids college. Right. Because because I've got time on my side, I have 40 years to my grandkids may or may not go to college, right, depending on if I have any or if they go.
But that 300 bucks a month and an 8% rate of returns, a $1,000,000 in 40 years. Yeah. I don't have a 1,000,000 tax free dollars to give to my grandchildren, and it's costing me $300 a month. I mean, people wasted on coffee. Yeah. Seriously. You know what I mean? So I think there's just there's so many little tiny things that you could really greatly impact, you know, 1, 2, or 3 generations of your family Chaz cost you the difference between Brian, a brand new car, and a one year old car.
Yeah. And you're talking $10,000,000 of tax free money. I mean, it's just The the the numbers are crazy when you start to really get get time on your side and make make small, good choices with forethought ahead, you know, thinking about it. Yeah. What and this is just this is really good. It's so simple, like you said. But I wanna stay right here because this right here who's listening right now could change their life.
And so this principle of doing the little things that we already probably have heard and probably know saving 300 bucks a in whatever strategy. Right. Just just doing it. What do you think is the thing that keeps people doing it? So, like, you Kings just painted this picture for the next 40 years, you're gonna be depositing $300 at least into this account, and it's gonna be a $1,000,000. And it's cool to think about, and it's, less a million bucks.
But, you know, naturally speaking in everyday life, like you said, really, what I want is the $300 more month car, or I wanna buy The stuff, right, because I want I want now more than really what I want later, because so that's what where my actions go. So how do I stay in the place of what I want 40 years from now is actually really what I want. So I'm gonna take that action over and over and over.
Yeah. I I think it's, you know, I think the easy answer is just discipline, but that's not the real answer. I think the real answer is understanding your values of who you are as a person. My values are unbelievably clear. Right? My kids are number 1. I would say kids and wife, right, are number 1. My business or my, probably my health is number 2, and my business is number 3.
And those are the only three things I care about, and I literally do other than fantasy basketball, you know, hopefully hopefully The pistons will do a little bit better The, this year, okay, counting that back. But I love The basketball, but other than that, those are the only three things I care about. I know golf and I'm playing a softball league. So so to me Yeah.
You know, I if my kids and my wife are truly my number one priority and I'm gonna live my values, then I'm going to put that $300 away before I spend The other dollar and anything else. Right? Yeah. And there's a there's a million of these, like, of of these old books like the wealthy barber, you know, back from 30 years ago. Right? And, rich dad poor dad know, against a very old book, but it's still applicable today. It just basically says, figure out your values. Save for those values.
Pay yourself first and spend all the rest. Yeah. Right? I mean, and I and I to me, I don't I I find that if you help clients figure out what their values are, Gathering them to save is not a problem. It's the people that don't know what their values are and what they're really trying to achieve. Those are the people that are just they're they don't have a rudder, right, The you're just going all over the place.
Yeah. Just the same that you just said as far as when someone's values are in alignment, they don't have a problem saving or you don't have a problem helping them save. It's the same thing in business. Like, I don't have a problem helping somebody see things differently or as far as the action that they should take or, you know, the strategy that they should use in their business. Once the values and, like, the bigger picture is is clear.
For you, in this, in that example, you just gave, I just wanna dissect this a little bit. You're just giving us really, really good stuff. You gave the the ladder there of your priorities. Okay. Fine. So you're wife and kids here. And then you gave the example of because they're number 1, I'm gonna save that $300. Someone might be listening today going, well, that's also my number 1. And because they're my number 1, I'm gonna spend that $300 on the pool or a vacation.
Or an experience, which is, I think, also valuable. And I think even, like you said, for 45 and younger, the experiences of life are are becoming more and more important as opposed to the, like, planning for legacy. Where does fall for you individually or personally, and then and for your clients? Yeah. So I think for me, I I'd I'd love to do both. I mean, my Kings, and actually my eighty two year old mother end.
My wife and I went and stayed for a week in the Amazon over Christmas with an indigenous tribe. Wow. The know, and, like, when snorkeling with £500 sea turtles in the open ocean. Right? I mean, so they're looking. I I'm I couldn't be more on board with the experiences. But those experiences fall inside of my budget. Right? I I have I have paid myself first, and the money that I have left, I can go spend on those experiences.
And it doesn't need to be the Galapagos Islands, you know, over New Year's, right? It doesn't have to be. It could be, it could be reading, my son had a lot of trouble reading. He he was in Montessori Chaz he went to to, private Catholics, elementary school, and he just he was in, like, The 10th percentile. So we read Harry Potter every single night, every single night for 17 months straight, that The stack of books is gigantic if you've ever seen it, right?
