Welcome to Elevate with Elsner. Join us for inspiring conversations with individuals who have transformed their lives and are making a difference through the work that they do. And now, Welcome back to another episode of Elevate with Elsner. I'm your host, Blake Elsner, third-generation realtor, builder, and believer in inner wealth. Today, I'm joined by Mike Tutcher, financial advisor at Main Street Financial Group. Mike's known for a direct, no BS approach that blends real numbers with the psychology of money. He helps business owners and families build wealth, manage risk, and make values-based decisions that actually stick. We're keeping this practical and actionable and a quick note right here. None of this is financial advice. Do your own due diligence. Mike, he'll tell you this right up front. So without So I don't have to say that we all have to plug that disclosure. I'm reading the fine print on the financial It's right. Anything. It's entertainment. A little bit of education, right? That's right. But we'll, we'll definitely, uh, give, give some people some tips and tricks and let them run with it. So, um, you know, well, starting with, you know, money and your childhood, what got you, obviously we all as kids, you know, are, we love money and we love cash registers. Right. Um, you know, I did, uh, you know, what kind of got you into the old, So my father, uh, has been in the business now for, let's see, let's say 33 years. So he, he worked for MetLife, uh, growing up and before he made the switch over to Raymond James more on the financial planning and financial advising side of things. So I've always kind of like grown up around the business. And then when I, you know, got out of high school, I'm going to college and. I'm trying to kind of like figure out what I actually want to do. Uh, started, you know, working part-time in his office, you know, helping to answer phones, doing filing, like little, little BS like that. And I was getting a little exposure, but I still wasn't sure, like, if this was for me, like, where do my skills kind of like add value to people? Not that that was even like, I wasn't, I wasn't even wise enough to realize that's what I was trying to figure out at the time. And, um, you know, I, I had the pleasure of being able to meet and develop relationships with some of his clients when I first started in the business and. They took the time to actually come over to me as a young man and make sure they had the conversation to let me know how much the work that my father had done for them has impacted their life, how it impacted, you know, these people were in retirement. So how their standard of living in retirement was and that they would not have been able to achieve it if it wasn't for the advice and the counsel that they got from my dad. So when I heard that, I was like, Oh, this is like, yeah, you make a good living doing this. This is cool. Like you can make bread, but the fact that you can really impact people to that magnitude where they're going to come over and talk to your son about it. I thought that was pretty cool. So that's where I really started to take an interest of. OK, Yeah, that's I mean, that's massive because that's that's impact and that's a major part of this show, and when you turn something, you know. outside of a financial gain and you do it for the hard aspect and the actual part to move the needle for families, what happens is That's right. That is so right. So what, tell me a little bit about, um, let's like, let's, let's jump into like a discipline. I want to say like plan of, of like habits, emotions around like money, give us some tips, tricks, um, to kind of regulate all that. Yeah. So, uh, first place I'd start is really, uh, mindset, right? All of us have a different mindset that we grew up with when it comes to money. Some people, you know, were around affluent parents that, you know, worked hard, whatever. Maybe they didn't understand what it meant to work for money, so they have that challenge. But then there's a majority of folks, right, whether you had it or not, you're worried about losing it. So you have this scarcity mindset. And I can't tell you how many people I've worked with where They're doing well, they're making, you know, 150, $200,000 a year. And, and they're still terrified every day that, that something's going to happen. They're going to lose their job. They're going to lose money. So they have to keep, you know, two years worth of expenses just sitting in their checking account. Like, all right, this is, this is where we're playing scared a little bit here. Okay. We got, we got to get past that. So, so that's where I would start. Number one is, is having that abundance mindset. right? Because if we're doing the right things, we're working with professionals, we're using numbers to justify our movements. We really are cutting down on the chances that we're going to lose, right? Especially if we're, you know, a business owner, we're doing well for people, we're driving value. As long as we're focused on those things, you know, the universe and God has a, has a beautiful way of providing for that. So, so the first step is, You know, when you say scarcity, I think a lot of us are kind of stuck in that in a, in a way, you know, I feel like. can be outside of a money mindset. It could be a scarcity problem of other things. But a lot of people, it's finances. And even myself, you start to do things where you're like, okay, I'm doing this solely as a scarcity move. Because I know that this will be a safe play. And I know it's on the other end. And like you say, you see a lot of people where You know, checking accounts, like you're like, okay, well, you're not, you're not doing anything with money and checking accounts. And I've noticed the people that have a lot