In this episode of WealthTalk, Christian Rodwell and Kevin Whelan reflect on the fundamental principles of successful wealth building as we head into the new year.
They discuss the importance of understanding your ‘why’ to stay motivated, the critical first step of achieving financial security, and how protection lays the foundation for building wealth.
The seven pillars of wealth take center stage as a proven roadmap to success, while recurring income emerges as a vital measure of progress.
Christian and Kevin also explore the power of accountability and coaching in accelerating results and stress the importance of taking small, consistent actions to create long-term financial freedom.
If building wealth and leaving a legacy are part of your goals, this episode is packed with valuable insights to help you get there.
Tune in to hear actionable advice that will inspire you to take charge of your financial future.
Resources Mentioned In This Episode:
>> Live webinar with Kevin & Christian - Tuesday 21st January 2025 [Register Now!]
Next Steps On Your Wealth Building Journey:
>> Join the WealthBuilders Facebook Community
>> Schedule a 1:1 call with one of our team
>> Become a member of WealthBuilders
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Christian Rodwell (00:00.108)
as long as you can find something that really sits deep inside your core. Because if you find something that's fundamentally a strong reason why, when things get difficult, you carry on going, you won't just give up. That's where it really sits. Because when things get tricky, and they do, you know, we've had budgets, we? We've had farmers going mad. We've had pensioners crying foul of the inheritance tax rules. These things are always going to come. But rather than bemoan them, it's much better to have that
deep seated feeling that if something's happening, you're going to learn what to do that's best. If it's important enough to you, you'll follow through.
Christian Rodwell (00:40.526)
Welcome to this week's episode of Wealth Talk. My name is Christian Rodwell, the Memchip Director for Wealth Builders, joined today by our founder, Mr. Kevin Whelan. Hi, Kevin. Hello, Chris. Good to be with you again. And you know what? I'm going to be with you in person and Paul for a couple of days of strategic planning ready for 2025. I'm looking forward to that. Yeah, our end of year get together where we review and refine for the year ahead. So yeah, we're really looking forward to that. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll get the round of golf in this time though.
know what? Everything's completely waterlogged. Everybody's getting what we call in Newcastle, it's a bit claggy. You're getting stuck in the clots. You can't really do anything. Your ball won't go anywhere, Chris. So let's leave the golf clubs at home and just concentrate on a bit of work and a bit of nice wine and a bit of nice food and just enjoy each other's company as we always do. And talking about reflecting, this will be our last podcast episode of 2024. So
going to be reflecting back today on some of the fundamentals, the principles of successful wealth building. And Kevin, we've been teaching this for quite a while now, you for a little bit longer than me. We kind of know what works now, don't we? We've got enough experience of our members who make it and unfortunately a few who don't, right? And we see that success does leave clues and we're going to run through what some of those simple steps are on the podcast today. Fair enough.
Should I have worn a Christmas jumper if it's the last one of the year? Well, I don't have one. So no, don't worry. We'll skip the jumpers for today. Minced pies and a bit of mulled wine, though, I'm sure will be not far away. I love a bit of that. Normally in somewhere like Munich or Budapest or somewhere like that, where you can enjoy the scenery as well. All right. So let's get into this, Kevin. yeah, we're going to pull out, we love the number seven, right? Wealth Builders is built around.
the seven pillars of wealth that's at the heart of our roadmap. It's at the heart of what we teach. If you're to build recurring income, you need to understand what those seven pillars are. And we like seven steps. So we're going to pull out kind of randomly. There's no particular order to this, Kevin, really, but seven key things that we know. If you're listening right now, you're not yet at the financial place that you want to be. If you're still financially insecure and you haven't yet locked in security or even better independence,
Christian Rodwell (03:00.6)
then you need to take stock of what we're going to talk about today. Okay. All right. So it all begins with your reason why Kevin, doesn't it? There's got to be something that drives you and an emotion, a want, and that could be all sorts of things for people, couldn't it? Well, it can be anything. It doesn't have to be the death of a family member like it was for me. It can be anything that drives you forward or drives you away from something. So as long as you can find something that
you that really sits deep inside your core. It's really a fundamental thing. That's why I think you believe it's emotionally because if you find something that's fundamentally a strong reason why when things get difficult, you carry on going, you won't just give up. Then that's where it really sits because when things get tricky and they do, you know, we've had budgets, haven't we? We've had farmers going mad.
