With Justin Krane, a financial expert and author of “Money, You Got This.” Justin brings his fabulous personality and sense of humor to this fun conversation about finances and money. He is founder of Krane Financial Solutions, a Certified Financial Planner™ who brings a holistic approach to supporting his clients in creating financial success through automation and putting the right money supports in place to create a “return on life.”

Join us in one of my favorite conversations yet where Justin and I discuss what most often motivates people to deal with their finances, the importance of getting the right help in place to deal with your money and finances proactively, and the simple but primary KEY to creating financial success.

What I love about this conversation is that Justin makes handling finances feel do-able, and shares some simple but powerful money concepts that will help motivate you to handle whatever it is you need to handle when it comes to your money, how to put the structure in place that you need, and how you can have a great financial life NOW, not just when you are eighty. (And be sure to visit the show notes to grab Justin’s free gift, 3 Strategies that Multi-Millionaires Use to Create Financial Success.)

>>> Subscribe to Guts, Grit & Great Business on Apple Podcasts

Biggest takeaways (or quotes) you don’t want to miss:

• “If you don’t deal with your money, your money will deal with you.”

• “I want people to remember they have a certain amount of control over where they end up.”

• “You have to be proactive with money, not reactive.”

• “People need to automate their personal money, it removes the emotional part of it.”

Check out these highlights:

9:00 How your “why” evolves on your business journey.

11:00 Why grit is one of the most important things in business.

12:40 Anything that’s worth doing is going to involve some grit.

14:40 What are the roadblocks that get in the way of people getting the help they need?

15:50 “You don’t have to do it yourself, you just have to find some people to do it with you, not for you.”

17:30 “It’s okay to suck at money, just get the right help.”

19:00 Why you need to automate your money.

25:50 The importance of knowing how much money your business is making.

28:00 How our money stories limit us in business.

32:30 You need to figure out how to save and be okay with spending at the same time.

35:20 What does return in life mean?

40:00 “When you are working with advisors and people you need to make sure you are getting what you paid for.”

42:00 Why you need to get intentional with your money.

How to get in touch with Justin:

On social media:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/krane-financial-solutions/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinkrane/

https://www.facebook.com/justin.krane.9

FREE GIFTS FOR LISTENERS:

Download your FREE guide, “3 Things Multi Millionaires Do to Grow Their Wealth” here: intentionmoney.com

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Justin Krane, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER (TM) professional, is the founder of Krane Financial Solutions. Known for his savvy, holistic approach to financial planning, he advises his clients on how to unite their business and personal money with their lives.

Justin works with his clients to create purpose driven financial plans – aiming for a “return on life.” He manages his clients’ investment portfolios for their long term goals such as retirement.

Justin is the author of the book, Money. You Got This. It’s a book about everyday crazy funny life experiences that we all have – with lessons for all of us.

Justin received his Certified Investment Management Analyst SM (CIMA®) designation from Investment Management Consultants Association and in conjunction with The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. 

He is married and lives with his wife and three children in Calabasas, California.

Find more about Justin here: http://www.kranefinancialsolutions.com

Imperfect Show Notes

We are happy to offer these imperfect show notes to make this podcast more accessible to those who are hearing impaired or those who prefer reading over listening. While we would love to offer more polished show notes, we are currently offering an automated transcription (which likely includes errors, but hopefully will still deliver great value), below.

GGGB Intro  00:00

Coming up today on Guts, Grit and Great Business.

Justin Krane  00:04

I think business owners need to be okay with the fact that if they don’t want to deal with their money, it’s not just on them, you got to get a really, really good bookkeeper. If you’re doing some serious numbers, you got to get a good CFO or just someone to explain to you the numbers part of it. And then you need to make a decision. This is the biggest thing that you have to be proactive with money, you can’t be reactive. And I’m not an I like Dude, I’m sure you know how they’re like a lot of energy, we move money people like that’s not me. I’m just like, my whole family’s from New York. And it’s like, I’m just gonna tell it like it is. If you don’t deal with your money, your money is going to deal with you and you’re not going to be able to decide things.

GGGB Intro  00:48

The Adventure of entrepreneurship and building a life and business you love, preferably at the same time is not for the faint of heart. That’s why Heather Pearce Campbell is bringing you a dose of guts, grit and great business stories that will inspire and motivate you to create what you want in your business and life. Welcome to the Guts, Grit and Great Business podcast where endurance is required. Now, here’s your host, The Legal Website Warrior® Heather Pearce Campbell.

