Introduction to Goodwin Investment Advisory

Episode 1

Goodwin Investment Advisory founder and President,  Tim Goodwin, CFP® joins the Money PIG Podcast to talk about why, when, and how GIA was founded.

What is compound interest?

When was Goodwin Investment Advisory founded?

What is the Goodlife Pyramid?

What is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?

Download our Investor’s guide to your right-fit advisor, or download Tim’s free book, Exponential Wealth. If you want to schedule an appointment with one of our CFP® Professionals click here. 

The Money PIG podcast is hosted by Reid Trego.  Goodwin Investment Advisory is a Registered Investment Advisory firm regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission in accordance and compliance with securities laws and regulations.  Goodwin Investment Advisory does not render or offer to render personalized investment or tax advice through the Money PIG podcast.  The information provided is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, investment or legal advice.

Transcript

Unknown: 0:08

Welcome to the Money pig podcast brought to you by Goodwin investment advisory, where our mission is to lead people to Financial Peace, independence and generosity. I'm your host Reid trio. And today on the show, we're joined by the one and only founder of Goodwin investment advisory, Tim Goodwin to discuss the origins of G. I A. Welcome to the show, Tim. Thanks, man. excited to finally be here. It's great to have you. Yeah. It's great to have you. So this is our inaugural podcast episode. Right. And we thought very low, low expectations. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. And we thought it would be a great place to start at the start, because you put this firm together 18 years ago? Yeah. 2004. Right. Yeah. And what we want is just people who are or maybe aren't yet clients, right? To get to know how this came about, where our values kind of stand? And maybe where we're going in the future. But what's it look like today versus when we originally started? Sounds good. Sorry, I plan. So what I thought we would do is just go with the journalist questions, the who, what, when, where, why, how, but maybe not in that order. Gotcha. Okay, so what let's we like the idea of starting with why, right? So in 2004? Or maybe before that, why did you decide to start an investment advisory, you know, if the, if there's nerds listening, you know, they might really appreciate this kind of, but learning about compound interest, you know, is maybe where it started. So, like, when you run the math, and you run the calculators, and you say, Wow, I can save, you know, a couple $100 a month, but because of compound interest, I can end up with hundreds of 1000s, if not millions of dollars over time students invested well, and that just totally blew my mind. I think when I started looking at it, I know, Albert Einstein calls it like, the eighth wonder of the world, you know, and he says those that, you know, understand interest, earn it, those that don't pay it, you know, so it's really an interesting thing to wrap your head around that. So anyway, learning about compound interest, I was like, Man, I think this is what so many people are missing. You know, they're missing the, the effect of this compound interest. And so as I learned more about finance and investing, I was realizing, like, wow, there's a lot of fees involved in investing, like, when you don't know what you're doing, this compound interest can get eaten up really fast, by the fees you're paying, whether it's a broker or a product or an expensive investment. So, you know, I think initially, when I was starting the firm, my mission was to help people generate better returns than they would on their own. Right, I figured if they can get better compound interest rates, then they'll have more money to be able to do the things that they want the freedom to do, whether it's being more generous, or, you know, traveling or doing things with family. And so that was a big kind of motive to starting the company was to really try to help people invest and make a better return than they were making on their own. That's awesome. I figured when I asked why you started this company, your answer would be because I think I'm smarter than everybody. I'm definitely not No, no, I think one of the first books that I read was called Winning the losers game. It's by a Harvard professor called Charles Ellis. And, you know, that's when he talked a lot about these fees that are involved and how hard it is to kind of beat the market and Wall Street and kind of this, like, if you can't beat them, join them kind of thing. And you could do that through, you know, certain ways of investing. And so that was really eye opening to me. And so it was more of helping people do that. Awesome. Yeah. All right. So that's 2004. Yeah. Tim, good. One. pretty young guy at the time. Yeah. Yeah. decides I'm gonna start an investment advisory. Who else was there? Yeah. So is there. You know, I think what's part of the interesting part of the origin story is that actually worked for I, when I got