Welcome to another Intangible Balance Sheet episode. This week I'm joined by David Van Fleet. Check out below for a small portion of what our conversation covers!
Please check out and subscribe to my Youtube Channel and Newsletter!
JOSH KLOOZ, CFP®, MBA
WEALTH ADVISOR
Phone 281.719.0036
Text 281.699.8691
Fax 281.719.0156
jklooz@carsonwealth.com
1780 Hughes Landing | Suite 570
The Woodlands, TX 77380
Music by bensound.com
Welcome to another Intangible Balance Sheet episode. This week I'm joined by David Van Fleet. Check out below for a small portion of what our conversation covers!
Please check out and subscribe to my Youtube Channel and Newsletter!
JOSH KLOOZ, CFP®, MBA
WEALTH ADVISOR
Phone 281.719.0036
Text 281.699.8691
Fax 281.719.0156
jklooz@carsonwealth.com
1780 Hughes Landing | Suite 570
The Woodlands, TX 77380
Music by bensound.com
Welcome in to another episode of Wisdom of Wealth. I'm Josh Klooz, as always, and today is another of our Intangible Balance Sheet series of podcasts that we release on the weekends. And, for those listeners that may be newer to the podcast, we call it the Intangible Balance Sheet because I believe that there are life principles, life stories and experiences that live on in our family's heritage or our personal heritage that mean more to us than any amount of money. If, given any amount of money, we wouldn't trade them, because they're the experiences that make us us, and typically those come to life through stories. And today, david Van Fleet is my guest today. David, thank you so much for joining us and welcome to the podcast.
David Van Fleet:Be here and, david, it contributes something.
Josh Klooz :Absolutely. And David, before we dive in, is there? Can you just briefly introduce yourself to our audience before we dive into our formal conversation?
David Van Fleet:Well, that's a good question. I spent over 50 years as a university professor at Arizona State, Texas A&M, University of Akron and the University of Tennessee, which is where I got my degrees, and over 50 years teaching mostly graduate students.
Josh Klooz :Now so what subject did you teach, or what subjects did you teach?
David Van Fleet:I taught management and organizational behavior, and sometimes human resources.
Josh Klooz :Got it. I was a big fan of disorganizational behavior, frankly, but just bad joke Sorry.
David Van Fleet:That's interesting. You mentioned that because I have a new book coming out and the title is Disfunction Organizations.
Josh Klooz :Ah, which after the fall of mankind, they're plentiful, right.
David Van Fleet:Yeah, the book should be available in about a month or two months or something like that.
Josh Klooz :Now is that the. It's obviously probably not your first book, I'm imagining, or is it the first book?
David Van Fleet:I have my 13th book.
Josh Klooz :Okay, that's what I figured, all right, excellent.
David Van Fleet:The first several were simply textbooks, but at some point I switched from writing textbooks for students to trade books for managers.
Josh Klooz :So I think we've only had a couple published authors on, but I think definitely 13 takes the crown for most published. So we'll have to figure out what noticeable award you get going forward. But to be determined.
David Van Fleet:There's not much money in it. I can tell you that.
Josh Klooz :So, david, one of the things that we like to focus on in the podcast are those stories that come to us by way of, maybe, our grandparents or great-grandparents. Are there any stories that come to mind, that come to you by way of your grandparents, that you wouldn't mind sharing with us?
David Van Fleet:Well, I never really knew my grandparents, except for one great-grandmother, and her English was pretty good, despite the fact that she had come from Ireland. But the biggest thing I can remember from her is frugal. Always be frugal, you'll count your pennies, be careful how you spend your money, and that sort of set a life lesson. It's an important thing that happened in my life and my wife was also an academic and when we got married we had agreed to live on one income and invest the other income, and that proved to be the wisest decision we ever made.
Josh Klooz :Now I want to ask you about your wife next, but before I get there, are there any stories that live on from your parents that you wouldn't mind sharing with us? That influenced your life, just the way that you have lived your life?
David Van Fleet:Well, my father was, I want to say, a little bit remote. I mean, he was always busy, but never too busy, not to, you know, play on a family vacation, that sort of thing. But my mother ran the household and saw to it that. You know, we made our beds every day and we ate our meals, whether we liked it or not. Those are important lessons, I think you know learning self-discipline even when it's not comfortable.
Josh Klooz :Now, david, the other piece that I find interesting is are there, you know maybe what's the barbershop effect, is what I'll call it but are there mentors that you remember from your community growing up that influenced your thinking or influenced the trajectory of your life?
David Van Fleet:Well, that's kind of interesting. I grew up in Oak Ridge, tennessee, which is the atomic city, and it was a wonderful place to grow up. It was very safe, so the kids were always, we were always on the streets, well after the park, and all summer long, you know. So we had plenty of free time to do things and all. But it also was because it was basically a scientific community, very top-rate schools with heavy emphasis on science and math, and I was in a group that was sort of the equivalent of we were nerds. That's what we were, you know. So in high school, for instance, most of the male students took Spanish and the female students took French, but the nerds took German. And there was a small group of us and we kept together and sort of reinforced ourselves in terms of always wanting to learn, always stretching the boundaries of knowledge, as it were, and that probably is what pushed me to the career in teaching.
