Focus on Inputs, Not Outcomes: Chad Humphrey's Financial Wisdom
Chad Humphrey, a seasoned financial planner and best-selling author, emphasizes the importance of focusing on inputs rather than outcomes in achieving financial success. With nearly two decades of experience, Chad shares insights on how managing clients' mindsets and behaviors is crucial for long-term wealth building. He highlights that living within one’s means is essential, regardless of income level, and that financial decisions should align with personal values and goals. Through his holistic coaching approach, Chad illustrates how understanding one's relationship with money can lead to a more meaningful and impactful life. This conversation also delves into the significance of building strong client relationships and the transformative power of financial education.
In this insightful episode of Becoming Bridge Builder with Keith Haney, Chad Hufford discusses the importance of focusing on inputs rather than outcomes in both personal and professional life. He shares the best piece of advice he received: to focus on what you can control and let the results take care of themselves. Chad also talks about the influential mentors in his life and the key lessons he learned from his father about living within your means.
Chad explains the holistic approach to financial planning and the importance of managing behavior. He emphasizes the need to have a clear direction and priorities in life, and the wisdom of saying no to good things to pursue the best. Additionally, Chad discusses current trends in the financial planning industry that concern him and shares his excitement about involving his children in his professional life.
This episode offers valuable insights into financial planning, life priorities, and the power of focusing on what truly matters.
Chad Humphrey’s journey through the world of financial planning reveals profound truths about the relationship between mindset, behavior, and financial success. With a background in biochemistry and a passion for coaching, Chad emphasizes the significance of focusing on inputs—actions and choices—rather than outcomes, which can often be influenced by factors beyond our control. This enlightening episode encourages listeners to adopt a proactive approach to their finances by understanding what they can control and transforming their habits to align with their financial goals.
The discussion takes a deeper dive into the essence of holistic financial planning. Chad argues that money management is not just about investments and returns; it is about creating a life filled with meaning and purpose. He shares personal anecdotes and client stories that illustrate how financial independence can enable individuals to pursue their passions, help others, and make significant life changes. By highlighting the importance of living within one's means and cultivating a disciplined approach to saving, Chad challenges conventional views on wealth accumulation and invites listeners to reconsider their financial priorities.
Additionally, Chad critiques the current financial climate, where distractions and fears about market volatility can lead to inaction and anxiety. He urges listeners to take charge of their financial narratives, emphasizing that they have the power to change their circumstances through disciplined actions. By fostering strong client relationships and engaging in open, honest conversations about financial health, Chad and his team at Veritas strive to guide individuals toward a better understanding of their financial situations. This episode not only provides practical advice but also inspires a shift in perspective—encouraging everyone to step off the sidelines of their lives and actively participate in their financial future.
Takeaways:
- Chad emphasizes the importance of focusing on inputs and actions rather than outcomes, which can lead to greater financial success.
- Living within one's means is crucial, as it determines financial stability regardless of income level.
- Building relationships with clients is essential; it's about coaching and partnership, not just advice.
- The financial industry often distracts people from what they can control, leading to feelings of helplessness.
- Chad's background in sports psychology informs his approach to financial planning and behavior management.
- He believes in teaching clients to manage their behavior rather than just providing tools.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Veritas
- Dave Ramsey
Transcript
My guest today is Chad Humphrey.
Keith:As a best selling author and top ten podcast guest and with 17 years of experience owning and running a financial planning firm based in Anchorage, Alaska, he manages roughly about a half a billion dollars.
Keith:He realized that managing our clients mindsets and habits is really the most crucial part of his job.
Keith:Leveraging a background in biochemistry and with two decades of high performing athletic training and sports psychology, wealth coaching, helping people to create a better relationship with their future by creating habits and mindsets and behaviors necessary to succeed in investing and in life in general.
Keith:He's also a Dave Ramsey smart investor, pro, and striving to have the heart of a teacher.
Keith:He greatly emphasizes educating and empowering people with the tools and knowledge to successfully succeed in pursuit of their goals.
Keith:We welcome Chad to the podcast.
Keith:Well, Chad, it's so good to have you on the podcast.
Keith:How you doing, Keith?
Chad:I'm doing great and appreciate the opportunity to be here and offer some insight and encouragement to your audience.
Keith:Looking forward to it.
Keith:I'm sure we'll have a great conversation.
Keith:As we warm up.
Keith:Today, though, give me the best piece of advice you've ever received.
Chad:I think I've been fortunate, been blessed to have received a lot of advice over the years.
Chad:One of the best pieces of advice, my personal life and professional life is to focus on inputs and not outcomes.
Chad:Focus on what you can control and your actions, your behaviors, and the outcomes will eventually, the results will eventually take care of themselves.
