Episode 134: Creating Wealth With Purpose to Pursue Passions and Meaningful Memories.

What if you could redefine wealth to truly enrich your life? Join us, Matthew Grishman and Jim Gebhardt as we embark on a remarkable journey, starting with heartfelt reflections for an upcoming bucket list golf trip to Southern Ireland and a joyous family reunion of sorts in Barcelona, capturing the essence of gratitude and the thrill of planning unforgettable experiences.

This episode uncovers the profound concept of "wealth with a why," highlighting how genuine experiences can far surpass mere financial accumulation. Through personal stories and client anecdotes, we illustrate how wealth becomes a tool for creating transformative adventures and cherished memories with loved ones. Discover the true value of wealth, not just in assets, but in the connections and moments that truly matter.

In a powerful recount, we delve into the entrepreneurial spirit with a remarkable story of a father's courageous leap into starting a business at 56. We explore the fears, challenges, and eventual rewards of pursuing an independent path, and how this journey influenced the founding of Gebhardt Group. From personal values to client relationships, this episode emphasizes the importance of defining success on our own terms and embracing the concept of "whole wealth." Enjoy this inspiring discussion that redefines what it means to be truly wealthy and how we truly believe that our practice is the way to accomplish a whole wealth outcome.
To learn more about the Gebhardt Group, visit: https://gebhardtgroupinc.com/

Episode Highlights
(01:53 - 03:00) Golf Bucket List Trip to Ireland
(10:54 - 12:48) Journey With Branding Agency and Show
(20:17 - 21:20) Unconventional Wealth Perspectives
(22:57 - 24:00) Self-Centered Reflections on Future Plans
(31:00 - 32:01) Financial Planning Frustrations and Epiphany
(35:01 - 36:26) Successful Transition of Client Accounts
(40:59 - 43:25) Rebranding and Redefining Wealth Management
(48:38 - 49:38) Exploring Wealth and Relationships

Chapter Summaries
(00:00) Gratitude and Wealth Creation Trip
Gratitude for virtual podcast format, health improvements, and upcoming bucket list golf trip to Ireland and family reunion in Barcelona.

(09:02) Wealth With a Y
Wealth can be used to create meaningful experiences and connections, rather than solely focusing on financial accumulation.

(21:20) A Father's Entrepreneurial Journey
Father's abrupt resignation led to starting a roofing business in Syracuse, NY, with challenges in harsh winters.

(28:22) Transition to Entrepreneurship
Personal anecdotes and support from family and friends led to the establishment of Gebhardt Group, a fulfilling career built on integrity and genuine client relationships.

(36:27) Family, Entrepreneurship, and Whole Wealth
Father's resignation letter inspires entrepreneurial journey, supported by wife, Gebhardt Group's unique approach to wealth management based on personal values and relationships.

(48:39) Whole Wealth Journey Curriculum
Exploring wealth curriculum, asset classes, relationships with money, people, and ourselves, with vulnerability and resources available on our website.

You can learn more about The Whole Wealth Journey by visiting The Gebhardt Group. You can follow us on Instagram @thewholewealthjourney

Transcript

Jim Gebhardt: [00:00:00] We have dear, dear, dear friends of ours. They retired, if you will, on the early side. So they're in their late fifties and they've retired. And I just noticed that they took an absolute blowout trip with their family. Three grown kids to Machu Picchu for a two week expedition. Beth and her girlfriend, the mom, they were talking about the trip and all this.

And the mom was like, you know, we had a conversation with our kids and we said, we can give you bags of money when we die. Or we can use those dollars now and create and have wonderful experiences as a family that we think are going to create much greater dividends and much greater levels of experiential wealth than bags of money when we're dead.

Welcome to the Whole Wealth Journey. Wealth 

Matthew Grishman: with a Y. 

Jim Gebhardt: What does that mean? [00:01:00] What does that mean? Are we spelling it funny? 

Matthew Grishman: Uh, no, I think it's spelled We're using the word Y. The word Y, right. Okay, good. Not the letter Y, the actual word Y. 

Jim Gebhardt: Well I know why? Why? Because we want to help people get on their path.

Then the path is all about their why, 

Matthew Grishman: and it's about aligning your finances with the people, the experience, and the passions that give their 

Jim Gebhardt: lives. True meaning it's getting way beyond the bank statements, the brokerage statements, the trust documents, the life insurance, and taking a deeper dive into your why.

Matthew Grishman: Well, admittedly, we're not for everyone. This is different. We're for the bold ones who really want to dive deeper and seek a life that resonates with who they really are at their core. Who finds value and vulnerability? 

Jim Gebhardt: Well, 

Matthew Grishman: you and I do. 

Jim Gebhardt: You and I do. And that's where we want to play, but not everybody is comfortable with that vulnerability.

Matthew Grishman: Maybe we should introduce ourselves. What do you think? Oh, that's a good idea. Jim Gebhardt. And I'm Matthew Grishman. We [00:02:00] are the co creators of the podcast, The Whole Wealth Journey. Ready to find your why? Then let's get started and get you one step closer to unlocking your inner wealth and well being.

Jim Gebhardt: What's on 

Matthew Grishman: the old gratitude list today, partner? I'm kind of grateful for trying a new way to do this. A kind of new way to podcast for you and me. It gives us more options. I've been enjoying this, uh, attempt at a virtual recording where we're looking at each other two dimensionally today. Not that I'm grateful to see you two dimensionally.

I Much prefer you in three dimensions, but the fact that I'm, I'm feeling like kind of, you know, sitting back, relaxing. Like I'm sitting in my living room today, which, which is different. That's 

Jim Gebhardt: kind of nice. I, I, and I'm, I'm hopeful that in AI, there'll be like a fourth dimension. Ooh, like, what do you mean by that?

