How To Redefine Wealth and Success by Prioritizing People Over Profit with Dr. Alex Schloe

Welcome back to another meaningful episode of The Physicians and Properties Podcast with your host, Dr. Alex Schloe.

💡 What if the true measure of wealth isn’t financial freedom…but relational freedom?
What if the quality of your life—and even your success as a physician, investor, or entrepreneur—hinges on the depth of your relationships?

In today’s special Thanksgiving episode, Alex steps away from real estate and entrepreneurship to explore something far more important: community, connection, and the loneliness epidemic affecting modern America.

Drawing from a powerful story he recently heard in a John Mark Comer sermon, Alex reflects on the life of billionaire John Paul Getty—a man with unimaginable wealth, fame, and power, yet crippling isolation. Getty’s story becomes a mirror for our own culture: a world where people have more material comfort than ever before but often feel profoundly alone.

This episode is an invitation to slow down, open your home, gather around the table, and remember that relationships—not money—are the greatest form of capital.

🔥 What you’ll learn:

• The Cost of Isolation: How John Paul Getty’s tragic life reveals the emptiness of success without connection—and why many Americans today face the same loneliness despite unprecedented comfort.
• The Loneliness Epidemic: Eye-opening statistics on how pervasive isolation has become, why it impacts physicians uniquely, and why the U.S. Surgeon General calls it the top health threat in America.
• Relationships as the True Key to Success: The surprising truth Alex has learned from interviewing physicians, entrepreneurs, and leaders: success is built on relationships—not deals, not net worth.
• The Power of Community & Hospitality: Why opening your table, sharing meals, and living life with others can radically improve your mental health, your marriage, your medical practice, and even your business.
• Living a Richer Life in 2025 and Beyond: How the Schloe family intentionally built more community this year—and how it transformed their joy, relationships, and sense of purpose.

🔥 Key Takeaways:

• A palace without people is just a tomb with marble countertops.
  True wealth comes from people, not possessions.
• Loneliness is as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes per day.
  Connection isn’t optional—it’s essential for health.
• Every successful leader points to the same truth: success is driven by relationships.
• Gratitude is an action, not a feeling.
  It’s expressed through presence, hospitality, and shared life.
• Your table is one of the most powerful tools you have for building community.
  A rich life is built around the people you invite into it.
• You don’t have to be perfect—just willing.
  Building community starts by opening your home, your schedule, and your heart.
• Family and friendship are the greatest forms of capital you will ever accumulate.

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Transcript

Dr. Alex Schloe: Every business leader I've ever interviewed or talked with, every physician, investor, every entrepreneur has told me that the number one key to success is relationships.

 Welcome to the Physicians and Properties Podcast, the show where we teach you how investing in real estate can give you the freedom to practice medicine and live life how you want. Doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor. Now here's your host, Dr. Alex Schloe.

 Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Physicians and Properties Podcast.  I'm your host, Dr. Alex Schloe, and today's episode is something special.  It's been something that's really been put on my heart and something I've been thinking a lot about lately, and even more so as we head into Thanksgiving,  which is tomorrow.

Today's episode is not going to be about real estate or entrepreneurship or financial freedom.  Today's episode is about something that is infinitely more important. We're gonna talk about relationships, community connection. These are the things that make a life truly rich. But first I want to begin with a story I recently heard listening to a John Mark Comer sermon.

There was a man who was at one time the richest man in the world. He was as famous in his era  as Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk or Warren Buffet are today.  His name was John Paul Getty. Getty made billions, that's right with a B. Billions in the oil industry.  He was relentless, he gritty, brilliant, and if we're being honest, he probably left a few dead bodies in his wake.

But he was a man that was obsessed with winning, obsessed with wealth. Obsessed with building an empire,  but  the more successful he became, the more isolated he became as well.  His personal life was a disaster.  There have been entire movies that have been made about Getty's dysfunctional family.  There's even, even a story about how his grandson was kidnapped  and Getty refused to pay the ransom.

His fifth wife. Yes, fifth wife wrote a memoir called Alone Together. So that title alone tells you everything.  Getty's Estate in Los Angeles was actually modeled after an ancient Roman villa that was uncovered in Pompeii. This is serious. A literal palace recreated from a civilization  whose ruins are famous for luxury  and collapse.

Unfortunately, Getty died before that home was even finished,  and there's an image of Getty. In his palace in England,  and he's sitting at the head of this table.  This table could easily fit 50 people. There's golden candlesticks, opulence everywhere. He's in a palace, and Getty, the richest man in the world at that time is sitting completely alone.

There's a scowl cemented on his face. He's got a slack jaw. His eyes are hollow. They look joyless, he looks dead, and you can pull up the picture and see this, all that success, all that money, all that power. And this is what it looked like. It looked like a palace without people. A palace without people is just a tomb with marble countertops.

