Learn How To Live A Richer Life By Design

Hey, it's Mark Podolski, the land geek with your favorite niche real estate website, www.thelandgeek.com. in this week's podcast, we've got a guest that's going to help us live a richer life by design. But before we talk to our guests, I'd be remiss if I didn't properly introduce my co host. You know him, you love him. The brain, the professor. Scott Todd from Scott todd.net landmodo.com if you're not automating your Craigslist and your Facebook postings. Postingdomination.com TheLandGeek Learn anything but anything. Investorninjas.com Scott Todd how are you, Mark?

I'm great, how are you?

I'm great because I got my mic to work.

Yeah, I mean, you know, like on the last podcast it didn't work and now it's working again. I guess you were able to figure out the Mac problem.

It wasn't a Mac problem, it was a Mark problem. But good try.

I mean close like ma.

Close close. Well, our guest today is Jonathan Kruger from lionsgateadvisors.com Jonathan is a wealth advisor and he helps high net worth individuals and families live a richer life by design. Minimize taxes. Jonathan, you probably do a better job than I would. How do you help people?

Mark, thanks for having me on the show. And Scott, great to meet you both. You know Mark, we have really focused on how we can be kind of the quarterback for clients and their investments and help them convert income or tax liabilities into income producing assets. And so that's what we do on the wealth management side. But from a day to day basis, what really is about peace of mind and our clients be able to have a well written plan on how to accomplish those goals.

Yeah, I know. Absolutely, absolutely. So my first question is, what's some of the worst advice you see or hear? Giving in wealth management.

Well, Mark, as you guys are probably saying, it's kind of like most people have gone through the Twilight Zone when it comes to being a financial advisor. They've all heard the same story. And so that's what they preach, know, buy and hold. And they don't have a plan on when to tell people to get out or how to be able to have passive income. Right. So it's all in the hope of something appreciating. And then they don't look at what the fees and expenses or the tax implications are. And so oftentimes some of the worst advice we see is what's most traditionally taught. But to financial advisors, how to work with the clients.

All right, great, great. So tell us a little bit about the podcast and how to live a richer life by design.

Well, Mark, that's a great question and one I hadn't been asked about before. Recently we had started living a richer life by design as a response to how to be able to pass on this information about wealth creation and management and passing down the values that our families had in their family offices that they wanted to instill in the next generation. And so we started looking at conversation pieces about what happens when your parents have to go to hospice or we have to start taking a look at long term care or what if we need to be able to. What do we talk about? Health and fitness and realizing that living a rich life by design is about being intentional about those conversations that you're having and then looking to, but really be educated and be able to have those discussion points around the kitchen table. You know, you can have all the money that you want or have a lack of money and still be in the same position of having to have the heart to heart conversations that deal with real life issues. And we're hoping that this would help families, through the testimony of others that have experienced it or have gone ahead in their own lives, be able to share how to be able to help navigate that change in their own.

Very nice, Scott. Todd, what are your thoughts?

I mean, you know, it's, I mean, it's an interesting concept, right? It's something that a lot of people don't really think about. Okay. Like, a lot of people just, they, they might do some setup of their own, you know, and what I mean by that is they might go and, and, you know, do some estate planning on their own. But how many times do people really have that conversation with the next generation?

Right?

It's, it's the, not only the wealth transfer component, but also the knowledge transfer too. And I think that that's one of the things that a lot of people just miss is, okay, that's, it's all fine. And Danny, that you've gone out and you've, you know, got your, your cemetery plots done and you know, you got this estate set up. But what, what about knowledge transfer? That's a big component.

No, it's so true. Like, I mean, I think I'm different because I'm obsessed with my mortality and I think about it like every day and I always think about, is this the last whatever that I'm doing and what if it is? Am I really present or are you really enjoying it. Did I lose you? Can you. Can you guys hear me?

Yeah, I can hear you.

I think Scott got frozen anyways, so I'm a little bit different in that way, Jonathan. But, like, when I talk about this with my family, they don't want to hear it. They don't. It's too morbid for them. So I have a Dropbox folder in case of death, and I've got the knowledge transferred. I always actually have. Just here's what we do to settle the estate. These are the attorneys, the CPAs, the key people to do all this. So, you know, is this something that. How do you help people navigate these very difficult conversations when for most people that, like, their own mortality is such a difficult topic to even address?