out of college, I worked for a family friend that I had grown up knowing in the neighborhood and he had said, hey, you know, I'd be really interested in you know, offering a job when you get out of school. And so he had started this small financial services company. And he did, he did hire me right out of college. But it kind of quickly realized that this guy, like just didn't have systems and didn't have checks and balances, and just like he wasn't calling his clients back or communicating well, and then I went, got my licensing, and I went to try to register it with his firm and his firm wasn't registered. And I was like, what is happening? You know, and so I tried really hard to help the firm get there because it was a new firm. But at the end of the day, this guy would just not get the licensing and get the registration. I realized, like, wow, this is not really an ethical, moral way to run a company and so, so I left you know, and you know, this stuff worry, you know, you're kind of smirking because I'm getting there. But you know, he crazy and unfortunately and sadly started a Ponzi scheme after I left and got caught and is about halfway through serving a 20 year sentence in jail. Yeah. So I'm really grateful for whatever that was, whether it was God or a moral compass or a combination of both. I've just like, I've got to get out. You know, this guy doesn't have ethics and morals that I have. And so I left. And then, you know, really thought, You know what I'm gonna, I'm gonna move forward and start my own company. But yeah, you're right, technically, I was 20 years old at that time. So, yep. So out of the spare bedroom of my house, you know, with a, you know, hope prayer and a fax machine and a Panasonic fax machine that double does a phone. That's, you know, that's how we started the company. But but really, at that time, I did start the company to help people manage their money better. It was really about that specifically, how to get better returns on their investments. Yeah. So you you started out by learning how not to do it. Right. Exactly. Then otherwise, yeah. Then I have to bring up to you mentioned college. I know that you're very proud. alum. Yes. Very college. Yes. Yeah. So Barry is a very small school and northwest Georgia. Max is somewhere around, you know, 2100 undergrad students. But it's the largest campus in the world. That's true. You could say it's in Rome, and people would think you studied abroad. It is in Rome. Yeah. But Rome, Georgia. Yeah. Which is Oslo. I mean, it's a great town for different certainly different reasons. Yeah. So yeah, yeah. So I went to that school. Love that school, met my wife there. We got married there. And I still try to stay pretty active. I was actually getting to speak to some students last week now. Nice. Yeah. Okay. And where was this all happening? So you graduate from Barry yet? I don't know where you went next. Because you went to high school in Marietta. That's right. But Then where were you opening? Yeah. So the we were in Canton, Georgia. And so I just started out of my home there. So just working in that spare bedroom? So working from home before it was cool, I guess? I don't know. Yeah, I think you're right. You were Yeah, yeah. You got COVID protocols before? Totally. We haven't exist, figure it out. And now just to kind of go and then and now. Yeah, yeah, we're talking you. We've just built this beautiful new office. Like it is. Yeah, whatever your faults pretty awesome. Yeah. And Woodstock. From starting in your spare bedroom. You now have clients in how many states is something like 20 to 22? States? Somewhere around 20? Yeah. Amazing. That is pretty. Pretty crazy. Pretty wild. Yeah. About? Yeah. So it's grown a lot. And then when we talk about who started with just you, right, and your fax machine? Yeah, double this phone. Let's relationship man, that fax machine that you did? That found a lot, right. And now what's the team look like? Yeah. So it was really like quite a few years before I consider building a team. I remember talking to my wife about it, because sometimes advisors that, that grow books of business, kind of just outsource everything, you know, and hire vendors and that kind of thing. But, you know, I really talked to her and she was like, I think, I think we should build a team. I think you can do that. So I actually remember like, what car was driving and where what road I was on and where I was when When Morgan I had that conversation. But anyway, so yeah, so now we have a team. Technically, it's 15 Including me. What kind of car were you driving? It was a 1997 forerunner. Oh, yeah. Really? Yeah. And so finally, yeah, after 333,000 miles, you know, decided to get a different vehicle, but I didn't that I miss my foreigner ever since I think you have a you appreciate it. That baby. Really? Really did. Yeah, that's awesome. The why you started the company. Yeah. Was one thing in 2004 changed a little? I think it probably has, yeah, tell me, what's the why now? Well, and you share it, like at the beginning of the podcast, right? Our mission. Like before, when I started, my mission was