Episode 162: Entrepreneurial Wealth Assessment - Fulfillment Beyond the Financials.

What if the relentless pursuit of wealth is actually keeping you from enjoying it? Join, us, Matthew Grishman and and Jim Gebhardt as we navigate the delicate art of balancing financial success with life’s simple pleasures. We'll explore the transformative concept of "investing in fun" and how it can act as a catalyst for not just joy, but also as a new form of wealth in your life. We open the floor to the emotional journey of becoming empty nesters, which brings newfound financial freedom and the chance to redefine life's goals. 

On a more poignant note, we share the heartfelt story of Stevie's unexpected passing, Jim's brother, which served as a stark reminder of life’s fragile nature and the importance of reevaluating priorities. From the shocking late-night call to honoring Stevie's last wishes, this narrative is both raw and revealing. We also take a moment to challenge the work-centric mindset many of us grew up with—illustrated by my a family’s alarm code—and advocate for a balanced approach where fun is a vital ingredient in building experiential wealth. We'll explain our structured process to examine your own money stories and embark on a path toward a future filled not just with financial prosperity, but also well-being and happiness. In so many cases, as we've learned from experience, money is not necessarily what brings one joy. Our F-O-R-M journey we'll take you on, explains it all. 

Learn more about The Whole Wealth Journey and get periodic updates or helpful content by getting on our email list HERE. Entrepreneurs, exit strategies and personal financial planning before the sale are topics you can count on every episode.  You can follow us on Instagram @thewholewealthjourney. 

Transcript

Jim Gebhardt: [00:00:00] A number of people that we've met, business owners and non-business owners all the years we've been doing this that have more than enough and they don't know what to do with it. They don't really know how to have fun with it. Well, there's from a recreation standpoint, sure. Why? 'cause they've been so obsessed and so focused on the money.

Right. And I need more money. Right? I 

Matthew Grishman: need more money. There's a paradox there. You and I have learned firsthand the paradox of investing in fun. When we invest in fun, we create the energy and the capacity and the experiential wealth to go out and create more wealth.

Hey, what's this whole Wealth Journey podcast thing all about? 

Jim Gebhardt: It's a podcast for entrepreneurs where we're trying to help them connect the meaning with their money. Who are you? Jim Gebhart. 

Matthew Grishman: Oh, I'm Matthew Grishman. And we're a couple of financial guys having a not so [00:01:00] traditional financial conversation called The Whole Wealth Journey.

Here we go.

Jim Gebhardt: We are starting another session of the Whole Wealth Journey, and as we start every episode, brother, it's gonna start with. Brought to you by the letter G. Oh, Gehart. No. Kushman? No. Oh. What g? Gratitude. I like it. I like it. What is on the gratitude list today? My brother. Money. I'm grateful 

Matthew Grishman: for money. Cue the Money song.

Would you ever imagine coming outta my mouth? I'm grateful for money, says the man who's had the most toxic relationship with money of any human you've ever met. 

Jim Gebhardt: Yeah, I, I would. Because of the evolution that you've gone through. 

Matthew Grishman: Yeah. Well, remember I was that guy who used to look at my bank account at the end of the month and wonder where the hell did all my money go.

Sure. You're a good red-blooded American, right? Well, my gratitude is not so much that my boys [00:02:00] both chose to move outta the house Mother's Day weekend this year while I was away at a retreat. So Amy was left alone for Mother's Day, which you know, that's another whole episode we were gonna riff on one day.

But the fact that both my boys moved out. I now find myself looking at my bank account at the end of the month wondering where the hell did all this money come from? Oh, it was their fault. Oh, I'm blaming them a little, sure. A little for my lack of financial sobriety, but it's just, it's a cool feeling.

I'm really grateful for the fact that my two boys are out there. Giving it their best to be on their own. And for the last almost, what, five months now that they've been out there. Uh, my phone has not rung Dad. I need money. And so here I am, literally at the end of the month with Amy for the last five months now looking at our bank account going.

