Freefall to your Financial Freedom

Good evening and welcome to this webinar on Freefall to Your Financial Freedom. Such an exciting event we're putting on, and, uh, it comes from a passion I found in skydiving, jumping out of perfectly good airplanes and, uh, learning a lot about myself. Um, it's going to provide amazing opportunity for so many people to step outside of their comfort zone. They say that my, uh, fear is a mile wide and an inch deep. I did 8 parachute jumps when I was 18 and 19 years old, 30 years ago. Absolutely loved it, but with life priorities, I never got around to doing the Accelerated Freefall course, which I ended up doing at the end of last year. And it's become such a great part of my life and amazing community and affected me in ways I couldn't have imagined. So let me just kind of launch into a bit of background to how this came about. So for, for many years I've now been investing in real estate, been an entrepreneur and looking into many things from buying property, renovating properties, acquiring rentals, um, a few different markets around the country. And, uh, in the process of doing so, I've learned a lot about tax strategy, leveraging the law to, to my advantage and how it's written to be. So many complain that it's written for the wealthy. It's written so that we can all get wealthy. And at the end of the day, it's a process, it's a slow process to get going. The motivation is for some a need, but for, for many, the inspiration is the, the step that allows us to step forward. So where are you inspired in life and where are you held back in life? Think about this. Our first memory of money is what locked us into a trajectory of relationship with money, which probably held a lot of us back, including myself. So look at what your first memory of money in your life is. I've got a podcast called Birth to Net Worth where we talk about, um, people's first memory of money. What the circumstances were, what the conversations were in the home, and which really very often set the tone for the relationship with money people take forward and the way they handle money, the way they relate to money, the way they viscerally react to conversations regarding money through their life. So let's step back. An example of mine, we weren't a wealthy family, we were not a great means, but I have brothers that are 8 and 9 years older than myself, and I was a lot younger. So my experience with my parents and handling money was things were very tight when my brothers were at home. When they moved away, my dad had obviously evolved in his career, and coming along, he earned more money later on in life. My mum had a second job herself once I got to high school. And it was not the, uh, we had everything we needed, we had some of what we wanted. I got the, um, gift of going away to Europe on vacation a few times when I was a little bit older. And, um, you know, there were things that we couldn't have in the home that others had. But we look at life, we look at things of, in a way, of comparison. But when we look at life later on, we can look at things as contrast, because we had things other people didn't caring, loving family. Other people had things that we didn't have, uh, you know, material possessions, but it wasn't something that was jealousy involved. And a lot of the world right now is very materialistically, um, materialistically focused. Social media is the highlight reel of everybody's life. Everything's brilliant, everything's great, but it's not great for everybody. People have been through, um, you know, life-changing events like deaths, divorces, dismemberment, as we call them, the— and, you know, other ways that we've, we've been massively affected and some of us traumatized in life. So everyone needs a fresh start. My platform, Midlife to Millions, is set out to help people take control of their financial future. And Freefall to Financial Freedom is, is one of the many events that we're going to start doing, including cash flow game nights, um, local to areas that own it here, um, to get people thinking differently about money, relating to money and actually talking about money, because like alcohol, it's very taboo below the age of 21. Financial education is, is very lacking. Conversations about money generally aren't necessarily supportive and helpful between people, and there's a lot of shame around money. And that comes back to our first memory of money, of either not having enough or not wanting to be seen as being short or not having enough. And this is where these events come in very, very useful. Talking about money and where, where we come from will help us to unlock where we can be in the future. Trauma, um, you know, a friend of mine was raised by alcoholic parents. There was no money in the house to pay the phone bill, for example, or the rent. They saw the landlord as the bad guy that came around banging on the door asking for money when his parents didn't have money. Well, that would certainly set a negative relationship with future, maybe real estate maybe landlords in, in the future. So if we can look at that in the case that the landlord was doing his job, he was providing a home, decisions made by the family members weren't necessarily in alignment with the most effective lifestyle choices, and we can recontextualize these things to think about them differently and change the way we relate to money. So what will jumping out of an airplane do for you? Well, you may be so excited you can never stop talking about it. You may be in absolute fear. And what I would suggest is that there'll be a combination of fear and freedom in the moment. My daughter came with me skydiving, um, about 3, 4 weeks ago. She came with me last year when she was 18. She's grown into a time of life where she wants to do have experiences instead of material possessions, which really makes me happy. And, uh, it allows us to, to do something together which is very different to what most people do. Um, and it led me to doing the Accelerated Freefall course at the end of December and, uh, you know, jumping very frequently and very regularly ever since. So let me share some slides with you. So This is a picture I shot from the Super Otter airplane down in Skydive Arizona. Just an example of what we're going to see on the way up. Hi, Gayla! So Gayla will hopefully join us. She may not come down, we'll see. I'd love to have you join us, Gayla, to, you know, see sights like