to help people generate the greatest return so they could give more back to their communities, their churches, their families, that kind of thing. But I kept having clients, like, ask me for advice, you know, and that was throwing me off one because I'm super young, too, because I didn't want to give them any advice. I just wanted to manage their money and do it better than you know, hopefully, they were doing it saving some fees, get him some better returns that kind of thing. But after about six years of of trying to say no, no, no, I'm not gonna give you advice. I've finally just kind of acquiesced and said, Okay, we won't just be a money management firm, will be a money management firm. And, and a wealth planning firm, basically a financial planning firm, you know, so we'll still manage money for all of our clients. In the case of they need advice, we will start, we will start providing that advice, included in you know, the fee that we charge to manage the assets, you know, that gets it's been 12 years now. So that's pretty cool. We got a bunch of CFPs on the team. We're, we're about to have some more. We've got some really great strategic partners. We've had some really great experience and tools, and great conversations and processes to help clients with planning decisions. You know, and like you said, the mission now is leading people to Financial Peace. independence and generosity. And so those are more of the conversations we have with clients on how do we help you get peace? How do we have either a plan for independence or a plan to maintain it? And if they want to invite us in on the conversation of generosity, what does that look like for them in terms of money in terms of time? That kind of thing? Peace, independence, generosity. Yeah, hence the peg. I've been trying to get the marketing team to let me use pigs for a while. So yours? Yeah, yeah, exactly. So okay, so you're talking about financial planning? I think that actually is a great segue into one of the great tools that you I don't know who created this, I'll give you credit might have been a guy named Louis as well. Yeah. But the good life pyramid? Yes. That's kind of the basis for what we do. Yeah. Let's unpack that a little bit. Yeah, it's a really unique thing about the firm. If there was a high school student who said, Tim, I want to be a financial advisor, what should I major in college, I would tell them to major in psychology. That's what I would tell them if you double major add finance, you know, but we can teach skills, you know, but like, investing is so much about behavior. You know, right now, we're talking, it's October 2022. You know, the market has been going down pretty much since the beginning of the year, and we're down somewhere around 20 25%, depending on what benchmark you're looking at. So, you know, that gets to be tough, like, the amygdala of fear part of our brain, the lizard part of our brain that helps us survive is kind of freaking out right now. Like, what do we do? Or my 401k recover? Can I still retire? Should I still be investing in the stock markets, all that's going on. So the behavior we have around investing, I think, is very, very important. And so there's a psychological aspect to our clients, there's the left side of the brain that says, hey, I'm investing in this market supposed to give me you know, whatever 810 12% return whatever it is, but there's the risk and the behavior side of your brain, the right side of the brain that's kind of freaking out and looking at the risk and not sure that this is worth it, you know, so having the more acumen around psychology and behavior becomes probably the most helpful thing to be able to talk to clients and investors about. So that being said, one of the thing that's always been the most fascinating thing to me is the Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Right? If you're not familiar with the Maslow's hierarchy of needs, like at the bottom, like, it really starts with like, basic things, like safety, and food and water, right. And so once you have that, then you move up to, you know, wanting to be part of a community wanting to get to know people, right? And then this kind of esteem, the self esteem, kind of like I'm good at something I want to be known for that. And then the very top of the of the Maslow's hierarchy of needs, is this more self actualization, where you're starting to kind of think like, what's the meaning of life? And and does God exist? And if so, what does that mean? For me, you know, so because it's hard to talk about, think about the meaning of life if you don't have water, food and shelter. Hey, exactly, so exactly at this. Yeah. Like, my dad's a preacher. I grew up as a preacher's kid my whole life in church. And you know, these are these missionaries talk about how you like, we can go and, and share the gospel with people, but if they don't have food and water, like they can't, they're not open to that they can't hurt us. Like we've got to go in and care for these people. People don't care what you know, to they know that you care. And so it's interesting, too, there's, there's, there's