It's Only Money – Why This Financial Planner Chose Family Over 'Success' | John Moriarty

John Moriarty: If anybody's ever going to go to Vegas, go to Mayfair Supper Club in Bellagio.

I have a video of these two people on roller skates on a table about as big as this rug,

and he puts a rope around his neck and around her neck and is doing roller skates,

and she's like, in the air.

Scott Leese: Oh my God.

John Moriarty: Yeah. We don't go to any like other shows, mainly because it kind of like interferes in

our schedule, like.

Scott Leese: That messes up your dinner and wine.

John Moriarty: It does.

Mike Lindstrom: Sleep and sleep and sleep. Yeah.

John Moriarty: Well, yeah,

Mike Lindstrom: It's kind of adverse, you think. A financial planner should be

telling people you should.

Vegas is probably not a good.

Scott Leese: I want my financial planner to send me to Vegas more.

John Moriarty: I don't think clients will let me talk about Vegas. That's not going to happen.

That's not gonna happen.

Intro Band: Oh. Hey. Lean in closer.

This is your time. Hit record on

your crooked life. What's your story?

(Hey!) Say the words out loud.

Mike and Scott gonna crack that crowd.

What's your story? (Hey!) Turn it up.

Let's go. Every voice.

Every scar. Every road.

What's your story? Mike and Scott.

Let's talk.

Mike Lindstrom: Oh my goodness. Another episode.

What's your story? Mike Lindstrom, my man Scott Leese,

coming in from Austin, Texas. We are in Scottsdale, Arizona. I'm

excited about today because it's... When I get to interview someone I've known for 20

plus years in business or otherwise.

And you and I've known each other for about that long. Right. So to have somebody come in

and talk about life, their story and business.

John Moriarty coming in from St.

Louis, Missouri. We're getting more people coming to us.

Scott Leese: I like that.

Mike Lindstrom: It's not just Arizona people

Scott Leese: I'm not the only one who traveled today.

Mike Lindstrom: I know. I love that, so we'll talk about that,

why he's here. e3 Consultants, author.

We'll have a chance to plug at the very end all the things he's doing. But John, thanks

for coming on the show. Thanks for coming all the way from St. Louis.

John Moriarty: Mike. Scott, I appreciate you guys having me here.

I'm very excited.

Mike Lindstrom: You're fitting us in. By the way. We're not fitting you in. You came in for what reasons?

John Moriarty: Business group. a retreat.

Mike Lindstrom: Yep.

John Moriarty: Arizona. If you're from Saint Louis and it's April,

you want to go somewhere else.

Mike Lindstrom: But you carved out an hour of your time to come see us.

John Moriarty: Absolutely. Yes.

Mike Lindstrom: And that says a lot, I appreciate that. So when you give your kind of elevator pitch of

who you are, what's your story?

John Moriarty: I look at myself as a passionate entrepreneur that was born and raised in St.

Louis and haven't left.

I got great family. I got two great kids that are now grown adults,

which is. Crazy,

Mike Lindstrom: Scary and awesome at the same time.

But I would say I'm that guy that loves people,

but I don't really like being around people a lot,

which is a little weird.

How's that work?

Scott Leese: That actually resonates.

John Moriarty: Yeah,

Scott Leese: That's how I feel.

Mike Lindstrom: I want to hear this. Tell me how that works.

John Moriarty: I.... I always think of myself as an introvert and I just,

I work really hard to be extroverted, but I really feel like it's an energy thing,

which you and I have talked about a lot.

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah, big time.

John Moriarty: People that give me energy. I love being around them,

and I can spend a week with them and not be tired.

But you go in a room of people you don't know and you just get a vibe.

And I'm like, nah, I'm just gonna go stand in the corner over here and just observe.

Just kind of wait and see who comes up and talks.

And then once you start to get comfortable, you put it out there.

My wife and I are like this.

We can go somewhere, we can go to a dinner, we go out a lot to eat.

And we grew up, we didn't have a lot, as you know,

as kids and part of our family.

So that's the one thing we like to do is we go out nice restaurants,

we'll go sit, two of us, and we'll just eat.

And literally it's like...

We're alone. There's nobody in the restaurant. Doesn't... maybe we'll do a

little people watching, but we are comfortable in that space,

just her and I. But like, with friends, people that give great energy,

we can have a blast. It's awesome.

Spend your night laughing and you go home and you got pains in your stomach.

Or we can be like "Mmm, this isn't the vibe we want." And we leave

early and go home, watch some TV, maybe get wine.

And so, I don't know what it is, but that's me.

I'll have some people be like, "Yeah, man. You're like, okay, being by

yourself." I'm like, "Yeah, I like me!"

Mike Lindstrom: But my wife still likes me.

John Moriarty: Yeah, my wife still likes me. So I get two fans right now.

Me and my wife, my kids, I think like me.

Scott Leese: Do you feel like when you run events, meetings or,

I don't know, a couple day event or whatever, you're giving, giving, giving, giving, and

the only way to recharge your battery is to retreat in silence?

Or can you recharge your battery around others?

John Moriarty: So that's a great question. What I will say is I am way more cognizant of events that I

want to be given the energy, and other times I will make sure I delegate

or surround myself with other people that are good at that. And they just... To me,

it's about balance. And I find that I make sure I put myself in positions where if the

expectation is that I gotta be on,

Scott Leese: Yeah,

John Moriarty: Then okay, can I control my environment?