And this little dude sat next to me and he would watch me read all the words so that he could start to to really correlate the words to the book. That is almost free. Right? And that is one of the most valuable experiences I have with my kids. So what I would say is, yeah, those experiences are super important, but you don't need to keep up with the Joneses on your experience. That's right. Those experiences could be a a Friday night pizza night and playing monopoly together. Right?
They they don't have to be a pool and, you know, these wonderful vacations. I mean, if it's in your budget, awesome. Knock yourself out. You've you've done some things in life. Right? And you can afford those things. But those experiences, I, I just don't think need to be super expensive. I mean, a lot of The, the most valuable things I've ever done with my kids were were almost free.
Yeah. No. It's it's I think I think we could probably just live right here, the rest of the show, and provide so much just real like, honest, you know, like, as his dads who both have been financially successful, but realize that, like, hey. Look. Like, you know, I I I said years ago when we're I mean, we've got 4 Kings. Sold us as 9. And so 10 years ago, when we're about to have kids, people are like, oh, it's gonna be expensive. And it's like, not really. I've learned now. Not really.
Most people just have the wrong view of money or what to spend their money on. Especially when it comes to kids. Okay. So I'm hearing you say some really good stuff, which is pay yourself first, really was the answer there. Which is also part of pay yourself is pay the future you or the future family or the future grandkids or you know, whatever is part of that. Whatever it is, you know, whatever's high on your value scale. Right? That's what you should do.
Yeah. But the idea of paying yourself first is is a principle. You'd mentioned a couple books, the, you know, richest man in Babylon. This is this is the the this is the straight from that book as well. So The doesn't go very far. What do you think helps your clients do that to pay themselves first? Because that this is a this is a new concept. For many, many people. Probably a lot of listeners, they're going, what do you mean? Pay myself first. And how do I do that? Right.
Yeah. I mean, pay yourself first is incredibly simple. It is fund your goals before you live for today. Right? And that's whatever that goal is. Right? That could be charity. Right? A lot of our clients are super assertively inclined. Chaz could be I mean, I I have clients who are like, I will work part time in retirement until I'm 80 Chaz long as I could send my kids to college. Right? That's their value. Right? They they care about that. The clients to say, you know what?
I work my way through school. I'm gonna retire. My kids can work their way through school, and they don't save a dime, and they they might have $5,000,000 sitting in the, you know, So Right. So painting yourself first is just figuring out your value ladder. Right? What what do you value the most? And then saving towards that realizing this is my number 1. This is kind of who I am as a person. This is my priority, and I'm going to save to that And then, you know, kind of how you save Chaz.
And that's where I think our good financial advisor comes in, which is, you know, how much should you be saving where should you write? There's all these places. Should you be buying crypto? Should you go on tiktok and buy a rental house? You know, should you be buying gold? Because the US government's gonna collapse. Right? You hear crazy things.
So I think a good advisor, that's where they come in, is they start with the dollar amount, as well as the vehicle The you Kings I mean, product just kind of answers itself. Right? But Yeah. Dollar amount of vehicle, I think, are super important. Yeah. I think you gave a really good example there of why someone would wanna reach out to a financial adviser. I mean, ideally you, but the scenario here of not necessarily, like, not the product per se. Although, yes, that's your expertise.
But it's more of a how do I align with what my goals are and how do I take the money that I'm earning and put it into whatever vehicles that you would suggest as the expert to help me get what it is that you've helped me align myself with. Right? Yep. And that's where actually, and I I was I was so I did it in such the wrong way. I published the book, like, 2 weeks after Chaz, GPT came out.
So now it took me 2 years to write it, and I could have done it in, probably, in 10 So I absolutely hate myself for it for doing it 2 years early, but, The name of it is robot, door robots, dorks, or old men. Who should be giving you financial advice? Because there's not just one, you know, when you go to a doctor, so so, Chaz, if you had, if you got diagnosed with cancer, what kind of doctor would you see? Probably not an arm specialist. Yeah. I'm an oncologist. Right?
If you had a skin problem, what kind of doctor do you see? Yep. Dermatologist. Dermatologist. Right? You got a footprint. So so a lot of industries really have this where if you have a specific problem, you go to a specific person.
In my industry, you can work at a bank and you can tell people, hey, take money out of your CD and buy this fixed annuity, or you could have a doctorate, a certified financial planner, published author of being the top 1% of the country and the biggest broker dealer that there is offers super high level AI driven recommendations. That's him, by the way. And, and you're still just called a financial advisor. Right?
