E1 - Why Chasing High Returns Keeps You Broke (Build Roots First)

Most people start their wealth journey asking, “How much can I earn? How fast can I grow my money?” But those questions can trap you in short-sighted decisions that keep you broke instead of building lasting wealth.

In this kickoff episode of Before the Returns, Wealth Strategist Jaden Zubal explains why chasing returns alone won’t get you where you want to go. Instead, you’ll learn how to build financial “roots” first—creating the security, freedom, and alignment with your values and legacy that make wealth truly meaningful.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing “all the right things” but still not building the financial life you want, this episode is your reset.

Learn more at www.jadenzubal.com | Follow @jadenzubal | Join the *Before the Returns Weekly* newsletter

📩 Questions or ideas? Email: jadenzubal.wealth@gmail.com

⚖️ Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only. It is not financial, tax, or legal advice. Always consult with a qualified professional before making financial decisions.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hello and welcome to the Before the Returns podcast. I'm your host, Jaden Zubal. Thank you for joining us. For today's show, this is episode one. When it comes to income, asking how much can I earn is smart. But when it comes to investments, that same question is a little short-sighted. The real question isn't about returns at all. It's really more about what am I actually building? So if I've pissed a few of you off already, welcome to the show. Hopefully we're off to an exciting start here. The point of this show is to have short and sweet episodes, things that pack an important message behind them that can be relevant and give a little bit of insight and guidance into your financial picture. So what do I mean by it's not so much about how much can I earn? But it's really more about what am I actually building? The name of this show, Roots Before Returns, implies and refers to the concept that it's important to build roots or a financial foundation before shooting for the stars all the time. While it can be fun to invest in the next meme coin or throw money at things that we think might give us a return, turn it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to get a good outcome from that it doesn't mean that's building real wealth right of the people that do that there's a small percentage that create some idea of wealth because they earn money right they might make a little bit of money from that but there's a much higher percentage of people that lose money doing that that fall behind doing that and that never really build any sort of substantial wealth and So when we're talking about true long-term and lasting wealth, the big idea of this podcast is going to be you have to have roots. You have to have a foundation. It's just like when you build a house. Some of us might have heard that old song of building a house on the sand versus building a house on rock. If you're going to build it on sand, expect it to wash away at some point. When I first started to invest about 10 years ago now, I got really excited about real estate. I got really excited about this idea of turnkey real estate specifically. So I started buying homes in states like Florida and Tennessee. For context, I live in Utah. Our main company is based out of Salt Lake City. I bought in these other states because I could buy a property for 50, 60,$70,000. And that was a really exciting thing for me. While I still think turnkey has its place and it can be a good idea. I learned that my entire focus at the onset was getting high returns. It was, man, I can spend 50, 60 and I can immediately start cash flowing on this. Fast forward, five, six, seven years. And what I learned is that by buying these really inexpensive, older properties, usually not in the best areas, I ended up with rougher tenants. I ended up with situations where each time somebody would move out, which seemed to happen quite often, I would end up needing to completely rehab the property and spending most if not all of the cash flow that we actually made over the couple of years or sometimes a year that they actually lived there. So we'd reset, start again, and go through through the next couple of years. As I got five, six, seven years into this, I started to sell a couple of these properties, which whole other conversation on whether you should keep, refinance, sell, all the different things that you can do. But at the time, my choice was to sell. We sold a few properties and we did make a All of the things that come with managing a property like that and really did not get that substantial of a return. It certainly wasn't the return that when you look at a real estate pro forma. That was a big lesson for me personally. I invest heavily in real estate today, but I choose to do it more locally. I typically self-manage the properties. Instead of just the paper return, I have a properties in better areas because I understand the area better. Everything I buy today is within 30 minutes of the house I live in. A lot more influence, a lot more control. And that control helps me to plant better roots. So here's the truth. Returns fluctuate, right? Markets rise and fall, interest rates change, and real estate cycles Stocks dip. Crypto goes up. Crypto goes down. Things are constantly changing. But