What If It Did Work?
What If It Did Work?
Wealth Beyond Numbers: The Real Path to Financial Success
Are you ready to rethink your approach to building wealth? Join us in this enlightening episode where financial expert Mark Murphy shares invaluable insights on investing in yourself and creating multigenerational wealth. We explore the importance of personal development and how it can far outshine mere speculation in the markets. Discover how current trends and the cryptocurrency craze can influence your financial strategies.
Mark shares his unique pyramid for wealth creation, offering listeners a clear roadmap to financial security. He emphasizes that community and collaboration are essential to sustainable success, highlighting that investing in people leads to greater opportunities.
This episode is not just for investors—it’s for anyone eager to make meaningful changes in their financial future. Ready to get started? Tune in now and let’s embark on this journey to financial freedom together!
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I never told no one that my whole life I've been holding back. Every time I load my gun up so I can shoot for the star, I hear a voice like who do you think you are All right.
Speaker 2:Everybody. Another day, another dollar, another one of my favorite episodes of my favorite podcasts. Yes, I'm biased, it's my own podcast. What if it did work? I'm excited to have a CEO with us on this week's episode Mark Murphy. Mark B Murphy, ceo of Northeast Private Client Group, a national financial planning and wealth management firm. Mark is very highly accomplished, with numerous accolades.
Speaker 3:Thank you, I think your mic might have gone out. You can hear me. Now you're back your mic's back on. Yeah, no one happened.
Speaker 2:You know what? Sometimes my ex-wife wishes she had that. I think we would have still been married if she could mute me for 20 plus years. So how's it going, Mark?
Speaker 3:It's great, so happy to be on the show. Been doing some reading about you on the podcast and can't wait to spend a little time together.
Speaker 2:Well, good man, that's what we're here for Now. I have to ask you, man new president, new regime. It's great for the market, right?
Speaker 3:I mean, except for a couple of days ago the hiccup with all the supposed tariffs that we put on hold. I mean, I think I'm not sure you know. I think that I think the issue that you have to be concerned about is, you know, the markets are all rising in different sectors based on anticipation of what's going to happen with in the world, what's going to happen with this administration, and, as we all know, even the perfectly laid plans don't always work out. And so I just think you know like, as an example, you know, there's great enthusiasm about cryptocurrency the last few months. You know that's because the administration signaled that they're very pro-crypto. If that were to change, that might, you know, not portend well for the crypto markets. You know same thing with a lot of the initiatives the new administration's having, and so I think you have to be optimistic but cautious.
Speaker 2:Well, mark crypto, but cautious. Well, mark crypto. Now, are you a crypto guy? Because I I've been fully invested in the stock market since I was like literally I think 1920, so so over 30 years. I was a financial advisor. I actually did a big position on crypto like probably at the high back in 2021? And I sold because the pain just got to me.
Speaker 3:You know, I think that those are speculation markets, and I think I could sit here and I could make a case why crypto is here to stay and will be a valuable part of the currency. I could also give you an same argument on the other side how it could blow up immediately, and I think it's speculation. I think that my strategy is more to have entrepreneurial people invest in themselves. I think the thing that works every time is that, even if it's traditional stocks I mean, I'm sure that none of your viewers or listeners had anything to do with Enron going under or or loose and collapsing, or any of the other companies that collapsed over the Bear Stearns, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 3:You know the idea, though, but I think that, ultimately, you know, I think you know so as a world class coach like you are, and somebody that helps people grow their businesses and think differently, somebody that helps people grow their businesses and think differently if you only have $1 to invest, the first place I always look to invest in is invest in my business or some other operating company. Or if you're an entrepreneurial thinker but don't own a business, how do you improve your own self so that you're prepared for the next opportunity or the next job? How do you grow your network? How do you grow your capability, how do you grow your leadership? How do you grow all the things that we know you need to do to be more successful in life?
Speaker 2:Well, it's funny that you bring up Enron. I haven't thought about that name in a while. But I'll give you a story. I was working for Edward Jones and I was looking to make the leap to the next firm and it was Morgan Stanley. The hiring process I'm like right there and I'm like right next to the bullpen. I can hear everybody and everybody's pitching Enron stock. Now. Enron at the time was like at $4 a share and they're just telling all their retail investors retail just means joe blows. Hey, dca it. Yes, you bought it at 60 70. What an amazing deal. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Speaker 3:You need to jump in now with both you know both hands full of cash, because at four dollars a share, what a steal yeah, I, I remember those days with lucent when they said, when somebody was, people on TV were saying you'll never get a chance to buy lucent again at fifty dollars a share.
Speaker 3:And they were right, because you could buy it at two dollars a share. You know exactly. And so I think anybody that's got picking, you know, we're, you know I don't know when this episode later air, but you and I are taping it on the eve of the Super Bowl, and so you know, I, you know if I, you know if you're, you know I think that ultimately, that kind of crypto or stock picking is analogous to. You know, we might as well take the, we might as well take the eagles and the points you know, and the over you know, I mean, I think that I think that ultimately, that that kind of, that kind of mentality is, is, is not a way to create multigenerational wealth or a life by design. I think it's more speculation, it's fun to talk about, but it's. But I think that you know, I don't think that's how most fortunes are made.
