Mindful Money with Jonathan Satovsky

george grombacher 0:00
Come on

life of this George G in the time is right welcome today’s guest strong, powerful Jonathan’s top ski. Jonathan, are you ready to do this? Let’s go George. Let’s go. Jonathan is a CFP a CH FC and a CI Ma. He’s the founder and chief behavioral coach with subtypes key asset management. He’s the author of your rich life excited to have you back on Jonathan, tell us a little about your personal life more about your work, why you do what you do. Thanks, George.

Jonathan Satovsky 0:59
I have a Zen full Thomas concept that most people are rumbling, bumbling stumbling. And as they’re rumbling, bumbling, stumbling, looking for honey, you know, as they searched the world wide web, it’s not actually the World Wide Web. My my meditative interpretation is actually they’re searching for one of three things, some form of knowledge or wisdom,

some form of wealth or money and something around wellness, something around their health, it could really be boiled down to those three things. So when you get out of college, they don’t really teach a lot of people about financial literacy. People learn by the socio economic environment, they’ve grown up in their household and their community and their culture that they’re part of through osmosis. And then they get in the world and they have to start developing their own relationships with money. So I got into this field and a desire to try to make people bulletproof and empowered around money, particularly my mother. And I realized that people no matter how successful people worth a billion dollars people weren’t designing a life that was actually leading to a keen balance. They might have had money but they didn’t have health. They might have had health but they didn’t have money. They might have had knowledge but they couldn’t put it together. So I’ve been on a quest for the keen intersection and balance for how to live your rich life. And it’s not all about money but it’s fine to McKean, balance of meaning. Math mindset and money. Being a Michigan Wolverine fan, give it the M. Taylor W. Johnson, grounded in become of the Michigan Wolverines.

george grombacher 2:57
I love it. Keen balance. How do you use that? How did you settle on the the the the word keen

Unknown Speaker 3:09
just came to me. You know? If you know much about the vinegar tasters the philosophies of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, you know, you can look at life as bitter. You can look at life as sour or you could just smile through it all and rumble Bumble and stumble. And I think Keane is a good caption, a good way to capture sort of the essence of it all, you know,

george grombacher 3:33
I love it. So I’m not read the Tao poo, but it sounds like it’d be right up my alley. And I do find myself rumbling, bubbling and stumbling on my quest for honey, sometimes on a daily basis. Is that good or bad? What is it,

Unknown Speaker 3:48
do it joyfully it’s good, you know, I think that there is desire to be fulfilled people live a fulfilled life. And, you know, when people first start in the money field, the question initially, is, oh, how much do you charge? And, you know, what’s your performance relative to the market? You know? And so people think it’s all about a performance game. And certainly, you know, everyone wants to perform well. But how do you measure performance, if you’re measuring it in a day, in a week, in a month, in a quarter in a year, three years, five years, 10 years. If you if you change the timeframe of the metric, at any moment in time, you’re going to think you’re a genius, or an idiot, or your clients gonna think you’re a genius or an idiot. So avoid the genius city of theorem. I just use the analogy of Warren Buffett, who’s been one of the best investors last 50 years. And if you knew nothing about finance, and you just put all your money with Berkshire the last 50 years, you would have experienced 40% of the time. Four out of 10 years, you would underperform the market. By mad attitudes of 20 to 60%. So if it’s just about fees and performance, and you and I wasn’t called the Oracle of Omaha, it’s almost a certainty. You’re going to bail on that path 40% of time, you’re going to question your faith, you’re going to question your fortitude, you’re going to question your conviction and confidence in the process. Because there’s going to be a lot of other people that are going to appear smarter, wiser, more in flow at that moment in time. And if you’re vulnerable, if you’re not grounded, if you’re not rooted in your values in your conviction, in your people you’ve surrounded yourself by if you don’t have a support system and structure that can enable you to get through that 40% of time of pain, you’re going to do a lot of terminal damage to your finances over a lifetime. Doesn’t matter what path you choose. So it’s not just about money. It’s a lot deeper than that. And I remember a guy telling me, I don’t take on any clients till they’re 50 Was that he goes, because they’ll have made a lot of mistakes. By the time that 50 of men will be mature enough to realize your blind spots, maybe it’s better off, someone else takes care of this for me.

george grombacher 6:18
That’s funny, there’s those There’s wisdom in recognizing that it takes a while for us humans to find wisdom. So I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about I think that that a lot of my work is designed to help people successfully live today, because modern living is really eating our lunch in a lot of capacities. And particularly with young people. I just had to talk to a therapist the other day, and she said 75% of teenagers are suffering from anxiety and depression and perfectionism. And even the kids that sort of get the straight A’s and the great test scores and get into college and they graduate. They’re like, Oh, is this it? We were promised this this amazing lifestyle. And so we’re we’re sort of left unfulfilled and surrounded by messages of, of beautiful, perfect people. And everybody’s rich, except for me. A lot that I just dumped on you.