Heather Pearce Campbell  01:20

Alrighty, welcome. I am Heather Pearce Campbell, the Legal Website Warrior®. Welcome to another episode of Guts, Grit and Great Business. I’m so excited to share with you our guest today Justin crane, Justin and I met not too long ago, a few weeks back in actually a mastermind that we both belong to, but this is going to be a super fun conversation. And let me introduce Justin to you. Justin is a certified financial planner is the founder of crane financial solutions. He is known for his savvy holistic approach to financial planning. He advises clients on how to unite their business and personal money with their lives. Justin works with his clients to create purpose driven financial plans, aiming for a return on life and I love that concept. We’re going to talk about that some today. He manages his clients investment portfolios for their long term goals such as retirement. He is also the author of the book money you got this. It’s a book about everyday crazy funny life experiences that we all have with lessons for all of us. Justin received his certified Investment Management Analyst SM which is a SEMA designation from investment management consultants Association and in conjunction with the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Now Justin is married and lives with his wife and three children and how do you say where you live? Calabasas Calabasas? I have never heard of Calabasas. Where is that?

Justin Krane  02:57

Wow. Really? 

Heather Pearce Campbell  02:58

Am I a weirdo? I know we’re all the bachelor.

Justin Krane  03:00

Okay. Even though you’ve been under a rock that’s you’re totally okay. Because don’t mess with attorneys. If they haven’t heard with Calabasas eventually they will. The Kardashians that’s where they film. We know

Heather Pearce Campbell  03:12

Know what? I Kardashian could show up on television and I wouldn’t know it’s a Kardashian.

Justin Krane  03:17

So you’re not missing anything.

Heather Pearce Campbell  03:18

I am living under a rock. I will confirm that

Justin Krane  03:21

A very good rock. You’re a very good rock.

Heather Pearce Campbell  03:25

All right, so your neighbors with the Kardashians? That’s hilarious. I had to share this because I think it’s super fun. You had posted to your Facebook page that you have a son who is loving right now helping people build out their family tree on ancestry.com. Is that a recent? Yes. I love that.

Justin Krane  03:45

He’s He’s like this ancestry ninja, he found like my second cousin once removed, who actually lives close to me in LA. And he has this passion for it. I think it’s so cool. So I’m throwing a shout out for my son, if any of you want, like a cool teen to like work and build your ancestry tree for like pennies because he just wants to do it and get some experience. Find me and we’ll make it happen.

Heather Pearce Campbell  04:11

I love that. So the funny thing about that is my husband got into I think it was probably ancestry.com Maybe a couple years back and he got like way into it like he was trying to connect all the dots and I felt like he had disappeared down a rabbit hole. But he learned some pretty cool seeing. So that’s awesome. I love that your son is doing that. Thank ya. So Justin, you i i really enjoyed our conversation. The first time we connected I found you to be extremely generous and you’ve got lots of great experience. Talk to us about how you got started in the financial world.

Justin Krane  04:49

Well, I started out as a financial advisor for like a big Wall Street firm but like way back in the day like you’re like what do I want to be when I grew up and I had no clue I just love like collecting stuff, making money off of it. And then like selling it for a profit. So I was the kid that like collected comic books, bought candy, and then brought it to school and sold it to like my friends for like twice the price. And then the teacher was busted on me because like, you can’t do that anymore, right? So I liked the idea of investing, growing and making money. And I just ran with that. And I knew I wanted to go into investing in financial advising. But I didn’t know if I wanted to be like, private equity, investment banking, and like, we’re just being like a commercial. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. But I was so lucky that I got into this profession, because it’s, it’s really, really rewarding. And it makes me feel good, what I do and the business model as well as great.

Heather Pearce Campbell  05:50

I love that. So would you say that you were somebody that early in your life had a knack for money? Or was it also numbers like were you drawn to the numbers side of it as well.

Justin Krane  06:02

I liked money. And I liked numbers. But so I’ve been doing this, I got into the business in 95. So I’ve been doing this 25 years, and about 10 years into it, I realized that there’s another level of being a financial adviser, and it has to do with people like communicating, and really taking things to the next level with really trying to deliver to a client, what they really wanted for life. I thought it was just about investing and growing people’s money. But over time as I became a CFP, as even when I got divorced, like that was a big, big thing for me. But when we have these life transitions, we begin to think and reflect about what’s important, and about how we want to run our businesses. Is that like, you had some transitions with you where you’re like, Gee, am I doing really what I want? Can I take it to the next level?

Heather Pearce Campbell  06:59

Well taught that. Absolutely. So and my path was that I you know, I’ve got two businesses, I’ve got my traditional legal practice. And then I’ve got my online what I call legal information and education business. And what happened is about 12 or 13 years into my legal practice, I was really clear that the traditional legal industry was not serving a significant segment of the Small Business marketplace, and folks that I wanted to serve and that was serving. But through the traditional legal model, it just wasn’t making a lot of sense there. The barriers to entry were too high, they’re really kept out of the marketplace. And so I basically created a second path and alternative legal service provider model as an alternate way to meet those needs. And, you know, and even when I speak now, and I show up and talk with people, you know, one of the questions I ask any entrepreneur is, what was your why, like, when you made the choice to go down this path? Like what was the big reason why? Because that’s really what I believe I’m protecting when I do legal work for somebody, it’s yes, the contracts matter. Yes, the especially the educational part matters. But what I want for people is I want them to be able to show up every day in the world and do work that they love that they care about, and be able to really be on fire with it and and be successful, like eliminate risk all that stuff. But it’s really about protecting their ability to live life the way that they want to and do meaningful work.

