[00:00:10] Ellington Brown: Welcome to SpeakUP! International with Rita Burke and Elton Brown!

[00:00:17] Rita Burke: This morning we had a conversation with a local academic and educator. This afternoon we are just as fortunate. We are talking with someone from Phoenix. His name is David Nassif. Let me tell you a little bit about Mr. Nassif. He was fired at the age of 63 from an 18-year corporate job. At that time he had virtually no retirement savings, no job pro- projects, prospects coming up.

And so out of desperation, he charted a completely new direction in both his career and personal finances. David's unique and simple one-page compass guide him to seven-figure financial freedom in under six years. There's a lot more that I can say about our guest, Mr. David Nassif, however, as we say on SpeakUP! International, we like our guests to tell their own stories.

And so I welcome you now, David, to SpeakUP! International. 

[00:01:40] David Nassief: Thank you, Rita. El- Elton, I'm excited to be here with you today. 

[00:01:45] Ellington Brown: I am full of questions! Your situation is definitely unique to me. Being 63, here you are coming to the finish line, and then someone pushes you off the track, as it were.

What was going through your mind immediately after you were given notice? 

[00:02:09] David Nassief: Well, I admit I was kind of numb at for a while. I just, you know, I didn't really ... Is this really happening? What's going on? But like you said, I was 63, and after 18 years I just didn't expect it. And I did the math, as we said, and if we drained all of our savings and all of our retirement, we were scheduled to be broke by 65.

And at that point I'm thinking, "Who's gonna hire me at my age?" But, you know, I'm gonna tell you, Elton, the hardest part, Rita, wasn't that. That was very hard, but hardest part was driving home thinking, "How am I gonna tell my wife, Mary?" At that point we'd been married for 30 years, and she did not deserve the mess I just threw her life into.

So anyways, after a couple months of dead-end job searching, and I, my heart wasn't in it. I did not wanna go back to the corporate world, I just didn't. But I had to put food on the table. I had to keep a roof over her head. I didn't have the luxury of just saying, "Oh, I'll just retire." So I, I, I started to looking, but when I, when I interviewed with other companies, they confirmed that the company that fired me did the right thing.

I was of no value to them either. So everyone's kind of agreeing, you know, "You're kind of washed up, buddy. We don't need you." So I'm thinking, "Okay, this is not working out at all." So I decided, I decided to s- start my own company, uh, as an independent sales agent on straight commission, no salary, no safety net, no benefits.

The first months were brutal. I was making cold calls, constant rejection, rookie mistakes. I heard so many nos in that two-month period, I don't think I can count them all. But as I look back on it, Elton and Rita, I, I have to say I, I can reflect on the situation now and I really believe all that resistance, all that rejection I was getting was necessary to build the mental muscles I needed to punch through that dark period of my life.

After 10 months of grinding, I hit an incredible milestone. I was suddenly making more money than my good-paying corporate salary, and for a brief moment I thought, "We made it." But then I thought, "We haven't made nothing," because for 40 years I made good money, and look where it got me, on the verge of collapse financially.

I need to learn how to invest. I need to learn how to build wealth, and I failed at that miserably for 40 years. And so I decided I, I didn't have time for a bunch of theories or people with commissions and conflicts of interest, so I dug in myself. I read 21 books, th- listened to 13 podcasts faithfully on, on financial things, and I, I read blogs, newsletters.

Every time I'd get an idea, I'd put it on a piece of paper. More I had good ideas. When the paper filled up, I says, "I'm not gonna go beyond one piece of paper. I wanna keep it simple." So I would take the worst idea off and put the best one on. I kept refining it and refining it to a set it and forget it approach, 'cause I didn't have time to watch Wall Street.

I had a business to run. S- six years later, I achieved what I thought was impossible, from terrified of being broke to a seven-figure portfolio and real financial freedom. I now know it is never too late to rewrite your story, 'cause if I can pull that off starting as late as 63, I believe anybody can with the right direction.

[00:04:57] Rita Burke: Do you know yesterday I joined a friend for lunch, and she turned 65. And I said to her You are very young. This is the beginning of the next chapter, to use a cliche, of your life. So let's get on with it. And I, I think she took that seriously, and she will. You talk in your bio about being whispered about.

Talk to us about that. 

[00:05:30] David Nassief: Well, pretty much, you know, everybody said, uh, it was too late. You know, I was too late. 63 is too late to start over. You might as well just face the facts. No one wants to hire you. I tried, by the way, Rita, twice in my 40s to start my own company, and I failed miserably. One time it s- uh, it sent me into a six-figure debt that took years to pay off.