I, I don't even know, but I'll, I'll ask AI later. I'll ask perplexity later. What fourth, the fourth dimension is, or that could 

Matthew Grishman: be just a really cool bar and grill. Very nice. Absolutely. I am, I'm always grateful. We're [00:03:00] podcasting together. I got to say, I'm grateful to feel like I've got a lot of my health back.

That feels really good physically, almost there mentally and emotionally. Not that there's any there, there, but I just feel like I'm closer to myself again, and that just each day it gets a little better and I feel better. And you told me early on that this was going to take a year to get myself back a little bit.

And, and we're, we're coming up on that. We're, we're pushing 10 months here and sure enough, I'm starting to feel like myself again. So I'm pretty grateful for that today. And with that, 

Jim Gebhardt: that's a wrap. There you go. If Matthew's back to 80, even perhaps 90%, we can call this show a complete episode. 

Matthew Grishman: Our work is done here.

Yes. How about you kiddo? What are you grateful for today? Oh 

Jim Gebhardt: man. Well, I've got to go a little bit into the future. I've got to go less than 24 hours into the future on [00:04:00] something I'm looking forward to. Ooh, do tell. Tomorrow at eight 50. I am wheels up for a bucket list trip to Ireland. And for our longtime listeners, you would probably know that I am a passionate golfer.

I'm more passionate about the game of golf than I am my own golf game anymore. And this is a bucket list trip that just kind of fell in my lap. I was catching up on personal email on a Saturday morning. I'm looking at this email from the golf club we belong to. And it's a last call for Ireland, huh? 

Matthew Grishman: Last call.

That's great. Last 

Jim Gebhardt: call. I missed the first, you know, three rounds, apparently. So I opened the email and there's a link to, you know, the details of the trip and the itinerary and my skeptics raging. Cause I've got a very specific list as you, as you might imagine, of six courses that I want to play in the Southern part of Ireland.

I've been blessed to play in the Northern part of Ireland going back literally 20 years, 2004. And we [00:05:00] did a, just a crazy journey all across. most of the most amazing courses in Northern Ireland. And now my desire is to go hit this bucket list of six courses in, in Southern Ireland. So I click on the little blue link and I just, I sat there speechless for a couple of minutes because it was all freaking Six courses.

Wow. Teed up tea times, hotel reservations. The whole, the whole enchilada. All I had to do was say yes, obviously you got to pay the money, but I just had to say yes and book a flight. Did you need to 10, 10, 10 that? Well, my first reaction was no, no, no, I can't do that. I can't, I can't do that. I can't, I can't, it's a lot of money, it's a lot of time, it's really [00:06:00] selfish, and it's, you know, just, it'd just be me.

I don't even know who else is going from the 

Matthew Grishman: club. Every reason you can't go, your hard wiring is kicking in and telling you instantly, no way it goes in. Yeah, 

Jim Gebhardt: that's human nature, right? The obstacle comes up as soon as the opportunity presents itself, why you can't do something. That's just human nature.

Sure. So. It's Saturday morning and Miasposa is always also having a cup of coffee. And I said, honey, look at this, not with a, can I please go? That's not my, that's not my wife. She is just unbelievably supportive. And she actually read it and said, you got to go. Uh, you just got back from band and dunes where you had to harangue seven other guys to try to go 500 miles up the coast.

Right. And you know, guys drop out and you got to find a filler and it's just, you know, it's like herding fricking cats. And she's like, the thought of you trying to get eight [00:07:00] guys to go to Ireland and make all these arrangements when this thing is sitting here on a platter, you gotta go. Oh, and then she says, by the way, you're seven eighths of the way to Grace, who's spending eight weeks in Barcelona on an internship.

So you should go see Grace on the, on the backend. Well, holy frog farts, I'm doing it. That's awesome. Eight days in Ireland, six days in Barcelona, never been to Barcelona. Grace is ecstatic. I'm ecstatic. You know, we just kept piling on and gave our son Jack an early 18th birthday present with an airline ticket to Barcelona.

So he gets there in front of me, spend some time with grace one on one. And then the three of us get to pal around for the four or five days that I'm there. So I am outra I mean, I still actually don't believe it. Like I'm, I realize it's all front and center, but it's like, until I think I'm in the actual, you know, seat of the plane and it's not going to [00:08:00] Chicago or Syracuse or Phoenix or some other, you know, more pedestrian, uh, destination, then I'll believe 

Matthew Grishman: it.

Well, what's amazing about this trip is that. The I can't muscle that immediately kicked in and told you, you couldn't do it when in reality, this trip is what I would consider to be a wealth creation trip. This is a wealth building trip, not a wealth spending trip. I get it. Like traditionally, this is going to cost some money and it's going to cost probably a lot of money.

And one would traditionally think as a result of that, that it's going to reduce the amount of wealth that Sir Gebhardt here has to his name. But the way you and I kind of see things. And what we've created the entire whole wealth journey around is how something like this that requires a financial investment on your part is actually wealth creative, not wealth depletive.

Jim Gebhardt: Why don't you ask me what the trip cost in [00:09:00] 2004? 

Matthew Grishman: What did the trip cost in 2004? 

Jim Gebhardt: Uh huh. I mean, Do you remember? No, no, I don't think I could even give you a narrow range. I mean, I have no recollection if it was three to five grand, five to seven grand, seven to 10 grand, 10 to 12 grand. I have no idea. What do you remember about the trip?

