E14 - Why the Best Financial Opportunities Never Show Up Online

Most people believe wealth comes from making the right investment.
 This episode challenges that belief — and explains why it’s incomplete.

In Episode 14 of Before the Returns, Jaden shares two real conversations from his week that revealed the same truth from completely different angles. One involved a multi-million-dollar real estate syndication. The other was a 15-minute strategy call with a long-time client who once doubted Family Banking — and now relies on it.

Through these stories, Jaden explains why wealth is rarely built alone, why networks matter more than spreadsheets, and how having the right people and the right system determines whether money becomes a source of freedom or stress.

You’ll hear:

• Why wealth is a team sport
• How the right connections can change financial outcomes quickly
• Why some strategies only make sense after you experience them
• How Family Banking creates liquidity and stability during uncertain times
• The critical question that reveals whether you actually have a financial system — or just a bigger barn

This episode is a grounded, real-world look at how wealth actually works when life gets unpredictable — and why preparation matters more than prediction.

Episode 14 - Transcript

🔑 KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Wealth is built with people and systems — not investments alone
• Your network is an invisible financial asset
• Money without access does not create freedom
• Experience creates conviction more than theory
• Financial systems should work when income is disrupted
• Bigger barns don’t create peace — better systems do

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

Most people think wealth comes from making the right investment. And this week reminded me why that is not necessarily true. In fact, I think it's completely wrong. So wealth comes from having the right people and the right system. Emphasis on the right people, though. And without both, the money really doesn't matter. This week I had two conversations that completely changed how I think about money. And I've been doing this for a long time now, well over a decade. One of the conversations was about a multi-million dollar syndication deal. The other was a 15-minute call with a client that I've had for a couple of years now. And if you stay with me for the next 15 to 20 minutes, you will walk away with two principles you can apply immediately. Hello, and welcome to another episode of Before the Returns. Today I want to talk about the importance of a network, and I want to talk about working with the right people at the right times. So if this episode helps you, if it brings value into your world, please consider liking, subscribing, and sharing. It really helps grow the channel. All right. So let's get right into it. Let's talk about conversation number one. So the first thing that I did this week, this all started with a conversation with a client that I've had for a couple of years now. Somebody reached out and started asking me some questions about a syndication deal that they are going to be doing here soon. This is not even a conversation remotely close to what I've had with this client in the past. Worked with this individual for a few years, and most of our conversations have actually revolved around insurance and family banking. So he's been using whole life insurance for quite a while. He has some term insurance, a few different things going on. And I've known that they own businesses and we've had brief conversations here and there about those things, but we really never got into depth on what it was that he wanted to do next. So this week, though, he brought up, or I guess it was actually last week, he brought up some of the things that they have started talking about, meaning him and his business partners on next steps, next things they want to do. So they have a long family history of owning businesses, of owning companies, but he said, we've got this business idea, and we're interested in syndicating this deal, interested in getting things started and really growing it into what could become 20 to 30 locations over the next couple of years. Based on their history, the the last 30 to 35 years of being involved in this particular industry, everything sounds like a really solid idea. So we got into detail on it, and it turned out there was a couple of really specific things that he had questions on and needed connections for. And while that is not specifically my field, and I want to be, I always want to be cautious about giving people advice that I may or may not be totally qualified to give. My goal is never to point anybody in a direction that I can't confidently point them in. So I gave him some tips and things from the experience I have with syndications, which I've always been involved as what they call an LP or a limited partner. So I invest in syndications, but I don't typically run the syndication. So I talked to him a little bit about that side of things and what he can expect when he's talking to other investors. And then I said, okay, I think I can make a really good connection here for you to get you where you're trying to go, but do it with somebody who has the expertise and can give you the guidance to really take this to the next level. And that whole conversation meant that what I did next is I reached out to somebody that I don't necessarily talk to super often, but is really good connection. Just presented the idea to him and very quickly got a response that, hey, yeah, this is something I would I'd be interested in talking about. So I was able to make an email introduction between the two. Within a few hours of making that introduction, both of them had responded and connected with each other, and things started to take off from there. This whole experience was a really good reminder that in building wealth, your network matters so much more than pretty much anything else that you could do, right? By making the right connections to the right people at the right times, you have the ability to what like in this scenario, this could turn into 20 to 30 additional locations for this business owner based on just a couple of short conversations, right? So it's sometimes one or two conversations can absolutely change the trajectory of your life. It doesn't take a lot, it just takes the right connections at the right times. So it really stood out to me that so it really stood out to me that wealth is a team sport, right? Trying to do this on your own, trying to invest in the right things and make the right decisions and make all of the moves that we have to make financially to grow our financial picture, doing that alone is a hundred times, if not a thousand times, harder than just bringing the right people in. We all want to grow, right? So it's so much easier when you grow together. I've noticed though that a lot of people do try to build wealth alone. So if you take nothing else away from this episode, it's reach out to that individual that maybe is on the back of your mind. Reach out to the person that you think might be able to make a connection for you, but do it with the intent of adding value first, right? If you really want to grow your network and if you really want to grow your net worth, add value to other people, and you'll naturally make the connections that you need to grow both of those things. So, like I say, if you take nothing else away from this, take that one thing. Reach out to other people, add value to them, and I can promise you, you will be able to grow both your network and your net worth just by having simple conversations. Another conversation that I had this week that that really tied into this, and it was just a unique week, right? It doesn't always happen that I sit back and be as introspective on conversations as I have this week, and it's probably something