Holy cow, we should buy something. We have some extra money and we should probably buy something. Well, [00:03:00] I've, you know, lost a couple pounds, so I've been able to refresh the clothes without feeling guilt or shame or overwhelm at, there's no money left in my account at the end of the month. So that, and that's a beautiful thing.

Well, that the boys leaving and, and. Doing a little bit of redo of the financial plan as a result of that, and now having a little bit more intention with how we allocate some of that surplus at the end of every month. 

Jim Gebhardt: Yeah. 'cause it's not like you don't have a list of wants. 

Matthew Grishman: Right. And, and there's still some legacy debts that we're Right.

Paying and, and so some of it goes to that. Sure. Some of it goes to savings and some of it goes to, you know, what we're doing to really enjoy our lives right now and, and redefine. Our relationship is empty nesters. Sure. And so we're, we're investing in some experiences Sure. That we hadn't been able to invest in when we're taking care of kids a new phase and stage of life.

So I'm grateful for money. I'm grateful for financial planning and the fact that [00:04:00] financial planning in my life is an ongoing process that doesn't start and, and end. It starts and stops, but then it starts again. And so it's this continual process that I love that I get to come back to it and refine it and and change it as my life changes and our goals change.

So thank you for being my partner in Crime Accountability partner and helping me see clarity on that. Absolutely. What are you grateful for? 

Jim Gebhardt: Well, all of us in the studio today, ACE, yourself, myself, Lindsay, we all have a new friend and that friend's name is Claude. Claude ai, so I decided that's Santa Claude, not Santa Claude.

I asked Claude, based on me and my digital footprint, what I should be grateful for today. 

Matthew Grishman: That's awesome. Artificially intelligent gratitude brought to you by, brought to you by the man who invented gratitude, Jim Gehart. 

Jim Gebhardt: Why not? Let's have a little exercise in ai and interestingly [00:05:00] enough. Some of the things won't surprise our listeners in our tribe or me, uh, or you certainly.

But based on the fact that, uh, I get the opportunity to help clients discover their why behind their wealth Wow. And what a unique approach it is to focusing on whole wealth and how proud I should be for that. Wow. Look at Claude with the platitudes today, and in my role as a cipa, which is a certified exit planning advisor.

How I get to help business owners navigate one of the most significant transitions in their lives. So it's obviously reading my everything, LinkedIn, my website, listening to the podcast. I mean, I could have given it a much longer prompt, but just kind of fun to have it reflect back some of the things that I swim in the water every day of, and I forget that.

I see. 

Matthew Grishman: That's fantastic. 

Jim Gebhardt: So sometimes the gratitude can be so abundantly obvious, you step right over it. Sure. We go through this exercise with clients every single time we're on a Zoom or they come into the office [00:06:00] and over time they are prepared. Often they'll be like, I was thinking about my gratitude coming into the office today because I knew you were gonna ask me.

Yes. Right. Well, sometimes it can just be. The most simplest of things. 

Matthew Grishman: Yes. Right. Well, it most often that's what it is. Yeah. Are you and I, I don't know if we've ever talked about this. Do you have any little circles, like gratitude, text messages with any friends or people? Do you do any of that? I don't, 

Jim Gebhardt: I don't have any 

Matthew Grishman: friends.

Oh, good. Well, good then all, all mine. That's, I've always wanted to do all myself. I've 

Jim Gebhardt: got a phone, I've got a flip phone, so, oh, perfect. I don't, so 

Matthew Grishman: texting takes 20 minutes for you to say hi. It does, and I usually misspell it. Fantastic. Well, HY. Perfect. I have two different small groups that I do gratitude texts with in the morning.

Jim Gebhardt: I'm usually reading or listening to a podcast while you're gratitude. Ah, okay. 

Matthew Grishman: There you go. I'm, I'm, I prefer to gratitude, so that's, that's okay. And what I find in those gratitude circles for the people in my groups, it always is the basics. [00:07:00] And it's generally the same thing every day. And that's okay.

