Success That Lasts

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel discusses the power narratives hold over us when making financial decisions, and how to think more empirically. He talks about the roles that skill and luck have in various aspects of life. “After a career of helping people make financial decisions, one thing is overwhelmingly clear to me: people are not calculators, they're storytellers,” Jared claims. Humans are biologically wired to connect cause and effect, even if it may be incorrect. The more you want something to be true, he adds, the more likely you are to believe the story that overestimates the odds of it being true. If we learn how to second guess ‘easy' narratives and learn to think more empirically, we can gain an advantage.  According to a study done in collaboration with Dartmouth College, University of Chicago, California Institute of Technology and UCLA, less than 2% of people attempting to add value to the portfolio through predictions actually possess skill. Over a shorter time frame, the influence that luck plays, both good and bad, is greater. However, as you expand the sample size, the influence that luck plays is diminished, and outcomes become much more predictable. Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter Email: jsiegel@delapwa.com  DelapCPA.com The Success Equation by Michael Mauboussin Luck versus Skill Research Paper Memo from Howard Mark

Michael DiJoseph is Senior Strategist in the Investment Advisory Research Center at Vanguard. He is a Certified Financial Analyst and volunteers as a member and secretary on the Board of Trustees at the Province of St. Thomas of Villanova Support Fund. Michael joins Jared Siegel to discuss the value of an advisor.  Here are a few highlights from their conversation: Vanguard Advisor's Alpha found that advisors adhering to a holistic wealth management framework could add about 3% per year in annualized returns relative to the average experience.  “We're bad at forecasting the future because the future is simply not forecastable,” Michael claims. Vanguard keeps updating its study about quantifying the value of an advisor because they “want to start talking to people in their language.” They aim to help both advisors and customers understand the value of this service. Warren Buffet was a stock picker and active manager, but he looked at the numbers and drew the conclusion that most managers don't earn their fee, and much significant wealth is dissipated as a result of chasing a prediction-based approach to performance. Being as proactive as possible is always an advantage, but there are times when that's not the case - there is a time and a place to respond to anticipated things, Jared shares. Michael describes the reactive model within the Advisor Alpha framework. “Staying the course doesn't mean standing still,” Michael tells Jared. Staying the course actually requires an enormous amount of minor course corrections along the way. You don't just get on a boat and suddenly arrive at your destination by doing nothing. Roth conversion effectively means you can accelerate the taxes on your tax-deferred money and convert it into tax-free money so that you won't have to pay it later, Michael explains. In an economic downturn, “the account value might be down; an individual's income might be down… Take advantage of that and accelerate taxes when the rate is lower - it might be higher in the future; use those losses to get a little creative.” “There's a lot of noise out there around millennials and Gen Z not being as good as investors…  I actually think it's the opposite. I think they've had a huge head start, and I think we're going to start seeing the benefits of better advice all around,” Michael says.  Resources Michael DiJoseph on LinkedIn

Dennis Jaffe is Senior Research Fellow at BanyanGlobal Family Business Advisors. As both an organizational consultant and clinical psychologist with over 40 years of experience, he is one of the architects of the emerging field of family enterprise consulting. He is also a frequent contributor to periodicals such as Family Business Journal of Financial Planning, Private Wealth Journal of Wealth management, and Worth magazine. Dennis joins Jared Siegel to share insights from his book Borrowed from Your Grandchildren about how large, long-lasting business families succeed across generations. Here are a few highlights from their conversation: Generative families are those with business that have gone past the third generation in terms of ownership and control; have an identity as both a family and a business; and were large and thriving, though not necessarily in the legacy business. It's fairly common that family businesses don't last past the third generation, but that has less to do with wealth itself and more to do with the type of people in the business. Successful business families make a commitment to the future, Dennis shares. “They developed all kinds of ways in which the family was creating non-financial wealth - they were creating value by educating the next generation, giving to the community, and having wonderful, thoughtful people get together.”  In generative families, the wealth creator creates the wealth, but they do not create the generative idea - this is typically done by the second or third generation. Jared asks Dennis to describe the roles of the first three generations of a business family. “The shift from the first generation where it's all about one person with no need to collaborate with anybody to the next generation comes when the family begins to have a single family meeting and they talk about their wealth,” Dennis explains. “Is this the business that they want to be in, or do they want to be in another business? Do they want to have a foundation? And they start to have conversations and out of the conversations the family says, ‘We have so much wealth, we have so many issues to talk about - we have to meet regularly.'” Self-reliant wealth creators must get over the idea that because they've been so successful, they know how to do it better than anyone else. Older generations have to understand that things are different, and should respect those differences rather than try to make things be the way they were before. They'd only be setting themselves up for failure by taking the latter route. Resources Dennis Jaffe on LinkedIn Borrowed from Your Grandchildren: The Evolution of 100-Year Family Enterprises Dear Younger Me: Wisdom for Family Enterprise Successors

Nathan Sosner is a national thought leader and Principal at AQR Capital Management, where he specializes in sophisticated investment programs for high-net-worth clients. His research on tax-aware investing has been published in the Journal of Wealth Management and the Financial Analyst Journal, who awarded him the Graham and Dodd Award for the best paper of the year in 2020. Nathan joins Jared Siegel to discuss the importance of tax efficiency. Here are a few highlights from their conversation:  The main difference between tax-agnostic and tax-aware strategies at AQR, Nathan shares, is that tax-aware funds think not only about investment styles but also about tax results of individual trades. Jared asks Nathan how AQR quantifies the economic benefits of integrating income tax and estate tax planning in a portfolio design. “[We] approach management of that portfolio in tax-efficient ways,” Nathan responds “For example, if you started a program at the age of 40 and continued until 80, the after-tax wealth transferred to the family can be three times larger if you look to achieve tax efficiency and sensible investment strategy across all the dimensions, as opposed to only focusing on investment strategy and completely ignoring the income and estate tax implications of your investment.” From a statistician's point of view, the greater the success, the more attention it gets, and failures tend to fade away into the background. Wealth created by concentrated risk looks great post-factum, but that is because a large portion of the wealth distribution where wealth has been lost is ignored. “A concentrated risk is a constraint for many investors,” Nathan comments.  According to Nathan's research, volatility creates a significant drag on cumulative wealth, and the only way to reduce that drag is to reduce volatility through diversification.  There isn't a lot of information about the after tax risk adjusted performance of strategies, Jared says. It's difficult to report performance on an after-tax basis because of its nature - individual clients' facts and circumstances, which would impact the net result of an investment. Nathan shares what to consider when transitioning from one investment strategy to another. “There are four key parameters to changing a strategy, changing the portfolio tax efficiently,” he claims. “[They are] tracking error, build-in gain, how much leverage you are willing to take, and time.” This material is intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal or tax advice, nor is it intended to replace the advice of a qualified attorney or tax advisor. The recipient should conduct his or her own analysis and consult with professional advisors prior to making any investment decisions. Resources Nathan Sosner on LinkedIn  AQR Capital Management Regardless of How You Deal with Low-Basis Stock, Long-Short Strategies Can Help Integration of Income and Estate Tax Planning When Fortune Doesn't Favor the Bold: Perils of Volatility for Wealth Growth and Preservation

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel unpacks structural capital and related topics. He shares insights about wealth succession and how families can ensure their heirs are fully equipped to inherit wealth. “Families with significant wealth or family businesses often operate within a network of trust - partnerships, contracts, and other kinds of legal and business entity relationships,” Jared says. “In this context, structural capital represents the family's cumulative understanding of this network and ability to navigate it efficiently.” It's human nature to value things based on how much they cost us. Therefore, you value wealth you are given differently than if you had suffered, sacrificed, and risked for it. The key to efficiency is making a checklist - one of the most simple and humble techniques, according to author, surgeon, and public health researcher Atul Gawande. Even the Air Force and leading hospitals use checklists to manage their everyday tasks. “The single most important reason for creating a trust in the first place should be to provide a gift that promotes the beneficiary's real freedom,” Jared advises. “A trust that's well designed should deliver an enhancement to the beneficiary that cultivates a greater maturity and equips them to pursue their own aspirations.” Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter Email: jsiegel@delapwa.com  DelapCPA.com The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande Preparing Heirs: Five Steps to a Successful Transition of Family Wealth and Values by Roy Williams and Vic Preisser

