Tactical Wealth: From Military to Money

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Unknown
if you told me that I would end up my career as a general officer, I would say, no way.

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Unknown
you could feel the tensions across the globe. I knew that we were going to deploy

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Unknown
probably to Iraq.

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Unknown
what do you think helped propel your rise through the ranks of the Army?

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Unknown
a I could not have picked a more fantastic career than what I had.

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Unknown
How do you think about the military financial ecosystem from a big picture perspective?

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Unknown
we just don't associate, you know, our positions and what we make as wealth building.

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Unknown
For too long, those that have worn the cloth of the country, that have fought and sacrificed for our nation have been left out of the greatest financial engine the world has ever seen. My service paved the way for my success, and that's true for so many venture partners. In fact, some of the greatest companies were created by veterans.

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Unknown
I'm your host, Carson, and in each episode, we'll bring you the stories and the wisdom of those who have gone from boots on the ground to successful careers, from military to wealth and how they've done it. So you can apply those insights to your own mission and life. Welcome to tactical wealth, from military to money.

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Unknown
General Richardson, before we get tactical, if you had to sum up your journey from a young Army aviator to a four star general in a sentence, what would it be? So, pretty amazing that, just the things that I've been able to do, in the military that I never would have ever thought possible.

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Unknown
And if you told me that I would end up my career as a general officer, I would say, no way. Yeah, I tell myself the same thing, and I was right. But you achieved this extraordinary moment. Is there a mission or a leadership moment? Oh, I know your career is extraordinary and long, but is there one moment that stands out for you?

00:02:02:02 - 00:02:22:22
Unknown
There is. And it was when I was a battalion commander. And, and the I was at the hundred and first Airborne Division, and I had just gotten in as a battalion commander. We were going to be on the, you know, you could felt you could feel the tensions across the globe. I knew that we were going to deploy at some point in time, probably to Iraq.

00:02:23:03 - 00:02:45:10
Unknown
And, we actually did. And, March of that next year, I went into command in the summer previous to that. And, but we were going to be in our, our tasking cycle the whole time, up until deployment. And, you know, you don't know when you're going to deploy, but the, but I knew that we were I mean, you could just feel it.

00:02:45:10 - 00:03:10:16
Unknown
The spidey senses were, were pretty strong, and it was like, okay, how you know, I'm a new battalion commander. I've got 30, 60 Blackhawks. I'm one of the three assault battalions on the 101st Airborne Division. This is how the infantry, in that division gets around. This is where the transportation for them. And so how are we going to train for combat?

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Unknown
And make sure that this unit. Because, you know, as a commander, I feel like I'm, you know, I'm the I'm the coach, right? And you're either going to win or are you going to lose? And I'm not about losing. And so, you know, how do I, assess where the unit is, train them and make sure that everybody that we deploy with, we redeploy with and we come back with everybody.

00:03:34:04 - 00:03:54:00
Unknown
Right. And so with that was the primary goal. It was that training up for that, for that deployment. And then we didn't know how long we were going to be there, right. Like, we thought we might be there a couple months when we first left. And I would say that that's probably the worst is when you don't know how long something's going to be.

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Unknown
It's kind of like when your commander takes you out on a run and you're like, you don't know how far you're going to run. So it seems like it's twice as long. But the, and we ended up being there a year. But it was that training that, you know, all that hard work that we put in on the front end that led to, successful missions on the back end for everybody and for that division.

00:04:16:07 - 00:04:40:14
Unknown
So that was a defining moment. How important a commander, a leader, and your leaders at echelon are in the military? Yeah. That's extraordinary. I think if there's one thing I could convey, the credit always goes to the boots on the ground, but that doesn't mean that the crucible of leadership is not heavy. Because it is. Yeah. So thank you.

00:04:40:17 - 00:05:02:15
Unknown
right. So welcome back to another episode of Tactical Wealth. Today I'm incredibly honored to welcome General Laura J. Richardson. She's a trailblazing army aviator, a former four star general and the first woman to command both U.S. Army North and U.S Southern Command. Her leadership has shaped national security, global cooperation and gender equality in the military.

00:05:02:15 - 00:05:21:23
Unknown
Her story isn't just about breaking barriers. It's about setting new standards. General Richardson, welcome to tactical wealth. It's a privilege to have you on the show. I'm honored to be here. It's wonderful. Well, before we get, started today, I want to get it. I want to understand a little bit about how you came to be in the military.