Or I can control who we're going to be with.

And if I know that in advance, then I'll be like,

"hey, why don't I got other business partners?

Why don't you guys talk?" or other people that do a really good job.

And I can just kind of sit back, maybe orchestrate.

I like doing that. I don't need to be the center of attention.

And in business, I kind of feel like if you're okay with not being "the guy",

but yet you are "the guy" because you either write the checks or you make the decisions,

but you put people out front, give them success,

give them experience, let them experience it.

And if it doesn't work or it's going the wrong direction,

you can kind of come in and put everything back on track,

but if they're doing great, then you let them go.

I love seeing people achieve have success, and you kind of put them in a place where

they can have that success, but they have to do it.

So in our business being mainly financial, you got to talk to people about intangible

things that most people don't understand, like money, right? So you got to teach people

to be able to do that. You got to set them up for success. And then sometimes it goes well,

sometimes it doesn't. But I don't need to be the guy that explains things.

The problem is, if I'm in a room and I'm sitting around and people are asking

questions and talking, innately I want to do the talking.

So I almost have to force myself not to be in meetings so that other team members can kind

of do what they... What I know they can do.

It's just my innate ability is if I feel really confident about something,

then I'm just going to go with it.

Scott Leese: I can go do those kind of events and be on like that and answer all those questions,

and then I have to retreat.

John Moriarty: Yeah.

Scott Leese: I have to go back to my cave.

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah.

Scott Leese: My solitude or whatever.

John Moriarty: It's probably that NorCal...

Scott Leese: Recharge my battery.

John Moriarty: That's. That's why. That's why you're. One with the ocean or you're,

you know, you're. Yeah. See, like, for me, golf is my oasis,

so I have to get out and, and play.

And just sometimes I'll go golf just by myself.

I'll leave the office early.

Yeah. Go to the club.

Scott Leese: Do you find that you play better when you play by yourself? It's not because I'm

cheating either.

John Moriarty: Yeah, I would say I've gotten to a place I love golf,

I can play a lot of golf.

I don't have to play golf now to feel like I'm...

It's like, oh, I need to relax.

But I do love it. Playing by myself and then playing with other people.

Number one, I like to play by myself because it's faster. Yeah, I like to play fast. I

don't... I'm that person where it's like, well, if I can just go out and play in two

hours and I can say I got a round of golf in, I love that because it's a de-stress type

thing. But if I can also go out and I'm on a trip and we're gonna play a couple rounds of

golf and it's business stuff, and I know it's going to take...

whatever, 4.5 hours. I just have to accept it.

And I'm okay with that because I'm not going home. I'm not like I don't have other things

to do. And that that is probably one of my biggest challenges is always trying to

balance time. Try to be everywhere or everything to everyone and then eventually

just gotta say, "yeah, no, I can't." I'm not. If I go golfing on a

weekend and I know my wife is waiting for me at home and we're gonna go do something.

Like I'm not sticking around. I'm not having a drink.

I'm not going to be there. No. I'm like, I play golf.

I'm out. And all my buddies or anybody, they know that,

right? They know as soon as.

Scott Leese: That's the deal.

John Moriarty: I'm done, I'm literally gonna get...

Walk and go right to my car.

And they're like, and they don't even ask. They don't even ask me, do you want to stay

for a beer? Do you want to get lunch? They already know. I'm like, "I'm out." Yeah, I

got other stuff to do, but I loved it so that I feel like the

retreating part for me, if I can control my environment,

I don't have to retreat because I kind of managed it. But if it is a situation where

it's a conference or something and you got to meet people and people are coming up to you

and you're talking and they don't get the signal, you're having a conversation and

it's.

Scott Leese: Like missing the social queue. Right, right.

John Moriarty: Right, right. Yeah. Like it's like, you know,

I'm done talking to you, right?

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah.

John Moriarty: But they don't know that.

But you're like, "I've given you three signals that I'm done,

but you don't." And then I do the...

It's like, I'll take phone call or I'll do one of those like,

"oh yeah, I'm coming." And then like, "hey, man,

can I, I'll be, I'll be right back." And then I'll just the handle a little Irish exit and,

you.

Mike Lindstrom: Know, oh yeah, we all know that we do. I love that Irish Exit.

John Moriarty: Yes.

Mike Lindstrom: I love that move. Well, I have to ask you.

So I have a friend of mine in town tomorrow that's going to want me to do this

facilitation for this theme called "Enoughness"...

John Moriarty: Uh huh.

Mike Lindstrom: I.e. YOU.

John Moriarty: Right.

Mike Lindstrom: I gotta ask you that question because I actually have brought this up today with some

guests that are coaches and asked them about that.

What does that mean to you? Well, "Enoughness"... Is it time? Money is a number

like...

John Moriarty: Yeah

Mike Lindstrom: ...because you're going to hear about this tomorrow.

John Moriarty: Yep.

Mike Lindstrom: So what is it to you?

John Moriarty: So if you were to ask me that question five years ago,

ten years ago, 20 years ago, it would have been directly tied to financial

success, the business, where I see things going and what I'm trying

to accomplish and what's going to be written on your tombstone? Checking all the boxes,

right? Like great entrepreneur, like built a company, all this stuff. Today,

it's real simple. It's family. My wife and I have talked about this. Now that my son is

almost ready to graduate college.

My daughter is a freshman in college, and now they're like...

Adults. They're getting ready to like, go into the world and be exposed to

everything that we're now dealing with.