And the truth is. We have a loneliness epidemic right now  in America. Think about it. The average person today actually has more material wealth than kings and queens did centuries ago, and yet many of us are lonelier than ever. We've become increasingly individualized and maybe more culturally conditioned to prioritize the good of the individual  over the good of the community.

To put that into perspective, think about your own life, think about how good you feel when you are willing to contribute to others, when you serve your patients and serve them well.  Physicians are probably a little bit more outliers in that regard because we are conditioned more to, to. Take care of others and put our needs second.

But as a whole, in America right now, we are prioritizing the good of ourselves and not the good of the community and not the good of others.  We want to curate our lives instead of contributing to someone else's.  And the natural byproduct of that is a lot of us know is loneliness. So let me ask you something, and I promise this is going to become a happier podcast,  but these are some things that I'm thinking about  right now.

So let me ask you,  do you ever eat dinner alone most nights? Do you crave being known? I mean,  truly known, but you fear being judged or being hurt?  Do you avoid forming deep relationships with people because  that vulnerability feels risky?  If so, you are not alone. 54% of Americans say that no one knows them.

Well over half of the country says that no one knows them. Well, I. 36% of Americans feel lonely frequently or almost all the time,  and among young adults, that number jumps to 61%. The former US Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy,  has called loneliness the number one health threat in America, and he equates that to  the impact of smoking 15 cigarettes per day.

15 cigarettes a day, that that's the cost of isolation.  So why does this matter? Why am I talking about this? Why bring up  wealth, loneliness, and relationships on a real estate and entrepreneurship podcast? Well, it's Thanksgiving week. This is a time where we all gather around tables  when we remember that gratitude isn't a feeling.

It is an act. And when we're reminded that the richest moments in life aren't actually found in bank accounts, but in community  and in relationship, that changes everything.  Every business leader I've ever interviewed or talked with, every physician, investor, every entrepreneur has told me that the number one key to success is relationships.

It's not specific deals. It's not net worth. It's not equity multiples, it's relationships. It is impossible to be truly happy in isolation, and we are designed for community,  for connection for a shared life.

So this Thanksgiving, as you sit around the table eating Turkey,  piling on the stuffing, hopefully grabbing a slice of cherry pie with some vanilla ice cream.  That's my favorite. I want you to notice something. I want you to notice how good it just feels to be together, to talk, to laugh, to play games, to watch football,  to just simply be present.

Belong. If every day had a little bit of Thanksgiving in it, if we opened our homes, opened our tables, invited people in, broke bread, shared meals together, our entire lives would change, our medical practices would improve, our mental health would improve, our businesses would grow, or joy would expand.

2025, the Schloe family. We worked on doing this more. We worked on opening up our home more, on hosting more gatherings,  getting together for picnics in the park  with the families that we're closest to sharing life together. We weren't perfect, but we definitely took a step in the right direction, and we found that our lives dramatically improved our relationships improved our relationship as a husband and a wife improved.

We felt a stronger tie to the community. We were able to do more good, and frankly, our businesses improved as well  in 2026. I wanna take this even further.  I want there always to be a seat at my table.  I want my home to be a place where people truly feel welcome. I want my kids to grow up surrounded by community and, and not isolation.

And I want relationships to be my greatest wealth  because family and friendships are the greatest form of capital  that we will ever have. So today, I just wanna say  I'm thankful for you.  I am so thankful that you shared your time, your most precious asset with me to listen to this podcast episode.  I'm thankful to everyone here who has spent a significant amount of time this year listening to me  share my life with you, share my experiences with you,  and interview and learn from so many amazing physicians and entrepreneurs in the space.

Most of which want more than just income. I'm thankful for the people here who want a life that matters.  And if you need community, if you want connection, if you wanna be  a part of something larger than yourself,  my table's open and you are welcome here. So I want you to have a fantastic Thanksgiving.

Slow down. Savor the food. Savor the people savor the gift of being together. Savor the crazy uncle who's gonna talk about politics. And remember that a rich life is built at the table, not the bank. Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you so much.

Hey, real quick, if you're still listening to this, I'm assuming you got value from it, so I need your help. Specifically, my two year vision with this podcast is to help 100,000 physicians learn how investing in real estate can give you the freedom to practice medicine and live life how you want. There are two main ways that a podcast grows.

One is the ratings and reviews and the other is word of mouth. If you can please leave me a five star rating and review on Apple Podcast and Spotify as well as send this to one to two friends that you think would get value from it, we can reach the physicians that we want to reach. Thanks in advance and talk to you on the next episode.

Please know any information sharing on this podcast on this. Guests do not necessarily reflect views the Department of Defense or the United States.