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel discusses the concepts of harmony and balance. He defines different types of capital and how they intersect to create real wealth.  Harmony is nuanced, Jared shares, requiring some level of skillful and simultaneous execution. To be well-coordinated, harmony needs balance and complexity. Jared explores what that looks like in wealth planning. A family's human capital includes its individual family members' physical and emotional health, as well as their resilience - their ability to learn, grow and adapt. Their relational capital reflects each member's ability to discuss difficult topics together or to collaborate in complex efforts. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, wealth transfer was more about the transfer of wisdom and opportunities, not necessarily money. “If you inherited your family's land, you were still required to work. You had to [put in the] effort, sacrifice and grind… to actually generate income that you and your family could live on ,” Jared explains.  Financial capital is merely a tool - nothing more, nothing less. It's neither good nor bad, but it really begs the question - what are you trying to accomplish with your wealth? Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter Email: jsiegel@delapwa.com  DelapCPA.com

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel discusses the normal path for progress in economics and markets. “Human beings have a strong and dramatic instinct towards binary thinking - a basic urge to divide things into two distinct groups with nothing but an empty gap in between,” he cites. However, progress in economics exists outside this binary - growth actually persists among loss. Though we are frequently reminded that, from a regulatory perspective, past financial performance doesn't guarantee future results, there is wisdom to be gained in examining the past and extracting its actionable insights. “We must simultaneously hold both our optimism and pessimism; just like we can only learn from the mistakes in life that we actually survive,” he adds.  Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com

In this solo episode of Success that Lasts, Jared Siegel explores status games. He shares insights on how they can detract us from our goals and tips for choosing your status game wisely. By definition, news is something that doesn't last, Jared claims. It exists for a moment and then it changes. “As news has become easier to distribute and cheaper to produce, the quality and quantity have respectively decreased and increased, making it nearly impossible to delineate the signal from the noise,” he says. “The word status implies a social stratification on a vertical scale,” Jared explains. Hierarchies have existed in society for thousands of years, and new research suggests that humans are actually biologically wired to seek status. Gaining clarity about your own purpose informs you of the status games that actually matter. Picking the wrong one lures you into a trap of allocating your time to whatever screams the loudest, and your talent to whatever gives you the fastest reward. In The Happiness Hypothesis, researcher Jonathan Haidt concluded that intimate, loving and enduring relationships with our family and close friends will be among the sources of our deepest joy in life. Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com Choose Your Status Game Wisely - Of Dollars and Data How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton Christensen The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel discusses why outcome bias works against us. He defines “resulting” and shares tips for getting comfortable with uncertainty and making better decisions. Doing well with money isn't about what you know; it's about how you behave. You stand a greater chance of making smarter decisions about wealth if you change the way you think, which affects how you behave. “Resulting” is a term coined by poker players that defines the tendency to confuse the quality of a decision with the quality of its outcome. In cognitive science, this is called outcome bias, and it's a dangerous tendency that we're all susceptible to. “Diversification enables us to increase the near-term predictability that many of us need and desire,” Jared shares, “because we can't entirely eliminate uncertainty over shorter periods of time.”  According to researcher Jonathan Haidt, we have two ways of thinking that work simultaneously at all times: our gut, which is quick, emotional, and very persuasive; and our head, which is slower and less powerful, but more objective than our gut. Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel discusses why diversification is the key to reducing investment risks. He shares empirical evidence why relying on predictions is ineffective. “Pessimism is not only more common than optimism, but also sounds smarter, is more intellectually engaging, and is promoted significantly more by financial media than an optimist, who is often viewed as oblivious and ignorant of risks,” Jared shares. A 15-year study published by the Wall Street Journal found that 92% of active stock-picking managers that make investment decisions based upon their conclusions after looking at the economic predictors, actually underperform their benchmark. The probability of being able to predict good performance in advance consistently is minuscule, just like the probability of continually and consistently making accurate predictions is impossible. Diversification is the very best way to reduce your investment risk. “When it comes to your wealth, don't pursue a coin-flipping approach,” Jared says. “Rather, embrace five decades of peer-reviewed financial science and leverage the power of planning, not predictions, to support your long-term financial and life goals.” Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com

Larry Swedroe is the Principal and Director of Research at Buckingham Family of Financial Services. He is also an author and researcher with over 4 decades of experience in personal finance. Larry is a frequent speaker on NBC, CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg. He joins Jared Sigel to discuss all things financial: inflation, allocation, and even hedging. He shares the peer-reviewed empirical data that informs his strongest convictions.  Here are a few highlights from their conversation: You should never use forecasts to time the market, Larry says, as all evidence shows that it is largely ineffective. “Forecasts should only be thought of as the mean of a very wide potential dispersion of outcomes,” he adds. “There are always unknown events that we didn't even think would occur, so your plan should always incorporate those possibilities.” Though the unemployment rate is down to 4%, there has been a massive decline in the labor force that's willing to work, and an increase in early retirements. In a shocking and unprecedented turn of events, there are now far more job openings than there are unemployed people. “I think the Fed has underestimated the risks of [their] excessive amounts of fiscal and monetary stimulus,” Larry claims. “They're [conducting] a grand experiment here; they think they can tighten quickly enough without pushing the economy into recession or raising rates too much.” Typically, with low interest rates supporting higher valuations, you should see higher than average valuations for value. Larry remarks. “To me, the only place that you have risk that valuations are too high is in US large growth stocks… In value stocks everywhere else around the world, valuations are historically in the 100th percentile of cheapness,” he shares. While the data has always shown that high valuations predict low future returns, that doesn't mean they're predicting negative returns, according to Larry.  Jared asks Larry about the helpfulness of economic predictions, and how to prepare for the certainty of uncertainty. “You should always rely on evidence from peer-reviewed academic journals, not people's opinions,” Larry responds. “There's a huge body of research that has analyzed investors' ability to time market, tactically allocate assets, etc., as a loser's game.” All risky assets should have similar risk-adjusted returns; this also includes similar Sharpe ratios, which adjust for returns. Resources Larry Swedroe on LinkedIn | Twitter

Diane Paddison is the founder of 4Word, a non-profit organization dedicated to serving professional Christian Women. She is also Independent Director at the Stan Johnson Company, Harvard Business School Christian Fellowship Alumni Association, and Behringer Harvard Opportunity REIT II, and a member of the National Advisory Board for the Salvation Army. She joins Jared Siegel to discuss her career journey, preparing children for the working world, and 4Word's mission. Here are a few highlights from their conversation: Jared asks Diane how she gets clarity on priorities despite having so many commitments. “It comes down to soul-searching and figuring out what's important to me,” she responds. “My family has always been my top priority, and even in the contracts of some of my jobs, I negotiated how much I would be willing to travel. There are a lot of things I did to set boundaries to stay focused, but it was a constant learning process.” Diane talks about the fulfillment she experienced in various stages of her career. She shares insights about her time at Trammell Crow Company; how she started, how she moved up, her accomplishments at the organization, and when she decided to move forward. “One of the things I learned the hard way was that it's critical to have the right people in the right seats; if you don't, you need to make changes fast and not allow them to linger,” Diane says. “Another lesson that I learned is that it makes a huge difference when people understand that you care about them.” Diane shares advice for parents. “Make sure your daughters and sons play team sports, because it teaches them how to work in a team environment, and that's important in the business world. Debate is a great place for your kids to learn and build confidence in their communication. And finally, get your daughters engaged in something competitive, especially if they have to work with boys. It enables them to feel comfortable no matter what gender the person they're working with is.” Jared asks Diane what her experience was like being the only woman on a C-suite board. “I just had this confidence [because of my mother's support] and my faith was a big part of it. But it really spurred a desire within me to help other women grow in their God-given potential with confidence because I knew that I was not the only one that should be in that room,” she replies. Part of the reason Diane founded 4Word was that she didn't like the fact that a lot of companies weren't allowing people to bring their full selves to work. She was blessed to be granted that opportunity at Trammel, and sought to help other women get the support she did. “Our vision is to grow a global community of Christian women in the workplace,” she adds. Resources Diane Paddison on LinkedIn | Twitter

