Episode Details

September 8, 2025 - Rough Draft

I am an investment and wealth advisor and manager. And you may think of this as a profession but for me, it’s a lifestyle. You see, I have a phrase that I’ve used my entire life, and it goes like this: “I am a lifestyle business, where business is a lifestyle.”  But what is a profession? 
Is what I do a soft and chair-based profession? No, not one bit. 
In truth it is a sport that involves all aspects of the Seven Components of Wealth and Status. And yes, like a traditional sport heavy on physicality, my sport, work, and lifestyle is physical, as well as  emotional, and intellectual. 
What I do is not a nine-to-five desk job. It is not simply running numbers or pushing paper. It’s not walking away at the end of a shift and everything that happens is someone else’s problem.  No, not one bit. 
My profession is closer to what a Formula One driver experiences—adrenaline, exhaustion, preparation, and recovery. When I sit across the table from clients, or when I speak to an audience, when I podcast, produce videos, write papers, books, or when I spend hours digging through research, I am not just thinking. I am burning calories, straining muscles, and depleting energy reserves. The demands are constant, and no two days are the same.
The comparison to Formula One Is not a stretch but with a significant difference. A Formula One driver knows what the car and track will be, for me, that would be nice, but it’s never that way. The track is never fully known, what awaits me could be a dirt, oval, winding Can-Am course, or a world-class Formula circuit. The car is the same basic machine: steering wheel, pedals, helmet, belts. Yet the track dictates everything. That is what advising feels like. Each client, each family, each couple—different backgrounds, goals, fears, and histories. The tools of the trade are the same, but the conditions are constantly shifting, different tools are needed, and everyone expects a win with the least effort on their part. 
One day the meeting feels like smooth asphalt, the next it is a dirt track in the rain. And no matter what, you are expected to perform at peak level, without warm-up laps. Now think about that for a moment, and now add into the mix that the track you’ve come to know can change dramatically. It’s called  life and any of the five deadly D’s. can take hold.  
What are the deadly Ds? Well, they’re five things that can happen to someone and each one begins with the letter D. Again, this is one of those things I created decades ago. And so they are: Death, Disability, Division, Discharge, and Destruction. Like the fictional track I’ve described, the last time it was smooth and running hot, but now it’s filled with potholes and running colder than an iceberg. 
The physicality in my profession is real. A Formula One driver can lose five to ten pounds of water weight in a single race. I find that an intense day for me is similar. My various offices may not look like Monaco, but when the adrenaline spikes and the focus narrows, I come out of an in-person client meeting, phone or video call, or a deep research project, the feeling of being drained is the same as the Formula One driver at the end of a race. The muscles tighten, the body slumps, the mind races through replay after replay of every detail twist and turn. Just like a racer’s heart rate stays pinned between 160 and 170 for nearly two hours, mine rises a bit, not as much as the racer, but it holds steady and elevated through the intensity of presentations, decisions, and negotiations. There is no autopilot. And mistakes, well they’re costly.
That is why physical wealth matters. My formula for physical wealth is based on over six decades of research and simplification. The formula is this: On a daily basis, engage in strength, endurance, and flexibility training, with natural nutrition and hydration, with everything in moderation. This is not a casual definition. It is survi