So I had failed as an entrepreneur twice. So the entrepreneurial world told me I was a failure. The corporate world told me I'm of no use. And, and, and, and, and that was something that I really, in the beginning, it was really hard to deal with because it's like everywhere I turn, I'm worthless, basically, everyone's saying.

And that's a, that's a tough thing to, to face, I have to be honest with you.

[00:06:15] Ellington Brown: What moment in your chaos did you finally figure out a way to, use money or view money as a, strictly as a tool with no emotional connection to it? 

[00:06:35] David Nassief: Well, that's a great question. Um, basically, uh, the same time this all nightmare happened to me, uh, I, I heard a true story that really helped give me the direction I needed.

I'll brief- I'll share, share it with you briefly. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute did an experiment. They placed people in the center of a dense German forest and told them to walk in a straight line to the edge. Now, these are confident, capable people, but when the clouds covered the sun and they lost their point of reference, the GPS tracking they were wearing showed they were gradually starting to walk in circular motions.

Some of them were actually ending up right back where they began, and yet each and every one of them was absolutely convinced they were walking in a perfectly straight line the whole time. That is my life story for four years. I was working hard, doing what I thought was the right thing when it came to investments, making decent money.

But ultimately, I kept going in circles financially, going, doing what I... You know, just getting nowhere. And I tell you, once I, I heard that story, I said to myself, "That's what I need. I need a compass, but not a metal compass like travelers have. I need, on one piece of paper, keep it simple, give me that 30,000-foot view so I know where I'm going and I don't get off course."

'Cause I'll be honest with you, Rita and Elton, I'm the kind of guy that gets distracted easy. A shiny object, a hot tip, I'm off to the races in the wrong direction, and I didn't have time to do that anymore. My runway was too short. It was more like a helicopter pad than a runway, and I didn't have the time to make the mistakes I made for 40 years.

And that compass gave me clarity, it gave me direction, and, and it, and it, and it eliminated the fear because I, I, I was founded in real sound principles after reading 21 books and 13 podcasts. This wasn't, like, just something I read in an article once. This is a lot of study and, and in-depth research that I did that I, I was very confident about now.

[00:08:22] Rita Burke: I, I get a sense of determination and focus. Uh, I know you, you, you've talked about not being sure initially, but I am picking that up as a theme in the fabric of what you're, you're saying to us today. Now, what would you say is the best piece of advice you've ever been given? 

[00:08:47] David Nassief: I think it was Benjamin Franklin.

He didn't give it to me personally, but I know I'm old, but nothing else. But anyways, when he said the following, he says, uh, uh, uh, "Knowledge is the best investment we can make." And when I gained knowledge, all of a sudden the fear went away. I understood Wall Street wants to make investing so complicated because they benefit from that.

Here's the truth. Simplicity is for winners. complexity is for victims. And I said, "I can't be a victim anymore." Wall Street wants victims. I'm not trying to be mean to Wall Street, but that's how they make their living. They want a percent of your pie, and that, that percent seems really small until you compound it over 40 years, and it's huge.

It's a huge amount of your re- your retirement and things. And so once I got that clear direction and, and that simplicity... I mean, it's hard to make things simple. It was very hard. It took me over a year to get all that knowledge from 21 books and 30 podcasts onto one piece of paper. There was a lot of refining and adjusting and...

But by the... But within a year, I finally had it, and I says, "This is what it is." And I know most people aren't gonna do that, Rita. They're not gonna read 21 books, listen to 13 podcasts, and research 'em. So that's why I'm... And I'd like to give it to wa- I'm gonna give it to your listeners for free. That's the actual one-page compass I still use today that took me from 63, nearly broke, to a seven-figure income...

A seven-figure portfolio, excuse me, by 69. Because I, I don't want anyone to be where I was at 63, on the verge of financial cliff that you're gonna about fall over. There, there's no need for that. It's not complicated like everyone tries to make it. It's really quite simple. 

[00:10:24] Ellington Brown: We're talking about, people who are closer to the end at the end of the finish line.

 How would this system help individuals who are at the beginning of the, of the racetrack? You know, let's say someone who wants to retire early, would this system work for them? 

[00:10:44] David Nassief: Oh my gosh, it would be phenomenal. If I only had found this compass in my 20s or 30s, what a difference it would have made.

So if, if, if they have time on their hand, they have the power of compounding. I mean, you start this in your 20s, I mean, a lot of people are gonna be able to retire in their 30s, okay? And that's amazing, you know? Or if you start it in your 30s, maybe your 40s. I'm not saying, Elton, Rita, and I wanna be clear on this, that everyone's gonna have the results I did, and in six years they're gonna have a million dollar portfolio.

But I am saying this, that if you follow this, in six years you're gonna be a lot better off than you are now financially. And that's really what's important. It's not like comparing you to somebody else and, "Well, he's got more millions than I got," and that's not fair. No, no, it's about improving your situation so you're not...