with their tractors in London, we've had pensioners crying foul of the inheritance tax rules. These things are always gonna come, but rather than bemoan them and stay in a place of almost...
inertia because you're just moaning about what's going on. It's much better to have that deep seated feeling that if something's happening, you're going to learn what to do. That's best. So I guess the point is if it's important enough to you, you'll follow through. If it isn't, you'll find any excuse to stop. And we're seeing that, aren't we? People just, they stop before they've made enough progress because that reason why wasn't compelling them.
to take the small steps, often small steps is all that's needed. But because they visualize the problem is too big for them and therefore they don't start at all. And it's usually in that embedded reason why. So you've got to find it. I know you struggled with yours for quite a while, Chris, and we used to talk about that. But for everybody there has to be one. Otherwise, an object at rest stays at rest and inertia sets in and it's crumbs. That's the hardest thing to overcome.
Christian Rodwell (05:14.476)
When it really sets in, you don't do anything. Yes, and linked to this, we often talk about the freedoms, don't we? And that's a driver for a lot of people is to have the freedom of time, freedom to be with their family, obviously financial freedom, generally at the top of that list as well. But that can often be an emotional pull to have something or as you say, less of something. So I think it's good to take stock for yourself listening right now. Is it the carrot or the stick? Which one, which direction are you going?
It's an interesting one and it's different for everyone. I think at the heart of my freedoms is freedom of control. You know, I just, as my family know, Kev doesn't like being told what to do and I don't. I want to be in control. I want to be my own master of destiny. And I've always known where I was going from whatever it is now, 29 years of age, when I started on the journey. It was just...
It made me unstoppable, Chris. And I'm not saying that in any other way. If you can find something as deep and as powerful as that, you are unstoppable. If it's harder for you, it's probably better to take some time and try and identify which freedom you most associate with, whether it's, as you said, time, money, creativity, control, location, relationships, so you can spend more time with your family and be who you want to be with. What's the core thing for you?
And family's often at the very heart of that. But if you don't find it, as I say, when times get tough, you run the risk of not keeping taking those steps that you need to take. And that's always the starting point with our members is to get them to really have a good think about that. And once you've got that locked in, then you need to set your goal. So this is where we start looking at the numbers, Kevin, and we talk about five levels of wealth at wealth builders. But for most people, it's either
to reach financial security as the next step or financial independence, depending how far on the journey they are. I guess really good for us to define the two, Kevin. So financial security is a number we often refer to as like the lockdown lifestyle, isn't it? It's the essentials. Yeah, I think so. We remember, because it's not that far away, if you think about it. It's like, what if it was now three years ago? And you remember you had to cut back, you couldn't have holidays.
Christian Rodwell (07:38.602)
you couldn't go to restaurants, know, there were things you just couldn't do, but you still have to pay your bills, you still have to pay utilities, you still have to have a life. And that lockdown lifestyle, we often refer to it as a of a compromised life, but a possible one that gets you to a place where all of your bills are really met. And the value of understanding that number is that's the point at which if you choose to, you could give up trading time for money.
because you'd give yourself more time to focus on the acceleration towards independence. And that's a key thing. So we often see our members when they reach financial security and everybody's got a different figure. So we don't try and impart figures on anyone. Everybody's life's different. But whatever the figure is for our members, when they hit security, it often gives them a sense of freedom already because they know they could give up the day job or they could give up trading time for money.
in whatever they're doing and focus entirely on wealth building as a new form of income stream, as a new form of business, as a new form of enterprise. And that's freeing in itself. And then you give yourself more time. You can dedicate more of your intellectual time, your financial time, your relationship time, your collaboration time, because you're not doing anything else. Your focus is to build your wealth.
the wealth of your family, and then eventually, of course, the highest level, level five, which is the legacy level, which is where I spend more time helping people understand how to create an incredible legacy for the next generation, which supports the generation after that and the generation after that. So these are all stepping stones. And you can't go from financial insecurity to legacy. You can't do it because you've got nothing to leap. You have to go through those incremental steps.
from insecurity to security, security to independence and independence onwards to legacy. that's just the important part to understand and put some numbers in play. They don't have to be set in stone, but they can be approximate, but without a plan, it's just a wish list. So you need some numbers in there somewhere. So define your number, that'll be step number two there. And then it makes it really easy to work backwards from there, Kevin, because we know...