You know, Mark, I'm going through this right now, personally. We've dealt with it with our clients and the members of a firm for years. But something different when you go through it with your own family. My mom has been battling cancer for the last five years, really. We found one great unit after another of medical professionals that could help her be able to overcome her battle. And then she had some great success, but she's just at that final stage of her life where her body is giving up, even though her heart and mind still want to be present. And we've talked a lot about this because, you know, when you have to put where the rubber meets the road, you have to have these hard conversations. Everyone has a different opinion of what that looks like, and not everyone is emotionally at the same place to be able to discuss them. So it's really meant being able to bring my brothers and sisters along in those conversations and vice versa. For where's mom today? And being open with my dad, who's been the caregiver and had other caregivers come to support her during this transition. And we've talked a lot about what are those? You know, through all these interviews I've had with our guests, as well as with our clients, started asking what are those questions that we're not passing on that we had forgotten to ask or we hadn't paid attention to through all the traditions that we built over the years and the times that we've had with family. And so we've talked a lot about a Heritage Day, and what are those things? We want to tell the stories about how our own families were overcomers and how they lived out their faith and what did that mean for them. And then to allow that one day each year to be something just like watching old family movies, like I Don't know if anyone does that anymore. I grew up doing that. Well, dad had the old 8 millimeter film camera, right? Pulled that up and we'd watch it forward and backward and had a lot of fun. But taking the time to intentionally do that at least once a year to tell about those stories, to remember where we came from, and to be able to recall some of those things that we've intentionally done or what things had we learned over the year to value the human capital, Right. Oftentimes when we think of investment capital, we think about money, but the human capital is our relational. And then the intellectual capital is what we've learned and what we can contribute. And not everyone has to have the same experiences, but they've all learned something that they can bring to the table that we can be aware of. And we just get to miss it. We miss the opportunity to value each other for where we're at in life, but also for those accomplishments and throughout the year, through the years, and we're being intentional about that is one place to start.

Yeah, I love it. Scott. Todd, what are your thoughts?

You know, Mark, I do a lot with video, right? I do a lot with video for flight school. Every. Every flight school session is recorded. And the one thing that I do every time I'm teaching flight school is I think about, like, okay, if this was the last time I taught flight school because of my mortality, this is the last time I taught flight school. Could my family take my knowledge that I share in flight school? Could they take that and watch it and then. And then go with it? Right? And, you know, I think that that's. To me, that's one of the driving factors behind even me doing flight school is. It's.

It's.

I'm always documenting my business right then and there. And I think that with technology today, like, you know, the video and. And how easy it is to just get on a zoom call and record it. You don't have to have a lot of technology. And, you know, you can share your knowledge even with younger children. Almost like what the guy from the last lecture did, right? You know, he went and he shared his. He memorized or memorialized his thoughts and his values and everything that's there that he could pass on. And it's just not used for his family.

It's you.

I mean, you use part of it in boot camp, for example. So, you know, there's a great opportunity in today's environment with. Even with the technology that we have, your voice can be left for a long time. Your image can be left. You know, I think it, I mean, I've never done this, but heck, maybe I should go back to one of the first flight school videos and even look at how I've changed. How I've changed and how I presented has changed.

Right.

Like you can see an evolution over time thanks to technology. And it's kind of cool what Jonathan's doing too.

Yeah. I mean, it really isn't. Jonathan, I don't want this to be too personal, but it is a very personal question for you. If you were on your deathbed, what words of advice would you leave for your family and friends sitting by your bedside?