Keith:I love that.
Keith:Who told you that?
Chad:Nick Murray is an author and speaker and has become a mentor of mine only by God's grace.
Chad:I don't know why the guy took the time to connect with me years and years ago, but, but it was from a business standpoint, you know, I'm in a business where there's a lot of, what a lot of people would look at is rejection, and, and people focus on, you know, how many appointments can I set and is this person become a client?
Chad:This person gonna work with me?
Chad:And his thing was, you can, you can try to wordsmith a message or try to craft an email better, things like that.
Chad:But if you doubled the amount of people you talk to, if you doubled the amount of people that you introduce yourself to and say, hey, my name is Chad Hufford, this is what I bring.
Chad:This is what I offer the world, I think I could really help you.
Chad:Are you interested in having that conversation that is going to greatly impact the amount of people you end up working with professionally, much more than how you wordsmith a message or an email or anything.
Chad:Like that.
Chad:And so many people focus on the minutiae, and instead of just increasing the amount of inputs or improving the quality of inputs, and I've been able to apply that in so many different areas.
Chad:James Clear, the writer of atomic habits, has some similar philosophy in his book, but it's looking at what we're putting into the system, focusing on that.
Chad:And it's very empowering, Keith, because what it does is it reminds us of what we're in control of.
Chad:And in my industry, in the financial industry, people are worried about their economy.
Chad:They're worried about this presidential election.
Chad:They're worried about interest rates and inflation, and we can't control any of those things.
Keith:Right.
Chad:And if we spend our time, we spend our days focusing on what we can't control.
Chad:A lot of people end up in a place of learned helplessness, where they've forgotten what they can influence.
Chad:They're so focused on what they can't influence that they have forgotten to put energy and effort into what they actually can control.
Chad:And focusing on inputs, not outcomes, has been a life changing perspective shift for me.
Keith:I love that this next question kind of feeds off what you just kind of said.
Keith:I'm always curious when I talk to people like yourself, as you think about the people who have poured into you in your life, mentors, role models.
Keith:Think about some of those people who were really influential in your journey.
Keith:What about them made them special?
Keith:If you want to give them a shout out, here's a great time to do that.
Chad:Well, one of the people that had a major impact, that came from a very specific conversation was, he's a general now he's a general in the air force.
Chad:Paul Moga, his call sign is Max.
Chad:He's a fighter pilot.
Chad:And he kind of called me out one day, I was, like, 19 years old, and basically asked me, Chad, what are you doing with your life?
Chad:You have a lot of talents.
Chad:You have a lot of abilities that are being unutilized.
Chad:And it was a life changing conversation.
Chad:Now, at first, I braced against a guy very defensive, like, what are you talking about, 19?
Chad:What are you, you know, I got plenty of time.
Chad:You know, I got plenty of time.
Chad:And.
Chad:And it was.
Chad:It was a conversation that stuck with me for years.
Chad:And I I've been blessed to be around fantastic people.
Chad:My.
Chad:My parents were great influences and to lay the foundation for some of the lessons that I had later in life.
Chad:And even people like Nick Murray, who, again, I'm not sure why they were so responsive to me so early in my career, but people that have taken the time to invest in me, to pour into me, and that's a big part of what I'm doing right now, is trying to distill some of that information and give it back and be, as some people would say, be a river and not a lake.
Chad:Having those blessings flow through me and not just sitting and not just flowing to me.
Keith:We love that you speak about your upbringing.
Keith:You grew up in a financial industry under your father's guidance.
Keith:What are some key lessons that you learned from him that you still apply today?
Chad:Well, one of the things that I didn't think was that big of a deal growing up, but I've learned that it's huge, is learning to live within your means.
Chad:So that is the first secret to unlocking wealth, is living within your means, because you can make $2 million a year and still live paycheck to paycheck.
Chad:And I've met people that do it.
Chad:You can make $60,000 a year and still figure out how to save.
Chad:And what you do with your income is much more important than how much you get.
Chad:It's how you leverage it, it's how you employ it in the world.
Chad:And growing up, I thought, well, it's a really simple thing.
Chad:Like, of course, I didn't know what debt was like.
Chad:Of course, you don't spend more than you make.
Chad:If I make $5 a week as a six year old, I'm not going to spend $6 a week.
Chad:But a lot of people focus on return rates and investment performance and things like that.
Chad:And again, going back to inputs versus outcomes, they forget about their own behavior.
Chad:And it doesn't matter how good your investment is, if you're not feeding it enough, if you're not saving enough, it's not going to make a major impact in life.
Chad:So looking at things like savings rate rather than return rate is very, very important.
Chad:The people who we work with that have built sustainable wealth have figured out how to optimize savings rate.
Chad:Now they get good returns as well.