So you can retire with dignity, so you can retire with, with comfort and, and, and peace, and enjoy retirement. I've seen too many seniors, too many seniors who are good people, Christian people, go to church regularly, pay their tithing, honest people, who unfortunately didn't live financially correct principles.

Th- just 'cause they were good people doesn't mean that they know everything, and they didn't do that. And they were literally making decisions between food and medicine or food and rent, and that's just wrong. I don't want anyone to have to do that. And I don't care what age you are, whether you're in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, or even 70s or even 80s, this can improve where you're at, okay?

A- and that's what the key is, I believe. 

[00:12:10] Rita Burke: So am I hearing then, David, that to some degree you're celebrating the fact that you were let go at 63? 

[00:12:23] David Nassief: Absolutely. I am thrilled. That was a gift. Let me tell you something, Rita. I have to admit this on your show. I, I knew eight years before I was fired I should have quit, that, that, uh, just it was time to move on.

But when you're in your late 50s, Rita, and you have a six-figure salary and a company car and get to fly in the corporate jet occasionally, you just don't leave that easily knowing that there's not a lot of opportunity out there for people in their late 50s, early 60s in a lot of things. I didn't have the guts to do that.

I thank God every day that I got fired, and I should send them a gift basket and a thank you card for firing me because they did the greatest thing for me. I m- I, I didn't have the courage to do it. I just didn't, and that's sad thing to say. I really is. I mean, I wish I could've said, "Oh, no, I just told them to take their job and shove it.

I'm gonna..." No, I didn't have that kind of courage, I'm sorry!

[00:13:11] Ellington Brown: We weren't programmed that way. 

[00:13:14] David Nassief: Yeah! 

[00:13:14] Ellington Brown: I think that's the, the reason why we find ourselves in these, in these complex situations, and then t- all of a sudden in your case you were, snapped out of it, and look what happened. It was the best thing that ever, ever happened to you.

So your challenge- And conventional thinking basically was changed. Your mindset changed. Can you talk a little bit about that- 

[00:13:44] David Nassief: Yes ... change? Let me tell y- let me tell you, this was a pretty dramatic change when I got down to the basics and understood the finances. Let me explain something. I doubled my portfolio three times in that six-year period.

Now, most people in finance says, "Dave, that's impossible. The market didn't increase that much. You couldn't have done that. You must have been playing some kind of game." I promise you, I wasn't chasing crypto or trying to time the market or day trading, okay? I was doing the exact opposite of that. I was doing something so boring it would put you to sleep.

Here's the crazy thing. When the market was down, I was thrilled. When other people were panicking and selling, I was buying more shares at discount prices. My only regret was the market wasn't down more during that six-year period. But really, what surprised me was the math. There's a thing called the rule of 72, and what it says is if you're getting a 10% return on your money, your money will double every 7.2 years, roughly every 86 months.

Once I got my compass in place, my first double occurred in just 30 months, not 86. Second one, 13. Third one, 29, for an average of 24 months, way less than half the 86-month expected time. But the secret wasn't the returns. I, I learned three things that I didn't know for 40 years. Here's the three things.

One, I paid myself first. I took the money off the top when I got my paycheck every month, and I put a portion aside so I didn't touch it and I couldn't use it, okay? Two, I put it in the right kind of investments, which for me was low-cost index funds. I only own two. That's how simple my portfolio is, just two funds.

One is the total US market. I own every publicly traded stock in the United States. The other is the total international market. I own every publicly traded stock outside of the United States. So I literally own every publicly traded stock on the planet. For me to go broke to zero, the whole world economic system would have to collapse to nothing.

And if that happens, we got bigger problems. So I sleep very good at night knowing I'm so diversified and so safe. And the third thing is I learned to use market volatility to work for me instead of against me. Too many people use their emotions to buy. They end up buying high when the market's high, and they sell low, which is the exact opposite of what you wanna do, and that's what I did for 40 years, okay?

Once I understood it, I, I, I saw clearly, no, the market when it's down, that's a good thing. Picture this scene. You go to the department store and they have a sale, 50% off. Would you go up to the clerk and say, "Hey, I don't want no 50% off! I wanna pay full retail! When's that thing going back to retail?" Now, you wouldn't do that!

You'd be crazy if you did that! But people do it on the stock market every day. "Oh, my gosh. The market's down 50%. I gotta pull out and get into cash." No, that's when you wanna buy. For 200 years- Every time the market has dropped, it has not only fully recovered, it has gone on, gone on to new heights. 200 years of data is good enough for me.