Ah, yes. The stories, the many, many, many, many stories. What, what you and I might call a memory dividend. 

Matthew Grishman: There we go. A little, uh, 

Jim Gebhardt: a little homage to, uh, one of our favorite new books, which in our future shows with some of the new formatting we're doing. We will definitely be doing a little book review on this book called die with zero.

Yeah. And if you're one of the, if you're one of our, our tribe members that just, you can't wait, go buy the book today and devour it. Yeah, it is in the [00:10:00] nature of what we do for our clients, it's going to become required reading because it's going to get people to think differently. Right. The last book that I read that was that impactful.

is pushing 20 years ago with Lynn twists book, the soul of money S O U L the soul of money. I'm getting the chills just thinking about that book. And this is in that category in terms of the new way of thinking that we're going to introduce clients. We're going to introduce listeners to. Relative to how you use your money, what is the money for?

Cause really at the end of the day, money is just a tool, right? And, you know, Lynn twist talked about the fact that if you hoard money, the way, you know, you might damn up a river or you might damn up a lake. You don't have to go too far and wide to go see that, you know, there's a couple of big, you know, the Salton seas dead in Southern California, the Salt Lake [00:11:00] cities, the great Salt Lake is dead, right?

I mean, if you damn it up. And you don't let the water flow in the analogy of money. If you just hoard the money and you don't spend the money or use the money. I went to Scotland in 2009. And so it's been 15 years since I've done some kind of, you know, big international adventure like this. And last I checked, I'm not getting any younger, although I'm in better shape today than I was a year ago, but maybe not 15 years ago.

And. Yet it's the stories from 09 and 2004 that will last a lifetime. 

Matthew Grishman: That I think is the point. That's why I was sharing that is we've been sitting here in studio, Gavin on mics for about five years now, and we're going through this major graduation and shift with the show. Where now we are taking the tribe, you and I were with each other and inviting the tribe to come along on this concept of the [00:12:00] whole wealth journey and your experience and what you're about to do really kind of tease up what this whole concept is.

It's, it's really about this idea of having wealth with a Y. Right. Having a purpose behind it and understanding what that why is. Sure. There's lots of like, who's and how's and what's and where's. And we're going to talk about that. That's all going to be part of defining the whole wealth journey and the different components to it.

And there's a whole curriculum that goes with the whole wealth journey, different teaching points and learning points, especially as we start to become clear. On what the whole wealth journey is all about, how we begin to see our wealth through different lenses, how we accumulate wealth, how that wealth shows up in our life, how it's represented in our lives, and how we use money as a tool to flow through our lives to create even [00:13:00] more wealth by investing in ourselves, in our people, in our experiences, the stuff you're doing starting tomorrow.

It's a cool journey, brother. 

Jim Gebhardt: Oh, I, I will have stories to probably fill a few episodes. And when you and I went on our own journey with the branding agency, that's been helping us with all this and we took them through our process. And had them experience it as if they were a client, right? They're brilliant wordsmiths, right?

Their copywriters went off into never, never land and came back with, if you will, the essence of what it is that we do. Yes. And what the essence of the show's all about. Absolutely. And when they, when they preside, I still remember us sitting around their big conference table and when they presented us with the phrase wealth, With a Y you and I both had an incredible reaction to that.

Well, it was like, we'd never heard those [00:14:00] words before. Cause we had never heard them. We'd never heard them in that sequence. And it was like an immediate click. Like it was like, that's it boys and girls. Yeah. Wealth with a Y. Is what we're all about. That's what the show is going to all be all about.

That's what our wealth management practice is all about. And ultimately for the tribe, that's what we want you to embrace is you suit up every day and go into battle as a business owner for the purpose of creating more wealth. Maybe you already have enough wealth, but you're creating it for your team.

Where you're creating it for your family members, your, your community, right? In an, in charitable intentions. And there's a why behind that. That's what just like, I can't even express it very well, how passionate I am about that. Because when you, when you and I have had the blessing many times of watching when that happens, when that moment happens for the client, when they get their [00:15:00] why.

When they get what the money's for, it's not a game. It's not stockpiling it in my 401k or my stock options and my brokerage account or the value of my business. It's what do I get to do now with that money? Right. That's who do I get to support? Who do I get to help? What experiences can I create? We have dear, dear, dear friends of ours.

I don't know if they're listeners to the show or not, but they retired, if you will, on the early side. Right. So they're in their late fifties and they've retired and I just noticed that they took an absolute blowout trip with their family. Three grown kids to Machu Picchu for a two week expedition Beth and Her girlfriend the mom they are going to their 40th eek 40th high school anniversary here in a couple of weeks and they were talking about the trip and all this and Carrie the mom was like, you know, we just We had a conversation with our kids and we said, look, we [00:16:00] can give you bags of money when we die, or we can use those dollars now and create and have wonderful experiences as a family that we think are going to create much greater dividends and much greater levels of experiential wealth.

Then bags of money when we're dead. 

Matthew Grishman: That's every lesson you and I have learned through personal experience, through working with clients to our own parents experiences is that when, you know, we get to the end of the road, we're right there, we're, we're about to cross the rainbow bridge. We're there graduations around the corner.

You and I have never heard anybody say, gosh, I wish I worked more. Gosh, I wish I saved more. Right. It, and any kind of regret we've ever heard has been lack of experience. I wish I spent more time with my people. I wish I did more of this. And as a result, you and I. I think do a pretty good job of paying attention to these examples.