of money don't have a lot of money in their checking accounts. And you're like, right? Like, you're like, wait a minute. Like, but that's how it Yeah. It's, it's amazing how much, uh, the differences are between in, in, in mindset, between the people who have money and the people who don't, what they worry about. What what they let occupy their mind and what keeps them up at night. It's really, really big difference. You know, we don't, uh, we don't really work with a lot of smaller clients anymore unless it's, you know, friends and family, whatever, but. If you have someone who has $50,000 invested versus someone who has 5 million invested. Okay. The person who has 5 million is going to buy into the plan a lot more. You're going to hear from them a lot less than the person who's investing $50,000. Why? I believe a lot of it goes back to that, that mindset shift of understanding, um, uh, you know, abundance and buying into the plan and, and really just committing Yeah, you hear that a lot where like people would be like. The higher end client never calls, never ask questions, and it lets everything go. But then the one that's, like you say, the 50K is the one that calls every single day, makes panics about every single move in the market, et cetera. So obviously that goes back to that scarcity part. How do you shift out of that? When you say your mindset, what would you say is step one of getting out Step one would probably be finding someone to trust to work with. Because if you aren't being coached through things, you're not going to be able to gain the right perspective. I can show you math, charts, statistics, that's not gonna help empower you any, right? It's gonna be about how things happen in your life, what's personal to you and your business or your employment with your kids. Whatever it may be, it would be someone like my job to coach you through that and have that gradual shift. It's not a aha moment. That's not how it works. I wish it was, because it'd make my job a whole lot easier. But it's about coaching and making it personal for everybody and slowly And when you say like, kind of like having a, an extra set of eyes to like, you know, sometimes we can't see, it's just like, I use this example about professional sports players and the agents. I like LeBron James. You think he can't sell his service. Right. But he uses an agent, correct? Because one, it's an extra set of eyes that sits behind them and watches over every move that protects his livelihood. I use that comparison a lot, even with real estate on, hey, you need an agent to watch over because what about behind you? It's similar to what you do. Would you agree with Yeah, absolutely. One of the things that I like to talk about is, especially people who are very active, achieving people, entrepreneurs, executives, They want to do it themselves, right? Because they've always had their success dependent on their actions. So, so that's something that they need to break free of. And it's like, like you said, with LeBron and his agent, LeBron can probably do it, but should he, where's his time going to, to be worth the most, probably not trying to sell shoes. Right. Same thing with a business owner. Okay. Yes. You can probably learn the strategies, the investments, the best way to do things, how to rebalance this, that, and the other. Right. You can probably figure that out. You can go to chat, GPT, figure out a decent allocation and you know, how to set everything up, but you taking that amount of time to invest in, in learning all that and obtaining that knowledge. It's time that's going to be taken away from your business. And when it comes to entrepreneurs, listen, you can make really great returns in the stock market. Obviously there's risk involved, just like there's risk in your business. But for the most part, where entrepreneurs are going to see the most returns and the most gain is from their own business. Because that's where they're directly involved. That's where they know where to pour the gas on and really crank things up. And, and they're in control of it. Whereas, you know, these publicly traded companies, we're not in control of that. We understand the fundamentals. We understand, you know, the big picture, but at the end of the day, you're going to have the biggest impact on, on where your money is That makes sense. And it makes me think about the earnings of like, when you look at the stock market and you go, people are like, Oh, the earnings are, and listen to the call and the forecast. It's like, you have no idea where that stocks go. Like they're earning, they could crush their earnings. And next thing you know, stocks down 8%, you know, or they were like, Oh, we came in, you know, 20 cents under, you know, per share. And next thing you know, it goes up 20% cause they reduced, you know, changed their whole guidance of, you know, the forecast. And you're just like, That's why you need an expert like yourself. That makes sense that you need people in your corner because you have no idea. It's just like I say that at one point, there's going to be actual true crypto. experts out there, hopefully one day when it's regulated and everything. But for now, when you're dealing with a stock market like this and wealth building and just all the things that you do, somebody like yourself who's had success, who has a proven track record of doing this for quite a bit and it runs in the blood. What, what, I guess, would you say is, you know, step two, you get the mindset down, you know, you're feeling, trying to get your past that scarcity, you know, aspect and you're, you're feeling good now. Um, you're making a big bucks. What do we, what do we do? Like, you know, like, Yeah. Well, obviously again, I keep, I keep circling back to this. You don't want to be doing it