Speaker 2:But, mark, I know you're the multi multigenerational guy and I'm conservative too when it comes to that multi-generational guy. I'm conservative too when it comes to that. But the thing is is that everybody, especially with social media, it's always the now it's a. Why can't I invest, like in 1999, at Qualcomm at $4 and have it blow up on me? Why can't I? Why can't I just buy speculative stuff? Why can't I just be what? Screw generational wealth here I am d saying you know dollar cost averaging 200 bucks a month. Why can't I just explode on one stock? You know 500 penny stock, 500 in the penny, and then you know this is the stuff that people think when they watch.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but I also think that you know the casinos in las vegas and atlantic city, city and Monte Carlo are not being built by the winners. They're not building those hotels in those casinos and I think you know, just like why a lottery stays popular. That's why numbers stay popular in certain neighborhoods, in certain neighborhoods, and I think that ultimately, you should be. You need somebody that obviously we manage billions of dollars and a lot of that. Some of that wealth is certainly in the market and our chief investment officer is a guy that worked at Goldman Sachs at one point and was a four and a five star rated Morningstar manager and ran his own fund. And I think that the idea is you need people to peek around corners.
Speaker 3:But I think ultimately, you know, if you know, at best, I think the stock market is an inflation adjusted holding tank.
Speaker 3:Unless you hit that, you know that one in a billion kind of chance, which is just as likely to be struck by lightning, that you're going to find. You know that stock, as you said, at Qualcomm at $4 a share. I think that I think the idea is you know, and we do have stories of people getting very lucky and getting in early on things, and you want to do that, but I think, ultimately, you know, bill Gates isn't worth $110 billion because there's 401k, or because he hit it lucky on once. He hit it lucky on buying Qualcomm at four bucks a share, and and, and so I, you know, I think that that that ultimately, that I think for most people that is a fool's errand, that that ultimately it's. It's no different than I was watching one of the old honeymooners shows the other day and it just seemed like another one of Ralph Kramman's get rich quick schemes which, as you know, never seems to work out for him and Alex, or, or, uh, or Norton.
Speaker 3:Well, I was never seems to work out for him, and alice or or or norton. Well, alice never made it to the moons. So I wonder, you know, I obviously I think I'm older than you, but I wonder, I wonder if the people were in their 20s or even teens, early 30s, even though we're talking about, you know, jackie gleason on the honeymooners.
Speaker 2:Probably not, but yeah, that's not really my target anyways. You know that, and for a while I was trying. I'm a grad from louisiana, but louisianians don't listen to personal business development. So I mean, unless this podcast is about lsu football or what with the basketball team or the uh, the baseball team's gonna do come spring, yeah. And then when it comes to young people, yeah, no, look at me, I'm like 50. I'm in my 50s. They're not going to be like, oh, let's follow this guy.
Speaker 3:Well, I got to tell you I love SEC, football and sports. I'm a Big Ten guy myself, but you know I think the SEC is amazing, so we'll give it to them. But let's focus on what you like to focus on. What I like to focus on.
Speaker 2:I would hope most people would know Jackie Gleason, either from the Honeymooners or Smokey and the Bandit. Yeah, of course I got to ask you because this is your expertise, multi-generational wealth. And this has always intrigued me because I'll tell you a story. My grandfather he's still alive, he's 100 years old. He came to this country my family's been here since like 1952. And he became a multi-millionaire Business owner, blew up, but the one thing he never had was multi-generational wealth. He built a jet engine repair overhaul facility for airlines and 9-11 happened, but it was all invested in the business. But it was all invested in the business.
Speaker 2:Like most South Americans and a lot of minorities, we can't trust the stock market Because if you think about it, the 70s and 80s and 90s, if the man just invested a little into Ford or into GE, ibm back then he would have had multi-generational wealth. Ibm back then he would have. Never he would have had multi-generational wealth. Well, he let it ride, never sold his, his business, never sold the building and it was rags to riches back to. You know, rags and that's uh. Ever since then, you know I've always been a preacher of multi-generational wealth. How easy. I know it's all about longevity. I know it's about doing things on a consistent basis, but that's the key to success. What would you suggest? What's the sweet spot for somebody?
Speaker 3:to start investing Again. Last year you wrote that number one bestseller called the Ultimate Investment, and now I've got my fourth book. Wrote that number one bestseller called the Ultimate Investment, and now I've got my fourth book we're about halfway through which is on, we've trademarked our pyramid to create multi-generational wealth. And so at the bottom of the pyramid, Omar is protection Meaning? Don't tell me you don't have your real estate in separate LLCs. Don't tell me you don't have any health insurance or life insurance or disability insurance, or you've not done your wills and trusts and all those other kinds of protective things and have the right kind of protection umbrella, liability policies, those sorts of things.
