Embrace Your Adversity with U.S. Navy Veteran and Wealth Strategist Gary Pinkerton

Speaker 1

00:00

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Speaker 2

00:33

 Hey, everyone, you're going to love this one. I just chatted with Gary. Pinkerton who is a well strategist. And an u.s. Navy, veteran was an officer for 26 years in the Navy, and we focused a lot on the poverty that he faced growing up in, on a farm in Illinois. And we also talked a good bit about the passing of his father, when Gary was at the Naval Academy. Thirdly, we talked about A big ethical challenge that carry faced when he was an officer in the Navy. And we pull out a lot of lessons learned Gary's now, focused on helping individuals and families grow their wealth through primarily the infinite banking concept, but also helping them plan and invest their money as well or at least advise on what he would do. But this Is a very good episode, we talked about kind of the mindset that it carries been able to employ to get them through tough times and how he has absolutely been able to reach abundance. He's now living in southern Southwest Florida, and he's able to kind of control his day-to-day, and he is all about taking ownership and helping others. Take ownership of their lives and their financial situation. Um, and so lots of fantastic principles are presented in this. This episode several great book recommendations, he was a pleasure to chat with. I know you're going to love this one.

Speaker 1

02:13

 Inspiring stories of real people overcoming incredible odds to live life. To the fullest. We are all guaranteed to face. Hardships, how will we handle the adversity? Join us to be moved by everyday people who have turned poverty and prosperity and weakness into wealth. With Be Inspired as these relatable Heroes, get vulnerable and former counterintelligence investigator Jamie Bateman puts his interviewing skills to the test, restore your faith in humanity as you experience. True Cinderella stories of average people turning surreal struggle and deep despair into booming, businesses and financial Fortune. Take ownership of the life. You are destined to live and turn your adversity into abundance. All right, here's the deal. You work hard for your money. Isn't it about time? You put your money to work for you if you are an accredited investor check out Labrador Lending.com.

Speaker 2

03:15

 Our integrity income fund provides monthly cash flow from an investment backed by hard. Physical real estate, our income fund which is uncorrelated to publicly traded stocks and bonds invests. In first lien, mortgage notes Diversified by geography property value and borrower type. So you're not investing in one project. You're investing in a diversified portfolio of first lien mortgage notes. Our integrity income fund aims to pay its investors monthly distributions at a preferred rate of return of 8% annually. Possibly, the best part though, the fun showcases, a short 12-month commitment. So you can invest your Capital today and have access to that capital in one year. Check it out today. Labrador Lending.com Welcome everybody to another episode of the form adversity, to abundance podcast. I am your host Jamie Bateman, and I am thrilled to take today to have with Us guest, Gary, Pinkerton of aligned Strategic Wealth. Gary, how are you doing today?

Speaker 1

04:24

 I am doing awesome. Jamie, I can't wait to talk to the audience and meet some new.

Speaker 2

04:27

 Friends. Absolutely, I love it. I know. Just researching, I would hear of you before and just researching your story a little bit more. Today, I realized we have a quite a bit in common and I think the listener will Be able to benefit from hearing your story and I can't wait to dive in before we get into your back story though, who are you today and, and why should we listen to you?

Speaker 1

04:52

 Yeah, that's awesome. So, I am a, I am a wealth strategist. I focus primarily on helping my clients. Reduce taxes through what I call alternative Investments, which means not Wall Street and it, you know, that all really comes from the experiences that I learned in my, you know, am I My backstory and years of studying, what makes individuals be able to obtain wealth and hold onto it for generations. And, so I partnered with a firm called Paradigm, life insurance company, it's a brokerage company. So my day job really is helping individuals Implement kind of the foundation underneath all of their Investments and then I spend most of my time, helping individuals, my clients Growth in the end. You know, I am a 30-year Navy nuclear submarine veteran, who has redefined, what patriotism means to myself. And to me patriotism means helping entrepreneurs business owners individuals in America. Hold on to the 250 your experiment that our founding fathers put in place. And so, and that experiment is give people the rights to what they create and allow them to prosper from those, right? It's and create a very small government that doesn't have the power to take that from them. And so if we are unable, if we're able to enable others to control their own destiny, which I call agency, then we will remain a beacon for Freedom around the globe for centuries to come. And, so I have shifted from protecting America from outside forces, to protecting America, from destroying.