Mark. Because this is very recent and really a heart issue for me because of where my mom's at. I was just out there a couple weeks ago. I live in St. Louis and she's in Colorado. And so I was out visiting them because of her stage in life and nearing this transition of death. I believe in an everlasting life when you have a relationship with Christ. And so my perspective and faith is based on that for how I live out my life. And so one, I'd hope that my testimony and just the pursuit of faith, living that out is what's passed on to my kids. And I was just meditating in my time meditation this morning. I was, I was thinking about that, hey, what is, what is going to be left to my children and how do I preserve that for this faith? Stories of what was it that God did in my life? That's a personal testimony that others can't say that didn't happen because I was there, I experienced it. I'm a changed person because of that. And for my mom, I had to ask her what are those questions that she wanted me to be able to pass on to our kids? And that was her own right. Share the faith, share the story of God's faithfulness in our lives. So that's one of the first things is really being able to be consistent about holding those things that are nearest and dearest to your heart to be able to pass that on. I think living that out each day. How is it designed that, you know, our children are given to us as a blessing? Right, As a gift? So how do we reflect that desire that God has for them in their life? Are we an image of that for what it is that's the best and designed for being that role figure or to be that father figure in their lives? And I'm challenged with that each day, being pressed into. How can I make sure that the little time that have with them each day matters and builds into them feeling loved, feeling accepted, or being built up and edified. And I'd hope that by being intentional in that matter. Now, as they're young, because I've got a. My daughter will be turned four here in June. My son is two and a half, and we're expecting our third, so we've got a young family.

Yeah, that's great. You're. You're, you're in the middle of it. So Scott. Scott and I have teenagers and barely.

Barely.

Barely.

I mean, maybe we shouldn't be saying that because, you know, like, I think everybody's got to go through the process on their own, so.

Yeah, that's true. Okay, so that leads me to the next question. Jonathan Krueger, Considering that you're dealing with people that we would just consider conventionally wealthy, these are people with a million and a half dollars and more of net worth. And, you know, when we look at the savings rate of the United States, I forget what the number is. It's a very high number of people are just living month to month. So you're really working with the top 1% in the United States. So given your perspective, what do you think of when you hear the word success?

Well, Mark and Scott, you guys, I think, would agree, based off me, listen to some of your other podcasts, that success isn't always about money. Right. People can live lives that they build in, that they're successful in, based off of what they had planned to achieve, their merit of impact and influence. And so really, when I think of success, it is not monetary. We've seen families inherit millions of dollars and spend it in a year and a half. Right. They have their summer, what's called the summer of fun, and they're done. And they're back to their baseline of what normalcy is. Right. So oftentimes, success isn't about the level of wealth that you have. It may be how you accelerate your impact, and it allows you to accelerate your impact further in a lot of cases. But success is how do you live a life abundantly and then be able to have an impact that you know that you can feel at peace with? And I think that's where you have true success, when you know, you've been able to pour out your lives to others to be able to help other people get better as well?

Yeah. I mean, Scott Todd, by that definition, you are a success.

Okay.

All right.

You know, I think that everybody's got to decide on their own how they define success. But you know, it's, that's valid. That's a valid point.

Well, I mean that kind of brings us to the point of today's sponsor, which is flight school. So learn how the next 16 weeks of your life can literally be transformed by none other than your land geek sherpa Scott Todd taking you up that mountain of land investing so that one day you can wake up and your passive income exceeds your fixed expenses. You're working because you want to, not because you have to. And work up that Maslow's hierarchy of needs into self actualization. And it's only 16 weeks. So how do you learn more? Go to thelandgeek.com training schedule, a call with the Zen master Mike Zano or the nightcap OG dude buddy Scott Bossman and learn more. So, Jonathan Krueger, what do you believe is normal or wise or cool that other people think is crazy?

That other people think is crazy? Yeah, that's a great question. You know, thinking through what's wise or cool to swim against the grain, to swim upstream or go against the grain. I think it's cool to be, to want to be able to see a change or to be a. Participate in making a change in life, make a statement. I think it's cool. And when you think of a lot of the millionaires and those that have created wealth for themselves, it's because they didn't accept mediocrity. They didn't just age in place. Right. I think we're currently in the COVID 19 year of 2020 and we've got this shelter in place that's been upon most Americans. And you know, if you do nothing, you're just aging in place, you're not becoming better, you're not growing and your pursuit of a dream and you're just kind of accepting the status quo. And so oftentimes it's about that slight edge that you choose to do little things on a daily basis that allow for you to be able to become greater over long periods of time. And that can be in personal development. It can be in your financial wealth. Listening to your own testimonies, Mark of people that are on your website, they wish they had started earlier with your program. You know, they didn't wish they had started later. They're like, we sat on this for a year. I wish we had gotten started and got going on this right away. You know, you guys have learned so much. Why not apply that knowledge rather than having to learn through hard knocks? And I think what's cool is when you have, you're able to position yourself and posture yourself that you're planting a flag and you're making a decision to do something that will bring that whatever you qualify success in your own life so you can achieve it.

