September 8, 2025 - Rough Draft

I am an investment and wealth advisor and manager. And you may think of this as a profession but for me, it’s a lifestyle. You see, I have a phrase that I’ve used my entire life, and it goes like this: “I am a lifestyle business, where business is a lifestyle.”  But what is a profession? 
Is what I do a soft and chair-based profession? No, not one bit. 
In truth it is a sport that involves all aspects of the Seven Components of Wealth and Status. And yes, like a traditional sport heavy on physicality, my sport, work, and lifestyle is physical, as well as  emotional, and intellectual. 
What I do is not a nine-to-five desk job. It is not simply running numbers or pushing paper. It’s not walking away at the end of a shift and everything that happens is someone else’s problem.  No, not one bit. 
My profession is closer to what a Formula One driver experiences—adrenaline, exhaustion, preparation, and recovery. When I sit across the table from clients, or when I speak to an audience, when I podcast, produce videos, write papers, books, or when I spend hours digging through research, I am not just thinking. I am burning calories, straining muscles, and depleting energy reserves. The demands are constant, and no two days are the same.
The comparison to Formula One Is not a stretch but with a significant difference. A Formula One driver knows what the car and track will be, for me, that would be nice, but it’s never that way. The track is never fully known, what awaits me could be a dirt, oval, winding Can-Am course, or a world-class Formula circuit. The car is the same basic machine: steering wheel, pedals, helmet, belts. Yet the track dictates everything. That is what advising feels like. Each client, each family, each couple—different backgrounds, goals, fears, and histories. The tools of the trade are the same, but the conditions are constantly shifting, different tools are needed, and everyone expects a win with the least effort on their part. 
One day the meeting feels like smooth asphalt, the next it is a dirt track in the rain. And no matter what, you are expected to perform at peak level, without warm-up laps. Now think about that for a moment, and now add into the mix that the track you’ve come to know can change dramatically. It’s called  life and any of the five deadly D’s. can take hold.  
What are the deadly Ds? Well, they’re five things that can happen to someone and each one begins with the letter D. Again, this is one of those things I created decades ago. And so they are: Death, Disability, Division, Discharge, and Destruction. Like the fictional track I’ve described, the last time it was smooth and running hot, but now it’s filled with potholes and running colder than an iceberg. 
The physicality in my profession is real. A Formula One driver can lose five to ten pounds of water weight in a single race. I find that an intense day for me is similar. My various offices may not look like Monaco, but when the adrenaline spikes and the focus narrows, I come out of an in-person client meeting, phone or video call, or a deep research project, the feeling of being drained is the same as the Formula One driver at the end of a race. The muscles tighten, the body slumps, the mind races through replay after replay of every detail twist and turn. Just like a racer’s heart rate stays pinned between 160 and 170 for nearly two hours, mine rises a bit, not as much as the racer, but it holds steady and elevated through the intensity of presentations, decisions, and negotiations. There is no autopilot. And mistakes, well they’re costly.
That is why physical wealth matters. My formula for physical wealth is based on over six decades of research and simplification. The formula is this: On a daily basis, engage in strength, endurance, and flexibility training, with natural nutrition and hydration, with everything in moderation. This is not a casual definition. It is survival. If I neglect training, stretching, and clean eating, my performance suffers. Just as a Formula One driver spends hours strengthening his neck to hold a 22-pound helmet through cornering forces, I must condition myself to hold up through the pressures of decision-making, family conflicts, market volatility, and constant unrealistic prospective client expectations-based emotions and memes rather than facts. This is where, as Kenny Rogers sang in the song The Gambler, knowing when to hold them and when to fold them is critical. 
Without the preparation, the fatigue creeps in, and mistakes follow.
Recovery is just as important as training. I learned long ago that if I do not build in recovery time—walking, stretching, hydration, proper meals, and uninterrupted sleep—the stress accumulates like lactic acid and can result in horrific breakdowns like a heart attack. 
Drivers use saunas, ice baths, and resistance training. I use routines of bending, walking, weight lifting, resistance bands, massage, and yes, yoga with controlled breathing. I’ve found that small daily disciplines keep the body from seizing. And nutrition is not an afterthought. A racer or athletic   of any type, sport, business, politics, knows diet is critical to the process of success. I know the same. I cannot run on sugar, caffeine, or fast fixes. In fact, I never use sugar or any form of artificial sweetener. You see, natural fuel keeps the mind sharp, the energy steady, and the emotions balanced. And as for junk carbohydrates, the enemy of everyone, well, ditch them like garbage.
