Order of Man - July 30, 2024


MARK MATSON | Is the American Dream Dead or Alive?


Episode Stats

Length

1 hour

Words per Minute

179.33011

Word Count

10,783

Sentence Count

659

Misogynist Sentences

5

Hate Speech Sentences

12


Summary

Many men believe the American Dream is dead. In this episode of The Order of Man Podcast, Ryan Michler sits down with Mark Mattson, founder of Mattsons Money, to discuss why there is still much that can be done to achieve the American dream.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Many men believe the American dream is dead.
00:00:02.700 Just take a look at the upcoming presidential election
00:00:04.880 and you'll often hear how many will
00:00:06.760 in utter surrender and defeat say,
00:00:09.220 well, my vote doesn't count anyway, so why do it?
00:00:12.080 Or take a look at how many men will throw up their hands
00:00:14.720 and exclaim there's nothing they can do
00:00:16.740 about their marriage, the economy,
00:00:19.220 their job, or their circumstances.
00:00:21.640 And while there is much outside of our control,
00:00:24.160 there is still much within it.
00:00:26.200 My guest today, Mark Mattson, founder of Mattson Money,
00:00:28.400 is here to tell us why experiencing the American dream
00:00:31.600 is not out of reach for those
00:00:33.680 who may previously have thought so.
00:00:35.940 We talk about how to invest your time, money,
00:00:38.120 and energy wisely, an academic approach
00:00:40.600 to intelligent investing,
00:00:42.420 taking into consideration human brain science,
00:00:45.200 discovering a whole new way to see the world,
00:00:47.700 the forces standing between you and the American dream,
00:00:50.420 and most importantly, how to overcome them,
00:00:52.840 and the crucial importance of developing
00:00:54.760 what he calls your future view.
00:00:56.720 You're a man of action.
00:00:58.840 You live life to the fullest, embrace your fears,
00:01:01.460 and boldly chart your own path.
00:01:03.220 When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time,
00:01:06.580 every time.
00:01:07.680 You are not easily deterred or defeated,
00:01:09.920 rugged, resilient, strong.
00:01:12.740 This is your life.
00:01:13.820 This is who you are.
00:01:15.260 This is who you will become.
00:01:16.960 At the end of the day, and after all is said and done,
00:01:20.000 you can call yourself a man.
00:01:22.440 Gentlemen, welcome to the Order of Man podcast.
00:01:24.600 My name is Ryan Michler.
00:01:25.600 You might hear a little bit of raspiness in my voice.
00:01:28.460 I hope I'm not losing my voice,
00:01:30.040 but something's going on here,
00:01:31.920 so we'll bear down and get through this one.
00:01:34.720 Really glad that you're tuning in today.
00:01:36.240 Got a really, really powerful conversation
00:01:38.240 with an early coach and mentor.
00:01:40.720 You guys often ask me,
00:01:41.800 who mentors me, who coaches me?
00:01:43.720 This is a man who coached me directly and indirectly
00:01:46.760 about 11, 12 years ago
00:01:48.300 when I had my financial planning practice,
00:01:49.940 so I'm really, really looking forward
00:01:52.220 to sharing his knowledge and information with you guys.
00:01:56.560 Before we do, just want to mention my friends
00:01:58.280 over at Montana Knife Company.
00:02:00.000 I've been talking about them for probably, gosh,
00:02:02.060 six months at this point,
00:02:03.540 and they are doing incredible, incredible things
00:02:06.220 in American manufacturing,
00:02:07.740 and specifically making knives.
00:02:10.060 Knives for the field,
00:02:11.440 knives for your everyday carry,
00:02:12.940 knives in the kitchen,
00:02:14.380 all things knives.
00:02:15.660 So if you need a new blade
00:02:16.940 and you want to have a tool
00:02:18.480 that I think every man ought to carry around on him,
00:02:20.860 then look no further than Montana Knife Company
00:02:23.500 and use the code ORDEROFMAN at checkout.
00:02:26.120 ORDEROFMAN, all one word,
00:02:27.280 at montananifecompany.com.
00:02:30.720 All right, guys, with that said,
00:02:31.980 let me get to my guest.
00:02:33.100 He is the founder of Mattson Money.
00:02:34.740 His name is Mark Mattson.
00:02:36.560 And as I said, he happens to be a very early coach
00:02:39.260 to me back in the days
00:02:40.640 of running my financial planning practice.
00:02:42.720 He's an American entrepreneur, an author,
00:02:45.660 he's also an innovator
00:02:47.040 in the fields of investing science
00:02:48.620 and financial education.
00:02:50.360 He's created educational experiences,
00:02:52.980 platforms, tools that make
00:02:54.700 Nobel Prize winning investment research
00:02:57.140 accessible to everyday investors like you and me.
00:03:00.840 Most notably, he's the creator
00:03:02.180 of the American Dream Experience
00:03:03.480 and the Mattson Method.
00:03:04.820 In fact, as of November, 2023,
00:03:06.780 and he did give me some new numbers
00:03:08.320 in our conversation,
00:03:10.380 his firm manages nearly 10 billion,
00:03:13.340 I believe he said 11 billion now
00:03:15.020 with over 35,000 investors
00:03:17.400 and more than 500 financial advisors.
00:03:20.480 He's a regular contributor
00:03:21.640 and commentator on CNBC, Bloomberg,
00:03:25.180 Yahoo Finance, Fox,
00:03:26.740 and he's in the Wall Street Journal,
00:03:28.260 Investment News.
00:03:29.140 He's all over the place
00:03:30.380 because of his knowledge and expertise
00:03:32.160 in the field of investing.
00:03:33.660 He's also the author of Main Street Money
00:03:35.280 and his newest and upcoming book,
00:03:37.480 Experiencing the American Dream.
00:03:39.880 Mark, great to see you.
00:03:42.780 We were talking before I hit record.
00:03:44.580 It's been over 10 years
00:03:46.120 since we had any sort of conversation.
00:03:48.580 Pretty wild.
00:03:49.900 It's been crazy.
00:03:50.760 Time flies for sure.
00:03:52.720 Yeah.
00:03:53.200 I remember when I came out
00:03:55.080 to your guys' place,
00:03:57.080 you guys were in Ohio though.
00:03:59.180 Before you were in Arizona,
00:04:01.380 I went out there and saw your offices
00:04:03.220 and that was actually a pivotal moment
00:04:04.760 for me in my financial planning practice.
00:04:06.360 A lot changed when I hired your firm
00:04:07.980 and had you as a coach.
00:04:10.140 So I have to thank you
00:04:10.680 first and foremost for that.
00:04:12.500 You're welcome.
00:04:13.320 My honor.
00:04:15.200 So you've got a new book out
00:04:17.240 and it's called
00:04:17.980 Experiencing the American Dream.
00:04:19.640 I really want to talk about this
00:04:21.280 because I think there's a lot of people,
00:04:23.700 especially during an election cycle,
00:04:25.240 who are so passive and concerned
00:04:28.560 about where America is headed
00:04:30.480 and what it looks like
00:04:31.540 that a lot of men,
00:04:32.620 at least in my experience,
00:04:33.640 kind of seem to throw up their hands
00:04:35.080 and assume there's not much
00:04:37.180 they can do about it.
00:04:38.060 So tell me a little bit
00:04:39.080 about your perception
00:04:39.840 of the American Dream
00:04:41.000 and where you think
00:04:41.660 that's heading for people.
00:04:43.440 Yeah, that's exactly,
00:04:44.520 you know, why I wrote the book.
00:04:46.840 I've done a lot of deep thinking
00:04:48.260 about the American Dream
00:04:49.240 over my life.
00:04:50.620 When I was a little boy,
00:04:52.740 my dad,
00:04:53.820 I was born in West Virginia
00:04:55.420 and my parents were raised there
00:04:57.580 and they got us out
00:04:59.940 out of West Virginia, Cincinnati.
00:05:01.940 Uh, and then every summer
00:05:04.360 we'd drive back to West Virginia
00:05:06.100 to visit relatives.
00:05:07.240 And when we went back there,
00:05:08.740 I'd see all the massive poverty
00:05:10.560 and you'd see the shacks
00:05:12.980 and you'd see, uh,
00:05:14.660 not just poverty,
00:05:15.520 but destitute poverty
00:05:16.880 with trash in the yards
00:05:18.300 and, you know, uh,
00:05:20.300 refrigerators thrown in the creeks.
00:05:22.480 And, you know,
00:05:23.140 so it's a beautiful land
00:05:24.420 and really people
00:05:25.400 with really great hearts.
00:05:26.640 So they, they take off the shirt
00:05:28.040 of their back to give it to you.
00:05:29.640 But it was like something,
00:05:31.400 some like invisible,
00:05:32.700 invisible force
00:05:33.740 was just keeping them stuck.
00:05:35.460 Uh, like they were in prison.
00:05:37.760 And my dad got us out of there
00:05:40.020 and started teaching me
00:05:41.100 the values of the American Dream.
00:05:43.120 Uh, the ideals of freedom,
00:05:44.580 the ideas of hard work,
00:05:45.720 the ideas of personal responsibility,
00:05:47.500 uh, the ideals that
00:05:49.500 no one owes you anything,
00:05:51.180 except that he didn't say anything.
00:05:52.480 He said the S word.
00:05:53.920 Uh, and he said,
00:05:54.780 you have to earn it yourself.
00:05:56.000 Uh, and don't ever expect anything
00:05:58.260 without, without you first
00:05:59.720 providing value to other people.
00:06:01.920 And my grandfather
00:06:03.080 was kind of the opposite.
00:06:05.320 He believed people were entitled.
00:06:07.120 He believed he was doomed.
00:06:08.840 He believed that he would never escape.
00:06:11.680 Um, and he and my father
00:06:13.860 always had a lot of conflict
00:06:15.040 through their life.
00:06:16.960 Uh, so my dad talked,
00:06:18.880 I asked him when I was
00:06:19.820 about 10 years old,
00:06:20.600 how did you get out of the poverty?
00:06:21.920 How did you go from destitute poverty
00:06:23.800 was so bad that rats
00:06:25.840 would come into the house
00:06:27.180 where their little shack
00:06:28.520 by the railroad that they lived in.
00:06:30.240 And he would cut off the tops
00:06:31.800 of instant carnation milk cans