Christian Rodwell (10:03.9)
can calculate how much recurring income is coming in today. We should all roughly know how much that is. Yeah, unfortunately it is. And then you know what the gap is, right? So now we can start to think about a plan. So I think the next step then Kevin, probably the third one, is looking at what have you already got in your life that perhaps is not being utilized. So this is the word leverage that's so important in wealth building. You can't build wealth without leverage.
I mean, that's just a matter of fact. in the program, we talk about F-I-R-S-T, the five forms of leverage. And you start off with finance, looking at what you've already accumulated in your life. You've got something. And usually it's underperforming. What can you do to make that better? And there are so many different ways to do that without getting into those details. But there are always ways to make improvements or reduce costs in things that you're doing so you can start to see you're making improvements.
developing an interest often, is the eye, having a strong intellectual interest in something. What do you already know you really enjoy? What are you already in flow doing? Because it's easier to build wealth from a place of what you're already doing than it is to learn things new. I often talk to business owners and they say, I'd love to build wealth outside of my business. I well, why don't you build wealth in it?
because you're already doing it day to day. You're already putting in 40, 60, or even 80 hours a week. know, most business owners are spending a lot of hours in their business. If you could focus on getting some recurring income inside your business, then you're creating wealth from the activities you're already doing. you know, knowing that and seeing the mountain of value you're already standing on, but you're overlooking is an important thing because often we're looking away from ourselves rather than looking inside as to what we already.
Um, the relationship part is, is critical. We believe in a culture of who, not how, if you're trying to find a solution to a problem, somebody's already found it. And our role in wealth building is to try and help people connect to somebody who is the who, who can help them make that distinction, that intellectual shortcut, that, that perspective they haven't seen for themselves to be able to make that change. And of course, you know, I know you're big on
Christian Rodwell (12:30.39)
software and tools of technology that you can bring, but software and systems are great to leverage your time and time being the last one. So you have to give some time to building wealth. And we normally specify a day a month as a minimum. And when you get to security, when you've got all the days in the week, you could do that. And so once you start to think about those things and find
ways that you can squeeze a bit more juice out of each of those five areas, then you're well on your way to be making those improvements to start building that recurring income. So taking stock there of what you've got in your life already, understanding the assets. And I see a couple of things that happen at this stage, Kevin, either people suddenly get overwhelmed and too much choice, or they get too excited and they just want to start building wealth and
doing strategies and we pause them at that stage and we say before taking any further action, make sure you've got things protected. So this is where we introduce what we call the roof and this is looking at things like wills, lasting powers of attorney, understanding trusts, home ownership. We've got a whole list of items which we go through with our members and- I'm surprised that there are seven. Yes, there are. Kevin, why is this so important to get this done before you start building?
more assets and more income streams. well look, building wealth, as you say, is exciting. Making improvements and creating value and seeing increases in your worth, they're exciting things. They're things you can get behind. But unfortunately, life doesn't always deal us that hand. We all know somebody who's been ill. We all know somebody who's died unexpectedly. We all know things go wrong.
And when you start to build your wealth and you've identified your reason why and say it's a strong family thing, then you would want your family to be wealthy, whether you make it or not, would you not? And therefore thinking about at least creating the legal framework, what we just call basic planning, know, it's just basic putting the fundamentals in place is making sure you've made a will.
Christian Rodwell (14:53.044)
making sure you've got the two lasting powers of attorney, which is the one to deal with finance. So if your finances have to be dealt with because you can't, somebody's there to take care of that. If you're ill and extraordinarily unwell, someone who knows exactly what your wishes are, they're the basics, right? So when you do the basics, a few hundred pounds, know, definitely a few hundred pounds, not more than a thousand pounds probably to get all that done. Once that's done, you've got peace of mind.