Speaker 2

06:33

 Ourselves. That's there's a whole lot to unpack there. And yeah, we could have five or six episodes. Just diving into the what you just talked about on this show. We love the concept of taking ownership and just taking control of your life. And the whole purpose of this show is to accept the fact you help the listener. Accept the fact that they're going to have adversity. They're going life is not fair, you know, don't try to make it fair. We can't control all of the bad. Things were good, things that happen to us, but what we can do, Do is take control of how we respond and there's a lot of I like how you talk about the kind of you may be focused outwardly in a sense and now you have actually brought it a little bit more, not self-centered, but more focused on what you actually can control. And in that sense, we have more impact on those around us. If on an individual level, we all take ownership of our situation. And so yeah, there's a lot that I really like about what you just said. Thank you for your service. I was at is a you I think you retired as a captain, right? And in the Navy which I was a captain in the Army, so I guess we were the same rank, right? Those familiar with the military will realize that. That's not necessarily the case, but thank you for your service. Not ask like it. So now let us jump. Let us dive in. And you know let us start where you'd like to with your Backstories. I know we're going to focus primarily on financial hardships that you have been through as far as the adversity side of things. So where would you like to start?

Speaker 1

08:20

 Well, I am going to go way back, we won't stay there forever. That, you know, so I am 53 years old, I grew up in the 70s and early 80's and a period that mirror that rhymes with today. You know, people say that history doesn't repeat itself, but it certainly Rhymes sometimes. And so the early 80s are very similar Are you know maybe right now we're in the late 70s part. So Jimmy Carter leaving office, Mana regen coming into office. We have high inflation really for the first time in modern American history and certainly that any of us who are living today. Remember sure. And so there were a lot of lessons learned there. That frankly, I didn't personally learn until years later, I didn't get the lesson from them, I guess. I learned them back then. So I, you know, I was on a dairy farm in Southern Illinois, who had about 500 acres and You know, when I was younger kid, you know, grade school era, it seemed like we were doing, okay? But as I was transitioning through my junior high school into High School, it was obvious, meaning that the bankers kept showing up, you know, monthly and that it was weekly when we were our, you know, in the fields. And, so I didn't really understand personal finance. What I knew is that we were in serious trouble and that trouble. Now that I can take a bigger picture. Look at it, was that my father had been kind of duped into It's kind of this thing that was happening with Farmers Across America back then. And you know what, I am not going to go after all the bankers and say that they knew exactly what they were doing. I don't think they did like again, we hadn't seen High interest rates in America and a long time. Sure. But we kept getting these teaser rates to refinance, pull more Equity out of the property or refinance for a bigger and bigger loan, with the guys of, you know, putting that into equipment or livestock, or something like that. And then, that teaser rate would go away and you'd end up with, you know, The readjusted rates and then you have to do something about it, and we were able to do something about it until stagflation really took over in the late 70s, early 80s. And at that point, prices weren't going up anymore on the, on the properties and peoples, incomes weren't going up and there were gas lines. You know, all this stuff that we complain about today actually pales in comparison to what we were seeing back then. Even and so, you know, plus we had the threat of nuclear war and all this craziness going on had just left Vietnam. So, A really, really tough time. And I look at today's world and just say, man, we don't have, you know, this all Chef likes around us that they have been protected from The Real World for way too long. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. It seems not to get distracted here but one of my favorite sayings that I say on my podcast Gary's belch. All the time is that hard times create strong people and strong people create good times and I think that's what was happening, you know, in the early 80s, we had some strong people being honed, created out of that tough environment. I have had good times for quite a while, after that. But, the problem is that good times. Create weak people. And we can point at those people right now, I think and, and these weak people are creating hard times. And we're about to go through the cycle again. And I am ready for this cycle and most people who are out there that are in our audiences or ready for this cycle. So, you know, I will throw us back into the early 80s and It's like 18 1983 84. Paul volcker gets the green light to fix inflation, and so he just hides interest rates until he slows the economy down and breaks a few things and stops the inflation in its tracks but interest rates got to 21 percent on our farm and that took just a few weeks and you know, essentially foreclosed technically we did sell it. As we were walking out the door with a short centre-back enough to pay off the thing, and then we lived in a double-wide trailer single-wide trailer. Aileron. My uncle's land for you know the rest of my high school time. Okay. So was.

Speaker 2

12:15

 That just go ahead sorry to say it was out is it because I mean the non-performing notes pace so was that a like a deed-in-lieu? Do you know? But I don't know if you know like deed in lieu of foreclosure, was it a short sale kind of thing? Just curious how that it really doesn't.

Speaker 1

12:30

 Actual sale that result in proceeds enough to pay the banker.

Speaker 2

12:33

 Off. Got it, understood. Okay, I.

Speaker 1

12:35

 Think so. Normal sales.

Speaker 2

12:38

 Got it and then you said, You lived in a double-wide with your, with your uncle, for all of high school. You said.