Right. Grateful to have this day. Grateful to be awake, grateful for food, grateful for the people in my life. Sometimes the most effective gratitude is just the simple, basic needs that we have abundance in in our lives today. It is 

Jim Gebhardt: very grounding. Yes. When you are in the financial services industry and you learn how to live an east coast life on the west coast and you're up early every day.

Matthew Grishman: Yes. 

Jim Gebhardt: You know, my butt used to be in the seat at 6:00 AM and I got, I got plenty of buddies that their seat, their butts are in the seats at 5:00 AM on the west coast. I. You build a little bit of an annoyance to that over time. Sure. And you kind of repel it, but now I'm back to it. Now my butt's not in the seat At 6:00 AM I was gonna say at the Gephart group office, you're 

Matthew Grishman: putting the suit on at 6:00 

Jim Gebhardt: AM every day.

Oh yeah. Getting in front of the Bloomberg machine, the French cuffs and the whole thing. Yeah. 

Matthew Grishman: Is that what you're doing? 

Jim Gebhardt: I enjoy my quiet time at home now at a boy instead. 

Matthew Grishman: There 

Jim Gebhardt: you go. And I was reading, another little thing that I've learned is I like to read in the dark. [00:08:00] And I, I take out my flip phone and I turn on the flashlight.

What are you, A bat clearly. I'm kidding. You're a bat. I turn on the flashlight on my phone and I love to just sit there in the quiet and the dark and read whatever I'm reading in total isolation. I don't know if it's like a sensory deprivation thing or, but I, I really, really like it. I like that. I love that.

I really like it. What a great idea. I have my glass of room temperature water. That a boy, I sip away at that. I try not to think of the dishwasher and that needs to be unloaded or you know, whatever little chore I'm gonna try to help the family with before I get rolling. There's a who for that, but yeah, some of those who's are me.

And it can be abundantly simple. And that's beautiful that you have groups of two different groups of friends that you do that with. 

Matthew Grishman: There's a reason. Thank you. There's a reason why we're going a little deeper on gratitude, the explanation and why it's so important because. Oprah's 

Jim Gebhardt: on the show today. 

Matthew Grishman: Oh, come on.

You just gave it away. Oh, no, no, not today. [00:09:00] Maybe the next episode. Okay. The reason we're starting with an abundance of gratitude is we're getting into a mini series on our financial planning process and how. We are helping people with this second leg of the stool, right? We just spent a whole bunch of time, energy, and effort in the personal planning phase of this three legged stool of getting prepared for exit.

Now we're getting into the financial planning part of it, and the way you and I have learned and co-created. The financial planning process starts with a gratitude exercise. It does, and the reason it starts with a gratitude exercise is because we're engaging in conversation that requires our utmost attention and focus.

And when people come into the office, when people come into the studio, often there's life happening before and there's life that's going to happen after. And you and I have just learned through our own experience that. Nothing creates more presence and the [00:10:00] ability to be in the moment with what we've got right now in front of us releasing us from whatever was with us before we got in the room.

Then gratitude. It's become a tool in our financial planning universe. 

Jim Gebhardt: There's also an actual chemical reaction that happens in the body with one of my favorite words I don't get to use very much, which is a biochemical cascade that kinda washes over you when you actually drop in, you know, drop into that space of gratitude.

'cause we don't know if you just got in an argument with your boss or your neighbor or the cat lady, or you know, you got cut off or. All, all those things being what they are, it's a way to flush all that and get really present because we wanna have meaningful conversations, not just about the money. 

Matthew Grishman: Well, when you think about what the four stages of the whole wealth journey from the financial planning perspective look like, when you come into our world and there are gonna be lots of similarities as we talk about this with other people who do what we do it, it's a very similar [00:11:00] process.

We've custom crafted. In a unique way for that trades based entrepreneur who's thinking about an exit at some point. So we've customized it to fit. That situation. And then of course, with each person who comes in, it's a blank piece of paper. It's not like there's some, you know, form that they follow, although we're gonna get into something called form here.