Speaker 3:The next pyramid is cash confidence. The number one reason why people fail or they don't succeed to the level that you succeed, is they don't have enough cash or liquidity. And so all I can tell you is that I've made a lot of my wealth when I had cash and somebody else needed cash. But also, you know, life doesn't go straight up, it goes up and down, and so if you've got a business or you've got a plan, if you have a bad quarter or a bad year, you need to have the liquidity to withstand it. So you're not. You know, so you're not living the ups and downs of inflation or your business, or stock market or real estate or anything that's there, and so cash confidence is key. I think even people that have good businesses, good networks, good assets, they have no liquidity, and when you know what hits the fan, the whole thing collapses. You know what hits the fan, the whole thing collapses If you go up the money machine, go up the pyramid. The next thing is I would never starve my money machine, Meaning if I only had $1 to invest, I would invest that in my business or some other operating company, or I'd invest it in myself if I didn't own a business. So because I think the idea is I have a very simple mantra there as long as I can get a four or five to one return on my money, I have an unlimited appetite for investment, and you can't do that with reliability, saying something like the stock market, but you can do it if you invest it in yourself or invest it in your business as you move up the pyramid.
Speaker 3:We think, even though there's dozens of asset classes, Omar, we think there's only two and we call them paychecks, or either free capital or playchecks. I want our clients to develop a series of assets that will give them a guaranteed or highly reliable stream of income and let's call those paychecks. And I want them to have another series of assets where you can spend it, you can save it, you can give it away, but the important thing is it will not be responsible for producing income for their family. So if you have both paychecks and playchecks, that's financial freedom. But there's still one more level If you can have earned income beyond normal retirement age, when all your friends are worried about going to early bird specials or living too long or drinking domestic beer instead of imported beer or whatever their jam is, you could be a net saver.
Speaker 3:And that's the key to do that. You'll notice with our president President Trump he became president didn't sell the Trump companies. I think so many people they can't wait to divest or get out and retire that the cash flow from their companies is generally worth a lot more than the after-tax money they get from the sale, and so I think that in a nutshell I mean it's obviously a lot deeper than that, but I think it gives you the outline of a path that is reliable to get to multi-generational wealth.
Speaker 2:Now, mark, when you discuss investing yourself, I get to invest in the business. I was an entrepreneur for 20 years. Now do you also mean to invest, like, let me go get my doctoral degree or let me learn how to do a trade, or is it the personal?
Speaker 3:development, yeah, why would you go back? I think it it the personal development. Yeah, why would you go back? I think it's yes to that. Why would you? Why would you go back to school to get a master's or to get some sort of special technical training or something, unless it gave you the opportunity to get another job or opportunity that would help you make more money? Or if you're, if you're in a management position? You know, we all know everybody wants. You know people come to me all the time to ask me to help them grow their business. We all know you don't grow a business, you grow people, and so you know good leaders create followers. Great leaders create other great leaders. You know how do you invest in people and help and help grow.
Speaker 3:It could also be in a network. It could also be, you know, in terms of developing resources and contacts and people that can help you. You know, ultimately, you know, what I find is you can be Omar. You could be the smartest person in the world. You can work harder than anybody on the planet and you can grind it out for years or decades and grow your business or grow your income. You know one or two or three X If you want to grow that business or that income. Five or 10 or 20 or a hundred X.
Speaker 3:It's about collaborating with people that want to be a hero to the same group you are. It's about having a it's it's it's about having um, a network of folks that are that are vested in your success and you want to help them grow their business, and, and oftentimes those are the same people that you help them grow their business or their opportunities. It's it's it's it's collaboration is is how generational wealth is created. It's not just by being the smartest guy in the room and working the hardest. It's it's that, plus the collaboration with other people.
Speaker 2:Well, mark, what I find is a lot of people entrepreneurs live in the scarcity mode and when you say, invest in people, their first knee-jerk reaction is if I invest in them, they're going to leave me, they're going to go find a better job or they're going to create their own company, they're going to become my competitor. I can't do that. That's just insane. That's suicide. I'm just telling you. I know it's not, but you know that when you live in scarcity and when you focus on that, that's usually the first thing that they say is that it's like if I train them, they'll leave me.
Speaker 3:I think part of it comes with mindset. Remember, you know, ultimately you know, if that's your mindset, that may, that may occur, but but I think that most people own a business, think they're entrepreneurs, omar, but we all know they both, they both really just bought themselves a job and I think that the issue, the question is very clear to me, is when, when, if you're getting paid for what you do, you have a job. If you're getting paid for what you know, you have a job. If you're getting paid for what you know, you have a company, you have a business, and so you always want to teach people to get paid for what they know rather than what they do the other thing is when you have people in a scarcity mindset.
Speaker 3:You know, one of the things I'm least proud of early in my career was I helped people that were in a lot of debt credit card debt, other debt of other kinds. I helped them grow their businesses and if they came with bad values around money and all I did was double or triple their income and get them out of debt, that was no different than giving a drug addict an eight ball of cocaine or an alcoholic a gallon of vodka. If somebody has a scarcity mindset, you've got to make sure that they have the right mindset around money and around business for them to be able to succeed, because if they come in with a scarcity mindset anywhere, they're going to get a scarcity result. And so ultimately, the idea is that if you're, I think the kind of golden rules of wealth are two rules that I believe in. One is your money has to work while you sleep, and the second thing is your business has to create revenue without you doing the do no-transcript.
