What's in store for you:

1. Photo From My Life
2. Life Thought: Effort is the Price of Admission
3. Financial Thought: What's more important than tariffs?
4. Good Sh*t: Chicken

Photo From My Life:

Life Thought:

Effort is the Price of Admission: Sure, I'll be the first to admit it. Having the right connections matters. Having talent or brains can open doors. But showing up—really showing up—is what matters most.

When I think about work, effort is necessary. I’m trying to grow my new wealth management firm one handwritten note at a time. Literally. I write five personal letters a day. It’s not scalable, and it’s definitely not efficient. I'm betting the growth of my firm on effort. I'm hoping it creates additional momentum in everything else I do.

I have yet to see one highly successful person who doesn't put in a lot of effort. Some people make careers of 40+ years of consistent effort. Others build a career on one idea and a lot of effort behind that single idea.

Too many think effort is only important for work. Effort is even more important when building a fulfilling life.

This past weekend, we packed my entire family into a plane and flew from Savannah to Phoenix to celebrate my aunt and uncle’s 40th wedding anniversary. It was chaotic, expensive, and logistically a bit of a circus. But we showed up. And we did it because for forty years, they’ve shown up for others—with presence, care, and consistency. When my dad was sick, they would make the 6 hour drive to come visit us multiple times a month. My uncle would go to almost all of his doctors appointment. He showed up when it counted.

The party was filled with 150+ people, each of them there for the same reason. Not because life was convenient, but because effort matters. That kind of legacy comes from the daily choice to care.

Want a shortcut in life? I haven’t found one. But I’ve found this: if you’re willing to make the effort, the compounding effect on all facets of your life will be extraordinary.

Financial Thought:

What's More Important Than Tariffs:

There’s been a lot of chatter over the last 24-48 hours about tariffs. You're probably expecting me to write a 1,000-word essay on why tariffs are bad for the U.S. consumer, the investor, and anyone who enjoys buying avocados.

Yes, tariffs are important to understand—but they’re not the hill I want to die on this month. So instead of trying to remember my Econ 101 class, I figured I’d share nine investing mandates that are way more important to your long-term success than what country is taxing which widget.

Nine Investing Mandates More Important Than Tariffs:

1. Spend less than you make. Shocking, I know. But you’d be surprised how many smart people forget this one. You may think it gets easier the more money you make, but it's not. You need to start building this muscle early. My favorite tip to share is that if you get a good job out of college, you should spend the first two years after college pretending like you still live on a college budget. No better way to kickstart your nest-egg.
2. Own equity. If you want long-term freedom, you need to own assets that grow—stocks, businesses, real estate. Nobody retires early fighting inflation in their savings account.
3. Ignore 99% of financial media. Most headlines are designed to make you panic, and click the article. “Markets plunge!” “[insert doom here]!” None of this help you build wealth. If your investment strategy changes every time someone on CNBC gets dramatic, it’s not a strategy.
4. Diversify. Betting your entire portfolio on AI stocks, real estate syndicates, or your cousin’s kombucha startup is not a plan.
5. Understand your goals. Investing for retirement is different than investing to buy a lake house in 3 years. You wouldn’t train for a marathon the same way you train for a sprint. If I had a dollar every time I preached a goals based investing strategy, I'd no longer be writing this newsletter.
6. Use time to your advantage. Compounding is magic. Start early, be consistent, and let the math do the heavy lifting.
7. Avoid emotional decisions. When markets drop, do nothing. When they rise, also do nothing. The best investors are usually dead or forget they had accounts.
8. Don’t try to time the market. Even the pros fail at this. Your job is not to be right today, it’s to be positioned well for the next decade.
9. Align your money with your values. Your portfolio should support the life you want—not your neighbor’s, not your co-worker’s, not some guy on Twitter’s. If travel brings you joy, save for it guilt-free. If early retirement is your goal, build toward that. Money isn’t the goal. It’s the tool to build a life you care about.

Bonus Life Rule #1: Never trust someone who doesn’t like breakfast burritos. That’s just a red flag in both life and investing.

Bonus Life Rule #2: If your toddler is quiet for more than 90 seconds, they’re probably eating crayons.

Good Sh*t:

Chicken: I’ve been on a mission lately to think about the "environment" we live in. We just finished a water test and we're rethinking some of the food we buy—especially fish and meat. A while back, I came across a post by Justin Mares that dove into the issues with modern grocery store chicken. He single handedly ruined the poultry aisle forever.

So, I took the leap and ordered a sample pack from Greener Pastures Chicken. Yes, it’s a bit more expensive. Yes, the chicken breasts are about half the size of the ones you find in the grocery store. But honestly? It tastes way better. Like, noticeably better. The texture, the flavor, the everything.

More importantly, it’s pasture-raised, organic, and regeneratively farmed. No weird additives. No sketchy conditions. If you’re someone who cares about how their food is raised—or just wants their chicken to taste like actual chicken—I’d recommend giving them a shot.

We’ve also started testing out ​Seatopia​ for our fish. One of the best parts about having a stash of high-quality frozen chicken and fish is that it's simple—just pull out whatever sounds good in the morning, and by dinner it's ready to pair with rice, potatoes, or veggies. It’s made meal planning way less stressful.

Let me know if you’ve tried them or have other brands I should check out.

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