Justin Krane  08:34

For all those people listening right now, there is a glowing aura around her right now, as she’s talking about this. I’m literally telling you like a little angel came over and floated into the podcast recording room, and she is glowing, glowing. Still as I talk, that’s awesome. That’s really cool. You know, we get into we get into business with maybe a y or not knowing it. And then maybe our y iterates. From that. And my wife today is so much different than what it was in the beginning. And maybe it’ll evolve again. But I think there’s a there’s a really big element of that for business owners. So I’m glad that that happened for you.

Heather Pearce Campbell  09:18

Yes, no, I agree. And I think that iteration absolutely is a thing. I mean, even that so my podcast is called guts, grit and great business, right. And the thing about grit and you know, really developing resilience, which let’s be clear, if you’re going to be in business, if you’re going to be an entrepreneur, really if you’re going to pursue anything that you care about in life, having resilience helps. Having some grit helps. But in learning and really studying grit, like the thing that’s fascinating is you’re right, people often start with an interest that’s usually self related, like so. You’re interested in numbers or finances or whatever, right? But you show up and you practice the thing and you master it and the purpose or your why evolved so that now you’re on a mission to serve people in a whole new way and, and make connections for them through the work that you do that maybe weren’t there to begin with. And that absolutely is the path to purpose.

Justin Krane  10:15

I love the grid thing. I’m curious what you think about it, like when you hear that word? What do you what does it mean to you?

Heather Pearce Campbell  10:22

Hmm. A lot of things. I mean, it’s a short word, but it has a big meaning. And for me, I have a long like, I’ll just say a very long standing personal relationship with grit. And so it’s grit is woven into my life in a lot of ways. But I feel like the ray of hope the ray of light that I want to shed on the word grit, or the concept of grit for people is that I think it’s really easy for folks to look around and go, Hmm, he’s got it made, or she’s got it made, or look at that look, you know, and see, basically see outcomes and see people at certain levels of success and think like, well, they’re just the top of the class or they had natural talent, or all these explanations that we tell ourselves about why people get to certain levels of achievement in life. And turns out, the thing that is the most important when it comes to success is grit. It’s just your ability to keep doing the same thing keeps showing up.

Justin Krane  11:24

Wait a minute, wait a minute, Heather, you weren’t one of those instancing sexes overnight, like you just woke up and like, like, killed it. You actually worked and failed, burned? 

Heather Pearce Campbell  11:34

I know. I know. And I think people can forget that.

Justin Krane  11:39

Yes. Yeah. You know, I listened to this. This podcast the other day about Kaaba law. Weird. Kabbalah is like Jewish mysticism. And this guy started talking, I just feel like, wow, what he’s he’s making a really interesting point, that everyone has challenges and problems. But a lot of people don’t openly talk about them. And it’s not like you should put them on social media. But everyone is dealing with the four letter word that they’re dealing with their own stuff. And it’s a question of, how are you going to work through that in business? How are you going to work through it? And in life, how are you going to work through it? And I think there’s something to be said about that. And I think in this day and age of like, immediate, like, white shiny objects, like we got to work and, and persevere. Because I think it’s, it’s what we need more of, and I actually think the pandemic has made people realize that I think people and I actually wrote about this last week, that I think that there’s more isolation going on right now. Even, I’m talking not just within your family, but like, just you probably have a little bit more time to yourself, because you’re not gonna you’re more one dimensional with this. So maybe we’re thinking more about well, what is really, really important, and what do I have to do to get it? And that is what I think is cool. And actually, financial planning is a big part of that, at least in my profession, because I’m trying to deliver that to people through intentional action and thought, and investing.

Heather Pearce Campbell  13:21

No, that’s right. Well,

Justin Krane  13:22

I love grid,

Heather Pearce Campbell  13:23

Yeah, I love it, you know, it doesn’t matter what you did, it really doesn’t matter. Even if you’re up to something on an entrepreneurial path, in your business, in your career, life, like wherever you are, or personal life, really my opinion is anything that’s worth doing is going to require some grit, right? You just have to so but I think it’s you know, I just want people to remember that they have a certain amount of control over where they end up. And it doesn’t have to do with talent, it doesn’t have to do with a lot of these other things that people actually attribute success to. And so, you know, and for you like I’m fascinated by people who work because finances, it’s interesting people in business, right, and I live more on the business fundamental side being in the legal side of the equation. People can really want to avoid digging into what they perceive as some of the hard stuff to do in business. Right. And I think numbers are a part of that. Right? So for somebody like you that gets a lot of enjoyment out of finances and helping people with their numbers with their financial paths. How, I mean, I’m curious, what are the roadblocks that you see getting in the way of people getting the help that they need when it comes to their finances?

