You are Worthy with Dawn Dahlby

george grombacher 0:00
Hey, what’s up? This is George G and the time is right welcome today’s guest strong a powerful Don Dalby. Don, are you ready to do this?

Dawn Dahlby 0:08
Oh, absolutely. On this special day you got it, George. Let’s go.

george grombacher 0:12
Let’s go. Don is a CFP, a BFA a C RPC. She is a CEO. She is the first certified behavioral financial advisor in the United States. She’s an author, her newest book is live wealthy own your worth. grow your wealth. Don, I’m so glad to have you back on the show. refresh our memories. Tell us a little bit your personal life’s more about your work. And what motivated you to put pen to paper again?

Dawn Dahlby 0:37
Yes, well, first of all, the introduction to many sees too many acronyms too many like whatever the hell any of that means. All that means is that I’ve been in the financial services industry for 23 years, helping clients build their financial plans, helping them manage their assets, minimize their taxes, all of the things around money. And yes, brand new book came out on April 11. Super excited. It’s called Live wealthy, w e l l th y. But I also want to talk about Georgia has a brand new book out today, the day we’re recording this. So that’s pretty exciting, too. And his book, How to get good at money. So we both have money books out. So that’s what we’re going to talk about today. Right?

george grombacher 1:22
That That sounds like an awesome plan to me.

Dawn Dahlby 1:25
Yeah, let’s do it.

george grombacher 1:28
So 23 years, I think you have me buy one or two years, Don

Dawn Dahlby 1:32
did them way older than you?

george grombacher 1:35
I started in 2001. So literally, it’s just it’s just one or two years. And are you from Minnesota?

Dawn Dahlby 1:41
I am Do you hear the accent? Or do you remember?

george grombacher 1:45
Well, I’m from I’m from Minnesota, also, I’m from up north a little bit in Duluth. Anyway, so look at all these look at all these commonalities.

Dawn Dahlby 1:55
Minnesota accents, you know, age, right. I know, we have it all together.

george grombacher 2:01
So tell us about the new book. What, what was the problem? What are the problems? What are you hoping to? To have the book do all that?

Dawn Dahlby 2:13
Yeah, all of the things about the live wealthy book. So, you know, I started calculating out how many client meetings I’ve sat in. And it’s like, 10s of 1000s, one on one with clients, helping them build their financial plan. And I remember, you know, halfway in my career about 10 plus years ago, you know, I’ve been able to watch clients go from, you know, very little in their portfolios to finally, them becoming financially independent and reaching their financial goals. And, and then I’m like, you know, you’ve made it and you would expect this, like big pop, you know, the pop of the champagne, and congratulations, and you’re financially independent. And instead of the excitement, I would get clients being like, well done, we just want to change how much our target goal is, we just want a little bit more money. And I’m like, okay, I get it, right. We all want more money. I mean, George, who doesn’t want more money, right? Everyone listening this podcast, we all want more money, because we want more life, we want more experiences and opportunities. However, what I learned is that fear was dictating those reasons for wanting more money in their lives. And I’m like, so not only does every single human being needed a technical advice on how to build a financial plan, how do you how do you have the right type of insurance protection? How do you have the right type of investments, minimize taxes, like all the things to build your wealth, like, we need that but what we also need, and I believe we’ve been giving a disservice to our clients is that we need to understand this fear base or emotional relationship we have with money, and you know, not allowing money to control us, but where we are in control of our money. So I realized that I needed to give clients not just the technical advice, but also like the psychological advice on on really having them finally, you know, kind of break those purse strings and arrive at this place of enoughness. Now, I don’t know if enoughness is a word but that’s what I you know, but but this place of living, free and secure at the same time had been enough. So that’s why I wrote the book. Does that make sense?

george grombacher 4:27
Not only does it make sense, but I love it. Oh, no, I love I love enoughness it’s, I don’t know is is is that contrary to our culture of of wanting more of private jets, and flashy or cars and ring, whatever?