Chad:But that all comes from living within your.
Chad:Excuse me, that all comes from living within your means, Keith.
Chad:It comes from having an income that or, sorry, an ego that is lower than your income.
Chad:It's a lot of people, they call it lifestyle drift, where as your income gradually creeps up through the years, your lifestyle creeps up, too.
Chad:We say budgets are like goldfish, where they'll grow at any size of enclosure you put them in.
Chad:So that was one of those life changing lessons that I overlooked when I was a kid.
Chad:Because I thought it was so common sense.
Chad:But in today's world, living within your means is like a superpower.
Keith:It is.
Keith:And it's really something that people don't talk about a lot, and we're not usually taught that early on.
Keith:I've had several people who are in the financial industry on my podcast in the past, and it's like, we don't teach it to young people.
Keith:And then they get out in the world, and you get that first paycheck, and it's like, what do you do?
Keith:You go out by all the things you.
Keith:You never could afford to buy before.
Keith:You don't think about.
Keith:How do you, like you say, live within your means?
Keith:Your inputs and your outputs are important for how well you do with the gifts that God has given you.
Chad:Absolutely.
Chad:And again, people focus on things they can't control.
Chad:I think sometimes to distance themselves from responsibility, and if I focus on, let's say, return rate or investment performance, that's something I can't control.
Chad:But it's also.
Chad:It also gives me an excuse.
Chad:I can blame my lack of financial security on the stock market or the president or whatever.
Chad:It might not be a good excuse, but I can still do that.
Chad:But when I'm looking at, again, having my ego being less than my income, that's something I can control.
Chad:I can control the spending habits and things like that.
Chad:Our world, my world, my financial industry has taught people to focus on all the wrong variables, and we have a lot of people out there that are chasing investment returns and completely ignoring their own behavior.
Keith:Love that.
Keith:So, let's talk about your journey.
Keith: inancial services practice in: Keith:So tell us how you made that, that shift in your work.
Chad:Well, it wasn't really a shift.
Chad:It was a partnership along the way.
Chad: So,: Chad:Keith, I'm not sure if you're familiar with Larry Burkett.
Chad:He was kind of the pioneer in this area before Dave Ramsey.
Chad:And my dad taught these financial classes in our church and our community.
Chad:And I saw the impact that finances had on somebody's life, not just on their money situation, but on their trajectory of how they live life.
Chad:And I saw that when people have confidence and clarity in their finances, it builds confidence in so many other areas of their life.
Chad:When they can be disciplined in their finances, they have discipline in other areas of life.
Chad:It's a triggering thing that I think influences many other aspects.
Chad:So I saw that growing up, even though I didn't intend to go into the financial industry, but I saw the impact it could make.
Chad:And I've always been really leery of financial celebrities because these people that write books and they get on stages and they jump and they hoot and they holler and they do all these things because a lot of times they're not giving great long term advice.
Chad:They're, they're giving motivational messages.
Chad:But motivation doesn't last in building wealth because motivation comes and go, comes and goes.
Chad:Building wealth is like a marathon, and you need a lot more than motivation to sustain you.
Chad:So point being, I was really skeptical of this Dave Ramsey guy and what he was talking about.
Chad:But when I actually humbled myself and took the time to listen to the guy, I thought, well, this is what, this is what I've seen work my entire life.
Chad:And I mean, and it's not Dave Ramsey's principles.
Chad:These are principles right out of proverbs.
Chad: They're: Chad:And they haven't just worked for the 30 years Dave Ramsey's been talking about.
Chad:They haven't just worked for the 43 years that I've been here and seen them work.
Chad:They've been working for millennia.
Chad:And they're not super complicated.
Chad:They're not easy, but they're not complex.
Chad:They're simple but difficult principles that can be absolutely life transforming.
Chad:And I was grateful to partner with an organization like that once I understood what their message was.
Chad:And I got past some of the, my own misconceptions of who Dave Ramsey was and what I thought their organization was all about.
Keith:Love that.
Keith: and: Keith:Veritas.
Keith:So what, what inspired you to start that?
Chad: Well, it really started in: Chad: So: Chad:And it was before it was just, it was just Chad Hufford was my name.
Chad:And I, and I, and I wanted, I wanted a brand that was bigger than just me.
Chad:I wanted something that other people could feel ownership in.
Chad:And Veritas just means truth.
Chad:It's Latin for truth or integrity.
Chad:And that's a big part of our mission, is tell the truth.
Chad:Let the chips fall where they may give people the information they need to know, not necessarily telling them what they want to hear or what we think they want to hear.
Chad:Because sometimes we do have to have difficult conversations.
Chad:We have a lot of people that are referred to us, that come to us, and they're not doing everything the way that they should.
