Common Sense Financial Podcast: Mindset & Growth

We all have blinders about various things in our life that leave us blind to things we do not know or understand. What is a blinder?  Well, it could be a bias about something, it could be a protection mechanism to ignore something, it could be immaturity about something or it could simply be ignorance of not knowing any better.  In fact, what I have found is that for most people who are experiencing investing immaturity is that once they are provided more education about how to invest, they often move past this stage into more advanced wealth strategies. The best way to look at this is that like anything: We only know what we know.  In other words, the root cause of investing immaturity for most people is simply not knowing any different. To make the most of your investments, you need to think about them in the right way because investing immaturity can hold you back from reaching the next level with your finances.

00:00 – Opening 1:03 – Joe's Story 11:10 – How The Dominos Fall 12:28 – Brian's Final Thoughts On this episode, Brian shares a story about Joe and his mental tug of war about how to best utilize his cash assets… Pay off a mortgage? Keep the cash in the bank? Build Wealth? Listen to the podcast to hear the full story and Brian’s thoughts about the situation. “Every financial decision you make – big or small - is like the first domino, each decision has a domino effect and it is best to see how those dominos fall before acting on that decision.”

The truth is that we all, as human beings, carry around this proverbial backpack of beliefs and emotions, and we carry it everywhere we go. And when we show up somewhere that's in a relationship and a conversation having to make a decision, we unpack the backpack. There's no hiding the backpack. It's with us all the time. It is full of of a lot of good things, but mixed in with it our limited beliefs that can wreak havoc with our decision making. These beliefs are just an accumulation of information that you either hear you read, you experience that can have you instantly forming an opinion that then drives your behavior and decision making. It's what drives your thoughts, your opinions, your attitudes and your propensity. Think about it. You eat bad sushi and then you get sick. That belief forms that sushi is bad and you throw that belief into the backpack. You go into a store and have a bad experience. You belief into the backpack. You meet someone for the first time and within ten seconds a belief is cemen

You hear me reference and emphasis the importance of having a financial plan in nearly every topic we cover and estate planning is an area of that plan discussed in todays podcast. In this episode of The Common Sense Financial Podcast, I have a conversation with Jessie Naeger of the Law Office of Andrew Weinhaus about estate planning and other important consideration for protecting your estate. Jessie and I have worked on several client cases together over the years and I felt bringing her on to the show would be helpful for everyone to get a legal perspective on why estate planning is so important. There is no better time than right now to learn why having an estate plan is an absolute must for everyone to have no matter the size of your estate

Traditional public markets have been historically viewed as normal when it comes to investing but over the last decade we have seen a shift in this attitude toward finding alternatives to the stock market. Though we have been seeing a shift in investor behavior and attitude about markets for quite some time, COVID has brought a sense of urgency to the conversation for finding an alternative to traditional markets. And it is not difficult to understand why. The abrupt volatility that investors have experienced lately has them going from peak to valley in the matter of days. And any rational investor at one point or another has questioned if there is a better way. Now to be clear, there is risk in any type if investment. There is no unicorn that can deliver all things good but I do believe that a new normal is taking shape that offers investors an updated paradigm of what diversification really is. Whether you realized that this was happening or not, this path is already being paved by forward thinking investor

I am sure you would agree that if you talk with ten people regarding any subject, you're liable to get ten differing opinions from those people. Opinions are everywhere and I believe they are the #1 reason most people live their entire lives thinking a lot of things are true when they are actually false. I became a Christian in November of 1998, I was operating my financial business and raising kids while learning as much as I could about my new faith as a Christian. What I learned fairly quickly is that Christians have some pretty strong opinions about a lot of things and money is definitely on that list. I know this because as people would find out that I was in finance they would approach me and freely share their views and opinions about what they thought a Christian should think about and do with money. So with that, today’s podcast is going to be a little different. I had the opportunity to sit down with my pastor Kenny Qualls recently and had a real life conversation about wealth and the bible. He has

CSFP 033 | The #1 Thing That Successful Investors Are Doing That Average Investors Aren't by Brian Skrobonja: Author, Financial Advisor, Entrepreneur

One thing I have learned over the last six months during a time of growing markets and economy to a sudden shift of social distancing and virtual workplaces due to the covid-19 pandemic, is that people are motivated by two emotions, Fear and Greed. I know reading this can almost seem insensitive or downright offensive but it’s the truth. Think about it... As a parent, business owner, friend, employee, spouse or neighbor, our emotions can lead us into making decisions that we can reflect back on after the emotion passes to realize maybe we could have done better. I see this all the time with people when it comes to investment decisions. When markets are good, people believe markets will go higher and they become eager to ride the markets higher. And when markets are bad, people believe markets will go lower and can experience an onset of panic that if not managed can lead to bad decisions.