And when I think [00:17:00] back over the course of my life, even back in the days when I was somewhat of a train wreck in my relationship with money. I probably was a little harder on myself about that relationship in hindsight than I should have been, because although I did squander a lot of money on meaningless stuff, I also invested a lot of money in some life changing experiences that, I mean, when I just sit back and think about the places I've been, the people I've met, the wildlife I've run into the, the things I've gotten to do in life, it just, I feel.

Like the wealthiest I've ever felt in my entire life. Because of how I value my wealth, because of the fact that there's a why behind my wealth. And it just, it feels really good. It doesn't necessarily mean I've got all the money in the bank that quote unquote I'm supposed to have. But boy, as I've learned through time with [00:18:00] you and time together on this journey, defining wealth through the lens of the whole wealth journey just feels right.

Jim Gebhardt: Well, and one subtotal reminder. Yeah, please. You can always make more money. History seems to, to remind me of that when I forget. And to the business owner, to the entrepreneur, even to, even to folks that work in, you know, in big companies. Unless you're retired and you are committed to being retired, you can make more money.

And that is a skill that we see with our business owner clients time and time again, is they are exquisite wealth creators. They know how to start, build, grow, expand, and, you know, often sell a business. And. Where, where I think some people get caught is in this, well, this is all the money I have. Well, it is all the money you have today.

Right now, right now, if you and [00:19:00] I somehow by just horrific circumstances, we're bankrupt tomorrow. Your bank accounts went to zero, my bank accounts went to zero, Gebhardt Group went to zero, and we gotta leave town. We're moving back to Syracuse. God help us all. There, I, I don't, I don't have an ounce of doubt in my body.

Not an ounce. That you and I could go recreate. Would it be fun? Maybe in kind of a obtuse kind of way, but we could absolutely go rebuild our wealth and then some. 

Matthew Grishman: Well, that's the, that's the, that's the mindset and the spirit of the entrepreneur brother. I mean, that's, that's why you and I are sitting here talking is that there's a paradox.

In being an entrepreneur, when it comes to quote unquote, job security, wealth security, financial security, the questions about what is financial security look like to you? What keeps you up at night about money, right? When we ask those [00:20:00] questions to an entrepreneur, the answers are often very different.

Then when we ask those questions of somebody who works for somebody else, right? Because ultimately the financial security that you and I Can feel most secure in in life is is the fact that we believe in ourselves and we know That if we have nothing and we're starting over again, that the entrepreneurial spirit that lives inside of both of us allows us the ability to go out and create something, create the wealth that we need, not just to survive, but to have impact, to make a difference in people's lives, to create value in people's lives that then turns around and rewards us.

With both fulfillment deposits, right? Spiritual deposits, as well as financial deposits. And all the different ways that we create wealth. 

Jim Gebhardt: And the older I get, brother, 

Matthew Grishman: the 

Jim Gebhardt: more I like the fulfillment deposits. [00:21:00] Well, 

Matthew Grishman: and that is where wealth with a Y really starts to mean something. Because where you and I get very bored very quickly is when we meet an entrepreneur Where their only aim, and this is, this is entrepreneurs, non entrepreneurs where the only aim is to go to work to make more money.

I go to work to make more money. I go to work to make more money. And if the goal is only about making more money, you and I start getting bored. Yeah. So there's gotta be something more to this. entrepreneur thing, owning a business, building a business, creating value for others, there's got to be more to it than just making more money.

And that is what the whole wealth journey is all about. And, and if you go, and if you go look, 

Jim Gebhardt: On 

Matthew Grishman: our 

Jim Gebhardt: website. 

Matthew Grishman: What is [00:22:00] it 

Jim Gebhardt: now? 

Matthew Grishman: Gebhardt, whole 

Jim Gebhardt: wealth. com. Thank you. If you go there and you look at the nature of our process, it's there. It's the reason it's the intentionality behind why the very first step is unpack your story.

There's a story there and we need to unpack it. And in, in, in the process of that unpacking is where we start to get some clues on your why on what your why is. And eventually we start to connect the dots with you and for you on that. 

Matthew Grishman: Absolutely. This idea of whole wealth journey, you and I have had some experiences in life.

You and I have both been asked, you know, wouldn't, wouldn't it just be easier for you guys to do it like everybody else? And you know, why, why, why does it seem like you are always thumbing your nose at the conventional ways that your industry operates? Why is it that You feel the need to go down this little different path.

And, and I think a lot of that [00:23:00] is just because of the way we were raised in the experiences that we had growing up. There was a day when you were a little kid that you've shared with me, 

Jim Gebhardt: uh, 

Matthew Grishman: when your dad came home from work one day and had quite the announcement to make to the family that kind of changed things for you.

I, I, I just, I think you and I have both had experiences that have us seeing a little differently than the way perhaps Wall Street has trained most of us to look at wealth. 

Jim Gebhardt: It's really the genesis of how I'm sitting here today. When I was 12 years old, I was sitting at the kitchen table and I was doing my homework.

I remember this like it was yesterday, my mom, it was like out of, it was like June Cleaver, right? She had an apron on, she was standing at the kitchen sink getting dinner ready. And I knew my dad was going to be home soon. And I was excited about it because my dad worked his fanny off. And so I, I, I knew he was coming home soon.

I heard the door from the garage open [00:24:00] and right out of central casting, mom goes, hi, honey, how was your day? And he didn't reply. Was really kind of, kind of interesting. And we, I grew up in a split level home, and he started to march up into the, into the kitchen, and he said, I quit my f ing job! Yikes. Well, with that, mom dropped the, the dish that she had, and it shattered in the sink, and I went into complete paralysis.