Speaker 1

12:43

 Yeah. For the last three years of high school. So, to go back and just add a couple minutes to that other story. So we had a month before. So they gave us like four months to get out, right? And school month, before foreclosure, we found this beautiful young couple they were in there in my memory is like, they were in their early 30s. And they had these two really cute little kids, and they would come and visit like once a week while we were in escrow just to figure out. What they were going to do here, whether we're going to plant there and you know where they were going to put the swing set and all this stuff. And we had our, you know, during that period of time, we went through this auction, and we got rid of all the livestock, we sold all the equipment. Like we couldn't form anything, and we were box and stuff up on the Sunday before closing, and they show up just in tears bawling. And they said, you know, we went to pull our down payment out of our brokerage account where we had put it into just some safe stocks and the market had done it. I had done in minor correction, and we don't have the down payment in the bank just for just canceled the loan process. And so we were all screwed because they had this misconception that you can store money in an investment or it's at risk of loss and call that safe. So, anyone out there that's listening that has saved box, or they have some place where somebody else is holding their money, that's a really bad idea and I learned that as a teenager. And so then we did find a buyer at a much reduced price which ended up being enough to pay the bank.

Speaker 2

14:11

 Off. I see interesting. That's yeah, that's what I it is amazing how we just, you know, we have been having washed. I don't know what you want. Yeah, what's that? You can.

Speaker 1

14:22

 Sold a bill of goods? Yes, exams. Like a good thing during good times.

Speaker 2

14:26

 Roll and that's what everybody else is doing right? So that must make sense. So you know, put all my money in the stock market but so okay. So and then I mean, at this point, your you were in high school. It sounds like, yeah. So you weren't Years old, you had a pretty good idea what's going on at this point. And so how did that affect you? Kind of I guess mentally as far as having to be move out and then the rest of the high school years, how did, if you want to call it poverty? How did these Financial struggles affect you as a person?

Speaker 1

14:58

 Yeah, you know, I can remember being very, very embarrassed. We always had really old vehicles. I was wearing hand-me-down clothes and in. Yo, and so it, you know, on the teenage boy, who wants girls to you, want to attract Y'all's attention, right? So you know, I was never able to go to football practice, you know, joining these sports or anything like that because I was just working my tail off in the farm and I can remember you know, pee in my friends. After football practice to come help us out and I get paid nothing right. So I mean I remember all those like material things as a kid. Sure, I also remember this deep fire inside me, which is stuck with me for 40-plus years, and I am you know where I am just not going to let my kids go through some Like that. And I actually think we robbed from our children, the lessons of adversity, you know, one of the, you know, obviously focus on this podcast and adversity. And the thing that I would tell people go get the very simple little book. That had a huge impression on me called obstacle, is the way, right? And remember the guys name.

Speaker 2

15:59

 It's a, it's a Ryan holiday.

Speaker 1

16:01

 Yeah. So very simple little Parable and book, right? And he is absolutely right on the journey, is the destination. And the obstacle is the thing that enables us to grow. Don't Rob from yourself, you know, by wine and about the new obstacle. That's in the road in front of you. The adversity that you or your business just achieved, right? Think that is put there by God as a gift for our lesson and for us to grow from, right? I can look back on every adversity that ever happened in my life and it has made me hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions and this one included, right? And so, what did I have to do? So my There's health is failing. You pass a couple years later just because of all of the stress associated with this. So I was a freshman at the Naval Academy when he passed. And that was probably the biggest adversity. I will get to that in a second, but, you know, so in high school, I am you know, I am running a little businesses like, you know, creating wood pallets and stuff for our neighbors and doing whatever we can do to put food on the table. But yeah, my friends would come over my girlfriend to come over, and I am in this like, 20 year old single wide trailer, right? It's super embarrassing. But thankfully, my parents had always pushed education and I had three goals once. I finally got things stabilized and my mom was able to get a job and, you know, kind of take care of things. And she kind of gave my sister and me the green light to go off and pursue education and a better life, which I will always be grateful for those two for doing. During that period, I learned a ton about entrepreneurship. I also learned a ton about having long term, fixed rate, debt offsetting and getting on the same side of the table is the Federal. Sir, I don't think anybody who listens to your show thinks that we have a good financial plan In America, which now the entire Globe has of depreciating our currency. But it is the plan and obviously it's what's going to happen and so you should protect your family, get on the right side of the table from. That's why I.

Speaker 2

17:56

 Learned men. So you mentioned Regals, what were those three goals?

Speaker 1

18:00

 Oh, my three goals. Yeah, to get out of Illinois because it was just poverty-ridden Southern Illinois. The second was to have a safe secure job because while I Learn the lessons. I didn't internalize the lessons of Entrepreneurship and being a business owner back then and so safe, secure job as far away as I could and to be able to go to college for free. And so Naval Academy toss that right in my lap and I didn't see it coming and I grabbed it and.

Speaker 2

18:29

 Ran, that's awesome. Yeah I am actually in Maryland I don't think I mentioned that but it did. How was your time in Annapolis?