I feel very comfortable with that track record of history. And so my mindset changed. I no longer feared the market. I used it to, to work to my advantage, my knowledge. And I was able to build my wealth twice as fast, and here's the important part, with half the risk compared to how I was doing it before and how so many people do it.

[00:16:44] Rita Burke: So how did you learn to reframe and change mindset and perspective? Where did that come from? What was the impetus for that? You were fired at 63. Where did all of this come from? 

[00:17:01] David Nassief: Yeah. Basically, after I read about the fourth or fifth book, and now these are ... By the way, I pick my books carefully. I didn't just pull something with a h- hot seller and all that kind of thing, get rich quick.

I, I went to people who had track records of decades. Not years, decades. And these weren't get rich quick people. And these were people without conflicts of interest. They weren't trying to pitch you something or sell you something. They were just trying to give back 'cause they had a successful career, many of them billionaires, and they didn't need your money for your $10, $20 book that's for sure.

But they wanted to help people. And I found that what you're getting is they take a year of their life and write this book, and it's decades of experience. And when I started reading it and see consistencies with these people, I thought, "This is truth. This is not, like, some quick gr- you know, scheme or something like that.

This is truth." And once I got truth, I had a peace come over me that I just ... It's hard to describe. It's like, you know ... It's funny. I li- I like to watch the morning, um, cable channels, the, the, um, financial s- s- but not f- ever to get advice. I would never take advice from those people. But f- f- but they're, they're interesting people and I find them entertaining.

I remember one day the market was crashing and they were doom and gloom and, "Oh my gosh," you know, "Everybody pull out of the market." And I'm laughing. And my wife's saying, "Honey, why are you laughing? They're ... We have money in the stock market. They're saying it's gonna c- crash even more. This is serious." I go, "They don't know what

They're guessing. Nobody has a crystal ball. They, they don't know any more ... Half the time they're wrong on their forecast. Half the time they're right on their forecast." I love Warren Buffett. He said this: "Forecasts tell you a lot about the forecaster, but nothing about the market." Mm. And that is so true.

And once I understood that, you know, those, these people on TV, they want ratings. And when they scare you, guess what you do? You tune in. "Oh, we gotta watch it 'cause we gotta know what to do." Well, that, that's a joke. It's really a joke. And when you understand that, the fear just melts away 'cause you've got truth on your side.

[00:18:56] Ellington Brown: So what are some of the biggest mistakes or misconceptions- Mm ... that you felt delayed your success? 

[00:19:06] David Nassief: Tiny fees, in my opinion now that I understand it, are like termites, okay? You don't even notice them until your financial foundation starts to crumble. Let me explain what I'm talking about like that, okay?

Let's say you got two people, both starting out in life, 25. Both starting out in their careers. They're gonna work for 40 years and retire at 65. They both decide to put a modest $25 a week aside for investing for their future. Person A uses a low-cost index fund with a .03% management fee, annual management fee, which is what I was talking about earlier.

Person B goes to an advisor who charges a full 1%, which is common by the way, and they put him into an active fund with a 5.75% upfront load and a .66% ongoing management fee, which is also common. Now let's fast-forward to 40 years. Now they're 65. Same market returns, same contributions, a modest $25 a, a week.

Person A has a $1 million portfolio. Person B has a $570,000 portfolio. That's a $430,000 difference with these tiny microscopic fees that seem so small. The market returns were the same, okay? The investments were the same. I mean, in terms of the, the, the, the general idea of the investments were the same, not the exact investments.

The only difference was the fees. And the ... Here's the thing, is we're assuming they never got a raise. If we factored in normal raises, that $430,000 difference would even be a bigger amount. It could've been a half million or, or a million dollars, okay? But here's the tragedy of that whole story. Person B probably feels like he got great service.

He liked his advisor. He knew the names of his kids. They went golfing a couple of times, and all that kind of thing. Little did he realize, he did the equivalent of funding someone else's retirement with half of his own money. I am not against advisors, but what I am against are products that enrich Wall Street at the expense of their client's portfolio.

And I'll be emb- I'm embarrassed to admit this, but for 40 years I never questioned fees. I just thought fees were part of the, how, how you play the game. That's the rules of the game. Okay, once I made my compass, I realized the fees we don't question can cost us the most. In Person B's case, it cost him $430,000.

That's too much money, Rita and Elton. I'm sorry, it's just too much money to give away to fees. 

[00:21:30] Rita Burke: The fees we don't question costs us the most. That's worth repeating. Yeah. So who, who needs to learn that? Who do you want to teach that to, David? That the fees- I- The fees we, we don't ... Say that again, please. 

[00:21:47] David Nassief: The fees we don't question can cost- Yes

us the most. Yes, absolutely. 

[00:21:51] Rita Burke: Yes. 