So there's there's so many different types of advisors out The, and people don't realize Chaz. So so that's why, the book kind of covers, like, all of the different types and then and then gives recommendations and checklist on, like, who to go to. You know, so who should you be actually hiring? What type of advisor? Here's a checklist of stuff you should find on their website. Here's a checklist of things you should ask in The meeting.
If everything looks good, you've probably found someone that could help you, you know, in in an efficient way for your specific situation. Yeah. I love that. I think that there's transparency in that. Think that, especially speaking from a, like, business owner, my own experience, but then also just other conversations I've had with business owners, it's like, We Leary's not the right word, but it's like, man, I need all my money to grow my business.
And so it's like giving giving money to other vehicles is Yeah. It's not difficult. It's just a different way of thinking. It's a little bit more of a diversification. Would you add some other maybe adjectives here of, like, why I'm thinking business owner who's listening today? Going, oh, man, but I need capital. Why would I give it to you? No. I I totally agree. And it's a it's a it's a balance like anything else in life. And I I have to deal with this myself. Right?
I mean, I, like, the building that I'm in, I I bought this a year and a half ago, like, this beautiful, you know, six thousand square foot three store building in, like, our cute little downtown here in Rochester Mister, Michigan, and it's awesome. Right? But I had to decide, do I do Chaz, or do I take this money and save it, or do I take it and hire another staff member to try and drive business? Do I do more advertising? Dollar only goes so dollar can only go one place. You know?
So why why I've always done it in my personal life, which again, I I don't know is a good answer to why everyone else should do it. But why why I've always done it is I I've always thought I hope to have a big liquidity event with my business at some point. Right. But I may also be able to grab my phone, click it, and have a hologram come up giving you financial advice in 3 years. Right? And my business is worth nothing. Right? Forget you know, what I think it could be worth. Right? Right.
It's worth nothing. So to me, I I wanna grow my business, and that is like my dream or my aspirational money. Right? Is my ever gonna sell it? But if I sell my business for 0, I can still hit all of my goals in life. Right? I can pay for my own retirement. Because we're doing, right, all these retirement plan Kings, personally has our own family. I could send my kids to college, and I could send my grandkids to college.
And we're actually doing some stuff, if you own a business, you can pay your kids and put that money directly into their Roth IRA. That's right. My kids are nine years old, and I've been putting into their Roth IRA for 2 years because they pick weeds here in the building. Yeah. Right. So I pay them for that. It's totally legal and reasonable to do, and a 100% of that money goes to their Roth IRA.
Again, it's it's maybe a little bit more than the the the college for the grandkids, but it's it's it's about 1100 bucks a month. But that's the difference between buying a brand new Tahoe and a three year old Tahoe. Right? Yeah. I can drive a three year old Tahoe. I don't care. Totally. So, you know, and Chaz, and at an 8% rate of return between now and the time my kids retire, let's say it's 68, it's 10,000,000 tax free dollars each. Wolfe. Right?
And, like, I can drive an older, or not as nice car. Right? So to me, those are the things again. I want to put capital into my business. But I wanna make sure that my kids and our family are also set. And I think if you put all of your eggs in that one basket and anything goes wrong, So, right? So so me, I wanna be able to hit all of my goals with real money. And the business I ever sell it, because I count on the business for income.
I can't count on the business for income, retirement, liquidity event, my kids, my grand, you know, I don't think I think that rescued a lot of my business. Right? I I need to do that myself personally, and then my business is just my play money at the end. Yeah. I mean, what I'm hearing, Jason, is personal responsibility or extreme ownership.
And I I I hope this hits the listener right because I'm not hearing you say don't be risky and put it all in one place and and poo poo on the ones that go all in in business. What I'm hearing you say actually is, no, I'm going to win. Period. And because of that, because I need to make sure that I'm going to win because I'm a freaking winner, I need to do other things so that I guarantee my success. Which is what we do as winners. It and and maybe it's multiple businesses.
Maybe it's the investments alongside. Maybe it's the reason why you're You've got the the 529 in your name Chaz well as what you're doing for your kids. Like, we just do things in layers to guarantee success. Talk about this principle because it's not you hedging your bets and like, oh, well, if this doesn't work out, I'll have, like, no. No. You're just guaranteeing your success. You're gonna freaking win. Hey, Kings and Queens. Chaz Wolfe.
I wanna talk to you about something that's super important to me. We put a lot of time and effort. We, meaning myself and my team, into this podcast into the content that goes out every single day. And if you have been getting any sort of value or insight from this, we wanted to be able to reach other business owners too.