I, I vividly, viscerally remember just being motionless in my chair. He was right behind me. I didn't even turn to look at him. And I didn't, I didn't know what that meant. I mean, I didn't know what the consequence was of quitting your job. Right. He made his way around to his traditional seat at the table.

And I could see, I could see the fury in his eyes and I darted out of the room. I ran right around the corner to the stairs. I ran up to the top of the [00:25:00] stairs. My bedroom was the first bedroom on the right. And I just sat at the top of the stairs and was going to listen and listen in to like what just went down as I'm sitting there, you know, being a pretty self centered 12 year old kid, my first thought was, well, I can't go to college.

And I had this dream of being a professional golfer and college was a big part of that. And it's like, well, if my dad quit his job, I mean, right. Just the, the, the mindless string of consciousness in my head was just like. So selfish, like, I wasn't thinking about us being homeless or, you know, any of these, you know, horrific things.

It was the self centered little prick going, well, I can't go to college, right? Just listening to their conversation. And it's interesting how life has a tendency of repeating itself because we've had a client recently go through a similar storyline. My nephew is going through a similar storyline right now.

Which was my dad had been a [00:26:00] specialty roofing manufacturers representative for 22 years with the same company called Martin fireproofing. And his territory was central New York and Western New York. And this, you know, young whippersnapper regional manager came in and. Told my dad how he was going to do his job.

I bet you that went over well. And let's just say that conversation didn't go as planned. And my dad opened up, I can see his desk in his old office on James street. Like it was like it was yesterday. And he opens up his desk drawer, takes out a pre written letter of resignation, signs it, dates it, hands it to the young guy, and walks out of the room.

Wow. So then my mother starts with a line of questioning, and he, oh, and so, A pre 

Matthew Grishman: written, hang on, hang on. A pre written Resignation letter. So he had already, he was already prepared. He had this something, he had this letter in his drawer already. Correct. Wow. I bet you there's more to [00:27:00] that. 

Jim Gebhardt: So he, he proceeds to explain to my mom, how honey, we're going to start our own business.

We're going to do exactly what I was doing for 22 years for this company. I'm going to find other companies to represent and we're going to kick their ass. And that didn't really excite my mom. My mom was very concerned. They did not have very much money in the bank. At one time, I thought I knew that number.

I think it was maybe somewhere in the like five to 10, 000 range. And the other little kind of piece to the puzzle here is that this was a second marriage for my mom and dad. So they got married in 1967 after a prior marriage and kids from that prior marriage. And then I was an oops. I was a total surprise baby.

So my dad's 40, my dad was 44. When I was born, my mom was 37. Do the math. Dad's now 56. Wow. 

Matthew Grishman: So your dad quit his job to start a new business with just a little [00:28:00] bit of money in the bank at 56 years old. That is correct, sir. Wow. 

Jim Gebhardt: And mom, you know, dad was, dad was selling the idea and mom really wasn't having it.

And it was a tough conversation to listen to. You know, my dad's greatest strength since he was a teenager himself was his work ethic. And he just knew he may not have had a lot of confidence in what he was going to do. Cause I talked with him about this many, many times. He was confident in his ability to work.

His work ethic was unbelievable. So he sets up the company, he's running it out of the house and his office was down in the basement. His drafting table was down in the basement for doing estimates and everything. And I would play down there as much as I could just to be around him. And I was thrilled because he was working from home now.

And we had a, a Smith Corona typewriter and mom would come down [00:29:00] and she would, you know, she would write up the estimate. She would write up the bids. She would write up the contracts and the invoices and all this stuff on the typewriter. And, and, you know, I'd listen to my dad on the phone, talking to general contractors and, and suppliers.

And particularly when he was trying to get some, some new manufacturers, representative lines. And it was just surreal because I was living on the front lines of this total rollercoaster of entrepreneurship, as you will understand it growing up in Syracuse, New York in the, they have this thing called winter.

Oh, I vaguely remember that when you have winter, it's not exactly as if you can open up the roof of a building and whatever you're going to do relative to the specialty roofing products. You ain't doing it in the winter. Sure. So there's this total feast or famine. And it was this perennial roller coaster of dad being so stressed in the winter like oh god I just there's no work to bid.

[00:30:00] I don't know how we're gonna have any work I don't know how we're gonna make any money I just, uh, just, he couldn't see it. And then July and August would roll around and he would have so much frickin work that he was stressed out to the nines about trying to man the jobs and then, you know, appease the contractors and push off certain general contractors because he had to get this job done.

And it was just this constant rollercoaster of feast or famine. Yet. It sounds like both sides of that were incredibly stressful. Oh, they, they were incredibly stressful. And I mean, I witnessed this from 1982 until, so my dad was 56 when he started the business and he retired when he was 79. Wow. Do you know anybody else that, you know, may or may not retire when they're 79?

Matthew Grishman: Yeah, I don't think they're going to retire at age 79. I think they might make it till 80, but I do. Exactly. 

Jim Gebhardt: Yeah. You know, and I look, I look back at this now, I think. Oh, different reasons, sure. Yeah. But as I look back on it and I [00:31:00] just, I think of so many different lessons from my dad, not just my dad, but my parents in general.

And one of the, the biggest takeaways that I've had a lot of time to think about is a word that you and I don't use as much lately, but I think we will, which is congruity. My parents were the same running the business as they were at one of my golf tournaments, as they were. Uh, at church as they were at Wegmans, as they were playing tennis, that's really left a mark for me.

And it's something I'm so attracted to in people when, you know, to use some of our language from prior episodes, uh, you know, when there's no mask. There's no mask on, I'm this way here, and then I take the mask off and I'm this way here. That congruity is very attractive to me when I find that in other people.