You know then your legal's in place. The next is to look at where do you have any insurance you've already got? Have you got insurance with work? Have you got insurance on your mortgage? What have you got? You've already acknowledged there's a risk to your life and you want to be sure that your family get a benefit should the worst happen. Well, most people just take what they get or they choose a figure that seems to align with a debt.
My view is different on this. It's to work out what's the amount of money that if it were invested, let's say, in a traditional way, you'd give enough money to make your family at least financially secure. And you can work that out because if the average return on an investment, say, if it was with traditional financial planner, would be, 4 % or if you know what you're doing, 5%, then you need 20 times that figure.
You know, if you've already got insurance, you can take that off and then you can say, well, I would like the balance to be paid for by some form of insurance policy. And insurance is really cheap if it's only for a duration. And if you want to plan to build wealth in five to seven years, you could take a 10 year plan just in case you, you know, you, get set back a little bit and provide a very large sum of money for your family.
should the worst happen to you. And as long as you put it in trust, just a document, it's not complicated word, just tick a box. It means if something happens to you, that money goes, inherits the tax free to your spouse or partner or next generation. And they've got enough money to be financially secure for their lives. So you know that if something happens to you, they're going to be okay for the rest of their life. They're not going to be struggling. They're not going to be penny pinching. They're not going to be...
Christian Rodwell (17:21.696)
Financially devastated as well as emotionally devastated and and I don't think people do that. I think traditionally it's insurance is not regarded as Something that's valuable, but to me it's extraordinarily valuable and that's why I was very highly insured at the start of my wealth building life But don't have any insurance now because I don't need it and that's the thing is you build your wealth up You reduce the need for insurance as it goes down at least this as far as the wealth side is concerned. I'm not talking about
health insurance or inheritance tax insurance or those sorts of things. They're beyond the scope of this, just putting those building blocks in place. And if you've got a business, by the way, and many of our clients have got some kind of business or as they build their wealth, they create a business because they become more entrepreneurial. You can get that insurance paid for with corporation tax relief. In other words, the government will pay 25 % of the cost. And in an era where taxes are going up and up and up,
You want to take as many tax breaks as you can and that's just one of those. Giving away some golden nuggets here. You what? You've got to shut me up Chris because I'm just going. it's good stuff. No, really, really helpful. Thank you. So let's take stock of where we are then so far. So we said, right, you've got to have a why. So we started there and then you've got to know kind of what's the target, right? And what does that look like? What's the number?
and then take stock of what you've got in your life. So really assess what you already have that perhaps is under-leveraged and make sure that what you do have is well protected, which is now where we can sort of press go and start looking at really the heart of our roadmap, which is the seven pillars of wealth and the only seven asset classes that you can use to generate recurring income. And it's recurring income, Kevin, that we focus on with our members because that's money that is predictable, that comes in hopefully
every month and you can spend it. of course, a combination of capital and cash flow is ideal. Yeah, but I think wealth is best measured in recurring income. mean, I think Robert Kiyosaki said wealth is measured by how long you can sustain yourself if you lose your primary source of income. So if you lose your job, you lost your business. How long could you keep going?
Christian Rodwell (19:44.34)
And for most people it's a few months. But if you've got a recurring income, at least at security level, you can go forever. So it's better to be financially free forever than it is to have a few quid in the bank as a nest egg just in case. It's just a much better plan than just accumulating money and hoping you might be okay by the time you get into your 60s. It's just a better way to plan it. So recurring income primarily.
And you'd mentioned earlier on, Chris, the concept of overwhelm. And many people, when they discover wealth building as a principle and discover wealth builders in particular, they can easily get overwhelmed because there are, each of the seven pillars, know, for example, in property, there could be 20 strategies. In pensions, there could be five different ways to achieve a different result. So if you start to multiply those numbers by all the seven different
pillars, could get a hundred different options that you could be considering. You don't want to be doing that because your mind will fry. You'll blow up your brain completely. So you have to allow a coach or a guide or someone to say, right, given your leverage, given where you are, given your target, given what you told us you're interested in, these are the two you should work on. Two. Always better to start with two. One is not enough.