yourself. Okay. So you want to make sure you've started to build that team, right? So, so you want someone who's going to be your financial advisor. Chances are that person is not going to be your accountant. So you want to make sure you have a good CPA. You want to make sure you have, you know, a state planning attorney. So I want to make sure all your, your legal documents, all your entities are set up properly. So, Assembling the team. That's very, very important. Um, because that's going to determine what type of advice you get, what type of guidance you get. That's going to go into the And I'll say most successful people, I, they have like, it's like this three part, obviously other things, but they got someone like yourself, a great financial advisor. They have basically another individual either in their corner keeping track of, I guess, I don't want to say like books, but they're, they're accountant bookkeeping. And then they also have like a tax strategist. Right. So those are like, seems like three major categories that very wealthy individuals, they know how to take advantage of the code. They know how to properly invest their, their money with a great advisor. And then the final thing. So I, I think those three things reflect, um, properly on the wealth of an individual who's successful. Is that what you say? So yourself, tax Yeah, those are three different things. Like I, I think we kind of combine them I always thought CPA and tax strategy was the same damn thing, but it's, well, they should be, you should have a good enough CPA that understands the legal aspects that knows the tax code that can put together that strategy. But far too often people are paying for someone who's essentially a tax processor. They're not a tax strategist. Big difference there. Now, that being said, there's a really big difference in how much you're going to pay those people because of the value that they deliver. And, you know, I I've seen it firsthand with clients where, you know, they're working with somebody, I introduce them to somebody else that would be better for their situation. And I'm like, listen, I paid $2,000 to my last guy. This guy wants $20,000. I'm like, yeah, that's a huge jump. How much is it going to save you in taxes? Oh, about 45,000. I said, I can do that math. You're, you're winning. You're still coming out on top. So make the investment pay for somebody who's going to going to be a tax strategist and help you not just a tax processor. That's the hardest part, I guess, right, too, is just getting people to actually jump because that's part of my problem too. You're on cruise control and you're like, oh, I can do it. You're like, ah, you're like this, it's cost this, but then you never look at the bottom number. You got all these credits and debits, but it's like, let's look at the bottom number, right? And I tell people, that's the same thing on houses, but you're going to say the same thing. It's like, yeah, it might cost 20 grand up front, but in the long run, if you look at the bottom, I'm Yeah, absolutely. It's that, it's that sticker shock, right? People are scared to spend that money. And again, it goes back to it almost every single time it's, it's mindset based. If, You've never done it. You don't understand it. You don't see the value in it. You're going to be really hesitant to spend that money and make that investment because it's, it's the unknown and that's what's natural. That's what makes sense. We try to stay in those boxes that we know because it's safe. But as you kind of Elevate your circle, Elevate your team and bring the right people in, you're going to. level up your game and, and, you know, be able to get that much more out Yeah, that's, uh, you know, that's, that's spot on. And I think having someone like yourself and, and your corner is only going to, you know, drastically improve your chances of building wealth down the road. And that's the hardest part. Like you're saying, it's that mindset, like to just wrap your mind around it. Even I say this all the time myself, it's hard. As much as I talk to people, you know, like yourself, it's hard to wrap your mind around the fact that this person's in your corner and is going to save you money in the long run. Like you don't lose money. Like that's just, it's, it's really not like that, you know, like it's rare. I mean, obviously, you know, it's, you know, this is. financial comedy, right? You can lose money, right? So- You could definitely lose money. Yeah. But what I'm saying is- I've seen people roll the dice on the little fun stocks here and there and seldom Yeah, those, those, I'll tell you what, some of those marijuana stocks, they, yeah, I've been seeing those. Holy moly. It's, it's something else to watch because I think people thought those are going to be like cash cows, but you know, I have, having talked with numerous owners of that industry, it's like, it's all cash. Like there's not a whole lot of, uh, you know, liquidity, like stock, you know, right. Like liquid stock in Of those, uh, well, at the end of the day, regardless of the industry, but specific to this was, you know, marijuana and whatnot is it's only legal because the government can regulate it. Right. So as the government can regulate and tax the piss out of something, they're going to be stifling gross period. Okay. We're going to tax this shit out of it. And it's going to Interesting. So you're saying the tax, I never really actually thought of that. So the tax is basically eroding those share prices in a Yeah, that's right. Because you just see like, how are these some of the popular stocks? It's just like some of these AI stocks now, you're seeing like Big Bear. I'm like, what is Big Bear AI? Like some of these AI stocks coming into play. And I feel like that's a whole new thing