this where you see the world from a very different perspective. We've all looked out the side of an airplane like I did yesterday, and I saw this very area from about 10,000 feet, maybe 20,000 feet in an Airbus. This is a Super Otter with the door open, and we're probably about 5,500, 6,000 feet here, maybe a little lower, ascending to, you know, the altitude to, to jump. So this is letting go. This is really letting go of everything you're holding on to and really putting trust in your equipment, in your focus to be very clear and very intentional about whatever is going on right in front of your face right there. That is a beautiful moment for me. I, I, I cannot wait every week or every couple of weeks to get out of the side of an aircraft and have that feeling of letting go whether it's me just jumping solo or with a bunch of friends and just enjoying that flight from whether it's 5,500 feet on a hop and pop or whether we're at 13,500 feet with a group of us with a planned skydive, you know, dive flow together and just having the time of our life. But so present, so clear in the moment and there's nothing else that is going through our mind at the time. Except being present, being very focused on what we're doing, very clear on the actions we need to be taking, and absolutely being so in control of the moment, of ourselves in the moment. Obviously there are many variables that are out of our control, but all we can do is be present and, and create the conditions for to be as safe as possible and learn those emergency procedures. So what do you get from skydiving? I put on here, there's, there's a quote and it's been quoted by many people: don't fear death, fear not living this life. Because I hear so many stories when I speak to older people, what are their regrets in life? Their regret is, their regrets are generally not doing things that they, you know, for many years wanted to do. Maybe for others, others, uh, others' needs ahead of their own and decided to hold back and not do things through life. But when you get into those twilight years and you don't have the physical ability, maybe not the mental capacity to do certain things, you're only going to look back on your deathbed and wish that you took opportunities that were in front of you and that were confronting opportunities for you. The purpose of this is really to get you outside of your comfort zone. They say fear is a mile wide and an inch deep. Remember riding the bicycle when you learned to ride a bicycle, or swimming, or even just walking and running? You probably don't remember. I don't certainly remember standing up and walking and running and the fear, because I think it was too early in life for us to have that level, that level of awareness that something might be dangerous. Now we look at everyday life We look into— we look at situations and our survival is already telling us what's wrong with the situation, what could go wrong, how we could be harmed or otherwise. But when we look back, when we learned to walk, did our parents say, oh, that's dangerous, don't stand up again, you may fall over? They encouraged us to fail forward. They encouraged us to learn from the experience that we had. And where do we go now? We, we can walk, we can run. Those of us that are able-bodied, we can drive cars, we can jump out of airplanes, run, swim, scuba dive, all of these wonderful things that we can do. But I challenge you that almost all of those things probably had some level of hesitation, some level of, um, you know, risk that our mind created, and that we stepped through that through becoming educated, aware, and knowledgeable about the situation and becoming practiced with it. So you will have focus like you've never had before, clarity. You'll be deeply connected to yourself, and you'll enjoy the freedom of flying. You know, you'll see people's faces flapping, um, the smiles. You'll see the, you know, sometimes absolute terror of somebody jumping out of an airplane. But once they pass that moment of fear, freedom just arrives. And it just stays with you for the, for the journey down. Um, if you've got heart conditions or any other concerns, certainly talk to a doctor before you consider doing something like this. I wouldn't want you to be physically or otherwise harmed by this situation. But there's a term called adrenaline therapy. Talk, talk to a practitioner, a, a professional, about whether that's a fit for you. If you think there are some, some concerns that may be a benefit for you. Don't just come and do it, you know, willy-nilly, but just certainly come and consider trying the experience. Jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft is certainly stepping out of your comfort zone. Face the fear with courage and step beyond the limits that are all self-imposed. Gone through a journey of weight loss over the last 8 months. I was 254 pounds when I did my first skydive in December and this morning I weighed myself, I was 193 lbs. It is an incredible journey I have been on. It is through consistency, it is through, you know, really just a commitment and inspiration to, you know, drive my body in a way which is healthy for it, to take decisions day by day, and the compound effect has obviously shown me to, you know, be able to shed 61 pounds to date. So look at your life. Doesn't need to be weight, doesn't need to be strength, but look at your, your level of courage and the results you get from being held back. Um, I think if you, if you talk to me 4 or 5 years ago and you said change the way you think or change the thoughts you're having, uh, think differently, I'd have probably told you crazy. And I think I did think that when I first, first, uh, heard those, those types of expressions and suggestions. When, when you can let go of society's dogmas, the limitations, and embrace life, just really live it, we start to see those, those freedoms appear. The courage comes through, and, you know, the fear falls away. There's always going to be something that you've you fear or that you need more courage to deal with. But it's such an interesting process to go through and learn about yourself. We can look for answers on the outside, but they're really within. They're really within ourselves. And, you know, this is, is one way in which you can access some of that, some of that next step information. I'm going to show you a brief video here. So this is This is my daughter, not sure if she's sharing.