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Unknown
Can you tell us your background and why you decided to serve? Well, my folks were very inter instrumental. I mean, joining actually, ROTC in college. We didn't have high school ROTC, in my state. And, but I highly recommend it. What a fantastic program. But my my folks have me, start, ROTC in college when I was a freshman, and, and I didn't know what to think of it after I went to the first, class and lab and, but then, it just kind of, rubbed off on me.

00:05:57:15 - 00:06:19:04
Unknown
I ended up kind of liking it, and, I actually started off in Air Force ROTC. Okay. First year and, and the I didn't quite fit in, and, but I thought that, you know, I kind of like this. And so I went to the other services and, tried out the, just went to visit them, and Army seemed to be a good fit.

00:06:19:09 - 00:06:42:19
Unknown
And, and so I signed on with Army and graduated, commissioned, into the Army and went right to flight school after that. And did you know you wanted to fly when you entered the service? So I was taking I was working on my private pilot's license before, while I was in, high school and college. And so that seemed to be a logical flow, right?

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Unknown
To go into the service and fly after that. So that's really what I wanted to do. Or I was taking pre-med and, and, in college for all my courses and things like that. So I'd have something else to do, you know, if it was one or the other, I'd have at least another option if one didn't pan out.

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Unknown
And so, but it was pretty amazing to see all of the different things that you could do in the military. Right. And so, my message to young people all the time is there are all over 350 jobs within the military. And I will tell you that, having a I could not have picked a more fantastic career than what I had.

00:07:22:14 - 00:07:43:10
Unknown
And most of the times, most of them, not all of them, but nothing. No career is ever, you know, 100%. But most of the time, you know, I you'd have to pinch me. Like, I can't believe I'm here doing this because it was so cool. And I don't think in any other job or profession I could have done the things that I've been able to do in the military.

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Unknown
And during the early part of your career, since, you know, we're focused on wealth building here, do you remember what your relationship, your personal relationship was to to finances related to the military? Was it something you thought about a lot? Not really. Not at all. It was just, you know, go in and, you know, get through flight school, be a pilot, you know, be a good leader.

00:08:05:15 - 00:08:31:23
Unknown
It wasn't thinking about, how much you made or how much you're going to save or even investing. That wasn't even, something that I considered when I was, you know, going into the military as a as a second lieutenant. Yeah. Somehow that makes me feel better and worse. Simultaneously better. Because even if somebody like you, like me, was not thinking about financial literacy at the time, it makes me feel personally a little better.

00:08:31:23 - 00:09:11:12
Unknown
But also sad because I think it really epitomizes if someone is as driven and smart, as accomplished as you wasn't focused, imagine the rest of the force. A bunch of knuckle draggers like myself. Like we certainly we're not focused on financial literacy. And, it's true, it's a whole. Yeah, I just think if I had started early and started when, you know, before I signed up, you know, before I, like when I signed up to go into the military that I also signed up for, like, the Thrift Savings Program and, you know, got briefed on all those things and, and was aware, you know, I'd be I'd be, much better

00:09:11:12 - 00:09:40:11
Unknown
off now. I think, you know, now that I'm retired because that wealth, and, you know, I think the, you know, just the, the word wealth, we don't associate military and wealth, in the same sentence or in the just like, being, we just don't associate, you know, our positions and what we make as wealth building. But, you know, just, my husband has is, saying that you always got to pay yourself first.

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Unknown
He's always said that. And there's so much truth to that. You know, you live paycheck to paycheck generally in the military. And we did. And, but he always said we're going to pay ourself first. And whether that was 50 bucks or a hundred bucks that we saved and then invested, that was the key because that adds up big time.

00:10:00:09 - 00:10:26:19
Unknown
That's pretty brilliant. And I mean, if there's one thing that I hope I could impart to everybody who's serving or, or just recently finished serving, just a little nudge I love pay yourself first. Brilliant. Yeah. Brilliant. So maybe one thing you know, before we go too deep into, I definitely want your perspective from a command perspective, of how finance trickles out through the military ecosystem.

00:10:26:20 - 00:10:51:09
Unknown
But before I, I guess I just love to to get a sense. I know you're an extraordinarily humble person, but, I mean, what do you think helped propel your rise through the ranks of the Army? How did you reach this position ultimately? What were the the internal characteristics that you think really helped get you there? I think the, one big thing about the military is about the team.