Ken Weigel is a strategic advisor, and works in Strategy Advancement at The Bible Project. He's also Strategic Advisor at The Contingent. He returns in this two part episode of Success That Lasts to discuss family engagement planning and the positive impacts it can have, with Jared Siegel.  Here are a few highlights from their conversation: “So many of us find ourselves just being reactive with the people that we love most,” Jared remarks. “We borrow ideas that we've observed from other families… and the challenge with that is that it's somebody else's family, somebody else's values, somebody else's solutions. When we apply somebody else's solutions to our own life, they may or may not render the outcomes that we're looking for.” A lack of clarity and communication about how a family plans to allocate their resources, can cause tension in their relationship.  When we talk about heir readiness and preparation, it's more than just financial literacy. It involves a holistic approach to all of the capitals that matter to a family.  Ken begins family engagement planning by looking at a family's values. “Values then get to inform really great decisions around how we spend those really key investments of both resources and time,” he adds. People are often more purposeful and intentional with their business decisions than they are with their relationships, Jared comments. It's rare that someone actually takes the time to be proactive about determining what matters most and creates a strategy to protect that. Ken shares stories of his experiences with assisting families. “The intentionality about saying ‘Where do we invest our resources financially, socially, and relationally?' [is admirable]. It's an honor to be able to help put ideas on paper and make a plan for these families.” Resources Ken Weigel on LinkedIn | Twitter

Ken Weigel is a strategic advisor and works in Strategy Advancement at The Bible Project. He's also Strategic Advisor at The Contingent. He joins Jared Siegel to discuss the Mora exercise and many of its benefits. He discusses the role self-care has in business, and what clarity contributes to performance. Here are a few highlights from their conversation: Running businesses, chasing success, and juggling priorities have leaders charging through life full speed ahead with little time to be still. The purpose of the Mora exercise is to facilitate clarity among clients so that they break the cycle of just continually reacting to what life throws at them. According to Ken, Mora, from Latin, translates to “pause.” “What I like about [the exercise] is that rather than prescriptive, it's facilitated,” Jared shares. “Having somebody else ask me questions that I haven't yet ever thought to ask myself, and then challenge the answer that I'm offering, allows me to see opportunity or challenge framed in a new light.” You don't have the same perspective on your life, your organization, or yourself that a trusted advisor would. As you have been your main problem solver for most of your life, you don't often stop and recognize patterns between your previous challenges, Ken remarks.  “Stillness aims the archer's arrow” Jared quotes. A moment of clarity on what matters most, and why it does, can add a layer of precision to your execution that would otherwise be absent. “When we can get to those places where we're asking ourselves [what we want to do and what would bring us the most joy] and listening carefully to the answers, we find ourselves at a tremendous place of clarity; it allows us to have more confidence as we make decisions going forward,” Ken comments. “[We should] have a culture that allows us to see the benefit of taking some time to take care of ourselves intellectually, emotionally and physically, and the role that plays in our responsibilities,” Ken says. Resources Ken Weigel on LinkedIn | Twitter

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel discusses how families can prepare their heirs for wealth. He talks about the challenges involved in raising children in wealth, and how to combat them. “Money has the power to buy one's way out of trouble and mitigate both a lapse in judgment and offset a lack of effort,” Jared says. “When this characteristic impacts the younger generation, it insulates them from the natural consequences that we all learn from.” It's challenging for parents to find the balance between making a child's life too easy, and overloading them with unnecessary difficulties. There's no surefire way to prepare heirs who are empowered by wealth rather than entitled by it. One suggestion Jared makes is to personalize the wealth conversation to each specific child. “None of us had the opportunity to pick our parents, thus being born into a wealthy family is more luck than skill, [yet] some studies have found that those that inherit wealth posture as though they deserve the wealth or earned it,” Jared shares. Teaching gratitude is a good way to prevent this. There have been instances where recipients of sudden wealth who weren't ready to receive it became resentful and thought of it as a burden they didn't want to carry. Jared encourages wealth creators looking to leave money to their family to start small, as the wealth creators acquired their earnings gradually themselves. Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel shares a heuristic technique that eases the cognitive load of decision-making. “In 2021, we're creating 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day; 90% of the world's data has been created in the last two years alone. That volume of data is due to double every two years… These vast amounts of data are designed to capture your attention rather than to educate you,” Jared says.  “If you're trying to evaluate decisions, don't skip past the obvious,” he adds. “What's the starting line? What's the finishing line? An outcome bias… is the tendency to judge a decision by its eventual outcome instead of based upon the quality of the decision at the time it was made. Results matter, but the outcome doesn't always reflect the quality of the decision. Ultimately, the decision-making process is more important over the long term.” Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel discusses whether people should consider investing in the stock market at this point in time. “We are told that what goes up must come down, but stock prices are not dictated by those rules of gravity,” Jared says. “Seeing high should not necessarily lead to excitement nor dread about the future returns. Rather, as prices change, that tells us that markets are incorporating new information. History tells us there's no proven way to time the market.” “It's unclear what the next 5 or 10 years will bring,” he continues. “Having a great plan and sticking to it is going to be crucial by trying to time the market. Not only do you have to worry about when exactly to get out; you must also be concerned about getting back in at precisely the right moment. Being correct once is difficult but being correct both times is even more challenging.” Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com Morning Brew, August 31, 2021 Wall Street Journal, September 20, 2021 Returns Web All Time High Anxiety  **Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Indices are not available for direct investment; therefore, their performance does not reflect the expenses associated with the management of an actual portfolio.**

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel discusses the recently proposed tax changes for 2022. “The proposal includes a new top ordinary income tax bracket of 39.6%. This rate would apply to a single filer with taxable income in excess of $400,000 a year or a joint filer with taxable income in excess of $450,000 a year,” Jared shares. “Another notable change to the estate code would be what appears to be a crackdown on the grantor trust planning strategies,” he adds. “It seems as though the intentionally defective grantor trust would no longer be a viable strategy; transfers between grantor and grantor trusts would be treated as a sale. Finally, the proposal includes the elimination of valuation discounts, such as no more discount for lack of marketability and minority ownership.” Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com

Enjoy this favorite interview with Moira Somers from the archive discussing the power of financial literacy and the impact of wealth on our psyche and behaviors. Moira Summer is an author, coach, keynote speaker, assistant professor and wealth psychologist. She joins Jared Siegel to discuss financial literacy and the psychological impact of wealth. Here are a few highlights from their insightful conversation: As a clinical neuropsychologist by training, Moira has observed that there is a profound interface between money and well-being; those who had better relationships to and with money seemed to have much better outcomes than those who didn't.  Though we generally consider ourselves to be rational beings, data shows that we may have biological predispositions to making irrational decisions. Moira believes in embracing the totality of the human experience: acknowledging that sometimes we get diverted by things outside our best interest, have trouble persisting in things in our best interest, and are influenced by things outside our conscious awareness. Jared explains loss aversion - a concept in behavioral finance which claims we are motivated to avoid things that have negative outcomes - and how it may shape conversations about marketing.  Jared sees equilibrium as resource allocation rather than simply balance, and learning how to manage his time creates clarity around his financial decisions. Moira says that those born into wealth often do not hear about the struggles and sacrifices that had to be made in order to acquire it. Data shows that money can bring us sustainable happiness when we invest it in people and/or causes that matter to us.  Subsequent generations enhance family businesses by being more intentional about how to use the business to hold families together. Moira has observed that third and fourth generation business owners are holistically maintaining their businesses, instead of prioritizing profit above all else. Financial literacy combines knowledge with emotional intelligence, and skills in delaying gratification. Resources Moira Somers on LinkedIn MoneyMindandMeaning.com Recommended Reads Advice That Sticks by Moira Somers Intentional Wealth by Courtney Pullen The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert Raising Financially Fit Kids by Joline Godfrey The 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family by Patrick Lencioni Essentialism by Greg McKeown

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel discusses what defines success. Purpose must be deliberately conceived, chosen, and then pursued, according to Jared. Success is subjective to everyone, and we must each choose what it means to us. If we allow others to define our success, we could spend our whole lives chasing after someone else's definition.  Defining success by an outcome, something out of your control, is more than likely to leave you at the mercy of luck, Jared says. It will never be up to you whether you succeed or not. “The wise man looks upon the purpose of all actions, not their consequences,” he quotes. “Beginnings are in our power, but Fortune judges the outcome, and I do not grant her verdict upon me.” Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel answers questions about investing outside the US, stock market returns, and stock market performance after rising interest rates. Many investors want to know why they should invest outside the US. “Don't put all of your eggs into one basket,” Jared warns. “If you wouldn't make a concentrated investment in one single stock, why would you limit your investment opportunities to just one country?... If you limit the geographic exposure of your [stock] portfolio, you're limiting your opportunity set, which may increase your risk and decrease the benefits of diversification.” The US stock market has returned 10% a year on average, but the road to the 10% can be incredibly bumpy. Returns in any particular year have ranged from as high as 54% to as low as -43%. “Many believe a rise in interest rates is a reflection of positive economic expectations from investors, while others believe it's more driven by inflation concerns or expectations,” Jared shares. “In reality, it's more likely a combination of all the available information.” Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com The Randomness of Global Stock Returns 