So we would love if you would like, comment, share, leave a review, post, share again all of the things on social media, on all the different platforms, or even on the podcast mediums of Apple and Spotify. We would love to be able to get our content into more hands, more entrepreneurs so they can grow their business as quick as Together, we are building a community of like minded entrepreneurs who are committed to growing their businesses to new heights. So let's do this. Let's help each other.
Let's help each other grow. No. I mean, I'm I'm all 80 probably 85% of my net worth is my business. Right? I mean, so I'm not it's it's not like my business is like some small thing that I is like a hobby. Right? I mean, it's still the thing that I do 40 to 70 hours a week. You know, depending on the week and and that I I couldn't be more all in. And if I didn't do this job, I would honestly probably go like epoxy garage floors. Right? So there's no regulation.
I Chaz just do it The summer, Michigan and then leave for the winter. Right? So, like, I have no backup plan. Right? I'm not it's not like I'm hedging my bets. It's just I also, you know, people talk about passive income constantly, and I don't know that a business is a really good passive income tool, quite frankly. I work hard in my business, and I think I will for a while. But I can tell you my 401 k this year is up 20%. Right? I didn't I literally didn't have to work for The second for Chaz.
Right? So I I think Chaz The true passive income and the true security comes from diversifying into financial assets. And then being efficient from a tax and investment in a cost perspective. And then again, not that you shouldn't go all in on your business and not that you shouldn't, you know, really commit to it, but I I think I think people use it as a crutch, quite frankly. They're like, no, no, no, my business is gonna be I think it's lazy.
I I honestly, if I could I I mean, I don't I hate to say that, but If you are, if you're just saying, oh, no, no, no, when I sell my business, when I sell my business, when I sell my business, what you're saying is, is I'm not willing to sacrifice any of my cash flow today. I'm just gonna go enjoy myself because I work hard, and I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say for my own future, and I'm just gonna let hold my business handles it. I think it's a totally lazy way to go.
And if you're not, if you're doing that, I I I would, I think that's a mistake. Well, just less calculated, and I would even challenge that to say, I don't even know what the percentage of people that say that as much as it, they haven't even thought about it. They haven't thought about necessarily The end result, they're just spending all of their money and not even thinking about what 40 years from now looks like. You know? What what would you say to that guy?
Like, who who just really hasn't thought about the future or has it doesn't have these habits of, Milka, you're talking about paying myself first, but why? Like, I don't even have a goal for 40 years from now or for my grandkids? Like, how do I start thinking about that? I I don't even know. Well, first of all, I don't even know. I probably will never meet that person.
I so I don't know if I will ever talk to The, but what I what I think can help address some of that issue where we wouldn't have to talk to those people Chaz financial literacy. And I so I I'm a I'm fairly passionate about that as well where like, I I founded and I chair the, the wealth planning foundation where we give, where we go in and, like, talk to high school groups, you know, about things like what's credit card debt in you be using student loans to go on spring break?
And, you know, like, just simple things that no one really talks about. So, so we've got a charity and then we allow, we have people write in about their experiences and we give you know, relatively small scholarships to the to the letter that we like the best. We got away from that a little bit in COVID, but we've been doing that for, you know, probably 12 years. We also have, there's a college, locally here. So I'd love to support my local community.
I think that's very important, especially Michigan area has had some hard times. So I I we love to support our community. We have a small school here with about 1500 Kings Rochester University and, and actually Michigan, there are financial planning degrees that you can get. But none of them are within 150 miles of Detroit, which is where 90% of the wealth is in 70% of the people. Wolfe.
So why would you go get a financial planning degree in some small little town where there's no financial planners, right? How are you gonna get internships? How are you gonna network? How are you gonna get mentors? So I've been talking to the school about it for a while and actually next month, we've already announced it. The next month, we're doing the, you know, the big scissored ribbon cutting. Yeah. We'll be for the Van Kings Financial Planning Program.
Wow. Well, we actually have a financial planning degree that they agreed and they started, and then I am down this year. So now we're bringing in, we're offering, you know, so what I'm hoping is that there's gonna be less and less of those people because telling them is one thing, right, kind of giving them a fish, teaching them how to fish is one thing. Yeah. But creating fishermen who can go and teach other people how to fish. That's right.
I mean, our firm might impact a couple thousand people, but if I can graduate 15 kids a year from this program, right, who are then all impacting a thousand people each, you know, maybe several 1000 over their lifetime. I mean, hopefully, I won't ever have to have the conversation with the guy who doesn't know, is not doing anything because we create an entire ecosystem locally of people who are educating the public and who are who are trying to articulate that it's a priority.