Speaker 1

18:39

 You know, as a student Was tough. Tough, tough. Because I was woefully underprepared for that, you know, I can remember in the summer, they we had this sign up for your classes meeting. That was a nice little air-conditioned break between getting our tail kicked. In the plead Bloom can kind of stuff and big conference room, and they said hey write down any gosh, what do they call it IB? Which is Something Baccalaureate right? And then I forgot what the other one was now but those courses AP courses. So like write down any AP or IB courses, and I was the Dummy from, you know, the redneck from Illinois, who raise my hand, am I good? Is IB, and he like right, don't worry about it? So I have like 21 horses, every semester or 21 credits, every semester four straight years, it was tough academic. And I was not an athlete as we just talked about. So you know it was there's a saying at that place and many other places like it where it's a great place to be from and here for four years you're going to love seeing that Chapel dome in the rearview mirror as you were driving away and that was trigger. Yeah. Like everything else you start to appreciate it as you get older and I actually finished my career. There teaching ethics at the Naval Academy. I am standing on the found, the football field where we got our Ensign stripes and through our hats up in the They're 26 years to a day later, as I was watching The midshipmen Graduate, and I was and I took off my uniform that day, it was the last day I ever had gone on. So it was really, really cool way to Capstone kind of bookend the career. But yeah, my head my four years, there were.

Speaker 2

20:25

 Tough, got it now. And I am sure, you know, obviously, we don't have time to go through the you're 26 years of service. I am sure you face some adversity, some ups and downs all through that, you know, and again, thank you for your service. The Is there anything during those twenty-six years that jumps out, as far as you know, adversity you have dealt with that. Could be helpful for The Listener out there. Yeah.

Speaker 1

20:48

 So my plea beer obviously very that's the hardest year at the Naval Academy of just being pressured on you know basically like bringing everybody down. Even the pro athletes who were showing up there you know that for the college knows state, champs that are showing up there, everyone gets challenged in some way. My father ends up passing halfway through that year. My classmates in my and the upperclassmen helped me pack everything up, and they actually got it ready to ship to my house. And they just said hey when you had a chance to think through all of this you know just let us know, and we will ship it. Like everyone assumed that I was not going to come back to my mom for some advice, and she was like, Gary, you don't know that this to anybody else you can come home and you know, do whatever sets, you know, no one else is expecting you to go on so like no one and that was The worst part about it was like, there is no one who is saying you can do this, you know, and it was a conversation with a guy sitting at the funeral home, they just flip the switch for me. I can't even remember what he said, I can remember, I can remember sitting there with him, and I was just like, you know what, I am going back and one of the other things was that there was like nothing there for me in Illinois. You know. So yeah. So I guess that was, that was a very big piece of adversity, my dad and all of the stuff that he, that he sacrificed for myself. And My sister to get us to be able to launch like that. Out of all of that kind of, you know, challenge. He devoted his entire life to support us to allow us to be able to do that in the one guy that I wanted to be able to turn to, you know, and say, Dad, it was worth it, you know, he was gone. And so that was the hardest thing for me to do is like, why would I go back down? The reason I was there was to know, pay him back. So that was, that was one of the biggest ones when I was in command of the USS. You saw on the only other thing I will say about. That is it was a challenging. It was an ethically challenging moment. I was out with my crew. No one, now outside person was there. We were doing some emergency drills, kind of testing stuff like firefighters do, and we did a procedural step. That is the only thing that's in the manual, that's in like these capital letters above all those, don't do this. Never even heard of anybody doing that, but my team did it when they were recovered. Going from this, this training scenario and everyone who was beneath me in my command said, you know what? There's no record of this. There's no, there's no lasting effect of it. Thankfully, we didn't break anything. We should just move on. And I am like, nope, take the ship to Periscope depth. We're going to tell the boss and that initiated probably 12 months of sheer pain and.

Speaker 2

23:35

 Investigations and things like.

Speaker 1

23:36

 That. Yep. Yeah people, I had to fire a bunch of people. I lived on the ship in Port for a while, my family was completely worn out, my wife ended up moving back to the mainland so that we could get our kids in a better school at that point was a mess. Wow. But later, two years later, most of my crew thanked me, and we had an incredible deployment. We made some really big results for the nation during a presidential type activities. And we won like the best submarine in the Pacific Fleet at the time. So it was really incredible turnaround, but that was.

Speaker 2

24:15

 Some adversity for sure. Yeah, definitely. I mean, that's, you know, it's easy for us to talk about do the right thing, when no one's looking. Yeah, sounds good. But there's a lot of pressure on you but to not do the right thing by, you know, just not bring it up and I imagine you sleep better at night now. Knowing you did the right thing. He did turn it around and you earned the respect of your yeah.

Speaker 1

24:40

 I do I certainly do, and I am so proud that I made that call and it was really just because, you know, of the amazing training and education system, the started way back when I was a kid, but mainly the Naval Academy, and then the there's a culture of the submarine Force. But I can tell you there were times smaller times when I am not made the right choice like that, and so I am sure we can all say that but you know definitely am not perfect but that was.