All right, fantastic. I don't, I don't know if other people would think that's crazy, Jonathan.

Well, you think so Here's I interviewed John Jason Caldwell a couple weeks ago and Jason rode he like a road rowing on a boat. He rode it with four of the guys across the Atlantic and, and into the, into the Caribbean islands. So he was on there's a race literally that they do every year or every couple years across the Atlantic. And now he's playing on one in June, I think, to go from California out to Hawaii. Now they're physically rowing a boat right across the ocean to aim for an island in the middle of and if they miss it, you know, you're God. Thank God for, you know, all the systems we have to make sure you're on track. But there's a lot there. I think in my mind not everyone's gonna think that's crazy because they love to row, they love to get out there. But for me, who's not a rower, that's crazy. I'm like, man, God bless them, go for it. That's not something I personally want to be able to throw my life endeavor to but I love those stories about guys that are leaders that are willing to be able to push against, to fight against all obstacles, to overcome challenges. And most people may not think that's crazy, but it's not common.

All right, fair enough. So we're at that point now at the podcast, Jonathan, where we're going to ask you for your tip of the week. A website, a resource, a book, something actionable for the art of passive income listeners go improve their businesses, improve their lives. What have you got?

There's three things. One, one, most wealth is accumulated through real estate. At least one third of the portfolio is real estate or passive real estate. Another is looking at alternative investments with late stage venture capital. And another is in actual life insurance. I know you've interviewed other professionals in these areas and those are the three that I see consistently. Very little is actually made in the stock market unless you have algorithms to know when to get out and when to get back in. And we work with some of those professionals, but many people don't have access to them. Those are the ways to create wealth. And so when you think about wealth creation, you've got to have a team that can be able to help you navigate that change and look for those opportunities. The second is when you're running a business. Mike Markowski wrote a book. Is it Markowski or Michalowitz? The Profit first. And Mike McKowicz, you probably interviewed him. Have you interviewed Mark McCow twice? Yeah, yeah, so have I and just absolutely love this book. We put into practice Profit first years ago and it's been amazing how much time, how many times it's come in to play to help us navigate change and economic cycles and continue to do that. That'd be the second thing really, to be able to know. You've got to be able to have that cash balance of how you manage money in your business so you can take advantage of opportunities as they come along. And Third is David McKnight wrote a book called the Power of Zero and he had interviewed former General Comptroller Dave Walker on the upcoming tsunami of debt that's coming up on the country that we're going to have to pay for. And it's called unfunded liabilities. Most people don't talk about it. We're only familiar with the national debt, but it's all the IOUs that are pushed out for our country to have to pay for, especially so we have an aging population that needs Medicare and Social Security and all those things. Those are IOUs that we will have to bear the burden as the younger generation working population of America at the time. We've got the greatest history of debt increase ever. Right. With all the bailouts and everything, the quantitative easing that's gone on. So understanding that if you have investments that have been tax deferred, we are at a unique opportunity to convert those assets from iras to Roth iras or into life insurance strategies that allow for you to grow your funds tax free and tax exempt when the taxes are currently a discount. So if you haven't read that book, the Power of Zero, I'd highly recommend it. I think you'd be well impressed as well as watch this documentary called the Power of the Tax Train is Coming, which is available on our website.

All right, fantastic. Scott Todd, what's your tip of the week?

The tax train is coming, man. Hey, listen, Mark, if I told you about an app called Donut, what do you think it is?

Well, because I know you so well, I know what it is, Jonathan. Scott Todd, as svelte as he is, has to eat a donut every single morning.

It looks like he's pretty fit. So I don't, I don't know. He must run a lot in order to be able to burn that off.

No, I don't run. I just, I pace it out.