Speaker 2:Well, a lot of entrepreneurs who believe small businesses, a lot of them like what you said. They just bought themselves a job. It's like that 40-year-old son that's never left your house Right. It becomes a huge burden. It's like it's always there. You can't take a vacation. You don't own the business. The business owns you.
Speaker 3:I mean that sounds like a pretty miserable life to me, and I think the other thing too is, beyond Omar, creating a multigenerational wealth. You know I was watching. It's a Wonderful Life. This was the holidays not too long ago and Mr Potter has multigenerational wealth. But I don't think anybody wants to be Mr Potter If your family hates you, if you're unhealthy, if your wife can't stand you, your husband can't stand you.
Speaker 3:That's not enough. And so when you ask an entrepreneur and you ask them about work-life balance, they kind of look at you strange. You go what are you talking about? I go from one thing I love to something I love more to something I love more than that. You help them design a life that not only creates multi-generational wealth but a life that's so great that they never have to retire from it, much less ever have to take a vacation from it, because they're always in creation and fascination mode, and maybe in the beginning.
Speaker 3:You know, with most businesses, you know I remember, you know in the early days, you know how hard I work. You know sometimes I was the guy that didn't take a paycheck in the early years. But if you put that time in, you get to a place where you can have this extraordinary life. And I think that the idea is it's not just about money. Money is one of the factors. You know, I think money is important, but it's not the only thing, it's, it's also having, you know, having the life you want now and keeping that way forever. And I think that you know, sometimes we focus exclusively on money, where there's other things that are important as well.
Speaker 2:Well, I remember those days too. It it. It took me for forever to to scale it, but it also took me from not not because I didn't have the tools, I didn't have the mindset. I had the saver mindset. Instead of paying myself. First, it was always you know, well, maybe next time and after it was well, maybe I can save more money by working in my business. And I don't care, I'm not going to plug them anyways.
Speaker 2:We owned my business partner at the time, my ex-wife. We owned Five Smoothie Kings and it was always like here we are, she's got an MBA, I've got a master's in communications and we're sitting there looking at, instead of looking at how, money-making opportunities and how to scale so that we wouldn't have to be slaves to the business. It was always like well, if we cut employees, if we cut a shift or we work a shift here and there, just think of all the money we could save in a year. That would be a cruise. But that's that was thinking small. Because here I, here's, two highly educated people that are great at marketing. Instead of paying someone 12 bucks, 13 bucks an hour.
Speaker 2:It was like, and that's the mindset of of a lot of business owners, whether the guy that owns multiple subways or whatnot. They don't understand that your goal is to go out there and find more business, to go out there and market yourself. Double down on what you're great at and just outsource the meaningless stuff or the stuff that you can pay someone else to do yeah, but again, though, we all know those businesses don't wind up being successful, they, they wind up not creating multi-generational wealth.
Speaker 3:And by the way, I read oh no, no, not at all yeah, I, I read this, some article that 98 of businesses never get to the next generation. They die in the vine at the first generation because it wasn't a. It wasn't a business, it wasn't a generational business, it was a job. And so I think the number one thing is to get people out of that mindset so that they have the ability to think clearly, to see what's possible. I mean, I think you know my superpower is, you know you have to see people where they are, because it'd be ridiculous to see people through rose-colored glasses.
Speaker 3:But I want to see people at their highest and best potential. I want to believe in them so viscerally that they believe in themselves. And I think that one of the things that you know what you do for a living and what I do and what others do is you know that everybody needs somebody or some people to believe in them. And that belief system you know, you know, with, with a little bit of intelligence and some hard work and some some focus and discipline, you know, often, often turns out to be something very special.
Speaker 2:I've. I have to say that the one thing that I would have never thought that you would say, cause, cause, I. I remember hearing Warren Buffett say oh, the best, the most important investment is invest in yourself. Invest in yourself first, but being in, you know, have having a private client group and all, I would think that your mindset would be no man invest. The first thing you need to do is invest in a good, no load mutual mutual fund, preferably one that mirrors the S&P 500, until you get to a certain level and then branch from there. But no, you actually have it in reverse. You're like no, what you need to do is you need to create a company or you need something that creates income. That's the most important thing.
Speaker 3:And I would also sit back and say that, ultimately, I've said this for 30 years, omar. I've said money markets, cds, iras, 401ks, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, blah, blah, blah. Most of our clients have some or all those assets. Most of our clients will have some or all those assets all their life, but at best they're inflation, adjusted holding tax, as I mentioned before. You know, bill Gates is worth hundreds of billions of dollars because of his 401k. You know, true wealth is. True wealth is created in one of three areas. It's investing in your business or some other operating company. It's investing in real estate. It's financing deals. I'll leave out divorce and inheritance. You know, if you, you know uh, and and, and. That's that's how it's done. And so you know, ultimately, I think that that you know there's a lot of people out there that are giving advice that you know, uh, you know probably does not get the, the, the desired result for most of the people that they do business with. And so you know the idea, the idea ultimately is.
Speaker 2:That's not how we see multi-generational wealth being created in almost any circumstance. Also, the multi-generational wealth, it's not high risk, high reward, correct.
