Feb 18, 2021
Jim Dew specializes in working with owner/founder entrepreneurs. Most financial advisors and wealth management people will work with anyone who has money, but there are unique problems and opportunities facing entrepreneurs.
- His ideal client is a business owner or entrepreneur who is doing more than $1 million EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization). A company that has revenue and profits is where Jim can really add value.
- Jim builds virtual family offices for entrepreneurs, which is the wealth management solution that the billionaire club uses to manage their wealth. A family office is where a billionaire will simply hire all the needed tax, legal, insurance, and investment professionals and bring them under payroll for the family.
- Jim learned about the process from a billionaire family that was willing to show him the processes and he decided to help entrepreneurs achieve similar results.
- Every entrepreneur needs to protect, manage, and grow their wealth. Jim helps entrepreneurs in nine different areas under those categories by coordinating the different professionals involved.
- In most situations, the entrepreneur in the middle trying to manage those relationships is the weakest link. Jim’s company takes a central role so that all the players are collaborating and coordinating together to achieve better results.
- Most financial advisors either get paid for selling products or managing assets. Jim’s company does neither, they represent the entrepreneur and negotiate on their behalf.
- Jim believes that the incentives need to be aligned because they drive where you get advice and the results you get. This is why all of Jim’s advisors are compensated with salary and bonuses, this way they are aligned with the client’s needs in a true fiduciary relationship.
- Covid-19 has affected entrepreneurs all over the world. If you were in the right space your business exploded, like Peleton did. If you were in the wrong space though your business suffered. Jim’s company has been helping clients navigate the situation no matter what they are facing.
- One of the lessons that Jim’s clients have learned is that you have to know your numbers, that’s how you navigate hard times like this.
- Entrepreneurs need a great team with a CPA and a tax attorney who are proactively looking at their situation and coming up with great ideas.
- The tax code is complicated and set up in a way that an experienced tax planner on your team is a major asset. You won’t go to jail for screwing up the deductions, the danger is in hiding revenue. There are a number of strategies that you can use to minimize your taxes, but you have to be careful and have smart people on your team to help you implement them.
- Jim was raised by parents that went through the depression, so he learned to be very frugal with money. He had always been idealistic and was good at math and science, so Jim started off as a public school teacher. He did that for five years and learned two important lessons from the experience. The first is that he loved making a difference and helping people, and the second was that he couldn’t work in a broken system. Jim got into financial services and after getting into an argument with the manager of the firm Jim went on the path of starting his own company.
- The basic fundamental truth is that entrepreneurs get rich by being concentrated in a business, but you stay rich by being diversified outside that business.
- Every great investor has a discipline. Jim starts with where his clients are now and then comes up with a strategy to get to where they want to go. This allows them to quickly evaluate investment opportunities.
- Often people look at election results and other economic indicators to try to determine their investment strategy. When it comes to investing, you want to invest on probabilities, not possibilities. Every politician promises a number of changes, but they rarely get turned into law without considerable changes.
- Cash is historically the worst-performing asset class. Try not to get worked up about apocalyptic predictions about the market and avoid trying to predict the future of the market.
- Focus on your business. Don’t think you’re going to get rich from Bitcoin or Tesla stock. Your business is what is going to make you rich and improve your lifestyle.
Mentioned in this episode:
Michael Rozbruch's Tax & Business Solutions Academy
Beyond a Million: The Entrepreneur’s Playbook for Expanding Wealth, Freedom and Time - https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Million-Entrepreneurs-Playbook-Expanding/dp/1619618222