of a ballgame for you Yeah, everybody's super interested in AI because it's going to change how we do things. Uh, it's going to change, you know, what jobs are available, how we do our jobs. Um, a lot of people are pretty scared about that. Obviously, you know, when I pulled up to checkers a couple of weeks ago, I talked to a machine when I'm putting in my order for, for a cheeseburger and fries. I didn't, I didn't talk to a person until they handed me the food. I said, that is wild, but I get it because if I was talking to somebody who works at checkers, the, the odds that they're going to mess up my order is pretty high. No offense to checkers. Love them. A lot of late night runs there over the years. But, um, those really low skill labor jobs are, they're gonna get replaced. And, um, you know, you have to, you have to be looking at right now, either how you're going to, Adopt AI and put that in your business and learn, learn the skills to be able to implement it effectively. Because even if you just adopt it, but you don't learn it, you're still going to get killed by everybody else who's using AI. And then the other option is how do you create so much value in what you do that AI can't do it. And you're, you know, indispensable. And that's kind of where we're at. in our industry, because right now you could, you could already go on, like I said, chat, GPT say, Hey, this is my, my age. This is how much money I have. This is when I want to retire, put together a portfolio allocation that you would recommend. You can knock that out in about four minutes. Okay. And I can put you in something that's going to be, you know, appropriate for you. But if you don't behave appropriately. It means nothing. Okay. You're going to buy and sell at the wrong time. You're going to freak yourself out of the good decisions that, that you originally made was working with a professional, right? But you're going to buy and sell at the wrong time. You're going to make bad decisions and you're going to underperform your own investments because you don't know what the heck you're doing and you let your emotions get in the way. That being said, as long as we stay diversified. We have a good growth-oriented strategy. The less you do, the better. Leave it alone. I want to say it was Fidelity. They did a study like 10 years ago. They looked at the accounts that performed the best and what they had in common. So the two top performers were people who lost the password to their account, And people who died. That's what they had in common. They didn't F with it. So if that doesn't prove that discipline is a. greater than all, I don't know what does. Obviously you have to be diversified, set up, you know, properly, et cetera, for the longterm, but AI is not going to replace that. It doesn't matter how many times you read it. Um, how many times you get a notification on your phone, it's going to become, you know, muted to your brain without a trusted experienced person in your corner who knows you, knows your life. Without, without having them around to guide you and coach you, man, let's That's it is true. And the whole instinct gratification thing, I think, like you're saying about the ones that, you know, they say, you know, set it and forget it. Like, you know, that's kind of like your job, like you're the guy that sits back there and watches it. Um, so yeah, you don't panic because that's what I think, you know, Robin hood, they. Stuff like that, they thrive on that instant gratification of, you know, certain millennials and, you know, they just handle I'm, I'm sure their buy and sell, um, volume is just off the charts compared to, I would say like most, um, normal, uh, financial groups. And, and I think, like you said, they're doing that because that's a business plan. They're making money every buy and every trade, Those ticket charges, they love to see Yeah. And they make it colorful and they make it fun. And, and, you know, now you're able to, you know, have bad options on, on sports and you're just like, what's going on here. But, um, Well, it's like, save the gambling for the gambling. Right. Don't be trying to time the market. Okay. Have someone in your corner. That's going to keep you disciplined, coach you through it. If you want to throw money at something, don't let it be a stock. Have it be your, you know, this is not financial advice, but like, Hey man, go, go have fun and do your eight leg parlay and the NFL games this weekend. Okay. If you want that rush, you want some, it's not going to be a stock. Don't do that. If you're going to gamble, actually gamble, right? Again, Yeah. That's why the whole Davy day trader didn't last very long because it's, it's not a lucrative like process. I mean, you don't, nobody's successful at it or else everybody would That's exactly it, man. I mean, there's a reason why it takes so long to become a successful investor because it takes that long. Right. It's not sexy. It's boring. Okay. That's why most people can't do it because it's, it's just like, you know, habits and discipline and other parts of our life. Like, did you wake up and, and, you know, make your bed this morning? It's not sexy. That's boring as hell. Right. What did you eat for breakfast this morning? You know, when I'm, you know, dialed in and I'm on my meal plans and stuff, I ate the same thing every freaking day at the same time every day. And I can't stand it. I get to the point where I'm only looking at food as fuel and I'm just counting down until I either have to eat again or train or whatever. It's boring, but you get the results, right? Everybody understands you're going to get the results. But when it comes to investing, for some reason, people can't wrap their mind around that. Like it's gotta be sexy. I gotta be able to see that number increase