Financial Independence: Your Growth Plan for the Future With Garrett Gunderson

• Garrett brings simplicity and fun to an often boring topic (finance) that most people never confront. (1:50)
• Solving the entrepreneur’s dilemma: (2:00)” I’ll just earn more money.” More money often just brings more problems, most people don’t know how to handle that.
• Joe’s experience has taught him; “There’s a big difference between making money and managing it.” (2:53)
• Just getting your financial house in order can increase revenue 20%, net profits by 25%. Reduces stress and increase productivity. (5:00)
• One of the strategic advantages for a business owner is that they can create economic independence.
• Passive income is a lie. Everything has to be managed.(5:50)
• Garrett believes Investing is really about generating recurring cash flow that covers your expenses. (6:39)
• “Money is simply a receipt.”(7:15)
  • Money shows how effective we are at taking our mental capital (knowledge, experience, wisdom) and bringing it to other people.
  • Business is the bridge to people.

• “Money is a representation of value. It is not value in and of itself.”(7:49)
• How Garrett built his business following tragic death of two business partners. (9:13)
• “It was a pretty transformational thing for me to invest in myself.” (11:55)
• “Real investors pounce when there’s opportunity, and stay in cash.” (13:37)
• Real wealth is built through focus not diversification. (14:20) “Diversification is admission of ignorance.” (14:45) It actually creates more risk because you are further removed from the outcomes and knowledge.
• Andrew Carnegie said “Put all your eggs in one basket and watch it like a hawk.” Look at wealthy investors. They did not make their wealth through diversity, they made it through focus. (15:00)
• Don’t ask “How do I make more money” The question is:  What mental capital do I have that is unique, that I can actually do something with? The more people you impact, the deeper the impact, the more potential there is for wealth to grow. (15:30)
• “You’re either one idea, or one relationship, away from the next level of prosperity.” Genius network is proof of this. (15:50)
• Key relationships bring exponential growth. Value people over projects. (17:20)
• Traditional investing, dollar cost averaging, compound interest, long term investing are bad advice.
  • “People don’t get rich from compound interest. Banks get rich from compound interest.” (22:55)
  • Entrepreneurs see risk differently. (24:25)
• “Live within your means – but expand your means.” (25:08)
• “What reduces risk for an entrepreneur is having liquidity.” (27:50)
• 5 things you can do to boost profits and create  financial independence (29:41):
  • stop overpaying the IRS
  • reduce investment fees
  • renegotiate interest rates
  • review Insurance.
  • ** music in the middle***
• Garrett’s company creates financial results for entrepreneurs (36:20)
  • Help clients scale their business. Build cash flow, achieve  economic independence. (38:40)
  • Guaranteed returns come from saving money, on taxes, insurance, etc. – not investing.
• One simple tip: Understand Marginal Tax rate vs. Actual Tax rate.
  • Making more money does not cost you more in taxes.
  • Your first dollar is taxed differently from the last. There are margins
  • “The best tax shelter in the world is to make another dollar.” (45:25)
• Tips from Garrett’s latest book, What Would the Rockefellers Do? (46:10)
  • Don’t be like Vanderbilts. Cornelius Vanderbilt had more money than the US Treasury. 54 years later, the first Vanderbilt went broke. (46:25)
  • The Rockefellers created the first family financial team/office concept. Now 6 generations strong, donated 50 million to charity, and still grew their net worth. Took out life insurance on every member, so that when they die, they replenish the Trust. (46:42)
• Gunderson Family Plan (48:33)
  • Used Lifebook (www.lifebook.com) to create a comprehensive plan for family wealth and guidance and added it to his trust. Looks at his family like an ongoing concern. Plan for future success and avoid trust fund problems.
  • Protect, Provide and Perpetuate. Provide Stewardship. (50:30)
• Garrett’s strength is the foundation and safety pieces of a financial plan – cash flow. It is NOT offshore tax shelters or stock market investing, asset protection, or student loan management, but he has carefully selected experts in these areas as part of the company team. (53:30)
• Understanding cash flow.
  • The value of net worth has been overstated. (55:30)