00:10:51:10 - 00:11:12:08
Unknown
It's not about you as an individual. And, and I think coming up through sports, that, you know, I was, a competitive swimmer coming up. I was on the swim team, and it was all about the team and how well the team did and and those kinds of things. And so the military is even that much bigger of a of a team.

00:11:12:08 - 00:11:45:17
Unknown
And, and it was something bigger than yourself, which, you know, you give, 150% when it's not about you. It's amazing what, you know, the team can, can do when highly trained and, you know, the you just you just know everybody really, really well on your team. And so I think the, that was, extremely attractive in the military and just, just, I don't know, I just took off from there, something that I could, relate to.

00:11:45:19 - 00:12:10:16
Unknown
There's a lot of inflection points in people's military careers. You sort of intimated that, like, one of the the peaks or one of the zenith of your career was when you're a battalion commander. But there's many points at the ten year mark. You know where you've finished your service requirement, right? Or after you've sort of completed your operational time in the service and you're moving into upper management, that people leave.

00:12:10:18 - 00:12:45:01
Unknown
Why did you stay during those moments? Oh, I think the, I don't know. I mean, we we my husband and I were my husband served 40 years in the Army, also an army aviator and the Army was really good to us and our family. Right. And it was, there were many programs that were very, very key that were around 40 years ago that, allowed both of us to serve both of us to be successful and for us to have a family and then be able to stay together.

00:12:45:03 - 00:13:10:05
Unknown
I mean, really 40 years ago that I mean, I was pretty forward thinking, I think, because, you know, I think young people struggle with that today is the same, the same struggles. But those same programs are there to facilitate that. And I think that's one of the things, a highlight of, our career is that we were examples of dual military success, all dual military, because you wouldn't believe how many people would tell us, you know what?

00:13:10:05 - 00:13:30:21
Unknown
I'm you just got to get out at some point, right? You both can't make it. You might as well face it right in. And we were both successful with muscle careers in the military and have a family. Right. And and there's a lot of challenges in coming with. That's right. Right. Moving right. I think you told me you were stationed at 17 different bases or something.

00:13:30:22 - 00:13:58:17
Unknown
We moved a lot. Yeah, 17 different, permanent changes of station pieces. And so. Yeah, absolutely. And our daughter endured 13 of those. Wow. Yeah. It wasn't easy. Wow. Wasn't easy. A lot of planning, but it's not impossible. You know, and, and and in hindsight, we're there. Well, I'll ask you a funny question. Since you brought up your husband, like, four stars, three stars, seven star.

00:13:58:18 - 00:14:19:13
Unknown
Can Biden family. There's not many of those, right? Right. Okay, but you still outrank him, right? I always did. Oh, so you must have been peers at some point in flight school? No, he wasn't. He was, he was, 3 or 4 years ahead of me. Well, sounds like you were definitely doing the Army. Right. So this

00:14:20:08 - 00:14:41:11
Unknown
You've, championed a lot of the women, peace and security initiatives. Can can you talk about why you think integration in the military is so important? Well, so we talk about how your financial portfolio needs to be diversified, right, to be stronger and whether the storm and, the ups and downs of the market and things like that, no different.

00:14:41:11 - 00:15:04:08
Unknown
How can you ignore 50% of your talent pool? Right. It increases readiness. And, you know, I'll just go back to my, serving in the military. You know, you can wake up every day and impact national security, right? By being in the military. But the diversification, I think the, you know, the, I think women think a little bit differently.

00:15:04:10 - 00:15:28:21
Unknown
I think they're team builders, and they try to figure out solutions, to solve issues, without fighting. Right. And, and quite honestly, I think it's good to have different perspectives of how people think and, and ideas, because I know just as I was coming up through the ranks, you know, as you're getting ready to make decisions you want, you don't want to surround yourself with people that think like you.

00:15:29:02 - 00:15:54:07
Unknown
You want to have different ways of, different perspectives and be able to take in as much information as you possibly can have before you make a really important decision on the military. You make decisions and people's lives depend on it. And so you want the best information, from all different thoughts, to try to make the, you know, that one final best decision, before you move out.

00:15:54:09 - 00:16:19:08
Unknown
Yeah. I'm really, I'm really proud to hear you say this. I, I compose all of my teams. Not by some, like, arbitrary notion of identity, but by diversity of thinking. Because I think to, you know, there's this there's this famous, Emerson quote, Ralph Waldo Emerson quote about friendship. Better to be a needle in my side than my echo, meaning that sometimes friends or peers or colleagues challenge each other.