00:06:33.340 and nail them to the bottom
00:06:34.540 of the baseboard.
00:06:35.900 So the rats couldn't get in.
00:06:37.800 Uh, and that's how,
00:06:38.920 how, I mean, there's a real poverty.
00:06:41.200 Uh, and he said, look,
00:06:43.420 it's all about asking
00:06:44.440 the right questions,
00:06:45.380 which to me at 10 years old
00:06:46.920 sounded like something
00:06:47.720 Yoda would say.
00:06:49.280 I'm like, well, what,
00:06:50.520 what does that mean?
00:06:51.780 He said, well, if I asked myself
00:06:53.940 why I was doomed
00:06:55.040 to live in destitute poverty
00:06:56.780 for the rest of my life,
00:06:57.980 like your grandpa,
00:07:00.000 my life would have turned out one way.
00:07:02.120 Instead, I asked myself,
00:07:03.440 how can I create value
00:07:04.800 and opportunity for other people
00:07:06.680 and lift myself out of this poverty
00:07:08.940 as so many other people
00:07:10.000 have done in their life?
00:07:11.560 Uh, so the question,
00:07:13.100 the key, you know,
00:07:13.760 the key question that drove him
00:07:15.140 to get out of there,
00:07:16.020 uh, and to create
00:07:17.160 the American dream for his family,
00:07:18.660 uh, uh, was something that,
00:07:20.780 that, that led me
00:07:22.080 to be an entrepreneur.
00:07:23.820 Um, and so I taught,
00:07:26.780 I taught to people
00:07:27.440 that the American dream
00:07:28.420 is not dead.
00:07:29.440 Yes, we have problems.
00:07:30.720 Yes, there's,
00:07:31.320 there's terrible conflict.
00:07:32.620 Yes, social media makes it worse.
00:07:34.720 Um, and there's definitely
00:07:36.480 Marxism and socialism
00:07:38.120 out there in the world
00:07:39.860 and in, in America, politics.
00:07:42.380 Uh, but the American dream
00:07:43.580 isn't dead.
00:07:44.140 And, and, and men,
00:07:45.620 men are going to need
00:07:46.480 to fight for it,
00:07:47.400 fight for their families,
00:07:48.400 uh, and fight to keep
00:07:49.980 the ideals of the American dream alive.
00:07:52.380 I, I want to talk about
00:07:53.740 what that fighting for it
00:07:54.900 looks like in practicality.
00:07:56.200 But before I do,
00:07:57.080 when you talk about your dad
00:07:58.420 having those,
00:07:59.080 that mindset of asking
00:08:00.440 the right questions,
00:08:01.360 which I think is an amazing,
00:08:02.700 uh, amazing mindset to have.
00:08:05.060 Where did he pick that up though?
00:08:06.500 Because clearly his father
00:08:07.840 didn't have that mindset.
00:08:09.120 He was probably surrounded
00:08:10.640 by other people,
00:08:11.600 uh, based on their current
00:08:13.300 circumstances that did not
00:08:14.580 have that mindset.
00:08:15.280 Was he just fortunate or
00:08:16.880 was he introduced to
00:08:18.760 some of these concepts
00:08:19.860 by a mentor or somebody
00:08:20.980 in his inner circle?
00:08:23.040 He, he, you know,
00:08:24.040 I, I, I, I, I,
00:08:25.300 I ponder this and I actually
00:08:27.040 asked him, I said,
00:08:28.980 how did you get that,
00:08:30.800 that, that view?
00:08:32.740 Yeah.
00:08:33.120 Right.
00:08:33.640 While everybody else was stuck.
00:08:35.340 I mean, it was so bad,
00:08:36.340 Ryan.
00:08:36.580 It was so bad.
00:08:37.620 My grandpa only came to
00:08:38.860 visit us one time in Cincinnati
00:08:40.240 and he, he visited us.
00:08:42.700 He, and we, we weren't rich.
00:08:43.980 We had like an 1800 square
00:08:45.720 foot home and it was been,
00:08:46.820 it was really well kept
00:08:48.200 and very beautiful.
00:08:49.500 And, uh, and he walked in
00:08:52.000 the house and he said,
00:08:53.080 how many people did you rip
00:08:54.600 off to get this house?
00:08:56.420 And my dad was like,
00:08:57.980 George, I'm an entrepreneur.
00:08:59.600 Mary Lou and I work really
00:09:00.860 hard for, you know,
00:09:02.060 protect for our boys and
00:09:03.600 provide for our family.
00:09:05.220 Uh, not everybody that has
00:09:06.640 money is a crook, you know,
00:09:08.340 small business people work
00:09:09.640 really hard to be of service.
00:09:11.560 And, um, he said, well,
00:09:12.980 I guess you're big shot.
00:09:14.720 And then he left, he got,
00:09:16.040 he stormed out of the house.
00:09:17.100 He never came back.
00:09:18.160 And three months later,
00:09:19.280 he died alone in his, uh,
00:09:20.720 in his small house and, uh,
00:09:22.780 in West Virginia.
00:09:23.560 Uh, so he really, he actually
00:09:26.080 died to keep his beliefs in,
00:09:28.200 in, uh, tact, uh, because he
00:09:31.460 would, and they offered him
00:09:32.600 raises when he worked at
00:09:34.020 Union Carbide, the chemical
00:09:35.200 company, but he wouldn't take
00:09:36.340 them because he said he didn't
00:09:37.560 want to work for the man.
00:09:38.840 Uh, and so how did my dad
00:09:41.980 get it?
00:09:42.780 I pondered that and I'm not
00:09:45.840 sure how he did it, but it
00:09:48.840 had a little bit to do.
00:09:50.220 It's not PC, but he actually
00:09:53.600 was angry and pissed off at his
00:09:58.580 situation.
00:09:59.140 He was really a little guy and
00:10:00.500 they had, um, uh, socks.
00:10:03.920 He only had one pair of shoes a
00:10:05.340 year.
00:10:05.560 So when he went to gym, he
00:10:06.580 had socks and the bigger boys
00:10:08.560 would get these big rubber
00:10:09.700 balls.
00:10:10.140 You remember we used to have
00:10:11.060 in gym class.
00:10:11.880 Oh yeah.
00:10:12.280 You could hear, hear those
00:10:13.780 things right now.
00:10:14.940 And they blew them up.
00:10:17.460 Uh, he would walk home with
00:10:19.240 the shame and anger of the
00:10:21.440 poverty and just, you know, uh,
00:10:24.440 made a solemn vow to himself
00:10:25.860 that he would escape.
00:10:27.120 So I don't know.
00:10:28.160 I don't really know why when
00:10:29.360 so many people, uh, are
00:10:32.940 crushed by that kind of soul
00:10:34.340 crushing poverty.
00:10:35.200 I think it's kind of taught
00:10:36.520 to them to stay in it.
00:10:38.400 Um, and then, and my father
00:10:40.340 escaped.
00:10:40.980 I think that, but my advice
00:10:43.700 for, for men is that you can
00:10:46.880 choose your screen.
00:10:48.360 You can see the screen.
00:10:50.840 We call them terministic
00:10:51.760 screens in the book of where
00:10:53.640 you are right now.
00:10:54.620 The questions you ask, the
00:10:55.740 way you see the world.
00:10:57.200 And then you can look at a
00:10:58.500 different screen and say,
00:11:00.380 which screen serves me
00:11:01.540 better.
00:11:01.940 And you can exchange one
00:11:04.160 screen or way of looking for
00:11:05.540 the, at the world for another
00:11:07.300 screen.
00:11:08.480 And based on those screens,
00:11:09.880 that's going to determine
00:11:10.720 what's possible for your life
00:11:12.060 and what actions you're going
00:11:12.960 to take.
00:11:13.840 Uh, they're invisible to
00:11:15.320 people, uh, and they think
00:11:17.200 they see the world, but they
00:11:18.260 don't really see the world.
00:11:19.260 They only allow them.
00:11:20.280 They're only able to see what
00:11:21.260 the screen allows them to see.
00:11:22.640 Um, yeah, that's an
00:11:25.100 interesting concept when you
00:11:27.580 are so adamant and so sure
00:11:30.280 about the way life is.
00:11:32.900 And then something is
00:11:34.240 introduced into your life,
00:11:35.600 some outside circumstance,
00:11:37.600 some tragic event, some new
00:11:39.860 knowledge or information that
00:11:41.340 gets you thinking.
00:11:42.380 And then for me, I've wondered
00:11:43.900 how long have I had it wrong
00:11:46.560 and how much have I missed?
00:11:48.940 How many opportunities have I
00:11:50.500 missed?
00:11:50.920 Because I see this one little
00:11:52.800 piece of my life that's
00:11:53.820 changed now.
00:11:55.580 I had, uh, you know, I
00:11:57.860 started my business.
00:11:59.160 Uh, I had, I had, I only had
00:12:01.660 three things.
00:12:02.500 I had a yellow pad and overhead
00:12:03.720 projector and $30,000 in debt.
00:12:06.100 And now we have $11 billion
00:12:07.880 and, uh, you know, 35,000
00:12:11.020 families all over the country.
00:12:12.500 And, uh, I've been very
00:12:14.280 blessed.
00:12:15.060 Uh, but I had a view of, uh,
00:12:18.120 actual, uh, a way of seeing
00:12:20.280 the world that you can't
00:12:22.100 trust employees.
00:12:23.260 They won't work hard.
00:12:25.200 Uh, I'm not a good manager.
00:12:27.740 Um, and that, uh, I might as
00:12:30.300 well just do things myself.
00:12:31.500 Well, I had to come to terms
00:12:34.380 with that was just a screen or
00:12:36.720 why'd I call a money demon
00:12:38.000 that actually prohibited me.
00:12:40.700 I was never going to be
00:12:41.380 successful.
00:12:41.840 I was never going to have a
00:12:42.700 company.
00:12:43.020 I'd never be able to spread the
00:12:44.860 news.
00:12:45.140 So I had to do violence.
00:12:46.760 You actually have to do
00:12:47.600 violence to the old belief.
00:12:49.400 You have to actually kill it
00:12:51.160 off.
00:12:52.480 Uh, and it couldn't be that
00:12:54.380 there are no good employees
00:12:55.760 because some companies have
00:12:56.740 10,000 people and it couldn't
00:12:58.900 be that I wasn't a good
00:13:00.680 manager.
00:13:01.100 I just had to have really
00:13:01.980 honest conversations with
00:13:03.180 people and have boundaries
00:13:04.980 and set, but help them set
00:13:06.120 goals.
00:13:07.080 So I had to drive a truck
00:13:09.320 through those two demon
00:13:10.620 beliefs, those mindsets, just
00:13:12.500 like George had my, my, uh,
00:13:14.420 grandfather about money.
00:13:17.080 Uh, and then after that I
00:13:18.900 was able to go out, I was
00:13:19.860 able to find great people.
00:13:21.020 I was able to train them.
00:13:22.240 I was able to hire them, you
00:13:23.880 know, and today we have, uh,