Dawn Dahlby 4:47
Yeah, you know, I, I actually feel like it’s it’s the ying and yang of enoughness. Like it’s okay. I believe it’s okay to want more. And I believe that’s what living wealthy really is. It’s like, it’s okay to want me But arriving at a place where you know, you have enough, and even just as important or actually more important than having enough, is knowing that you are enough. And so I believe it’s okay, we all want more, we all continue to grow and evolve and change. So wanting more is cool, but not at the root fear of, of, you know, a fear, you know, not letting that control our life’s decisions where we know that we are enough the way where we have like, we have enough and we are enough, but if we want more, that’s okay to and I think, you know, we need to as human beings, really, you know, compare our wealthiness R W E, L, L are wealthy NIS to others based on, you know, this enoughness not just comparing people on how much money they have in the bank, it’s about the it’s about the ying and yang and the psychology and the technical advice at the same time. And I believe if people can arrive at that place, like then we have a completely different world because people are thinking differently about what is possible and how to live their life, if that also makes sense. And you’re gonna say not only does that make sense, but you agree, right, George?

george grombacher 6:17
Yeah, yeah. Again, yes. Looking for opportunities to say no, that no, you’re wrong, but I have not found any yet. It’s okay to want more, I think that that is at the heart of what our purpose as human beings is to continue to be striving to, to improve, but to your point, not in the name of just accumulating more stuff. It’s it’s okay to be wanting more, but to be feeling that I’m satisfied and, and certainly worthy of of the person that I am. So it’s not me acting out of fear, or inadequacy or anything like that. It’s just, it’s okay to be striving.

Dawn Dahlby 6:55
And I think, you know, like, what is that more for us? Like you and I, in our, I don’t know if you’re in your 50s yet, but I might be, are, like, what is like, what are more or definition of more, I think changes as we continue to age and like, it’s so funny, like, I look back in my 20s and 30s. You know, I wanted the things I wanted the material things, and I still liked the things don’t get me wrong, and I’m not downplaying the things like the nice cars, or houses or whatever. But I just want more experiences, and I want more love and connection with people. And you know, and just like the opportunities to think differently and live bigger, and that does take money. But it but that definition of more, and having that purpose, purposeful driven money, which you also talk about is so vitally important. So let me ask you this. Okay, I’m turning. So he’s the host, but let me just take right over? How have what I just said about my book? How does that compare, in contrast, or in similarities to your book on how to get good with money?

george grombacher 8:04
I am, I spent a lot of time thinking about how the unexamined life is not worth living, and how we go through different seasons of life, with when I was in my 20s, the things that I want today, when I’m in my 40s, are very different. And when I’m in my 60s, they will be different still, but that’s all good. And what’s important, from my perspective, is that we must all have these conversations for ourselves, because we need to run our own race. And we need to pursue our own version of happiness and stop living under somebody else’s expectations or assumptions, or terms, because life is way too short.

Dawn Dahlby 8:46
I love that. And really, you know, what it comes down to in your book. And in my book is really like you said, it’s taking the taking a second to stop and think and making sure we’re just not they’re looking for more income and more, you know, and just more income to pay more taxes, or we’re not just looking for more investment, like we’re, what type of more do we want? And the reason why behind it and I think, you know, in the day we live in, I mean, what do they say and people on social media, like our attention spans are what 2.3 seconds or something crazy like that. It’s, it’s, it’s we all need to slow that F down and just think a little bit more. Because when you do that you give yourself more time and in essence, more life and fulfillment. That’s what we all want. Yeah,

george grombacher 9:37
I think that’s right. I think that that’s right. And whatever it is that you want is okay. I’m fond of saying that I’ve never taken a vow of poverty. You know, I’d love going out and getting coffee. It’s one of my favorite things. So that’s not going to prevent you from becoming a millionaire. And just because of this people say that something is bad. That’s that’s that’s that’s really irrelevant. So I think it does a lot so much of it does come down to what your ideas are. And the only way that we know what our ideas are, is if we actually spend time thinking about these things and

Dawn Dahlby 10:06
gain using this free resource of our brain that either takes us left or takes us, right, right, it can take us down the mental health issues and the anxiety and you know, all of that kind of stuff that we all suffer with. But it also can take you down the right path and thinking bigger about your life. Like, Phil, I love the fact that you just put up the Starbucks coffee. And I love the fact that like, if someone told me that I couldn’t have my coffee, and I needed to save my $4 on my coffee, I’m like, oh, wait a second, that just gave me the energy to write my book, just like it gave you the energy to write your book, and you’re impacting more lives and making more money than the $4, it costs you to drink that coffee. So again, it’s I love this synergy that we have. And it’s really about thinking it’s using this tool that we all have, and using it in a positive way to make change in our life. And clearly, post COVID We all need change, we’re all looking for change, right? We’re all looking for a different way to operate and to live our lives. And I think that’s super critically important that this message has to stop and think

george grombacher 11:12
what a perfect time to be questioning everything, which I feel like we are now we’re questioning how we raise our kids and police, our communities and and everything else. So why wouldn’t we be thinking about? Really everything? I think I know that you have such a wonderfully unique perspective, because you’ve been a practicing financial advisor for 23 years. And so how you interact with clients in year one is different than your 10. And now you’re 20 and everything else and so that you’re thoughtful, and you took the time to read the book, I think is super cool. How do you how do you as as you’re looking at it, how your perspective on being an advisor has changed, which I assume that it has. What what do you think that your role is as a financial adviser for your clients?