  • “Net worth is relatively worthless if it doesn’t translate into cash.” (56:00)
  • Cash flow is simply income vs. expenses. Look at income statement, not net worth.
• Types of expenses:
  • Destructive – leads further into debt
  • Lifestyle expenses – pay cash. Never borrow to consume
  • Protective expenses – insurance, legal and tax advice, adequate planning
  • Productive Expense – valuable employees, effective marketing. Don’t budget for these things. As long as it works, keep putting money into it.
  • “Automatically save, deliberately invest.” (1:02:24) Pay at least 18% to yourself every month first until you have six months of expenses saved.
• Instead of budgeting, check once a month to see if you are going out of bounds on your expenses. (1:03:40)
• Set up a “Living Wealthy” account using one sixth of your 18% for guilt free spending. Save 15%, put 3% goes to guilt free spending.  (1:04:13)
• People get so caught up in the price of things in budgeting that they miss out on the cost. Cost is the economic impact of something. (1:04:40) Value is the feeling of satisfaction; what it does for you personally.
• Price, Cost, Value are the three measures of worth (1:06:59)
• Never invest in something that creates a scarcity mindset. (1:07:42) Things that are unrelated to what you are passionate about are just a distraction, and can impact your productivity negatively. (1:09:03)
• Focus is the most important thing in investing. Cash flow is like the Amazon river. It puts fresh water into the ocean and brings life all around it. (1:09:25) When income is split into too many streams, it becomes complicated and can deplete you.
• Money problems are a major cause of divorce. When money becomes so stressful, you lose focus on an exciting future, and you are only dealing with the problems of the present, relationships deteriorate. (1:13:20)
• Managing money does not have to be complicated! When people view it as complicated, they avoid it, and it becomes overwhelming. (1:14:30)
• Biggest mistake: Making decisions based on how much money they would make, not in aligning with values. When we’re stuck on the concept of more, it’s really hard to be happy. (1:17:12)
• Money is a critical piece of life – but it’s not the only thing in life. Keep a non-monetary score card of all the valuable things in life that aren’t money. Family, friends, health, mindset. (01:17:45) If you have the key things in place, finances will follow.  
• Financial freedom: when money is not your primary reason or excuse why you do or don’t do something. (1:20:00)
• 5 Things people can do immediately to boost their finances: (1:21:15)
  • Keep more of what you make – tax planning
  • Strategically engineer  wealth for a solid foundation: protective expenses, insurance
  • Take any non-cash producing asset and turn it into a cash producing one,
  • Scale your business revenue. Give up the things of lower value to pursue the things of higher value and start to build a team.  
  • Make life count. Invest in yourself, your relationships. Take care of yourself along the way. Enjoy life and avoid burnout.
• Most financial books and advice avoid the fact that If you don’t own a business, you are going to build wealth very slowly. Mark Farber said “ Find out what you’re really good at, that’s your insider advantage, and build a business around it.” (1:24:26)
• 98% of people 65 and over are not financially independent.  Just putting your money aside in a retirement account is not going to do it. (1:24:59)
• (1:24:42) John Bowen “91% of people worth five million or more own a business.”
• People need to think like a bank. Think cash flow first, accumulation should be a distant thought. (1:25:23)
• A good investment depends on the investor (1:26:47)
• Focus instead of diversify. Go for cash flow instead of accumulation. Only invest in what you know. If you don’t know what to invest in, stay in cash. Figure out your investor DNA and only invest in alignment with that. (1:27:05)
• “I’ve made a lot of money, but I’ve made a lot of friends.” Value of Genius Network: relationship capital. (1:30:45)
• “There is nothing mystical or magical in finance. The closest thing to it is paying yourself 18% up front.” (1:34:15)
• Get access to Garrett Gunderson’s Resources:  The Cash Flow Strength Mega-Kit to supercharge your cash flow and simplify your finances at wealthfactory.com/megakit. Get your Financial Scorecard at: wealthfactory.com/scorecard.

You can read Garrett’s articles in Forbes magazine, or call/text 801-396-7211, subject: wwrd for a free download of his book, What Would the Rockefeller’s Do?