So it it, it's customized per person, but it's really something that should sound familiar, at least in concept. If you've ever been through financial planning process. And what gratitude does is it gets us present for that very first part, which we're gonna talk about today. The first of four parts where I love, 

Jim Gebhardt: I love all four parts.

Just like I love all four of my children, really? And they're all different. 

Matthew Grishman: I was gonna say, do you love them the same or do you love them different? My, my 

Jim Gebhardt: children are all different. And all four phases of this process are different. They are, and I love them all. Equally. Equally or different. No, I, well, both 

Matthew Grishman: equally and different.

Me too. Yeah, me too. And this [00:12:00] first stage. This, unpack your story. This is really the discovery part of the entire financial planning process, which we've done a little bit through the personal planning side, but now we're getting a little bit more specific when we unpack your financial life and where we really start with this is a conversation that.

You and I have learned to develop with people. Oh, not 

Jim Gebhardt: 2005 when you came to see me. 

Matthew Grishman: Um, we 

Jim Gebhardt: unpacked 

Matthew Grishman: a pretty good story. We did. We did. And then when we looked backed at that story a little bit, right? Yes. And identified the different components of the story. Nice. We were able to create our own little acronym that.

I'm now learning is not necessarily just ours. There are other people in the world who've used this acronym. In fact, I just learned in the real estate industry, they use a similar acronym to have a similar conversation. Hmm. They call it the Ford conversation. FO. R, the family, occupation, recreation [00:13:00] and dreams is what I learned in the real estate world.

That those, that's the structure of a conversation they'll often have with a new client. Interesting. To really get to know them. Yeah. You and I. Because there's similar conversation. Yeah. But we call it the form conversation. 

Jim Gebhardt: Yeah. 

Matthew Grishman: Where I'm going into a conversation with a new person, how can I really get to understand their story, who they are, where they come from, and their relationship with money is through a form conversation family.

Occupation, recreation, 

Jim Gebhardt: money. So that has been the backbone of a couple thousand conversations that you and I have had. 

Matthew Grishman: Unpacking 

Jim Gebhardt: their story, unpacking their story. Because we ultimately wanna meet the client wherever they're at in their journey with their whole wealth. And I love how, I mean, who doesn't wanna talk about their family?

99% of people we've ever met with love to talk about their family. 

Matthew Grishman: Well, if not to say there [00:14:00] aren't challenges with family, if I may, so much of where this came from and why we go this deep in family, occupation, recreation, and money is because of something you experienced? Yes. On December 12th, 2012, 2012.

12, 12. 12. Yes. 

Jim Gebhardt: What happened for our listeners today? We'll do the shorter version of the story. I was lying in bed listening to a podcast. I couldn't tell you the podcast, but Beth was to my right, she was falling asleep or asleep already. Our daughter, Emily was on my left. She was 11. Obviously we're fast forwarding.

She's 25 today or close to it. And this is back when you, did you, do you still have a, a home phone? No. Okay. We used to have a home phone and the kitchen phone was ringing. And I was like, Hey em, could you go? Could you go grab the phone? She was the closest to it and she could go run faster and I was all snuggled in bed and, and by the time she got there, the [00:15:00] phone stopped ringing, but she looked at it and it had the caller ID tag of my parents' phone number.

Well, why would your parents be calling that late at night? It's one o'clock on the east coast, right? It was about 10 o'clock our time on the West Coast. Uh oh. Something's the matter. So I get up, and Emily knew it too, because the look on her face was clear that she got it. Like it's one o'clock where her Grammy and Grampy are.

I, I get up and I go into the kitchen, and no sooner do I sit down at the kitchen table than the phone lights up again, and it's my parents' phone number. So I'm like, okay, somebody's dead. And I brace myself and I answer the phone and my sister answers, right? But you, you assumed it was one of your parents.