Speaker 2

25:04

 No I get it. No it kudos to you though because you know it's the end of the day. You didn't personally, do whatever happened, right? You didn't choose to do that, but it's, it's all your responsibility, right? I mean, you're in charge of the whole vessel and your whole crew. So, that's again, back to taking ownership and taking ownership of the good and bad that happens to you. I love it. So yeah. So you dealt, you have dealt with a good bit of financial adversity, you know, the passing of your father, critical point in your life. And I do want to say that, With regard to that. I mean people sometimes you know if you have a close relative who passes away and then you see people go out and go back to work right away or you know and I think a lot of times we judge how people handle those things. And the fact is you probably needed and this is just you know I am guessing here but you probably needed something to focus on like the Naval Academy or some kind of purpose in that at that point in your life. So like you alluded to going back to Illinois. It probably wasn't the best choice, so kudos to you through all of that. I mean for just how you handled all that's you know I guess when you look back at those will say 33 different incidents that have kind of financial adversity, growing up the passing of your father. And then the ethical challenge in the military. What would you say was, is a one or two, one or two principles that you could pull out, as far as how you handle that or how the listener, what the listener could take away? For their own adversity that they're guaranteed to face.

Speaker 1

26:44

 Well, you know, again the biggest lesson going again is that these are painful. And we want to, you know, we have this tendency to want to avoid them. I embrace them now. You know, because I have learned through experience that they're there for my growth and I think the big lesson is I would not protect your mistake that I have made with my two sons. Awesome, young men, 18 and 21 years old now, but they're softer. There a little bit softer. Right. And they're pretty solid kids. And, you know if I compare them to everybody else today. But I did protect them from things financially otherwise. And I, if I could go back and do that again, I wouldn't do it. But I am you know, freely admitting that the reason I did is that I carried all that baggage around. And I wanted my young guys, not to be super embarrassed around their friends here, you know, and plus when you have the means it's really hard to hold back. Like, my dad didn't, you know, you had a lot of challenges, but he didn't have to worry about, you know, the fact, He intentionally held back funds that his kids could have had, right? They didn't have it so that I would say was the big one and then you know in the end my fight song is that we are our own number one. The Best asset, end of story. There is no pile of money out there, there's no business. There's no you know, rare car in the garage or anything that is going even relationships that are going to protect you and your own future. The only thing that can protect you Your own future is yourself and your mindset and your ability to go out and raise capital or to add value to others, that they will grow, plants that you for to may even be food or shelter, but they will compensate you if you add value to their world. If somebody is ignoring you and not on your team and doesn't want to pay attention useful, you haven't added the right value to their world and that may be fine. But that is the answer to why that is the case.

Speaker 2

28:38

 So that yeah.

Speaker 1

28:39

 You know. And so you can look to anybody in the like hey I got enough money. I got more money than God. I don't have to worry about this, that's just screwed up, right? All you gotta do is find a really sophisticated con man and you will be bankrupt worst bankrupt in the guy who is struggling right now, but still adding value because that person retired themselves, which means they took them out of service and whatever skills, they had to end up with that money to begin with are now gone. There, you see, ya.

Speaker 2

29:06

 Know, the kind of sense. Yeah, I think you know wealth creation, obviously you and I both belief that it's very important. And need to take ownership of your financial future and all that stuff. But if you're placing your all of your Hope and Faith into the money itself or the wealth itself, that's a, that's a Fool's errand. I mean, that's, and so I am in a, we run in some of the same circles, the guys I am plugged in with that wealth. Without Wall Street. They the first principle they operate by his invest in yourself. I mean, that's just number one. So.

Speaker 1

29:42

 And again, that's a great point. And obviously we're very like-minded. I know those two gentlemen, very well my point with that, in this specific case about those three areas of adversity is that what not me through it was knowing that I have got it inside me to be able to dust myself off and move forward right now? I love it. Kind of hit the little quotes and comments and stuff about, you know, just get up one time more than the other guys, true. But the reason that those, you know, the reason that sayings are out there is that they're true.

Speaker 2

30:13

 Yeah, no, it's true. Ooh. It's and one of the themes I have pulled out from all the episodes we have done so far, one of the common elements of how these people, we have the guest we have had on how they have gotten through the adversity. They have experienced is that they invested in themselves. They focus on themselves for a period of time, and they're always in a growth mindset and trying to better their better themselves. However, and you mentioned this already getting to abundance and that looks different for everyone. But Getting to abundance, really comes from serving others and trying to add value to others. It ends up actually not being about you Gary or me, Jamie, it really ends up being about serving others and then, you know, it does eventually come back to you, I believe. So, I love the fact that use you, you know, we are very like-minded like you said, and I think the listener can take a lot from this conversation. So I do have some rapid fire questions for you and then we can get It too kind of little bit more about your business today and how you, how you run, things how you serve others through your business. What's one thing that people misunderstand about you?