Dawn Dahlby 12:10
Such a great question, you know, the, the foundation’s always the same, right, we’re always looking for how to maximize our having our money work harder than we do for it. So it’s about minimizing, you know, it’s about investing, of course, and minimizing the fees in your investments and minimizing the taxes to have your money work hard for you. And then also looking at the tax from not just an income perspective, but how are you minimizing the taxes from an investment perspective. So it’s the having your money work, and minimizing your taxes are the foundation to that has never changed in building wealth. But you know, the biggest thing that has really changed in how I deliver money, and my mindset is that, you know, I was just sitting in the chair in my office for so many years of going, I’m helping millionaires become multimillionaires. And the people that really need my advice, are the non millionaires that want to become the millionaires and want to do the right things, but but they don’t have access to people that have been in the business for two decades, because we don’t make money off of the non millionaires, right. So we, we don’t want to help those people. So I kept thinking, Gosh, this whole mindset of how I work with clients needs to change. And so what I did is over the last five years, you know, I developed this digital online advisory platform, and I went back to those first couple of meetings I had with clients. And I was like, how, how do I create this in a new innovative way where we can give that that that advice, and that advice was literally looking at people’s, their their spending plan? And going How much do you have leftover at the end of the month, and the clients would say, negative 300. Like, you know, like, like nobody had money leftover and we call it discretionary money. And I’m like, okay, so so you don’t have any money leftover, but we need to find a way to help you save for the future. So what I would do is just take a look at all of their expenses and start going, Okay, we need to minimize your tax bill over here. We need to stop wasting money on you know, the wrong type of insurance plans. And we need to stop you know, wasting money on maybe all the extra money we’re spending on our kids or going out to dinner, whatever it is right you could always find we always have this way of finding money in people’s I don’t even want to call them budgets but they’re spending plans. And so I looked for how do we really save taxes and stop wasting our money so we can take that money and apply it towards people’s today’s in their tomorrow. Charles and I think the thing that’s changed most in my life is about, you know, creating this digital online platform for the younger generation. But really teaching the younger generation that you know what you actually don’t have to, you don’t have to give up today to, to plan for tomorrow. Like, that’s a big thing. Like, we used to think we had to like, get this negative scarcity budget mindset can’t have our Starbucks, which I see you like sipping on that, as we talk. But you know, we don’t have to do that we can still live freely today if we stop wasting our money. And I think that’s really shifted in my, in how I run my business, and how I give advice to clients. But it’s so true. It’s just we don’t like, like, eat, nobody wants to be on a diet the rest of their life. So we want to make sure that we’re not on a budget, either. We want to like have fluidity and freedom in how we build our wealth. And I think that’s so critically important for people today to hear that.

george grombacher 15:59
What’s wrong with the word budget, you seem to hate it,

Dawn Dahlby 16:02
I hate it. You know what, I have a big personality. And like, when people tell me I need to be on a diet, or I need to have a budget, like budgets are important, but it’s about it’s the word that drives me crazy what I like and because budgets don’t really work, if you look at a budget, what a real budget is, it’s like Nicoline and Dynein, every little category, and it’s like, well, last time I checked, I don’t do the same things every month. So instead of a budget, we like to come up with these, I call them spending plans where there’s there’s about three or four different buckets of money that you can spend, and it gives you flexibility. So granted, if you want to write a book like crazy, George did, and you need 50,000 Starbucks in one month and go do it. It’s just you can’t have the other things. It’s about prioritizing your spending is really what it comes down to it. You can’t have everything. But you can prioritize and have limits on certain things at certain times. It’s just about prioritizing, but so you can still live your today. Right? Your core values today. I want everyone to know that they don’t have to give up today. And they don’t have to have a scarcity budget mindset. Do you budget George, let’s be real do you budget I hate budgeting. Okay. And it doesn’t work. We hate it right? Because it doesn’t work.

george grombacher 17:24
My my wife keeps our budget. And, and I hated it forever. Because I felt like I was getting in trouble. I felt like I was a little kid that was getting called into the principal’s office. And I appreciate everything you’re talking about about, about having a spending plan and prioritizing your spending and doing your best to align it to our core values. Because that’s the trick, you know, I don’t care. If I’m within my budget, I do care if I’m allocating my resources in the smartest possible way that is congruent with what’s most important to me. So