“The Truth Will Set You Free!” This is a phrase we have all heard and it originated in the New Testament in John 8:32, when Jesus said to the new believers, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Whether you are trying to figure out the destination of your soul and the meaning of life or simply trying to figure out how to be smart with money and build real wealth, you have to know the truth. You have to know what is real and not just theory, what is fact and not fiction, what is truth and not just opinion. Opinions are like a beating heart, everyone has one and they flow from each of us like breath but you have to protect yourself from being a collector of opinions and be a seeker of truth. People often speak with confidence when sharing their theories, ideas, and opinions explaining them as facts. People also tend to show only what they want you to see. Social media is a huge part of our society these days and if you spend anytime on it at all you quickly discover that everyone is more s

The most wealthy and financially independent people I know realize something that most people don’t. They realize that wealth…true financial independence… is not found in the amount of money that you have. That is what most people believe… they think that if they have a lot of money saved that they will have this sense of independence. And there is some truth to that…accumulating a lot of money is a great accomplishment in this consumer driven society. In this podcast I want to share with you this simple paradigm shift that I believe could be the most significant money lesson you ever learn.

Pensions are becoming more and more of a dinosaur as companies are moving away from them and are replacing them with 401k type plans. There are multitudes of reason why this shift is occurring but the primary reason is due to the simple fact that pensions are unsustainable. Pension had their hay day in the 1960s but began to fail opening the door for the government to enter the picture. The truth is, pensions have been struggling to keep their head above water ever since and outside of government are no longer viable. The point is that at one time pensions were as common as 401k’s are today but times are changing and if you have a pension there are things you should consider to protect yourself from a financial crisis. Whether you are drawing a pension now or are planning to draw from one in your retirement, what I will share in this podcast may impact your future benefits.

The goal of every business owner is to increase and expand income sources and grow profits while minimizing what is needed to generate the income. To grow your income, you can do more of what it is that you do that creates revenue or find ways to tweak your systems that will result in an increase in cash flow without the need to create more revenue. Know and understand your cash flow needs. Plugging leaks in your spending can increase cash flow and your ability to invest back into your company. Anticipate your future cash needs can free you from relying on a bank to lend you money giving you the benefit of EARNING interest instead of PAYING interest. Overpaying your taxes when there are legal and ethical ways to reduce them is wiliness on your part to overpay your taxes and voluntarily give up precious resources that you could be using for your business. Whether you want to build a business to sell or build a business for generating a stream of income for yourself…the goal should be to have a business that ru

Money is a HUGE part of our life yet schools don’t spend time teaching us how to manage it and most families don’t share their experiences with one another. Without guidance and learning best practices to achieve success, we are set up for FAILURE before we even begin our relationship with money. It seems reasonable to believe that it would be a good idea to acquire some training on how to effectively think about and handle money BEFORE we get started. These are a few basic points about handling and thinking about money that I believe are the FOUNDATION for all other decisions you will ever need to make with money. • Everything is about cash flow • Work to control the outcome • Average rates of return are misleading • The government is not your friend • Unicorns aren’t real. • Banks are not your friends • Projections are made up • Don’t be a consumer • Know the difference between leverage and debt

It’s interesting to me how little people really know about life insurance. Most people when they think of life insurance they think about its use to protect families, pensions, liabilities and business. But there are other uses such as banking, retirement, tax reduction, long term care and portfolio diversification that is not often considered when thinking about life insurance. I think one of the limitations people have about life insurance is its complexity but its also the negativity that surrounds these plans. We are going to discuss all of this and more but before we do I want to say that to get the most from this, I would encourage you to set aside any biases you may have based on things you have heard and consider why I use this in my personal planning.

The older I get the more I realize the impact our mindset has on every aspect of our life including our finances. What you think about, what you believe and the way you go about making decisions and living life is a direct result of how we think. We all know that there is no shortage of information and opinions on the topic of money. Turn on the TV and you are inundated with commercials for products, services, books and seminars that are screaming for your attention. How do we process so much information? There is an overwhelming amount of content that seems impossible to sort through and understand. In fact, it is said that the brain processes 400 billion bits of information per second and it is estimated that we consume 34 gigabits of information per day . Our brains are set to overdrive trying to sort through and make sense of what we are consuming. It seeks short cuts as it associates information with something we are already familiar with. It is like an assembly line grabbing things and throwing them int

CSFP 024 | The Family Office Model by Brian Skrobonja: Author, Financial Advisor, Entrepreneur

In this podcast we will discuss nine specific threats that are always lingering and are threatening your cashflow. Inflation, sequence of returns, unfilled income gaps, market risk, interest rate risks, taxes, long term care expenses, rising health care costs, technology and medical advancements are all real concerns that you need to think about. These are without a doubt the biggest threats and if left unchecked can really cause problems for retirees who have not planned well to overcome them.

CSFP 022 | Wall Street Is Broken by Brian Skrobonja: Author, Financial Advisor, Entrepreneur

In this episode, Brian discusses best practices for starting the new year off right and using techniques to help increase the chances of success of you achieving your goals. Brian walks through his 'Five F's' and explains a simple way to get organized with your thoughts and put a plan in place to have a successful 2019.

In this podcast, Brian breaks down a client case to give listeners a behind the scenes look into how he is able to help clients achieve their financial goals and help them retire and live with confidence.