Justin Krane  14:45

Let’s first start with business owners. A lot of them are the ones that are overwhelmed by numbers. They feel like they need to do all of the work on their own. And if they’re not into it, which most business owners aren’t, they’re more into just, you know, their business so to speak. If they’re not into the numbers part of it, what they do is, it’s like, they don’t open up the hood to see what’s going on. And if they can’t see it, or they don’t know it or understand it, it’s not their problem. And they just will be like, I don’t want to deal with it. And then what will happen is, their cousins, their cousin gets breast cancer, or their uncle passes away, or their friend’s parents have to move in with their friends, because the parents run out of money in retirement, it’s some life core thing. That’s like, okay, that makes business owners be like, Okay, I gotta deal with this. And even just individuals got to deal with it. But here’s the distinction that I want people listening to get at is that you don’t have to do it yourself. You just have to find smart people to do it with you. And I said with you, not for you, because for you means they do it. And you don’t, you still don’t know what’s going on. But they can do it for and with you. Like, if I was going to China, I don’t think I would make the decision to try to learn Chinese. I would like go there with a map, hire a tour guide, and have me show him show me like, alright, well, this is the Great Wall of China. And this is how you get there and do it with me, rather than me trying to figure out on my own. I mean, it’s like an energy. So right. That’s right. So I think business owners need to be okay with the fact that if they don’t want to deal with their money, it’s not just on them, you got to get a really, really good bookkeeper. If you’re doing some serious numbers, you got to get a good CFO or just someone to explain to you the numbers part of it. And then you need to make a decision. This is the biggest thing that you have to be proactive with money, you can’t be reactive. And I’m not an I like Dude, I’m sure you know, Heather like a lot of energy. We money people like that’s not me. I’m just like, my whole family’s from New York. And it’s like, I’m just going to tell it like it is. If you don’t deal with your money, your money is going to deal with you. And you’re not going to be able to decide like, thing. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  17:14

No, yeah, your money does not take care of itself. Yeah.

Justin Krane  17:17

So I think people need to be okay with and don’t, don’t get so upset at yourself. If you think you suck with money, I should buy a t shirt, it’s okay to suck at money, just get the right help or like something like that. They need clarity, and they can’t guess. And if you’re listening, and you’re like, Oh, my God, this is resonating, and I get it just be like, okay, it’s okay. The question is, you got to find the right people, you got to find good people.

Heather Pearce Campbell  17:46

Well, the way I describe this in sometimes talking with my marketplace, or my clients is like, you have to look in the box. Like you have to open up and look at what needs to be done before you’re ever going to tackle it. And I feel like so many people are afraid to even look in the box, like, what’s in there in regards to my money or in regards to my legal scenario or whatever. It’s just not a way to be in business or with your finances to run through life. Right?

Justin Krane  18:14

They can’t see what’s in the box. They and they don’t know that it’s not their problem. But it turns out it is their problem the whole time. They just want to don’t want to be conscious, right? That actually is. So that’s on the business side? Can I just answer the personal side real fast, only a big thing that I think people need to do. And I know that everyone has heard this, and there’s been zillions of books on it. And I am not reinventing anything, I’m just throwing it out there is that people need to automate their money, they need to automate their personal money, especially whether it’s investing mortgages, saving for college, paying down debt, whatever it is, automation is huge, because it removes the emotional part of do I want to do this too, or not want to do it, maybe we forget that we need to do it. Maybe we’re too lazy, maybe get distracted. Maybe we’re running our business over here on the business side. And we forget on the personal side that we need to do some automation. So this is where people are literally hearing this right now. They’re like, okay, I get automation but like, what do I automate? And how do I do it? And like all that, don’t worry about the house yet. Just know that the what and the why is the why is because you can you can have your money work for you. And I think you can be more proactive with it with a goal that you want to have happen. Alright.

Heather Pearce Campbell  19:38

So it’s really important and I think that you know, even just the word automation, like I go, Huh, like it makes me want to kind of breathe a sigh of relief and I think the step before automation as people I mean what however you describe it, like deciding their money rules, like actually putting the plan in place so that the automation just does it for you. Right. Yeah, and you can get How to Plan.