Speaker 3:I know plenty of people that are around our age that are like 90% invested in tech, which is like I think it depends what your time horizon is on these things, but I believe that with every move you make, you should aspire to increase wealth and reduce risk at the same time. I think in business school they used to say what you had said.
Speaker 3:To get higher returns, you have to take higher risk. To get lower returns, you take low risk. I think you want to flip that on your head and you want to help people velocitize their money by getting higher returns and reducing risk, or at the very least not taking additional risk, to get where you need to go. So I think, ultimately I think it's a mindset I'd rather own the casino than go to the casino. You know, I'd rather, most of the time, rather own than rent. You know, I'd rather. You know, I'd rather.
Speaker 3:You know, as I said, I think, no matter how much money you make, even if you make a crazy salary, a seven figure salary, a multi seven figure salary, much less a multi six figure salary, your salary In the United States, when in most states, you know, especially in the Northeast or California, we were paying over, you know, 50% of your money to the government in taxes, and that's before payroll tax, that's before sales tax, that's before property tax, that's before state tax, et cetera, capital gains tax, et cetera, et cetera, you're giving almost half your money away after you live and pay your bill, your rent, your mortgage and buy a car and a pair of shoes and some clothes and take a vacation or something and save a few dollars. At best you can hope for is hopefully one day you'll have a comfortable retirement plan, but you're not going to create any wealth. It's hard to save your way to wealth. The wealth has to be created.
Speaker 2:Well, also think about it. The areas that you named high cost of living too. So it's not like you're making a million dollars and living in Topeka If you're in Silicon Valley. A million dollars a year with taxes and everything taken out, you're middle class there.
Speaker 3:But even if you're in a non-tax state like Tennessee or Florida or Nevada or Washington, you're still at 37 plus percent and that's before all those other taxes that come with no state income tax. And then they have other fees and other use taxes and other things that are kind of stealthy kinds of tax. But I think it's hard for you, and here's what I think If you could have just for every $100,000 of recurring revenue, highly reliable recurring revenue you have, from whatever source, is the same as having $2 million in the bank earning 5%.
Speaker 2:Wow, wow. Now would you tell someone hey, put on your blinders, save an average person, save and then invest when you get up to like 50K, 100k into something. Well, I think it depends.
Speaker 3:I think it's hard to give advice over a podcast that's specific for a general audience.
Speaker 3:Oh, of course, I know that I think every circumstance is different, but I do think that, as a rule of thumb, I think one of the things that you should aspire to do is you should aspire to put away at least 15% of your pre-tax income, pay all your bills and then, whatever is left, you can spend it like a drunken set.
Speaker 3:You can then have the luckness of life, and I think what so many people do is they never pay themselves, and so, if those are the only three things you can do, you can save it, you can pay your bills or you can spend it.
Speaker 3:If you do it in any other order, there's never any money to save, no matter how much money you make, and I think one of the things to create wealth, particularly for younger people or people starting out or people starting over, is you've got to pay and you've got to save first, because I don't care who you are, your spending and your bills and everything will absorb whatever money you make. As an example, when people say I can't save any money, but their property tax goes up by a few thousand dollars or the cable bill goes up by 50 bucks a month, or eggs cost another $3 a gallon, it's not like you don't buy eggs, or you cancel your cable or you lose your house. You just pay those bills because you've got a bill in front of you. So if you can do that, why can't you pay yourself first? Because the money does get absorbed, it mysteriously gets embedded in your budget and the money is gone.
Speaker 2:Oh, but it's so hard, mark, because most people do. They want to spend the money before it hits the account. Man, it's all about it being that drunken, having that drunken sailor life. I, it's all about the, the dopamine and the unks, you know. That's why we love going to vegas. That's why we love the flashy lights and and the loud noises and everybody cheering well, the, and the answer to me is that you know what's hard.
Speaker 3:You don't need to be what. What you know what's hard is to have discipline to do things. Discipline to do things in your life is hard. I know anybody that you know is on a workout routine or disciplined in their eating, or disciplined in their saving, or disciplined to to do what they say they're going to do. It's hard, but you know what's probably to me it's harder is to tell your kids hey, we know we have no money for the, for the soccer lessons or the piano lessons or the new cleats, or we can't take a vacation this year. Or you know, what's even sadder to me is when you get somebody in their fifties or sixties or seventies that that really is not healthy and and it's just burnt, burnt and just done. And they show up every day for work 40, 50, 60 hours a week because if they don't they lose their house. That's hard too, and so I think both are hard, omar.
Speaker 2:I think people have to decide which hard they want I agree, you know and to be successful in anything it it you, you have to do away with with a lot of devices, a lot of the, the instant gratification, like what you know, if you want that trip that you're talking about with your children, or the soccer lessons, yes, we have to save now so we can do that instead of hey, let's go to Gucci, let's go to Prada, let's go to Neiman Marcus and spend, spend, spend.