Speaker 1

31:24

 Mmm, I am a bit aggressive. Meaning I am just kind of to the point and it may come out being just hardcore and not caring and I don't know maybe self-centered or something like that but I just have this Burning Fire Inside Me of patriotism to help Americans. Take Troll of their future take control of their situation and insulate themselves. From others, having what I call Financial blackmail over them. Like you do need to come in and work today, you're going to have to take that pay cut. You're not gonna be able to go to your kids recital. All those things most Americans and most parents would like to you know flip out the middle finger at that, right? But they can't do it because they have not been able to assess. Have not yet established. Agency in their own world. And, so I am very passionate about that and maybe I come across to the little bit off the top rope.

Speaker 2

32:21

 Sometimes. Yeah, I have heard that, you know, with from several of our guests that passion here, the end of the day, though, you can't, you can't please everyone. Yeah, you do need to care about what other people think, on some level because you're trying to serve them. So you need to understand where they're coming from, but if you're, if you're growing, if you're making an impact in the world, you're not going to not everyone's going to be your biggest. And that's okay, so you gotta it's good that you have passion. That's just my, My Little My two cents there. But what would you say if you had to have, if you could have coffee with any historical figure, who would it be? And.

Speaker 1

32:57

 Why I would say Ronald?

Speaker 2

32:59

 Reagan. Okay. Yeah.

Speaker 1

33:01

 You know, he had a huge shift from being a Hollywood, very kind of liberal mindset to become a very conservative individual, very patriotic, very Freedom focused and I think I could learn some stuff from him and his journey and maybe something that would help Enlighten. A lot of others that have been kind of wound down that path.

Speaker 2

33:25

 Yeah, it's great answer. If you were given ten million dollars tomorrow, what would you do with it?

Speaker 1

33:31

 Hmm, increase my ability to attract the attention of other like-minded. Producers, build a place here, in Southwest Florida. A bit of an oasis of place where people could come, and we could hold actual Live Events. You know, I mentioned that my podcast name is Gary's Gulch that comes from it's a reference to galt's, Gulch from Iran's book, Atlas Shrugged, which was a place where all of the producers went off to protect their mindset and in a community of people who could come out of the Woodworks in the end and help rebuild America again, once everyone kind of realized that entitlements and voting Self you know victories and all this kind of stuff wasn't going to work, so I would continue to Foster that I might buy myself a nice car I don't know. And it but you know like I said I am just over-the-top focused on protecting this experiment that started 250 years ago this seriously at risk it's not the first time but it's seriously at risk.

Speaker 2

34:34

 Right. That's good. Good perspective. It's very real you know we have very real issues for sure but you know you can't come up with a solution till you recognize As that you have a problem, right? And so more focused on your own industry and business. Once what's one issue or challenge that you're facing right now in your.

Speaker 1

34:56

 Business? Well, the biggest challenges optimizing the system so that I can interact with more people and more quickly get my message across more quickly. So I am building a team underneath me, that's a little more extensive. I am getting on some stages and all of that requires capital and planning. So I guess it would, I would say is more optimized.

Speaker 2

35:22

 Systems and more people were telling me. I mean, and that's Really, what business comes down to is people in systems, right? So yeah, that's something I can relate to as well. What's one surprised that you have learned through your, on the business side of things, just something you didn't expect. Maybe it's been more challenging or easier or more fun. Any surprise that you faced in your business?

Speaker 1

35:49

 All right. It's yeah, it's been more abundant than I could have imagined, so I certainly enjoyed. I have always known. I was going to enjoy it that it would be fun. It is. Abundant in that I get all kinds of referrals and amazing opportunities from current clients because I focus on adding value to their world, right? Like you just mentioned a few minutes ago and if you just focus outwardly abundantly on the needs of your most closely aligned clients customers, whatever we call them, then they will open up their Rolodex to you. They will open up their friend Network, they will, they will provide all kinds of incredible investment opportunity, but also an alliance and things like that. So yeah, just be an outwardly focused and, you know, Dr. Joe dispenza and my awesome friend Aaron Chapman, you know, and I kind of did a mastermind and study group together and I know he was on a previous.

Speaker 2

36:49

 Episode, and, yeah, it was. Yeah.

Speaker 1

36:51

 And so, he and I, you know, studying a book from Dr. Joe dispenza. That was about Breaking the habit of being yourself or becoming suffer from like that. And his point in one of the comments he makes in there is the human mind as powerful as it is in the end. Can Only Hold one thought at a time. And so, if you're thinking, man, I am so grateful that I had this, you know, new car. I am so grateful that I have this friend. I am so grateful that I have this thing. Then you can't actually physically, get ticked off at the guy who you think, cut you off because he dislikes you or you To prove her like you just can't do that. Yeah, I am grateful. That guy was able to find a hole in front of me and can make it to his wife, delivery of their brand-new baby, like create the story that makes you abundant. And so that's what I have tried to use. And, you know, my realization of the thing. That surprised me is that it has been.