Justin Krane  20:02

You don’t even have to create it yourself. Yeah. Like, if I hired you to do a contract, would I try to write the contract? No, I would basically say, Heather, here are my problems. Here’s what I’m concerned about. Am I missing anything? And you’d be like, Yeah, you’re missing these seven things, then you write it for me. And then I’d be like, Okay, this is a 32 page legalese thing, what is this? Just tell me what it is? And then you would know it’s right. I feel informed. And I feel good

Heather Pearce Campbell  20:31

Right. No, and that’s the distinction that what you said that done for you versus done with you. I mean, I think there’s a couple things in there. One is for anybody who’s ever tried to outsource, like an area of business or life without deciding what your goals are, before you outsource. Like, you know how terribly wrong that goes, right? So that’s the done for you, like, just handle it. But I think a lot of times, it doesn’t go the way that people think it will, versus the done for you, you get the support to actually understand what it takes to make the decision but have help making it and then somebody does the part. So for me, like, sure I draft the contracts, I create the plan. But closing that loop is coming back and saying, here’s how you do it. Here’s what it means. Here’s how it works for you, here’s best practices and how you would follow it right? And then you become a more empowered version of yourself, to follow the plan to go do the steps and you’re not just wandering around in the dark.

Justin Krane  21:31

People get paralyzed because they don’t know what to do, and they just freeze and they don’t want to deal with it. And then it’s New Year’s Day and then they decide to deal with it. I think you’re onto something. Speaking of onto something for everyone listening, I want to talk about the arts in Heather’s room. I feel like I’m looking at the Loof she’s got cool paintings everywhere, like there’s it to God and Monet and like a Charles de Gaulle somewhere. I really, really like it. It’s all yours. Are you an artist? Do you like paintings love.

Heather Pearce Campbell  22:00

I mean, I don’t call myself an artist. I’m very creative and artistic. But I really appreciate art. And I am a former photographer. So I did professional photography for years. So yeah, it’s I I’m a very visual person. And so I you know, I love art and creativity in the house, for sure.

Justin Krane  22:19

I love it. You got some good stuff.

Heather Pearce Campbell  22:21

Oh, thank you.

Justin Krane  22:23

Are you giving any of it away to like, your 1 million podcast listener? Right? Like,

Heather Pearce Campbell  22:27

You know what? I hadn’t thought about that. But I could actually the,

Justin Krane  22:31

Or guess what this is? Or where am I in this picture? I like it. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  22:36

Totally. Oh my gosh, that’s hilarious. Yeah, well, I’ve been relegated to the basement. I was like, I’m gonna make this office is nice as I can’t even though I mean, it’s still always crazy in this house. But yeah, kids got the upstairs room that actually has, you know, daylight windows and stuff, because you know, COVID, and everybody been locked inside for hours on end.

Justin Krane  22:58

Like, it’s good energy. Good.

Heather Pearce Campbell  23:01

So, one of the other questions that I have for you, and I, you know, partly I’m wondering what are the ways that you work and support your clients sounds like both on the business side on the personal and financial side? I know you do. Like fractionated CFO services, right. Fractional. Sorry, I can’t even get the word, right.

Justin Krane  23:21

I like that word. fractionated. I’m gonna use it. Don’t edit that out. Keep that in your show.

Heather Pearce Campbell  23:26

Hey, I you know, I’m humble. I get things wrong all the time. Fractional.

Justin Krane  23:30

Attorney, whatever you want. 

Heather Pearce Campbell  23:32

That’s right. Did everybody who’s listening here that I get to do whatever I want? So the fractional CFO services. Talk to us about that? How does that work for business owners?

Justin Krane  23:42

Yeah, that’s, that’s about a little less than a quarter of my business. But so if you’re a business owner, what you need to know is, okay, what are your sales? Of course, you need to know that, but you need to know, what are your profits? And people hear that all the time. And then there’s a lot of people that talk about cash, well, how much cash do you have, and blah, blah, blah, I put all three of those together. And help business owners understand the connection between how much money they’re spending, how much money they’re making, where that money is going? And then what are their strategic initiatives that they want to have happen? In the next year? Let’s just pretend that they want to create another service or a product offering? Well, if they wanted to do that, how much money would that cost? And when did they think they could recoup it? And do they have the cash in their business to do that? You know, can they organically do it? Or do they need to save up for it? Oh, they need to save up for it. Okay, well, how long would that take? Oh, they have taxes. Okay, we got to deal with that. They want to put money away for retirement. We got to deal with that. So I’m looking at all of the business, all of the numbers that go into it. And I act as their advocate, because when they don’t want to deal with the CPA and don’t want to deal with the bookkeeper, and they’re like, dude, handle this, but tell me what I need to know. They just For me, the emails are give me a task. And I run. Amazing. So that’s on the business side. I’m on the personal. So the business I believe Heather is the engine that funds people’s personal goals. That’s how I got into business, CFO stuff is I started asking my clients, I’m like, How much money does your business make? And how much can you pull out of that and invest over here in a 401k? or what have you? They’re like, I don’t know. I’m like, you don’t know. I didn’t say it like that. But I was like, geez, maybe there’s an opportunity. So I just ran with it. And I started teaching myself to business numbers. But the real focus of my work is on the personal side, investment management, mutual funds, all that kind of stuff. 401, K’s, budgeting, retirement, college, paying down debt, mortgages and all of that. But how can people do that? I mean, if it’s if your W two and you’re getting a paycheck, that’s one thing. But if you’re a business owner, you got to know how much money your business is making, so that you can get clear on how much money you have, after living expenses to do what you want. Yeah. So it’s those things?