Yeah. Well, that's the biggest pieces at it. What is it? And then now it becomes a priority. I love I love what you're doing there, man. That's so unique. Obviously, there's a huge, like, emotional tie there just of helping people, Kings, And actually, it's like 20 years in advance to what things will eventually swing back to. You know, like, things always come and go in seasons.
And so the season that we're you know, Kings of coming into is, well, we've been in it, but, like, oh, the overspending, the lack of awareness, the really just free for all when it comes to money. Chaz will change because that that won't end. Like, great. You know? There will be some sort of an event that, creates awareness again. And you'll have already been working on this project for years years at that point. Where you're gonna be part of the solution in that moment.
So I just totally commend you for being a a forerunner, in that. That's that's really, really cool. I wanna I wanna ask you before I Kings wind this thing down, I wanna ask you a bad decision, something that you've made or something that you've seen people do when it comes to wealth building. Chaz, we we stay away from. So I I think in general, I don't I don't know about a bad decision in wealth building, but I think, like, a bad decision. Like, I think about in terms of my business, Right?
So bad The. I think The I think one of the worst decisions that people can make is lack of mentorship. And I I really I, like, I I came from a household. My dad is an immigrant. My mom, which nationally, you might not know what this means, but lock from hamtramack, meaning it's like a first ring community of 900 square foot houses that all the Polish people live in. Wow. You know, and and neither of them went to college, suspect one didn't graduate high school, but neither will cop to it.
You know, so I just I I never really had any mentorship at all. And I I look at, like, where I ended up after college. It's a terrible place. And, you know, it it really cost me years years years. Of my career that I that I could have, I think been probably adding adding more value.
But so that's what I think between, you know, our work The charity and talking to these high school kids and, you know, the the school of business or the school financial planning, right, and kind of working with those kids and not only, you know, putting my money where my mouth is. Like, we had an intern this summer from that program. We're hiring that intern, right, starting, he's a pea plays soccer. So they've got, like, their little training camp.
You know, and then we've got, you know, we're gonna bring him back and we're hiring him for the school year. Right?
So we're we're we're not only providing, you know, that mentorship, but actually doing instead of just talking to him once a year, which I do as the chairman of the advisory board, but instead of just talking to the group once a year, you know, each cohort, each each grade, I can I can I can interact with this person every day, right, and I can hopefully have a positive impact on his life?
And whether he stays, you know, here at Quest Wealth or whether he goes to some other firm, you know, hopefully he's still doing, you know, all of the right things and he's got the right compass and he's still helping people. Right? And Yeah. And you multiply that by 10 or 15 kids a year for 20 years. And you know, hopefully that's an impact. You know? Yeah. Yeah. You actually gave you gave the, mentorship ladder, really, which is you gotta get people that can help you.
So individually, you did that or you didn't have that. I didn't necessarily have that, but we've since then found Chaz. I'm sure in people that have been able to help us, and we would have done it sooner if we had just known. So for the listener, if you don't have a mentor or someone that's further down the road that you can be around regularly. That's what I heard Jason say. You gotta do that.
But then the second step is meeting around people that are you know, like and that could be just right here.
You know, we we can we can bounce ideas off of each other and be peers and help each other even on a podcast, or maybe there's there's other opportunities for you in Chaz, but but then what Jason really said was you gotta look back and you gotta be you gotta be mentoring people behind you and bringing them bringing them forth because in fact, actually, that's probably the most powerful is that when you have something inside of you, even if you've
been super disciplined and successful, those things come out, like, a 100 fold when you start teaching people or start mentoring other people behind you. So not only is it really, really good to help people, but it's like a selfish thing too. I was actually just listening to this huge motivational thing while I was working out at the gym this morning. And, Oh, oh gosh, comedian bald head, family feud. What's his name? Oh my gosh. Why am I drawing a blank on this? Steve Harvey? Steve Harvey.
Yes. Yes. So he's he's in this this video talking about this right exact thing. He's like, you know, look, you could do it for other people. That's great. But he's like, I help other people for me because it makes me feel great. No. Of course. There's there's the other people involved as Wolfe, but I just love the ladder that you gave there. You gave a really full perspective of what mentorship looks like. If someone wants to like, go after those Kings.
Either find a mentor or start mentoring other people. What would you give as advice for the person listening? Be around young people. Right? I mean, just you gotta get around, you gotta get around young people because they're the ones that are gonna soak it up and they're gonna learn. You know, people, my age, I I I I think, I mean, I would love I I keep looking.
I feel like I've I've, I don't wanna say past, but I feel like the value of the different mentors I've had has diminished over as I have gotten to levels that they, can't really help you as much with. Right? So so I believe I always need new ones. You know, even at this age, but I don't think a lot of people feel that way.
