As 2025 nears its end, Generosity Wealth Management founder Michael Brady takes a moment to pause — not just to reflect on a strong year for markets, but to share insights on what truly drives long-term financial success.
In his latest video update, recorded just before Thanksgiving, Michael discusses why patience, emotional control, and thoughtful planning often matter more than the latest market move. He also highlights his recent speaking engagements in Las Vegas and Austin, where he explored how technology like AI can deepen advisor-client relationships and how tax-smart retirement strategies can build wealth that lasts.
Because at Generosity Wealth Management, it’s not just about managing investments — it’s about aligning your money with your goals, your time horizon, and the life you want to live.
Transcript
Hello clients and friends. Mike Brady here with Generosity Wealth Management, a comprehensive full-service financial services firm headquartered here in Boulder, Colorado. Today I’m recording this right before Thanksgiving. Not sure when you’re going to get the newsletter, as I’m writing the rest of it and adding this video, but it’s been going really well.
From an investment perspective, the unmanaged stock market index is really on a tear. I think that it’s important for us to remember that, from a market point of view, it is normal for the unmanaged stock market indexes to have a double-digit decline that happened earlier this year. Who knows how the rest of the year is going to turn out? But I am always keeping clients focused on what their time duration is and making sure that it matches up with what their goals are. Because, frankly, the investment management part of what I do feels like the simplest part:
- Where do you want to go?
- Which tool in the toolbox helps you get to what your financial goals are?
- What’s your time horizon?
- Can you keep your emotions in check?
- And of course, avoid stupid stuff.
I made plans for people 20 or 30 years ago, and some met their goals and some didn’t. It usually had nothing to do with investment A or investment B, but it did have to do with some of the abstract, some of the satellites around that core of having good investments, which is you got excited about your brother-in-law’s Chihuahua farm or you did some other investment that sounded great at the time but really didn’t help you achieve your goals. Or it was that you simply didn’t save enough, or you had some other unfortunate incident happen in your life, unable to work, loss of your spouse, things of that nature. That’s why I really want to keep all those things in mind.
Today, though, I wanted to pivot from the investments, which are going great this year, and I’m hoping that 2025 ends in as good a situation as it is right now here in November.
But I want to talk about some of the things that have been going on from a seminar perspective. I just spoke in Las Vegas recently, which was great, and in my newsletter, I’ll talk a little bit about that. I was talking about how I use my note-taking AI to help me be more efficient and stay present in every client meeting. I’ve had clients for 20 years, 30 years, and of course, I’m always bringing on new clients as well. So thank you to those of you who continue to refer your friends, family, and acquaintances to me so that I can help them out. I use my AI note taker because it hears things I might have missed. It really helps me be present in the meeting when you and I are talking, so I can hear what the problem is, what the issue is, and what your emotions are, so I can then, of course, come back with the best recommendations for you. I was honored to be a part of that panel there in Las Vegas, talking about how I believe AI is going to revolutionize the relationship that advisors like me can have with our clients, can go even deeper, and really understand where you want to go so that we can come up with the solutions in order to get there.
I was also recently in Austin, Texas, at an Ed Slott Elite Advisor seminar, and that was training for me. Most people’s single biggest expense, aside from everything else, is taxes. Most people’s single biggest asset outside of their house is their retirement account. So I have to be an expert in everything retirement accounts, and I have to be an expert in taxes, even though I’m not a CPA. I’m not going to do your taxes, but I work at a high level with your tax planner. Now, here’s one thing I like to tell people: do you have a tax preparer or a tax planner? A tax preparer costs you money; that person is a historian. They take your number in that box, put it on that line, and provide very little proactive guidance. A tax planner helps save you money. They are working with you throughout the year and proactively giving you advice. They are in the wealth-maximization business, like I am, not necessarily in the tax-minimization business. I think that’s a really key distinction: they are there to sometimes say, maybe we pay a little bit more taxes this year, but over your lifetime or over multiple years, this is in your best interest. You’ll actually be wealthier in the long run if we pay a little bit more in taxes right now.
This leads to my next conversation, which is satisfaction and gratification. There’s this old study called the marshmallow study, where they had a bunch of kids, around 6 years old, brought into a room and put a marshmallow in front of them. They said, “You can have the marshmallow now, but I’m going to be back in six or seven minutes, and if you wait that long, I’ll give you another marshmallow.” All they had to do was delay their gratification for a few minutes, and they would get twice the reward. Those kids who were able to delay gratification tracked better throughout their lives than the control group, who needed instant gratification. They found that those who delayed gratification had greater life satisfaction, greater career satisfaction, were married longer, had higher incomes, and had higher net worth—all of the things we want in our lives. They were able to do it because they were in control of their emotions and delayed the gratification.
One of the things I talk with clients about all the time is what’s right for you. Is it a Roth IRA, a Roth 401(k), where you pay the taxes now but delay the gratification for the tax-free income all along the way and the tax-free withdrawals? Or do you want that instant hit right now, which is a tax saving today? It’s really an individual choice. We have to individually do the math, but this is something I want to work with you on, and I want to work with your CPAs. My ask of you is that I want to grow my business. I want to help your friends and family and acquaintances, and one of the value adds that I bring is that I really listen to you. I use the AI in order to help my notes—the boring part—so that I can truly be present and hear what you want to do and match up those investments. Here’s the value add: I’m going to really look at what your assets are and position them accordingly, and be an expert in them. Like I said, that’s why I’m continually traveling to go to seminars, to be the absolute expert in your biggest types of assets, and also work with your CPA on your biggest expense, which is your taxes.
If we manage and control that expense and hopefully minimize it over multiple years and over your lifetime, then you’re going to be better off. That’s what I want to do with clients. With that extra money, with those extra assets, what do you do with it? That’s where the generosity comes in, so that you can be generous with yourself, with your family, and if you believe it’s in your best interest and the community’s best interest, you can be generous with your community, both local and global. That’s really what I’m about, and that’s why I’m saying to you: I want to be that trusted advisor. If we keep some of these key things in mind, then I believe that you’re better off, the community is better off, and your family is better off if we keep some of these fundamentals in check.
Michael Brady, Generosity Wealth Management, 303-747-6455. You have a wonderful rest of the year. You’ll hear from me again in January as I recap what happened in 2025 and, of course, as we look forward to 2026. Thank you.