Speaker 3:Well, you, know the question I always ask my folks at work for me. I always ask them this what are you willing to do that you're not doing now to have what you don't have? And so so the idea to me is you know that that's a question that people should, should, answer. You know, if you're not happy with what you have, with what's going on in your life and that just doesn't mean just money, it means everything that's going on your career, your, your family, who you're dating with, who you're married to, who you're, where you live, what you do. If you're not, you know, what are you willing to do about it? What are you willing to do about it? What are you willing to do that you're not doing now to have what you don't have?
Speaker 2:And so the idea is, you know that's a question that can allow us to then uncover you know what are the steps in place that they need to take to have the life they want. Well, I know, thank you, thank you. Well, I know, thank you, thank you. I I try to hit the. That's what happens when you're in your, your 50s. If I was in my 20s, I would have been able to hold that cough, hit the mute button and cough. Well, I think. I think it makes you more an expert I think.
Speaker 3:But I think it's part of life. I think that makes you more real and more organic. And you know, because everybody who's watching this does cough or sneeze, and they've done that in their life, so we all know about that.
Speaker 2:That's funny. I when you're. I forgot to tell you when you were talking about it's a wonderful life. I think what everybody gets out of that is is that they do hope that they're George Bailey and that the the whole town would, all your friends and neighbors if, if shit hits the fan, would come out and bail you out because you've you've had such an impact on them.
Speaker 3:Well, I mean, mr Potter is not the richest man in in in. In Beaver falls it's George Bailey, and you know I. And in Beaver Falls it's George Bailey, and you know I think that ultimately that you know there's a lot of great books that are written about that, Omar. But you know one thing is you know there's givers, there's takers, there's matchers and the idea of matcher, meaning you know I'll help Omar because I think Omar can help me, or I don't think Omar can help me. So the hell with Omar. You know I'm only going to match me if I think you can help me.
Speaker 3:And in the beginning givers seem to always be a little bit behind, because you know the takers are ahead because they're taking and the givers are giving. But ultimately, if you can pour into people, not for a few weeks or a few months, maybe even a few years, but for years or decades few months, maybe even a few years, but for years or decades you will have an army of people out there that want to make a difference in your life, because you've made a difference in the life that they touch and if you go back to that example of it's a Wonderful Life. That's what George Bailey had. He had poured into that community and helped with the building alone. He had helped people in all kinds of altruistic and neighborly ways. So when he got in trouble, in all kinds of altruistic and neighborly ways, so when he got in trouble, the entire town came out to save him and everybody wishes that they had that and ultimately people can have that.
Speaker 3:But you don't have that because you want it. You have that because that's who you are. That's because you're the one that's pouring into people and making a difference in their lives in their business, personal and familial way going forward. You know, the greatest gift you can have having five children is that your kids don't feel they have to spend time with you. They want to spend time with you because you've got that kind of relationship with them, as opposed to if you had raised them and been there for them all that time. They don't feel obligated to be with you. They want to be with you and that's the same with friends and colleagues and neighbors and other people. And that's how you become George Bailey and not Mr Potter.
Speaker 2:True Also, though. One of the aspects of Mr Potter, though, is what Hollywood loves to show is that the wealthy are always miserly, always miserable, always selfish, never wanting to help out anybody, and society thinks like that too. Wealth someone like Howard Schultz, someone like, when you have that type of money, Bill Gates, you can help communities, you can help cities, you can transform the world that mean person with generational wealth. Compared to the guy that's $50,000 in debt, up to his eyeballs in debt, living paycheck to paycheck, he's barely surviving.
Speaker 3:He's not thinking how can I help out my neighbor? Much less how can I help out my community. One thing my wife Lisa says all the time, which is there, is that people that just have enough, just enough, are some of the most selfish people on the planet. I've heard her say that many times, and and the reason is because they don't have anything for anybody else, they have just enough for themselves. The people that don't have anything can't share because they don't have enough. So it's people that have abundance and create abundance is what helps everybody. You know it's, it's the entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial spirit. The reason I wanted to be a hero 35 years ago I decided I wanted to be a hero to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial thinking people is because those are the people that make a difference in the world. There's only 5% of us, but that's enough of us to change the world. And and you know, and so you know. So at this point it's very clear to me, omar.
Speaker 2:And and you know, and so you know. So at this point it's very clear to me, omar, I just want to do three things every day. I want to help a lot of people, I want to create a lot of wealth and abundance and I want to have a lot of fun night on a podcast when you know you could be sinking back drinks, you could be hanging out with your wife, you can be doing multiple things, but you're in service. You're in service to your community, you're service to man, because when you, when you give, you receive too, which it's like with Zig Ziglar I know it's mind-blowing people whenever he says the easiest way to find success is help others find success first.
Speaker 2:But we all have it, like what your wife said about everybody's too busy Well, I'm not going to help out that guy, I'm not going to help out that guy, he's not it's. They want either somebody to reciprocate, and then they might help out if they see that person, or they're in the mindset that, hey, no, you know, nobody helped me out. Instead of just having that other way around that, like what you said, 5% of people out there can make a positive change, and to not on a global level yeah, I always think that if you ever you know you mentioned getting divorced.
Speaker 3:I was divorced many years ago and, um, you know, it's like when you go to marriage counseling, every both people are going to marriage counseling want the doctor, the therapist to say you know, it's my partner who's wrong. We've got to straighten out, I'm here, to straighten you out.