Oh, yeah. Somebody's dead, right? Mom, mom's dead. Mom or dad, or dad's dead, right? And all I can hear is my, my mother crying hysterically in the background. I immediately assumed my dad died, and my sister goes, [00:16:00] Jim, honey, um, I don't know how to say this any other way, but Stevie's dead, Stevie died, and I just, I just went into absolute shock because I had no, I, I had no idea what she just said.

Like I, I know the words that she said, but I couldn't comprehend what she said. And in a way I felt a, a split second relief that it wasn't my dad, but then I had to process the fact that it was my brother, uh, like Cheryl, what are you, what are you saying? What, what, honey, we don't have any real information at this point, but Steve passed away.

Well, you wanna talk about a shock to the system outta left field outta nowhere. This is my 56-year-old brother. Healthy as a horse. No. Unexpected. Completely unexpected. Right, right. So, fast forward, I get to Syracuse. We, you know, I'm a financial planner by the way, but my, my brother, God bless him, was a complete do it yourselfer.

Matthew Grishman: So you, you met up [00:17:00] with the family in Syracuse and then went to his place in Albany, right, 

Jim Gebhardt: to help fast forward the story. Yes. And the whole purpose of that was to try to find his documents. Right. We don't, I mean. None of us had ever had conversation with him about, you know, do you want to, do you want to be cremated?

Do you want to be buried? Do you want a funeral? Do 

Matthew Grishman: what? Do what do you want? Well, and you shared with me how important it was that you honor what your brother wanted. Right. So let's go find these documents. They gotta be his right. He was one 

Jim Gebhardt: of the most organized guys that'd ever met. Sure. But he was a doit yourselfer.

So we go to his place outside of Albany, up in Saratoga. And it's my niece and my nephew and my brother-in-law and myself, and I'm, I'm, I'm like. My brother-in-law and I are gonna go in first and just, he, he passed away in his home. He passed away in bed, in his bed, and we go in and I gotta get to the laptop.

I just, I, I, I feel this drive to get to the laptop. [00:18:00] And there it is, because it's Christmas time. It was December 12th, and the laptop is open. It's plugged in. Of course it is. He was an engineer. He's not gonna let the battery run out. And on the right are Christmas cards, uh, that are done on the left are the undone Christmas cards.

There's wrapping on, you know, presents that are partially wrapped or completely wrapped on the table. It's like a total snapshot in 

Matthew Grishman: time, just kind of frozen in front of him. 

Jim Gebhardt: Absolutely. And there's a, there's a cocktail glass, uh, right next to the laptop with, you know, melted ice and whatever was in it.

I'm like, well that's really curious 'cause. There's no way that he would've left that there. He would've cleaned it and put it away, and he's just a super organized guy. I can't get into the laptop. Right. Password protected everything else. So I know he had a safe in basement and a number of years before that, he gave me the combination of the safe and one of those, you know, really casual passerby conversation.

Hey, just, you know, take this and ca, you're never gonna need it. But just in case, I want you to have a copy of the combination of the save. [00:19:00] I go, okay. I had the combination of the safe. So I go down there, my brother-in-law goes up to the bedroom because rather unique. My brother had kept a locked filing cabinet next to his bed for as long as I knew him.

Even when he was married, he was divorced at this point, but a locked filing cabinet next to his bed. So my brother-in-law's like, well, there's a probably a pretty good chance it's in there. We don't have the key for it. And then I'm like, well, the other good. Probability is, it's in the safe. So I'm down in the basement trying to, you know, jigger the, you know, do the combination.

But I'm trembling. I'm just, I'm just so distraught. My mother's here, his daughter's here. It's just, you know, this is, this is some of the heaviest shit I've ever dealt with in my life, and I wasn't the least bit prepared, but here we are and we're just kind of dealing with it. Well. My brother was a hunter and he was a marksman in terms of pistol competition, so he kept all the guns in this big safe down in the basement, and he used the safe so many times that the, the combination was really [00:20:00] loose.

I couldn't get it to go. I was, but the combination of the lock and how much I was trembling, I just, I couldn't get it to go. I'm sitting on the steps just trying to collect myself, just trying to breathe, just trying to get centered. And my brother-in-law says, Hey Jim, come up here. I I got the safe, open.