Unknown Speaker 7:17
Well, I’m gonna pause you on that because you said a key keyword in there that I caught is promised a lifestyle. I have a problem with that. And I think there’s a Madeleine Albright just passed away. And Madeleine Albright had spoken. She was a secretary of state, first woman secretary of state in our country, and she had a talk many years ago that I attended. And she said, I taught a class at George Washington University called the consequences of political action. And what I really wanted to teach, if I reflect on it is the unintended consequence of political action. So let me explain. You have a problem. Whatever you think of the problem, and you go bring in the greatest experts in the world, they fix whatever they think is the problem. And then they create a problem exponentially worse than the problem they are fixing. Sometimes, people got to find their own journey and find their own path. So promising is a form of entitlement. There’s a concept I wrote about my book called shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations. And you can apply this to any culture or even a society at large and this is something to be quite mindful about pause and think about this for a moment. Someone grows up with nothing, and they sludge through the snow and you know, like us, America as a as an example, that people that grew up post Great Depression. They that generation called the greatest generation, worked hard. They suffered, they went through World War Two, they went through the Depression, they were entrepreneurial. They hustled they scrapped and clawed and, you know, they figured out they started with nothing, many of them immigrated to the country. And the next generation, the most important thing for the baby boomers was to educate them to make sure they’re more educated become doctors, lawyers, professionals, they didn’t want them to suffer, they wanted to promise them a better life as you said, you know, so okay, how do you get a better life let me educate them, and give them a better education, you get a better job. There’s one little, slight little thing that starts slipping. And that slight thing is the separation of time from the Great Depression or World War Two or the time of suffering or pain or, or the lack of and so people experience something called Lifestyle drift. This is invisible cancer and society lifestyle drift that the more you make, the more you spend, and see if you stay on the hedonistic hamster wheel. You know, the treadmill, the third generation from there, unfortunately, you and I might be part of that journey. is promised a better life, while many of them become snowboard instructors, but they’re used to such a good life, and they don’t appreciate it, you know? So here I’ll pose this question to you. I heard this recently. It’s interesting. If you take the seven, 8 billion people in the world, and you rolled it into 100 How many of the 100 people in the world live on more than $90? A day?

george grombacher 10:29
Oh, yeah.

Unknown Speaker 10:30
He’s George,

george grombacher 10:32
how many of them live on more than 90 a day? You got it? Less than one, none of them.

Unknown Speaker 10:40
That’s right, one out of 100 people live on $90 a day. So a lot of America we are. As as Buffett wrote in his letter a couple of years ago, you know, we are living like the kings and queens of yesteryear. And, you know, sometimes like, you know, the Star Wars movie, Jabba the Hutt sitting back eating those grapes, you know, you get fat and lazy if you’re, you got too easy. So, you know, not that you want people to suffer. But I think that social media and the images that people see of what is a perfect life, people are getting rich on cryptocurrencies, people are taking beautiful vacations people are, you know, flying private jets and driving fancy cars. And I think the images that people are ascribed to at a young age of what leads a rich life, or what’s a happy life, is mostly materialism. And I think that the key balance, at least for me, that I have become aware of is the people that are the happiest, and the most content are the those that work on the inner journey, and work on the inner soul to feel fulfilled, rather than meeting external validation. And, of course, you know, I’m no product of the generation I like, you know, nice things, I like, external validation. But at the end of the day, if you lost everything, if we had if this pandemic wasn’t, ended up being a lot deeper and darker, and the government didn’t put in, you know, a, you know, major safety blanket and everything fell apart, and we lived through another, who knows, maybe world war three, this Ukrainian thing ends up exploding a lot deeper, and we have another depression or something, and someone and people lose everything, they have all their material possessions, what do you got? Got your eternal soul and your eternal life that keeps shining, you wake up every day. And you’re blessed that you can use your 510 fingers and the family and the support system, the people you love, and you know, you build a community with the energy you got, and the tools and the resources and the the energy of just being good and kind and trying to light up other people’s day, because a lot of if you recognize that one out of 100, people have what you have, you got to shine a light for the other 99 to be able to find help them make their lives a little easier, help lift up someone else just a little bit with a kind word with a kind gesture. You know, you don’t know the ripple effect of the impact that you could have on someone else’s day just with a smile. I know that gets down to a little woowoo. But it’s something that I think about often if people aren’t so I focused. And we focused about the collective in humanity. I don’t think the mental promise of a better life. And the entitlement of a better life is something that would weigh on people still happy, you know?

george grombacher 13:48
Yeah, I think that that’s really well said. So for people who are listening, they say, Well, yeah, I’m interested in doing that. I’m interested in engaging in more self exploration and getting down to what I think is most important. And we all probably know that we’re supposed to practice gratitude, be grateful, but for whatever reason, I guess the question is, how do I how do I make that a sustainable part of my life? How do I do it every day? Or do it every week?