This is where my Seven COWS framework applies. The word COWS, is an acronym for components of wealth and status and in the order of importance, they include mindset, physical, emotional, intellectual, relationship relationships, income, and risk. The second COW is physical wealth. It is not optional and it’s at the core of long-term performance. 
Now let’s focus on retirees. Look, if you are retired, there is a chance that you have missed a key truth about life. The race is not over. The race changes, but it’s not over. Too many retirees believe the race is over, when in fact they are entering a bonus phase. Retirement is not the end; it is a new stage. In fact, I actually dislike the word retirement as I never will retire in the traditional sense. Why? Because every day I do what I like, am good and profitable at, and can control.  What else could I ask for? And so, the wisdom earned from decades of mistakes and recoveries becomes fuel for consistency. Ironing shirts, paying bills, doing dishes, and knowing that politics, war, and market fluctuations—all those repetitions are not new or different this time, but instead, we’ve learned the rhythm and flow. Apply the same to health, and the race continues without breakdown.
And a quick sidebar.  When you hear someone, especially a politician, who says something like “we’ve never seen this before,” walk away, tune out, and remove them from your contact list. On the other hand when you hear somebody say, “you know this reminds me of,” standby, tune in, and keep that person at the top of your contact list. History, ladies and gentlemen, repeats itself. Always remember and never forget that.
Now, a word about consistency. I remind clients that consistency and energy levels are hugely impactful. The Formula One season runs from March to December, twenty-three races, and every race counts. Life is no different. But life is a daily event, a daily race, and it does not end until life ends. Every appointment, every decision, every conversation shapes outcomes. Just because someone says retirement has begun does not mean you downshift into coasting. You keep training, you keep adapting, and you keep racing.
The mental load is as real as the physical. When fatigue set in, mental sharpness falters. The same applies when I provide advice and management services. If my body is drained, the brain diverts energy and focus slips. That is why mindset wealth—the first of the Seven COWS—always comes first and goes hand-in-hand with physical wealth. Mindset and physical wealth are the foundations for all the other components of wealth.
There are no shortcuts to true success, and absolutely no shortcut to experience. And I will tell you something that use to burn me up, now I just tune out and walk away without a drop of emotion, it’s when someone is uninformed and inexperienced makes outrageous statement, prognostications, or nasty and unfounded comments about capability, experience, or integrity. In other words, it’s not worth ten seconds of time or an ounce of effort in hopes of changing a sow’s ear into s silk purse. 
You, me, all of us must live the laps, turn the corners, endure the training. That is what I bring to my work every single day. Decades of experience cannot be skipped. You cannot download endurance. You cannot simulate resilience. You must earn it.
New projects, new research, new systems. Each challenge is another hill to climb, another corner to take. Confidence builds, not from theory, but from incremental victories. And just as athletes raise the bar, investment and wealth advisors and managers must keep evolving, and that includes the base level financial planner. The world changes, markets shift, regulations multiply, and competitors chase from behind. If I stand still, I fall behind. 
Efficiency becomes the goal. How to use less energy to achieve more output. How to hold more data in memory without breaking focus. How to refine strategy under pressure. That is why I emphasize daily fitness training. Not to build bulk, but to build efficiency. Small adjustments matter. They separate the professionals from the amateurs. A Formula One driver cannot be reactive at 200 miles an hour. Neither can an advisor, be emotionally reactive with market volatility. Preparation in conjunction with experience is everything.
What I am talking about is a practical ideology with clarity and longevity.
We all want to feel great, to be healthy, to be happy. But wanting is not enough. Action is required. Training, stretching, hydration, nutrition, recovery, reading, and just plain thinking with a cup of coffee during the quiet of the pre-morning sunrise, is critical. And then repeating, every day, without shortcuts, but at the same time, not falling into a rut. That is how Formula One teams win championships. That is how I guide individuals, couples, and family businesses, with an emphasis that retirement is a bonus phase, bonus winning laps, not the end of the race. 
In the end, being an investment and wealth advisor and manager is not a desk job. It is a high-speed, high-risk, rewarding race. It demands muscle memory, focus, endurance, and a lot of preparation. It drains the body, tests the mind, and lifts spirits by ignoring the know-nothing naysayers. And so, with the Seven Components of Wealth and status in harmony and consistent preparation, the laps keep coming, the focus stays sharp, and the race goes on, for me, and you.