So I think if you're looking to really have an impact, you know, time Chaz your friend, you gotta get around and whether it's, I mean, it it can be, you know, given Chaz, like, you have 4 Kings, right, if you got a this sixteen year old or seventeen year old babysitter that's coming over to help and, like, you can give them 3 or 4 pieces of advice. Like, that's mentorship. Yep. Right? So I think it's just making yourself available and maybe even a little bit vulnerable.
And like, yeah, well, I struggled when I was your age. Like, I'm I'm not real bright. I went to community college. Right? So I talked to a lot of kids who are not the 4.3 students, right, for all The AT classes. And I said, look, man, you know, like, I was in your boat. I did horrible in high school. I never even took the ACT or SAT. Went to community college and, like, but look where I am today. You know, like, you can, you can change the direction of your life.
Especially if you're still, like, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen years old. Right? I mean, maybe a 40. I don't know. You know, probably a little bit, but if you want a mentor, if you wanna help and be a mentor, you know, you've got to figure out a way to get involved with with the younger people because they're the ones that want it and and quite frankly, I think, need it the most. Yeah. I think I think that principle that you just described is is the desire, the want.
And so, yeah, I think it, you know, some of The in right now who's forty who wants to change. Sure. Yeah. Of course, you can. You're gonna have a lot more stuff to undo, but that's okay. Greater desire overcomes lesser desire just like what you're saying in the kids is like they just don't have as much, you know, stuff to undo or unlearn. It's just all uphill. And so we're up, you know, in in the upward trajectory. So Okay. What what's a good resource? You've mentioned your book.
We'll definitely put that in the show notes as well. Do you have a favorite book or a favorite podcast or something that you've spent money on that you've gotten value from? Yeah, I mean, I think I I'm see, I'm I'm older than probably the average person that comes on here. So a lot of the books that were really impactful to me are are a little bit older. I mean, I think from a business, if you're, you know, this is a business podcast. Right?
I think if you're in business, the two books, you know, 20 years ago, that really, really made a big impact on me is when I was getting my MBA, the world was flat, really, really had an impact on me, right, which the the internet was not obvious back then, right, and what it would do to the world was was not as obvious, you know, 20 years ago.
And the idea that there was some Kings, there was a billion kids in huts right, in China and in India Chaz were, like, killing us in math, and we're gonna come take my job, was real, was eye opening, right? You never really had that you were competing locally and maybe nationally. But the the idea that you need to find, I think what was incredibly valuable is the idea that you need to find a skill that you have regardless of what it is. Right?
If it's telling people how to epoxy their their ground floor and you're awesome at it, you'll be successful. Right? It doesn't have to be going to get, you know, multiple degrees or, or even in a white collar. I don't think, industry. So, you know, you need to find a skill that you can do better than a billion other people who wanted who want your piece of the American dream. Right? And and I think that's where the world is flat taught me. And then I still like Tim Ferris. I know that I'm old.
And but, man, that 40 hour workweek book really I think it helped me. It helped teach me how to delegate. And, you know, even and again, in financial services, you can be pretty big, but not have a lot of employees. We have, like, 15 employees. Assuming they're all working a 40 hour work week, which I think some, you know, are the low low questionable, but, but assuming they are, right, fifteen people working 40 hours a week is 600 hours.
You throw a little bit of time off for the kids in a vacation. That's as much as I can work in a quarter of the year. Right? I mean, these people are doing it every single week. So I think the 40 hour work week taught me how to delegate, in order to have have that team, right, it's an amazing team of professionals working for for our clients, which no matter how good I am, I can't work 600 hours a week. There's only 168. You know? So so they can be doing the work.
So think that 40 hour work week taught me Chaz, and the world is flat. Really told me to find one skill and just do it way better than everyone else. And then Tim Ferris told me everything else that you do push off to someone else. That's right. That's right. That's leverage is what that is. What about, you you've mentioned your family. I have this this notion, of Chaz. I just don't believe in balance is really what it comes down to. I'll just be straight. I like I like work life obsession.
And the way that you've even described your life, I I feel like we're in alignment here, but what I wanna know is clearly you're obsessed with your business and helping people. We've just talked about that for the last half hour. Cool. But, like, how have you also been obsessed with your family and your marriage even? At the same time, you give us a couple examples of being intentional with your Kings.