Chad:And we have to be willing to tell them the truth and say, okay, we've got to coach you.
Chad:These behaviors that you have are not in line with where you want to be in the financial situation that you're striving towards.
Chad:So that's where the name came from.
Chad:Keith Veritas.
Chad:But it was really a rebranding, and that's when we started to scale.
Chad:I hired my first two employees, and now we have nine that work full time in the office.
Chad:In fact, my daughter just started working part time, so she, I guess, be number ten.
Chad:And then we contract out with a lot of other companies.
Chad:But this is when it started.
Chad:2014 is when it started growing just beyond me and what I could do.
Chad:And when I stopped becoming the chief everything officer, started learning to delegate and building a team around me.
Chad:And it's been a fantastic journey.
Chad:Not always easy, but it's been a huge blessing.
Keith:Yeah, it's never easy, right?
Keith:You know, as you talk about financial planning, holistic financial planning is important, and you emphasize that in your coaching.
Keith:Why is that vital for your clients?
Keith:You kind of touched on a little bit about, you know, having a difficult conversations, but kind of go a little deeper as to why that's so critical.
Chad:Well, because it's not about money.
Chad:It's about helping people live a life of abundance.
Chad:Money is just the tool, one of the tools that we utilize to help build a life of freedom and independence.
Chad:And if we focus on just the money, just the investment, we lose the bigger picture.
Chad:Some people might have a net worth of $10 million and still live in scarcity.
Chad:You can have other people that can live off of, can have much, much less and still feel confident.
Chad:It's about changing mindsets, very relationship driven, but it's about the whole person.
Chad:And a lot of financial professionals focus on just the investments, and that's just the tool.
Chad:Be like a personal trainer, focusing on just the treadmill.
Chad:And they're always tweaking the treadmill, trying to get it to run a little bit faster or go at a steeper incline, instead of teaching people how to run on it and making sure they're running on it consistently.
Chad:Because, let's face it, the obesity problems we have in America are not because our treadmills don't go fast enough, it's because people don't use them.
Chad:They don't use them correctly.
Chad:So as a financial professional, we're not trying to reinvent the treadmill.
Chad:We're trying to get people to use them effectively.
Chad:Looking at their whole life, what is really meaningful to them.
Chad:I can't tell somebody what is a high purpose facet of their life.
Chad:I can tell them how to grow that area of their life once they identify.
Chad:Like, this thing is really important to me.
Chad:Okay, how can we make more of that in your life and build some financial goals around that?
Chad:But it's understanding what freedom feels like to an individual, what they need to experience financial freedom, and then looking at their financial situation in total, nothing.
Chad:Little pieces in a vacuum where, you know, we've got their budget over here, their investments over here, like they're all pieces of the same puzzle.
Chad:And one of the biggest things we've already touched on it, Keith, is focusing on their behavior.
Chad:You can't give somebody better tools and expect a better result.
Chad:You have to actually coach that person to become a better investor.
Chad:And it's looking at that holistic approach, their wants, their desires, their fears, their dreams, their budget, their spending, their family, and figure out how to get all those things into a comprehensive financial plan.
Keith:In order to get people to take your advice, you have to somehow build strong client relationships.
Keith:How do you do that in your company?
Chad:Well, it starts with being really selective with who we're even working with.
Chad:This isn't for everybody.
Chad:And a lot of people are not willing to do the work to get to where they say they want to be.
Chad:So we're very selective with who we work with from the get go.
Chad:Not that there's people, I mean, there's really good people out there that just aren't a good fit for us.
Chad:There doesn't mean that there's something wrong with them.
Chad:There's not necessarily flawed character, but to build sustainable wealth, it doesn't mean you have to have a crazy high income or this education from Harvard or anything like that.
Chad:But it requires tremendous discipline and exceptional perseverance.
Chad:And we're looking for certain types of people that are willing to make sacrifices today to build a better future.
Chad:And to do that consistently, day after day, week after week, year after year, for decades, that's not an easy journey to sign up for.
Chad:I believe it's worth it.
Chad:But when you get people that are like, yes, I want a better future for myself, and I'm willing to start making changes in my life, how I invest and what I do to serve the future version of me, rather than steal from that person, then they feel like they're in this together.
Chad:And it's not a advisory relationship as much as it is a guiding and coaching.
Chad:We're on the same team.
Chad:We're building towards victory together.
Chad:And it's so powerful.
Chad:And one of the cool things, too, Keith, is finances are one of those things in life that we don't talk a lot about.
Chad:And it's kind of like faith and politics and things like that.
Chad:This tablet, we just don't talk about it.
Chad:But when somebody is willing to unveil their hopes and dreams and their personal finances, their mistakes, their wins, we ask the questions that nobody else gets to ask.