Right.

Like it's just, it's, it's. To me, it's about calories. But Mark, you're wrong. Okay, donut.com. check it out. Now look, I know you're not a big fan of bitcoin. I think that there could be something there in the future. I don't know. It's like one of those things you just don't know. And do you want.

Well, let's, let's ask Jonathan.

Are you saying Mark's not a fan of coin?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Are you, Jonathan? Are you?

So, yeah, I had, I had lived in Russia during 1993 through 96, during the perestroika, when the ruble went from 50 rubles to the US dollar to 5,000 rubles to the US dollar. And listen, we've been on this track with this trajectory as a nation, as a world, to come to this point where they're going to have to go through a global reset. The economies and also the monetary structure. I think bitcoin was just the first test about what that would look like to go to a digital currency.

So you think Bitcoin is coming?

Yes, sir.

To be. Well, you know, it's, it's interesting because.

Or something like it, you know, Ray.

Dalio talks about the long term debt cycle and how we're just gonna have to eliminate everyone's debt and start over. It happened in World War II. 1945 happens, what, every 50 to 75 years? It's a once in a lifetime event. We're there, so something's going to change for sure.

Well, Ray Dalio is one of my favorite. Another is Mark Murkowski with bullsandbears.com he's got some great understanding of what has happened with the history and the history of economics and somewhat unique opportunity we're in today. And could this happen? Total reset? I think it's going to have to, some point or another. It just depends on where your currency is available and whether or not you're able to convert it to make it more useful.

Absolutely. This is why we have real assets like land.

So this is why my tip of the week is really good. Ready Donut app. You go there, you connect your bank account to it and it looks for the spare change. Right? You go, you go get, I don't know, a Starbucks for 525. It sees that there's 75 cents of spare change. Mark, it takes that 75 cents. And it buys some bitcoin.

Boom.

Buys it. Take your spare change, dabble a little bit if you want to. It's a safe way of doing it. Don't worry about the price. Just keep buying it. Over time, it'll all work out or it won't, and then you just stop it. But you tried something, it didn't cost you an arm and leg.

If are you doing this? If you're doing it, I'm gonna do it.

It's Donut app. Is that right?

App, like, why would you try it? Donut app.

I'm doing it. I'm in.

Scott, does it hook up directly to your smart app or to your smart wallet?

It's. It's. So what it does is you connect to your bank account, okay. And then you automate with rules. So you can say, hey, round up to the space, round up, change around, up to the nearest five or ten, whatever. And then you can pick the asset. You can go in bitcoin or you can also go into savings accounts, et cetera. You can cash out when you want, but it's. It's automated way of just taking every single transaction where you have some change and just rolling it over to bitcoin or going to a savings account.

So if you're listening, you're listening this podcast right now, and you're downloading the app. As you start going through it, it says referred by a friend. So since Scott Todd referred us to it, let's put in his handle. He's gonna get 10 bucks for the referral. Like, even Scott Todd could use an extra 10 bucks in Bitcoin. Scott, what's your handle? So I. You can get the 10 bucks?

Okay. Can we, can we put it in the show notes?

Yeah, absolutely. All right, so we'll do that. So I'm going to skip that for now. And. Fantastic. So my tip of the week is learn more about Jonathan Krueger and how he can make you even wealthier. All you have to do is go to lionsgateadvisors.com we'll have a link to it. Lionsgateadvisors.com check out the podcast Living a Richer Life by Design. And I want to just thank the listeners and remind them the only way, the only way we're getting quality guests like Jonathan Krueger is if you do us three little favors. You got to subscribe, you got to rate, you got to review the podcast. Send us a screenshot of that review to supportlandgeek.com we're going to send you for free. The $97 wholetailing course, how to Double youe Money 30 Days Less. So please do that. Jonathan, are we good?

We're good. Thank you very much.

Scott, are we good?

We're good.

Mark?

Yeah, Our pleasure. All right, let's do this. Scott. Todd. One, two, three. Let freedom ring. Jonathan's like, oh, gosh, you know, if.

You let me know it's gonna be the case, I'd do it with you.

Well, we appreciate it. All right, thanks, everybody.