And like, to me, all that stuff that used to matter,

it doesn't matter anymore.

This unit, our family is 4 humans.

So it's like, protect that family and nurture them.

Like give them the skill set. It's not a...

"I... I'm gonna protect you.

I'm gonna helicopter you. I'm not going to let you fail.

I'm not going to let you go off and do your own thing." Just the opposite.

No, you I want you to do that.

But the safe place is back here.

I don't want you to put yourself in a situation where you're so stressed out about

something and it harms you.

Or you take shit from somebody because you think,

well, I have to. And it's like, no, we built something so that you don't have

to do that. But it also doesn't mean you don't have to work hard. It doesn't mean that

you don't go out and give your effort.

So that's been something the last couple of years...

There's a couple of reasons it's kind of happened, but the main thing is I just

realized I was very selfish.

When my wife and I got married and we had the conversation about,

"I'm gonna go create this business and I'm gonna support the family and you're gonna

raise the kids, and we're going to do this together, and it's going to be a team." And

then basically, as our kids are growing up, there was one time where we were,

I think we were in Punta Mita, or something.

Just the two of us were sitting on the beach and we were talking about kids growing up and

everything. And she like, looks at me and she says, "Yeah, like for

about ten years I was alone.

I was raising the kids. You were there, but I never had adult conversations." So

like, she admits to me for a decade while raising her kids,

which are amazing humans.

And she was literally alone.

It wasn't that I wasn't there, but my focus wasn't...

There wasn't that connection. And so when I heard that,

like, first off, I was like, "wow, that hurt."

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah. That hurt.

John Moriarty: Not that she meant to hurt me, but I like hurt because "it's amazing that

you were able to do that. You hung in there.

We're on the other side of it." But also at the same time too,

that hurts because it's like, "well, that wasn't the intention, but because

I was selfish, because I was focused on what I got to achieve.

And if I achieved this, everybody wins." Yeah,

great. But what if it would have went too far and our relationship would have been

strained? Or I mean, how many families are divorced and kids?

So it's like,

Mike Lindstrom: Yep,

Scott Leese: You start to hear that and think about that and say, "Okay, it didn't happen". But then

how do you make sure that you right those wrongs or you make sure that,

"Okay, now that I know that I have information that I didn't have before and I'm

going to operate differently from that point." So, I think it was like moving in

that direction. And then as my kids got older,

they experienced things. I mean, my son's playing Division 3 Lacrosse and it's

been an amazing experience. But he's basically been playing behind a kid who's an

honorable mention All-American and who, by the way,

is one of his roommates, one of his best friends, which is my son's

superpower, that he basically is this kid that can walk into any room and have the

energy.

John Moriarty: If my son's with me and we go somewhere, I'm just "Harry, go eat." And he goes up to

adults and introduces himself.

Like, that's the kind of stuff that I love seeing him.

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah.

John Moriarty: Be an adult and do stuff that I'm like, I don't want to do that.

I don't need to do it. Like, I'm gonna put him out there. My daughter's

kind of she's more of the math nerd.

She wants to be an actuary.

So she's more like me on the financial side.

But her personality is they're both very similar between my wife and I.

But all the stuff that I love about me but drives my wife nuts,

they both have in spades.

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah.

John Moriarty: So sometimes my wife's like, "Well, there's your daughter. Doing doing

what you do to me all the time.

I just get it from a female now."

Scott Leese: (laughing).

John Moriarty: So you know that that's the kind of stuff that like, now that I see that full cycle,

my story is always going to be written as what that family dynamic is.

Like, where that goes. So I'm a big player in that story,

but it's not.

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah.

John Moriarty: It's not my story.

Mike Lindstrom: Right.

Scott Leese: How do you try to distill that concept, if at all,

of "enoughness" into your employees and your company?

John Moriarty: That's a great question, Scott. I would say that is probably done more

by example. Some of the stuff that Mike's going to talk about tomorrow in the pre-work

he gave us, one of the things that I will admit is I look at myself as a really

horrible mentor. And...

Scott Leese: Even now?

John Moriarty: Yeah. And I've had great mentors and I've, I've also had people that fell short,

but that's okay because I recognized it, right?

And human beings, nobody's perfect.

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah. But I'm that person that I'm a great mentor for you.

If you're that 20-percenter that wants to be a 5-percenter or a 1-percenter,

because you can match my drive, you can you will do things that I won't have

to ask you. And also you're thinking of always "What's next?

What else can I do? I achieve this, okay.

What's next?" So that's always been my drive.

I can't sit still. The person that just wants to be coached or is just content or just

happy with what they're experiencing. I had to tell myself,

"You know what? Not everybody has the same drive. Not everybody has the same goals or

objectives. And also two, they don't have to succeed at the same level

to be in addition to the company." Look at it very simply.

People can be one of four things they can add,

they can multiply, they can subtract or divide.

And if they're adding, that's great.

Right? That's singles and doubles in... in baseball, right? Very seldom are you going to

find somebody that helps you multiply your business. Now, when you do,

that's where you want to put as much energy and drive and push them,

and... Those are the kind of people I love to motivate.

But I also feel like if I have to sit there and,

it could be a generational thing, but if I have to be the one that is

constantly coming up to you and giving you a,

"Hey buddy, that's a good job or job well done or great job on that presentation or

anything." Like if I notice something where you pushed yourself and you did really well

and you felt that, and you're somebody that has been looking for that opportunity,

and now you have it, I'm going to totally call that out.