X amount. Every single time I check my phone, which, you know, some people do it, you know, the way they're supposed to rarely. Right. Some people check it monthly. That's cool. That's healthy. Dude. There's people who check it multiple times a day. Like it's gonna make a difference. Like brother, you're 40 years old checking your retirement account. Okay. On a daily basis on stuff that you're planning on not even touching for 25 or 30 years. And you're over here worried That is so, I mean, that's funny. And it goes that back, that whole timing thing, like you. You're in it every day. So, you know, the timing, like, you know, one minute, you know, could equal, you know, a thousand dollars times a hundred shares. Like, right. I mean, this is at least, yeah. Yeah. Like, I mean, it's just like you say, like your breakfast is time, like certain You know, like, hey, this is the time to sell this one. You're not exact timing, but you're in it every day. So you know the ins and outs way better than if I pulled out my phone and go, I'm going to sell my target Vanguard fund in 2067 retirement. You know what I'm saying? That just doesn't add up. So having somebody like yourself, to where you watch it and you don't pull it up all the time, it makes complete sense. What would you say on switching over to cash flow? When you talk about like the scarcity mindset, what would you say? Like you talked about the one people that need like reserves in their checking account for, you know, two years or whatever you had joked about. Um, what, what is just the, like the appropriate amount of money to keep in your checking account? Uh, obviously your, your bills, like Yeah. So you want to look at what your household expenses are every month. So even before we get into that, right. Everybody should start with doing a budget and it doesn't matter how much money you make. Nobody likes doing a budget because you've got, you have this sense of restriction. It's not about restriction. It's about understanding where the hell your money's going. Okay. You work hard to make it. You have a rough idea at the end of every month, how much you have leftover, but you don't actually know where it all goes. Chances are, if you're like my household, a lot of it's Amazon. So that's, that's the first part is, is starting off with identifying where everything goes and how much you actually need to run your household. Then it's, you know, this is why it's important to have a, have a coach because It's very circumstantial. If you are in a stable corporate job that's hiring, growing, you might need less in reserves that you can tap tomorrow than somebody else who's in a high-risk environment, somebody who's on the eat-what-you-kill plan, if you will. Who's got to go out and produce every month. Otherwise they don't, they don't eat, they don't get paid. So it's circumstantial, you know, for, for someone who's in a very stable job, maybe three to six months that you can get to in a couple of days, you know, three to six months of expenses, somebody who's, you know, Really in a volatile industry, there's a lot of uncertainty around, uh, you know, employment on when they're going to get paid, how long the lag time is between production and when they actually see that money. What on that comfort level that might be six to 12 months, you know, but, but there, there is no. one size fits all answer for almost anything with this. It's based on you and what makes sense to build up that level of empowerment where you don't have to be scared about what the hell is going to happen with the market. You don't have to be scared of what's going to happen with your job. You know, you're taken care of. Yeah. And you know, you say the B word budget and I joke, you know, every, every year my CPA, I'm like, what can I do better? And he says that, and I'm like, you know, one of these years I'll figure it out. Right. He says, you just need the budget better. And I'm like, you're, you're right. And then I don't do it. Right. Because it's. you know, procrastination at its finest. Uh, you know, you know, accountability, People don't like stepping on the scale of finances, right? Like if you know you're overweight, you don't want to step on that scale, bro. Same thing goes with a budget. But from, from my standpoint with the people that I work with, you know, you, you mentioned your CPA says you need a budget better. Okay. I don't grade how people budget. Okay. You are a grown adult. If you don't have the money left over that you want to have left over, you fix it the same way of, if you stepped on that scale, you don't like the number fix it. Right. I, you know, I'm a little larger than most people. I'm about 265 pounds, but I'm also six, five. Okay. So if you were five foot seven, weighing two 65, that's, that's going to be a problem. You should change that. I don't really plan on changing it. So, so it's about identifying where things are going, not necessarily if it's good or bad or where you, you just want to know where you stand. Um, because people who I work with, you know, sometimes it's an eye opener, not necessarily to spend less, but like, Hey man, go on and make more fricking I like that. You know, that's true. I mean, but the whole budget to part, like when I, I think about like going back to like some of these like credit cards, like you have kids that are coming out of college and they're getting, you know, credit cards and they're getting, you know, a $10,000 credit, you know, line and there are no way should be having a credit line of 10 K, um, out of college and making 40 K right. Stuff like that just doesn't make sense. So, you know, besides like educating, you know, the upcoming generations on that stuff, like obviously if you budget. then that's not even going to be an issue. It's like, it's like