May 2025
Each month, almost without fail, a theme starts to emerge—something that connects how I think about money on purpose, building a business on purpose, life on purpose. This month, though, the theme has two layers: information and patterns. They’re both incredibly important and incredibly connected. Let’s dig in.
Information is powerful
That might sound obvious, but it’s worth examining. When it comes to your health, information can be the difference between life and death. If you know you have certain genetic markers, for instance, you can make real changes designed to prolong your life.
Money is more of the same: You can’t prepare for a tax bill you don’t know is coming. You can’t choose a more tax-efficient strategy if you don’t know it exists.
So much of what we do as financial advisors involves crunching numbers and exploring multiple what-if scenarios so that our clients have the best possible information to make savvy decisions.
f course, information only gets you so far. You still have to interpret the information—to decide what you’ll do with it.
That’s where purpose comes in. Because as powerful as information can be, it can be overwhelming, too. Purpose gives you a framework—a way to turn information into good decisions in support of something bigger.
Purpose can help you process a 24-hour BREAKING NEWS cycle that delivers crisis after crisis. It may be the key to staying sane through 2025.
If you haven’t taken the time to put your purpose on paper, I share tips in the second half of this article on family meetings.
Information on demand
Entrepreneurs often struggle to find the right information for them. So many of the self-help experts online promote the tools that work for them as if they’ll work for everyone.
I’ve seen countless business owners frustrate themselves (and their bank accounts) because they had the wrong information, or no information.
I’m hoping to change that. I’ve been putting together true deep dive videos—we’re talking ~20 minutes worth of information, organized by chapter—to help business owners get the lay of the land and understand their options.
This month’s topic? Business structure aka entities. We dig into the different legal and tax classifications for businesses, including the pros, cons, and people they work best for.
You can find additional deep dives in the For entrepreneurs playlist.
The power of patterns
The other thing information helps with? Context. When you allow yourself to gather data and explore all the options, you start to spot trends and patterns, all of which provides context. Those patterns and context? They get added to your database of information.
Here’s an example. Say you’re trying to get healthier this summer—so you start eating better and exercising. But you notice every Monday you go rogue and get a donut in the afternoon. That’s a pattern, and noticing it signals you need to start gathering information.
The next Monday, you pay attention to why you’re wanting a donut. You realize it’s because you’re stressed on Mondays, and at the same time, you’re rewarding yourself for sticking to your get healthy plan over the weekend and avoiding temptation… two great pieces of information.
So now what? What do you do with that information?
First, look for more information. Is it a pattern? Do you feel that way every Monday? If so, is it a pattern you want to change?
In this particular example, I think purpose can help. But I think gratitude can, too. One of my favorite tricks for changing habits is taking a moment for gratitude. Why? Being thankful forces you to live in the moment. It takes you off autopilot. And many of our bad habits are simply patterns powered by our reptile brains.
While one takeaway here is “if you want to eat fewer donuts, say thank you” I hope the bigger one is this: Ask why. Dig for information. Ask why again. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you want to start doing things on purpose.
Here’s a deep dive I put together on gratitude and purpose.
Patterns and your portfolio
As much as I love to talk about donuts, the better example may have been portfolios and the markets. Not because patterns are some kind of magic investing hack. Rather, patterns provide the kind of context that makes volatile markets bearable.
Consider tariffs and the subsequent market sell off, mini rally, sell-off and full rally… plus whatever happens in the next several rounds. I can’t tell you exactly what will happen next, but I can tell you there’s a pattern:
- Headlines move the market, investors react in a panic.
- Next, policy shifts and investors overcorrect.
- Rinse and repeat.
Spotting the pattern can help prevent panic.
It’s scary when the Dow drops 1,000 points. Knowing we’re in a cycle can help you hit pause and look for more information. Such as:
- A 1,000 point drop in the dow is rare and significant.
- It’s also less than a 3% decline.
- In contrast, the Dow dropped nearly 8% three separate times in 2008.
- None of those drops hit 1,000 points.
Put another way—a 1,000 point drop in the Dow isn’t worth what it used to be!
But you won’t get that context in a headline. If you find this type of information helpful but don’t want to go digging for it, I send a separate, more markets-focused newsletter out from time to time.
Want market-focused emails straight to your inbox? Sign up here.
When the music is fire
The only thing better than playing music? Playing music live.
Better still? Debuting new music to a great crowd.
Especially when the song is Fire. Literally. Introducing the next single from my band Stone Arch Rivals…