But I'm not going to do that on a daily basis because like sometimes the daily basis is

just about the grind.

Scott Leese: Yeah.

John Moriarty: Most of the time...

Scott Leese: You don't need an attaboy for...

John Moriarty: No!

Scott Leese: ...every single thing.

John Moriarty: Yeah, like 90% of the time, whatever you do that you're really good at,

the stuff you're doing really sucks.

And nothing proves that point better than when my son did an internship with us last

year, and he came home and it was the first week or whatever,

and he came... Maybe it was the first day... He came home and my wife said, "how was it

today?" She's like, "mom, it's so boring, so boring." Like financial

stuff. The spreadsheets, like the calls, like the calls with client

are like sitting in a meeting with clients like, oh, it's great!

Scott Leese: He likes that part, probably.

John Moriarty: Yeah. But he's like, "Oh my God, sitting there and like, we're going over

notes and reviewing. And then I had to put the data in Salesforce and I did that..."

Scott Leese: That's a salesperson's worst nightmare.

John Moriarty: And I had to put in it for most of the day. So I was like, "Good. Guess what?

That's going to be your life for 90% of the time.

No matter where you go, no matter what you do. Like it's boring.

It's a grind. The stuff that you do, that's the daily stuff that most people say

is boring, like that's what makes you great because you look at that and say,

it's gonna get me one step closer to the stuff I want to know. Because if you don't do

that, you're never gonna be able to experience the highs and the greatness

because you didn't start where everybody else,

like the people that found companies and took it all the way.

They started as founder slash employee number one.

So they know all the stuff that sucks.

That's why they have employees because they're like, I gotta go do this other stuff.

You gotta do this. But guess what? Better you do this,

I'm gonna take you and I'm gonna move you in this spot. We're gonna get somebody else and

they're gonna do the sucky stuff. Yeah, everybody's gotta do the sucky stuff."

Scott Leese: Too many people just want to skip all that part.

John Moriarty: That's like...

Mike Lindstrom: It's sexy.

Scott Leese: I used to say...

Mike Lindstrom: Sexy.

Scott Leese: My job right now is to get so good at this shit,

whatever that shit was, that I never have to do it again.

Mike Lindstrom: Leverage it.

Scott Leese: I never have to do it again. I don't get to skip it.

John Moriarty: Yep.

Scott Leese: I have to get so good at it that I don't have to do it anymore.

John Moriarty: It's like, embrace the suck.

Scott Leese: Yeah.

John Moriarty: Like embrace it. Love it.

Not forever. You love it because you know it's not going to be here forever.

Versus this. Oh, it's like, "oh, you go in my,

I hate my job." Why do you hate your job? Did you just take the job because it's a

paycheck? Well, yeah, if you just took a job because it's a

paycheck, it's gonna suck.

Mike Lindstrom: It's a J-O-B, Just Over Broke.

John Moriarty: Yeah,

Mike Lindstrom: It's not a passion.

John Moriarty: Yeah. So that's that's where it was. My kids it's the passion.

Mike Lindstrom: J-O-B, man. That's what your kid does in high school.

You'll get a job at Jimmy John's.

That's a job. You're just over broke, but you're making money. If you're going to

go out and do your career, you shouldn't have just the J-O-B. But if

you're going to come work in your firm, it's not a J-O-B.

John Moriarty: Yeah.

Mike Lindstrom: This is what you're going to be doing. This is your passion. You're gonna somewhat love

it.

John Moriarty: Yeah.

Scott Leese: There's a difference in the mindset that's still in you when you're little, though. I

mean, I remember my dad used to say, "they call it a job for a reason." His

mindset was just, "It sucks.

Period. It's always going to suck."

John Moriarty: And I do think that generational thing.

So like.

Scott Leese: He's 80 years old, right?

Right.

John Moriarty: You get the whole idea was you go do something whether you love it or not.

It's security. It's a paycheck.

You can take care of your family. And probably at that time,

that job, you probably made enough money where you could take care of your family.

Or if you or if... My dad was a policeman.

So he had his policeman job and he had his secondary.

So you would do things to like make ends meet.

But the whole idea was, "Well, I do that for 30 years.

And depending on those companies, I get a pension,

I got savings, I get Social Security, I'm retired,

I'm good. I did what I was supposed to do.

They told me the American dream was, you make enough money,

get your house, have your three, four kids or whatever,

30 years, boom, you're done.

You retire and that's the gig.

But that's not the gig. So now it's like, well,

most people don't stay at a job 30 months, more than 30 YEARS.

Scott Leese: That's right.

John Moriarty: Right? So that's the other thing too, is this mindset of,

well, if a job at a, at a certain place is just a stepping stone to the next job.

Well, then, how is this job ever going to actually move you forward if you're going

into it thinking, well, I'm not going to be here for that long.

So how does the company benefit?

How do the people that... I mean, you maybe meet some people that you like and

you, you build that little camaraderie in, in the office and maybe that turns into some

friends outside the office... MAYBE.

But most people, if they don't put anything into it,

you're not going to get much out of it.

And then you're gonna... You're just going to be bouncing around. And luckily, I have a lot

of guys that I grew up with, played baseball with.

They're all in sales or run their own businesses.

And it's very different when we're together and talking because you're talking about

things that everybody understands, different industries,

different level, but the bottom line is the same:

the grind, you love it.