Matthew Grishman: That was the moment my entire view of wealth shifted, brother, is the day I just started showing up and just did what I did for [00:32:00] people, whether we were getting paid in dollars and cents or getting paid in a sense of fulfillment. And that this idea of, of completely detaching from the results of the effort, the results of the impact we wish to have, other than just knowing that we're showing up and doing our very best work, Whether we're hanging out having dinner with friends, whether we're in the office working with a client, whether we're crossing the street and interacting with a stranger.

You and I just show up who we are, and I'll tell ya, the day I stopped separating my personal life and my work life and just integrated that together. And I don't mean necessarily like bringing, you know, bringing work home or bringing home to work, but just being the same person who shows up the same way.

Was a game changer game changer [00:33:00] totally, 

Jim Gebhardt: you know, just to kind of put a bow on it You know that it was a bit of a fairytale ending I mean the business ended up being wildly successful sure and they were financially better off than I think either one of them ever envisioned You know in the 90s, I moved to California 93 my brother moved I think in 97 or 98 my parents bought a house down in Palm Desert shortly thereafter And they did the snowbird thing for 20 plus years to get out of the Syracuse winters and spend more time with us.

The punchline in all of this didn't come for many years later. And I, as a lot of our listeners know, I spent almost 10 years at Merrill Lynch and Smith Barney. And, uh, In 2004, I had reached the point I was now a certified financial planner and Smith Barney couldn't really give two rips about the fact that I was a financial planner.

They just wanted me to go sell asset management services and I was growing super frustrated with the fact that there's such a need for planning. And not planning in the road sense of, you know, a nice [00:34:00] consistent 7 percent return and, you know, all that you and I are familiar with in the brokerage world.

Matthew Grishman: What that gets you, right? A plan with just a nice steady rate of return, and this is where it gets you financially. 

Jim Gebhardt: There's no, in my opinion, structural integrity to that. Right. So, I was talking with our, our dear mutual friend, Glenn, Jim Kelly, and they were talking about, you know, and be becoming an independent financial advisor.

And I had no idea what that was. I mean, it was literally, I'd been in the biosphere of Merrill Lynch and Smith Barney. I'm like, what? I don't even know what that is. Sure. So I went and met with a half a dozen different guys that, you know, we're doing what you and I do today. And with Beth's support, we decided to start Gebhardt Group.

And on May 20th, 2005, I had my Jerry Maguire moment. You know, the prior six, seven, eight months, I was working kind of behind the scenes, nights, weekends, trying to, you know, get business licenses and look for real estate and just buy computers. And, you know, [00:35:00] with what little money I had at the time, get this business ready.

For, for the big day. And Beth was, you know, Beth was at home full time. Our, our daughters, Emily and grace were four and two. I mean, just looking back at this, it's like, what was I thinking? But I remember I made a list of 65 clients that I was, I was hopeful would come along. There's no guarantees when you leave a brokerage firm that you're even going to get a shot at it because they can put a temporary restraining order.

On you. From even being able to contact the client. And that had me pretty stressed because I didn't know if clients would come along. Right. So we go to chase and we get this a hundred thousand dollar line of credit, home equity line of credit, just as kind of an emergency. I don't know if the whole thing doesn't work there.

At least we got, we got a hundred grand we can live off of for a little while. And in the brokerage community, when you resign, you resign at one o'clock on a Friday. And the reason behind [00:36:00] that. is because most brokers at one o'clock are gonzo. So when the branch manager goes and divvies up your client base, there's really nobody there on Friday afternoon other than the, you know, the super young rookie brokers that will be actively calling your clients to let them know that you've left.

Sure. I remember when I resigned with John, he didn't, he didn't even know what I was, he didn't understand what I was doing. He was like, You're going independent. What do you, I don't, what do you mean? And I actually sat there and like explained it to him a little bit before we kind of concluded the meeting.

So I left the office, I was shaken like a leaf. Absolutely shaken like a leaf. My heart was kind of beating out of my chest. I get in the car and I call Beth. Now you got to remember this is 2005. So yeah, there's internet. Yeah, there's computers. But. We had to kind of go old school with like a wedding style announcement on the formation of Gebhardt Group And she was literally in the parking lot at the Lafayette post office Oh, they were all stamped [00:37:00] and everything waiting for my call to drop them because we were so paranoid of this temporary restraining order I'm on the phone with Beth and The call waiting thing says John my branch manager's calling.

Oh god. Oh my god. I hung up with Beth I'd said I got to call you back And I click over to John and I'm, I'm just like, I break, I like break into a cold sweat cause I, I, I think, I think he's going to tell me what's coming, right? Which is this temporary restraining order. And he goes, Jim, I've just gone through your office and you didn't take a single file.

You didn't take as much as a paper clip. So I don't know what this independent thing is. But I just wanted to let you know that I won't be reassigning your accounts till Monday morning. Huh? So he gave you a little head start. I had a 72 hour head start. That was such a massive break because while it was a race against the clock, I now knew I had Friday afternoon, all day, Saturday, all day, Sunday.

And I mean, come [00:38:00] on, the playbook is work. Right? The password on my home security system on Danbury Drive when they, when the security alarm went off and they called the password was work. Well, your dad, that was your dad's password. That was my dad's password. So I knew how to do this, right? Sure. And when the dust settled, we had yeses from 63 of the 65 clients.

And that was just absolutely exhilarating. I knew that we were going to be okay. I knew that we were going to be successful and we would take exquisite care of those clients. Most of whom I'm immensely proud to say. Are still clients today. It was a couple of weeks later and Nancy brings the mail into me and there's this envelope and it's my dad's perfect handwriting that he had this block lettering, which is very much, I print everything and it's my handwriting is similar to his, but his was just like perfect.