'cause I could, I could hear him like 

Matthew Grishman: drilling the lock open. Oh, the three, the metal filing cabinet. The metal filing cabinet. Yeah. Yeah. 

Jim Gebhardt: I'm 

like, 

oh, that's awesome. He found it, 

he found the will. Right. I go running up the stairs and my, there he is. My brother-in-law's standing there and he hands me this manila envelope.

And again, I'm thinking, oh 

my God, he found it. That's awesome. 

I sat down on the edge of the bed where my brother died, and I opened this up and it wasn't his will. What was it? It was a series of drawings

that I had done for him when I was six years old, [00:21:00] and these were so precious to him that he had kept them in a locked filing cabinet.

Next to his bed for 40 years. So there, there I am trying to process this and what you come away with is this sense that it's really, it's not about the money. There are things that are so much more important. The will didn't matter. The tax returns didn't matter. What mattered to him was this, with these little fleeting moments when I was a kid, they happened to be around Christmas time, and

that's what drives the passion for wanting to help people unpack [00:22:00] their story because they've got one. And for me, you know, the, the money piece is important and it is for everybody, but there are so many more things in your life that are much more important than the will or the trust or the documents or the tax return or the brokerage statements, all that stuff.

And that's, that's the connection that I have with clients is that I, I wanna help them with this because I know full well. There are things much more important in their life than a dumb brokerage statement or a tax return. Or a will. Or a will. Right. 

Matthew Grishman: Thanks for sharing that. Yeah. I know that's not, I haven't done that in a while.

Yeah. My favorite part is when you've shared before that that one specific drawing. That you've held up to me. Yeah. With [00:23:00] Santa coming down the chimney. Yeah. And the date on that drawing 

Jim Gebhardt: happens to be December 12th, 1976. When I connected the dots on that 12. 12, that just. Blah. I just, I lost it. 

Matthew Grishman: Well, it was serendipity on a whole bunch of levels because not only did it connect the moments, but it also connected the past moment with the present moment to the future moment.

And by future moment, I mean this whole wealth journey of going deep with people and understanding what really matters. In their financial story, in their money story. That really goes beyond economics, because as I think one of the most important things I've ever heard come outta your mouth that came from that experience is that not every [00:24:00] financial decision is about economics.

There are so many more factors that create financial decisions than just the economic impact, 

Jim Gebhardt: than just just the money. 

Matthew Grishman: Right? Which is why financial planning, coupled with personal planning, has become a much deeper conversation than just about what's on your brokerage statement. It starts with this very experience that you've had.

And helping extract whatever that looks like in the lives of the people we serve. Tell us about your family. What we mean by that is who are the people that mean the most to you? Yeah. That relationship inventory. Yeah. Right. Helping us understand that, that connective tissue part of people's lives. 

Jim Gebhardt: Yeah.

And if, if you're willing to play at that level. And have these kinds of conversations and make yourself vulnerable, I can assure you it's very rewarding because [00:25:00] the, the gift in all of that tragedy was how we've been able to kind of turn it into a very unique planning process, right? Yes. Because by that point, I was, how long I was You were 42.

16. 16 years in the trade. Right? Right. And. You know, if I'm going to admit it, I was kind of bored. I'm like, okay, yep. Get the slide ruled out. You got this much, you wanna live on this much, okay. Yep. You got a good one. Go up next. Right. Just got a little rot, got a little stale, and we were able to, you know, kind of take that tragedy and make a gift out of it that I feel pretty proud about.

Matthew Grishman: Yeah. Well, and the good news is Cheryl eventually found the will, right? 

Jim Gebhardt: That's kind of the, the crazy, crazy, crazy part later. Right. Where did she find it? Months later. Months later. I don't even, like six months later. Yeah. Right. [00:26:00] She's going through a box of old photographs. My brother was a photographer as a hobby.