Chad:How much money do you make?
Chad:How much money do you spend?
Chad:How much debt do you have?
Chad:What keeps you up at night?
Chad:Those types of things.
Chad:When somebody is willing to share that with you, there's not much that is off the table at that point.
Chad:So family issues, health issues, and people share all that stuff.
Chad:And there's an intimacy that's created there that is very, very precious.
Chad:And we just have.
Chad:We have the blessing of working with fantastic human beings that don't look to us to do all the work.
Chad:It's a partnership.
Chad:We're in this together.
Chad:And that's why I use that analogy of coaching.
Chad:Cause that's what it is.
Chad:It's like they're on the field doing the work, and we're the ones helping guide.
Chad:But we're all in this together, working towards the win, and it creates a tremendous strength in those relationships.
Chad:And that's what our hope is.
Chad:These are lifelong relationships that we can build on.
Chad:Because when the world goes sideways, when life happens, you know, it could be a huge economic downturn or recession, or it could be something very specific to that person's life.
Chad:They lose a spouse, they have maybe a cancer diagnosis.
Chad:We've got to be able to have that relationship capital to dip into.
Chad:That's not when we can start empathizing.
Chad:We have to have that relationship capital already there to say, okay, we've got a plan.
Chad:The plan might be shifting right now, but we're going to get through this.
Chad:We're going to be okay.
Chad:And there's no chart, there's no graph, there's no spreadsheet that is going to take the place of a relationship at that point.
Keith:I'm curious, as I listen to you talk, I can kind of hear the coach in you, the athletic background in your just approach.
Keith:So how does that impact how you approach financial planning as a former athlete, now also turned financial coach?
Chad:Well, I had the opportunity to collaborate with a lot of coaches and even train at a high level, several athletes, some Olympic athletes, some professional fighters.
Chad:But it always came down to managing behavior.
Chad:That's what a coach does.
Chad:Basketball coach isn't going to go out and try to find you a better pair of basketball shoes and a better basketball and expect you to be a better player.
Chad:Yeah, they're going to want you to have the right gear, but they're going to manage your behavior.
Chad:They're going to manage your perspective, how you look and think and act around certain decisions.
Chad:And any sport is like that.
Chad:You can give me the best golf clubs in the world, and you'd be embarrassed to be seen with me out on a golf course.
Chad:Keith, I can't golf.
Chad:It's too many years of playing baseball.
Chad:I have terrible golfing habits.
Chad:And you can give me better tools, but until you change my behavior, I'm not going to become a better golfer.
Chad:So coaching is very much about the individual.
Chad:And like I talked about with the treadmill analogy, we can't just give people better tools and expect a better result until their behavior changes.
Chad:I've got a 16 year old daughter right now, and she's learning how to drive and, you know, gets a little.
Chad:Gets a little sketchy at times.
Chad:But if she comes, if she comes home and, you know, she's been clipping light poles and hitting trash cans and all that, and says, dad, I just really need more horsepower.
Chad:I need a faster car.
Chad:If I had a faster car, I'd be a better driver.
Chad:Like, heck, no, I'm not.
Chad:You can't drive the minivan.
Chad:I'm not buying you a Ferrari.
Chad:But that's what people think when it comes to finances.
Chad:Like, I don't have good financial behavior, so I just need more money to fix that problem.
Chad:Bad money management only gets worse when more income or more money is added to that problem.
Chad:It's like giving a teenage driver a faster car.
Chad:So you look at these, like, professional athletes and celebrities that go broke.
Chad:Income and cash flow is not their problem.
Chad:It's money management.
Chad:It's their own personal behavior.
Chad:So that's where we took this coaching mindset and really studying performance psychology and getting insights from some of the best coaches in the world and applying that to finances and saying, okay, the tools are important, but ultimately, we've got to change how you look at this problem, your behavior and your commitment to excellence over time, and then the right tools are going to work so much better.
Keith:I love that.
Keith:As you think about the impact you've had on certain clients life, is there one client that you can kind of share their story now without telling her name, but how your system, your planning approach has really transformed their life.
Chad:Well, we hear those stories a lot, and one that is just top of mind right now is, as we are recording this, they're driving back from Oregon, husband and wife.
Chad:And he.
Chad:He was a truck driver and never made a lot of money, but was very, very diligent in saving and raised four kids on a single income.
Chad:They homeschooled their kids, so his wife worked in the home, homeschooling kids, and he's now a.
Chad:He has sustainable and impactful wealth, and it's allowed him to retire early and be able to go down and help family that needed him and his wife in a very, very bad way.
Chad:And they were able to go down and be a blessing.
Chad:And his father in law just passed away here a few weeks ago.
