Uncommon Wealth Podcast

In this episode’s Simple Step, we’re talking about the power of thinking about your spending through the lens of time. How many work hours does it take to cover that car payment, the grocery store visit, or that bocce ball set your spouse is certain you will lose your passion for in a few weeks? And perhaps on the other side, are you getting joy from the time you’re trading to get these things? It...

In a market that is unpredictable at best and recessive at worst, sometimes it feels like the most prudent thing to do is get out and put your cash on the sidelines. But doing so can often be counterproductive as high inflation chips away at the underlying value as your cash sits and you miss out on opportunities to get in on securities that are at a short-term discount, especially if performance...

Entrepreneurship is often a twisting, winding, surprising sort of affair. As Becky Pospisal, owner of the Knotty Nail will tell you, those surprises can come both in the form of challenges (as in adapting when your well-made plans don’t work out as expected) and blessings (like finding that folks really like your business). Although you can’t always prepare tangibly for surprises, they are, by nat...

In this Simple Step episode, we talk about the importance of mentors. A good mentor can not only help you realize when you aren’t being your authentic self but can also call you up to a version of yourself you never knew existed. We don’t ever graduate from the benefits of coaching and guidance, we just often become deluded into believing we don’t need it or trapped in the thought that it’s a sign...

Part of the Uncommon path is believing that there’s a way to monetize the thing you’re passionate about. When you can set yourself free of that limiting thought, that no one could possibly pay you for this thing, it starts to open your eyes to all kinds of opportunities and avenues you never knew existed. Joshua Baird, of Iconic Motorsports, knows the feeling…he gets paid to play video games. Join...

Sorting out the alphabet soup of letters and numbers that describe various retirement plans can seem like a daunting task. But employees and employers alike can use these plans to reduce current tax liability and gain investment exposure, so it’s valuable to understand these tax-advantaged options and how to use them to advance your goals. This week on the show we’ll sort through the noise and hel...

If you’re going to do the thing, do the thing. If you’re Jeni Lee of Mac’d, the thing is creating a meal prep service that combines providing a tasty variety of food, making it easy to get, and ensuring it covers the balanced nutrients you need to meet or exceed your fitness goals. This week we talk to Jeni about how a three week span between jobs changed her career and life forever. Plus, how the...

In this week’s simple step, we’re talking about the difference between riches and wealth. Without giving the whole five minutes away, at least know that here your mindset and the relationship between your money and your passion make all the difference. In the end, riches are too shallow, wealth is a much deeper and helpful aim. To share with us when you started to understand the differences betwee...

The journey from working for someone else to working for yourself can take many twists and turns. For this week’s guest, Dominic Bottenfield with AHG Insurance, that journey included getting a degree no one was hiring for, taking the business end of a nail gun to the head, getting fired as a gift, and finally deciding to take the entrepreneurial leap only to find out the fellas that were going to...

This week on the podcast we’re talking with Arron Cramer about paying off college debt. Sure, you have to do it, but how it gets done can make a world of difference (or, as a recent client of Arron’s found, a $100,000 difference. We’ll cover the importance of putting a plan together, finding people to help and hold you accountable, and the impact of student loans on retirement planning. Plus, we’l...

The Blending Often the most poignant pictures of grace are those that are present against the odds, the whole shining brighter than the wary and cautious shadows that sometimes color the individual parts. Blended families are such a grace, a beautiful picture of hope and new beginnings even with the realities of the past ever present. But as you would expect, or perhaps have experienced, the chall...

Trust in a marriage is the harbinger of confidence and freedom, which means keeping secrets is a risky business. Financial infidelity, not being honest or transparent with your partner when it comes to your money, not only breaks trust but it robs you from the chance to agree on boundaries and flourish within them. Ask anyone who has visited that glass walkway at the Grand Canyon , the rails that...