And it's an envelope from my dad that I just [00:39:00] think is. You know, he's, he's returning the brokerage paperwork and I don't really think anything of it, you know, I, I take the, the paperwork out and I open it up and it's a handwritten letter on yellow on a yellow pad, he did everything on a yellow pad. And what just took my breath away was he proceeded to tell me a story in writing of how he actually wrote the resignation letter that he used in 1982 in 1967.

Oh wow. It sat in his desk drawer for 15 years. He would look at it periodically and never had the courage to use it until 15 years later. Now, my parents were concerned that I was making this move. My in laws were much more concerned. My in laws were, were very, very, very concerned about, you know, how is this going to be financially viable?

I had a fancy corner office. I had the best assistant. I had healthcare. I had growing income. You know, it was just, it was, this was [00:40:00] 

Matthew Grishman: job security, cuckoo to do something like this. Right. The rest of the world, the non entrepreneurial world around you, saw job security in all of that. Stuff. But, au contraire.

Au contraire. 

Jim Gebhardt: And the line that I still remember is, son, I am so proud of you for doing this at 35 versus 56. Your dad was the one person who understood. Yeah. That, to this day, that just sticks with me. Well, the ironic part about it is I started Gebhardt Group May 20th, 2005. My dad retired and wound down the company, Gebhardt Associates.

In 2005, 

Matthew Grishman: we can't have multiple Gebhardt's out there, you know, run his businesses. 

Jim Gebhardt: To me, it felt like a baton pass. It absolutely 

Matthew Grishman: was a baton pass. Yeah, it actually was because when he, when he put down the baton of Gebhardt and [00:41:00] associates, he unofficially became, uh, what do we call it? Maybe head of the board of advisors for Gebhardt group at the time.

Sure. Chairman emeritus. Chairman Emeritus. Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you for sharing both of those stories, both about your dad and his entrepreneurial journey. And what a contrast to your entrepreneurial journey. I mean, there's similarity in the seeds of wanting to do something that was different than what was expected of you at the corporate level, right?

You and your dad both had your Popeye moments. Yes. Right. Uh, you, you guys were just, uh, how did you say you say we had all we could stands. We could 

Jim Gebhardt: have 

Matthew Grishman: had all we could stands. We can't stand no more. Right. In other words, you were sick and tired of being sick and tired, doing what other people expected, taking your skillset and applying it to other people.

The way they felt it was best applied versus the way your dad and you both saw [00:42:00] how you had developed a skill set, you developed something that was valuable to your tribe, and now it was time for you to go out and express that to your tribe the way you best felt it was, I'm glad to hear that you didn't come home one day.

And just look at Beth and go, I quit my job. Right. I'm, I'm glad you learned that part from your dad and that you didn't have to go about doing it that way, that it was better for you to actually bring her in the loop. And, and involve Beth in the entrepreneurial decision. I think that is probably a big reason why that decision turned out to be as successful as it is today.

Having her support, having her behind it, not having to spend a lot of time selling her on the idea. 

Jim Gebhardt: Yeah. There is no Gebhardt Group today without Beth's support. She had a wonderful career going and she was one of the first hires in Northern California for the Medicare HMO company called Secure Horizons.

She set that aside. [00:43:00] Like I said, we had two little girls at home when we started the company and then two little boys showed up. I don't know how that happened. The stork is a powerful creature, right? And there is no Gebhardt group without Beth. It's so fun to look back and it is, we've gone through this process of rebranding the company and relaunching kind of our process and relaunching our podcast.

And here we are 20 years later, doing almost a dreamy level for me. The kind of financial planning that I never even knew existed when I had the itch in 2004. Sure. And it's not only is it structurally better in terms of the under underlying engineering behind it, but the, the level of meaningful conversations that we get into with clients.

Yeah. Yes. Which is what you, at our core, that's what we love to do. Yeah. That's the best part. Okay. The stock market goes up and down and left and right and, you know, okay, this crisis, that crisis, la, la, la, la. But it's the interaction and the communication and the relationship with the clients that is what just drives us and [00:44:00] what I think makes us incredibly unique in a sea of sameness in financial planning land.

Matthew Grishman: What makes us incredibly unique and what makes the job fun is how you and I put a very unique Set of filters on how we look at wealth, how we define wealth, how we help clients accumulate that wealth, preserve that wealth, pass that wealth on. What's really, really cool. Is just helping them define that, right?

It's more than you and I were trained traditionally in the world of asset classes, such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate, money markets, right? We were taught that assets. We're purely a financial concept and in the world of wealth management, where I think our industry has perpetuated this sea of sameness is just this, again, perpetuation that [00:45:00] wealth management is some kind of collection of various financial assets.

And that's it. And that's fine. And that there's no more to the conversation than how much do you have and what do you need? Correct. And that's all that really seems to matter with. The bulk of people in our industry now, with that said, I'm very, very hopeful when I see more and more firms like ours popping up and having bigger conversations and realizing that wealth is so much more than just the financial statements.

So much more than just the brokerage statements that, you know, they're, they're, I mean, you, you and I define the three major asset classes. That make up somebody's whole wealth a little differently than most, I think. Yes, we do. The fact that the three most valuable assets a person has in their life, sure, part of it is, is their money, their [00:46:00] financial resources.

That is a, a very important asset. Their people, their relationship with people, and their relationship with themselves. We've talked on the show back in the good old financial sobriety days about these three relationships that we all have that, you know, maybe five years ago when we started this journey, we're a source of stress, a source of complexity.