Chad:But as his health deteriorated and his life was gradually being taken from him, from Alzheimer's and dementia, this couple was able to be down there and really serve them and make a huge impact.
Chad:And years before, most people were able to retire from an age standpoint, they were able to start a new chapter in their life, and they wouldn't have gotten to do that without the financial independence, because the families members that they were helping didn't have the means to be able to pay them or to offset their expenses.
Chad:It was like a self supported ministry.
Chad:We have another guy that came into our office earlier this week that he does a lot of work with Samaritan's purse all over the world, and it's self supported.
Chad:He's able to pay his own way on all these missionary things.
Chad:And it's just.
Chad:We hear a lot of those stories, and that's the beauty of it.
Chad:Keith, is seeing how money frees people up to do even more of what is really meaningful to them.
Chad:It's not, hey, you know, we're going to spend 20 years of Saturdays in retirement.
Chad:Every day is by the beach or, you know, playing shuffleboard, whatever.
Chad:But it's giving people the freedom to step into a life of even more meaning and impact.
Keith:I love that.
Keith:What are some current trends you're noticing?
Keith:The phantom planning industry that give you concern?
Chad:Well, right now, he's recording this.
Chad:Everybody's focused on the election, and the financial industry is going back to one of your earlier questions about inputs versus outcomes.
Chad:The financial industry is increasingly directing people's focus to things that they can't control.
Chad:And I've seen the.
Chad:Over the last 20 years, the things that make the biggest difference in somebody's not just financial trajectory, but their life as a whole.
Chad:It's always their own behavior.
Chad:Yes, things happen and sometimes there's things that happen outside of your control that can be devastating to a financial plan.
Chad:And sometimes people get really lucky.
Chad:We've had people come to us literally after winning lotteries, but typically it's your own choices of behavior make the biggest difference in your life.
Chad:And the financial industry is so much focusing on things that people can't control that it's distracting at best, Keith, and destructive at worst.
Chad:And right now, I've never seen it quite to this level before where there's so much noise out there, it's distracting people from what really matters.
Chad:And it's also disempowering.
Chad:If I tell you all the things that you should be focusing on, all the things that you should be worried about and you can't control any of them, it goes back that learned helplessness that we talked about like, well, okay, well, I'll never be able to build wealth then.
Chad:And then it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy because you feel like you're out of control.
Chad:You can't impact the things that you feel are going to have the biggest influence on your financial trajectory.
Chad:So then it's really easy just to not do anything.
Chad:I think that's where a lot of people are at right now.
Chad:They feel like building long term sustainable wealth is outside of their control.
Chad:It's outside of their ability and they're just sitting waiting for somebody to discover them on YouTube or whatever, and that's how it's going to happen.
Chad:And we use the metaphor, it's like planting an orchard.
Chad:Yeah, I mean, you can't control the weather, you can't control the environments, but you can't control how many trees you plant and how you nurture those.
Chad:And I just, I see what's going on in the world right now.
Chad:So many distractions and it's really concerning because people are learning to be financially helpless.
Keith:Yeah, you're right.
Keith:I keep getting in my email box every day, two really competing, you know, either go buy gold and stock up on gold and bring into your house and build a safe, and then other people like go do crypto.
Keith:And you're right because the dollar is collapsing all around you.
Keith:So there is that sense of panic.
Keith:And you're right, you sit there with, do I go buy gold?
Keith:Do I go buy silver, do I go buy crypto?
Keith:Do I invest in crypto, what do I do?
Keith:And all those propositions seem overwhelming to most people, so they just go, you're right, we just sit here and we'll just not do anything.
Chad:Well, most people don't have a clear direction for where they're even going or where they even want to end up financially.
Chad:It's like going on a journey with no map or getting on a plane.
Chad:You don't know where the destination is.
Chad:How do you pick the right plane if you don't know where you want to end up?
Chad:And a lot of people go through life, they're just collecting investments.
Chad:They're not really strategically investing towards the desired outcome.
Chad:They're just collecting various investment products and hoping that they can scrap a plan together.
Chad:And I think that's a metaphor for how a lot of people live life.
Chad:I don't believe we're here on accident.
Chad:I believe each one of us was created for a purpose, and we were put here on earth for very specific mission.
Chad:And part of our life's work is figuring out what that mission is.
Chad:But a lot of people wake up every day like.
Chad:Like it's an accident.
Chad:And a lot of people treat their money like that every day is they just kind of.
Chad:They react to the world around them.
Chad:They don't act on a long term strategy, and they end up going around in circles, metaphorically speaking, and sometimes literally just going around in circles.
Chad:But when you.
Chad:When you don't have a roadmap to guide you to where you're going to be, it's really hard to.