because you're getting counterpoints of reference, you're doing something deliberately, you've got a different speed of return, because different assets work at different paces, just like different crops will grow in different timeframes and so on. So you've got to think about the planting, the nurturing and then the reaping. And that's just like nature. So if you've got two, you've got a different opinion, you're building different levels of experience, you're making different levels of connection to people, it's better to have
to
Christian Rodwell (22:09.416)
because you'll do so much more to not let somebody else down than you will let yourself down and Give yourself an excuse when you're just too overwhelmed but if you're asked to do one thing a month, which is another important part of it I'm sure will I mention that but because that's important to about the regularity of action But just having somebody to help you stay accountable to those two things and ideally a coach because then
they can genuinely hold you accountable every single month. think you already know where I'm heading next then, Kevin. So I reckon choosing your pillars and you said pick two there and obviously within a pillar there are strategies. again, deciding on what the right ones are for you, that's probably our fifth step. yeah, then step number six, make sure you've got a coach, a guide, someone to keep you accountable and keep you on track every month. I think that's the way that we've determined it works.
learned a bit of a lesson over the years, haven't we? And we always learn lessons, which is why we're not arrogant at all. We've got the humility not just to sit together, but to get feedback. And often you reading feedback from our customers. And it's not just the ones that are five star reviews that tell us that we're doing well, but sometimes we'll get a lesson from somebody who says, you know, we could do better. And part of doing better, I think, and a lesson we've learned definitely this year is that when you give people a lower cost option,
which looks lower cost to get involved, but doesn't have the accountability and the coaching, they don't follow through. And so we'll be removing that because we just simply don't think that building wealth can be done in a DIY way. You can't just get information, then suddenly become wealthy. You have to put it into practice and then you have to be accountable for things you're doing and the mistakes you can be making or ways to improve it and do better. So we'll be fully accountable.
to our members from next year and in fact we'll be giving a guarantee that if you're not all at security by three years, we'll work with you till you are. We're so committed to helping you on the journey, we'll put our entire resources behind it to get you to security within three years and going beyond that. Once you've got the security and you give yourself more time.
Christian Rodwell (24:33.396)
independence is just replicating what you're doing or because you've got more time you learn new skills to get an even higher return and you start putting accumulations of cash into the plan not just cash flow so you know we're we're learning lessons all the time and we know having a coach somebody to hold you to account and that certainly could be a partner as well but you want someone who knows a bit more
to make sure you are genuinely staying on track. Yeah, probably a good moment for us to just say thank you to our coaches who have done a sterling job once again this year. yeah, you know, we still continue to have average ratings of coaching calls above nine out of 10, probably around 9.2, 9.3, I think as an average, which is outstanding. Yeah, it is amazing. And you know, what I love about our coaches is they're not doing it for the money.
None of the coaches in our program are doing it because they need the money, they don't need the money. We pay them, of course, because that's sensible, but they don't need it. The reason they do it is because like us, like you, like me, we just love to see the impact that good guidance makes and how it transforms people's lives and their ability, not just to be financially independent, but for me, it's that legacy piece. I get such enormous pleasure.
from seeing people building an incredible legacy for the next generation and doing it with intention, with the right documents, with the right processes, saving inheritance tax and not just drifting like so many of our older people have done in their lives. They've accumulated money often because they bought properties when they were younger and they've done them for 40 years and the houses are worth the fortune, but they're not talking, there's no communication, there's no dialogue.
in the family often they're called the silent generation, Chris, because they don't talk about money. It's almost like money's taboo. And I don't want money to be taboo for anybody. I want it actively discussed and engaged. And sometimes I lead family discussions to do that in my elder statesman-like way. And I'm pleased to do it, but you have to start lower down the journey because you've got to put your own oxygen mask on first before you help others, you, really? Absolutely.