We'll see if that is going on, but we'll at least have a look.

So this is a second skydive which we did in, in a couple of months ago. I think I've got to share the screen actually, bear with me one second. I failed on that one, but we're failing forward, so let me share my screen. Um, let's do this. So hopefully the audio— also share audio in the tab. Perfect.

So this is Lily's second skydive.

Did one last year for 18th birthday. This is Alaska.

Alaska Anderson, who, uh, who is it, who is the tandem instructor, the PI. And this is a Super Otter aircraft, and, uh, we were all climbing in.

We got on the same load with her.

There I am, and she is super excited. Um, all of the staff— it's the biggest drop zone in the world. There's no bigger or busier skydiving drop zone anywhere on the planet than we have here in Arizona. There are foreign militaries that come and train here, not just at Skydive Arizona but a couple of other facilities that are close by. This is standing on the edge. This is, uh, this is, um, Emily with the, uh, camera, Alaska and Lily, and there's the moment of fear, overcoming it. He's excited as anything. You might have a smidgen of fear there, or anxiety, or, you know, a moment of hesitation, but once you're out there, enjoy that smile, enjoy the joy that comes through you. It's incredible, the emotion that comes along with it and the opportunity you have to just discover more about yourself. Flying, flying free. It's an incredible experience, and I invite you to come along, and we'll talk about some real estate stuff, maybe some tax strategies and that kind of stuff. But really, the purpose is to get us out of our comfort zone, get us into the air, and really go and have a great time together, share something that we've done, you know, in a community, and really enjoy. Here goes the deployment. There's the parachute coming out. Emily's pulling hers. She's just coming in for the landing, and, uh, it's, uh, it's a great, great time. So this is, this is the main landing area where I'm landing, and, uh, I landed a few seconds before above, but this is, this is the moment of landing.

You just pick your legs up Slide in and, uh, why, hello there, Miss Lily! Hello, how you doing? Awesome, awesome, fabulous even. How was skydive number 2? Even better than last. That's what I was saying, right? Are you ready for skydive number 3? Absolutely. Maybe, uh, start getting licensed? I would love to. You would love to? So you're saying you'll do it? Absolutely. You want to pinky promise? I'll pinky promise. Ah, there you go. Thanks for playing with us today, girl.

So what questions do you guys have?

This is such a great opportunity.

They were indoor skydiving down there as well, which is very important for practicing. But, uh, this is, this is what it's all about. This is really what it's all about. Does anybody have any questions that they want to ask or interested in in learning more about. What I'm planning for 2025 is going to be an event in the Bahamas. There's a new drop zone, it's a U.S. Parachute Association sanctioned drop zone on Grand Bahama, and we're going to be putting on a Midlife to Millions mastermind event called Free for Your Financial Freedom. I'm going to be talking about how we can look at, um, you know, managing credit cards and, uh, you know, the debt that we see as consumer debt and then looking into family trusts, how we can really create a great foundation for our assets for succession planning moving forward. We're going to be looking at, uh, you know, the concepts of whole life infinite banking, converting 401s that may be dormant and stagnant over to self-directed products where you can actually take control of the investments that your money is being made in. And, uh, you know, do something that gives you a much better, more consistent return than the stock market, where mutual funds are generally what the, what the, uh, the 401s allow us to invest in. And of course, those, those 401s, we don't pay tax on the way in, but we pay tax on the way out, and that's where the government wins. So let's have a look at, um, at some questions. Who, who's got a couple of questions for us? We have 6 people watching. We have, um, some people on Facebook watching. Um, let's go and see if we can see who's in there. Where are we? So, um, who do we have watching right now? Can I see? Let me see. So I can't see who is watching, but are there any questions? Is there anybody who wants to, um, ask any questions?

Let me know.

Well, um, I would love to see what we have going, um, and see if we can get some people out and, uh, joining in. I think we've had Cedric and, and Mike and Bryant on, Patrick. Eddie or Mike, Carla, Cedric. That's awesome. So get yourself out there, guys. Um, what's holding you back in your life? Willing to help any of you, whether it's skydiving or something else that you've got challenges with. I'm coaching people on this topic of financial freedom, financial education, uh, financial, um, strategy as far as tax and wealth building is concerned. I'm about to launch— to go into a bigger launch of my platform midlifetomillions.com. So check out midlifetomillions.com and get signed up. There will be a lot more content coming out very soon, and I look forward to seeing you in Eloy in a couple of weeks. Have a wonderful week.