4 Common College Savings Mistakes Parents Make – And How to Avoid Them

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“A lot of times parents might be on the edge whether or not they can retire themselves so every dollar that goes toward saving for college does not go to their own retirement,” says Mike Brady, president of Generosity Wealth Management. “A child can loan themselves through four years of college. A parent can’t loan themselves through thirty years of retirement.”

4 Common College Savings Mistakes Parents Make – And How to Avoid Them

9/23/2015 – Michael was asked his opinion on some common college savings mistakes he’s seen clients make,and responded with some touchy conversations he’s had to have with clients over the years.

Entrepreneur Podcast Network

EPN“I believe that you’ve got to look at your life some day and say did I do the right thing? I’m a big believer in not having regrets, giving 100 percent and holding your head high.” – Michael Brady

Full Podcast Interview – Mike Brady and EPN

Michael Brady was recently asked to be interviewed on Entrepreneur Podcast Network, and he shared how entrepreneurs are “the elite business professionals”.

Transcript:

Female1:         You’re listening to EPN, the epodcast network.

Female2:         This is Enterprise Radio and your host Eric Dye.

Eric Dye:         This is Eric Dye and once again welcome to Enterprise Radio. Your EPN channel for exclusive interviews with entrepreneurs, small business owners and top executives who have experienced great success as well as the sharing of their latest creation products and/or services that can help you build your business into business success. Today we are speaking with Mike Brady, founder and president of Generosity Wealth Management, a mission based wealth planning firm. Mike, it’s certainly a privilege to have you with us today on Enterprise Radio.

Mike Brady:     Well I am glad to be here. It is my honor.

Eric Dye:         The honor and pleasure is certainly ours. So Mike, tell us for starters more about your work as a financial advisor and entrepreneur to kick things off.

Mike Brady:     Well you bet. You know I’ve been in the financial industry for 24 years and 16 of them I was a junior partner in a firm and the last six and a half I’ve been my sole entrepreneur where I started it basically out of the garage. And I bring that up because I think that there’s different types of entrepreneurs. There are those that are service businesses and those that have a product with a cost of goods sold and inventory, et cetera. And I also think there’s different mindsets. Those that are part of a team, you know, a larger firm with many partners and groups. But then there’s also the entrepreneur who might have a feeling of isolation if you let it. And so one you might be entering the culture. Another you might have lots of control over it. And so both are filled with fear if you let it and I think you really have to take sure that you don’t allow that fear to be a part of it.

I also just – a little sidetrack here that I’m also the volunteer treasurer of a charity, a multimillion dollar international women’s empowerment charity with a product that we import. So I’ve got the experience as well of going from a very small organization to a large one with inventory in addition to the service and all the issues around being an entrepreneur in a service industry as well. And I just want to tell you Eric that a lot of times when I’m talking I speak about being an elite sports athlete. I use that analogy or talk about being an elite military soldier what we can learn from our military. And that’s because in my opinion the entrepreneur is the elite business professional. I mean it’s the same type of diligent preparation and teamwork and never give up attitude that is so important.

Eric Dye:         Well said and well analyzed as well. Now how do you think that fear plays into a potential entrepreneur’s charity and how can they overcome the fear?

Mike Brady:     Well I believe that we are programmed at an early age to think failure is bad which prevents us from effectively learning from those missteps. A very core belief that I have is that you must fail often in order to succeed sooner. I always think about Thomas Edison when he was creating the light bulb and they said wow, look at those failures. And he said no, I learned all these ways how not to create one. And that is an absolutely positive looking at the journey of solving that problem that is so important. And I think that we need to produce failure to a systematic experimentation to better learn from it. And there’s a lot of ways that if fear of failure shows up whether it’s procrastination or rationalizing, indecision, et cetera.

And just like the elite sports athlete or the elite military soldier we’ve got to prepare ourselves to be comfortable with that fear. It’s not that it necessarily goes away but we’ve got to be comfortable in that before the real – before we’re really tested. I think of practicing a free throw 10,000 times for the one time that it really matters when there is a second left in the game and it’s all up to you. You’ve done all that preparation so that you can control the fear that you have when it really matters. And part of that is identifying the fear, embracing it – okay, it’s a part of life. Understanding that the fear is natural and that it’s not necessarily you. And then be free of the fear. I mean imagine focusing on being successful and attaining what you’ve been afraid to fail at. See it, own it, solve it, do it. I read that in a book once which I think is just so very powerful. You’ve got to see the issue, own it, solve it, do it and that really becomes a great mantra as you’re dealing with your fear.

Eric Dye:         How can a support system help with this and what should entrepreneurs look for when creating a support system?