Heather Pearce Campbell  26:12

Yeah, well, and it’s all the things again, that I think people generally don’t want to figure out until they’re forced to or until they’re heavily heavily incentivized to write. And it was really interesting, I was having a conversation with somebody recently about the often negative association that we have with numbers. And I asked him like, Why do you think that is? And he said, Well, we’re trained from a young age that numbers are punitive. You look at the the grading systems in schools and you know, ideas. He’s like, even like stepping on a scale, right? There’s so many ways that we negatively relate to numbers. And I’m like, is that what it is? I mean, does it literally start that young with people? Or is it just that we get overwhelmed with life and numbers and finances just feel hard and scary, and most of us don’t get the education that we need young to be able to be skillful in that area?

Justin Krane  27:05

I think you’re on to something. And I think that there’s a certain element of what we call in my business money scripts, or money stories. A lot of them will get from our parents or grandparents, like, you know, don’t touch money, it’s dirty, or you don’t deserve to make a lot of money for whatever reason, or we grew up in the Depression. And we just have this poverty thinking mode of there’s not enough. It’s scarce, whatever

Heather Pearce Campbell  27:35

drink. Yeah, that’s right.

Justin Krane  27:38

Like prosperity, it could be, well, I’m going to create a manifest the financial life that I want to, but a lot of people have money stories, that, you know, I was working, I’m working with a client right now. Where their, their parents passed away at an early age. And they were in charge of dealing with some of the family money. And a long time comes and goes, and the and they never wanted to deal with it. And now this person’s in their 50s. And they got to deal with it. And I started working with them. And they didn’t get back to me right away on emails. And I initially knew what it was it went all the way back to their money stories. And myotherapist No, I’m not. Am I in therapy? Yes. Working on myself, Major. Ever since I got divorced and remarried and all that, but like, I’m just trained to know enough to, to pry and to get in there. But people do have money stories.

Heather Pearce Campbell  28:46

Oh, absolutely. I mean, I look even at my I think of the money story that I inherited about, like, it’s hard to make money. You know, like, it takes hard work. You have to like all the things and my dad came from a really poor family. He was one of 11 Like, they literally lived in homes that didn’t have running water for periods of time growing up, you know, he got sent one summer with a couple of his brothers to just go live in the hills, like we don’t have enough room or resources for you. Anyways, so. Yeah. And he was like, yeah, he would have been like, you know, 10 or 12, or something at that age. So he really inherited like, his his story. And his mindset is really, for me, like a generation or two older than him, right? But we grew up with, you know, again, you have to work really hard for money and money doesn’t grow on trees and all of this kind of stuff. And and yet, I think I naturally come with a fairly abundant mindset. But the way that I dealt with my money and like, I still have loads to learn, I got to get my own money stuff in order, but the way that I dealt with money up until the point that my mom died, was like I was a penny pincher, I had lived and believe that story of like, I’ve got to save, save, save and not in a bad way. Like I was really just a hard working kid and I was a saver. And so when kids were spending like their $50 on guest jeans, I was going to Shopko and getting $5 jeans. I was like, I’m not wasting 45 bucks, right? I know how hard it was to work for that money. But then my mom died young. And so suddenly, I was like, You know what? That other approach isn’t really worth it. Like if you’re going to save and scrap and work so hard and never enjoy the fruits of your labor, and then die young. Like that was a real eye opening moment for me. And I think that it has helped me achieve better balance in my own, you know, approach with money. But I still don’t consider it that balance because I need more structure. And yet I can see exactly where certain patterns came from. Right.

Justin Krane  31:02

Yeah, that’s really amazing. The structure part automation could help that, you know, the automation part. And I have this whole Weight Watchers feel like, I kind of give you my weight watchers feel. I did Weight Watchers for a little bit. And I’m not 800 pounds, don’t worry.

Heather Pearce Campbell  31:19

I’ve been through Weight Watchers as well. I’ll just say that. 

Justin Krane  31:23

Yeah, the thing about Weight Watchers, why it’s so good. Why I like it, is it gives you some structure, you have these points that you get per day, but you have a little bit of flexibility in terms of what you want to eat. And when. So if you want to have three chocolate chip in the morning, right? The rest of the day are like, yeah, yeah. So what you get with weightwatchers is a sense of balance. It’s not all depriving. And you can enjoy the joy the foods that you like. And it’s the same thing with money, I think Wall Street is coming around, finally, to the sense of balance, because a lot of financial advisors will tell their clients that they should just save, save, save, so they can live the life that they want to when they’re 84. And then 84, you’ll have $22 billion in great. Like, I’m sorry, I think people need to go to Starbucks and spend the $7 on the coffee, because they’re going to be happier along the way. And being happier along the way. They’re going to be more productive and make more money, and they could save some of that, and the ride will be better. Yes.