that I need to do more of. Because as you go throughout your week, sometimes you just get so busy and so inundated with the day-to-day tasks that you don't pay enough attention to the things that are happening. But now that I sit back and really think about it, and in all transparency, I think this podcast helps me. So being able to talk to you guys helps me to be a little more introspective because I really have to think about the things that I say to you, and I want to make sure I add value to your world. So I get that opportunity to sit back and think about the things that I'm doing and the people that I'm talking with. So a second conversation that I had, though, and a second story, this this is maybe just a little moment of gratitude here, but it really reaffirmed some of the strategies and all the work that goes into what I do. This is a client that I met a few years ago. I actually met him at a real estate event. It was a real estate mastermind in California with an incredible group, an incredible gentleman that I know is his name is Jason Hartman. Not the client's name, but the mastermind group that I met the client at. And I would highly recommend following his podcast. If you're interested at all in real estate, take a look at his stuff. Jason is an incredible guy, just really good group to be involved with. Anyway, I'm getting back to the story here. The client that I have, he reached out the other day and said, Hey, do you have 15 minutes that we can talk this week? I just have a couple of questions. Want to make sure I'm doing things strategically as we make some changes with our real estate. Great. Got together today, actually, had a great conversation with him. And for probably, I don't know, close to 10 minutes on that call, he was just raving about the results that he's gotten from the strategies that we implemented over the last couple of years. And what really stood out is in that conversation, he basically said, when I met you a couple of years ago, and we sat down to talk about family banking and to talk about insurance and implementing these tools, it was, he said it was really hard for me to come around on this strategy. It was hard to get on board with it because it can sound a little bit different. And very analytical individual, one of those clients that he took a while, right? And a lot, uh a couple of really in-depth meetings. We went over a lot of numbers, and it just took some time for him to grasp it and say, okay, he's I'm ready to dive in. He made the leap. Let's see, two, two to three years after we got things started, had a rougher year in his business, and that would be this year. Now, what enabled him to both keep the business going and keep some of his real estate going was the fact that he had implemented family banking and followed the strategy exactly as we talked to him about doing. So on the conversation today, he he just said basically that because he implemented those strategies, everything worked out just fine this year. And he had a ton of gratitude for the situation and for being able to do it, right? And it was just a good reminder that the two things I mentioned at the beginning of this podcast were one, your network matters, right? Meeting the right people at the right times and having those connections really play a huge role in your success. But the second part is the systems and the processes and just having some strategy behind what you do rather than jumping out there and just making a bunch of random moves and hoping something sticks, right? Because this guy had the right network, so he put himself in the right rooms, met the right people at the right times, and did the things that he really felt were going to make the biggest difference for him, not just again, throwing things at the wall and hoping it sticks, but implementing concepts and strategies and using the right tools. He's now being able, just a few years later, he's being able to see the results of that. And it's made a massive impact in his life, his family's life, and it's just something that's it's really cool to see. So it was a great reminder to me of why it's so important to have these systems and processes in place. Couple of things here to just connect the dots. Money alone doesn't create freedom, right? It's not just, again, let's have this big bucket of money and hope that solves the problem. It's probably not going to solve the problem. We've all heard about people who win the lottery and within just a few short years they're bankrupt. They can win hundreds of millions of dollars and fairly quickly it's all gone. Why? Because they don't have the right people involved and they don't have the right systems involved, because it's pretty easy when all of a sudden you get two, three, four hundred million dollars for the wrong people to get connected with you. We've got to be really careful about that. And when you go from one level of wealth to a significantly different level of wealth overnight, you haven't had the time to think about how you're going to handle that, right? And so a lot of times we make some pretty poor decisions when that happens. That can also happen if we accumulate wealth slowly, if we're not careful, right? There's this term out there called lifestyle creep, just meaning as you make more money, if you're not paying attention to what you're doing and you don't have the right systems in place, you're very likely to just spend more money. So it really won't matter whether you make$100,000 or$200,000. You're going to just keep spending more money because your lifestyle is steadily creeping up with your income. Okay. So implementing the right tools at the right time will dramatically change that and allow you to have a much better long-term result. So let's I want everybody who's listening to just ponder this question for a minute. But if your income stopped for 90 days, would your financial life still work? Could you cover your expenses, protect your family, seize an opportunity, meaning let's say a great investment comes up or something happens that is a once-in-a-lifetime deal, right? Those do happen. If that comes up, but your income is stopped during that, can you do anything about it? Or are you stuck? And can you move without panic? If you're without work for 30, 60, 90 days, what is that feeling like in your life? Just thinking about that for a minute. Do you feel peace or do you feel an immediate sense of anxiety that's building up? If the answer is no, you don't feel peace, or yes, I have extreme anxiety that comes, you probably don't have a system. You are, you might even be just working on a bigger barn. If you want to know what that means, go back and listen to last week's episode. We talked about a parable where you're essentially building a bigger barn or building a bigger lifestyle. So the goal isn't just to have bigger barns, it's to have a living, breathing system that enables you to have peace in those times when income doesn't function the way that it should, because that typically will happen to all of us at some point in time, right? I'm a big believer in Murphy's Law. What can go wrong will go wrong. So we need to be prepared for that. We need to understand that things just happen. That's part of life. Family banking, high level, it's not about a product, it's about liquidity, control, flexibility, and continuity. Okay, so if this episode helped you to find a so if this episode helped you in any way and added value to what you're trying to do financially, please again consider liking, subscribing, sharing. Pass this on to other people that might be able to find value from it, and follow along. I'll continue to release release content every single week. We put it out every Thursday. So you can always expect to see a new video on Thursdays and provide any feedback. Let us know how we're doing. So with that, have a great week and we will talk to you next week.