[00:21:51] David Nassief: I, I, I want everybody to know this because I'm gonna tell you right now, Rita, I'm sure some of your listeners are saying- "Oh, David, listen, you're talking investing. I don't have that kind of money. If I had the kind of money you had, or Rita or Elton had, I could invest. But my, I don't...

I'm living paycheck to paycheck, buddy. I don't have any money to invest. That's crazy." Well, let me tell you why that's a lie, okay? And it is a lie, and it's a lie that too many people believe. The NBA, the National Basketball Association, the average player makes over $10 million a year. I didn't say $10 million in their career.

I said in a single year average, okay? And yet, after five years of retirement, 60% of them are broke according to the Netflix documentary Broke. And the NFL is worse. After only two years of retirement, 78% of them are either bankrupt or in serious financial stress, and that's according to Sports Illustrated.

Now compare that to Dale Schroeder, a basketball-loving carpenter who made average to below average income his entire career, yet he chose to live on less than he earned, and invest wisely, and watched out for the fees, okay? He ended up with a $3 million portfolio. Rita and Elton, that, Elton, that is more money than the most of the NBA and the NFL players with their tens of millions of dollars.

So I'm here to tell you, when I followed, when I found my compass, I said to myself, "Here's what I discovered. Making money is different than building wealth." Okay? Those basketball players and football players, they are pros at making money. I mean, how many of your friends make over $10 million a year? I don't have any of those friends, okay?

That's huge, okay? Yet most of them, not all of them, most of them are terrible at building wealth. Dale Schroeder, on the other hand, he was pretty lousy at making money. I mean, he, he didn't make much money, okay? But he was a master at building wealth. So I don't want people thinking, "Oh, this is a rich man or a rich lady's game."

No, it isn't. It's somebody on any income from below average to average. But even the above average people, they aren't immune from the disasters that happen if you don't follow correct principles, and there's a string of professional athletes and actors and actresses making their millions who retire, some of them penniless, okay, uh, and in debt.

[00:24:05] Ellington Brown: L- looking back, the worst day of your life eventually became the turning point for something better. Yeah. A- and I wanna know, when was that turning point? Because I know that there had to have been emotional trauma, I'm gonna say it, when you were given that notice. Now here you are kinda like at the crossroads of w- w- what do I do?

And I'm assuming that there were, uh, w- more than one decision. Okay, there was the decision that you took, and then I'm sure there may have been another or others. How did you determine, the path I'm going to take regardless of all the other ones that I see set before me. 

[00:25:00] David Nassief: Well, it happened really when I hit my lowest point, and it wasn't when I told my wife and it wasn't when I got fired.

It was about a month after that. My wife, the sweet person that she is, she says, "Honey, you know, things are tight. We don't wanna be broke. We're 65, so I... There's a big sale going on at one of the stores. I'm gonna go buy a bunch of groceries. Would you mind coming with me and helping?" Well, I was just sending out resumes, getting no results.

I says, "Sure, why not? I have nothing else to do." So I get to the store with my wife. It's a dis- one of these discount places. I walk in, and I'm sure this isn't true, but I felt like when I looked around, alls I saw is women and babies in baby carts crying. I was the only man in the store. Now, I'm sure, like I say, that wasn't true probably, but I felt so out of place.

Like, what am I doing here? I'm supposed to be out providing for my family, not in a grocery store in the middle of the week, in the middle of the day, you know, whatever. I felt like I had a sign on my chest, the biggest loser. When my wife was checking out, I was standing at the edge of the checkout counter, at the end of it, I mean, and I felt s- I wanted to scream.

I felt like I was in a mental corporate straitjacket I couldn't break loose of. They took my corporate identity away from me, but I still felt prisoner, that that was supposed to be my identity, and it wasn't anymore. And I, I, I wanted to scream and run out, but where was I gonna run to? There was no place to go and no one wanted to hire me.

And so I said, when I went home that night, I did some real soul-searching and I says, "Listen, corporate America has told me I am of no value to them anymore, end of story. So wake up, David. It's tr- time to make a change." I had to tell the person inside me who was shaking and nervous and scared, "Come out. We gotta get out here and we gotta do something, because I am not gonna let my family have the nightmare as ending of their life as, as, as too many people have."

And so I says, "It's time to fight." I had no plan B. When I says I'm gonna start my own company, I told you I failed twice before in my 40s miserably, but you know something, Rita and Elton? I learned lessons from that failure, and those lessons I did not forget. And so when I was 63 trying this over again, although I was older and maybe a little slower, a little less energy, I was smarter.

I was smarter. I was competing with people against-- competing with people who were half my age with twice my energy, and I tell you, I was winning after a while because I put those lessons that I learnt the hard way into practice, not to repeat them again. And with my compass, I was learning what not, you know, what to keep focusing on, and that's really was my turnaround, and that's when I felt like I became- I, I didn't have an option.