Speaker 2

37:46

 It's been credible. That's awesome. Yeah, there's a bunch of things I would love to dive into their but in fact, just talking about adding value to others, I did drop as Zig Ziglar quote to my 15 year old daughter last night about you help enough people get what they want in life. You will get everything you want in life. My favorite quote of all time because she's trying to hit me up for More money because I helped fund a small entrepreneurial Adventure or Venture for her, and so I respect what she's doing, but I am trying to get her to, you know, focus on others and add value and it will come back to you. So but yeah, that's been awesome. That's, that's awesome. That it's been so abundant for you. It sounds like in more than just financially, it sounds like you're really enjoying the business as well and enjoying serving. Others. What is that? So what is, give the listener. Kind of just a snapshot of your business. And what, you know, what does one day or one week look like for you?

Speaker 1

38:49

 Yeah, so I am meeting from a room in my house and here in Southwest Florida on a beautiful golf course, which is sad things that keep my mind. Very abundantly feeling, you know, have one of those very simple things like a waterfall on our pool. That just makes nice sound and nice climate here for Few months out of the year, you can just keep the window or the glass open and, you know, listen to it. And, so I am meeting via Zoom like this with many clients, just one after another and then take a short break and then a couple more and, you know, taking notes in between there. So very hectic, Focus, today's most of the week, actually, like, I don't even take one. And I mean, take one of those days off. I do take off Sundays and I take off most of Saturday's, I do travel a lot as well. To engage clients in person to do main stage, kind of things to do, masterminds to connect up with Patrick Donohue and his team out and Salt Lake City Utah. Where I am headed next week. Yeah. It's to teach some industry courses Financial horses. With a good friend, Todd Lankford. And his wife can Butler, we were kind of.

Speaker 2

39:58

 Industry and science.

Speaker 1

40:00

 Here, so I go off and teach with him as well. You know, predominantly it's me meeting with clients one-on-one. I mean, this is a one-on-one, you know, business that were in.

Speaker 2

40:09

 You're talking about people's personal finances here, personal is personal, right?

Speaker 1

40:14

 So we're designing were designing, this kind of handmade glove to fit their family? That is really a foundational piece. So it's infinite banking, its high cash, value whole life insurance. Yeah. And so that's really, that's like step one. And then I have a cash management system called currents that we bring in with that. And then I expand where possible and where it fits their Mario and to helping them with wealth strategy. And, so I am helping them with business structure, asset planning estate planning tax, reducing investments, in syndication, kind of Investments. And so some clients I meet with weekly, some clients, I am meeting with once a year, sometimes. I can't get on the phone, but it all just comes down to what their needs are where they are in life. And, you know, the perfect world is that I am also meeting with their kids and grandkids to help them understand as a family, why my, why grandma grandpa or Doing.

Speaker 2

41:09

 This. So, yeah. So on that point, I speak of my daughter. Again, I have given her the book becoming your own Banker by Nelson Nash, and it's sitting by her bed and you have any, any advice on how I can get her, you know, interested at she has a we have got a few, got 44 policies and one is in her name. I mean I am the owner of it but Trying to get her, you know, that I will just quickly say, there's you have people out there say, well, the schools don't teach personal finance, which is absolutely true. But the flip side is, you know, it was my mother who was a public school teacher for many years would say, yeah. But the kids don't want to learn it. So how do you, how do you do? How do you approach that? I don't know if that's a big part of your business or not, but you have any insight there, how do we get? The kind of, maybe kids and teenagers on board with this type of thinking Okay.

Speaker 1

42:04

 Yeah, great question. That's tough Book. For a kids area is sure. Yes, it is, you know, he's very, very much. He should have been an.

Speaker 2

42:12

 Engineer.

Speaker 1

42:14

 And so there's a ton of tables and plus it's written in 2000. Speak from a redneck from Alabama, right? So that's a it's a, it's a challenge true. I would probably choose a different a book of several that I can come to mind and you can also get them in audio if she does a lot of biking or running or whatever. Yeah, I would insist Visor with whatever method is most valuable to her. That might be I will pay you so you can put it into your Venture so that you can write in there or it might be, I will take you on this trip that you have been asking me to do. Whatever it is. I would somehow, I mean it's bribing but you know, it's probably a good.

Speaker 2

42:50

 Thing. You know, I have given up the fight against bribing home against bad incentivizing.

Speaker 1

42:57

 You know, is in their best.

Speaker 2

42:58

 Interest. At the end of the day is parenting. I would same thing with borrowers that we deal with on our own. Our mortgage notes business, you know, all you could do carrots and sticks. Hit as far as incentivizing people, but, you know, and in the end.

Speaker 1

43:11

 I was just going to say the nanny, what's most valued by our children, it's time with us, you know, they won't say that when they're 15 and a girl, but in the end they will remind you that their best memories. Are, you know, the time that you forced me to go with you on this trip and it turned out to be amazing.

Speaker 2

43:27

 That's, that's an excellent point. As we start to wrap up here, Any other anything about your business that you want to point out like a productivity hack or anything for the listener out there that you could you know provide as far as a principle that's worked in your time and small business anything like.