almost like the biggest cure Yeah. And that's why it's, it's such an important place to start on, on knowing where you're at, because even if you are making, you know, a few hundred thousand dollars a year, we don't even know how much to plan for going towards your investments on a systematic basis until we know where all your money's going every month. We don't actually know how much is left over. So how can I make that contribution automatic? You know, the best thing that we can do is, you know, set it and forget it just like a 401k. Right. Comes out of everyone's paycheck. You don't see it. It gets invested. And all of a sudden you have some money in 20 years and you're like pretty happy about that. Yeah. Same thing with every other investment strategy is, is we want to be able to put in dollar cost average. And, and take the emotions out of it. But to get to that point, you have to know your numbers. It starts with the budget. Doesn't matter if you're $10 million or $10,000, nobody likes doing it. It always gets put on the back burner. And, uh, you know, I, I have a harder time getting budgets back from people that I do fricking taxes and, you know, new client paperwork. It's the budget. That's the hardest to Makes sense. Cause you're like, you're like, you say you're like F you, I'm, you're not going I try to tell them that I say, listen, I'm never going to tell you how much money to spend or how to spend your money. You're an adult. God bless you. Okay. Go spend it. How you want, you want to go buy a Ferrari? Go with, go with the Lord. Okay. I want you to buy that Ferrari. If that's what that's, what's on your heart, but. Like, you know, if you want to buy that Ferrari, you're going to have a little less money left over. Uh, so let's get to work. We got more money to make. So, yeah, I mean, simple, Yeah. I mean, if you're working a job, if you're working for in a corporate environment where you are not in control of your income, That's a powerful statement right there. I really liked that. Actually. I've never, you know, never really thought of that because there's so many people, you know, we're always like business owners, you know, like, so clearly you flip it. It's, this is, you know, it's for, it's two sided. It's, it's for everybody. Like, so I think having somebody in, you know, like yourself in your corner is such a massive, just gain in general, because like I said, you know, you know, what's going on in terms of timing, you know, how to build wealth. you know when to pull the trigger on certain things, when to budget. I think just in general being able to pick up the phone and say, hey Mike, You know, I, I don't like budgets, but can you, can you start, if I just talk it to you, can we create a budget like with you? Like if I just talk it like, Hey, my mortgage is 1800. I'm sure you have people that do that and I'm sure you're more than happy to Yeah, absolutely. I mean, not, not everybody wants to sit down and write it, write it down themselves or fill out a PDF. You know, it's a little bit better to do it on, in a more conversational, uh, platform. because they're like, ah, I know it's about this mature. It's about that much. Then, you know, you don't have to worry about remembering all your passwords and stuff like that and go and looking at everything up. It's just, it's just easier to do it on conversation sometimes. But, um, yeah, Yeah. Cause I mean, I mean, like I said, I, I, even myself, I'm like, I joked with my wife, I go, okay, here's, you know, here's 500 bucks. I'll show you how, how this works. And you're like, 178, the trader Joe's, you know, you know, 130 to target. And you're like, okay, there's two, like, you only got 300 left, like 78 more. You want, are you sure you want that? Well, I guess we don't really need that. So you know what? Cancel that, that pickup order. But you don't think like that when you start using like credit, when you're actually doing dollar for dollar, your mindset is so different than using Yeah, it really should be because when you understand the cost of things, you spend better, right? Again, I always go back to fitness and bodybuilding, right? When you start just writing down the food that you shove into your face hole, okay? It doesn't matter if your goal is to lose weight or your goal is to gain weight. You're going to make better choices because as you see that you're confirming that you're like, damn, that's not in line with my goals. Same thing when it comes to money, if you're tracking your expenses, like, do I really need to go buy this? Do I need that? I was going to buy a, you know, an extra pack of underwear, but you know, I can, I can rock what I got for another month. You know, like. When you, when you are tracking your expenses and you're operating on a budget, you're going to spend less. Just how it works. When you're tracking what you put into your body, what you're eating every day, you're probably going to That's so true. It's funny because I, like, as my budget, as I've started to like budget, um, I was like 283 pounds. Now I'm like 220 pounds. So it's funny as I, as my budget's gotten better. So as my, my budget on my fitness, how weird is that? Like you're correlating those two and they literally have kind of correlated in It's not really an accident. You know, it's, it's. There's so many parallels. Uh, well, to be honest with you, you could take fitness and apply it to almost anything because it comes down to doing really boring, basic stuff for a very long time. Um, sometimes that requires having a coach in your corner, someone who can guide you through the hard times, the adversity, you know, I hire a coach to help me with my diet and my training too. So, so where do you put the value? on the goal that you're trying to achieve, right? If you're trying to go