Heather Pearce Campbell  32:33

Thank you for that. Yes.

Justin Krane  32:36

But the thing is, is it I’m not saying go spend it all I’m saying if you can figure out how to save, you need to be okay with spending as well. Yeah. But what I’ve learned is that the Savers need to see in a plan that they’re going to be okay, so they can go to Hawaii with their family and spend 10 grand, the spenders need to see that they’re going to run out of money so that they need to save, which will get them in the right.

Heather Pearce Campbell  33:09

That’s right. That’s right, it’s getting that pendulum to swing a little closer to the middle from either side. 

Justin Krane  33:15

Yeah. But I really resonate with your story about your mom, and I’m sorry about your mom passing away. And I, my father passed away a little over two years ago. And it was my first I mean, I’ve had friends, I mean, we all have friends that pass away or whatever. But when you lose someone really, really close, you really get in touch with your own mortality. And you get clear on the fact that you’re not going to live forever. And then you more purposeful about what

Heather Pearce Campbell  33:45

Yeah. You know, you’re absolutely right. And you know, the silver lining. I mean, it’s really hard to even say that out loud, any silver lining about death, but my mom died the first year that I was in law school, she was diagnosed with a terminal brain cancer, glioblastoma, like two months into my first year of law school. And then she passed away 10 minutes late, I mean, 10 months later. And in that span of time, like law school became this whole secondary thing like life took a front seat law school, you know, it was very secondary. But even coming out of law school, it really changed my course about like, whether we have time to walk somebody else’s path, right. And for somebody in law school, like you’re funneled into either a large firm job or government work, like there’s very clear paths that you go on, and nobody was opening their own legal practice. But I was like, I don’t want to do somebody else’s work. I want to do my own work. I want to work for clients that I choose. And so, you know, it changed more than my money story, but it really changed I think, even the course of my own path. And, you know, it resonated what you said about people often not changing their money patterns or even in gauging and financial planning until a crisis hits right until something big time hits their life that makes them really examine what they’re doing and whether they’re planning whether they have the support or structure that they need. So, going back to one of the concepts, and I want to ask you about your book money, you got this, but I also want to learn more about what return on life means.

Justin Krane  35:24

Well, I think, return on life. So with investing, it’s like, what’s your rate of return? And how are we doing and all of that, and I think that if we can use our money is more incongruence with what we want out of our life. That’s what return on life is. So return on life for you was you didn’t go down that path forever of working for a big law firm, and you used your goals, desires, energy and money in a way that was going to be better for you. So you had a better, you’re having a better return on your life than you would have had you have gone down that corporate route. So return on life is a little bit more about now. And not as much about 30 years from now, like, of course it is about your future. But like, we got to enjoy the journey. And that’s great if it’s going to be hokey and all that. But like I’m talking about, like rolling up your sleeves and figuring it out how you’re going to like, be financially Okay, for the next two, three years. And working at it. I’ll just share one thing, like last year, this was definitely because my dad died. I was like, Okay, I’m not going to live forever. I thought I was right. But that was the whole story. In my head. I’m like, of course, I’m gonna live forever. But I’m like, one of the things that I remember about my dad was that he took us on these awesome family vacations. I mean, my mom to my parents, we just did great family vacations. And I’m like, I kind of give these experiences to my kids too. And for me, so we went to London in Israel for about two and a half weeks. And it was awesome. It was crazy expensive for me, I saved up for it. And I saved along the way, like it was the whole thing. But looking back, I’m glad that I did that. Because this summer, no one’s traveling. And I’m glad that I did that. And I’m glad that I had that experience with my kids. And I was able to give it to them, so that they will remember that. So that for me, is return on life.

Heather Pearce Campbell  37:42

Well, I love that example. And likewise, I’m so sorry to hear about your dad passing. That’s rough. Yeah, it’s really rough. Well, and I love that concept. Because again, even when I look at my money story, and what shifted for me young, like having that balance, I mean, return on life, to me really sounds like knowing how you can have that balance, knowing how you can take care of yourself now and be planning for the future, but also be creating what you want to create. So talk to us for a minute about your book money, you got this.

