The Founder’s Playbook to Building Generational Wealth

The internet is full of financial advice, and most of it is garbage.
Some people say just buy index funds, pay low fees, get your 7% annual return, and you'll be a millionaire in 20 years. (Sure, if everything goes perfectly and you never need the money.)

Others push stock picking, crypto, startup investing, pre-IPO deals where you can supposedly 10X your money in months. (Good luck with that.)

Then there's everything in between.

Here's what I've learned working in investment management: even people who've built $50 million+ from their businesses often don't know how to think about their money. They make terrible decisions, lose fortunes, usually because their ego gets in the way.

Dr. Julie Gurner nails it: wealth without a system is just luck waiting to run out. 👇

So this isn't about what stock to buy or which crypto will moon. This is about how to think about building wealth—the mental frameworks and systems that actually work.

It sounds simple. It probably sounds familiar. But you'd be shocked how many smart, successful people ignore these basics.

Let's start from the beginning.

Why Do We Even Invest?

Stop and think about that for a second. Really.

Before you answer, let me tell you a story from my boxing days.

Staying fit is dead simple. You need two things:

Exercise. You don't need a fancy gym. Bodyweight exercises, cardio, and stretching. A park nearby helps. If not, your living room works fine.

Food. You don't need an expensive diet. Just watch what you eat and how much. Quality over quantity.

That's it. Plus the discipline to do it consistently.

But what do we actually do? We try different training programs and quit after a few months. We need the gym with the latest equipment. We spend hours researching high-tech running shoes. We jump from diet to diet.

Nothing wrong with any of that. It's just that those are wants, not needs. As long as you know the difference, you're fine.

The Real Goal of Investing

It's stupidly simple.

Accumulate enough assets so the income they generate covers your living expenses after you stop working. Ideally, the principal keeps growing too—or at minimum, doesn't shrink.

That's it. That's the whole game.

It's like Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The foundation is survival—food, shelter, security. You can't skip levels.

Everyone has their own "magic number." For some people, $100,000 a year is plenty. Others feel broke at $1 million.

The principle stays the same. Hit this goal first, then move to the next level. But you can't skip ahead. You have to beat this level before the next one unlocks.

Your Personal Finance Operating System

Here's the simplest framework for understanding money:

• Assets – what you own
• Liabilities – what you owe
• Income – money coming in
• Expenses – money going out

That's your entire financial life in four categories.

Now the game becomes clear:

Goal #1 – Generate enough income to cover expenses (including debt) and use the surplus to buy assets.

Goal #2 – Build enough assets so their income covers your expenses while the asset base stays stable or grows.

Simple. Not easy, but simple.

How fast you hit Goal #1 is up to you. Make more money. Get a raise. Grow your business. Increase profitability. The bigger your surplus, the faster you can invest and build assets.

Remember: a business can be both a source of cash flow and eventually a valuable asset you can sell.

Goal #2 takes time and usually requires working with someone who knows what they're doing. A good financial adviser helps you create a plan based on your situation, income, age, and risk tolerance. They help optimise for taxes. They keep you from doing stupid things when markets get crazy.

Where Most People Screw Up

The biggest mistake? Looking for shortcuts.

We're wired to get excited by stock charts and news headlines. We want to find the next hot stock or crypto that's going to explode. Sometimes you get lucky. But you can't sustain luck long-term.

To actually get good at investing—like anything else worth doing—you need to learn the game. You're going to make mistakes. That's inevitable.

It's like sports. You can't go to the gym for three months and become a professional boxer. You need dedication, willpower, and you need to bleed a little.

If that's what you really want, go for it.

But if you just want to get fit? Focus on a simple routine and do it consistently. You'll be amazed at the results after 12 months.

The moral of the story:

Time is money. Spend it where your return is highest.

Work with a financial adviser as soon as you can. They'll help you create a plan and formulate a strategy. Once it's set up, you can mostly run it on autopilot.

Focus on making more money and using it to buy assets. Leverage what you have—your job, your business, whatever.

Once you hit your magic number or you're clearly on track and have more time, then you can level up and learn the investment game if you want to.

It's actually fun. But you have to cover the basics first.

You have to get fit and learn technique before you step into the ring.