Speaker 1

43:50

 That. Well we mentioned earlier about system. So one of the things that the military teaches us and certainly Navy nuclear submarines, teach us. I was always amazed as a new officer coming onto a submarine, the amount of control they gave me And end, when a new Junior enlisted member would come on to the submarine, and we'd give them this short little piece of paper and an orientation, and then we put them to work operating a nuclear power plant, right? And why would that happen? Well, it's because we have very, very stringent systems procedures but also you go through a training program that is intended to be generic enough. That it works on all the plants, right? And so, that's why, McDonalds successful is why some Chick-fil-A is successful and it's why I am getting No, I told my boys when they graduate college to tell me what business they want to start, I will fund the business and co-owned it with them, but it's probably going to be a franchise because most above anything else, I want them to understand the value of systems and, and why something is done the way it's done. And get that lesson because then they can go start their own business from scratch. They're going to already know that the bookkeeping and the procedures and all of that stuff. Tough is feedback from customers, how to do marketing, all that stuff is figured out with franchises. There's a lot of horror stories about people buying franchises and losing, you know, their retirement dollars but it has nothing to do with the fact the good points that I really want to put out there. So we really wasn't about my business, but I do talk to my clients a lot about that. And I think that is the way to success because in the end, again, if we back it all back out to what I am trying to do, I am trying to enable and Empower and provide resources to individuals to take control. Their own lives. And in the end, that means that they have their own business. It might be running rental real estate, but it might also be a storefront or an Amazon business or something. But they have the ability to say, you know what, there's just I am not going to listen to you this time. It's not the best interest of my family, instead, I have set myself up so that I have my own income sources. I can count on myself, and I am providing value. And I am going to go my own path, right? And so that comes from creating something that's Successful. And that means you understand systems. So really, for me, it always looks back down to its may be boring. But systems are the most important thing we need to recognize is going to sustain your Agency on this planet.

Speaker 2

46:16

 Will love it. I know we have already mentioned several books. You have any other book that comes to mind recommending?

Speaker 1

46:24

 Yeah so a little self-centered but II like Patrick Donahoe whose book heads. I win tails you lose. It's really just taking a different look at personal. And maybe questioning some of the stuff that you have been told since you were in grade school and I love Kim bottlers book, that is called Perpetual wealth. It's a big book. Yeah, it talks about family and Legacy and it provides some concrete things that you can go do. For example, I am starting semiannual three to five day events with my, my son's and what I talk about like, you know, other than just going skiing or whatever, right? And So she helps out with you know let us pick a family charity and let us talk about what the family stands for and those kinds of no very important things that's good.

Speaker 2

47:14

 Right here. I read like the stupid reason. I love red one by her and Jimmy Vreeland. Maybe him a book together about combining real estate and infinite banking.

Speaker 1

47:26

 Busting the real estate lies. Yeah.

Speaker 2

47:28

 Yeah. I am also reading a book called entrusted right now? I think, I.

Speaker 1

47:32

 Think. Yeah, Andrew Howell. Exactly. Yeah. He gets into some of this very same.

Speaker 2

47:38

 Topics that can bothered us. Yeah, got it. So it's essentially so far is it the point is that, you know, wealth and succession planning? It was not all, it's not about just the money. It's much bigger than that defining, what your family's all about, what your principles are and Legacy planning in that vein. So, I yeah.

Speaker 1

48:00

 There are no betters. There is no one better in the all of our clients that are really serious about. Yeah, Legacy, and irrevocable trust. Yeah, estate planning they go to.

Speaker 2

48:11

 Andrew. Yeah, I think Ross and Joey use them as well, not cheap, but he's very good. So, what I hear as we wrap up, Up here Carrie. I really appreciate you taking the time. This has been fantastic. You know, we have hit on several different types of adversity that you have been through and I know we could have had five or six additional episodes diving into all that, but thank you again for your service your time today. Where can our listeners reach out to you online if they want to?

Speaker 1

48:42

 Connect? Yeah the easiest it's just Gary Pinkerton.com or email is Gary at Gary Pinkerton.com. Awesome, that's easy. Placed, I would be forever grateful if they go check out, Gary's Gulch gol CH. It's a weird phrase, but if you have read Atlas Shrugged, you will get it. And then my, my party message for everybody is just remember, adversity, is there for your benefit, it will make you stronger and better, and you will be forever grateful for having gone through it. So, embrace it, positively, take it on.

Speaker 2

49:12

 Love it. Awesome. Thank you so much Gary. And to The Listener out there, we thank you very much for spending your most valuable resource with us and that is your time. I am thanks, everyone. Take.

Speaker 1

49:21

 Care. Thanks so much for tuning in to this episode of the form adversity to abundance podcast. If you're enjoying the show, please feel free to rate, subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen to your podcast that helps others find the show, and we greatly appreciate it. Thanks again for listening, and we will catch you in the next episode.