Dawn Dahlby 18:00
yeah, and that’s, that is so important. And it you know, going back to the whole food, the diet in the budget thing there. They go hand in hand, like I’m not gonna lie like yesterday was Sunday, I might have had a big plate of nachos that was this big. Let’s go right, right. I know. And just like the sour cream and guac and the cheese and the chicken and pork, like Oh, in the chips are so amazing. But again, prioritizing, like, if I did that every day, I would be broke and fat. But the other thing is is like today that I do intermittent fasting, like I don’t eat until noon, and I’m having just black coffee, and then I’m having a really, you know, a salad today. And I’ll do that the rest of the week. But it’s about it’s that same concept about it’s the balance, and it’s prioritizing and making sure we’re doing the right things 80% of the time and letting the purse strings a little loose, or letting you know us enjoy life a little bit without the guilt that we have with eating and with money. I mean, it’s so important.

george grombacher 19:03
You need to find something that’s going to be sustainable. It’s got to work, otherwise, we’re just going to stop doing it.

Dawn Dahlby 19:08
Yes. And by the way, let’s talk Okay, money growing money. Growing money is so much easier than like exercising to if you think about, like health and the combination, or the comparison of health to wealth, health, you know, the older we get, the harder it is to stay healthy, right? It’s the harder it takes more energy because we don’t want to. We can’t work out as hard as we age. And it’s just this constant battle. We got to get up. We got to make smart food decisions. We got to make smart exercising decisions. Money’s completely opposite. Like if you’re in your 20s or 30s. Like you just have to set it up. And then the older you get, the more money the harder it works for you. And it’s just like when people always ask me like, gosh, you know, it’s so hard to to have your money like have a lot of money. It’s like it actually is It’s way easier than taking care of your body, it’s so much easier. Because again, comes back to the core values. Most of us have core values around money, you know, wanting wealth, and we want to have health and I mean, we didn’t have those, we wouldn’t be able to survive. So super important concepts to us. But like growing your body is actually easier than keeping your body healthy, which I don’t know if you’ve ever thought of it like that. But it’s so true. Right?

george grombacher 20:26
I have not, and I think it’s great. That didn’t older is certainly a drag. And, and yes, it makes gets harder. But as long as we do have, and are doing the right things, when we’re younger, you put the systems or processes in place, and then yeah, just really it grows and grows and grows and compounds. And it’s actually easier.

Dawn Dahlby 20:49
So I mean, I did a video earlier this morning, I’m like I’ve never had and I said in this video, I never had one person come back to me when they started saving in their 20s and 30s. That said, Oh, we gotta we got to stop, we got to put the brakes on now, because I can’t afford that Roth or I can’t afford that savings plan. It’s either like it’s out of sight out of mind, they forget about it, they magically work within what’s leftover. And they realize that after you do that for a year or so that you’re either going to pay the IRS or you’re going to pay yourself more, you know, it’s not equal dollar to dollar. But you know, you pay the IRS less and you pay yourself more and it almost comes out to you similar dollars if you do it right and stop wasting money and you have this flexible spending plan that we’re talking about. It’s like, people don’t understand that, like you don’t miss it. Right. It’s that foundation of building wealth has always been the key and it’s easier when you’re younger to build wealth. Amen.

george grombacher 21:47
Workout. Yes. It’s got to work out a little bit harder on those days that you’re eating that plate of nachos.

Dawn Dahlby 21:55
I know, I know, I’m probably bringing that up because I did an exercise on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, and I had nachos twice and sat outside. It was just fantastic. But you know, like I’m feeling probably, I mean, if we’re gonna be real, I’m probably a little guilty today, but it’s okay. It’s okay.

george grombacher 22:10
This too shall pass. Yes. Well, thank you so much for coming back on. Don is wonderful to see a talk with you again. Where can people learn more about you? Where can they get their copy of Live wealthy own your worth? grow your wealth?

Dawn Dahlby 22:24
Yes, so anyone and everyone can find me right on my website, which is my name Don Dalby da w ndhlby.com. You can purchase the book directly from the website or you can go to Amazon if you want as well.

george grombacher 22:41
Excellent. Well, if you enjoyed as much as I did, shut down your appreciation and share today’s show with a friend who also appreciates good ideas go to Don dalby.com DAWNDHLB Why pick up your copy of Live wealthy own your worth, grow your wealth, and check out all the other great resources that Don has worked on and put together and everything else to help you to also get better at money and become the wealthy version that you want to be. Thanks again done. Thank you. Until next time, remember, do your part by doing your best

Transcribed by https://otter.ai