00:13:25.300 over 60 employees, uh, in
00:13:27.700 Cincinnati and, uh, Scottsdale.
00:13:31.760 Um, but it's easy once you,
00:13:33.780 once and my, but my biggest
00:13:36.220 one of all Ryan was I spent
00:13:37.680 most of my life not believing
00:13:39.920 in God.
00:13:40.540 Uh, and when I, when I went
00:13:43.020 through divorce and I was
00:13:44.480 feeling like a terrible father
00:13:46.240 and feeling like a failure
00:13:47.820 feeling like, uh, like my
00:13:50.200 whole life had just had just
00:13:51.600 led to destruction, me
00:13:53.520 trying to run my own life.
00:13:55.440 Uh, a friend of mine said,
00:13:57.260 well, are you ready?
00:13:58.180 And I said, ready for what?
00:13:59.160 He said, ready to stop trying
00:14:00.680 to run your own life.
00:14:02.260 And I said, yeah, I kind of
00:14:04.000 ran it into a brick wall.
00:14:05.420 It's not working very well.
00:14:07.340 It's not working.
00:14:08.640 Me being in control.
00:14:10.540 Uh, and I hit my knees and I
00:14:11.880 prayed my first honest prayer
00:14:13.120 for God to come into my life.
00:14:15.020 And, uh, that's, that's the
00:14:16.680 power of changing one screen
00:14:18.020 to another.
00:14:20.080 I, uh, was introduced to the
00:14:21.780 concept you briefly mentioned
00:14:23.060 a minute ago called money
00:14:24.200 demons by you about 11 or so
00:14:26.640 years ago.
00:14:27.340 And one of the exercises that
00:14:29.980 I'll never forget, we were
00:14:31.060 sitting in one of your
00:14:31.880 conference rooms and you said
00:14:33.940 something to the effect of
00:14:35.100 fill in the blank, rich people
00:14:36.880 are blank.
00:14:39.460 And so as you know, rich people
00:14:41.140 are greedy, rich people are
00:14:42.480 crooks, rich people are
00:14:43.580 assholes.
00:14:44.160 And there's just a plethora of
00:14:46.020 negativity around this word
00:14:47.960 rich.
00:14:48.820 And those are a pretty good
00:14:50.140 indicator that you've got some
00:14:51.300 demons that you need to work
00:14:52.260 through regarding.
00:14:53.360 Look, if you think rich people
00:14:55.000 are evil, then you're never
00:14:57.820 going to be rich because you
00:14:58.960 don't want to be an evil
00:14:59.780 person.
00:15:00.280 So you'll sabotage yourself
00:15:01.860 even subconsciously.
00:15:03.800 Right on.
00:15:05.120 Yeah.
00:15:05.800 Or even if, yeah, even if you
00:15:08.480 just think they're lucky, uh,
00:15:10.840 that, that their money was a
00:15:12.720 folk, just a function of they
00:15:14.160 were lucky.
00:15:15.180 Uh, then I'm not going to
00:15:16.280 really work hard to achieve it,
00:15:17.680 but you're absolutely right.
00:15:18.960 Man, if you, if you got it
00:15:20.160 like they're evil or they're
00:15:21.240 greedy or they're, uh,
00:15:23.000 mean to other people or
00:15:24.420 they're, you know, whatever
00:15:25.700 it is, you're right.
00:15:27.200 You'll never, you'll never
00:15:28.300 aspire to it and you never
00:15:29.500 create it.
00:15:30.300 And that is another form of a
00:15:31.800 money demon for sure.
00:15:33.600 What do you, what do you
00:15:34.940 think of the phrase, uh,
00:15:36.660 money isn't the most
00:15:38.280 important thing.
00:15:39.080 And, you know, clearly
00:15:40.860 that's the case.
00:15:41.740 There's some truth to that,
00:15:42.960 of course, but there's always
00:15:44.860 an underlying toxicity and
00:15:47.460 a negative connotation to a
00:15:49.080 phrase like that.
00:15:49.860 What are your, what are your
00:15:50.700 thoughts on that?
00:15:51.360 Yeah, that's a good one.
00:15:53.900 So money, money definitely
00:15:55.740 isn't everything.
00:15:57.020 Uh, in the book, I talk
00:15:58.700 about the idea that money
00:15:59.980 can't make you happy.
00:16:01.680 Uh, I've seen people with
00:16:03.300 tens of millions of dollars,
00:16:04.920 uh, you know, in the, uh,
00:16:07.980 in history, it's rife with
00:16:10.320 people like Elvis or Marilyn
00:16:11.720 Monroe or Howard Hughes,
00:16:12.940 people that had massive
00:16:14.340 amounts of money and fame,
00:16:16.000 uh, and it did them no good.
00:16:18.080 It actually made them more
00:16:19.120 miserable, uh, money, money
00:16:21.400 by itself can't make you
00:16:22.740 happy, no amount of money.
00:16:24.540 So the default position for
00:16:26.160 most people though is, is
00:16:27.600 gambling and speculating
00:16:28.700 with their money, trying to
00:16:30.100 get more and more and more
00:16:31.020 of it, but it never actually
00:16:32.560 bringing happiness or
00:16:33.620 fulfillment.
00:16:34.660 So in the book, I talk about
00:16:36.220 purpose and the idea that if
00:16:38.700 you have a purpose for your
00:16:39.860 money and for your life,
00:16:41.100 that's greater than money, uh,
00:16:43.700 then you can actually have a
00:16:45.180 compass and studies show
00:16:47.800 that people with the true
00:16:48.920 purpose, they wake up in the
00:16:50.000 morning and they have it in
00:16:51.100 their heart.
00:16:51.620 They live longer.
00:16:52.700 They have better relationships.
00:16:53.980 They're better fathers.
00:16:55.320 They're better parents.
00:16:56.480 Uh, they, they are healthier.
00:16:58.100 They take care of their
00:16:58.740 bodies better.
00:16:59.580 They re they respond to being
00:17:01.260 happier.
00:17:02.300 Uh, they didn't, they tend to
00:17:04.200 create more wealth.
00:17:05.380 Uh, but it's not for money's
00:17:07.280 sake.
00:17:07.560 It's from their purpose in
00:17:09.100 life.
00:17:09.980 Uh, so we talk a lot about
00:17:11.460 purpose and we talk a lot about
00:17:12.800 how to create a purpose, uh,
00:17:14.900 that drives you.
00:17:15.840 And the great thing about
00:17:16.600 purpose is if you have a
00:17:18.400 really strong purpose, then
00:17:19.640 almost any amount of money
00:17:20.800 will do.
00:17:21.720 So even if I'm extremely, even
00:17:23.480 if I'm at the poverty level,
00:17:24.620 like in my true purpose, let's
00:17:26.220 say what's love.
00:17:26.840 I can make a card and I can
00:17:28.280 take it to a friend.
00:17:29.580 I can sit within the hospital.
00:17:30.860 I can hold their hand.
00:17:32.740 Um, and I can express love for
00:17:35.040 people, uh, whether I have, you
00:17:37.980 know, a hundred dollars or a
00:17:39.260 hundred million.
00:17:40.520 So, so purpose really is the
00:17:42.420 key, uh, that allows you to
00:17:44.520 get out of the, and look,
00:17:46.840 we're all, all a little
00:17:48.160 greedy and we're all a little
00:17:49.280 selfish and we're all, it's
00:17:50.680 part of humanity.
00:17:52.160 Uh, and we all tend to gamble
00:17:53.820 and want to get rich quick.
00:17:55.480 Uh, but that's very
00:17:56.520 destructive.
00:17:57.040 And if you have a very
00:17:58.040 powerful purpose, it'll help
00:18:00.160 offset that.
00:18:01.780 Yeah.
00:18:02.220 It's, it's, it's a bit
00:18:03.400 ironic and a bit cruel also,
00:18:05.900 you know, that you have to
00:18:08.080 find that purpose.
00:18:08.860 I actually, when I was
00:18:10.200 introduced to that concept
00:18:11.580 by, by you and your team, I
00:18:14.200 actually didn't believe it.
00:18:16.140 I was like, I mean, a true
00:18:17.360 purpose, you know, I don't, I
00:18:19.520 can go out and I can be a
00:18:20.360 great financial advisor.
00:18:21.460 I can collect a lot of assets.
00:18:23.160 I can help people in a
00:18:24.540 positive way and I can make a
00:18:25.940 boatload of money doing it.
00:18:27.140 But, um, a mutual friend of
00:18:29.460 mine, Greg black, I don't know
00:18:31.320 if you know, yeah.
00:18:33.780 So he's the one who ended up
00:18:35.480 buying my practice, but he can
00:18:37.500 attest to this.
00:18:39.040 I knew I wasn't going to be in
00:18:40.660 this business forever.
00:18:41.920 I knew that.
00:18:43.580 And I was doing fairly well and
00:18:45.540 making ends meet.
00:18:47.220 But the minute I left and I
00:18:49.420 started doing this with order
00:18:50.880 of man, which more closely
00:18:52.460 aligns with my true purpose.
00:18:54.180 Yeah.
00:18:55.020 Ironically, I wasn't chasing
00:18:56.600 the money, but the money just
00:18:58.280 followed.
00:18:58.660 And I did significantly better
00:19:00.660 financially, not to mention
00:19:02.660 the value and the satisfaction
00:19:04.860 derived from it than I ever did
00:19:06.760 as a financial advisor.
00:19:08.920 That is so cool, dude.
00:19:10.680 I love that story.
00:19:12.180 Uh, I think for men, especially,
00:19:15.120 uh, I did an American dream
00:19:16.580 experience, uh, last week,
00:19:18.160 Thursday and Friday, uh, which
00:19:20.100 is a two day workshop about the
00:19:21.800 American dream and how to invest
00:19:23.160 for your purpose.
00:19:23.880 Um, I think men think purpose is
00:19:28.260 soft, like, well, you know, it's
00:19:31.380 touchy feely and it's, you know,
00:19:33.760 have a purpose and, you know, it's
00:19:36.460 not hard science.
00:19:38.120 It's, I want to see the numbers and
00:19:40.140 the math and to build the portfolio
00:19:41.860 and like that.
00:19:43.680 And I tell people in the, the class
00:19:46.440 that nothing could be further from
00:19:47.700 the truth.
00:19:48.180 Uh, anyone that's ever done anything
00:19:51.340 great in the world has had a
00:19:54.680 powerful purpose.
00:19:55.860 You know, whether that was Winston
00:19:57.320 Churchill or the Wright brothers or,
00:19:59.160 or Elon Musk or, you know, uh, Steve
00:20:03.020 Jobs, uh, and, and purpose people,
00:20:06.680 people, I was reading John, uh, to my
00:20:09.320 kids, uh, the gospel of John last, uh,
00:20:12.440 yesterday to my kids, you know, people
00:20:15.440 die for their purpose, people, you
00:20:18.880 know, Martin Luther King died for his
00:20:20.700 purpose.
00:20:21.620 There's nothing soft or touchy feely
00:20:23.920 about purpose.