Josh Klooz :Now can you explain a little bit more the draw towards German? Was that more because of the engineering bent, or was that just hey, it was challenging and so you wanted to learn the language.
David Van Fleet:Well, we wanted to be different, got it. As I say, the guys were all studying Spanish and the girls were studying French. But the nerds wanted to be different. So we actually petitioned the school. They didn't have a class in German, but we petitioned the school and one teacher said well, yeah, she can teach that. And so a small group of us 20 some odd became German scholars. But it also was clearly useful for most of the rest of the nerds because they went into science. I started in engineering, but my first year at the university in engineering I was taking an engineering drawing class and we had to do a freehand sketch. And when I did the freehand sketch the instructor came by afterwards and said I want you to just draw me a straight line. The official notice to me that I had essential tremors, and after that I actually got medical verification of that.
Josh Klooz :So back then, everything that you would have been engineering was essentially, as I'm understanding it or I think I understand it was very tied to your ability to be able to sketch what you were mathematically proving correct.
David Van Fleet:Well, yeah, and my father was an engineer and all my brothers were engineers. So when I found that out, the instructor advised me to think about another major, and so I switched to management in the college of business.
Josh Klooz :Was that? How did? Did that come as a? How did you take that? How did you absorb that? Was it a disappointment, was it a setback, or was it? Was it just something that you embraced and moved on? How did you take that? That acknowledgement, well?
David Van Fleet:there were two aspects of it. I mean one. You know it was a little disappointing. I wasn't going to be following the same path as my father and my brothers, but on the other hand it gave me a little identity, so that I wasn't on the same path. I was doing something different than you need. And that felt good also felt my nervousness supported by that as well.
Josh Klooz :And then David, you'd mentioned your wife earlier. How'd you all meet Well?
David Van Fleet:when I started the doctoral program at the University of Tennessee she was in the master's program and we met and she didn't like me at all. She thought I was an obnoxious, egotistical and seeming like we'd all, and she got her degree and left. She went to the University of South Florida to teach and after two years there they had advised her to go back get a doctoral degree. And when she came back we met again and somehow either I had changed or she had changed, or whatever. But from that point on we were a couple. She finished her degree a semester ahead of me but delayed her commencement, so the two of I could go across the stage at the same time.
Josh Klooz :Now, was it go ahead and be honest? Was it hard to date someone and be a part of a rigorous academic environment at the same time and stay focused, or how did you deal with that?
David Van Fleet:Because our subject matters were very different from one another. Say no, we could, we could trade. You know gripes about the bad teachers or something, or the workload or whatever. But it didn't interfere that much because actually both of us, at the time when she had come back, we were no longer in coursework as much as we were independently working on our doctoral dissertations.
Josh Klooz :Got it.
David Van Fleet:And then because we both could use the computer and we're both accustomed to long hours, so we spent a long time in the same room but working on different computers to do our own work. So you know, we could talk to one another but we were living separate lives, sort of.
Josh Klooz :David, are there any pivotal life events that you look back on that help shape you and help shape your principles and bring them to life at all, that you wouldn't mind sharing with us?
David Van Fleet:Well, I suppose it was very useful to have a solid family upbringing. And then you know the idea of you know watching your money, being careful not to go overboard on things, so that, as I said, when my wife and I then both started teaching, we just said, okay, we only need to live on one income and up to that point we were on graduate student incomes which were, you know, minuscule compared to what we first got hired to be. So we thought we were living high on the hog with one income and we were able to invest the other income and we kept that up while she worked, although when kids came along she became more of a part-time faculty member but varied. You know, at Texas A&M she won a national teaching award for an entrepreneurship class that she had developed there and but you know, she was only paid, you know, a part-time instructor's salary, but it was wonderful to have the experience.
David Van Fleet:She co-taught it with a multimillionaire of Texas that some of your listeners might recognize his name because he tried to run for president at one time. He's Clayton W Williams Jr. Okay, clayton, as he was called, was a good friend of ours for years and I think the fact that you know when they think back at that, the fact that you know he was a multimillionaire but he still lived in the same house where he grew up and you know, on a ranch and still wore his cowboy boots and you know a big buckle on the belt and that sort of thing. So it was very down-to-earth individual, despite the fact that he was extremely wealthy.
Josh Klooz :And David, thank you so much for the background, just those life events. The next piece that I always explore with a guest of the podcast is I want you to think four generations from now. You know your great grandchildren's generation, or their community. What principles would you if you had your, if you had your druthers, what life principles would you want most for them to consider and to live?
