Why He Stopped Relying on a 401(k) and Took Control of His Money

I don't even think I finished it. And I was like, I'm doing this today.

You're about to meet somebody very special. Garrett Gasteel. He's one of our newest teammates in the United States on the Ascendant Financial team. And I will say, I mean, he may be early in his journey in being a practitioner, but he's definitely not early in Impact.

You kind of have to get in the water to really experience this concept. It's just really comforting knowing that they're taken care of. If something were to happen to me, on top of getting to use it, they're at a certain spot in their career or their lives, and they're afraid to take that leap. I was looking at what I had to work with, and it would take me. I did this analysis of like, okay, if I buy one property and maybe it. Cash flow is $100 a month, I can retire at 65. I can get to financial freedom, like when I would, you know, at that age or whatever. And I remember just being kind of, like, turned off by that. And then my uncle introduced me to this concept, and I read the book. I think I read. I've talked to Rich about this on the podcast before, but I think I. I don't even think I finished it. And I was like, I'm doing this. So I called up Living Wealth. Nate Scott, he was my. My. My coach, and I got started with a $500 a month policy. Um, and I didn't really. I. You know, I. We always talk about this. You kind of have to get in the water to really experience this concept. Like, you can read, you can watch videos. Um, but once you're actually doing it, it feels really different. So I think a month later, we. We got like, five more policies that year or something. We just, like, went all in. Like, I quit the consulting job and started do, like, pursuing some other things. But that. That was six years ago, right? So that. But since implementing the concept, my wife would tell you, and she. I'm. I'm very much like the. Put the gas. Put the. Put the pedal to the metal. Let's just go do something. And my wife's an attorney, and, like, very exacting. And so at first she was kind of like, what is this thing we're doing? Like, this is. Like, this is.

What have you gotten us into, Garrett?

Yeah, exactly. But. But what's happened actually is we've had a lot more abundance and a lot more freedom than we would have had otherwise. And we've been able to do things that we would have never been able to do before. And actually I think she does a better job of explaining it than I do because she just feels the outcome of what we're doing. And so we bought an Airbnb that we would have never been able to do if all of our money was locked up in a 401k which we ended up selling, but we would have never been able to do that otherwise we bought our car with it. And it's been knowing that like you have control of the loan, but also that you're, as you pay that back, you're replenishing your own system is just, it's, it feels really good.

Look, we want your family to have more money. That's our goal. That's our job at wealth on Main Street. Our goal is to have you keep as much of that hard earned capital where it belongs, with the people you love and care about. Easy way to do that. Pick up a copy of this book, Don't Spread the Wealth. This book is all about keeping the money in the family. Think of it like an aquarium. The money never leaves and you can use it and reuse it as many times as possible. Go ahead and pick up a copy.

Today at don't spread wealth.com and then on top of it, being a family man, and I always tell this to people, like, knowing that if something were to happen to me, my wife would be set is really comforting. And to her too, she's like, I would not get remarried. I would go, I would like travel with the kids and you know, but, but, but it's just, it's just really comforting knowing that they're taken care of. If something were to happen to me on top of getting to use it in our lives now. And so, and that brings us, you know, to now, right? So two years ago I was, I was at a big consulting firm. And I remember, I don't know if people are familiar with these things, but that they're big. They're like Deloitte Consulting is the name of it. And it's like bigger than the town I, the city. I live in Boise. It's like 400, 000 people and just the one consulting firm and they have four firms. And I remember I was on paternity leave, my son had just been born and which is a great perk of a big firm like that. And they were laying off a bunch of people because the market was bad. And I remember getting in touch with Nate Scott and just being like, what's going on? And so then he was like, why don't you come work for me? And then he ended up leaving and going into ministry full time. And then I got connected through that to you, Jason, and Ascendant. And then the rest is history. And as we know, it comes full circle back to living wealth now. So it's just been such a cool journey, and I never would have been able to make that leap out of consulting if it weren't for having, you know, these policies built up to be able to kind of invest in my bigger future. Right? Yeah. And on the family man note. Yes, Honey, she's napping.

There we go.

There she is. You want to say hi? Hi. Can you come in and wave? Oh. Oh, okay. Gotta move in a little bit. Come here. There we go. Say hi. This is my oldest. There's no wave. Okay, you can go turn something on. Okay. Go for it. Okay. Speaking of family man, there you go. Yeah. And my wife's out of town, so you're Mr. Mr. Mom for the couple days. That's great. But it's been a big shift in our lives, and I talk to a lot of people who are not. They're at a certain spot in their career or their lives, and they're just. Are. They don't want to. They're afraid to take that leap. Right. And I feel like if you're doing this process, it makes doing that, taking the leap, doing the thing that you've always wanted to do so much easier. Right? Because you have. You have the flexibility, you have the capital, and also you. You build a community around of people like you guys around yourself that just were thinking bigger and more strategically about their futures than your manager at a W2 job.

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