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel talks about the misconceptions and false expectations people have about economics. “As a wealth advisor, I've observed that the most persuasive evidence is whatever you want to be true,” Jared shares. “It's easy to seek out information that only confirms pre-existing beliefs; the incentives for being right when investing are so big that it's hard to think clearly about the decision without getting distracted by the potential rewards.” The people lauded as expert forecasters are actually no different from the average person, according to Jared. Forecasters, more often than not, aren't even held accountable for their predictions, which are often vague and lack specific timelines. Luck is being passed off as a skill. Data shows that between 1992 and 2014, there were 153 recessions, of which economists only predicted 3%. “What if economists are more like rearview mirrors helping us make sense of economic data once it's behind us?” Jared questions.  “People who want different things out of the same asset create reasonable differences and opinions that can be misinterpreted as disagreements,” Jared remarks. “Different timelines and different objectives should influence how you think about your wealth.” Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com Michael Burry Predicts an Imminent Stock Market Crash The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness by Morgan Housel Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction by Phillip Tetlock Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman 1992 Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Letter

Dick Clark is CEO at The Portland Clinic, the largest physician-owned, multi-specialty clinic in the Portland area. The Portland Clinic has around 500 employees and has been operational for over 100 years. Dick joins Jared Siegel today to share his insights on communication, mentorship and leadership as a lifelong learner and avid reader with 40 years of work experience. “I think as business leaders we understand that communication is really a two-way street, and it starts with listening before talking,” Dick remarks. “In any conversation, you should listen before you talk and gain a perspective of where that person is coming from, and then when you do talk, you have to be honest and straightforward.” Eye contact makes for more authentic communication, according to Dick. You can also pick up on what a person is or isn't saying by their tone of voice and mood.  The current pandemic has fatigued the average person, Dick says, which is influencing how we communicate with each other. He advises, “I think we have to judge where a person is at today. [We have to ask ourselves] ‘are they able to have this conversation now, or do they need to be doing something else?'” Jared asks Dick what people should consider when looking for a mentor. “I think you should seek people who are willing to tell you the truth and say ‘that is not a good idea,'” he replies. “I think you should seek out people who are going to give you a perspective opinion and not just the answer that you want.” The best mentors have the most experience. They can offer advice based on that experience; they can share with you what helped them succeed, and they can tell you about their failures, so you learn from their mistakes. They are good listeners and provide excellent encouragement. Jared asks Dick what changes the Portland Health clinic may need to embrace over the next 3-5 years. “Due to the emergency of COVID-19, we have embraced telehealth… It can't do everything, but it definitely has a role for the future, and a link to that is the immediacy of people that do their own research into their own health care. You need to have a balance between what you can research on your own and what you can trust a doctor to provide,” he responds. Resources Dick Clark on LinkedIn

In this episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel is answering questions that come up again and again amongst Delap clients. Find out whether or not you should focus your portfolio on dividend-paying stocks, and how to really think about the implications of tax policy changes on your portfolio. Q1: Is focusing your investments solely on dividend-paying stocks a reliable investment strategy? [01:15] Common misconceptions lead many investors to prioritize dividend payments at the expense of diversification, flexibility, and total investment return. Dividend payments aren't guaranteed - in 2009, 50% of dividend-paying companies either eliminated or reduced their dividend payments - for investors looking to earn an income from their stocks, they should focus on their total return, not just dividends. Q2: What impact would a proposed tax hike have on the stock market?  [06:05] As part of the Biden Tax Proposal, various spending programs were included, of which some will be paid from an increase in taxes. While tax changes, specifically hikes, are always a source of angst, investors should be careful to extrapolate the impacts of tax policy on their portfolio.  Get in touch with your team member at Delap to talk about your personal mix of investment products, and how tax hikes might impact your own portfolio. Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel talks about qualitative capital, and how we can combat the three-generation cycle of families' failure to prosper. “Family businesses are among the world's most enduring and ubiquitous economic and social institutions,” Jared comments. “Through the foundation of social relationships and communities, successful family enterprises are incredible engines for generating wealth and expressing the owners' values about business and the community.” Successful families that have been able to manage wealth across three generations for over 100 years demonstrate the following six qualities:  shared values and core purpose;  relational resilience;  long-term business resiliency,  growth and development;  education to the next generation about personal freedom and family responsibility, stewardship and values;  commitment to the community beyond the family. Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com The Family Balance Sheet 

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel explores the paradox of choice, and how money fits into it. The real goal of life should be about flourishing and independence, Jared says. Independence doesn't mean that you'll stop working; it means you only do the work that you like, with the people that you like, at the times you want, for as long as you want. At the same time, flourishing can be defined as a state in which all aspects of life are good, a state of complete and utter well-being. We all want wealth and more options. However, successfully navigating the abundance of choices and options created by more wealth while juggling the complexities and stress of wealth requires a certain skill set. “Isn't it ironic that within the biggest economy in the world, the wealthiest country in the history of the world with more choices than ever, we're still not happy? More money and more choices alone doesn't actually create more flourishing,” Jared shares. “With so many choices, people are more likely to experience paralysis than liberation.” When we really have clarity of purpose, it can lead to success; when we have success, it can lead to more options and more opportunities; when we have increased options and opportunities, however, it can dilute our focus, our efforts, and increase our overall stress. Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less  Barry Schwartz: The paradox of choice | TED Talk

Earl Pierce is the newly appointed CEO of Delap LLP. He has worked at Delap for 15 years. He joins Jared Siegel to talk about his professional journey, mentorship, and the power of financial literacy. Here are a few highlights from their conversation: Being surrounded by a team of energetic leaders has made his transition into the position of CEO much easier, Earl says. It would have been more challenging to take on the responsibility without their comforting support. Working in public accounting afforded Earl the opportunity to coach others; it brought him satisfaction to help people gain experience and develop the necessary skills to pursue their dreams and excel. Jared shares that Earl was involved in his interview for Delap. He commends the company on its commitment to living its mission statement. Delap prioritizes their employees' goals and aspirations over the organization's objectives, so that if an employee wants to move on, Delap will assist them in every way possible. People consider money as a metric to measure success because it is often correlated with a level of professional achievement. Other important investments, such as interpersonal relationships with friends and family, are not as tangible or as easily gathered as money, so they are harder to measure and easier to forget. Teenagers can be debilitated if they do not have perspective about the necessities for living. Earl speaks about his experiences mentoring adolescents about financial literacy. Earl's “favorite mistake” was when he decided he wasn't good enough to continue attending university, because it led him to the desire to improve himself and build relationships to help that goal. A failure is temporary, Earl says.  The first step to combating team dysfunction is to be open, vulnerable, and build trust. Resources Earl Pierce on LinkedIn DelapCPA.com

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel reminds listeners of the value of living in the present. It's easy to assume that acquiring more money will create more choices, power, freedom, security and experiences. In many ways it does, but all these things don't automatically create flourishing. Flourishing isn't an accident; it occurs when life is lived intentionally and on purpose.  In order to flourish, you must do well across five domains: happiness and life satisfaction, physical and mental health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and finally close social relationships.  Wealth is not limited to finances. Other aspects of wealth include spiritual capital, relational capital, and social and community capital. Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com

Dr. Brian Liebreich is a psychiatrist and psychosomatic doctor at Providence Health & Services. He is a speaker and the author of Waking Up: Stress Management Principles for Effective Living. He joins Jared Siegel to explore the scientific relationship between our emotional health and physical health.  According to Jared, people often think that more professional success creates more financial success, and that more financial success creates flexibility and flourishing. However, that is not always the case.  We all know the age-old adage ‘money can't buy happiness.' “There is no evidence saying that people who earn or have a lot of money are happier than those who don't above the poverty level,” Brian claims.  “People don't change until the pain of their circumstances exceeds the pain of the change,” Jared says. He asks Brian how we can create the necessary pain to trigger change in our lives before we have a real crisis. “A goal is inherently disruptive, as it is a planned conflict with the status quo,” Brian replies. He talks about the four S's for developing goals. When people are fully engaged in what they are doing, there is a sense of satisfaction, regardless of how mundane the activity is.  “A lot of people have limiting beliefs [about themselves and their abilities] that keep them from doing things they like,” Briam remarks. “I think it's important for people to write down what they want out of their life. I've had many people do this and most of the time, it's achievable… it's a self-worth issue.” You have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. In becoming your best self, you have to be willing to be vulnerable. “Being comfortable with my limitations, strengths, not shying away from opportunities in fear of messing up… that's what makes life exciting and meaningful to me,” Brian shares. Resources Dr. Brian Liebreich on LinkedIn Waking Up: Stress Management Principles for Effective Living