David Van Fleet:Thank, you Thirst for knowledge, honest state and you know look before you leap. Don't make decisions quickly, especially if money or careers are at stake. Have to excuse this, cough, I've got to deal with something on that.
Josh Klooz :Oh, it's going around Now. Are there any stories behind those admonitions that you wouldn't mind sharing with us at all?
David Van Fleet:Well, the thirst for knowledge has always been a driving force for me and I tried to instill that in my children and I would instill it in just about everybody I meet. I tried to get my grandkids to be constantly, you know, learning, learn more, learn different things. Don't just stick to the curriculum, go outside and do wonderful things, but always be honest, be honest with yourself, be honest with your friends, your parents, your teachers and that sort of thing, because I sort of grew up with the honesty as the best policy admonition. And then you know being careful that you don't make decisions too quickly, because in today's world especially, there's a lot of pressure, some of it social pressure, a lot of pressure to get things done fast, and I think you're better off if you get things done slowly. You know, don't move too quickly. Those are their opportunities. People will say you know whether pass you by if you don't act. Well, I didn't understand that. There are many others coming along, so just wait for the return will go.
Josh Klooz :I like that. Now, the last piece, david, is I think you've hit on some of this, but I always try to admonish folks to write their eulogy. It has a little bit of the begin with the end and mind principle, but for me it helps me crystallize what's important and what's, you know, superfluous. But I'm curious what would some of the elements of your eulogy be, and what do you want most to be remembered by others as you look back on life?
David Van Fleet:What I would, what my family to remember was that I cared, that I cared about them, I cared about others and I tried to make the world a better place in a little way by teaching, by writing and by the way I act, and I guess I would try to build that into my utility. I was thinking of my wife's utility and she built a lot of that in hers because she'd grown up very, very poor and had to overcome. Also, her father died in a drowning accident when she was very young, so her mother had to raise four girls by herself and she learned hard work and dedication to others and that sort of thing, which is why she became a teacher. And actually originally, when I started graduate school, I wasn't thinking about teaching. I wasn't thinking about anything, I just I'd been in school. I'm good at being in school, so I just stayed in school.
David Van Fleet:And then she came along and to her it was all about teaching. It's all about helping others and helping other people learn, and that sort of caught me up. So she taught me as a work and that's what I would put the pass on as a thirst for knowledge. But also, when you get the knowledge, pass it on to others, which is what you're trying to do in your broadcast. You're trying to pass along knowledge to others to help them.
Josh Klooz :Yes, absolutely. And, david, the last thing I'll leave you with and feel free to you know, because I'm springing this on you, but I've wanted to start doing this I'd like to offer guests an opportunity to talk about any charity or non-for-profit organization that they're passionate about and share that with others. Is there anything that comes to mind that you wouldn't mind sharing with us about, that you stand behind and you are passionate about?
David Van Fleet:Well, my life passed away Parkinson's disease. Okay, so I'm a strong advocate of supporting Parkinson's foundations and I have had several relatives pass with cancer, including my daughter, so I'm also a strong supporter of cancer organizations at the variety once Excellent, parkinson's and cancer. But I guess, because they touch my lives, I'm trying to give back to them.
Josh Klooz :Yeah, absolutely. Are there any in particular that you recommend that people consider when they're thinking about their charitable donations at all?
David Van Fleet:Well, I guess most people would probably tend to pick charity organizations based on, like my case, based on experiences or friends they've had, or something of that sort. You know, it's hard for me to even think of others, yeah.
Josh Klooz :Oh no, no. No, I just meant specifically within the Parkinson's realm or the cancer realm, but now I really appreciate your admonition there.
David Van Fleet:I think that cancer society is the big one, and then the Parkinson's. There's a foundation. My doctor back in Arizona was a tremors doctor but also Parkinson's doctor. Dr Holly Schill sees the director of the Muhammad Ali Center for Movement Disorder, and so I've supported her organization as well as the national Parkinson's organizations.
Josh Klooz :Excellent. Thank you for that.
David Van Fleet:David, thank you. So much for your I should probably also point out here that to deal with my tremors I've gone to UCLA and had deep brain stimulation surgery, where they implant electrodes in your head and run wires down to control the vice on your chest and that does tremendous help for tremors and also for Parkinson's patients. So I'm also nowadays supporting the work of UCLA dealing with tremors and Parkinson's.
Josh Klooz :Excellent, Thank you. Thank you for that. I find that it's always interesting. There's always to your point. There's a story about why we're passionate about something, but when it touches your life, when an organization touches your life or touches your family's life, it's hard not to be passionate about it. David, thank you so much for your time today and for sharing your story and your wisdom with us. We wish you and your family nothing but truth, beauty and goodness in the road ahead and hope our paths cross again sometime soon. Okay.
David Van Fleet:Okay, thank you very much.
Josh Klooz :Thank you.
David Van Fleet:Okay.