Mike Brady:     Well a number of years ago, two or three years after I started my firm, Generosity Wealth Management I was feeling very isolated. I was feeling very alone frankly and had a lot of head garbage. And a very good friend of mine noticed it. She’s like Mike, you’re just giving off an aura of, you know, that maybe not the best for you and your business. Go see my friend Dr. T.C. North. I’m like okay. So I went and talked with T.C. and he – by the way he wrote a wonderful book called Fearless Leaders which is on Amazon. And he met with me one-on-one to address why is it I had the fear, to move through the fear, what are the issues before me, et cetera. But he also invited me into a CEOs group that we meet half a day once a month.

And what I’ve gleaned from that experience – and we just met, you know, a few days ago is you’ve got to feel comfortable being vulnerable in front of your peers. If everybody’s coming in with a chip on their shoulder or trying to one up one another I don’t think that that’s going to be the right environment. A commitment from others in the group to support one another. We have weekly check-ins with an accountability partner. But we also have made a commitment to each other that we’re going to be together for the long term as we – each of us get our businesses to the next level we’re going to continue to support each other as we go through multiple years. Which is I personally like long term, hopefully many years I would love it to be decades.
And consistent meetings. We meet as I mentioned half a day once a month. Whether or not that is just an hour meeting or a whole day it depends on the group I think. But making it consistent meetings with an agenda where you can practice being vulnerable. Where you can address what your fears are and what your business challenges are and glean information from them and outside of the box thinking from your colleagues. I think that that’s – I think very helpful to a support system so that you’re not so alone because it’s so easy to think you’re the only one with these fears or with these issues and it’s just not true.

Eric Dye:         Today we are joined by Mike Brady, founder and president of Generosity Wealth Management, a mission based wealth planning firm here on Enterprise Radio, a part of the Entrepreneur Podcast Network. Mike, how can entrepreneurs stay calm and patient even when facing failure? I know that certainly is something that all entrepreneurs face.

Mike Brady:     Yes, absolutely. And I want to repeat something I said just a few minutes ago because it’s so very important. You’ve got to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. We’re not entitled to a stress free life. We’re not entitled to a business that is fear from speed bumps and I think that’s very important. Maybe some missteps. Not mistakes necessarily but missteps where we’re getting data and we’re learning from what the market is and from our employees, et cetera. And what I think is important to stay calm and be patient is you’ve got to practice this in advance to recognize the destructive thoughts, number one. Reset those thoughts. Kind of pause and say wow, acknowledge that you have them and you’ve got to reset it. Replace it with a positive thought and reward yourself afterwards. I mean you can tell by my conversation here that I believe that being an entrepreneur is so much more than just the logistics of this decision and that business decision and some of the day to day administrative things or the marketing decisions and advertising and things of that nature. Product improvement and development, et cetera.

I think a lot of it and what separates the getting by to the elite, the true professional, is the attitude. And so we’ve got to name that and a lot of my answers to you today frankly are all about the mindset of fear and getting over that and strengthening your courage with visualization, deep breaths. Go to your happy place, okay. I know that always sounds a little touchy feely but it’s true. When you’re really feeling some fear imagine a very peaceful place and I think that seeing the success as well. I said something about practicing the free throw so that you can do it when it really matters. Imagine the ball going into that basket. Or completing that touchdown. I mean the feeling that you will have, a time when you felt courageous in the past that you can bring in and say wow, I can be that courageous again here today.

And the last piece of advice I give is read lots of books. I mean to prepare yourself with the tools to overcome. I am a voracious reader both of fiction and nonfiction. It’s just a hobby of mine but focusing on some of the nonfiction I am constantly doing personal development books. I’m always reading about business books both technical and how you feel. And I think that that is – you never know when – I think that’s important and you never know when that information that you learn will be applicable to your particular situation.

Eric Dye:         Great, great advice there. Thanks for sharing that. Now in addition what are some tips you can give entrepreneurs on being comfortable with looking foolish?

Mike Brady:     Well I think the first thing is to define a misstep versus a mistake. A misstep is learning, okay. Wow, I’m going to try a piece in the newspaper or some advertising on the Internet. And if you keep – and if it doesn’t work then or, you’ve tried a couple of iterations and you realize maybe that’s not right for your business, that was a misstep. You learned from it. A mistake is when you keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. And so I think that it’s important to understand that missteps are absolutely part of it getting back to that thinking failure is bad. Not at all. It’s just a part of learning and of being an entrepreneur. I mean imagining an athlete who only trains in comfort and then never pushes his into discomfort or pain. That would be – he would never really – once he is in that discomfort or pain he or she would not be prepared for it and would fall to pieces. So I think identifying what is the foolishness you fear, put yourself in that place before it’s really essential. Practice it. Think about all the foolishness that could happen towards you and really what’s the worst that could happen? What’s the worst that could happen?

Identify it and then move on from it because the odds of that really happening is probably very low. And to replace it with a positive outcome, really training your neural network in your brain to go towards that positive feeling to reduce that fear. I think that that is absolutely essential is to replace. Identify the fear, replace it with the positive over and over again to retrain that brain that that’s going to be the outcome that you’re going towards.