I had to make it work, and it was gonna work 

[00:27:55] Rita Burke: So David, you, you promised at the top of the show that, that you would give out some pages of your compass. Yes. Tell us a little bit more about the content- 

[00:28:08] David Nassief: Yes ... 

[00:28:08] Rita Burke: of this compass. Please. 

[00:28:10] David Nassief: I'd be glad. I would be glad to. This is the actual compass, which you're gonna download.

And I'll just tell you right now so I don't forget, if you go to onepagewealthcompass.com/free, you can get the free download, and you'll also be part of my newsletter. I'll give you tips, virtual things. But let me talk about the compass first, okay? It's just two columns. It's so simple. It's one piece of paper.

Column one is the nine trail markers. This tells you where you're at. Once you read these, you'll know where exactly you're at right now, 'cause people are gonna be at different places, and h- what you have to do to get to financial freedom. And a lot of people, I made the first one career and income success.

Because a lot of people, a lot of these books I read on, on financial planning, they never aggress- address the income much at all. They just assume, "If you're reading my book, you must be making a good income. Otherwise, why would you be investing?" Well, that's not true. There's a lot of people out there who aren't making the income they want.

They're underemploy- paid, underemployed, underappreciated. And these people, this is the engine that runs everything when it comes to your finances. And if that thing's only working halfway, we need to fix that. And that's why I devoted the first two chapters of my book and this first point to that whole issue about career and income.

Because sometimes a lot of people aren't in that situation. But let's say someone says, "Okay, Rita, I'm really good at my income. I, I'm fi- fine with my career, but I tell you, I'm in credit card debt," which is number three. "I'm in debt and, and, and, and I wanna get out of debt." And so that's where they would start.

They wouldn't start at number one 'cause they would... Okay, and then they'd go b- "But David, this is nice, you say, of wealth accumulation. I mean, you say g- debt freedom, but how do I do that? I mean, a couple words here is not enough. I need more." It says chapter four. What you would do then is you would just get the book, and you could get these on Amazon, it's very inexpensive, and go to chapter four, and it'll tell you all.

This is like the 30,000-foot view, and this is the ground game. Take a right at the light. Take a left at the n- next intersection. This gives you the real specific mechanics of it, and this gives you the big-picture view so you don't get off track. And when you have them together, oh my gosh, you get the kind of clarity that few people in the world have in terms of their finances a- and, and you get the truth, too.

And so and then the last thing I do, this is funny, every week at 4:00 I have on my calendar, every Friday at 4:00 I have on my calendar to, to do my two-minute, um, wealth check, okay? And basically I get my one-page wealth compass out and I go through where I'm at now, where I wanna go, and I look at my North Star principles, which are on the right.

I didn't maybe mention these. These are the big-picture things. They keep you out of trouble. They keep you f- they're like the guardrails to keep you from going in the ditch. And so I look at them. And then that's all. Just two minutes. Two minutes a week. Have you ever read a book, guys, and then, and you f- it was a great principle in the book, and you say, "Man, I'm gonna use it.

It's gonna change my life." And then two years later You run across an idea and you go, "Oh yeah, I meant to use that and I forgot." Well, you can't do that with this because every Friday or whatever day of the week you pick, when you have a two-minute meeting, if you're still on point three and you're not making any progress, you go, "I gotta start doing something 'cause it's not gonna work."

I remember once I had my two-minute meeting and I had made an impulse purchase that week, and I thought... And I, when I got to my compass, I said, "Oh, that's right. I was supposed to wait 24 hours before I made new impulse purchases." 'Cause half the time if you wait 24 hours, you realize, "I don't really need that."

Okay. But in the motion of the moment you want it. But here's the point. The compass caught me. It caught me from making that mistake the next week and the next week and the next week, and then six years later I'm 20,000, $50,000, $100,000 in, in with problems because I didn't... It caught me the first week, so I didn't do it again.

And this, it's kind of like a behavior modification system for yourself, and it's a powerful thing. And I tell you, I f- I, I still to this day, I mean, my, my portfolio is now at the multimillion-dollar level. I still use this compass to this day 'cause I don't wanna get o- I can still get off track, you know?

I really, I really can. And so that's really what it's about. So if they just go to onepagewealthcompass.com/free, put your email in, you can download it instantly and take a look at it. There's no cost, no obligation. If you like it and you wanna get the book, it's on Amazon, One Page Wealth Compass. There's the link on my site.

Nothing else on my site can you buy. Everything is free. I have a blog that's free. I have other things that are free. There's a way to contact me if you have a question. They... I, I read all my questions and, and so that's kind of it.