00:16:19:08 - 00:16:42:17
Unknown
And especially in the military, we have learned lessons in blood that you need to read team things. You need to have contradicting opinions. And then you need to ultimately reconcile those differences and, and get on mission. And that's important. But I think that diversity and by diversity I mean diversity of perspectives, of thinking of ideas is one of the consummate strengths of our military.

00:16:42:20 - 00:17:09:13
Unknown
Actually, I think so too. Yeah. Amazing. So I want to talk about finances a little bit. From your perspective of you at times have led thousands and thousands of service members, or you have been in command and thousands of thousands of service members. How do you think about the military financial ecosystem from a big picture perspective?

00:17:09:15 - 00:17:34:04
Unknown
I would say that we got a lot of work to do. We need to build the ecosystem quite honestly. Right. And I think that that's what, is. So, that's why I'm so passionate about Siebert Valor and the initiative that, you know, you're spearheading because, because, you know, it's something that is for the military, for retirees, for veterans, for family members.

00:17:34:06 - 00:18:02:19
Unknown
Right? First responders, police, firefighters. It's for all the people that are out there making things happen and are so busy all the time. You know that it is it is tailored to us, right, and to our kind of like culture. And, and again, I go back to, you know, you would never put wealth in the same sentence with military, but we have to because there are so many great programs that the military has.

00:18:03:00 - 00:18:29:20
Unknown
But you need that financial education and literacy and platforms like what Siebert offers. It's pretty amazing. And, and that is tailored to the, to us. You can you can ask for any better. We're there other course corrections over the cycle of your career that could be comps for us about how we could shift and change military culture around finances.

00:18:29:22 - 00:18:57:07
Unknown
Other big things you had to change. I think that we as a society. I won't even tackle the mullet. I'll just take that on. As a society, we don't, the education and finances, it's not there. It's not there for, and it needs to be there in our society. And actually, we should be going back and, middle schools and high schools, and that should be part of our curriculum and education.

00:18:57:09 - 00:19:18:23
Unknown
But certainly also in the military to take it up into another level. Right. And, just the education that you need. So, you know, you know, do I, for an individual retirement, you know, an IRA, I do, I do a traditional or do I do a Roth. When do I do this or that. Right. And, just those basic things.

00:19:19:01 - 00:19:41:00
Unknown
And for the military, there's there's plenty of headwinds. We've talked about some of them constant changes of station, the stress and duress of military life. But there are some institutional advantages we have because we have some sort of closed ecosystem components. We have schools on bases. Right. Are those levers that that the military that DoD can pull in order to close this gap a little?

00:19:41:03 - 00:20:09:18
Unknown
I think so I think so I think there are a lot of things that we have, as I like to say, I always look in your backyard first before you ask us for other things. You know, just to see if you have already have the tools and you're just not using, I think there are a lot of things that we could, you know, like just kind of revamp or, you know, rejuvenate, and utilize, so you have now retired, you don't you don't feel retired by any means.

00:20:09:18 - 00:20:31:01
Unknown
So is this just, you know, is it life on the on the fishing boat with your husband now or for life on the golf course? The golf course. Is that what it is like? You guys both golf. We we both golf. Yeah, absolutely. We're on a golf course. That's. We've been waiting. We've had land for, like, 30 years, and we've been waiting to, to build a house and live on.

00:20:31:01 - 00:20:53:05
Unknown
And now we now we do, but we still have some debt that we want to pay off. So we still have, you know, so we're still in the a different kind of workforce, trying to, become debt free. And that's our goal before we retire. Retire. Right. So having a sort of second career, post military career, right.

00:20:53:07 - 00:21:14:23
Unknown
For a short period of time and, now, had we saved earlier in our careers, we might not have to do that. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And not just saved. You know, I shouldn't say just say because your savings account isn't going to give you the interest rate that you need. You need to invest your money. And that's why the, you know, the Siebert Valor program, tactical wealth.

00:21:14:23 - 00:21:35:16
Unknown
I mean, this this is huge. This is huge for our service members, this program tailored to us, right. For people that don't have a lot of time to figure things out. And I hope so. Speaking of, not a lot of time, we have a section that we like to do we call rapid fire. So this is just this is the the machine gun, the, the M60 of questions.