Um, and you know, this is back in the day when you didn't have 25,000 pictures on your phone. You actually had photographs. In this case it was a, a box of old photographs. 'cause it did, we'd had to clear out his place and sell it and all this. And she's going through and she's looking at old family photos and she's just reflecting on this, this one particular picture.

I don't remember what the picture was. She would, she would know exactly. And you know, while she's got it in her left hand, she just reaches in with her right hand to grab the next picture. 

And she pulls out the will 

in a random box. Of a hundred photographs from one of the most organized people I've ever met.

Sure. It wasn't in any of the places it was supposed to be. It was in a random box. With a bunch of 

Matthew Grishman: pictures. Well, it just tells you what your brother's values were. How, kind of like how he ranked his values and that. [00:27:00] What was, what did he keep in a locked filing cabinet next to his bed versus what got thrown in a random box of pictures.

Yeah. Right. A hundred percent. Hand drawings from his baby brother get locked in a cabinet when this financial document that drives the bus on every financial decision. Once I'm gone. Is sitting in a random box of pictures. Yes, sir. Finding that out about somebody is so important. I'm grateful that you got to experience it at such an intimate, personal level.

I'm sorry you had to go through that to experience it. Yeah. It was hard. But your brother's, your brother's death in that whole process, uh, is not in vain. It has served No, not at all, hundreds of families because of that experience. Yeah. It's remarkable. Yes. 

Jim Gebhardt: Remarkable. The conversations that it's led to with clients.

Whew. And that's a wrap. 

Matthew Grishman: No, right? No, you were getting there. Yeah, we're getting there. Well, that's an incredible story about family because as we go deeper into the conversation, we then get into occupation. And occupation isn't [00:28:00] necessarily. The JOB, the job, it's what really lights you up every day, right?

How, how are you out in the world creating? I mean, it's, it's, it's a financial conversation because it's how are you out in the world creating your wealth? How are you out in the world creating more financial wealth? And sometimes the wealth comes financially. Sometimes the wealth comes through fulfillment and spiritual means.

But what is it? That drives you to show up every day. How do you show up now? For some people it is a JOB. For some people it's a business. The people we spend time with, it's the, the occupation is about creating and building. Sometimes it's a business, sometimes it's a passion and a purpose. But going deep into what does that look like?

What are the means with how you create your wealth? 

Jim Gebhardt: And if we could roll back an episode into the seven asset classes that we talk about, that's where we're kinda secretly getting into the superpower, like the superpowers in terms of who [00:29:00] you are and what gifts you provide to your community and how you give 'em.

Yeah. Uh, that's really what the occupation is all about in a, in a more conventional wording. 

Matthew Grishman: Absolutely. So how you go out and create that wealth then? We like to start talking about and uncovering how it is you use that wealth when it comes to recreation, also known as fun. Fun, right? How do you go out and have right fun in your life?

How do you create experiential wealth in your life? 

Jim Gebhardt: And we have learned through our experience that there's a lot of people that struggle with this. Having fun. Having fun. Scheduling time for fun, having fun. Well, I mean, come on. If we're gonna, if we're gonna go down the Gehart family storyboard, we've gotta tell the story of, you know, we had an alarm system in our, in our house because we were broken into when I was like nine or 10 years old, back when alarms were actually bells that went off.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we had one of those keyboards, and you know, the alarm would go off and the alarm company would call, and what's your secret password? Right? And [00:30:00] you can have any word you want in the English language. How many words in the English language? A couple billion. Right, right. You can have any word you want for your password 

Matthew Grishman: to the security system.

Well, but this is the home of Wesley Gehart. Yes. Correct. One of the greatest workaholics on planet earth. And therefore, four letter word was work. Say it again. 

Jim Gebhardt: WORK work. Of course it was, it wasn't fun. Wasn't Syracuse basketball? It wasn't orange. It wasn't mom's veal spaghetti sauce. It, it was work. Right.