Justin Krane  38:19

Let me tell you, I had so much fun. So this started out as just writing newsletters and blogs and whatever. And then I’m like, wait a minute, I need to make this into a book. So I packaged it in a way to make it into a book with you know, chapters and key takeaways and stuff like that. But this book is like a Seinfeld or a curb your enthusiasm. It’s a book about nothing. Zero. There is nothing in here. You could start on page 42 or 212. It doesn’t matter. I literally would take crazy. Money is a crazy life stories and turn them into money lessons. Can I share one totally. Alright. This is just an example. So and a lot of them are with my wife because like, I’m a guy. So like we get in the car. We’re going out to dinner and like she jumps in the car. Her hair was wet. She just got into the shower, and she didn’t do her makeup and she took her lipstick out. And like took it like okay, I’m driving. I see her with this lipstick. She starts rubbing it on her cheek. I’m like Babe, what are you doing? She’s like, Oh, yeah, I’m just putting on some blush on my face. I’m like, That’s lipstick. She’s like, Yeah, you can put it on uses blush. If you don’t have any or whatever. I’m like, what? So I was like, that’s insane. And then I’m like, oh, there’s a money lesson here especially for business owners, inventory, your content, whatever. There’s always another way that you can reuse something and make it work without spending any extra money at

Heather Pearce Campbell  40:00

Right, right.

Justin Krane  40:01

So, you know, another one is, we all have gone to a vending machine, we’ve all put in our dollar or $2, or whatever it is. And then the candy gets stuck in the machine. The Reese’s gets stuck and you like you, like, paid the money. And you can’t call the one 800 number because you don’t have a cell phone back. That’s like, so everyone can relate to that. I’m like, Oh, my God, this happened to me, this is insane. What’s the story? Well, the story is in business. And in life, when you’re working with advisors and people, you need to make sure you’re getting what you pay for. You have to have clear expectations of if I’m paying you this, what am I going to get in return and when? So that’s the book. It’s just funny stories that everyone can relate to, and a lesson with it. And then a takeaway?

Heather Pearce Campbell  40:52

Well, I love it. I mean, these little anecdotal things, though, they really do bring to life the lessons, I mean, even that, like clear expectations about what are you going to get? and in what timeframe, right, I had that experience of putting money into a vending machine and being like, even if I could call the one 800 Number, I’m not going to stay here for an hour for them. Like, that’s right. That’s a big waste of time.

Justin Krane  41:15

Let me ask you this one. Have you ever replied to an email and hit a reply all versus just replying to one person and you’re like, Oh, my God, I just did a reply all.

Heather Pearce Campbell  41:25

I’m sure I have. There are some horrible, like horror stories in the legal field about that, right. But luckily, I have not been one of them.

Justin Krane  41:34

My lesson is that is that you can’t get, you can’t get generic advice that someone gives and expect it to be just tailored for you.

Heather Pearce Campbell  41:42

Right, right.

Justin Krane  41:46

You know, we can go on and on. But I had so much fun with the book, I’m sure people are like, Okay, we get it, but like

Heather Pearce Campbell  41:55

That does sound fun. Well, I love it. And I’d love to include a link for it on the show notes page. So for people listening, and I’ve still got another question or two for you. But for people listening, make sure that you visit the show notes. They can be found at legalwebsitewarriors.com/podcast. We’re gonna put Justin’s contact information up there. Justin, I know that you’ve also got a gift for the audience. Do you want to talk to us for a minute about that?

Justin Krane  42:22

Yeah, I talked we talked a lot about there was this quiet word that wasn’t? We didn’t, it was kind of out there, which is intention. You and I talked a lot about that in various ways. So I want people to be intentional with their money. And I want people to learn what multimillionaires do and what they have done to become multimillionaires. And a lot of it has to do with being intentional and specific action plans. So the URL where I’d like people to go is intentionmoney.com. And there are three strategies that multimillionaires use to set themselves up for success.

Heather Pearce Campbell  43:04

I love that I think that’s an awesome gift. And I’ll be sure to include that link along with your others. So we’ve covered a lot this has been a super fun conversation what what final takeaways or points or thought Do you want to leave with our listeners?

Justin Krane  43:22

I’ll say this. For everyone listening, I 100% believe in you, that you are awesome. And that you can have the financial life that you want. You got to just work at it. And I sometimes in the podcasts, I bring in my wine mic for everyone listening, I’m holding a wine bottle and talking into it. It is not plugged into anything, but I don’t care. I’m talking into a wine mic. I believe that you can have a great financial life now. Not when you’re 91. But now you got to work at it. I’m about possibility and growth. So I believe in you.

Heather Pearce Campbell  44:03

I love that. Well we all need that and especially when it comes to our finances, so be sure to check out Justin Justin, you’re awesome. I so enjoy you. Thank you for joining me today and sharing your fun stories and your brilliance with our audience. Thank you. I hope we get to connect soon you got it.

GGGB Outro  44:25

Thank you for joining us today on the Guts, Grit and Great Business podcast. We hope that we’ve added a little fuel to your tank, some coffee to your cup and pep in your step to keep you moving forward in your own great adventures. For key takeaways links to any resources mentioned in today’s show and more. See the show notes which can be found at legalwebsitewarrior.com/podcast. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and if you enjoyed today’s conversation. Please give us some stars and a review on Apple podcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast so others will find us too. Keep up the great work you are doing in the world and we’ll see you next week