an aspect of finance that kind of layers over on this Maslow's hierarchy of needs. And so that circles back to what what you were bringing up read, which is what we call the good life pyramid. So the good life pyramid is our financial version of the Maslow's hierarchy of needs. That's awesome. Yeah. And when we sit down to plan with clients, we started the basis of that. Yeah, and we work our way up. Right. So um, so I'll talk about it for a second. It's hanging on the wall behind you, so you won't get it? And maybe he did that on purpose. That's pretty smart. So yeah, so we, we, when we're talking to folks about money, we realize that a lot of times are coming in because there's something around money management, right? Maybe there's cash flow issue, maybe there's a lot of debt they're trying to get rid of, or they're wanting to build wealth, I'm not really sure if they've got to make some decisions, do I buy a house? Do I refinance, do I invest in the stock market, that kind of thing. And then they're trying to figure out how risky they should be with their investments, they're looking at how to allocate those, they might be looking at insurance to make sure that if something happens to them that their family's taken care of. And then everyone always wants to pay as little taxes as possible, right? So we can kind of help them think through that. But when you can get a lot of these kinds of money management things handled, then you start thinking more about Okay, so that's handled. What about goals? Like, let's pay off our house by this time, let's help our kids for college. You know, I want to retire, what does that look like? I want to be a real estate investor. What does that look like? I want to get to charity. So then we can talk about goals. But beyond that, kind of gets to this peace part that we've talked about, right? Because ultimately, you want to feel organized and in control, want to worry less about your money, you want to have more free time. And you want to know that not just your kids but maybe your aging parents that there's a plan for them, they're taken care of. Right so we call that kind of the peace of mind. And the top is the self actualization part of the Maslow's hierarchy of need. needs, which is, you know, living life with purpose, building a legacy. What do you want to be remembered for? How do you want to spend your years where you're financially independent? And it's hard to think about those things? Yeah, if your cashflow is negative on that basis, that's right. That's right. So so we're not maybe bringing up those things, if we're meeting with, with an individual or a couple that needs to handle some of those money management things before they can really think about goals and, and peace of mind. That's awesome. Yeah. But um, you met, you mentioned, Louis, and Louis was a designer that helped us put this together, years ago, shout out to Louis back out there. And actually, Bain Capital consulting group out of Massachusetts kind of helped to put something in between the Maslow's hierarchy of needs and finance, they built kind of a similar version of this for business and then fidelity. So it's been a been a couple of folks that have been involved in what our output is, but it is a unique way of how we help our clients structure the conversations, like, what are the goals? How are we moving up the pyramid, that kind of thing? Great. So all right, we have just a couple minutes left here. And I want to ask, so, you know, maybe somebody has visited the website, they clicked on this, because they're like, Well, my other option is to click and enter my information. Sure. So yeah, so maybe this is an intermediary step for them. What do you want somebody like that to know about? The team or our approach? A lot of a lot of they ask that question, that's a great one. Because we do have a process for folks that are interested in looking at our services, and whether we're a good fit for them. And the first step of that process is to schedule an intro call. And like you're saying, like, in order to get that intro call schedule, you have to ask, you have to answer a few questions about yourself. And I know that can be like, Wow, what are these folks going to do? They're going to sell your information, we're not going to sell your information. No, we're just trying to make sure we get you to the right person to have the right conversation to get you the best help. But what I can be confident about is, if you schedule that intro call and you have that conversation, you will talk to somebody that genuinely cares about you, that genuinely wants to get to know you, and is really gonna ask you some questions that will be helpful for you to think about, even if you don't take the next step. In our process, I think we actually consider like the intro call, like the time that we pay people to do intro calls for free for people that are interested as almost like the ministry arm of our company, because we want it to be helpful. And we want it to be something that they can walk away from and go, Wow, those are some questions I should be thinking about. And