compete and do a bodybuilding show, you better have at least one coach, right? If you're training for an Ironman, you should probably have a coach. If you're planning for your financial future, you should probably have a coach, right? How much value do you put on achieving that goal? Get the right help Yeah, that's hard to wrap your head around. That's that stuff, because like you say, it's just hard. And until you actually do it, it's not going to improve. And I think like you say, you have to really. You know, like discipline yourself and go, you know what this has has to be done, and I think the biggest part is, you know, people are so worried about, oh, what's he going to think or what's, you know, and I could tell you just talking to you like, You're a great individual to be like, dude, like this guy's just talked about checkers. Like you can tell him like, Hey, you had 14 lunches in a row. Like, you know, like stuff like that. Like you don't, I can tell like, you're not going to judge, you're just going to help. And that's the biggest part, probably what, why you're a Yeah. Cause it's, it's a, it's about serving people, right. It's about helping, you know, I'm not, uh, a courtroom. I'm not here to judge you. Right. If anything, it's more like a hospital, right? You got something wrong with you. I can probably help now. I'm not saying there's something wrong with everybody, but you know, if there is, let's get a diagnosis and, uh, let's put together, uh, a treatment plan, if you will. And Yeah. Cause I feel like everybody could have a treatment plan. There's just, you don't have a perfect, uh, fine. I mean, there's always something you can tighten up or secure, uh, I mean, absolutely. I mean, it's, but you're saying that it goes back to the very first point. You're saying that with the right mindset. Okay. Because there's a lot of people that would say, okay, it's good enough. I'm getting by. I did what I was told to do. Right. But as you get to a new place, there's now a new weakness. There's now something else that needs to be addressed. You know, there's always ways to improve. And when you change your mindset, you're more likely to be wired towards always looking to, to improve the next thing and get to the next level. If you, if you think that way, chances are, it's going to translate to your income as well. If it translates to your income, it probably translates to your impact on the people around you. around your family, around the people that you serve through your business, you probably have a pretty good life. So it, everything starts with that mindset shift. It's not just Yeah. That's what I was just, I was just about to say that, like, cause it gives you options, It solves problems. Like I'm, I'm not going to be happier having more money if I don't know how to solve the problems that I have. But if you make $50,000 a year and you know how to solve all the problems that are in your life, God bless you. That's incredible. You're probably living a great life if you know how to solve all the problems off of 50 grand. Now you could be making $800,000 a year. And if you don't have enough money to solve the problems that you have, That's a pot, another powerful statement right there. Uh, I almost want you, can you repeat If you don't have enough money to be able to solve your problems, you're still broke. Right. Cause, cause what do you work so hard for kids, fancy shit, and you know, give your wife a nice car and take vacations that you post on Instagram just to make other people jealous that you don't even enjoy because you're stressed out about your job and everything else. No, you should be spending that money fixing your problems. Okay. So that way you could be at peace when you get home, you know, you can actually be present with your wife. You can be present at your kids, you know, basketball game or jujitsu match or whatever it may be. You'd be present at the dinner table. Okay. If you're able to use the money to solve your problems, you're able Yeah. Uh, you know, I've been there where, you know, you sat there and you're, you got little minions running around your head and you're not present. You're thinking about. You know, how are we going to pay that? And how are you going to do this? And how are you going to make your next sale? And you're just like, and then next thing you know, they're asleep. And you're like, no, I know how that is. Have a five-year-old and a two-year-old, like almost two-year-old. And you know, that, that stuff I have to tell myself every day, like that's, that's, you just have to Yeah, absolutely. Got to have that constant reminder that, that self-talk, you know, that, that dialogue with yourself to keep going, you know, it's, Again, back to the gym analogies, right? I can't tell you the last time I was excited about going to the gym. It's probably been like two years. That doesn't mean I don't go. You just have to have that dialogue. You go, this is normal. This kind of sucks. It's gonna hurt. I'm gonna get something out of it. I'm gonna do this. Because this is what I do. Same thing with your family. Same thing with being present, right? I'm not the best at it. I suck sometimes too. I suck a lot. Okay. But I try to have that conversation with myself, that dialogue, you know, and I catch myself being stressed. You know, my, my family knows that I get stressed out, but I don't, I don't say a lot. I get real. Like introvert, I close up, you don't hear me talk a lot and you can tell I'm carrying around stuff. So, you know, sometimes I need to go on a little quick drive to the gas station, get a car wash, whatever, to be able to have that conversation. So when I get back, I go, all right, I'm not where I want to be. But there's nothing I can do about it right now. So let's be present. Let's invest