what doesn't change, what shouldn't change, are your roots. Your financial roots. Right? They remain the same. Just like the foundation of your home. You pour a foundation. You build everything on top of that. You might remodel the kitchen. You might change the carpet. You might Put in a new bathroom or change some lighting in your home. But typically, there's not a whole lot of changes that are happening to your foundation, that are happening to your roots. Okay, so when you build wealth on values, purpose, and... systems that align with who you are that doesn't move with the market so here's what i want you to hear today your wealth is not measured by the size of your returns it's measured by the strength of your roots let me ask you if your money reflected values what would change Would you spend differently? Would you save differently? And would you invest differently? More importantly, would you stress less? When I'm working with my clients on a day-to-day basis, I typically work one-on-one with people, and most of my clients, if not all, have at some point or another heard me say, when we talk financial strategy, I think it's important to keep in mind both the mathematical. What do those returns look like? What is going to be the outcome of your actual dollars? And compare that to the emotional. The emotional being, can I still sleep at night if I make this decision? If I move money from here to here, or if I invest in XYZ, or if I choose to save and grow and build a foundation financially, can I still sleep at night? Am I being too aggressive? Am I being too conservative? What's the right balance? So when you're going to invest, the thought that I want to run through people's minds is not, what's my return? Here's another story. I've invested in real estate frequently over the last 10 years. Properties in my state, out of my state. I've bought properties on traditional mortgages. We've bought properties on seller financing. We've sold in multiple ways, a whole bunch of different things. And I've also invested in businesses and other similar asset classes. What I've learned in all of that is when you go to make a purchase and somebody promises you, let's say they tell you you're going to get a 20% return or a 25% or a 30% return, which surprisingly does happen quite often. I have become most skeptical of those types of returns. And I tend to shy away from them because I've seen while some of them can work out, how much risk are you willing to take on? Many of them, in fact, most fail. I've seen a lot of people lose a lot of money on what we would call alternative investments that are promising returns that I would be a little bit skeptical of, right? Now on the other side of that fence, when I'm offered an investment in a business or a syndication that pays, let's say, 12%, 13%, 14%, that return is a lot more intriguing. And that tells me there's been a little more thought that's gone into this. And no matter what you do, it's most important to vet the person that you're working with, vet the experience, make sure you understand very, very well. Just be sure that you're not chasing returns and you're building a root system to support the returns that you will then get in your investments. A quick takeaway for this week is to write down your top three values. For you, that could be family, it could be faith, freedom, it could be contributions to charities, it could be a focus on your health, whatever it is for you, write those top three values down, and then look at your financial decisions. Even just if it's for the last month, last three months, do those choices reflect your values? Or is there a disconnect? If your choices are not reflecting your values from a financial standpoint, which for a lot of people, there can be a It means that there's a little bit of room to maybe do a reset and decide, okay, what really should my focus be financially? And how do we get there? How do we put ourselves on that pathway? So again, this show, as you go through different episodes and you listen, ideally these episodes are going to be somewhere between 10 to 20 minutes per episode. So they're not meant to be long. They're not meant to be overly intensive. but they should give and they will give ideas and concepts for quick reflection and lessons that I've learned over the 10 plus years that I've been both teaching clients and personally using the same concepts. And I think that's an important distinction. When you work with anybody financially, do they use what they teach you to use? If they don't, again, It's another time to reflect and consider, is this really the right direction to go? So this episode is our introduction, episode one. This is the beginning of our journey together. Over the coming episodes, I'll share the principles that I've been teaching for over a decade. Strategies that build wealth, help you live with intention, and create a legacy. Not just a financial legacy, but a legacy of of values and things that really matter. One of the messages I'm going to share frequently on this show is that money isn't the goal. Money is a tool and purpose is the goal. So with that, thank you so much for listening to episode one of Before the Returns. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the next episode. And if this message hits home for you, share it with someone you care about. Again, thank you so much for listening, and we'll see you on the next one.