So I, I emphasize this because we come across a lot of people 

Matthew Grishman: who grew up like you did 

Jim Gebhardt: that struggle. Yeah. With finding fun with hobbies and passions and outlets that bring them joy. And we have to make it part of the conversation because the number of people that we've met, business owners and non-business owners all the years we've been doing this that have more than enough [00:31:00] and they don't know what to do with it.

They don't really know how to have fun with it. Well, there's from a recreation standpoint, sure. Why. Because they've been so obsessed and so focused on the money, right? And I need more money, right? 

Matthew Grishman: I need more money. There's a paradox there. You and I have learned firsthand the paradox of investing in fun.

When we invest in fun, we create the energy and the capacity and the experiential wealth to go out and create more wealth. It's the opposite. I know, 

Jim Gebhardt: but I have to hoard it, right? I have to hoard it and make sure I have enough 'cause what if I don't? Right, right. I love those conversations with clients.

Yeah. And that leads us to the last letter in the acronym, 

Matthew Grishman: money, money. What I was grateful for today, what I'm still grateful for today, although contrary to popular belief, at least from my perspective, as interested as I am in understanding the money that you have and how it's structured, where [00:32:00] it's invested, what types of financial assets you own.

Besides your business, what really drives my curiosity is understanding your money story. What's your relationship with money that's going to tell us so much more about your wealth creation capability? Your wealth preservation appetite and your why. And your why. Exactly. I love it. Why you are so driven.

What was money about money? What was money like in your family as a kid growing up? Did you, did you have enough? I 

Jim Gebhardt: mean, I appreciate that we had Kleenex in the, uh, in the studio today for my story, and there's a reason that we have Kleen. Are we allowed to say Kleenex? Well, isn't that what that thing's called?

No. Is, no, they're tissues. Oh, they're tissues, right? We got the 

Matthew Grishman: fancy tissues 

Jim Gebhardt: though. We have Kleenex in our offices for this very reason because when you, when you start to talk about money so often. It was weaponized in a, a bad way [00:33:00] and no fault of the own of the parents. Sure. Control. Control. Not enough, too much.

It was, I mean, I've, I've got some recent stories of how families that had too much, it was weaponized as well, and it, it's tragic, 

Matthew Grishman: the conversation around money is going to have multiple layers. That starts with understanding the story behind money, your experience with money, how your. Having money serve your life today so that we can start going into the next part of the planning process, starting to define how money's going to serve these other asset classes of your whole wealth.

So as we go through unpacking your story and we understand how you formed your wealth, family, occupation, recreation, money. It sets now the foundation. Yeah, right. We are, we're now in a place where we really understand who you are and we can really begin shaping, [00:34:00] defining, then shaping. Your story so that you can ultimately live your why.

So this is where it starts in the financial planning process. Oh yeah. We've got a few more episodes coming where we're gonna get even deeper as far as what it looks like to define the story, what it looks like to shape the story, and then all ultimately what it looks like. To live your why. Thank you, brother, for of course, your willingness to get raw and vulnerable in studio on mic today.

May I be an example 

Jim Gebhardt: for those that, uh, we meet in the future, that we like to play at a different level? And with that, my friend, that's a wrap.

Matthew Grishman: Thanks for joining us today on the whole Wealth journey. 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 

Jim Gebhardt: with you today, 

Matthew Grishman: where do people go?

You can find us at gbb [00:35:00] hart whole wealth.com. That's G-E-B-H-A-R-D-T whole wealth.com. We'll see you next time. 

Jeff Holden: Jim Gehart is a registered representative of Integrity Alliance, LLC. Securities and investment advisory services offered through Integrity Alliance, LLC, member SIPC. Gab Hart Group Incorporated is not affiliated with Integrity Wealth.

Jim Gab Hart and Matthew Grishman are investment advisor representatives of Gab Hart Group Incorporated a registered investment advisor. The opinions in this podcast are for informational purposes only and are not intended to provide specific advice or investment recommendations. To determine which investment 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 expressed or implied guarantee of future [00:36:00] performance. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Integrity Alliance LLC. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.

Gab Hart Group Incorporated does not offer legal or tax advice. Listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.