in, you know, relationship with your wife, relationship with kids and, and. Take advantage of the opportunity in front of you. Cause like you said, before you know it, there's sleep and you wasted the day and, you know, we, we can always stay up later and work on the stuff that needs to be done, but you can't stay up later to spend time with them when, you know, especially when they're Yeah. I mean, that's, that's so true. And, and the whole process of like, you know, trying to continue that, I kind of joke, like I, I put, I like I'll pretend remote in my pocket. Like, that's kind of my mindset. Like, I'm like, okay, there, I got my volume button. I got my pause button. Like when I want to react, I'm like, okay, here's your remote. It's in your hand, hit the pause button. And then it kind of makes you step back. So you don't have those like quick reactions, but to have yourself like to, to be so smart and like the financial side, and then to also be able to, to, you know, advise people like, Hey, you know, when that backpack of is full of rocks, take that minute to drive and release those rocks. So that way you come back and you are fully present along with financial advice. I mean, I don't think you could find a better guy to be in your corner than yourself. So. I appreciate that, man. Thank you. Yeah. I mean, that's because that's a, that's a major part as well. Like, you know, people, I think when they think financial advisor, you know, it's money wealth, but like when you add in that mindset part, that's like the value that, that you add in that has obviously, you know, you know, created such a massive career in what you do because you're separating yourself from the rest of the industry by Yeah, 100%. Thank you. Yeah. It's because it's about each individual. Right. And if you're not a real human and willing to coach someone through the volatility in life, it doesn't really matter how you coach them through the volatility of I mean, that's another powerful statement right there. And, you know, to have somebody, like I say, like yourself in your corner, you know, it's massive. And to know that, hey, you got a mindset coach too, like I'll tell you right now, like, you know, We, you and me both know, like we pay people for mindset and other coaching stuff. So you can have somebody that's already being coached. Like, like yourself. Um, I joke like Sebastian, he's big coach by Dan Martell. Your, your coach should always be coached. Like you hear that all the time and you, you know that, um, firsthand. So that's why you can bring so much value to the table on top of what you already do. Um, that's already your strong point. I appreciate that, man. Thank you. Absolutely. I can tell. So all I know, like going forward, um, all the stuff to get, you know, a hold of Mike is going to be in the notes of this episode. His, his, his brand is pretty much everywhere. You know, whether it's, um, Facebook Yeah. Facebook. Yeah. I know most Graham, you know, I know on the business side of things, people like to use LinkedIn and all that fun stuff. So, but it's, if you're looking for me, it's Michael a toucher the second, because my dad, as I talked about, that's Mike senior, he's my partner in the business. So he's, he's the one that'll probably pop up first. Um, but yeah, so it's at Mike toucher on Yeah, absolutely. And connect with them because as you see, you'll, you'll be watching the content come out on this episode and he'll be glad to help you, uh, start a budget because I think, you know. if you're past that scarcity mindset, because that's, you know, like step one, you got a step two is budget. I feel like they might be combined step one, One a one B, but that just shows you like how much work that has to be done on the back end. That's why like you're so valuable. Um, because I mean, we're sitting here, we covered so much when we're still at step one a and B. Um, So, that in itself shows you the value that you bring. So, I'll put all this stuff in the show notes. Anybody who wants to connect with Mike, you'll easily be able to. We'll have all access to him as well. So, any final words, Mike? Anything people should run with that maybe you've given solid advice, solid quotes, but any Um, not, it's just, you know, it's, it's all about how you react. You know, psychology is way more important than your investment selection. It's about how you respond to things. And sometimes it's about what you don't do by staying calm and staying to the plan, but rather taking action and what you do. Okay. So discipline. patience and doing the non-sexy things for a really long time, that is going to get you towards success on your financial journey. And when you're not sure what to do, Find someone to put in your corner, someone who you can trust, someone who has experience solving problems for people like you and your circumstances. And don't try to do it all yourself. Take good counsel, pray on it, talk to professionals, and you'll Right. I love that. And have yourself a weekly money date, right? You're big on it. Absolutely. That's right. Well, I appreciate it, Mike. Obviously this episode was loaded. So if you help, if this helped you at all, um, please share it with one person who needs financial advice or financial help, or even just a budget or a mindset shift. This guy does it all. So Mike, I appreciate you, um, Yeah. And for STL real estate funding and elevation across your life and business, you know where to find me. Elevate with Elsner. Links are in the show notes. Build, scale, Elevate. Until next Thanks so much for tuning into this episode. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show wherever you consume podcasts. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. And if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review and tell your