And as, as we've continued to evolve on this journey, what I feel is that the bulk of my wealth is made up because of these three relationships, right? My relationship with money, my relationship with my people and my relationship with myself. Are the three most valuable asset classes I have and they make up the majority of my wealth now there are a whole bunch of Secondary asset classes, as you might say, components, yeah.

Components 

Jim Gebhardt: to, Oh no, no, no, no, no. Components. You, you don't, you, you, you never [00:47:00] say the word components. 

Matthew Grishman: Maybe, maybe that's always part of the graduation. I know, irregardless of how I've said it in the past, that might be part of the graduation is I now call them components. So. What I'm grateful for, brother, is that what we're doing here with the Whole Wealth Journey and thank you for sharing your story today and what got you here and how your mom and dad were so influential in that.

I mean, this is what this show is going to be about going forward is, is helping our tribe. At first really understand what their whole wealth is made up of, right? It's made up of sure the financial resources, this relationship we have with money, but it's also made up of the people, the places, the experiences, time is an asset class, what we believe in our health, the education we've acquired.

Jim Gebhardt: Yeah, our 

Matthew Grishman: passions and [00:48:00] charitable desires. The different experiences, right? I mean, I, I, I'm so looking forward to sharing with the tribe, some of the experiences that I've had in my life and the amount of wealth I've created as a result of these experiences and how I get to share them, but I mean, the knowledge we have, the wisdom.

We acquire the, these are all incredibly important quote unquote asset classes. A hundred percent. They're, they're parts of our wealth that we build and, and just, I'm really looking forward to taking our tribe through the curriculum over the next several months here on the show. I mean, in effect, what we do, giving the tribe here on the show, a taste for what we do when we work one on one with entrepreneurs.

Who want more than just more money, right? They want more from their money than just more money. And to take them through this, this [00:49:00] process of. Identifying these different asset classes, figuring out how to align their financial resources to support these asset classes that create the whole wealth.

That's what the show is all about. It's all about identifying what our whole wealth is, how we build it, how we accumulate it, how we preserve it and protect it once we have it. Right. And then ultimately how we pass it 

Jim Gebhardt: on. Right. And align it to those values and beliefs that you're most passionate about.

Yeah. Because as you were, as you were talking about the components, those secondary asset classes is as we would say in our, in our vernacular, we say those business owners and entrepreneurs that want more from their money than more money. And to me, what that means is they want more time. They want, you know, perhaps they want more health.

Certainly that's a journey you and I have been on. Yep. They want more experiences. They want to share that wisdom [00:50:00] has helped them create wealth for themselves and their family. But now, how do they use that wisdom? Right again, going back to Lynn Twist. If you just, if you just hold on to that wisdom for yourself, what's the point?

Right. So that's what this is going to be about. That's what, what Wealth is a Why is all about. I'm really excited for the next series of conversations where we'll start to have some guests. Oh yeah. Obviously, we'll, uh, we'll keep interjecting some stories because I really want people to hear about the Grishman family trips and the intentionality that your family, particularly your mom and dad, have around, you know, Those holiday trips and all the other stories that, you know, we're going to start to bring in clients and friends of the show that, you know, have incredible stories to tell along these lines.

So yeah, this is, this is going to be one heck of a lot of fun, brother. I can't wait. 

Matthew Grishman: Absolutely. So where, where we're going from here, where the next 15 to 18 episodes are going with the show is we're going to [00:51:00] kind of lay out the whole wealth journey curriculum, where we're going to dive pretty deep into these main asset classes, the relationship we have with money, we're going to dive into the relationships we have with people and how that's a huge part of our wealth.

And then we're going to go even further and we're going to get real, real. Really real, really vulnerable, really raw. And we're going to get into the wealth that's created within that relationship with self. And we're going to do that all in order in a, in a sequence and in how we deliver this in person, when we're working with our wealth management clients, and it's going to be a lot of fun to share it here on the show, if you want to connect with us.

In between this episode and the next, please go to our website, Gebhardt, whole wealth. com, click connect with us, and we're going to get connected and a whole bunch of resources open up to you. And it'll create a conversation that we're really looking forward to [00:52:00] having with you. So with that, brother, that's a wrap.

Thanks for joining us today on the whole wealth journey. Whatever your path may look like, our purpose is to make sure that your way forward aligns with your core values and intentions. Are you ready to start planning for a future that's rich in wealth and wellbeing, then click like, and subscribe and make sure you don't miss a single episode of the whole wealth journey.

So if we've struck a nerve with you 

Jim Gebhardt: today, where do people go? 

Matthew Grishman: You can find us at GebhardtWholeWealth. com. That's G E B H A R D T WholeWealth. com. And once you get there, make sure you connect with us so you can take the first steps to finding your why. We'll see you next time. 

Amy Bingham: Jim Gebhardt is a registered representative of and securities offered through Brokers International Financial Services, LLC, member SIPC.

Jim Gebhardt and Matthew Grishman are [00:53:00] investment advisor representatives of Gebhardt Group Incorporated, a registered investment advisor, Brokers International Financial Services. Services LLC and Gebhardt Group, Inc. are not affiliated. The opinions in this podcast are for informational purposes only and are not intended to provide specific advice or investment recommendations.

To determine which investments or financial advice may be appropriate for you, consult a financial advisor prior to investing. Any reference to market performance is based on historical information and there is no external source. Expressed or implied guarantee of future performance. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Brokers International Financial Services, LLC.

The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Gebhardt Group Incorporated does not offer legal or tax advice. Listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual [00:54:00] circumstance.