00:20:24.920 And I think if we're talking about
00:20:26.780 masculinity, I don't think there's
00:20:28.060 anything more masculine than having a
00:20:30.240 purpose for you and your family and
00:20:32.740 your community and the world that
00:20:34.780 you're willing to go to fight for.
00:20:36.880 Um, it's, uh, and it's a noble, I
00:20:39.400 think, honorable and courageous thing
00:20:40.900 to do.
00:20:41.480 I think a lot of people don't want it
00:20:43.260 to have a purpose because they know
00:20:46.280 subconsciously, they know if I have a
00:20:48.980 purpose, I'm going to have to do
00:20:50.600 something about it.
00:20:51.960 I'm going to have to get an action.
00:20:54.020 I can't just sit here on the couch and
00:20:55.920 be soft.
00:20:56.740 I got to go up to out there in world
00:20:58.560 and be a warrior.
00:20:59.720 And I think that's why I
00:21:00.840 subconsciously, a lot of people don't
00:21:02.440 want to have one, but congratulations
00:21:04.480 on your podcast and putting your purpose
00:21:06.200 in action, bro.
00:21:06.940 It's so awesome.
00:21:08.280 Yeah, no, I really appreciate it.
00:21:09.580 And a lot of that came from the things
00:21:11.000 that I, I mean, obviously I'm still
00:21:12.220 talking about him here, 10, 11, 12
00:21:13.840 years later.
00:21:14.740 How do you suggest, I mean, I know
00:21:16.380 it's not a one-time exercise.
00:21:17.620 I know no one's going to walk away
00:21:19.740 from this podcast with a few ideas
00:21:21.340 and miraculously they're going to
00:21:23.040 find their purpose.
00:21:23.740 They're going to help a bunch of
00:21:24.760 people.
00:21:25.060 They're going to make great money
00:21:26.060 and all of their wildest dreams
00:21:27.320 are going to come true.
00:21:28.700 But how do you suggest a man who
00:21:30.800 agrees with you?
00:21:31.940 Hey, I do need a purpose.
00:21:33.900 Begin to develop and articulate what
00:21:36.120 his might be.
00:21:37.500 Yeah.
00:21:38.340 Well, as a same, a shameless self
00:21:40.300 promotion, you go to Amazon and grab
00:21:42.700 the book, uh, experiencing the
00:21:44.600 American dream.
00:21:45.460 I, there's actually seven different
00:21:47.320 strategies in there.
00:21:48.980 Uh, one of them is to create a
00:21:50.540 purpose for money.
00:21:51.960 Um, I, I think the thing about the
00:21:55.860 purpose and, and it's an, actually an
00:21:57.720 exercise.
00:21:58.120 It takes about an hour to go through.
00:22:00.160 Uh, once you have your purpose, then
00:22:03.120 you have to be willing to look at your
00:22:04.520 life and then you have to eliminate
00:22:07.000 those things that are not in alignment
00:22:08.860 with your purpose and then to start
00:22:12.140 doing more things that actually align
00:22:14.120 with your purpose.
00:22:15.800 Um, and so, you know, my true purpose is
00:22:19.140 to help save the American dream and
00:22:21.040 help people discover their purpose.
00:22:23.640 Um, and the magic thing about that, when
00:22:26.840 you really go in through and start to
00:22:28.700 apply it, it's not that hard because
00:22:31.600 subconsciously it's probably already in
00:22:33.200 there.
00:22:33.340 Um, you just have to flesh it out and
00:22:36.100 brainstorm or write some stuff down.
00:22:37.720 And there's a process to doing it.
00:22:40.640 Um, and then once you have it, then you
00:22:43.460 can start aligning the rest of the
00:22:45.200 strategies around it.
00:22:46.860 Um, and the, the American dream itself
00:22:51.300 is a screen.
00:22:53.480 It's like the, it's a way that I see the
00:22:55.600 world.
00:22:56.920 And if I didn't see the world, the way it
00:22:59.260 is a screen allows you to do things other
00:23:02.040 people wouldn't do and eliminate things
00:23:04.800 that other people wouldn't eliminate.
00:23:06.460 So having that screen of the American
00:23:08.500 dream versus the opposite, which is
00:23:12.820 victimhood and entitlement, uh, that's
00:23:17.040 the complete, uh, opposite realm and the
00:23:21.720 purpose and the belief in the American
00:23:23.660 dream and taking care of your family and
00:23:25.500 working hard, I think is the part of the
00:23:28.000 foundation of being a man, uh, a real man
00:23:30.920 and taking care of your family.
00:23:34.220 Gentlemen, let me, uh, step back from the
00:23:36.100 conversation very quickly.
00:23:37.580 We're talking about the American dream.
00:23:39.440 Uh, no one experiences or expects to
00:23:42.200 experience, I should say a divorce and a
00:23:45.000 divorce can have a real impact on your
00:23:47.520 pursuit of your American dream.
00:23:49.480 It's one of the darkest times a man can
00:23:51.720 ever face, but it really doesn't have to
00:23:53.860 be that way.
00:23:54.420 Or at least that darkness does not have to
00:23:56.900 last as long as it does for so many.
00:23:59.060 But unless you have a way to navigate the
00:24:01.600 early stages of divorce in an efficient
00:24:03.340 way, a man can easily find himself
00:24:06.020 drowning in a sea of sorrow and shame,
00:24:08.940 isolation, and even financial ruin.
00:24:11.620 That's why we've decided to create the
00:24:13.100 course Divorce Not Death to help those
00:24:15.200 men going through the first 12 months of
00:24:17.900 this very challenging time.
00:24:19.240 Now we launched the course in October,
00:24:21.140 but you can get signed up right now to
00:24:23.660 start receiving notifications and resources
00:24:25.540 from experts in the field of law, finance,
00:24:29.220 physical fitness, mental health, and even
00:24:31.280 dating.
00:24:32.040 So regardless of where you are in your
00:24:34.380 process, we will get you everything you
00:24:36.680 need to overcome the challenges and hurdles
00:24:39.340 you've found yourself confronting.
00:24:41.820 To learn more and to get signed up for
00:24:43.360 those notifications and when we go live in
00:24:45.080 October, head to DivorceNotDeath.com.
00:24:48.020 That's DivorceNotDeath.com.
00:24:50.760 Do that after the show.
00:24:51.960 For now, I'll get back to it with Mark.
00:24:53.360 I think in my experience, what I've seen a
00:24:56.680 lot of guys do when they start thinking
00:24:58.300 about something that maybe even just fires
00:25:00.420 them up a little bit, is they'll begin to
00:25:03.380 disqualify it.
00:25:04.740 You know, they'll say, hey, I'd really like
00:25:06.200 to pursue this hobby.
00:25:09.000 And they'll say, ah, but I'm busy.
00:25:10.660 Ah, but it's expensive.
00:25:11.880 Oh, but I'm tired.
00:25:12.900 Oh, but I have responsibility.
00:25:14.840 And they do that with every little thing that
00:25:16.800 could possibly mean something significant in
00:25:19.140 their lives.
00:25:20.200 And a lot of times I've also found that
00:25:21.820 your purpose isn't going to, you know,
00:25:24.080 the clouds aren't going to part.
00:25:25.380 The angels aren't going to sing with their
00:25:26.680 trumpets from on high and say, this is what
00:25:29.040 you're meant to do.
00:25:30.400 There'll be subtle signs that you have to
00:25:32.660 follow before.
00:25:34.180 And I, and I'm, I'm a believer as well,
00:25:36.220 but there'll be subtle signs that you have
00:25:38.040 to follow to test your faith before you're
00:25:40.880 given something a little bit bigger and a
00:25:43.240 little bit bigger and a little bit bigger.
00:25:44.760 And you do that enough over five years,
00:25:47.280 10 years, 20 years.
00:25:48.560 Because it's your life's unrecognizable.
00:25:51.960 For sure.
00:25:52.900 I think that if you ask yourself, when you're
00:25:54.880 thinking about purpose, if I lived my life like
00:25:58.760 this, with this purpose, would I be inspired by
00:26:03.020 my own life?
00:26:05.020 If I live my life like this, would I be
00:26:08.020 inspired by my own life?
00:26:10.440 If I took the actions and had the views, uh,
00:26:14.120 based on this purpose, would I be inspired?
00:26:17.420 And then the other thing to know is that, look,
00:26:20.300 when, when you define it, uh, it won't be just
00:26:24.460 like a walk in the park and soft.
00:26:27.260 It'll be like, people will come, come at you.
00:26:30.960 There, there will be people who don't want you
00:26:32.940 to be strong.
00:26:33.620 There are people that don't want you to fulfill
00:26:35.300 on your purpose.
00:26:36.020 There are people, and that's a, that's a good
00:26:38.280 sign that you actually have a good purpose.
00:26:39.940 Uh, um, if it, the, the fact that you have
00:26:44.340 detractors or people that might, um, you know,
00:26:47.680 especially on social media and such, uh, people
00:26:50.420 that come after you, uh, that's probably a good
00:26:53.140 sign that you're heading in the right direction.
00:26:55.560 Yeah, it is.
00:26:56.460 It is pretty tell.
00:26:58.280 And also the other thing I think it's important
00:27:00.360 to know is no one's going to believe in you when
00:27:03.700 you start doing these things.
00:27:04.960 And if I was in their shoes, I wouldn't either.
00:27:08.840 And I think a lot of guys are just waiting for
00:27:11.360 validation or approval or, uh, a little bit of
00:27:15.320 support.
00:27:16.020 I just don't think you're going to get it.
00:27:17.720 At least when you start, you might from your mom
00:27:20.060 or from your wife, but you're not going to get
00:27:22.160 the kind of support that you think you want before
00:27:24.320 you can pursue these, these endeavors.
00:27:28.080 Yeah.
00:27:28.460 When, when you, when you pursue them, um, my dad
00:27:32.320 always used to say, most people support your
00:27:35.260 success in theory only, uh, human nature is
00:27:41.420 rife with jealousy.
00:27:43.240 Uh, I've seen more business deals go bad over
00:27:45.860 jealousy and resentment, uh, than I have anything.
00:27:49.280 Uh, it's a killer for businesses and for