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah.

John Moriarty: That's and so to me, it's like, if I love that and I can teach my kids that,

then we're good.

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah.

John Moriarty: Whatever they're going to do. But they have to understand "Yes,

it's going to suck, but that's normal.

The suck is normal. You think it's it's abnormal.

Like I should love what I do.

It's like..."

Scott Leese: Yeah.

John Moriarty: "NO."

Mike Lindstrom: I didn't know Harry did an internship there.

John Moriarty: Yeah,

Mike Lindstrom: I did not.

John Moriarty: Only for a summer. It was fun.

Mike Lindstrom: So when I first started going to St. Louis, I,

I stayed with his family. I remember one time he had to jump in the shower, jump on a call,

and Ellen was out the door and said, "Hey, can you feed Kate?" Because she's like

three or whatever. Do the math.

I mean, well, how old, is she now? 18?

John Moriarty: 18, yeah.

Mike Lindstrom: So I mean, I'm over there in the house and this family and it's just the way it was.

John Moriarty: She'll take food from anybody. So yeah. (laughing)

Mike Lindstrom: But John was always good.

He's he's a wine guy. He...

That's another passion outside of his golf and wine.

John Moriarty: I do enjoy some wine.

Mike Lindstrom: And he he and he knows his stuff. He's the guy. I know his partners will sometimes give

him grief because him... they like to travel.

Vegas a lot and other favorite places, and he'll be the guy with his app taking a

picture of the bottle, trying to see what it is,

am I right? What's the app that you go on?

John Moriarty: Vivino?

Mike Lindstrom: See?

John Moriarty: I use Vivino and it helps when you're at a restaurant with a 40 page wine.

And of course, every...

Scott Leese: Too many options.

John Moriarty: ...every good restaurant.

If they're smart, they overprice the California Cabs because that's what everybody

knows and orders. So my goal is to skip those,

go to the stuff that we like.

But also, you know there's going to be a smaller list and there's always 1 or 2 that

you can pick out. It's a good price. And then always,

whoever's handling their wine, the Som (sommelier) comes over or whatever,

and you pick something, they're like, "Oh, good. Like, oh, you found,

you found our little nuggets that we've been hiding in there." So I like that.

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah.

John Moriarty: And also about two thirds of the time, though,

I'll also pick something that isn't, oh, we,

we just can't find it.

We just ran out. So that's always fun.

I have to then pick a backup.

Mike Lindstrom: You've invested in wine too, right?

John Moriarty: Yeah. Yeah, I call it investing.

My wife calls it over-consuming.

Yeah. You buy... I've bought a lot of wine.

I look at it...

Mike Lindstrom: But it's a good deal.

John Moriarty: It is a good... Yes, it's... It's a...

Scott Leese: Would you invest in wineries?

John Moriarty: No I haven't. So, I started doing like Bordeaux futures and stuff a while ago,

and I don't do it as much anymore because mainly it's like all the work you just have

to do to make sure you can maintain.

Like I've got an off-site place that I store some wine.

And because I, I mean, if you're gonna own wine that you want to

appreciate and value, like you got to keep it well-preserved.

So, you gotta pay somebody to do that because I don't,

in St. Louis, we have basements.

So I don't know if you guys...

Scott Leese: I didn't know that.

John Moriarty: Yeah.

Scott Leese: Thank you.

John Moriarty: That's a that's a big thing in basements.

And most of those basements are homes.

They're century homes, like 120 years old.

So, limestone foundations.

So, it keeps it pretty cool.

Like, you know, 50 degrees.

I don't have like a real fancy cellar, but I,

I keep a lot of wine that we're gonna drink and it's,

it's good, but if it's something I want as an investment,

I'll keep it kind of off-site.

But I, it was a passion.

It started when we went to Half Moon Bay, went to the Ritz Carlton.

They had a wine event on the the the lawn out there.

And this was like amazing.

I was right. It was before my wife got pregnant with our son.

So we joined the wine club.

And then right as the wine was starting to arrive,

we found out she was pregnant. And she literally was like, "YOU can't have any of

that. You have to wait until..."

Scott Leese: OH. One of THOSE

John Moriarty: until...

Scott Leese: One of those.

John Moriarty: So that started my "Well, if I can't have any of this,

I should buy more wine and be right.

I'll be ready to go." And there you have it.

That that's... That's how I got into wine collecting.

Mike Lindstrom: I love it. So we had Sharon Lechter in here today.

29 years ago, she wrote "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" with Robert Kiyosaki,

and she talked a lot about money and beliefs.

She's a speaker. She lives here in town, and she was giving us her breakdown of what

she sees with beliefs about money, whether it's an asset or a liability.

So given that backdrop, you have a very certain,

unique, angle with money to you. And I put our notes together many years ago on

Neurolinguistics. Yes.

And I would say, well, how come people don't know this in your

industry? And you're like, Mike, I'm telling you, neuroeconomics is not

really a thing YRT. But I'm all in on it.

Like, if I'm going to sit down with a couple, I'm going to explain pain,

pleasure, or risk aversion and use these techniques,

for lack of better words, to create a different conversation. So here

we are in 2026. Different economy.

What do you see as wrong when you're sitting down with a couple or a young person?

What's different about the business NOW, money wise and belief wise versus when you

started the practice?

John Moriarty: Well, the interesting thing kind of post Covid is that the world,

I feel like people have access to more information because they're more comfortable

doing Zooms and meeting people that they may never meet face to face.