Christian Rodwell (26:53.452)
And our final point, number seven then, Kevin, is that word action. And we can do all the best we can possibly do to bring together the greatest education, fantastic community, wonderful connections and support. But ultimately, if you don't take the action, you're not going to succeed. So we say one small step every month is the key to success. Momentum is the key. Momentum beats meditation 100 times out of 100. You have got
to take action and the smaller the step it is, the easier you're to see yourself doing it. So one baby step, which might be this month, get your willpower attorney done. Next month, put your life cover and trust and review that. Next month, get all your pensions together. Let's see if they can be improved or the fees can be reduced. Next month, decide on what strategy one is going to be and so on. I'm giving you examples. It wouldn't necessarily be following that path, but
The small step that you take, at least one, every month means you're moving and momentum and movement are the key to wealth building because your perspective changes, your experience changes, the people you're talking to changes, and you become, you develop almost an acuity to see things you weren't noticing before. You'll see recurring income in business as you didn't notice before. You'll see different ideas you never even...
noticed it all before and you'll see what other people are doing and you'll become inspired by that. And that's why I think if you continue to make small steps, you're always going to be moving and that's the key. Great. Well, thanks for bouncing those ideas around with me, Kevin. I think they're well trodden on. We know, as we said at beginning, we know what works. We've seen our members who have followed all of those steps and within three years, it's absolutely possible.
achieve financial security or if you're already at security to move onwards to independence. time goes so quickly, as you said at the beginning, Kevin, if we look back three years, we were right in the thick of it with COVID. People who started then, our members who started then, are now hitting their security figures. Isn't that amazing when you think about it? I mean, you were to do it in different language, I that's a really good viewpoint, Chris, to look backwards and say, can you remember COVID? Yeah.
Christian Rodwell (29:22.284)
If you can remember that and now you'd be completely secure for the rest of your life. And in a couple of years time, the year after next, you'd be set for life. Who wouldn't want to do that and trade time for money for 35, 40 years of their life? And when they get there, they live a life of uncertainty because they never knew how their pension worked. They then got the stock market going up and down and they're managing risk that they're not equipped to manage. And they're paying a recurring income.
to an industry instead of receiving one, they're paying one. It's counterintuitive to me and it does make my blood boil but hey, there you go. The industry's been built entirely on managing somebody else's money and hope, getting them to think about, don't worry, the long term will take care of itself. Don't let the long term take care of itself. Be wealthy within five to seven years, it's a much better.
Well, as we said at beginning, Kevin, this is our last episode of 2020. But we're going to be opening up the Academy again in January, and we're running a webinar in January. So Tuesday, the 21st of January, we did a lunchtime in the evening session. So if you're listening now, and you haven't got a clear plan on how you're going to hit your own financial goals, then why not jump on that webinar? And we'll go through it on screen. We'll be there live. We'll answer your questions. We'll show you exactly what's working.
and how it can work for you. So we'd love to see you there. And if you want to join that, it's absolutely free. Head to wealthbuilders.co.uk forward slash webinar. And that's going to be on Tuesday, the 21st of January, 2025. So if you're listening to this over the Christmas break, then click the show notes and you'll find the link and you can register right now. Well, Kevin, I'm going to be taking a break. I'm jetting off for Christmas. So yeah, we're going to have our get together and then...
We'll probably be catching up in January, won't we, next time? We will, and I'm having my house completely refurbished. So me and my wife are in temporary accommodation with our dog, just while builders are ripping apart lots of things in my house. So unfortunately, I'd love to go away this time of year too, but not this year. Well, look, Kevin, thank you for this year. Again, you know what? Next year in February, we are going to be celebrating our six-year anniversary of Wealth Talk. How many episodes is that, Chris?
Christian Rodwell (31:42.316)
Well, with 271 today. So yeah, we'll be knocking on for 300. Not quite there by, Feb, but we'll be on the way. what present do I get for a six year anniversary? I have to pick out the right shade of curtains. I'll have a silver teapot for me. And I'll invite you around for a bit of of a cream tea. How about that? When the house is ready, I'd love to come and have a visit and a cream tea. That sounds great.
I'll see you in the next few days anyway for our annual December get together and look forward to seeing everybody else either online on Zoom or in some kind of podcast. So I wish everyone an absolutely amazing Christmas and think well about your plans for 2025. It's a good time to do it. Absolutely. Merry Christmas and Kevin, we'll be back same time, same place next year. We will indeed. Until then, my friend. See you.
Christian Rodwell (32:43.756)
We hope you enjoy today's episode. Don't forget that we are constantly updating our resources inside the WealthBuilders membership site to help you create, build and protect your wealth. Head over to wealthbuilders.co.uk slash membership right now for free access. That's wealthbuilders.co.uk slash membership.