Unknown Speaker 14:18
Well, every everyone has different faith based, you know, something, I wake up with a little, you know, you return my soul to my body back and return it. I got to do some good sleep. You know, everyone should have some type of spiritual practice I think is helpful or, you know, meditative practice is helpful, but that may not be enough. I think that, you know, people talk about habits, you know, there’s financial habits of saving and investing and there’s habits of, you know, exercise you want to get your heart rate, you know, a half hour a day you want to do some mental training. One thing that I’ve been striking upon is that there’s a form of philanthropy, you know, people I try to describe ideally that people save 10% for themselves and donate 10% others, but giving money alone doesn’t necessarily feel fulfilling. So what people can do is they can donate their time, to something locally or globally, that’s meaningful to them. And whether it’s, you know, delivering food trucks, you know, to the hungry, or help them build houses with Habitat for Humanity, or, you know, if you, if you get your hands and your energy really poured into something, even if you did it once a month, or once a year, individually, or as a, as a, as a group, as a family, or as a group of people that you know, you can collaborate with, it’s going to change, you think it will have a profound impact. And if it doesn’t, then you’re not, you’re not. You’re not really immersing yourself in the right place. And you keep rumbling, bumbling stumbling till you find the places that you that feel right to you, and that you feel like you can contribute your, whatever skills you have in the world that you can help contribute. And I think that contribution, you might think it’s doing it for someone else, it’s actually likely exponentially more impactful for yourself. I don’t do it enough, for sure. I know, I’m guilty. But it’s something I’m I’m consciously trying to curate experience that I can get myself immersed in.

george grombacher 16:46
I love it. I think that as we find ourselves as I find myself in a time where we’re looking at all these huge problems all over the world happening all the time, and we feel helpless to a degree. And just remembering Hey, there’s stuff right in my backyard, probably right, you know, literally in my backyard that I can put my time and effort into and helping other people. And that all I think that that will help to I don’t want to say get get your mind. Right, but

Unknown Speaker 17:17
get your mind. Right. So I had a friend that pulled me into sort of a study group, you know, a spiritual study group. And you know, it’s been very interesting, you know, intellectually and spiritually. And then he asked me to be involved in a board on a board of an organization called AJC American Jewish Committee to fight anti semitism around the world. And I was like, Well, I don’t really feel it. And then he starts highlighting all the things that are happening around the world. And he said, you might not feel it, but it’s happened, you know, so, so you don’t know what you don’t know. I think a lot of us are blind to our blind spots and blind to how we can contribute. So you know, you just try to connect the dots one day at a time with people that you care about and get involved in things that feel meaningful, and feel like they they can make an impact and just once journey of 1000 miles begins one small step.

george grombacher 18:15
Yeah, I love it. Jonathan, people are ready for difference making tip. Even though you’ve given us a couple already, what do you have for them

Unknown Speaker 18:27
the difference making tip that I that has been helping me is the power of the pause Miles Davis says the magic is in between the notes. So we’re in a very fast paced society. Things are moving fast, sometimes faster than the human mind can keep up with. The exponential pace of change is dizzying to some. But sitting is the new smoking. So if you pause, take a walk, spend a little time nature. Breathe in for a count of five. Out for a count five, do it six times. And if you do that one time a day. You can change the neuroplasticity, your brain body and your perspective on how you address challenges, problems mindsets that you or people you care about or dealing with. And you can solve pretty much any problem on your own.

george grombacher 19:33
I think that that is great stuff that definitely gets come up the power of our breath. The fact that it’s so immensely overlooked. If you would do that practice that Jonathan just described. You’ll see massive benefits from such a small thing. Jonathan, it’s so great to talk with you again. Thank you for coming back on where can people learn more about you? How can they engage with you? Where can they get a copy of the book your rich life

Unknown Speaker 19:58
you’ve probably got an Amazon It’s now in hardcover, I, I haven’t yet made the audible book I know. But to show people the book is, is, is written on a seventh grade levels meant for my kids. So it’s it should be timeless. It’s not time sensitive so you can read it for yourself or your kids, your grandparents, your parents, your friends, colleagues. And it’s got plenty of pictures so don’t worry. My website is my last name. Think of like a Russian Bacchus a top ski, oh, Russian might be a dangerous word these days. That’s several generations ago, but nonetheless, so tomsky Sh, t o v. sky.com. So, yeah, I think that I have built a great team, we got a lot of kernels of wisdom, people that can provide a lot of structure and support to people that are looking for wisdom, wealth and wellness for multiple generations. We’re here to help.

george grombacher 20:57
Excellent. If you enjoyed this as much as I did, so Jonathan, your appreciation and share today’s show with a friend who also appreciates good ideas, pick up a copy of your rich life. Because it is timeless, not time sensitive. That is a great phrase right there, Jonathan, then go to sitop ski comm it’s s@ovsky.com and check out everything else that Jonathan is working with working on and get in touch with them. Thanks. Good, Jonathan. Thanks, George. And until next time, keep fighting the good fight. We’re all in this together.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai