SPEAKER_00 0:00

And once we get sleep improved, then cravings go away, energy improves, biomarkers start to get better because that's when you heal, right? All those things I mentioned in those five biomarkers happen in the liver. And your liver, I'm gonna stand up here for a minute, is it's both of my hands on my side right here. It's a huge organ that kind of controls all of the things we're talking about. And so our goal is to improve the function of that organ.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Welcome to Planning and Beyond, the show where financial planning meets human understanding. As an exceptional financial advisor, you know that financial planning is about more than just numbers. It's about giving clients the clarity they need to align their money with what matters most. Which is why each episode is designed with that goal in mind. You'll learn how to uncover the psychology behind client decisions and gain insights and behavioral strategies needed to create deeper, more meaningful client relationships. You'll discover techniques for navigating emotional client situations drawn from conversations with leading industry experts in behavioral finance, psychology, communication, and more. Whether it's mastering discovery meetings, handling sensitive client conversations, or understanding what is truly keeping your client stuck, you'll walk away with not only strategies that you can use in your next client meeting, but also the confidence to do so. Oh yeah, hi. I should probably introduce myself. I'm your host, Ashley Kwame, a therapist who somehow wandered into the world of financial behavior and kind of decided to stay. My mission is to help you bridge the gap between financial planning and human understanding. Because remember, finances don't have feelings, but your clients do. Let's dive in. Welcome to Planning and Beyond, the podcast where financial planning meets human understanding. I'm your host, Ashley Kwame. Today I'm excited to welcome our guest, Steven Gwinip, founder and CEO of Grow Wealthy. And that's not the traditional way that we would spell wealthy. Wealthy as in W-E-L-L. Well the such a clever way to frame her business, but also ties into the work that she does. Steven is a health coach who helps financial professionals and their clients invest in their health so that they can retire well thee. Steven, I am so excited to have you here on the show. Welcome. And I can't wait to dive into all of the fun little things that we're going to be talking about today.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Thank you, Ashley. I've been looking forward to this.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Yeah, wonderful. Let's start just a little bit about you sharing with not only just myself, but our listeners a little bit about you, your work, some of your background. I've had the privilege of hearing a little bit about it, but would love selfishly to also hear a little more.

unknown 3:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Well, there's some defining moments I'll share. I was born into a family that my dad was a financial advisor. He started that when he when I was 11 years old. And so I got to watch him grow his business. And that's how I got into the industry at a very young age as a fly on the wall. I worked in his front office in college and got to meet his clients and learn a little bit about the business. I mean, I started with like filing, right? Like just the easy stuff and starting to get to know these people. I got to answer the phone and, you know, got to go on trips and meet colleagues and all of that fun stuff. And when I had this aha moment when I was in college, I was like, oh my gosh, these people are get re-retiring with all of this money, but they're like not super healthy. And so they're not really having the retirements that they should have. I felt like it was kind of a bait and switch of sorts. And not on purpose, obviously, right? But like you're preparing and then you get there and like everything falls apart for your health. So I went and became an exercise physiologist, got my master's degree in exercise kinesiology, biomechanics, all of that good stuff, and was in research for about 20 years. And so somehow I got back here to work with financial professionals because I almost died in Australia when I was living there, launching a kettlebell program with my family. My kids were four and eight at the time. I was 42 and I was healthy, but I became septic. I almost died of sepsis, had to have an emergency uh surgery and blood transfusions and all kinds of fun stuff. So I'm part Australian, I joke, because I got Australian blood while I was there. And that incident helped me realize that your health is truly an asset, not just something to look good, but it's a long-term plan for your future. And it was this aha moment that your health is very much like your wealth. You have to make little investments, you have to make sure that you're covered in multiple areas, not just cardio, not just weightlifting, but like sleep and stress and all of that stuff. And it's a long-term decades process. And that's when I circled back and said, Hey, I think I was born for this work to work with financial planners, professionals of all sorts, and their clients to help them see their health as an asset. So that's a little bit about me.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

I really love that framing around health being an asset, right? And that health-wealth connection there. Can we maybe just talk a little bit more into like the nitty-gritty around like what is really that health-wealth like connection? I know you shared your story there, right? And that the realization, but what have you found, whether through just research, working with a lot of clients? Yeah, maybe we can just kind of start there and work our way down.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Yeah, that sounds good. So everyone cliche says health is wealth, but they don't really go beyond that. They're just like it's important, right? If I asked people, and I did, I asked 508 financial professionals what's most important to you in life. And it was always family, finance, faith, health. Like though all those things were in kind of in the top five. Health was always up there, right? So they know health is really important. Health is wealth, but it's not two pillars, right? It's not two individual things. There is an intimate connection between the two. And I always like to say that your health is two things. It's an asset all by itself, like it is something to protect, but it also directly impacts your other assets. So if you're not healthy, then you have to retire early and you don't get to go to your full plan, right? If you're not healthy, you don't serve your clients as well. You don't have the same energy, your relationships break down. So it begins, and you have to pay for sick care, right? So there's a connection there that we tend to see them as separate, but one directly impacts the other. And that's an important aha moment for a lot of people, is just to be like, okay, I can get in health debt, right? I can I can have these things that develop over time and it can make me perform worse for my business, my clients, my family, or I can protect that and I can do better and have a better business and I can have a better relationship and I can have better impact. And it's all about that connection between your health and how your business grows.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

That makes so much sense to me and reminds me a little bit how from like a couple's right kind of place, like I've talked about and just kind of worked, right? Like when we have a strong, secure marriage, right? And we have a great partnership in the day to day, like we're able to go out and do and like just be better and like show up better in all of the other places, right? And so hearing you kind of talk about like the health-wealth connection like really reminds me of that kind of reciprocal, right, relationship, right? It's it's not either or there, it's not siloed, right? There is a connection. And so I really like that from you know, coming from my background educationally, from like a systems theory, right? Like they're all just interconnected there. And it is those small things, right, that matter, that compound, right? For talking financial advisor language here, that compound over time. So, okay, you talked about this aha moment, right? Realizing, you know, okay, like there is kind of this connection there. What have you found maybe kind of post-aha connection? Like what happens after, after this aha connection? I guess getting into a little bit of the work maybe that you that you do. How do you help? How do you coach if someone's like, oh gosh, I've either had this event, or I've just, you know, through reading and experience, just kind of realized I need to pay a little bit more attention to this.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Yeah. Usually it's one of those. You're right. Like either there's some health event that scares people and wakes them up, or there's like this nagging feeling that things are kind of falling apart. And that's what someone just reached out to me this week, and she's like, things just don't feel it. It feels like I'm not in control and it I'm kind of spiraling faster downhill than I want to be. And it might be because you feel tired or you notice your sleep isn't good or your clothes don't fit, or maybe the doctor gave you like your cholesterol's on the way up or your blood sugars on the way up, you know, little things like that. And then you start thinking about your parents and what they had and what you want, and you kind of start to play that out a bit, right? So then you're like, hey, this is really important. I, if I'm going to enjoy my last 8,000 days, because every phase of life, there's four of them, has about 8,000 days in it. And what you do in this one predicts what you're gonna do in the next one, how you're gonna feel, right? And so we're we're like thinking right now, but you start to think about the next phase of life, invest now. So what does that mean? And so for a lot of people, they're like, I need to exercise and join a gym. I need to go on a diet and stop drinking all this alcohol, soda, chips, whatever, you know. So that's it's like eliminate and do, right? It's and it's broken. That's a broken approach, but we all have been taught that's what we should do. If if you were in debt money-wise, right? Like let's say you had a client and you were trying to coach them into a better place in their retirement, it's not usually like uh, you know, aggressive and and go do it all right now. It's like, no, let's just put some automations in place, let's see where you are, right? Let's do a little bit. And even if you can't put a lot toward retirement, let's do a little bit, let's start paying off that debt, right? It's little baby steps that compound, like you said, over time. So we just take that same approach, right? Like with your health, where are you? And that's first. It's the bottom of my four level. I call it the four M method or the hierarchy of wealth. It's got four levels. The bottom is how you think, right? Like, where am I? Okay, not what I would think I should be or where I used to be when I was in college and an athlete or whatever. Like, what's the reality of my situation? And that's a hard look in the mirror for a lot of people because it's they want to feel guilty or like I should have done this. So we leave the guilt at the door and we're just like, honest assessment, where are you? Great. Now we know what we need to do to move forward. And I always tell everyone the best path forward for you from that thinking perspective is awareness and curiosity. So you're aware now where you are. Let's get curious and ask, what would it be like if I tried this? And if you're if your gut feeling is like, oh my gosh, I don't want to do that, don't do it, right? If you hate the gym, don't join the gym. In fact, like, don't even worry about that right now. Let's look at the level two, which is your mend. How well are you sleeping and dealing with your stress? Because for this industry, it's a big one, Ashley. It's big. Sleep and stress is so there's a lot of debt. We'll just say that. So sometimes it's not like doing more, it's doing less and being more recover-oriented.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Oh, yeah, that's so fascinating. And I can, it resonates with me. One, just personally, I think because I have that do. Um, I'm realizing I'm like, yeah, like I go very quickly into the like do part, yeah, which feels listen, I'm not trying to shame myself here, but like as a therapist, like I know we have to start sometimes with like awareness, curiosity, like reality, right? But I'm also human too. So I hear you on like the sleep part because I've seen just clinically like how impactful sleep is. As I remember, you know, mom, like in those early days, like how impactful like sleep was. So here is a comment, and I have I know you're gonna smile because I would imagine you hear this too. Advisors specifically, let's just talk specific to financial advisors. I hear a lot the expression, okay, but I don't really have time. Like I hear you, but blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Whatever the in in some sort of like time, it feels like oriented. I'll say reason. I don't want to say excuse um because that sounds judgmental, but I will say reason. And, you know, I get it too. Like I'm guilty of that too. So you've started talking about your your four like M's here. Was the first one in the mindset? Was that yeah? So mindset in mid, like those are from what you share, those are like the foundation kind of pieces there. So I'm just wondering if like someone listening to right now, if the thoughts rolling in their head are like, oh, yeah, okay, that sounds great. And like, I don't have time for that. This season, right, that I'm in, these 8,000 days, like this period that I'm in, like I'm restricted on time. What are your thoughts there? Like, how do you help, you know, advisors start to maybe consider thinking a little differently?

SPEAKER_00 13:52

It's valid. Okay. We all don't have enough time to do all the things we want. And so what I tell them is that you want to think about first, if a client came to you and said, I don't have any extra money to put into retirement right now, I'll do it later when I find extra money, right? When I have extra money, you know that they're never going to find extra money because as soon as they have it, there's another need. Their lifestyle expands, right? Creeps open. The same thing is true here. So just whatever you would tell your client about not having any money to invest right now or waiting to invest is what we would say here, right? So any amount counts. Every drop in the bucket counts. So there's not like wait till you can do it perfectly. It's get up, Ashley, after you and I get off this call, do 10 air squats, get a drink of water, look outside, and sit back down. You just invested in your future, right? So it's, I think people have like an all or nothing here. And so they just need to change their approach to a little bit counts and every bit counts. And the next piece I love comes from the book. Actually, I can't remember the name of the book, but pay yourself first. That's the concept. I was just thinking, yeah, I was just thinking it's pay first.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Yeah, is that what it is? It's like pay yourself first mentality.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Yes, yes. So we operate in whatever container that we allow ourselves. And if we just make our container a little smaller, what I mean is we're awake for 16 hours. So we're like, how much work can I get done? How many chores can I get done? How much can I serve others in those 16 hours? What if you just take it down to 15 hours? And this is the time you have to work with to do all the serving and you have an hour for yourself. And an hour, I don't mean like to work out, right? Like, but an hour to plan your food, meditate, take a nap if you need to, cut up some vegetables, go sit outside in the sun and drink your coffee, whatever, whatever that hour of your time of self-care is comes off the top, and then you work your day with the rest of it. Because if you don't, you're going into debt every day. You're not, you're not able to afford your lifestyle, right? So it will catch up to you. And we know, Ashley, that the statistics on this are 92% of the population over age 40 can't afford their lifestyle. Oh, from a health standpoint.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Oh gosh. Oh, I am so I'm 39, I'm approaching 40, and that like feels a bit different hearing you say hearing you say that. Oh, okay, tell me more. Tell me, tell me, tell me more.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Yes. So this research research comes from Dr. Casey Mean's book. It's called Good Energy, came out last year. Anyway, she looked at the research, and there are only 8% of the population who are considered metabolically healthy. What is metabolically healthy means? It means your body knows how to use energy and to store it properly. And if you use and store energy properly, then all the other systems work really well. The problem is that our bodies start to not do that very well because there's mixed signals from stress and no sunlight and the wrong kinds of food and not enough sleep and all of those things. And so it clogs up and messes up our metabolic profile. And so there are five things that every adult should be able to qualify for, as far as from these biomarkers for metabolic health. And only 8% of the population have all five of them after age 40. And so that's what I help people do is like, how many do you have, right? I have a guy right now who's 50, he has zero of them. He needs to earn back all five of them as quickly as possible to be debt-free. And that means his basic systems are working, right? So it's like he's paying his light bills, he's got an emergency fund, he's not getting a lot of credit card debt, interest, and things like that. Like we have to stop all of that and get him like on solid ground. And then we can begin to optimize if he wants to, right? But that's the first level is just like, let's get out of debt and make sure you can afford your lifestyle.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

Oh, can you say a bit more about those like five biomarkers, right? If someone's maybe thinking about, oh gosh, like, am I in debt?

SPEAKER_00 18:08

Yeah. So these five biomarkers, people tend to kind of glaze over their eyes when I talk about them because they're a little bit technical. So stick with me, okay? Who listening, please just stick with me. Write these down because I guarantee you know them if you've ever had blood work done. Okay. So if you've had blood work done the last year, two years, five years, whatever, go find it. If you haven't, go get some blood work, right? We need to know. Know your numbers. It's like not looking at your bank account ever. So, first one is really simple. It's just your waist measurement. So get a soft tape measure and just put it around at your belly button. Don't go by pant size, put it at your belly button and write down the inches. For men, we want that under 40. For women, we want it under 35. Okay, that's number one. Number two is blood pressure. So if you go to the doctor, have them take your blood pressure, go to Walgreens, you know, get a blood pressure cuff, whatever, take your blood pressure. And if it's under 135, over 85 without medication, that's number two. Pretty simple, okay? So the last three are blood work. And the three blood work ones are almost on every blood work that you get. So it's very common, which is triglycerides. Triglycerides are in your lipid profile, your fatty acids. But I will tell you, triglycerides are only high if you're eating too much sugar. Okay. It's not a fat problem or a cholesterol problem, it's a sugar problem. So if your triglycerides are over 150, then you are not, you don't qualify for that one. You don't have that criteria. Okay, so under 150 for triglycerides. And then HDL is your good quote cholesterol. Think of it like the taxi that your liver produces that gets rid of the bad cholesterol. Okay, so we want that for women to be over 50 and for men to be over 40. So we're on four. Okay. And the last one is blood sugar, fasting blood glucose. We want that under 100. And those are pretty conservative numbers, all of them. Like, I have a second set of numbers that's all optimal that I my clients are working toward. Like, but that's the first level is the ones we just talked about.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Yeah. So I'm like, oh, I'm gonna go and like pull up. I had to get labs drawn earlier this year. I'm like, I'm gonna actually go and like pay attention to those a little bit more. And see, I think I know the first two, I know the answer for me, for myself, for the first two. But the other, I'm like, huh, like that's really that is really interesting. Okay, so we have these five biomarkers. We have this mindset and framework of like health is an asset. And how can we in very, very small ways start to, you know, work towards uh, I don't want to say doing, but the word doing, right? Shifting, right? That's just another word for doing, but how can we shift to incorporating like more of these really small ways to invest in ourselves? This pay yourself first, right? kind of mindset here. And so talk to me a little bit about then just some of the work, I guess, that you do, like where you focus on these biomarkers. I know that you have a coaching program, right? You mentioned like when you're coaching like advisors. Let's talk a little bit about just some of the work within financial advisors who are interested in now starting to pay themselves first and optimize maybe their health or improve those bio biomarkers. Like, how are you, what are you focusing on with advisors, maybe more specifically, apart from just what we've mentioned?

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Yeah. So, first of all, we come in, we're like, okay, advisor, where are you? How much health debt do you have? And then we we look for the biggest gaps, right? Like if it's sleep or if it's food or if it's movement, because those are the next three levels beyond the mindset piece is mending, meals, and movement. So we just look at all four of those. Where's the biggest gap? We don't have to fix this all at once, right? But let's start with where We can see some really good improvements quickly. And a lot of times that's with improving sleep. And once we get sleep improved, then cravings go away, energy improves, biomarkers start to get better because that's when you heal, right? All those things I mentioned in those five biomarkers happen in the liver. And your liver, I'm going to stand up here for a minute, is it's both of my hands on my side right here. It's a huge organ that kind of controls all of the things we're talking about. And so our goal is to improve the function of that organ. And it's just through lifestyle. So, you know, someone might have a goal. I need to lose 30 pounds. Okay, well, that's not really a goal, that's an outcome, right? The goal is to establish some habits. And I call this the the habit matrix because I think there are four times of day that work really well for people to anchor their habits to. And when people are realize that, like we can automate some of this stuff with things that you're already doing, right? And so you think about the four levels, the four M's that I mentioned: mindset, mending, meals, and movement. That's just a bunch of activity. Just like you're just doing stuff for doing stuff, but let's anchor it to part of your day. And so those anchors are really important for people to think about. What is my first hour of the day like? What do I do as soon as my eyes open in that first hour? It's prime real estate for your health. So we work on developing those routines to improve health and make it really simple and easy. So for my new client who has zero of these biomarkers, it might just be like, get up and get some water in your system, go stand outside and think about what your day is like today. You know, like when are you going to eat? Do you have to get like, are you going out to dinner or whatever? Like orchestrate your day a bit. And that first hour kind of sets the tone for the rest of your day. So then there's three other times of day too. And I'll just quickly go through those. The other one is your work day, because a lot of people are like, oh, this is my home stuff, my life, and this is my workday. But we want to integrate those two. And so you are taking care of yourself at work, getting up between meetings, not skipping lunch, right? Giving your eyes a break from this bright blue light that you and I both have in our faces right now, right? And getting away from that for a bit. So just working in things that are gonna help us during the workday. Then the next one is mealtimes. We all eat. I don't care if you're at a conference, if you're in London, the if you're in Norway, wherever you are, you're gonna eat, you can affect what you eat, how quickly you eat, where you eat, all of those things you can change as impact, I should say. And then the final one is the last hour. So what are you gonna do right before you go to bed? What's the light coming into your eyes? What are you thinking about? How are you winding down to get the right chemicals into it so you can get into a really deep sleep? So that's the work we do with advisors is help them look at those four days points during their day and attach some of these items to those in a really sustainable way so it doesn't feel hard.

SPEAKER_01 25:10

I think that that, I mean, it makes a lot of sense. Now I am curious, slightly not a huge pivot here, but let's talk a little bit about how does this impact their business? How does this impact the work and the way in which they show up? And so that's a big, I know, just kind of question there. But like all of this sounds really good. And it's like, yeah, these are the things that more than likely like we've all not specifically like what you've shared, but just these ideas, right? Get better sleep and move our bodies and you know, all have less blue light and find a good, like I should be sleeping more and better. Okay, but how when what do you see in your work in terms of when advisors start to make this kind of investment in themselves? What do you see as far as how it translates into the business side or their work with clients?

SPEAKER_00 26:03

Well, there's a lot of things. So let's just say, for example, you do some morning movement. If you move your body, it turns on the back of your brain, your cerebellum, and it brings about 40 million neurons forward to the frontal lobe. So what happens in the frontal lobe? Memory, emotional control, mood, interpersonal relationships improve. So it's like fertilizer for your frontal lobe, the work that you're gonna do and how you show up. So how what we hear is that my clients come to me and they're like, you know what my front desk person told me today? She's like, you're so much calmer. You're so much more present, right? You're so much less likely to kind of fly off the handle about something or get stressed. So just like that mood and presence changes. But then there's like this peace of mind because I have one guy in California and he's like, by three o'clock, I'm done. Like I need a nap, right? I just can't, my brain gets foggy and I can't keep going. He said, I can't run a business that way. So when we start getting him out of, let's say, 10 or 15 minutes of deep sleep at night and closer to 40 minutes of deep sleep at night, all of a sudden, naps are no big deal. He doesn't need it. He can get through the day and everything is fine. So his capacity to run his business just improved. But even beyond that, if you start taking care of your health, the clients notice and they're like, something's different about you, or if they lost weight or they just have more energy or they have a better complexion or whatever, clients notice and then they start to like want to be like you and they want to be around you and they want to refer people to you because if you've got this part together, you probably have your their money together too. It's not super true, but it's the way the human brain works. Okay. If a dentist came, he came into my office. I mean, I came into a dentist's office to have some dental work and he was sloppy and really, really overweight and had trouble kind of breathing with like heavy labored breathing. I'm like, he doesn't know how to fix my teeth. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. Like, I don't know. But this this package made me think that maybe he's not very thorough. Maybe he doesn't do a good job. And if he doesn't do a good job here, he doesn't do it there. So what I'm trying to say is client confidence in these advisors skyrockets, right? And they start getting referrals and their business ends up growing. And then what's funny is that a lot of them end up like making this part of a culture of their business, right? Like, let's do a webinar on health. Let's do a book giveaway. You know, I went and spoke at an advisor event for their clients in Ohio last year. And they had like all these health. We went, it was big dinner, they brought in some sponsors. I was there to speak. And I don't know, maybe it was like 150 of their clients that were there. And they had this table of giveaways with healthy books and you know, weights and, you know, memberships to the gym and things like that. And so it becomes a culture of marketing for the business too, because it's an extension of what you're doing in your own life.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

Yeah, I I think that that I've seen how that just translates with other, not just health, but other things too, right? Those personal improvements, pursuits, right, start to then transform just how we show up and the way in which we talk and how we, you know, interact. And then it can be inspiring, right? It's like, oh wow, like I want to be like John, right? Like he's got this kind of cool, like, I was gonna say glow, but like usually we talk about a glow with like women, and so it might be like slightly offensive. John might be offended if we say that he's glowing. Um but there's like this, you know, just kind of presence right there that people are attracted to, right? Like that they want to be around and maybe even like subconsciously kind of be like, right? Yes. Yes. I would imagine that has a huge impact on culture. So what would you maybe then say, or how would you speak to if it's like, okay, we want to integrate a little bit more health, right? Like into our maybe just at a firm level, like culture, right? Kind of first. Like, what would you say, or what have you seen maybe other advisors or firms do starting there?

SPEAKER_00 30:18

Yeah. So there's several different angles they come at it at. I'll give you like three examples. So one of them is their top leadership, so the partners actually are going through health coaching with me so that they can be better partners with each other, right? So they can like help each the business grow better, which I think is so cool. But that will trickle down to the people in their office support staff and to their clients as well. So that's one. The second one is that this one advisor firm brought in wealth webinars. So basically they just say, Hey, here's a webinar that I think you would enjoy. And it's it's it's not them, it's me talking about how your health impacts your finances, looking at your retirement through the health lens, you know. So they they deliver content to their clients and then they get feedback from them like, oh my gosh, you know, no one, no other advisor has ever talked about this aspect. Then they become known as like the one who does, and then they start referring people, right? So it's kind of delivering content. And then the third one is like within their organization, this firm came up with, you know, Friday hike days where they would kind of, whether they're all together or not, but they all would go hike or walk somewhere and then record how much they did, and then the company would give a certain donation to a charity of choice, right? So, like just encouraging culture within their own firm. So there's lots of different ways that it can kind of manifest itself.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Yeah. Oh, I love that. So many creative there, just kind of ideas to kind of, I don't know, yeah, think about. And I I love it. I'm like, oh yeah, like my mind's going crazy. I'm like, this would be so cool. I'm gonna call my husband, Clayton, and tell him all the things his firm should start doing. Yeah. Uh that would be he's really gonna appreciate that. I'm sure. Um okay, so you have a book coming out that I would love for you to share maybe just a little bit about. I don't know if self-promotion is something that you are very comfortable with. I'm usually generally not, but I'm gonna put you on the spot because I want to hear about this book and I want others to hear about this book because I know that just in our conversation here today, I've found a lot of value in the things that you've shared. And I can only imagine how many fantastic little nuggets are gonna be in this book that will be coming out to us soon. So, with that, can you share a little bit there?

SPEAKER_00 32:39

Yes. So this book has been in the works for years, unfortunately. I guess fortunately, it's at the very end of this process now, and we're getting super close to it. But I did interview 508 financial professionals for the book. I gathered tons of information. It's very thought-oriented, like, let's shift our thinking about health and wealth. And it gives frameworks and talks about how you can do this. I think I will say this, but it's kind of a new concept here is that this book is not necessarily going to get into the nitty-gritty like your blood work should be at this specific number and all of that. Like that's a bit too granular for that. It's more thought leadership, right? Just trying to teach you a new way of thinking. But I have this super cool thing that there's a QR code in the book, and they can they can scan it with their phone, and then it will take them to an AI assistant that I have trained that will walk them through and ask them all the right questions and gather the information and take them exactly through this process so they know specifically for their situation what their next best step is. And I'm super excited about that.

SPEAKER_01 33:48

Oh, I'm super excited about that. Um super excited about that. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 33:53

You're the first one I've told about it. So I've been building.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

Yeah. Oh, I feel honored. I feel honored. You guys heard it first here on Planning and Beyond. So this sounds super awesome. And I would imagine, right? I know that I've dabbled right in all of the like health, wellness, right, aspects from a physical standpoint. Obviously, my profession done a little bit more than dabbling in the mental health side, but on the physical side. And I know that one of the, I guess I'll say frustrations is that I read something that's fantastic and I'm like immediately like, I wonder what this means for me. Or I wonder like what I should do, like personally, given my situation, or you know, these factors for me personally. And so I think the fact that you just have, you know, an AI tool here that can walk someone through and say, hey, given how you responded, like these are some next best steps for you. Oh, how fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

I think that's like a really good example because like when you hear something like, oh, I should exercise fasted, right? I should get up and I should do my workout without eating. Okay, some people should, but some people definitely should not, right? Ice baths, they're amazing. They're so good. Okay, for some people, yes. For some people, you absolutely should not. And so, like knowing that you've got at least an AI assistant that can help you. I mean, obviously come work with me, right? Like I can, we can do it and go there, but there's a step between the book and me, which is a little assistant that can help you make customized choices for yourself based on all of these frameworks that it's been trained on.

SPEAKER_01 35:34

Yeah. And I think too, like we were talking about routines earlier, depending upon like the phase of life that we're in, or even like the season of the year. So I'll speak, for example, like right now, it's summer. It is so easy for me to get up at 6 a.m., go and do some movement, get outside, do some, you know, meditation or just writing, like a reading. It is so easy. Come August 4th, 6 a.m. I've got to get up, get kids ready, start cooking breakfast. Like I like that routine part for this season of life that I'm in changes. Now, could I wake up at 5 a.m. and do some sort of like hour of self-care? Sure. Absolutely. Am I uh H E double hockey sticks? No. I'm not going to do that because I would like that extra hour of sleep. So I just think like how helpful that would be to have some kind of tool and feedback system there around, hey, I'm going into like even just this new season of like the year or life. And like, how should I approach this? Because this standard, like, you know, general routine or whatever it is, I'm using that as an example. Like it fits here, but I need to adjust it and it doesn't work there. So what a gift that you are giving me and others there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

Well, it's funny because yeah, we're seasonal people, right? The sun is changing all the time, the weather's changing, our schedules are changing. We have to be able to be our own. I call it our own wealth manager. We have to be able to shift because the same thing doesn't work all the time. And even like I have clients that have three homes, right? So at each of their homes, it's a totally different, like maybe time zone, weather, and they're moving between them. And like we just have to understand how do you navigate your health throughout that or during conference season, right? Or whatever. So it is never a done thing. Like, oh, I've created my wealth plan and now this is what I do all the time. It's always shifting. And that's what I want to equip people to do is to know how to shift with life.

SPEAKER_01 37:47

Oh, that's such a great way to kind of wrap us. Such a great way to wrap us up, which I hate that we have to wrap up. Okay, Steven. If advisors, if listeners have been tuning in and they're like, hey, Steven's kind of cool and all of this really makes sense. And I'd like to know a little bit more about her, where can people go to find you, to hang out with you, and to learn more?

SPEAKER_00 38:08

So the best place to hang with me is on LinkedIn. So go to Stephen Gwynnip on LinkedIn. I post there every, I don't know, probably four or five days a week, something like that. But I'm always there giving as much value as I can. My DMs are always open, so you can ask me any question. I actually answer lots of people's random questions in private DMs. Like just shoot them to me. I will answer them when I've got a chance. If you want to learn more, just say send me information and I will get you the one sheet that just tells you everything about like how the programs work, what the different levels are, and I can certainly get that to you. If you want to know my story, go to growwealthy.com. And then underneath about, it's got my story of how I almost died and what was going on. Because a lot of people are like, wait, you had septic, you're septic in Australia, tell me more. Like that story is there. So depends on what you want to know about me.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

Yeah, I love that. We'll make sure that we include all of those links. And are you able to share any insights around book release uh timeline there or to be determined still?

SPEAKER_00 39:06

I have made that mistake twice and I'm not gonna make it again because I just yeah, I've like I want it done two months ago.

SPEAKER_01 39:14

That's where we are. Yeah. Nope. I hear you. Nope. Book release TBD, but it's coming. So just very coming. And I would imagine the best thing that you can do if you want to stay up to date on when that book is coming out is to follow Steven on LinkedIn because I know from following you that you will probably share when that time is here.

SPEAKER_00 39:34

Absolutely. And Ashley, I'll just give one more website is growwealthy.com forward slash wait list. So if you want to be on the email wait list for the book, put your email in there and I'll make sure that you get it, that you see it.

SPEAKER_01 39:48

Perfect. I'll be sure to go there and join myself as soon as we're done recording. Well, thank you so much, Stephen, for joining us today. I know that this conversation has been so helpful, one just for me. And I can only imagine all of the fantastic nuggets that listeners are just, you know, I hope have jotted down. If not, they've bookmarked and they're like, I'm gonna come back to this uh later. Uh and thank you to all of you for allowing Steven and I into your ears and into your mind today. If you found value in today's episode, I'd love to stay connected with you. Both of us would. Uh and so Stephen gave her information there on where you can follow her on LinkedIn. You can also follow me on LinkedIn where, like Steven, I share insights and tips around implementing financial psychology, how to improve those relationships with your clients better. And remember, finances don't have feelings, but your clients do. Until next time, keep growing, keep planning, and keep going beyond. Thanks for joining me on this episode of Planning and Beyond. I hope you found today's insights valuable and inspiring for both your practice and your personal growth. If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps us reach more advisors like you who are dedicated to making a difference. For more resources, tips, and to continue the conversation, visit our website at beyondthefp.com. You'll find articles, tools, and information about upcoming episodes designed to support your journey and practice. Stay connected with us on social media and never miss an update. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. And remember, the best way to grow is to keep learning and sharing. Until next time, keep planning, keep growing, and keep going beyond.