00:27:51.780 partnerships and for, um, any kind of endeavor
00:27:54.900 for that matter.
00:27:55.640 Uh, the human condition, uh, of jealousy can
00:27:58.820 really rip things apart.
00:27:59.960 Uh, and the more successful you get, uh, the
00:28:03.920 more you'd have to have to tend to deal with
00:28:06.120 that.
00:28:06.960 Uh, but, but not to let it back you down
00:28:09.820 because it will, it will show up for sure.
00:28:14.380 You spend a good amount of time in the book.
00:28:16.720 And I've also heard you talk about the things
00:28:18.520 that stand in the way of your American dream.
00:28:20.960 Can you share with us what some of those things
00:28:23.020 are?
00:28:23.320 Because obviously as you set out on this path,
00:28:26.880 you're going to run into obstacles and knowing
00:28:28.820 what they might be will help you address those
00:28:30.780 as they come up and maybe even squash them
00:28:32.860 before they do.
00:28:34.540 Yeah, that's a good point.
00:28:35.940 Uh, I, I, I think for the American dream,
00:28:41.040 the first thing to get straight about the
00:28:43.780 American dream is what the ideals of the
00:28:45.720 American dream are.
00:28:46.660 And then have those become part of your screen
00:28:49.780 of how you see the world.
00:28:51.480 So this, the American dream, number one,
00:28:53.920 that takes freedom.
00:28:55.340 I have to have freedom of thought.
00:28:56.940 I have to have freedom of, uh, religion.
00:28:59.460 I have to have freedom of communication, speech,
00:29:02.620 um, freedom to own property because you might
00:29:07.120 be an entrepreneur or you might own your own
00:29:09.320 house.
00:29:10.280 Uh, you're going to, you're going to own
00:29:12.120 something and then also then the rule of law
00:29:16.360 to protect your ownership and to protect your
00:29:19.240 rights, uh, and to value and be appreciative
00:29:22.520 for the brave men and women that have died for
00:29:24.580 your freedoms, uh, and, and to be a part of
00:29:27.580 this great country.
00:29:29.140 Um, I always tell people you can either create
00:29:31.480 or you can complain and it's a lot easier to
00:29:34.560 complain than it is, than it is to build
00:29:37.520 something up.
00:29:38.200 Uh, and then, then if you have those ideals
00:29:41.940 and then I tell people, don't be afraid to
00:29:46.860 start at the bottom.
00:29:48.700 Uh, everybody wants to go, go, you know, get
00:29:51.420 a degree, you know, get $200,000 in debt and
00:29:54.020 then stop, start as the CEO of a company.
00:29:56.420 That's not what I was taught.
00:29:57.940 I was taught if you have to start at the bottom,
00:30:01.160 uh, even if you have to work for free as an
00:30:03.560 intern, uh, I worked a lot of places free
00:30:06.120 before I started this company.
00:30:08.200 Um, especially summer jobs and things like
00:30:10.960 that, but hard work.
00:30:13.680 I mean, I, my first job was a carpet cleaner.
00:30:17.160 I'm in fact, I moved the, I moved the
00:30:19.380 furniture for the guy that cleaned the
00:30:21.080 carpet, uh, you know, 95% humidity, 95
00:30:24.460 degree temperature.
00:30:26.240 You know, I cleaned dog kennels.
00:30:28.860 Uh, you know, I, I mean, it was, it was
00:30:31.180 some rough, rough and taught me.
00:30:32.900 I didn't want to do that for a living.
00:30:34.160 Um, and that, that, that, but that hard
00:30:36.520 work, hard work builds a man up.
00:30:42.220 Uh, it's, you feel good about it.
00:30:44.240 You can feel it lifts your self-esteem.
00:30:46.680 It's a matter of fulfillment.
00:30:48.440 You can look at a job well done.
00:30:50.440 And then people around you and companies
00:30:52.520 aren't always going to be looking for the
00:30:53.740 hardest working person because the hardest
00:30:55.840 working person is going to get raises.
00:30:57.320 They're going to get opportunities.
00:30:58.300 They're going to get additional training.
00:30:59.700 They're going to get elevated, uh, or
00:31:02.160 eventually own their own company.
00:31:04.040 Um, so that idea of hard work and grit, uh,
00:31:08.220 is part of it.
00:31:09.780 Um, and never, ever being entitled and
00:31:13.880 never, ever playing the martyr or the
00:31:17.220 victim, um, and finding other people
00:31:21.180 like, like you talk about in, in order of
00:31:24.000 a man, uh, finding other people that are
00:31:26.880 like-minded that share a similar purpose.
00:31:29.700 That can support each other.
00:31:31.820 Uh, uh, Napoleon Hill called it a
00:31:34.660 mastermind.
00:31:35.720 Right.
00:31:36.380 And I started reading that when I was 10
00:31:38.460 years old, my dad gave me, uh, but
00:31:40.340 having a good mastermind around you,
00:31:42.020 people are like-minded that want to
00:31:43.540 achieve similar things.
00:31:44.580 I think it's crucial for you to fight
00:31:46.620 for the American dream.
00:31:49.140 When did you start, uh, Matts and
00:31:51.340 Money?
00:31:51.640 What, what year was that?
00:31:53.380 I started Matts and Money in 1991.
00:31:56.420 Okay.
00:31:56.860 Uh, I had 34 years now and, um, headed
00:32:01.860 into that and it was a result of just
00:32:04.620 watching how dirty and nasty the
00:32:06.420 financial industry was being a financial
00:32:08.260 planner, you know, being people doing
00:32:12.440 stock picking and market timing and track
00:32:14.200 record investing and just a lot of pain
00:32:16.700 and suffering and, and going to broker
00:32:19.100 dealer conventions and hearing all the
00:32:21.580 sales pitches and hearing them program
00:32:23.400 everybody and brainwashed everybody.
00:32:25.180 And, uh, it's a very dirty industry.
00:32:27.920 And quite frankly, you know, uh, Ryan
00:32:31.280 many years ago, probably when I mean, but
00:32:32.800 I thought that this, that it would get
00:32:34.720 figured out that people would study
00:32:37.300 academics, study the research, stop
00:32:39.640 speculating and gambling, but it's worse
00:32:42.360 now than it's ever been.
00:32:43.720 It's more stock picking, more gambling,
00:32:45.760 and then more exotic things, you know,
00:32:48.740 Bitcoin and, uh, ETFs that no one should
00:32:51.800 own cause they're just so speculative and
00:32:53.600 destructive.
00:32:54.060 And, and then of course you got Robin
00:32:56.580 hood in your pocket right next to
00:32:57.960 draft Kings.
00:32:58.540 It's, it's really a disgusting industry
00:33:00.780 right now.
00:33:01.280 And it's just ripe with destruction.
00:33:03.920 That's interesting.
00:33:04.660 I never thought about that Robin hood
00:33:06.220 right next to draft Kings.
00:33:07.400 I mean, that makes sense.
00:33:08.360 It's got the same software.
00:33:09.760 It's using the same technology.
00:33:11.380 It's designed to get you in there and
00:33:13.660 get you addicted.
00:33:14.680 Uh, I've heard it said never mistake
00:33:17.240 action for prudence, but that's what
00:33:19.040 you see a lot in investing is people
00:33:20.720 think, oh, well I'm doing something.
00:33:22.800 So I'm being prudent.
00:33:23.740 You're actually doing the opposite.
00:33:25.680 Probably if you look at the actual
00:33:27.020 data, uh, and research as well as you
00:33:29.400 have behind it.
00:33:31.160 Well, there's, yeah, that's exactly
00:33:32.460 right.
00:33:32.820 People, when they're trading, they feel
00:33:35.080 like they're in control.
00:33:37.240 Uh, but there's some things, the more
00:33:38.840 activity you do, the more out of
00:33:40.420 control, the more drink you drink, the
00:33:42.060 more out of control you become, the
00:33:43.860 more you go to Vegas and pull that slot
00:33:46.120 or hit that button on the slot machine
00:33:47.660 or play blackjack, the more activity, the
00:33:50.380 more out of control.
00:33:51.480 So there's a lot of behaviors in life
00:33:53.580 that, you know, the more I sit down and
00:33:55.840 eat my, you know, third, you know, plate
00:33:58.500 of food, uh, the more out of control I
00:34:01.040 am.
00:34:01.180 I am.
00:34:01.640 Right.
00:34:02.320 So, uh, some activities are destructive.
00:34:06.200 They might feel like you're in control at
00:34:07.900 the time, but you're really not.
00:34:09.700 Well, I want to get into a little bit more
00:34:11.560 investing, but before I do, the reason I
00:34:13.460 asked you when you started mats and money
00:34:14.960 is because, you know, someone might hear
00:34:17.160 what you said earlier about $11 billion
00:34:19.180 of assets under management, 35,000
00:34:22.120 families you're serving.
00:34:23.780 Uh, I think I may have read that you have,
00:34:25.740 uh, upwards of 500 advisors that you're
00:34:29.000 working with 60 employees, two separate
00:34:31.360 offices across the country.
00:34:33.340 And people are thinking, oh man, this
00:34:35.120 guy's got it figured out.
00:34:36.160 Well, I hope you've been doing it for
00:34:37.980 34 years.
00:34:39.600 And that's the story that most men don't
00:34:42.160 hear.
00:34:43.040 Same with me to a lesser degree.
00:34:44.560 After 10 years, they think, oh man, look
00:34:46.420 at this incredible podcast.
00:34:47.660 Yeah, it's pretty good right now.
00:34:50.020 But 11 years ago, when I made that bold
00:34:51.900 decision to sell my practice to Greg and
00:34:54.240 do this and not make any money doing it, it
00:34:57.080 was a completely different story.
00:34:59.440 Oh, dude.
00:35:00.520 Talk about courage and purpose and, uh, and,
00:35:04.580 and entrepreneurism.
00:35:06.680 Yeah.
00:35:07.280 I mean, nobody thought it was in, in
00:35:10.840 retrospect, it looks, oh yeah, of course
00:35:12.720 that worked.
00:35:13.180 No, in retrospect, you know, there was
00:35:16.720 no evidence, none, zero evidence that
00:35:19.160 this business model would work because
00:35:21.180 there was no business model at the time
00:35:23.080 like it.