Anna Ivey heads Ivey Consulting and is the co-founder and CEO of Inline, a digital tool that provides real-time, in-browser help for every part of the online college application. She is also the co-founder and a board member at Service to School, a non-profit that helps transitioning military veterans get into the best colleges and universities possible. Anna is the former Dean of Admissions at the University of Chicago Law School and the co-author of How to Prepare a Standout College Application (Wiley). She joins Jared Siegel to discuss the evolving landscape of college admissions, the resources available, and how to position an application to increase its odds of success. Here are a few highlights from their conversation: Anna shares, “To succeed with a college application, you need to know what the admissions officers are looking for. Ultimately that's the only audience that matters in this process.”  There are many great colleges, and with some research, students can find one where they can thrive. “One thing students should consider while trying to find the right college is their preferred learning style,” Anna advises. Jared asks Anna to identify some of the things that positively impact your chances of admission. Your GPA is the first thing, she responds, and then how rigorous your classes are. Co-curricular activities and your community involvement are also assessed.  “There have not been any dramatic changes in the admissions process because of the pandemic,” Anna claims. “Your test scores no longer have to be a barrier, if for whatever reason you are unable to show a strong test score, but ultimately they were never more important than your high school performance.” SAT and ACT scores add very little value over and above your high school transcripts. Jared asks Anna to unpack the finances of attendance. Oftentimes the listed or “sticker” price of tuition is not what some students end up paying. Anna describes some of the methods that colleges and universities use to financially aid students. While admissions officers can look at what you post online, they do not have time to audit your social media accounts, so silly Tik Tok videos would not jeopardize your attendance. However, offers can be retracted for serious offenses like discriminatory or abusive online behavior.  Resources Anna Ivey on LinkedIn | Twitter AnnaIvey.com | Blog InlineCoach.com How to Prepare a Standout College Application: Expert Advice that Takes You from LMO* (*Like Many Others) to Admit

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel continues discussing the effect of organizational culture on performance, and why it's important for leaders and stakeholders to be proactive about cultivating the right culture. He talks about how leaders can use total motivation to encourage the culture they desire at work. Here are a few highlights: “Good is the enemy of great,” Jared quotes. In an ironic twist, it has been shown that good performance can lead to cultural complacency. Often, culture is a category that is both core ideology and something that needs to evolve. It can be difficult to simultaneously juggle the preservation and progress of culture, but it is not impossible. Jared shares several definitions of culture and gives examples of corporate leaders taking action to shape the culture they desired in their companies. “Culture, like the organizations that create them, must evolve to meet new challenges,” he remarks. “All cultures are aspirational. The point isn't to be perfect; just better than you were yesterday… Culture begins with deciding what you value most.” According to the book Primed to Perform, there is a spectrum of motives for why people perform an activity. The first three are directly linked to the activity that drives performance, referred to as a direct motive. The last three, or indirect motives, are further removed from the actual work itself and frequently harm performance.  “Inertia is the most indirect motive; your motivation for working is so distant from the work itself that you can no longer say where it actually comes from,” Jared explains. “You do what you do simply because you did it yesterday. That leads to the worst performance of all.” Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com PrimedtoPerform.com | Primed to Perform: How to Build the Highest Performing Cultures Through the Science of Total Motivation 

Maggie Hudson is the President and CEO of Santiam Hospital, a 40-bed acute care hospital serving over 30,000 people a year. She joins Jared Siegel to share what it was like to become CEO during a pandemic. She also discusses how diverse professional backgrounds impact professional range, as well as trust, desirable difficulties, and how to build a high-performing culture. Here are a few highlights from their conversation: Maggie shares her professional journey, which took her from accounting to becoming CEO of Santiam Hospital. She explains how her diverse professional background helped her tackle new problems within a familiar context.  “One of the things that fascinates me about healthcare is [that] its roots date back to early traditions from thousands of years ago; in Babylon, China, Egypt, etc...” Jared remarks. “It's a persistent industry, but it's changing so quickly.” He asks Maggie to identify some important cultural traits and strategies that enable organizations to remain resilient but flexible in the midst of change.  Maggie comments on the professional culture of Santiam Hospital. “We have this independent streak that brings and breeds independent thinkers, which keeps us independent,” she says. “... our culture has been driven by our independence, so we can be a community-based hospital that delivers what the community needs.” Maggie remarks, “We spend a lot of our time at work, but what is our purpose there? I think what it comes down to is relationships; to me, nothing matters more than the relationships we can forge together.” Jared asks Maggie about the role culture played as she stepped into the CEO position in the midst of the pandemic and whether it was strengthened or stressed during that adversity. “We made the courageous decision not to lay off or furlough anybody, and it brought us closer together,” she replies. “As an organization, we thrive together, or we take a hit together.” “The strength of the individual is the team and the strength of the team is the individual,” Jared quotes. He asks Maggie about the process of using the positive attributes of independence and individual creativity for the collective good. “A significant part of [the process] is listening to what part of the autonomy people are willing to give up to have a better whole,” she shares. Resources Maggie Hudson

Larry Swedroe is the Principal and Director of Research at Buckingham Family of Financial Services. He is also an economic speaker, author, and researcher, with over 4 decades of experience in personal finance. Larry is a frequent speaker on NBC, CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg. He joins Jared Siegel to discuss national debt, the possibility for tax changes, and how to predict and measure inflation in a more objective way. He shares what paradigm shifts investors should be considering today to protect and preserve their purchasing power going forward. Here are a few highlights from their conversation: Markets are forward-looking, and don't go up just because the economic news is good, Larry explains. The markets only go up when the news is better than expected. Only unexpected events matter because being able to forecast the economy well still doesn't accurately predict what the markets will do. A likely scenario is that due to current economic conflicts, the value of the American dollar will be lessened, which will provide a tailwind for foreign assets. Another likely scenario is that the massive deficits in the economy will potentially cause central banks across the globe to dump dollars, as they did in late 2018. Jared asks Larry how the market is currently pricing inflation. The 10-year nominal yield provides a proxy for the projected percentage of inflation, he responds. Additionally, he shares what role commodities play in protecting yourself and your long-term purchasing power.  Being a value investor is a hedge in your portfolio against the run-up in commodity prices, Larry comments. “Throughout history, value companies have historically done well during inflationary periods,” he says. “That's part of the reason value stocks have outperformed in the last year.” Gold is an awful long-term investment that has provided zero real return for the past 2000 years. It's a good inflation hedge, as it tends to do well in short bursts due to inflation, but it goes through much longer periods of bad performance.  Larry recommends that listeners move their assets out of their estates before the changes in estate taxes take effect next year. “It might be prudent to start looking at gains now because capital gains rates are going up regardless of what's going on,” he advises.  Regardless of who is in the White House, there will almost certainly be massive tax increases over the next decade. “If deficits can't continue, then they will end; it's only a matter of when, not if,” Larry remarks.  According to Larry, the four horsemen of the retirement apocalypse are: high bond prices, high valuations, aging populations, and that populations are aging longer.  Resources Larry Swedroe on LinkedIn | Twitter

Scott Roth is CEO at LegitScript, an organization that combines technology, big data, and the world's leading team of experts to help companies of all sizes keep their services legal and safe for consumers. Scott is also a board member for Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center, Inc. He joins Jared Siegel to discuss the last 20 years in technology; they explore IPOs, building team trust as a new leader, marketing success in a virtual world, and more.  Here are a few highlights from their conversation: A valuable asset as a marketer is understanding where the client, content, and company intersect. It makes collaboration with salespersons run much smoother. LegitScript functions as an extension of a company's compliance, risk, or trust and safety teams. They use their deep expertise in combining technology, data, and human insight to find criminal or fraudulent behavior that might be happening on the platform.  Jared asks Scott what factors contribute to having healthy and unhealthy founder-CEO partnerships. “Ninety percent of this [successful partnership] lies on the founder's shoulders… It takes humility to allow someone else to call the shots for the good of your company. If the founder's mentality assumes positive intent, they will be more receptive to their partner's input,” Scott replies. Building trust is essential to the organizational health of your company. Scott shares how he started building trust by reaching out to every employee at LegitScript when he first partnered as the CEO. At that time, the company had 125 employees. He prioritized 125 one-on-one meetings as his first order of business because he wanted to initiate a personal relationship with everyone. Jared asks Scott how he manages the competing priorities of customers and team members. “I always look for the triple win: solutions that would benefit the company, the employees, and the customers. LegitScript is mission-driven, and carrying out our mission successfully helps our customers, which helps the employees as they are dedicated to the mission, and benefits the company and its shareholders,” Scott responds. The current virtual state of business is difficult for sales and marketing teams because so many of the ways these teams connected with prospects and customers in the past have been thrown out. However, an advantage that they have gained is that true account-based marketing has accelerated.  Scott explains how to find product-market fit in a blue ocean strategy. “I like to get a deep and intimate understanding from the customer's perspective of what they do before and after they use your product or service; that points a signal to things your business can potentially explore,” he shares. Resources Scott Roth on LinkedIn | Twitter