Like we have clients now that have not met face to face,

but we meet all the time.

And so our business was nothing like that pre-COVID.

But what that does is it kind of opens people up to more access to information,

which means they have an easier opportunity to get challenged in their thinking and then

kind of get in their own way when they're making decisions because it's like,

well, I just have to get all the information before I make a decision.

So for us in our firm and clients we work with,

we feel like communication, education, building trust,

building confidence. That is the most important thing from a financial adviser,

advocate perspective and also understanding what their relationship is with money.

Like how you grew up with money, you have money in different accounts.

Okay, well, what's the purpose of that money? Like just asking a simple question, like,

"You have money in this account? What's the purpose of it?" And they tell you,

and sometimes it's like, "what do you mean, purpose?" I was like, "all

right, you put it there for a reason.

What's the reason?" And then they have to think about it. And sometimes it's like,

"Well, to retire." It's like, "Okay, well, what's your definition of

retirement? Everybody's definition is different." So,

it's... If it has a purpose and it has a definition,

then okay, now we just get...

now you get aligned strategies.

But for people to think, "Oh, well, retirement means the same thing to

everybody." "NO." And then also to like, I know more people and I've,

I've kind of transitioned over probably the last decade working more with entrepreneurs

and business owners because I love the fact that most business owners,

they don't really ever look at retiring.

They just look at maybe slowing down or I'm going to go from a owner-operator to maybe a

professional investor, or they're not wanting to be that person

that's going to sit on the front porch in a rocking chair and drink the coffee,

because they know if they just sit still there,

that's a just a slow path.

Scott Leese: Whittle away.

Mike Lindstrom: Whittle away, absolutely.

John Moriarty: Yeah. So to me, that's, I think understanding the mental aspect,

or just for a lot of people, I think coming out of COVID and learning,

oh, "Well, some bad stuff can happen that I don't have any control over and it really

upends my entire life and how I interact with people and my family." And if you lost loved

ones and friends and all of a sudden you're like,

"I may reevaluate how I save money, what I do,

what I do with it. I might want to go on trips because I'm healthy now..."

Scott Leese: Yeah.

John Moriarty: "I want to like, spend time with people." So it's a different dynamic.

But I think it's to me, it's way more interactive.

Instead of looking at assets on a balance sheet and looking at a number and thinking,

"Okay, I want that number to get to this number." It's really more like, "Okay, well,

if that number's that...

what can I do with THAT number?" So, it's really more driving that purpose,

which I find WAY more enjoyable....

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah.

John Moriarty: ...in the business and with working with entrepreneurs, I get more energy out of

talking to an entrepreneur about what their business is, even if I don't even understand

what they make or what they do.

Scott Leese: But you feel their passion probably a little bit, right?

John Moriarty: Yeah. So the energy from having those conversations,

right? So if I was in a room with entrepreneurs,

there's a higher probability that I might engage,

but at least ask. But then, even with entrepreneurs,

sometimes you could have a person that has a great business, but sorry,

they're an asshole. And I don't need I don't need to talk to them. I don't care what

you've done. I have too little time to spend it letting you fill the room with...

with air. So I'll pass.

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah, yeah. Well, you mentioned earlier about beliefs,

about money coming from things like childhood. Interesting, because I do know a

lot of your backstory because you grew up like a straight middle class.

We're talking about a police officer.

John Moriarty: I'd say lower middle class.

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah, yeah. So you came from that.

John Moriarty: Yeah.

Mike Lindstrom: Was there ever a moment in time as a child or it could be good or bad,

where it was like, "That's never going to happen to me or I'm going to change that."

Was there a moment when you couldn't afford something.

John Moriarty: Oh yeah

Mike Lindstrom: Or something that took place where you said, "This is going to change for my generation

and my kids generation?"

John Moriarty: Yeah, all my entire existence under my parents' roof.

It was realizing what other people had, what I didn't have,

but not in a jealous way, not in an envy any way,

just more of a "Okay, when I get...

when I have the capability to do whatever." That was like a drive.

And it wasn't that I want stuff.

It was more about experiences like going to dinner or travel,

having ANY kind of soda I want in my fridge, just being able to say like,

if I want Coke, I want, it's in there.

And that's a simple thing.

But growing up, we got one kind of soda and it was maybe we didn't get it that week.

Maybe maybe it was the following week. Okay.

Or, I mean, it's just a little stuff that you think about.

But to me, it was more of a drive to be able to say,

okay, if I can afford those things, I can get a nicer car,

we can travel, we can do all that stuff.

I always felt like it was the little stuff that drove you.

And then once you got past it, once that didn't drive you anymore,

then it was like, "Okay, now what's next?"

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah.

John Moriarty: Like, and then can you do that for your family?

Or can you do that for your employee?

Like, can you make their lives better or do whatever and figure out what drives them?

Sometimes when people would say, oh, I wish I could do this or do that,

oh, well, let's, let's figure out how. How do we do that?

Mike Lindstrom: I remember this is probably before Covid 2018 or -19.

It was... maybe it was in 2019.

"So man, John travels a lot, man.

He posts on these trips, he goes on and whatever." And I...

And but I knew your story and I asked I asked this person,

I said, "Do you know his story? Do you know why he likes to travel? Do you know his

story?" And they're like, "No, I don't." I said,

"Well, you should get to know that. So there's a reason why someone likes to travel.