00:21:35:18 - 00:22:07:09
Unknown
So I'll, I'll shoot a couple your direction. Best investment you ever made? The thrift savings program that the U.S government offers. Excellent. Dumbest financial mistake you've made. Investing in a company, and a fund. And this is what, early on, that didn't make any money and ended up going out of business. And so that then that made us, like, have a little, you know, we were scared to invest, right?

00:22:07:09 - 00:22:30:10
Unknown
At the same time, we learned from our losses. Right? Like, I bet you sharpen the knife on investing after the time, right? Reined it in, military habit. You'll never drop working out. So, a book that changed your mindset or that you just think is is a must read for everyone? I like, there are a lot of books out there, but I like to, especially band of Brothers.

00:22:30:16 - 00:22:58:00
Unknown
Yeah, yeah. Extraordinary. And, morning routine. Morning routine. You know, Army coffee, you know, can't give it up. I love it, I love it. Great. So in closing, what what is a singular piece of advice you'd give to women specifically considering a military career? So here's what I would say. And not not just for women.

00:22:58:00 - 00:23:20:00
Unknown
I would, for men and women. And I would say, you know, as you start out as young people in the military, put your head down, be as confident and, as you can be. Learn your job, your profession. I know when I first came in, in, in the army, I was always trying to fit in and that kind of thing.

00:23:20:00 - 00:23:46:01
Unknown
You actually fit in when you are part, you know, you're a contributing member of the team, right? And that means whatever the mission is and the unit that you're in that you've, put 150% into learning that mission and being good at what you you know, what you do when you're new to something, do a lot of listening, not a lot of talking and, and become again, contributor as quickly as possible.

00:23:46:01 - 00:24:19:13
Unknown
And then that's exactly when you fit in because of your professionalism and your competence. So, and again, you're part of a team. It's not about you. And beyond your private sector work, what's important to you now that you've transitioned out? I think the, just trying to give back. There's some things that I was, working in U.S, in your Southern command when I was the commander there, for the region that I was responsible for working with those militaries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

00:24:19:15 - 00:24:53:16
Unknown
And then, and then something just like, you know, like this, you know, with, financial finances for military and first responders, but just giving back and how, and I just think that, you know, I testified, when I was in the seat as a combat and commander, in terms of, I just think that more investment, quality U.S investment, team USA investment, into Latin America and the Caribbean, is what what's needed in our own hemisphere with which we live, the Western hemisphere.

00:24:53:18 - 00:25:16:12
Unknown
And, so just trying to, to help with some of those things, those initiatives, I was working in uniform. Continue that and see some things through. Yeah. Amazing. What what did you say earlier? Sometimes you look in your own backyard first, right? It applies to macro for policy as well. That's right. Yeah. Amazing. Well, General Richardson, thank you so much for sharing your story with us today.

00:25:16:14 - 00:25:38:20
Unknown
Your journey. It's not just about breaking ceilings, it's about building ladders for other. And I truly appreciate that. Your legacy reminds us that with discipline and vision and resilience, no space is off limits to anyone. For everyone listening, please take this to heart. Leadership is about persistence. It's about integrity. And it's about using your platform to elevate others.

00:25:38:21 - 00:25:42:07
Unknown
Until next time, stay tactical and stay driven.

00:25:43:03 - 00:26:06:02
Unknown
Hey, thanks again for walking in with us today. I hope this episode stimulated the old brain housing unit. Step one to becoming richer is becoming smarter, and I hope some of the lessons and ideas from today have sharpened your knife. As always, I hope you're taking notes and more importantly, that you're taking action. Thanks again to Siebert Bauer and Siebert Financial for the support.

00:26:06:04 - 00:26:16:11
Unknown
And remember, stay tactical, stay driven. And don't forget to bang that subscribe button.

00:26:16:12 - 00:26:24:05
Unknown
You can.

00:26:24:07 - 00:26:34:13
Unknown
Find.

00:26:34:13 - 00:26:54:09
Unknown
Tactical wealth is a Gabby, a media production brought to you by Siebert Valor, a military focused initiative from Siebert Financial. The Tactical Wealth Podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Siebert Financial. This podcast does not constitute investment advice or an offer to sell or solicitation to buy any securities.

00:26:54:11 - 00:27:00:19
Unknown
Past performance is not indicative of future results. Listeners should consult a qualified financial professional before making any investment decisions.