00:35:24.140 Um, to the idea that you could actually
00:35:26.580 educate people about academic investing
00:35:28.900 principles and then help them stay
00:35:30.940 disciplined through a lifetime and then
00:35:33.180 coach advisors to be coaches.
00:35:34.800 And, uh, there was no evidence for that
00:35:37.800 zero.
00:35:39.000 It was a brand new field.
00:35:41.160 Uh, and it, there were so many times
00:35:45.400 where as an entrepreneur, you can abandon
00:35:48.600 your core values and chase, you know, the
00:35:51.220 little shiny thing out there, uh, that
00:35:54.360 looks good.
00:35:55.000 That can make three theoretically can make
00:35:57.260 you rich overnight.
00:35:57.960 And I, it's just not my experience.
00:36:01.000 My experience is, it's just hard work.
00:36:03.120 It's hard work.
00:36:04.180 It's long hours.
00:36:05.020 It's taking risks.
00:36:06.620 Uh, it's, it's putting your whole heart
00:36:08.600 and soul into it.
00:36:09.740 It's never backing down on what you
00:36:11.720 believe and, and what you're going to
00:36:13.420 create, uh, to be an entrepreneur takes
00:36:16.220 amazing amount of discipline, uh, and an
00:36:20.200 amazing amount of consistency, you know,
00:36:23.320 like lifting it, like working out at the
00:36:25.040 gym.
00:36:25.260 Uh, you're not going to get ripped in a
00:36:27.260 week.
00:36:27.560 It's not going to happen.
00:36:29.100 Uh, and so it takes persistency over
00:36:32.600 time towards your values and, and more
00:36:36.140 than anything else, how am I going to
00:36:38.720 create value for other people?
00:36:40.200 I always, as an entrepreneur have to be
00:36:42.560 focused on the user of the services or
00:36:45.580 products and how I can create value for
00:36:48.200 them.
00:36:49.120 That's unimaginable.
00:36:50.780 This is the, the, in business school,
00:36:53.400 they say, you know, find a need in me.
00:36:55.260 Well, that's not how it really works.
00:36:57.200 What you do is you imagine something
00:36:59.400 people can't even imagine need it.
00:37:02.120 And then you create something that, that
00:37:04.980 transforms their life.
00:37:06.920 And that's a much bigger deal because you
00:37:10.040 have to use your imagination and courage.
00:37:12.880 Uh, when Walt Disney created, I mean, he
00:37:15.140 created a lot of amazing things.
00:37:16.840 And when he finally came up with Disneyland,
00:37:19.020 uh, his wife and his business partners were
00:37:22.440 like, dude, you just, you've gone too far
00:37:24.760 now.
00:37:25.120 No, this is insane.
00:37:26.140 What, what you're doing now is it never,
00:37:27.820 never go to work.
00:37:29.320 And I remember when Steve jobs came out with
00:37:31.200 a smart phone.
00:37:31.880 I'm like, yeah, no, nobody needs that.
00:37:34.300 I'm like, I got a flip phone.
00:37:36.020 I, I'm fine.
00:37:37.100 I don't remember similar thoughts myself.
00:37:39.900 I don't know.
00:37:40.840 I got, you know, my family has probably five
00:37:43.240 of them.
00:37:43.800 Um, my immediate family.
00:37:46.680 So, but it takes guts and courage to, to
00:37:49.320 do it and hard work and perseverance.
00:37:52.200 Where did the, uh, the belief that you had,
00:37:54.520 especially in those early days come from?
00:37:56.200 Um, I think now you can probably build upon
00:37:58.640 the wins that you've had.
00:38:00.020 And even though I'm sure there's times that
00:38:02.480 the business goes South for whatever reason,
00:38:04.700 you can lean on your confidence and your
00:38:09.020 ability to have this type of, of company.
00:38:12.040 But where did that come from when you started
00:38:14.160 when that didn't exist?
00:38:17.240 I think, I think I was just, I was 27 years
00:38:20.520 old when I started the company.
00:38:21.920 I'm, I'm 60 now.
00:38:23.760 Uh, I think I was just kind of probably a
00:38:25.820 little arrogant.
00:38:27.460 Uh, if I, if I'd known how hard it was
00:38:30.640 going to be, I don't know.
00:38:32.100 Uh, I hope I do it over.
00:38:34.260 Uh, but I was stubborn and I, and I, like
00:38:37.220 my dad and his, his, um, I think you can
00:38:41.020 use your emotions, even ones that seem
00:38:43.240 bad.
00:38:43.640 I, I was very angry when I found out that
00:38:46.820 people were getting hurt and, and, and I
00:38:49.920 was, and I hurt in my soul that I had
00:38:52.900 fallen for the, the lies that the broker
00:38:55.540 dealer had told me that I had worked out
00:38:57.240 at the time.
00:38:58.360 And then I eventually discovered that I
00:39:01.280 was speculating and gambling with my
00:39:03.200 client's money under the advice of my
00:39:05.120 broker dealer.
00:39:06.600 And when I, and I, I knew it wasn't
00:39:08.640 working, but then I saw the science,
00:39:11.560 efficient market theory, three factor
00:39:13.100 model, uh, uh, modern portfolio theory,
00:39:16.320 these academic theories that had won Nobel
00:39:18.380 prizes.
00:39:18.880 And I saw that and I was just disgusted
00:39:22.920 with myself, uh, angry with the industry,
00:39:27.140 uh, and on a, um, a mission to, to right
00:39:33.040 the wrongs, uh, that this evil industry had,
00:39:36.680 had, uh, foisted on the American public.
00:39:39.160 And at the time, my goal was to revolutionize
00:39:43.100 the industry, the whole industry, uh, as
00:39:48.300 a 60 year old, I can tell you that's
00:39:49.720 never going to happen because you're not
00:39:51.940 going to get Morgan Stanley to change.
00:39:53.520 You're not going to get Wells Fargo to
00:39:54.780 change.
00:39:55.060 You're not going to get bank of America
00:39:56.220 to change.
00:39:57.040 You're not going to get these people to
00:39:58.280 stop speculating and gambling for people's
00:40:00.240 money.
00:40:01.400 Uh, because it's just too profitable.
00:40:03.660 That'd be like trying to look at it for
00:40:05.280 them.
00:40:05.820 Yeah.
00:40:06.240 You're not going to erase Vegas.
00:40:07.540 That's not going to happen.
00:40:09.360 Uh, so my goal now is to save as many
00:40:13.060 people as I can, you know, everybody,
00:40:15.920 yeah, everybody needs it to prudently
00:40:18.540 invest for their dreams.
00:40:20.280 Uh, but some people, but my goal is to
00:40:22.580 help the advisors and the clients that
00:40:24.340 want it, that want to have a purpose in
00:40:26.700 life, that don't want to speculate and
00:40:28.120 gamble, that want to use academic
00:40:29.480 investing principles that want to focus
00:40:31.960 on, you know, for men, this is for men.
00:40:35.120 I mean, look, it's tough in our society.
00:40:38.720 Men are, men are berated a lot of times.
00:40:41.420 Masculinity is criticized.
00:40:42.860 Toxic masculinity, uh, it's called.
00:40:45.700 So look, fighting for your family, being
00:40:48.420 there for your wife, taking care of your
00:40:50.120 children, working hard, teaching them
00:40:52.440 values, uh, while the, while the rest of
00:40:55.580 society is trying to tear down many of the
00:40:57.720 values that you're trying to teach.
00:41:00.240 Uh, this is, this is like spiritual warfare
00:41:02.900 and it's, it's a huge battle for a man, uh,
00:41:07.280 working hard to take care of their family.
00:41:09.960 Um, and I think having the American dream
00:41:12.980 and having those values firmly in place
00:41:15.040 and willing to fight for them, whether it's
00:41:17.320 creating a business or, you know, working
00:41:19.840 hard as a mechanic, uh, the commonality is, is
00:41:25.820 taking care of your family and being there
00:41:27.460 for them.
00:41:27.900 Mark, you've said, you know, you've got to
00:41:31.240 fight for these things quite a few times
00:41:32.720 throughout our conversation.
00:41:33.700 And I, and I said, I'd come back to that
00:41:35.440 from our earlier, uh, discussion about what
00:41:38.380 does that look like in practicality?
00:41:39.960 I think you said one, start a business.
00:41:41.700 I'm not sure many people would consider that
00:41:43.780 fighting.
00:41:44.680 I do.
00:41:45.240 I believe it is because you're creating
00:41:48.060 important products and services.
00:41:50.040 You're employing people, you're building
00:41:52.900 wealth, you're contributing to the tax base.
00:41:55.540 Like there's a lot that goes on that, that
00:41:57.720 I consider fighting when you grow a
00:41:59.680 business.
00:41:59.980 Are there other things that men can do
00:42:01.480 from where you sit to fight for these
00:42:03.980 beliefs, fight for their families and fight
00:42:05.680 for the values that this country has
00:42:07.160 historically espoused?
00:42:09.780 Yeah.
00:42:10.680 Um, you know, one thing politicians, when
00:42:13.320 they say, you know, I created this many
00:42:15.240 jobs, most politicians have never signed a
00:42:17.700 paycheck in their life.
00:42:19.360 Uh, politicians don't create jobs, uh,
00:42:22.440 entrepreneurs and innovators create jobs.
00:42:24.560 Uh, there are, uh, approximately 9 million
00:42:28.840 jobs that are unclaimed right now.
00:42:32.420 Uh, unemployment sets at about three, three
00:42:35.300 and a half percent right now.
00:42:36.880 Uh, the problem is not unemployment.
00:42:40.000 The problem is the participation rate.
00:42:42.480 There's not enough people willing to work.
00:42:45.000 You know, you've got 30 year old men in
00:42:47.140 mom's basement playing, you know, playing
00:42:49.940 video games and eating chips.
00:42:51.740 I mean, this, this, this can't work.
00:42:53.600 It's not sustainable.
00:42:55.220 People have to go to work and, and either
00:42:57.220 whether or not you go to work for somebody
00:42:58.960 else, I, I call it the entrepreneurial
00:43:02.700 spirit, whether I go out and I create my
00:43:05.600 own business, which I think is very
00:43:07.060 admirable.
00:43:08.680 45% of all employees don't work for large
00:43:11.940 fortune 500 companies.