Chad:To pick the right path, to pick the right turns, to make the right adjustments, and people end up just kind of spinning their wheels and getting really frustrated.
Keith:No, I definitely understand that.
Keith:I'm curious, as we talk about you as a holistic coach person, how do you yourself balance all the different aspects of your life?
Keith:Your professional, your personal, your community involvement, your fam activities.
Keith:How do you keep all those things in proper balance?
Chad:One of the things I have to do, Keith, is to get really clear on what is most meaningful in my life.
Chad:And I just had this conversation yesterday with an attorney here in town, and we were talking about, how do you choose what you're mediocre at?
Chad:Because you can't be great at everything.
Chad:We already mentioned golf, right?
Chad:And that's not like me being humble.
Chad:I am an embarrassing golfer, but it's not important enough for me to get good at it.
Chad:And it's too frustrating to be mediocre.
Chad:So I just don't play.
Chad:It's not one of those sports that you can just go out and like, oh, it's fun.
Chad:And, you know, like bowling, you can put up the bumpers and you can.
Chad:You can be horrible and still have a good time.
Chad:For me, golfing is just too irritating and frustrating.
Chad:But I don't.
Chad:It's not important enough for me to pursue excellence in that area.
Chad:So I have chosen areas of my life where excellence is non negotiable.
Chad:But I've also chosen areas of my life where I am.
Chad:I need to be okay being just okay.
Chad:And that the surprise is some people, they're like, you're settling.
Chad:You're okay being just good enough.
Chad:And maybe good enough is pretty bad in the case of golf and other areas.
Chad:But I'm like, yeah, there's not enough time in the day.
Chad:There's not enough energy to pour myself into all these things.
Chad:So I need to say no to really, really good things.
Chad:And I've gotten the point in my life, and this is where it's hard, is when you don't have.
Chad:You don't have the fluff to cut out of your life anymore.
Chad:Like, you know, we've heard people like, yeah, I don't have time to read, or I don't have time to work out, or I don't have time to spend with my family.
Chad:But by the way, did you see this new Netflix special that I just spent 16 hours binge watching?
Chad:You know, you're like, yeah, yeah.
Chad:I don't think time is your problem.
Chad:I think priorities are.
Chad:But when you get to a point where you don't have a lot of that fluff to cut out, you're cutting out really good things.
Chad:It might be ministry opportunities.
Chad:It might be a promotion at work.
Chad:It might be.
Chad:I had to say no to a trip today.
Chad:There's some guys invited me to go explore in Alaska on four wheelers and side by sides and great guys would have been an awesome opportunity.
Chad:But I had to say no to that because I had other things that were more important.
Chad:So it's being able to say no to really good things and having a clear perspective on what is most important.
Chad:So you can say no to the good and pursue the best.
Keith:I love that.
Keith:So what are you excited about in this aspect of your life right now?
Chad:One of the things I'm really excited about is having my kids entering into a season of life where they.
Chad:They're more a part of my professional life.
Chad:And my daughter just.
Chad:She started working here a few months ago at the office.
Chad:But the kids getting older and understanding more about who dad is at work.
Chad:Not that I'm a different person, but there's aspects that are different.
Chad:And as they've been growing up, some of those things that I've had to put on the back burner some of my hobbies and things like that, because they were taking away from things that were too precious, too vital.
Chad:But my kids are getting interested in some of those things, Keith.
Chad:And now those things that had to be kind of on the sidelines my life are now pulling us closer together, both professionally and personally.
Chad:And it's super exciting.
Chad:And I just.
Chad:I love that my kids are getting interested in some of those things.
Chad:We talked a little bit about the Iowa connection.
Chad:You know, my dad's from there.
Chad:You're living in Iowa.
Chad:So I grew up on Big Ten football, basketball and wrestling, but it was.
Chad:Those were things I had to kind of put away.
Chad:But now my kids are getting excited about.
Chad:About those things, especially football, and to be able to practice with them and coach them.
Chad:And it's not a distraction that pulls dad away.
Chad:Like, okay, you know, football's on.
Chad:We're not going to see dad for another four months.
Chad:But it's something that we're all getting involved in together, and it's a thread that is tying us closer together, and it's just such a blessing.
Chad:I love it.
Keith:Well, having to watch Big Ten football for the last 30 years when I grew up on SEC football is a little bit of a downgrade for me, but.
Chad:Oh, ouch.
Chad:Okay.
Keith:Yeah, no, but I love that.
Chad:Yeah.
Chad:You know, the national champions, I believe, came out of the Big Ten this last year.
Chad:But.
Chad:No, no, but my.
Keith:Even a blindsboro fans are not wanting.
Chad:Yeah, even a stop clock.
Chad:Stop clock is right twice a day.
Chad:No.