we really encourage you to do like, if if you do have a partner or a couple, you're married, and you schedule that interim intro call, I highly recommend that you do it with your spouse, with your partner, even if you're the one that makes a lot of decisions about the money. It's really cool to start involving your spouse and where the money is or isn't, you know, what kind of goals that you have for the future and to get them to be a part of it. Because ultimately, if you do decide to have a first meeting with an advisor, we're going to want we're going to want the couple have to be there. It's so interesting, because in I think almost every marriage relationship, especially there's one partner who is interested, and one who's kind of not sure, and that person doesn't want to show up. Yeah, yeah. But they really kind of should, even if they don't want to Well, and I get like if one spouse is like Well, look, you know, babe, I'm gonna go find some folks and narrow, narrow the list down for us. Okay, thanks. Thanks for doing that, you know, but if you do feel like that we might be if you would consider us as kind of one of the top lists and then try to get your spouse involved as soon as possible. It's okay to not bring them to the first meeting. But often we end up having them come back for a second first meeting because they brought their spouse and they want us to kind of go through again, which we are happy to do. Sure. Yeah, sure. But at that point, you're not committed. So you've invested a lot. You invested a lot of time yeah. So if you've added and you know, get them on the intercom and get see what how they feel about the interCall, the questions, we asked the person that's on our team during the actual call that kind of thing. Great. Great. And so are there other information for listeners? Obviously, our website is just hacked fuel, yeah. Blogs and trusted partners and resources. Yeah, I love that. You always want to start with the website, get to know the team. If you haven't gotten to like the about us page yet. Maybe get to know me and more of the advisors here a little bit better. The next thing I would do is to read reviews. We have a lot on Google. Those are clients. Those are people that know us to be fully clear, we do not pay anybody to leave reviews. So these are clients that have taken some time to really share some things to help folks that are considering scheduling an intro call or meeting with us. We really ask people hey, can you just share how we made you feel, you know, as a review, so we've got a lot of reviews, check those out. The third thing that I would say is if you are active on Facebook, it might be interesting to look at our Facebook page as well. Because there you'll see if you're active on Facebook, you'll see if any of your friends like our page So I think that's an interesting thing that like, if you are really doing some, like full due diligence on us, and you want to try to talk to people that maybe have been following us, or potentially our clients, that's, that's one way as well. And like REITs, and we create a lot of content, do a lot of things and make some videos and things like that. So you'll find that on Facebook, as well, as you too. And we have a podcast and now we have a podcast. Yeah, Skiba go and pull up, pull up some episode that looks interesting to you. That's right. The goal is not to be the number one podcast in America in the world, by the way, it's just to have some content out there for people to get to know us a little bit. Yeah. Fun. Yeah, have a little fun, a little fun. But we really are proud of what we've created here. Full disclosure, I've been a client here for quite a long time, you know, and disclose how we're going 14 or 15 years, something like that. So it wasn't your first. Yeah, it's pretty close in. Yeah. And so yeah, that's been just a great experience. And I think sometimes when I talk to clients, I tell them that and their eyes get a little bit wide. They're like, wow, yeah, I hear all that. That's right. And you're still there. Through 2008 That's true. What other things well, yeah. So so the COVID You know, 2020 fitting wasn't all that fun either. Kind of being flat, but you know, yeah. 2020 was, it was quicker than what we're experiencing right now. Because we came out of that. Yeah, we all got spoiled. spoiled. Yeah. Yeah. But all these latest hits have been 2001 2009. It's they've been caused by like jolt to the economy. Hmm. I could be wrong. Yeah. Sounds great. spam or uncertainty. And that that squeezes down. So yeah, awesome. Well, it's been a pleasure. Yeah. Thanks very much. Great time. Thank you. The money pick podcast is hosted by Reid trego. Goodwin investment advisory is a registered investment advisory firm regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission in accordance and compliance with security laws and regulations. Good when investment advisory does not render or offer to render personalized investment or tax advice through the money pic podcast. The information provided is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial tax investment or legal advice.