What else can you give to us that you've been, like, all in at the same time and and not having to, like, you know, pick 1 or the other? I I Chaz a discussion with with a close, male member of my family recently who basically said, you take all these trips, but you don't really do stuff with your kids. And and we take about 8 weeks vacation a year almost all international. And we're like, you know, my kids are young. Right? They're like, hey, dad. Can I sleep with you tonight? Right?
Like, I am literally spending on a 2 week vacation, I'm spending over 300 hours, like, directly with The. Every single day of the day. Right? You can't get away from him. Right? You can't there's no, like, other room to go to. You just have a hotel room. Right? So so I think, you know, I think to me, it's just how can you have experiences with your family?
But on these vacations, I'll still work 2 or 3 hours a day, right, because the kids can go to the pool with their mom and have an awesome time. They don't need me to necessarily be there. So I think I can I can, you know, that you mentioned, like, saying earlier that your business is almost like a secondary Gathering, obviously, to me, it's not? Right? So I can I can 1000% commit to my business and work every single day on vacation for a couple hours?
My kids don't notice I'm gone because they're having an awesome time doing something else. And then I can be with them out of the 330 hours in 2 weeks. I could be with them the other 300, and I can still be obsessed with my kids, be obsessed with experiences, and be obsessed with my business. I don't think I have to give up on anything, right, to to be able to do that. It's just finding activities. Right? Like, I picked my daughter up from from Cross Country last night.
So my wife had some volunteer Kings, so she dropped my son off at the office. Him and I went to the gym. We did multiplication flashcards. We took the dog. My dog's laying right here. Right. We took the dog for a walk, and I, and I worked for about 40 minutes. And then we went and picked up my then while they're in the car driving home, he did flash cards with her because I I didn't have the ability to to find the time to do that with her practice schedule.
So, again, I think I could be super committed to my health and go to the gym, super committed to my Kings, and do a ton of stuff with them. And even then during that time, my son had his Nintendo switch 40 minutes. Maybe I'm a horrible parent because I did 40 minutes of screen time, but they're in farm camp during the day this week. So I feel like it it is a little bit of a you know, it's a little bit of a keeping them even. So so and I and I worked.
So I I feel like I was able to do, again, to live my 3 values. Yeah. That's right. In a 3 hour period of time and not sacrifice any any of them. You know? And I looked at everything I needed to do. Yeah. I I really feel like you did a great job there. The The, like, nothing secondary to as entrepreneurs. Like, we're just obsessed. That's why I love that word. You can't have a secondary family or a secondary business or, like, You were just all in.
I don't know if we know how to do it any other way, really, is what it comes down to. And so I thought With 4 kids, I don't know how you do it, right, which is a lot easier. I I'm sure I do it for it blows my mind. So whatever you're doing, congratulations, because I'm not sure I could do that.
Well, I I think it's the same, honestly, but The one thing that you said there Chaz was pretty funny was that whoever whoever had the audacity to tell you that, you know, taking trips and not spend time with Kings. Because The when you take family trips, it is pretty much everything is the kids. And and the younger they are, the more maybe quote unquote work that there is. We just got back from Bermuda.
In fact, Gathering the Kings did a family match after mine where several families got Gathering. And it's like, I want to network with guys like Jason. And I want my wife and my kids to be in the same room. With your wife and your kids. And so I just was like, I'm just gonna facilitate this thing. So we went to Bermuda. We're gonna do another one in Cancun coming up here, but It's like, in these moments, like, that was real work for Julian and I, like, real work.
And I'm not talking about the mastermind piece. I'm talking about just getting out of 4 Kings. Onto flights to New York City onto the boat, to the cruise ship, all the way to Bermuda and back. But you wanna talk about memories and time spent Gathering, everything that Jason just gave to you guys, The is how you do it. And guess what? While we were there, I was facilitating some masterminds, and we were working on marriages.
And I brought in some experts and I created relationships We were doing it all. You can have it all. Is it what is what Jason's saying? And everything I did is almost free. Right? My gym membership, I'm gonna pay for either way. Right? Sophia's my dog is house country. I don't know what it costs some tennis shoes and shorts, you know, but, you know, it just doesn't it doesn't have to be. So so you asked earlier, like, how to do you tell people to give up on experiences? I don't think you do.
I just think you've gotta have the experiences that your budget allows while still saving for your values to create a a more balanced and and less stressful life. Mike drop right there. I got one last question here for you, brother. I wanna know if you Chaz the opportunity to whisper. Into the younger Jason's ear. What would you tell? What would you tell that guy? Oh, man. I I honestly I think It's because I didn't have the mentorship.