[00:32:15] Ellington Brown: All I can say is you are definitely the individual that, has a lot of information, and what is beautiful about it is that you're giving this information, freely. Uh, top level information, and then if they need more, they know exactly where to go to, to get that information. I am, really, happy that we had an opportunity to talk to you today about that.

What do you feel is the most common mistakes that people make when it comes to, uh, gathering wealth? 

[00:32:57] David Nassief: Well, I think the people, they don't wanna take time to, to, to get a little bit of knowledge. Okay. That's so critical. And I understand we're all busy people. Not everybody can read the 21 books and the 13 podcasts, but here's what I found out, that every book that I read had some golden nuggets in it.

But no book had them all. You know, they, one, oh, I got a good p- oh, this is another book. Oh, th- and I get all these books, but, but nobody had the full picture. That's why I felt motivated to write this book, because I wanted to put it all together. But I also wanted to make it where it was simple. I mean, people, they hear a finance book, they go, "Oh, yeah, I'll read.

So it'll put me to sleep at night, all the charts and graphs and spreadsheets and the terms. I, I don't wanna read that garbage." Well, I know that's how people feel, so I wrote it not for the financial Wall Street person. I wrote it for the average person. It's written in story form where people succeeded and people failed, and you see how both work.

And then when I show the principle, people are saying, "Now I get it, David. No one ever explained it that way. You made it so simple because you're telling me, you show me how it works and, and in these stories." And so finally they're getting it. I wanna share with you, 'cause I think this is an important point that relates to this.

I reviewed... I read all my reviews, by the way, personally, and this is one I got from a clinical psychologist of 25 years experience, no financial background whatsoever. Listen to what he says. He says he was facing his own crisis, fi- career crisis, and he said, "The One-Page Compass gave me the exact financial hope and practical steps I needed.

But here's the part that meant the most to me." He says, "I couldn't put the book down." That's what it was designed for. It's more like a storybook or a novel than it is like all technical stuff. But the technical stuff is put in there in easy ways to understand. So even if you don't, if you're not a financial person, I promise you, you'll find it interesting because I designed it that way purposely so average people can learn and, and benefit from it, not just the Wall Street people.

[00:34:48] Rita Burke: Sounds like you've got a winner there, David! 

[00:34:51] David Nassief: I hope so. I hope so for other people's sake, I really do. 

[00:34:54] Rita Burke: So, so what would you say is your most eye-opening experience since you, dare I say, left the job, or was escorted out of the job?

[00:35:10] David Nassief: The eye-opening experience was I wasn't gonna be a victim. I don't think...

Some people have told me, "Oh, they stabbed you in the back." I disagree. They gave, they gave me a great favor. They had no obligation to keep paying me a paycheck. None. So what I was with them for 18 years? Guess what they did for 18 years? They paid me really good money. Really good money, okay? So they didn't owe me any more money.

They didn't kick me out with, at the end when I was just gonna... No, no. They gave me a gift, and I says I could either feel like a victim, and if I did that, I wouldn't be here talking to you today. I'd probably be at, at a food bank trying to get some food or whatever the thing was. 'Cause that, that, I, and I don't mean to put people down.

I mean, everyone's situation's differently. But I would've been internally an, "Oh, poor me. Woe is me," all about me. And, and but I says, "No, I'm going to make this thing work, and I'm gonna turn this into something that I never dreamt it would make me s- I feel so much stronger, Rita. I feel so much more in control.

I feel so much more the op- like, the ability to give back to people. I love to share the compass with people. I love to go to M- St. Mary's Food Bank every month with my brother and help the people who are struggling. I love my company, and my son's joined me since then. And all this stuff, Rita, I couldn't do before.

And now it's, this is like, it's given my life meaning, given my life purpose. You know, people think, "Oh my gosh, 63, the game is over, David." No, it's just the second half. Okay, and that's where championships are won, in the second half of the games, and that's how I really feel.

[00:36:40] Ellington Brown: You talked a little bit, on the chart about the, the guardrails. Are the guardrails, that's s- I guess that's something that the user would have to put in place, what those guardrails may be? 

[00:36:55] David Nassief: No, no. Basically, I, I give you the guardrails.

One of them is live on less than you earn. That's the problem those athletes had, guys. They might've made $10 million a year, but their problem was they were spending $11 million a year . You know? I don't care if it's you're making $10,000 a year, if you spend $11,000 a year, you're gonna be in trouble. If you spend $9,000 a year, you're gonna, you know, be getting yourself out.

So that's one guardrail. Another one is debt freedom. You know, here's the problem with being in debt. You're making somebody else rich. You're paying interest to them. I wanna stop that. I wanna turn that around so you can use the interest for your own wealth building, not making credit card companies and banks a- a- and other companies rich.