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel looks back on his journey to hosting the podcast and some lessons he learned along the way. He talks about the importance of stillness, and how to make it an asset.  Here are a few highlights: Jared talks about his journey and experience being a podcast host. “Starting a podcast has been a lot of fun, but it's [also] been a humbling experience,” he shares. “Learning how to do anything new is always a little bit difficult, but it’s a lot more challenging when you're doing it on a public stage where your lack of experience and skill is impossible to hide.”  “Stillness is to be steady while the world around us spins to act without frenzy; to hear only what needs to be heard,” Jared quotes. He briefly describes the role that stillness plays in the pursuit of happiness. Jared believes stillness can be an intentional antidote to a stressful and busy life. However, it should not be an excuse to withdraw from the affairs of the world; in fact, it’s a tool that lets you do more good for more people.  Many people consume news in order to fuel and confirm their existing beliefs rather than to learn. This creates stress and noise, and steals an opportunity for stillness that we would all benefit from. Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com Inflation, Higher Taxes, and National Debt Webinar, Wednesday, June 2, 2021 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM

Jordan Pape is the CEO of the Pape Group, an end-to-end solutions provider in the capital equipment industry. The Pape Group was founded in 1938 and has since grown to over 130 locations and more than 3,500 employees. From his own experience as a 4th generation business owner, Jordan understands the dynamics of running a family business and navigating ownership transitions. He and Jared Siegel explore topics such as capital allocation decisions, people management, and preparing the next generation for the challenges and complexities of wealth. Here are a few highlights from their conversation: “Most people confuse trust with the ability to believe that somebody is going to do what you want them to do,” Jordan claims. “In the professional world, trust is less about somebody doing what you want them to do and a lot more about ... being able to predict their behavior… Trust is about being authentic.”  “Your legacy and wealth is only as secure as your family is united,” Jared says. He asks Jordan what measures families should take to foster unity and avoid conflict.  Jordan describes his father’s strategy to grow the company’s productivity and credibility in difficult times. It’s all about giving the best possible experience to their customers, he tells Jared. Customer dissatisfaction is a learning opportunity, according to Jordan “By sacrificing today’s cash for tomorrow’s investment, the family members who came before me made opportunistic investments that we can take advantage of today,” Jordan says. “The [decisions my father made] created a footprint that allowed us to grow and diversify our revenue.” The leadership at Pape Group focuses on supporting the layer that has the most interaction with their customers. Those in that layer are empowered to make decisions that keep the customers happy, Jordan shares. Those at the top declare a destination, but give their people the tools and flexibility to figure out how to get there. Building a great team and empowering them to make decisions can help you get more done in less time than doing it yourself. Resources Jordan Pape on Twitter Pape.com

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel explores the concept of classical conditioning and talks about how bridging neuroscience and economics can enhance financial decision-making.  Here are a few highlights:  Jared explains classical conditioning and its origins. “Researchers have been able to pair these insights with new technologies to dig even deeper and identify new insights in how we make decisions. I believe these insights, if applied to our lives, offer an opportunity to make more profitable financial decisions,” he remarks. Even though we are 99.9% unaware of dopamine release, we are 99.9% driven by the information it conveys to the other parts of our brains, research says. Neuroscientific studies have shown that human emotions are rooted in the predictions of highly flexible brain cells, which continuously adjust their connections to reflect our newest reality. There is a striking similarity between the brains of gamblers and the brains of cocaine addicts and morphine users. Neuroeconomics suggests that the first step to gaining better control of our financial decisions is realizing how little control we actually have. “Understanding how dopamine influences our financial decisions is an important first step to becoming a more predictable and profitable financial decision-maker,” Jared advises. Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com Your Money and Your Brain: How the New Science of Neuroeconomics Can Help Make You Rich by Jason Zweig JasonZweig.com Inflation, Higher Taxes, and National Debt Webinar, Wednesday, June 2, 2021 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM

Joe Seifert is a partner, CPA, and the leader of the Homebuilding practice at Delap LLP. For over a decade, Joe has been providing clients with taxing and accounting services in various industries such as construction, assisted living, manufacturing, and retail. He joins Jared Siegel to discuss President Biden’s proposed tax plan and the potential implications for listeners.  Here are a few highlights from their conversation: President Biden’s tax proposal may raise as much as $3.3 trillion over the next decade, Jared says. He is expected to raise long-term capital gains tax on wealthy Americans to 43.4% with the inclusion of the Medicare surtax. “I think this is an exciting time for us,” Joe remarks, “in terms of looking for new opportunities and structuring things differently. It’s going to create some more tax drag for a number of taxpayers but it definitely brings new opportunities.” The estate tax exemption has never been higher than it is today. Biden’s proposal may revert that exemption down to $3.5 million per person. This provides taxpayers with a window to do some estate planning, Joe says. Planning can be a great way to deal with the inevitable change that the future promises, Jared advises. Tax and financial plans are strategic scaffolds to navigate your priorities.  Resources Joe Seifert on LinkedIn  DelapCPA.com 2021 How Might President Biden's Tax Plan Affect Me?  2021 High Income Taxpayer President Biden's Tax Plan?

In this solo episode of Success That Lasts, Jared Siegel shares what brings the greatest return on our time and increases our chances of experiencing true happiness. Here are a few highlights: According to research, happiness may depend less on how much of each resource is available to us and more on how much we focus on each resource. Perhaps the most important factor is how we choose to spend our time and money. People who are time poor are less happy, less productive, and more stressed out. Ironically, physical wealth can exacerbate those problems. Our interpersonal relationships have a powerful impact on our health, a study says. More than money or fame, close relationships are what keep people happy the most. Thinking about the economic value of our leisure time can actually undermine our ability to enjoy it, especially if it's not living up to our perfect ideals in our minds. Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com Tristan Harris: "How to Unhijack Your Mind from Your Phone"

This week's episode is a favorite from the Success That Lasts archives. David Miller is the Chief Technology Officer of Dynamic Light, a company that develops next-generation technology for blood flow monitoring. He chats with Jared Siegel about their neurotechnology, entrepreneurship, and mindfulness. Here are a few highlights from their stimulating conversation: Dynamic Light was created based on David’s work on laser speckle contrast imaging. David says the hardest transition during this experience has been moving from the sense of “I know the technology” to the sense of “I don't really know how people are going to view it.”  Innovators like Steve Jobs have the ability to take the perspective of not only the short-term market but also the long-term vision. Hardware and software are being created to profit off of our shortening attention spans, Jared says. If the product we use is “free,” then we are the product. The essence of mindfulness is how long you can stay attentive to the task at hand, David says. Heart Math is a technology created by Dynamic Light for heart rate variability training. The human brain is on average only 2 to 3% of your body mass, but at any point in time, it consumes about 20% of your blood. To David, meditation means getting in touch with his internal subjective experience. When you jump into cold water, you get an extreme flight or fight response from your body, even though there’s no visible threat in front of you. Joy is the meeting place of selflessness and intentionality, Jared quotes. David would like to be remembered as someone who encouraged people to cultivate their inner sense of compassion and kindness. Resources Dynamic Light David Miller on LinkedIn

David DeLap is a tax partner and CPA at Delap LLP and a long-time friend of Jared Siegel. With over 35 years of experience, Dave is a seasoned expert in accounting and wealth advisory, specializing in estate and succession planning for closely-held family businesses. He joins Jared Siegel to discuss exit planning and family enterprises. Here are a few highlights from their conversation: “Exit planning combines a plan, concept, effort and process into a clear, simple strategy to build a business that is transferable through strong human, structural, customer and social capital,’ Jared explains. The future for you, your family and your business are all addressed by exit planning through creating value. The three main factors that influence transition timing are: personal timing, business cycle timing, and private capital markets timing. Jared briefly describes each factor and the roles they play.  As a company’s earnings increase, so does its value, Dave shares. Some internal organizational factors that contribute to its value are the strength of management, good internal controls and accounting systems, and sales contracts. The only certainty in life is uncertainty. The best business owner is one who has contingencies in place for the most common business uncertainties, which are death, disability, divorce, disagreement, and distress. By having a plan for each, they pursue financial unbreakability.  By giving your non-voting shares to family members while keeping your voting shares, you can gift value without surrendering control, Dave briefly explains. Resources DelapCPA.com David DeLap on LinkedIn Know Your Gaps The 5 D's: Have you planned for these contingencies?