00:43:13.040 They work for small businesses, uh, whether
00:43:15.920 or not I create the business or I work in
00:43:18.380 the business, but I think entrepreneurially
00:43:20.560 meaning that I'm asking what value can I
00:43:23.320 create for this company?
00:43:24.300 What can I innovate?
00:43:25.260 What can I tell our, I tell our advisors, you
00:43:28.560 got to innovate every three years and make
00:43:30.340 your old business model outdated.
00:43:32.300 And if you don't, someone else is going to
00:43:33.880 do it to you.
00:43:35.300 Capitalism has two works, two ways.
00:43:37.660 You can, if you work hard, you'd be very
00:43:39.620 successful, but if you stop swimming upstream,
00:43:42.740 you'll go downstream and other capitalists
00:43:45.280 under, under competition, we'll, we'll eat
00:43:47.780 your lunch and destroy you.
00:43:49.100 And that's as it should be.
00:43:51.120 So many of you start, stop creating value
00:43:53.200 for other people is the minute you should
00:43:54.780 be punished by the economy.
00:43:56.480 And that's your, that's your wake up call
00:43:58.820 to say, Hey, I got to change and I got to
00:44:01.300 up my skillset.
00:44:02.460 I have to up my value to other people.
00:44:04.820 Uh, but it's a great time to be alive.
00:44:06.800 You can start a business with relatively
00:44:08.600 nothing.
00:44:10.120 Um, you know, a hundred years ago, you, if
00:44:12.520 you were going to be Carnegie and make a
00:44:14.300 steel factory, you didn't need millions of
00:44:16.620 dollars to open it.
00:44:18.000 Uh, you know, you, you can open a business
00:44:20.160 right now with very little capital and you
00:44:22.740 see shows like a shark tank and all these
00:44:26.760 other shows, you know, where, and I, and
00:44:29.080 young people do want to be entrepreneurs.
00:44:30.960 They do want to open their own business.
00:44:32.620 So I see entrepreneurism as a, a form of
00:44:35.760 expression, uh, a form of creativity, uh, as a
00:44:41.260 factor of risk-taking, uh, and I, I think
00:44:44.500 you, for business people, I think that it's
00:44:47.140 a great, it's a great, uh, example, a role
00:44:50.860 model for their children, uh, how to think
00:44:53.580 about the world.
00:44:55.040 And I think if you believe in the American
00:44:56.720 dream, you would have to think that owning a
00:44:59.700 business would be a great opportunity to
00:45:01.720 fulfill on that dream.
00:45:03.580 Yeah.
00:45:03.960 I mean, it really is.
00:45:04.720 It's, it's hard work and a lot of, a lot of
00:45:07.480 hours, a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of
00:45:09.420 doubts and fear and uncertainty creep in.
00:45:11.720 Sometimes you get paid.
00:45:12.880 Sometimes you don't like it's, it is a
00:45:15.280 wild, wild roller coaster.
00:45:17.040 And, you know, just when you think you're
00:45:18.920 doing really, really well, all of a sudden
00:45:20.780 something happens and you're like, oh, well,
00:45:23.380 I didn't expect that, you know, and you
00:45:25.000 have to rebuild and it's just a crazy, fun,
00:45:28.560 exciting ride.
00:45:30.440 And it's a tough time right now.
00:45:32.700 I mean, you have two wars as of this
00:45:35.160 taping, you have the war in the
00:45:36.940 Mideast, you have the war in Ukraine.
00:45:38.980 You have terrorism, Hamas, and Hezbollah.
00:45:45.440 You have inflation.
00:45:48.600 Even though it slowed, it was massive over
00:45:50.700 the last three and a half years.
00:45:52.400 You have fears of recession.
00:45:57.580 You have fears of market crashes.
00:45:59.760 I mean, people are dealing with a lot right
00:46:01.640 now.
00:46:03.160 And there's a lot of fear and anxiety.
00:46:05.080 There's a lot of animosity and a lot of
00:46:07.320 divisiveness between the clinical parties,
00:46:10.020 no matter which side you're on.
00:46:12.540 I think social media exacerbates that, makes
00:46:15.240 it worse.
00:46:16.980 You know, Ronald Reagan, when he ran a second
00:46:19.620 time, 49 out of 50 states voted for him.
00:46:22.500 The country was very united and we're very
00:46:26.300 divided right now.
00:46:27.420 Uh, so it makes it tough for people to
00:46:30.440 navigate for their families.
00:46:32.840 Um, but fear destroys, panic destroys.
00:46:36.000 And even the 24 seven news cycle on, you know, uh,
00:46:40.620 cable, you know, they have to keep you afraid.
00:46:43.420 That's how they keep you turning back, turning
00:46:45.680 them on, you know, at night.
00:46:48.260 I love it when they make you scared, scared as
00:46:50.460 heck before you go to bed and then they try to
00:46:52.020 sell you relax them to get you to go to sleep.
00:46:55.240 Uh, it is clever.
00:46:59.240 Then sell you the solution, right?
00:47:01.180 Yep.
00:47:01.460 It is clever.
00:47:02.300 We'll say that.
00:47:03.520 What's your take on, um, a man or even yourself
00:47:07.040 entering the political arena?
00:47:11.140 Well, wow, Ryan, that's, um, look, you know,
00:47:15.600 running, running a company with so many different
00:47:18.020 diverse clients and advisors, I've really tried
00:47:21.680 to moderate, um, my political views.
00:47:26.660 However, I'm running a money management company
00:47:28.880 and, uh, economics are part of understanding how
00:47:33.200 money works.
00:47:34.320 Now, if politicians would stop talking about
00:47:36.940 economics, I could start, stop talking about
00:47:39.200 politics.
00:47:40.440 Uh, that's a good point.
00:47:43.920 They're very interwoven, uh, together and
00:47:48.200 policies matter because it'll, it affects your
00:47:51.060 family and it affects the economy at large and
00:47:54.260 it can be very detrimental.
00:47:55.640 And right now, you know, I watched my daughter
00:48:00.580 texted me on the day that, that Trump
00:48:03.380 assassination attempt happened.
00:48:06.140 And she said, did you see, did you see what's
00:48:08.400 going on?
00:48:08.820 I said, no, she's turned on TV and my, it was
00:48:11.580 my son, my two sons, uh, the little one still
00:48:15.460 at home, 11 and nine and my wife, and we were
00:48:17.940 watching the chosen, uh, great, great series on
00:48:21.380 Netflix.
00:48:21.700 And so we turned over, you know, and my 11
00:48:25.400 year old and nine year old watch president
00:48:27.820 Trump go down.
00:48:29.100 They saw the bleeding, they saw him get up.
00:48:32.200 Uh, and when he stood up and my little, my
00:48:35.220 little son was shaking in my arms and said,
00:48:37.960 daddy, is this going to be okay?
00:48:39.340 Uh, and, and, and quite frankly, I felt, um, a
00:48:45.720 deep chagrin that I hadn't been more vocal
00:48:47.660 on what I really believe.
00:48:49.280 Hmm.
00:48:50.480 Uh, and what I really believe is that our
00:48:53.280 freedoms are under attack and that we have a
00:48:55.900 form of Marxism, woke Marxism, that's trying to
00:49:00.660 take over the political system.
00:49:03.080 Uh, cap, uh, capitalism is required for the
00:49:06.660 American dream.
00:49:07.400 It's not an option and socialism and
00:49:10.780 communism will destroy the American dream
00:49:12.720 faster than anything else.
00:49:15.540 And at mats and money, we hire people based, you
00:49:18.040 know, people ask me, well, how do you ensure
00:49:19.680 diversity?
00:49:20.360 I said, I'll tell you how we hire the absolute
00:49:23.560 best people that we can find.
00:49:25.660 And if you hire the best people you can find, you're
00:49:29.000 going to have a very diverse, uh, group of people
00:49:31.960 working together.
00:49:33.400 Uh, and I told our employees the other day at a
00:49:35.660 company meeting, I said, you're all here because
00:49:37.840 you're the absolute best I could find.
00:49:39.960 And not because you check off a random box.
00:49:43.560 Uh, and people like to know that they're there for
00:49:45.880 a right reason and not because it's a handout.
00:49:47.920 Um, so, you know, I, I, I did a post.
00:49:53.600 I said, you know, I, I, I wanted, I wanted to
00:49:56.980 formally endorse president Trump, uh, for his
00:50:01.040 reelection.
00:50:02.260 Uh, I, I do believe in capitalism.
00:50:04.360 I do believe in free markets.
00:50:05.840 I do believe in protecting his country.
00:50:08.860 Uh, I believe a lot of the wars and a lot of things
00:50:11.220 going on right now wouldn't be happening if we had a
00:50:13.900 stronger leader at the helm.
00:50:17.340 And I think that's the, probably our biggest
00:50:19.180 threat is, is war from our enemies.
00:50:21.960 In world war II, you had Italy, you, you had
00:50:25.080 Germany and you had Japan.
00:50:27.720 And now we have China, Russia, and Iran and
00:50:31.040 North Korea.
00:50:32.360 Uh, and those are an existential threat to
00:50:34.700 capitalism and to Western democracy and the way
00:50:37.080 of life.
00:50:37.740 And I think we have to be very careful.
00:50:39.580 And as men, you know, in your podcast, we have
00:50:43.580 to stand up for what is right and what creates the
00:50:47.900 greatest amount of freedom.
00:50:49.200 And I think we're all countries also in attack from
00:50:52.360 the Southern border.
00:50:54.280 Uh, and this is what happened to Rome as big in a, as
00:51:00.180 they were, they, they got soft, they got weak, they
00:51:03.580 stopped protecting the borders.
00:51:05.880 People came in and they destroyed it from the
00:51:08.860 inside out.
00:51:10.340 So, uh, the American dream has to be protected and
00:51:14.120 has to be fought for.
00:51:15.220 And the rule of law has to work because if the
00:51:17.540 rule of law doesn't work, capitalism doesn't
00:51:20.100 work.
00:51:20.460 And if capitalism doesn't work, the American
00:51:22.640 dream dies.
00:51:24.560 So I'm reluctantly talking about that.
00:51:29.580 Yeah.
00:51:30.080 Well, it's, you are an interesting position where