Speaker 3:And I think when you realize that the only person you can change is yourself, and if you become that best version of yourself, then that gives your spouse the opportunity to become the best version of their self, and then the marriage has a chance. If you think it's just about changing the other person, it's doomed to failure. And you know one of my favorite expressions, and I'm paraphrasing Eckhart Tolle, and he says to me he says that in this life there are two suitcases. You have your egoic suitcases. I am a very successful entrepreneur, or I've made a lot of money, or I've helped. You know I've done. I'm a vice president of this or president of that, or CEO or chairman of this or chairman of that.
Speaker 3:He said that's a suitcase you can't take with you. Well, the other suitcase, he says if you realize who you are is all you've got, then you can decide the kind of person you want to be. And so I was. What do you want people saying about you? Are you wanting to be saying people about you that I'll help people out only if they help me out first? I don't think that's what people want to say. Or I don't help people out, I'm a taker. Where do you want to be somebody that leads and somebody that that impacts positively the lives of everybody you touch. I think, I think that's what many, most people aspire to. They just haven't critically thought about.
Speaker 2:True, true. Now you're a best-selling author. You said you had multiple books. Yes, talk to us about it, man. I I've. After I read your bio, I checked them out, but it it's better when it comes from you. Which book would you? What's the number one book that you would say? Pick this book up. This is the. This is the base, this is the foundation. This is what I want you to read in order to change the trajectory, the legacy of your life.
Speaker 3:It's like trying to ask you which one of my five children is my favorite as well, but I think I think the last one.
Speaker 2:We'll ask that after.
Speaker 3:I always tell them. I'm going to be announcing that to the kids this weekend, which of them is my favorite. They've still got time to win brownie points between now and Saturday. But I was going to say, seriously, I was going to say that book that came out last year, the Ultimate Investment. But I'm really excited.
Speaker 3:Ultimately, I kind of fall in love with what I'm working on now and so-face level or email level to be able to help anybody, because remember also, the great thing you get when you leave is not all the wealth you've created for yourself or created for others, but by creating this abundance does it help? How many people did they help because of the work that you were able to do? You know I'd love. You know my goal would be to positively impact, say, 100 million people, and I'm only one person. You know I think it would be very daunting to do myself, but I'll give it my best shot. But if I can collaborate with like-minded people like you and other people that are listening to this podcast and other people in our world, we can collaborate and really do some damage in terms of helping people. And, uh, you know that that that's what gets me excited.
Speaker 2:Here's a question I've been meaning to ask you. A guy like me playing the back nine, is it too late to? Find that it's not right.
Speaker 1:Cause I'm not.
Speaker 2:I'm closer to eight. We're closer to harlan's age when he found that golden recipe. But most people our age don't have the secret recipe of the 13 spices the best time to to planet true, is 20 years ago.
Speaker 3:The second best time is today, and I think the idea, the other thing, sometimes the advantage that you have for people that you know, maybe that they can, that you consider yourself later in life, is they have some experience of what maybe didn't work, so that you can. You can experience the euphoria when it does work, that that the journey to do this is much more gratifying than even having the result. You know that ultimately, in terms of you know the journey always beats the destination, and so the idea is you can start tomorrow and you can accomplish a lot of great things in a short period of time if you will.
Speaker 2:Amen. And you know life is all about ebb and flows. It's like it looks just like a chart. Everybody thinks success or one's life should go straight up like. But not even Apple stock has gone straight up. They almost went under a million years ago. So you know it's peaks and valleys, ebb and flow. And you know everybody loves that story. Everybody loves the Rocky story of the Joe Palooka, the guy that you know, the David versus Goliath. Everybody loves the story of either redemption or the story of the complete underdog. But they never see it within themselves. And we all have that capability right, which you know. But it requires faith and it requires, hey, you know what. You're down, get up. You know nobody's. You know nobody's gonna. You can post about it, which a lot of people love to post their misery, but everybody's stuck in their own stuff. It's not nobody's going to be like oh well, I've got this extra CFO job that I'm going to give it to you.
Speaker 2:No, I am with you, loud and clear, on that clear on that Now, mark, I got a highly successful guy like you, five children married and you also have a podcast. Do you find like 25,?
Speaker 3:26 hours in a day. You got to be on point with time. The uh, here's the uh. The secret to that sauce is, I think, what you, what I try to do every six months or so, is I take a piece of paper and I put the line down the middle of the t at the top, and I write everything I hate about my business on the left and I write I write everything I'd be doing in retirement that I'm not doing now. And every every six months, I try to get rid of some stuff on the left and add some stuff on the right, with the theory being if you're doing all the things you want to do and not doing the things you don't want to do, who retires from that? Why don't you retire today? And and it's a mindset, it's a mindset on that piece, and so and I think, I think ultimately that that, remember, you have to it's all about leveraging and scaling. It's being able to do the things that are important, which is spending time with my wife, spending time with my kids, spending time in the important things that are very important to me, and then being able to delegate those other things. Now I grew up dumb and broke in Suffer New York, and you've got to put the time in. It wasn't always I did everything myself, but ultimately you're able to continue to add things and create more abundance, which allows you to leverage and scale and do more work where you can work at your that.