And, again, it's not a knock on my parents', like, they did grades. Right? They're doing fine, but, I just I didn't have any of that guidance for mentorship, and I I've done it the hard way for a long time, right, for for 25 years. And I think I would just wanna tell myself that, you know, number 1, it's gonna be okay. Like, it's gonna, like, it's gonna work out. And number 2 is is to stick to your to your values. Right?
It was especially in my industry, you know, you can kind of go the dirtbag route where you're selling, like, these high commission products or you know, where you're you're ripping clients off and where you're charging up ridiculous fees, and we never did any of that. And for a long time, it was like this, right, where I was below all of these people And now it's like, I mean, they're not even, they're not even in my rearview mirror. They're so far back.
You know, so it's just just kind of at every turn saying, no, I'm not gonna do that. Was really, really hard to do in a lot of in a lot of cases. Right? As as you see other people who are successful and other people are doing things you wanna do in driving cars, you wanna drive in living in a neighborhood, you love to live And you're not at that point, to be able to stick to just stick to your values, and it will be fine. I think is is, would have made my life a lot easier. Yeah. So good, man.
What a what a great message there for all young people, not just the younger Jason. I think the younger Chaz probably could've could've been okay with that one too. How can we find you, give us give us ways to connect? You actually have a couple ways here. Number 1, if a financial services person or is either interested in joining or, they are just interested in becoming a financial service representative. There's a way to, you know, to get in contact with you that way.
Maybe they're not, but they want they wanna chat with you about building wealth and and possibly connect with you that way, or maybe they're just an entrepreneur. They wanna they wanna chat with you business stuff. How can they find you? Yeah. So our our website is, a quest, a q u e s t, a questwealth.com is a great way. If you're just looking for content, if you're if you're a business owner who's like, how do I gain a little bit of wealth?
Again, it's not gonna be tiktokay crypto to the moon, you know, be saying anything like that, but we have a great YouTube Chaz. You know, it's got several 100,000 views. We we do totally different content on our Facebook page. So we encourage people to, to maybe, join both of The. They're Kings of for different audiences. So those are both really good ways if you just want some information.
You know, if you're looking for some guidance on financial services, you know, Chaz kind of how to again, I I I would say, you know, the book is good. It's fun. You know, it's not boring and if you're if you're if you want to try to better yourself financially and you don't know where to start, you know, go get call me. I'll send you one for free. Right? Email The, and I will literally send you one for free, the pdf. I don't care about ever making any money on it.
I just I think it's a great place to start for people who want it better themselves. And if if you if you read the The, and you there's about 7 different paths that I that I try and tell people. All of these are good. If our path is the one that you think might be best for you, contact us. Right? And whether you have a 120,000, we've got we've got this great guy for you, right, like, Rob would love to work with you. If you've got $40,000,000, great.
We have an entire separate team that will work with you, right, or anyone in the middle. So if you're if you're looking for some financial help and you wanna just jump right to us, great. If you want, they'll read the book. I mean, because maybe we're not perfect for you. There's there are other paths out there that might be good for some people. That's right. And if those paths are great for you, take them, right, and and good luck.
If our path seems to be the one that makes sense, you know, don't hesitate to reach out through our website. You know, there's a a form in there that you could fill out, and we'll get back to within 24 I love it. Well, we'll put all that in the show notes as well so that they can contact you and make it easy for them to get in touch with you. But, Jason, you've been incredible. You have you have a disciplined mind and a disciplined business and family. I commend you for all that you've done.
Congratulations on your success and a blessing to you and your family on all the future stuff that you're gonna hand to you. Thanks for being here. Likewise, Charles. Thank you. And I've got one quickly. You asked me a lot of really good questions. I have one for you. Yeah. Sure. You know, we talked about building that one skill that just other people can't win on. Is this your real voice, or how much do you have to modulate it? Like Yes. This is. Yes. It's my real voice.
It's funny because I have been I've been told that my whole life. So maybe it maybe it's just the thing Chaz I just needed to do if I had a podcast. Yeah. Because this is this is it. Thank you for listening to Gathering the The today. I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away.
More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself. What I have realized, not only in my own journey from multiple business and multiple different industries and now interviewing over 2 or 300 other very successful 7, 8, and 9 figure business owners is Chaz It's tough to do it alone. And so gathering the Kings exists to bring together successful entrepreneurs.
In fact, we are putting together 1000 Kings, specifically who are grateful, but not done. We're intentionally assembling kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, and communities, and here's what we believe Chaz in the pursuit of excellence in those areas, that it ignites within us the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting legacy.
So if that relates and and resonates with you, and you know that you need people around you, sharp, qualified The very successful business owners. I want you to go to Gathering. The you to take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 kings. Talk soon.