Jared Siegel shares how he invests, saves, spends, gives, and borrows money in this solo episode of Success That Lasts. Here are a few highlights: A study done in 2008 revealed that professional money managers and stock pickers usually have none of their own money invested in their own funds. Very few actually invest in their own funds because they know the odds, Jared says. Vanguard and the Wall Street Journal have done research spanning a collective 15 years which shows that active stock pickers typically underperform their benchmark. According to Jared, the long-term track record of active managers is abysmal. “Money won’t buy us happiness, but it sure would help us avoid misery,” Jared advises. “Our values and beliefs about money form our foundation, that’s our ‘why,’ which creates the destination, [and] once we define the destination, how we get there becomes more clear.” The second step to wise money management is designing an investment thesis that is informed by financial science and decades of academic research. Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com SPIVA Scorecard Indexes Beat Stock Pickers Even Over 15 Years Vanguard’s CEO on the Future of Investment Management

Vanessa Sturgeon is President and CEO at TMT Development, as well as the founder of Sturgeon Development Partners. She has over 20 years of experience in developing and managing mixed-use high-rise assets in Oregon and Washington and is passionate about giving back to the community. She joins Jared Siegel to discuss a plethora of topics, including civic responsibility, generational family businesses, time and priority management, and real estate.  Here are a few highlights from their conversation: The average person is good at identifying problems, but very few people organize and take action to address those problems. Vanessa’s family taught her that “You can talk till you’re blue in the face, but action is where it really shows.” “A huge part of what we do in raising our kids is exposing them to different people and opportunities.” Vanessa explains how she instills humility in her children and the importance of demonstrating kindness. “Values are caught, not taught.” Vanessa shares what she likes most about real estate. Jared has observed that many people have successful, lucrative businesses, but their real wealth ends up being in their real estate. He asks Vanessa about the principles and the do’s and don’ts of real estate as an asset class. People tend to like investing in real estate long-term because it enables an easy transfer of generational wealth. Currently, interest rates are historically low, so now would be a good time to get into real estate, Vanessa advises. Landlords are having a difficult time during the pandemic. Vanessa reviews how COVID-19 has impacted her professionally. “Multifamily has been hit hard by the pandemic because of the widespread governmental policies with regards to rent,” she says.  “I feel like Millennials and Gen Z’s have been hurt the most by [COVID-19 professionally] because of how their careers are supposed to evolve,” Vanessa claims. “They’ve been at home and have not had the opportunities to learn from their colleagues or further their relevance in their respective industries.”  Resources Vanessa Sturgeon on LinkedIn | Twitter TMTDevelopment.com

Kellen Clemens is a former NFL quarterback and Partner and Head of Elateus Sports at Elateus. Although his career was athletics for over a decade, he did not let it become his primary identity. Kellen joins Jared Siegel to talk about his experience of transitioning careers and rediscovering purpose, passion, and identity.  Here are a few highlights from their conversation: Elateus is the exclusive provider of a comprehensive behavioral assessment for the US and North America called Prism Brain Mapping. They use Prism to help recruit, build and develop high-performing teams. Kellen briefly describes the work they have been doing. Due to the sudden thrust into the virtual workplace, people are still trying to figure out how to work remotely and how to adapt their teams to the change. The pandemic has provided Kellen’s company with the opportunity to coach others in virtual team building. Kellen and Jared liken the experience to a new year on a college football team. “This is what you do, not who you are.” Kellen shares the advice a former colleague gave him when he was struggling with his identity. “[People] like to put you in a box [based on what you do], but it’s important to understand [your value]. Identify what can get taken away in a heartbeat, and what can’t, and place your value in what can’t,” he remarks.  Jared asks Kellen to describe his career-transitioning experience. “I was nervous because of the fear of failure and the unknown,” he replies. According to Kellen, the fear of failure and the unknown was a boogeyman that motivated him to seek alternative opportunities where he could apply his unique skills. In a lot of ways, we are products of our environment, Kellen comments. It’s all the more important to be mindful of the environment you choose to be in and the people you allow within it. He talks about the people who have been most influential in his life. “One thing I didn’t value [enough] early in my career is how important it is to connect with who you’re leading,” Kellen admits. “One of the things I failed to do was to connect better on an individual level and show a greater amount of empathy.” He and Jared discuss the significance of displaying empathy as a leader. “[Life] is like walking through the woods with a flashlight; what’s right in front of you is really clear, but once you get ten or twenty feet out in the distance it’s sort of shadowy,” Jared claims. “The only certainty we have is uncertainty, so creating optionality around your life and plans is a good way to live.” Resources Kellen Clemens on LinkedIn  Elateus

Casey Corrigan is the Vice President of Sales at AskNicely. Casey is passionate about helping businesses extract value from their data to improve their overall business results via customer experience. He joins Jared Siegel to discuss the significance of the Net Promoter Score, and how it can help you earn the passionate loyalty of your customers while inspiring the energy, enthusiasm and creativity of your employees. Here are a few highlights from their conversation: There are very tangible benefits to understanding what makes a great customer experience, delivering it more consistently, and listening and engaging your customers, Casey remarks. He talks about the origin of AskNicely and explains their mission. According to Casey, organizations that use feedback to improve the individual 1-to-1 customer level, as well as their service standard and the way that they deliver it, experience significant revenue growth opportunities. Jared asks Casey to distinguish between the terms ‘customer experience’ and ‘customer engagement.’ Jared and Casey discuss insights from ‘The Ultimate Question.’ “The best way to measure retention, loyalty and future growth is by asking this simple question: “On a scale of one to ten, how likely are you to recommend [our business]?” This metric makes it easy to distinguish your customers from your ‘promoters,’ who are those most likely to stick with you and refer you to their network. The London School of Economics determined that for every seven points of your Net Promoter Score (NPS), there is an average increase of 1% in revenue, Casey shares. “The influence of the customer has been democratized,” Jared adds. “Twenty years ago, you could bully a customer and get away with it because their ability to share that experience was limited… now that everyone's got the capacity to capture something in a digital experience and then share it… [that would] leave the types of impressions that you don't want.” Jared asks Casey what feedback looks like in an organization that has mastered NPS.  “An outcome doesn't really knock people's socks off if it's exactly what they expected you to deliver in the first place,” Casey comments. “Customer loyalty is established through positive emotional connections, surprising and delighting people, and the way that your frontline staff treat your customers.”  A Harvard Business Review article claims that behavior is best changed when you emphasize the positive in a 6:1 ratio; identify 6 things you are doing well and 1 thing you need to work on.  Establishing a Maslow-esque hierarchy of needs of both your customers and employees can skyrocket customer experience, Jared shares. Resources Casey Corrigan on LinkedIn | Twitter AskNicely.com The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth by Fred Reichheld  Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow by Chip Conley  Admired Leadership

Dr. Chris Mason is an experienced business leader and owner and director of several companies ranging in size from 12 to 800 employees. He has authored two books, Value To Others (2017) and Change Success (2019), and is a member of the American Psychological Association. His extensive research into Industrial and Organizational Psychology, in which he has a PhD, has allowed him to glean new insights into change management and a new change success theory. He joins Jared Siegel today to discuss his research and how it can be applied.  Here are a few highlights from their conversation: Chris credits his success to his dedication to providing value for people and educating himself. “[A PhD] is not what makes you educated,” he remarks. “What makes you educated is the problems and opportunities you deal with on a daily basis… the problem I help people solve every day is what makes me a reasonable operator, combined with my experience.” In the past 50 years, no new thinking in management has appeared, according to Chris. Pre-existent models were just shuffled around. Additionally, research shows there is a 70% probability of failure every time you try to do something new. Successful change is dependent on three variables, Chris says, which are readiness, capability, and belief system. The average firm is not successful with change initiatives because they lack one or more of these variables. Jared likens resistance to change to the force of inertia in a car. “One of the first things you learn as a driver is to be careful where you look because that’s where you’ll end up,” Chris says. “If you keep staring at the fence you’ll drive into the fence.” He talks about the importance of focus and trusting your abilities. Real learning comes from doing. Coaching gives you the confidence that brings you to the start line, but to move forward you have to take a step. Chris shares the five steps to change readiness and three factors that influence belief systems as a variable for successful change.  Chris shares advice from a method of therapy that can be applied to business. “Whatever is working, do more of it. Whatever’s not working, stop doing it and try something completely different.”  Resources Chris Mason on LinkedIn Mindshop.com