Chad:When Michigan was playing Alabama, I was so nervous.
Chad:I was actually way more nervous about that game than I was about the national championship.
Chad:Yeah.
Chad:SEC football is no joke.
Chad:My brother actually went to Tennessee for a year, and he.
Chad:They went down to Florida, Keith.
Chad:And there's a couple kids from Alaska, a couple Alaska boys down there, and they were.
Chad:They were jawing at some of the Florida fans around them.
Chad:They were this.
Chad:They're in the swamp, and they're getting lippy with some of these fans.
Chad:My brother's like.
Chad:He's talking to his friends.
Chad:He's like, we're not in Alaska.
Chad:This is like, they will kill us, put us under the bleachers and leave us there.
Chad:Like, you guys have to behave.
Chad:This.
Chad:This is not Alaska sports.
Chad:It's a whole other world down there.
Chad:But no SEC football.
Chad:I mean, for my entire life, that.
Chad:That's always been the nemesis, but I love watching it, too, man.
Chad:It's.
Chad:It's.
Chad:Yeah, it's like SEc is like minor leagues for the NFL.
Keith:They get paid like it.
Keith:Anyway, I'm curious, Chad, as you look at the impact you've already had so far in changing so many people's lives, what do you want your legacy to be?
Chad:I want my legacy to be people looking at me and my family and saying our lives were better because we knew Chad, because we were connected with Chad, either professionally, personally, through our church, I don't care.
Chad:But where they can point to areas of their life, and maybe it's not even their life, maybe it was their parents life, their grandparents life, because, you know, maybe.
Chad:Maybe I'm long gone at this point and, and there are blessings in their life that they have, or at least have been magnified because they've interacted with, with my family, with my company, or with me personally.
Keith:I love that.
Keith:As we wrap up our conversation, what key takeaways do you want to leave in the audience's mind about our conversation today?
Chad:Man, we've circled around this so many times, and I think I'll just say, like getting off the sidelines, your own life, stepping into the arena, your inputs, your decisions, your choices are the biggest variables in the trajectory of your life.
Chad:And a lot of people are sitting on the sidelines of their own life waiting for permission to be invited into the game, and nobody's going to do that.
Chad:You have to step in, and it's going to be scary.
Chad:And Theodore Roosevelt has an amazing speech, and there's a clip of it, and they call it man in the arena, and he talks about how there will always be people that are doubting and casting blame and criticism, but they're the people on the sidelines that don't step into the arena.
Chad:And we have to be able to step into the forefront of our own lives, to be in the driver's seat of our lives and no longer being passive, focusing on our actions, our inputs, and letting the outcomes take care of themselves.
Chad:Because I just, I believe everybody has it within them to create a better life and a better future, but they have to start taking ownership and responsibility.
Keith:So if somebody hears and goes, I want to connect with Chad and Veritas and maybe start getting my life in order, you're probably wondering the question everybody's probably asking, and all this is, how much does it cost to have you or your company come alongside and work with them, with their finances?
Chad:Well, I'm going to use one more analogy.
Chad:It's kind of like building a house.
Chad:I don't know what your financial house needs to look like.
Chad:I can't tell you what it's going to cost.
Chad:What I can tell you is we're going to make sure that the cost is worth it.
Chad:And the biggest cost is the sacrifice and discipline.
Chad:Our fee is negligible compared to that.
Chad:But for your listeners, if they want to reach out, they go to veritasalaska.com.
Chad:and we work with folks all over the country, but we were founded here in Alaska, so we keep the name in the URL, veritasalaska.com dot, and ask for a complimentary retirement checkup.
Chad:And we'll do that for free.
Chad:Just let us know that you heard us on this podcast, the becoming Bridge Builders podcast, and we'll do a free retirement checkup for them.
Keith:Well, thanks so much, Chad, for that.
Keith:That's a great offer for the audience.
Keith:Where can people find you on social media?
Chad:Veritas Alaska on Instagram.
Chad:We're also on Facebook, and they can look for me on LinkedIn as well.
Chad:Just search for Chad Hufford Veritas and I'll come right up.
Keith:Well, Chad, thanks so much for being part of this podcast and providing such great content for my listeners and knowing that in these times of people being probably really anxious about the future, and as you talked about, things that we cannot control, getting back in the game and letting our, letting God guide us in what the next step of our phase in life can be because he gave us the things we have to be a blessing not only to ourselves, but to those around us.
Keith:So you helping people do that is a wonderful ministry opportunity for people.
Keith:So I hope people will check you out and take that free survey to kind of get an idea where they're at in their life and begin to make a difference with the gifts that God has given them.
Chad:Well, it's been my pleasure to be here.
Chad:I thank you for the opportunity to speak to you and to speak to your audience.