This week on the show we’re talking with Alan Hon, certified life coach, fitness trainer, business optimization consultant, real estate investor, and very likely a bunch of other things he’s just too humble to mention. Alan talks with us about how focusing on making things better for others, helping them overcome their challenges and roadblocks, drew him out of some successful sales management pos...

What do you get when you cross liquidity, reduced tax liability in your retirement years, and a name that sounds like a toad enjoying a milkshake? A LIRP (life insurance retirement plan). Although the name lacks a certain flair, a LIRP is an investment and tax strategy that allows you to use the cash value in your life insurance policy to not only be your own bank but also provide a place to direc...

In business, your values are one of the only things that won’t lie to you. They anchor you, define your integrity, and outlast the low moments that tell you it’s all crumbling and the high moments that can get you chasing things you didn’t care about yesterday. Your values are sometimes your harshest critic and, as such, are often your truest friend. Your values are also often your greatest opport...

When we’re not at our best, we can’t help others be at theirs, and that includes spouses, children, friends, employees, co-workers and anyone else we influence. In this week’s Simple Step, it’s time to stop the noise, put down the phone, and do some introspection. What are your struggles? Where is your bucket low and how do you find ways to get filled up so that what you pour out serves the world...

The common wisdom is that restaurants are where money goes to die. But Toney and Sarah Chem have no room for common wisdom, they’re too busy killin’ it as the owners and operators of 5 Borough Bagels, a Clive by-the-way-of New York bagel shop serving bagels and bagel sandwiches that are unlike anything else coming out of the Midwest. But uncommon paths are full of uncommon challenges and restauran...

Socrates is reported to have said that “An unexamined life is not worth living”. Although he was nonetheless sentenced to death after the trial in which this was part of his defense, we do still believe there is something to this thought. It’s hard to see the big picture when you’re knee-deep and consumed by just trying to live out 10 pixels in the corner. And sometimes your pixels get turned upsi...

The sandbags that weigh a hot air balloon down are a more powerful force than the fire that allows it to rise. And even in your car when you have the pedal to the floor, giving it all the gas you can, the brakes will slow you down and bring you to a stop. The reality is that forward momentum is most often hindered not by lack of effort, energy or determination, but by the presence of distractions....

In this week’s Simple Step podcast, we talk about the importance of meeting with your accountant and giving them some room to work. Plus we cover some key questions to ask and ways to be proactive in creating tax strategies that serve your situation best.

What is your business worth? It’s not only a relevant question if you were trying to sell your business, but it’s knowledge that can also help you effectively manage a business you want to stay in. Yet, 60% of businesses have never had their business valued. Patti Bell, a 30 year veteran of business evaluation with Principal Financial, is here to change that. In this episode we talk to Patti about...

There is no shortage of pseudo-inspirational quotes out there about growth, resistance and overcoming challenges. They are the go-to decor option in the relics we used to call conference rooms and flow just as freely but slightly less faded on the lazy river of LinkedIn encouragement. And yet, they persist, our inspirational guilty pleasure, because the need to be lifted, to be reminded that our t...

Service to our country creates a debt that can never truly be repaid. And the toll on those who serve can often be debilitating, making it difficult for veterans to re-acclimate to a life beyond service and the traumas that come as byproducts to protecting freedom. In recognition of PTSD Month, Phillip and Arron talk to Matt Oberembt with True Impact Outdoors, an Iowa organization focusing on help...

You don’t always have 30 minutes to invest in a podcast and, although we like a deeper conversation as much as the next guy, we want to be in on the short and sweet option as well. This week we’re introducing simple steps, a new recurring format where we focus on one simple step you can take to be uncommon. We’ll try to keep it around five minutes so you can get in, get out, and get on with taking...

When times are tough, the tough find opportunity. Buying a business in the middle of a pandemic can be a dicey proposition, especially a food-based business that had already seen a 75% drop in revenue. But our guest Aaron Anderson saw potential not only for resuscitation of the business but growth and expansion, and now Fresh Fit Meals, provider of fast casual health food, is opening new stores an...