Sarah Padfield, CPA is a Partner at Delap, LLP, specializing in financial statements, consulting, assurance, and employee benefit plans. Natalie Heacock, CPA, MBA is a Corporate Controller at Patrick Lumber Co. They join Jared Siegel to discuss how important patience is to success, and why taking it slow in the present helps you go faster in the future.  Here are a few highlights from their conversation: “There are a lot of different textures to our identity”, Jared comments. “Who we are at the office is just another mask we wear.”  Overnight success isn’t a thing, Sarah remarks. Success involves a lot of hard work, dedication, and struggle. When you see others’ success, you may be tempted to assume their experience was linear, but what you see is often just a fraction of their story. She shares some background into her professional development and explains why giving yourself grace to make mistakes promotes growth. It’s easy to get wrapped up in your anxiety and apprehension toward the future. While having a strategy is good, worrying about things outside of your control doesn’t solve anything, Natalie advises.  Natalie and Sarah talk about how relationships influence career development. According to Natalie, mentors are people you interact with every day and have friendships with. Additionally, they are those you look up to, whose work and ideas you study and implement into your daily life. Sarah shares how hearing other people’s stories have helped her.  Jared encourages listeners to take time to show their gratitude for the people who have impacted them along the way. “It’s easy to be impacted by somebody and forget to tell them,” he says. Gratitude requires intentionality.   Jared asks Sarah how she juggles the various responsibilities that come with her various roles as a leader, a mother, and a wife. Sarah says that learning when to say no and how to depend on others is what helps her manage her responsibilities. “Every yes is a no somewhere else,” Jared adds. Natalie shares her framework for identifying what to say no to and briefly talks about why it matters. Things don’t get easier as time goes on. New challenges and struggles will always present themselves, but they offer with them the opportunity for constant growth.   Resources  Sarah Padfield on LinkedIn DelapCPA.com BreneBrown.com Natalie Heacock on LinkedIn | Twitter How I Built This Think Again by Adam Grant

Jared Siegel talks about value acceleration and exit planning and uses scenarios to explain the importance of good business strategy in this solo episode of Success That Lasts. Here are a few highlights: According to studies conducted by the Exit Planning Institute, 99% of business owners agreed that having a transition strategy is important for both their future and that of their businesses. However, 79% had no written transition plan, 48% had done no planning at all, and 94% had no written personal plan. Value acceleration helps measure the values of your intangible assets against other organizations within your industry. “You can seldom improve quality by cutting costs, but you can often cut costs by improving quality,” Jared remarks. “The wrong cost-cutting can impact your long-term growth and reduce your overall long-term value.” At its core, all authentic growth depends upon customers wanting more of what the company offers. Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com

Jared Siegel talks about wealth, pessimism vs. optimism, and the Dunning Kruger effect in this solo episode of Success That Lasts. Here are a few highlights: Value acceleration is a process that uncovers the answers to personal, financial, legal, and tax questions in the operations of a business. The aim is to maximize the value of the business at the time of exit, minimize taxes, and protect, harvest, and manage personal and professional wealth. We all have biases that we may be unaware of. “Knowing what you don’t know is wisdom,” Jared remarks. Often, people are likely to find themselves falling into the ‘I’m not biased’ bias, which prevents them from discovering and managing their biases.  Jared believes that getting wealthy relies on different skills, mindsets, and approaches than staying wealthy. Staying wealthy typically involves a combination of frugality and paranoia, whereas getting wealthy centers around accumulation. “People who stay wealthy save like a pessimist and invest like an optimist,” he quotes. Tomorrow’s success is not guaranteed, and nothing binds it to follow in the footsteps of today. Strategic financial planning ensures that money is accessible to you whenever and wherever you need it. A well-built plan supports adaptability, resilience, and optionality. The Dunning Kruger effect is relentless in preventing people from achieving wealth. It is a cognitive bias that dictates that we are hardwired to overestimate our own competence when it comes to things we know little about. Resources The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World - and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling ABCs of Behavioral Biases

Scott Williams is a partner at Delap LLP, specializing in taxation and insurance, with almost two decades of experience in audit and accounting services. Craig Wanichek is the President and CEO of Summit Bank, and he has accrued more than 25 years of banking experience. They join Jared Siegel to talk about how goal-setting influences success. Here are a few highlights from their insightful conversation: Fundamentally, our lives become the sum of our decisions; goals are a way to focus our attention and time, Jared says. “If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hope,” he quotes. You create belief by writing down your goals, according to Craig. Putting them on paper allows your mind to wrap around them and creates the belief that you can achieve them.  Scott shares insights from books about leadership that impacted his professional journey. One such insight is that integrating positive affirmations and goals into your morning routine helps to build confidence and combat imposter syndrome. Additionally, breaking down big goals into smaller goals that you complete consistently over time establishes good habits. When you have a strong locus of control, you are less likely to fall prey to inaction or victimhood. People with a strong locus of control are generally more happy and successful, Jared remarks.  One of the most difficult yet simplest things to do is keep swinging when you’re in a slump, Scott comments. The consistency of the little things you do is what helps you achieve your goals and even exceed them. “Goals are there to help us develop good habits, and then they take care of themselves,” he adds. Jared asks Craig and Scott to comment on the importance of saying no. Sometimes your contributions to shared goals may not be helpful, Craig replies. You can assist by supporting others as they achieve their goals and not standing in their way, and focusing on what you’re good at. Spreading yourself too thin trying to achieve too many things at one time can do more harm than good, Scott adds. Telling people about your goals activates your pride, which pushes you to achieve them, Scott shares. Craig advises listeners to remember that goals will be there the next day, so avoid trying to cram everything into one day. Resources Scott Williams on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com Craig Wanichek on LinkedIn  SBKO.bank Atomic Habits book How Will You Measure Your Life audiobook

Jared leads Delap Wealth Advisory and is a partner and the Chief Development Officer at Delap. Fittingly, the podcast's first-ever guest, President of Cobalt Development Bart Dickson, acts as the host for this week’s show. He and Jared talk about wealth and the importance of planning. Here are some highlights from their conversation: Jared shares his professional background, from college football, to being an entrepreneur, to eventually joining Delap LLP, and then becoming the head of their wealth advisory sister company.  Bart asks Jared to describe his role as wealth manager. It’s a combination of ethics and values and the science of financial decision-making, Jared replies. Most importantly, the client is the one with control over the type of relationship they form and the conversations they have. Not all goals are created equal: they can be categorized into needs, wants, and wishes. “Creating a plan that delineates needs, wants, and wishes allow us to inform future decisions,” Jared says.  A common denominator among first-generation wealth is a commitment to work ethic; the wealth was a by-product of their passion, it wasn’t their primary focus. It’s important to be intentional about transferring the values that created your wealth - instead of the value of the wealth - down to your second generation because it could easily be squandered. Dedicating time to count your blessings daily can wire your brain to see the positives in life and be more grateful. “Gratitude is the ramp to joy,” Jared claims. In order to have joy, you must first have gratitude, which requires reframing your intentionality. Bart asks Jared to give insight into his purpose for starting Success That Lasts, and how it has been fulfilling that purpose. “I started wrestling with this idea of ‘Hey, we all want to win and be successful. I wonder if there's a way to be intentional about questions so that it's a facilitated process versus prescription,’” he shares. “I wanted to use Success That Lasts to learn, so I don't sit here and lecture… I wanted to share what I'm learning with our community… and start a different type of conversation.” Bart talks about the impact that Jared and Delap LLP have had on him as a client. He shows his appreciation for the time, effort, and consideration that they have invested in him. Transparency is a good thing to foster with your children if you are an affluent family, Jared advises. You should ensure that they know early about the wealth the family has, why they have it, and how they think about it. He has observed that transparency serves as preparation for when children get older and become involved in the operations of the family business.  Resources Jared Siegel on LinkedIn | Twitter DelapCPA.com