There's a reason why he likes to go to nice dinners.

So maybe you should find out what that is." It's true because you see people post things

and I know people give you grief. Your friends. "Man, why you always post me in

these restaurants?" And I'm like, "But you know, he's doing it for fun. He's

creating memories for his family. Facebook's going to remind him in 20 years where he

was." Just... Just like I do, just like I did.

I'm not on as much as I used to be, but I like it and having those elements.

But to know that you came from that, and now you're creating something completely

different in that paradigm shift, but under getting other people to understand

that, because now you're coaching them, you're coaching a couple, you're coaching

that cop saying, "Buddy, I know exactly what you're going through and

I can help change the history of your family because I've done it."

John Moriarty: So it's funny you mentioned that because, yes,

people do like to give me a lot of grief.

I'm... I'm well aware of it. And it still doesn't stop me.

Mike Lindstrom: No,

John Moriarty: But the cool thing is when somebody will reach out to me and be like,

"Hey, I'm going to Vegas and I got an important business dinner.

I got my crew and we're going out and we're bringing one of our top clients with us." I

know, and I've been my wife and I go to Vegas a ton.

We've been like 60 plus times.

I haven't, we haven't paid for a room... Like everything's comped because of how we travel

and we learn the system, but the restaurants we go to and everything.

When somebody asks me that, "Where should I take them? Like, what should

we do?" I LOVE it. I geek out and I say, "Let me...

Here's three places." "Yeah, here's three places.

Like, go to this place, ask for this person.

You, if you, if you get a reservation on a Wednesday night,

it'd be better, sit in the back.

You guys can talk business, but you have..." And to me,

that's why I do it because other people who see that,

oh, it's not about I'm not bragging.

Mike Lindstrom: No, I know, I Know that.

John Moriarty: But it's... I like to go to nice restaurants,

but I also like to go to places where if I go there enough and the people that work there

recognize you and they appreciate you because you take care of them when you're there. I

call that social capital.

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah.

John Moriarty: And I say if.. If one thing I learned in the past 30 years being in business is if you

build social capital in a community or in places that you go,

that is worth its weight in gold.

Yeah. Because all of a sudden you start to realize,

oh, if I'm a nice person and I'm genuine, I'm authentic and why I'm doing things.

But I also like share that with other people.

Other people will say, "What do you need?

What can I do?" And then my biggest thing is how do I leverage that to help other people?

Yeah, it benefits me, but it can benefit you too.

And I love, LOVE doing that.

Like...

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah.

John Moriarty: And me and my wife, if, if we ever get that opportunity because

somebody will ask, we're like, "Absolutely, like, what do you want to know?"

And so that I, I do get a kick out of that.

Mike Lindstrom: What did the First Vegas thing come in? I never asked that question. I know you guys

have...

John Moriarty: It was what was the...

it was probably like a conference.

Scott Leese: What makes somebody a Vegas person?

John Moriarty: So my wife loves to go to Vegas because we can just...

We get away. Most people don't go to Vegas a lot.

So it's kind of a place that most people don't go. It's a direct flight from St.

Louis, which these days.

Scott Leese: I Know.

John Moriarty: Not a lot of direct flights. So it's...

we... points and everything.

We never pay because we go Southwest and then we use MGM properties and we build up points.

We use their credit card. So we've built up a lot of basically credit.

And we go and the restaurants out there are MONEY.

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah, I agreee.

John Moriarty: Like you're... you're talking some of the best sommeliers,

some of the best chefs.

So we can eat amazingly, four nights in a row,

we can go to a different style restaurant, we can go to different places,

but all on the strip, so super close by.

And we like to gamble a little bit.

We like to maybe stay up, drink a little bit.

We like to sleep in. We like to be pampered, which they love to do in Vegas.

And guess what? When you leave there, the most amazing thing they do is they send

you an email saying, "When are you coming back?" And here's what we want to come back.

I mean, I'm sorry, it's pretty simple.

Mike Lindstrom: They get their hooks in.

John Moriarty: You go there, you spend money and then they're like,

"Hey, please come back and we'll give you more money to spend because we want you.

We want you to come back." And so, we went out there and the first time we got

rooms comped and we had the rooms comped.

We had money to gamble a little bit.

We had some food credit and it cost...

You come home and you're like, "Yeah, we lost money gambling. But that's

entertainment." Yeah, it's gonna happen. But like all the other

stuff you're like, "That didn't cost a lot of money." So it's like that misnomer. Everybody

thinks like, "Oh, Vegas is like super expensive or it's crazy." Well,

yeah, but you don't go to nightclubs and all the other...

Scott Leese: What's your favorite show at the Sphere that you've seen?

John Moriarty: See, that's the thing. So I've been to the Sphere, but we don't go to Vegas for shows.

My wife and I, the best show that we saw, we did Mayfair Supper Club at Bellagio,

which is, like, amazing.

If anybody's ever gonna to go to Vegas, go to Mayfair Supper Club in Bellagio.

It's like a show at dinner on a stage, and it's a vaudeville cabaret.

It's... On my phone, I have a video of these two people on roller skates on a table about

as big as this rug, and he basically puts a rope around his neck and around her neck and

is doing roller skates, and she's like, in the air.

Scott Leese: Oh my God.

John Moriarty: Yeah, that's yeah, that's so I would say that kind of show.

But we don't go, we don't go to any like other shows,

mainly because it kind of like interferes in our schedule,

like.