You need to be making yourself rich. So it's simple things like... And, and have a set it and forget it approach so it doesn't get complicated. You gotta keep this simple. That's why my whole book is trying to keep it simple. So that's the guardrails. It's nothing you have to put in place. It's just you gotta put it in place in your mind.

You gotta say mentally, "Okay, I need to make sure that when I'm living on this..." And we didn't live like monks for six, for six years. You know, I don't think you have to, I don't believe you need to live like a monk to, to, to make this work at all. I, I really don't. But you have to be reasonable. You know? You have to be reasonable about it.

You can't just whatever emotional, "Oh, that's on sale. Let's get it." You know? You, you gotta have a, a some thought put into it.

[00:38:10] Rita Burke: So apart from managing funds and income and investing, what brings you joy, David? 

[00:38:22] David Nassief: I tell you, what brings me joy is having the freedom to, to, to, to structure my day the way I want. I get up at 4:00 o'clock in the morning, not because I have to. I don't cl- cl- clock the punch or anything like that. I just love the mornings.

It, it's just quiet. I'm the only one awake at 4:00 o'clock. I, I, I... It's most, my most creative time. I get to do my creative things that I like to do. I like to do some exercises, things like that in the morning. And so, but I get to structure my day the way I want to do it. And, and giving is... I, I'm gonna tell you, Rita, giving is something that I've really found such a blessing.

I mean, my wife and I, we now adopt a couple of families at Christmas who are in need, struggling, going through some kind of crisis or whatever, and we have so much fun going to the store. It's like our, it's like we have little kids again, you know, buying the gifts from their wish lists, all that kind of thing.

And they don't know who we are. They never know who we are. We, we just do it anonymously. But it's... I'm telling you, Rita, I think we have more fun doing that than they have getting the gifts. I know they love the gifts, but I'm just saying. But that kind of stuff is just... Giving back, I think, is just such a, a...

The giver gives, gets as much bene- benefit, if not more, than the gi- than the person receiving it. And so being able to give and help other people who are struggling, I think, is, is, is, it's just a, a treasured opportunity that we, we love. 

[00:39:38] Rita Burke: No question about it. Giving, giving is healthy. Yeah. Giving is, is, uh, gives the giver a wonderful sense of, dare I say, accomplishment?

[00:39:50] David Nassief: Yeah. 

[00:39:50] Rita Burke: A wonderful sense- 

[00:39:52] David Nassief: Yeah ... 

[00:39:52] Rita Burke: of, of, of- Giving ... pride to, uh, because of their ability to give. So if you had to do a presentation or you had, you were the keynote speaker for a group of graduating college students, what sage advice would you give to them about managing money or navigating their way through the financial world?

I'd say one thing to them all, and that's this: Clear direction beats misdirected speed every time. My life is an example of that. For 40 years, I was making good money but, and I was going fast, but I was misdirected speed. I was going in circles by spinning my wheels. Once I got that clear direction with my compass, Rita, I accomplished more financially in six years than I had the previous 40 years.

That's the power of clear direction, and that's what I hope to give people with this free compass because it's, doesn't cost money. It's just take time in your mind to get that clear direction. And every gra- If I, I wish the keynote speaker when I graduated from college had gave me that advice 'cause that would've been a life-changer early on for me.

[00:41:11] Ellington Brown: Uh, David, your story is a very powerful reminder- That it's never too late to change direction. Whether you're at the end of your career or at the beginning or maybe somewhere in the middle, it's never too late to plan your financial future. And David's journey allow us to see the right strategy, uh, the right mindset that be c- that can be used in order to gain financial stability, and thank you for the opportunity of having this conversation with you.

Rita, would you like to add to that? 

[00:41:56] Rita Burke: Yes, I, I would like to say thank you as well. I like your energy and I like your passion and I like your determination and I like your focus. It's obvious to me that you know what your North Star is, and you're not taking your eyes off of that, and i-i-it certainly will help our listeners when they get that sense of direction that you're offering.

So thank you so much, David. Really appreciate your being here on SpeakUP! International. 

[00:42:25] David Nassief: Thank you, Rita, and thank you, Elton. I'd just like to encourage everyone, please go to onepagewealthcompass.com/free and get your free download so you can gain some direction that I think will bless your life 

[00:42:37] Ellington Brown: Thank you for tuning in to SpeakUP! International! If you wish to contact our guest, Mr. David Nassief, please be prepared to submit your name, your email address, and the reason why you wish to contact Mr. Nassief at onepagewealthcompass.com /. 

Mr. Nassief has other social media accounts you can use to connect to him that will be listed in the description section on Spotify and other social media platforms.

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