Eric Dye:         Lastly, Mike, why is living your values along the way important and what can entrepreneurs expect to have happen once they begin living their values?

Mike Brady:     I believe that you’ve got to look at your life some day and say did I do the right thing? I’m a big believer in not having regrets, giving 100 percent and holding your head high. I would joke with many of my younger people I was mentoring at my old firm that always transact yourself in such a way that you don’t have to worry about who you’re going to run into at the local grocery store. I mean in a community having your values being lived all the time is so very important. And I would just say my experiences, living with your values might – it’s easier long term. I mean if you break those values or you’re not really sure what your values are you might slip on them sort term or even medium term. But long term it’s frankly easier to live with your values and at the end of the day what any entrepreneur is selling whether or not it is a product or whether or not it’s a service, it’s really selling trust and integrity.

The product is secondary. So whatever you can do to live your values so that people can see it. It’s not, you know, hypocritical that you’re saying one thing and doing another. When you’re really saying it this is the stake in the ground that I believe. And you’re living it and people can see it then really the product whether it’s your advice or an actual product, a tangible product is really secondary. And my experience has been that when you’re living your values you attract like-minded individuals, the business is more fun, your mind is opened up and it’s free and less fearful. And at the end of the day I believe in good karma. I mean the optimist in me says good things happen to good people. And so I always want to make sure that I’m that good person because, you know, look around at the people that you’re surrounded with. A lot of times they’re a mirror of who you are. And I want to deal with value driven, some of the best people out there in the world. So therefore I’ve got to limit myself.

Eric Dye:         Mike, I certainly appreciate your time today. Thanks so much for your message. It certainly comes out loud and clear, your passion in a heartfelt message here. Tell our listeners where they can get more information about Generosity Wealth Management online.

Mike Brady:     I have a website www.GenerosityWealth.com. That’s G – E – N – E – R – O – S – I – T –Y Wealth. GenerosityWealth, W – E – A – L – T – H.com. And my phone number is 303-747-6455. And Generosity_WM is my Twitter.

Eric Dye:         Mike once again we certainly appreciate your time. Thanks for joining us today on Enterprise Radio. We certainly wish you all the best and look forward to another conversation right here on Enterprise Radio.

Mike Brady:     Very good. Thank you sir. I appreciate it.

Eric Dye:         And you’re more than welcome. We’ve been speaking with Mike Brady, founder and president of Generosity Wealth Management, a Mission based wealth planning firm. And once again the website of reference is GenerosityWealth.com. And this is Eric Dye and you’ve been listening to Enterprise Radio, a part of EPN, the Entrepreneur Podcast Network. Pick up our iPhone or android or mobile app for your mobile listening convenience. And once again we do thank you for ****.

Female2:         Thanks for listening to Enterprise Radio here on EPN. For more information or to subscribe to this podcast visit ePodcstNetwork.com.

Female1:         This is the epodcast Network.

Is Your Social Security Going to Run Dry?

The_Street_LogoMichael Brady, president of Generosity Wealth Management in Boulder, Colorado, says he always takes Social Security into account when helping clients plan for retirement. But he also tells clients to take control of their own finances. “Don’t abdicate responsibility to a government you have no control over,” Brady says. “Save 15% of your after-tax income and have a good financial plan.”

Is Your Social Security Going to Run Dry?

8/17/2015 – Michael was asked his opinion about the recent Social Security Trust Report, and the future of Social Security.  He shared with the readers of The Street the advice he shares with his clients

How the Euro Financial Crisis Hurts Your Wallet

GOBankingRates_logo_2014If there’s one thing that consumers and investors hate, it’s uncertainty,” says Mike Brady, founder and president of Generosity Wealth Management in Boulder, Colo. “They’d rather get bad news and be certain that it’s bad than be uncertain whether it’s good or bad.”

How the Euro Financial Crisis Hurts Your Wallet

August 9, 2015 – Michael was asked his opinion on the Greek Crisis, and how it would impact US Investors.  He had plenty to share.

Disclosure: Investment strategies discussed herein may not be suitable for all investors and involve a high degree of risk, including the risk of a substantial or total loss of investment. Risks of investing in foreign markets include but are not limited to interest rate risk, greater market volatility, the risk of less reliable financial information, higher transaction costs, taxation by foreign governments, decreased market liquidity and political instability.

How to Strike a Balance with Portfolio Rebalancing

SigFig“Not only might overly frequent rebalancing increase investment costs, but it also risks cutting off a cycle before it runs its course.  Whether the cycle is multiple quarters or multiple years, you’ll never catch the upward cycle if you are always shifting away from the downside,” – Michael Brady

How to Strike a Balance with Portfolio Rebalancing

July 20, 2015 – Michael Brady was interviewed for his thoughts on the purpose and techniques for rebalancing by SigFig.