Scott Leese: Messes up your dinner and wine.

Mike Lindstrom: And sleep and sleep.

John Moriarty: Yeah. Well, yeah. And then gambling late at night. And then you, you win.

So you stay up later and then all of a sudden you're like,

you get back to the room the next morning, you're like, "Okay, I think we won money. Did

we keep the money? We won?" Really?

Did we? But we like Vegas.

It's a... It's a great spot. I think it's like a hidden gem for most people that are

like, oh, no, there's sin city.

Mike Lindstrom: That's the one city that I've been to other outside of California cities where I grew up

in the country that I've been to the most. And it's not been as later in life.

I mean, I was obviously... college, it started at UC San Diego as a as a frat

guy, we'd be the pledges driving up the big brothers from San Diego to Vegas,

doing the $29 a night at the Hooters Hotel or whatever.

But I, I know what you mean.

Monica and I would for a year before kids, we'd fly out there on Christmas night.

You'd land. And there is no one in the taxi line.

And we're like, this is gonna be amazing. No one's here. We can eat, drink,

sleep, nap, and go do whatever the hell we want to do.

And when kids happen, we started doing it less,

but we still enjoy it. Go out there to Vegas and we do it the right way. Like you're

talking about, it's kind of adverse.

You think a financial planner should be telling people you should.

Vegas is probably not a good play.

Scott Leese: I want my financial planner to send me to Vegas more.

Mike Lindstrom: But he does it smartly.

That's going to be the hook of this video. I can't see it. What is John Moriarty from e3

Wealth tells you why it's a smart move to go to Vegas.

John Moriarty: I don't think compliance will let me talk about Vegas. (laughing) That's not gonna

happen. That's not gonna happen.

Mike Lindstrom: I love it. All right, so we wrap up with a couple rapid fire

questions, and then we're going to let you promote whatever you want. So I love asking

the question. Favorite book or books...

Influences? It could be finance or not something in your life that you read that

inspired you.

John Moriarty: So I always like to say "The E-Myth" by Michael Gerber,

but I will also say book that my wife and I listened to on audio was Matthew

McConaughey's "Green Lights".

That was pretty... and he since he narrates it,

that was pretty awesome.

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah.

John Moriarty: Yeah. It's these days getting through a Non-finance book.

It's kind of tough for me, but that was that was pretty good. So I'd say

those two.

Mike Lindstrom: What about quote you live by.

John Moriarty: "It's only money. You can always make more."

Mike Lindstrom: That's a good one.

Scott Leese: That's a good one.

Mike Lindstrom: That's a good one.

Scott Leese: How high up the rankings is Busch Stadium?

Of all the baseball parks that you've been to, it's one of the few that I've never been

to.

John Moriarty: Man. I mean, Scott...

Scott Leese: How high how high up the rankings?

John Moriarty: It's... It's pretty high up there only because obviously it's home park and stuff.

But I will say Fenway Park to Wrigley, Fenway.

It's hard for a guy who's a St.

Louis guy to say Wrigley... Wrigley and Fenway.

The nostalgia there. Like you just.

Scott Leese: Can't beat that.

John Moriarty: You just feel it when you walk in with St.

Louis? It's like their next iteration.

I love the stadium. When it was like astroturf and it was 140 degrees on the field

in the summer, but the players didn't like that because their cleats were melted. Yeah,

but the current view, they did a really good job of like old school

ballpark, open view of that kind of city and stuff.

And it's got a really good feel to it.

So yeah, I'm a little biased there.

Scott Leese: Top ten?

John Moriarty: Oh top three.

Scott Leese: Oh wow.

John Moriarty: I'd say. Yeah, but I'd say Fenway, Wrigley and Busch Stadium are probably up

there.

Scott Leese: All right.

Mike Lindstrom: Yeah, that's a good one. All right. Any financial advice as you close out?

Anything for our listeners?

You got one thing that you would advise people out there,

since you are an expert in doing this for 25 years,

what would you say?

John Moriarty: Talk to your family about money, about financial concepts,

about your reality with money.

Where you are. Never be afraid to tell your kids,

"No, we can't do something because we don't have the money to do that."

Scott Leese: Yeah

John Moriarty: Or "Hey, this is this is the way we live.

This is what we're looking to do." I feel like people that I've met who had that like

real experience with their parents and explain to them,

like, "No, money doesn't grow on trees." They actually learn the value of money as a tool,

right? Like that. It's just a tool that helps you get where you're going, but it's also

something that you have to be realistic about. And if you can just be open and honest

with your partner, or your business partner, your life partner,

your... Your kids, your family members, I think that's the most important thing.

Mike Lindstrom: Good stuff. All right. How do we find you? Websites.

John Moriarty: So website: e3wealth.com.

Me and a couple partners just wrote a book called The Entrepreneur Playbook,

available on Amazon and audiobook.

It'll be out probably in the next couple weeks.

So those are probably the two easiest ways.

Mike Lindstrom: Awesome. John, thanks for coming on, man.

John Moriarty: Guys. Thank you.

Scott Leese: It was great to have you.

John Moriarty: That was amazing.

Mike Lindstrom: Forum. Yes. We're not sitting in a seminar room.

John Moriarty: No, this is great. I love this forum.

Way better.

Mike Lindstrom: It's great. All right.

We're setting up another episode. My man, Scott Leese, Mike Lindstrom.

Another one in the can. What's your story?