00:51:33.140 you've got 35,000 families, like we talked about
00:51:36.360 that are relying on you for something that's very, obviously
00:51:40.500 very, very important.
00:51:41.620 They're financial prosperity.
00:51:44.000 So, uh, of those 35,000, there's going to be a broad array
00:51:48.880 of people who believe in different things, but I, you
00:51:52.900 know, I commend you for that.
00:51:53.840 And that's a hard decision to make, but those are the types
00:51:56.300 of decisions that I think are important and crucial.
00:51:58.800 You know, one thing I was impressed with and correct me if
00:52:01.300 I'm wrong, if I remember correctly, you, with your
00:52:05.240 portfolios, you, you only invested in countries that, uh,
00:52:10.920 believed in democracy and free markets.
00:52:12.780 If I, if I remember correctly, is that right?
00:52:15.720 Yeah.
00:52:15.960 Well, you know, on the political scale, they, they
00:52:18.320 vary.
00:52:18.760 We, we, we invest in countries that have a commitment to
00:52:23.100 free markets and, and, and capitalism.
00:52:25.200 Now they vary on a scale for sure.
00:52:27.840 And there's been countries that have been in the
00:52:29.660 portfolio that, that no longer are in the portfolio at one
00:52:33.360 time, China, uh, not a lot, like less than one half of
00:52:36.900 1%, uh, or Russia.
00:52:39.640 Uh, so these were some countries that, you know, when all
00:52:43.080 this went down, you know, we closed down investing there.
00:52:47.080 Um, and, but the, but you can't, and number one, you can't
00:52:52.600 believe in the American dream without believing in
00:52:54.220 capitalism and diversification and spreading.
00:52:56.700 We believe in spreading the ideals of freedom.
00:52:58.920 And we believe the American dream, isn't just good in
00:53:01.340 America, that the American dream is good for the world.
00:53:04.580 You know, that human beings long for freedom.
00:53:08.140 That's part of how we were created.
00:53:10.880 Um, and that we believe that freedom should be spread
00:53:14.540 worldwide.
00:53:15.960 Uh, but yeah, there are, you know, there are countries that
00:53:18.620 no longer believe in free markets.
00:53:21.040 Uh, they have stock markets, but we're not putting money in
00:53:24.920 them.
00:53:25.120 Uh, yeah.
00:53:27.380 Well, I think that's a good example of just standing by your
00:53:30.320 convictions.
00:53:30.780 Cause it would be easy not to get political.
00:53:32.880 It'd be easier not to, uh, limit certain sectors or certain
00:53:37.980 countries from your portfolio.
00:53:39.740 It's probably very tempting at times or other people are advising
00:53:43.380 you to.
00:53:43.860 And so to me, that's, you are a man who's standing by his
00:53:47.100 convictions and that's something to be respected regardless of
00:53:50.600 where you sit on the political spectrum.
00:53:52.960 Yeah.
00:53:53.440 And then, you know, Ryan and, and, and the, even inside the U S there's
00:53:57.320 environmental and social governance, ESG funds say that they only invest
00:54:03.900 in green companies or they only invest in this or that type of company.
00:54:07.620 Uh, and they promote a social agenda, uh, and we don't do that.
00:54:14.080 Um, you know, we, I was inspired by the courage of Elon Musk actually, uh,
00:54:21.000 recently and, um, Dana White, uh, and other entrepreneurs who, you know,
00:54:27.640 from provide services to a diverse group.
00:54:30.240 Um, and I always tell, I always tell people we, we stand for the American
00:54:33.740 dream for everybody, regardless of race, religion, political affiliation.
00:54:39.020 Um, and, and it should be available to everybody, but we're going to fight
00:54:43.040 for the ideals of it, whether people understand them or not and fight for
00:54:46.940 their right to have it.
00:54:48.740 Um, and, and, and you have to be, I, I tell people, look, I would never, if I,
00:54:57.920 well, I had last, last summer, I had my, um, having a, I had my, uh, my aorta,
00:55:04.760 which is the main artery that comes off of the heart, um, had a condition where
00:55:09.300 it was expanding, not the heart, the heart was just the aorta on top of it.
00:55:14.440 And I had to have it replaced.
00:55:16.000 They went in, they cracked open my chest, they cut out about an inch and a half
00:55:20.600 part of it, and they literally put in a hose and I'm a hundred percent now
00:55:25.140 better than new. Uh, but I didn't ask the doctor what his political affiliation
00:55:29.760 was, right? I, I didn't, I didn't care if he had a good sense of humor.
00:55:34.940 I didn't care if he was my friend. I didn't care if he, you know, was liberal
00:55:39.400 or conservative or his, or his religious beliefs. I wanted the best person I could
00:55:44.740 have to fix my heart so I could live. And I was, I was, I was technically, they
00:55:50.400 actually froze me down to 65 degrees and my, my heart was stopped and my lungs
00:55:55.160 were stopped for 16 minutes, uh, as he put that piece in. Uh, and I always tell
00:56:01.780 people, look, if it's your money and your family, uh, don't go on charm, don't go on
00:56:06.440 charisma, don't go on friendship, don't go on politics, invest with the person
00:56:10.920 who's committed to you will help you grow your wealth and prosperity. Uh, that's
00:56:15.200 competent. Uh, I think that's good advice, whether it's a doctor or anybody else
00:56:19.720 that you're working with. Yeah. Well, Mark, I, I really appreciate you taking
00:56:24.760 time with me today. Um, this is important stuff and we need good men in every
00:56:30.740 single facet and area of life. The area and arena and you operate is an area that I
00:56:35.620 decided to get out of 10, 11 years ago. And, but we need men in all of the
00:56:41.180 different areas of life. And I really, really appreciate your work and would
00:56:44.960 highly encourage people to go check out, uh, your organization, your company. Um, and
00:56:49.680 then also follow along and pick up a copy of the book. Why don't you tell the
00:56:52.380 guys where to connect with you, learn a little bit more about what you're doing
00:56:54.960 and of course get the book on Amazon or maybe there's somewhere else you want to
00:56:58.140 send them. Yeah, you can, uh, you can go to amazon.com. It's experiencing the
00:57:03.000 American dream. Uh, I've, I've had great, I've had great, uh, support. Uh, Rob Lowe, uh,
00:57:10.500 a buddy of mine wrote the introduction over the forward. Um, uh, Dr. Art Laffer who
00:57:16.000 helped engineer the Reagan recovery, uh, uh, economist. He wrote the epilogue, uh, Arnold
00:57:23.680 Schwarzenegger, uh, supported it. Steve Moore, Steve Forbes, um, two Nobel prize winners.
00:57:30.560 Uh, so I've had, I had a lot of great support and help with the book. Gary Sinise wrote a
00:57:35.180 section in the American dream section. Uh, it's been a great, it's been a group project.
00:57:40.280 It's been absolutely amazing. You can get on it on amazon.com, uh, experiencing the
00:57:45.880 American dream, uh, Barnes and Noble, good reads. It's out there. Uh, if you're traveling,
00:57:52.420 you might see it in an airport bookstore, grab it there. Uh, but it's, uh, uh, we're
00:57:56.960 really excited about it. Uh, we've already sold enough to make it a New York, uh, excuse
00:58:01.840 me, a national bestseller. Um, so we're excited about that and just want to get the
00:58:07.120 message out to more, more families that the American dream is alive and worth fighting
00:58:11.600 for. Awesome. Well, we'll do our part and get the word out. I appreciate you. Uh, thank
00:58:17.000 you for all your mentoring and coaching direct and indirect over the years. I actually really
00:58:21.420 attribute a lot of my success with order of man to some of the things that you've shared
00:58:25.220 with me over the years and the things that I've seen. So I want to make sure you know
00:58:29.220 that I'm grateful for you and how you show up. Um, I'm, I'm deeply honored. I'm so, so
00:58:34.480 psyched for your success, uh, and what you're doing makes a huge difference for, for men
00:58:39.360 and their families and for people they love and even for the world. Uh, so congratulations
00:58:44.560 on a great project and a great company. Thanks, Mark. Appreciate you, man. There you go. Mr.
00:58:51.300 Mark Mattson. I hope you guys enjoyed that one. Like I said, a very early mentor for me and
00:58:55.200 as a real honor to be able to have this conversation and bring it to you guys, make sure you connect
00:59:00.020 with Mark on the gram, me as well at Ryan Mickler and pick up a copy of Mark's new book,
00:59:04.900 experiencing the American dream. Uh, you will not be disappointed with the information. And
00:59:10.220 I think it's going to help you fight as he said in the conversation for our rights, our
00:59:16.100 freedoms and our opportunities. We owe that to ourselves. We owe that to our families and
00:59:20.940 our countrymen. So it's time all of us get in the fight and he's got some real practical
00:59:25.100 information on how to do that. So connect with him, connect with me. And as a parting
00:59:29.040 little word or ask, please make sure to leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts and Spotify
00:59:35.720 or wherever else you might be listening. That helps bump up the show, which gives more visibility
00:59:41.460 to what we're doing and ultimately helps more men in their lives. All right, guys, that's all
00:59:47.740 I've got for you. We will be back tomorrow for our ask me anything until then go out there,
00:59:52.320 take action and become the man you are meant to be. Thank you for listening to the order
00:59:59.040 of man podcast. You're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man you were
01:00:03.680 meant to be. We invite you to join the order at order of man.com.