Speaker 3:Ultimately, there's only three things you can do, omar. You do things that you're crappy at or terrible at. There's things that you're good or okay or at least competent at, and then there's your unique ability. And so the idea is I just try to spend as much of my time working in my unique ability. I try to delegate all the crappy stuff. That's easy because I hate doing it, and the stuff I'm good or competent at, it's a little harder to delegate. But when you start to delegate that, the world gets even better. And so the idea to me is I aspire to be in creation and fascination mode all day.
Speaker 3:So I work very hard, but I'm you know I may be working hard all day, and then maybe going to the Knick game that night, or going to play pitbull ball with my wife, or, or, you know, going out with some friends, or, or then, you know, buying another company or buying another piece of real estate or something you know it could be. It could be anything, but it started. We started. You know, as I said, I grew up dumb and broke in Suffer, new York. And you know, when I started this company 38 years ago, I thought it would be successful At least I hoped it would be. You know, I thought we'd make money, or at least I hoped we would. But this was my vehicle to make other people's lives better, and you know it's worked out pretty well. And so you know, and so I just want to see whatever their, whatever your or that or the person is watching this podcast. I'd like to see their version of that story turn into their dream and what they want to do for themselves and their family.
Speaker 2:But 38 years ago I'm sure you had plenty of people, you had family members, you had friends. Especially, you said you didn't grow up in Bel Air or you didn't grow up in Central Park. I'm sure a lot of people were like, mark, come on, it's not for us, man, what are you doing? Why are you wasting time on doing something like that?
Speaker 3:Well, it's like crabs in a barrel. Sometimes people aren't happy for you because when that happens and I think that part of it is I think that I've just come to the conclusion that I'm a very I want to be liked. I want people to like me. I'm a human being. I would prefer that you liked me than didn't like me. But your opinion of me is none of my business. I'm going to try to be the best person I can be. I'm going to try to be as good a friend as I can be to you. I'm going to try to do the very best to my ability that I can, and if you choose not to like me, that's your business, not mine. Not in an arrogant way like, hey, I don't care what you think, screw you. I'd like. I'd like to be liked. I do.
Speaker 3:I'm doing my very best to be, be be the kind of person you'd want to be around in life, but I'm not going to you know, not every person in your family is going to going to believe that or not everybody's going to be there, and a lot of jealousy and a lot of other things like that.
Speaker 2:And I think you just have to shut that noise out. Oh, everybody has their own opinion. You know what it's the? The one opinion that matters is your own. I mean I, I had the same knee-jerk reaction when I either becoming an entrepreneur or when I went into sales or all the different opportunities that I had in my life, and people were like, but why not journalism? Why not? Because it's not your it's. Why not? You know why? My life, one's life, is to be lived for themselves, not heck.
Speaker 3:Could you imagine trying to have that life and trying to make everybody happy Be impossible right, I think you, I think you have to impress the woman or the man in the mirror and just do your very best. And not that you're not open to criticism, and not that you're not open to people that want to help you, people that truly want to help you. You can listen, but ultimately you've got to make your own decisions and man up or woman up.
Speaker 2:Well, mark Murphy, mark B Murphy, aish catholic name. Like mark murphy, you have to put the b in there let's guess there's a million flip freaking, mark murphy.
Speaker 3:So you know, at least you know mark b, you know it narrows it down to only a half a billion guys instead of a billion, especially in the northeast man.
Speaker 2:They're like new y, like New York, boston, mark Murphy's probably. If there was a yellow page it'd be a big section.
Speaker 3:I think that's it, but I really I got to tell you, omar, I really like what you're doing. I appreciate you, you ask great questions and I just appreciate spending some time on the podcast and just you know. Thank you for being you.
Speaker 2:No man, thank you for being you. No man, thank you for for the opportunity. When your publicist at at first she's like, oh, apprehensive. I'm like, oh, my gosh. I'm like you know. That's why, when we had to reschedule, I'm glad you know a uber highly successful guy like you that you know rolled with it completely well, I'm as you said.
Speaker 3:It's it's getting late at night here. I'm going to actually sit down a little dinner with my family and I just want to want to want to just tell you to keep up all the good work you're doing and I hope. All right, mark, hope you and I real quick.
Speaker 2:This is for you. How how do we find your books on amazon, your podcast? How do we look up? I'll do. I'll do one better.
Speaker 3:Somebody wants an autographed copy of the book, they can write to me at books at northeastprivatecom and we'll send you an autographed book. Or they can certainly call Maureen Motherway at 973-422-9140 and ask her to send you a book copy the book. I'm more than happy to send that out to anybody that'd like a book.
Speaker 2:Awesome brother. Have an amazing night with your wife and your children. And here, ah yeah. Well, what happened to martinis, my Jimmy Stewart impersonation? All right, brother, thank you for the time. Love you, man. Thanks, omar.
Speaker 1:Bye-bye. All right, brother. Thank you for the time. Love make you happy. You gotta take action. Just imagine what if it did work.