INTRODUCTION

SETTING THE STAGE FOR A RICHER LIFE

So, what does a richer life mean to you? Everyone has a different definition of what a rich life means, and it is not just about wealth, money, or success. A rich life, to me, is about finding purpose, meaning, and fulfillment in all areas of our lives. It is about living with intention, driven by our values and what is most important to us.

As adults, we may have gotten lost in thinking that more success and things will create more happiness. If we get that new boat, it will make us happier. If we buy a bigger house, that will make us happy. We are a work in progress, and I include myself. I was always very driven most of my life, and I am sure I always will be, but what I have found through reflection after my wife, Amie, died in 2017 is that it is okay to set aside some ambition if it is not aligning with your goals of living a more balanced, richer life. If ambition is robbing you of joy, then it is okay to take a step back and reevaluate what is more important. Nobody on their deathbed said they wished they had worked more. If your health is taking a back seat to your aspirations, then pause and make health a priority. If you are grinding every day to make a living, but you are not paying yourself first and investing for the future, then you need to make wealth-building a priority. If you are working 10-12 hours a day at the expense of your most important relationships, then you need to find more balance and focus some time cultivating deeper relationships.

For the first year, as I dealt with the loss of my wife and the mother of my children, I did everything I possibly could to deal with my grief. I journaled. I did therapy. I meditated. I wrote over 40 songs on grief and loss. I exercised. I read books on grief, loss, and resilience. I poured my pain into purpose and started a foundation to help veterans who were also exposed to Burn Pits and had pancreatic cancer, only to find that although it felt great to offer help, I was also reliving my wife's fight over and over again. Even though it was very fulfilling and gave me purpose, it prevented me from finding joy and possibly moving on to live this richer life I felt obligated to live. I still wanted to continue helping families and raising awareness about the harmful effects of the Burn Pits our veterans were exposed to in Iraq and Afghanistan, but I had to find a way to bring joy to my life again. One of the things that brings joy to me is music and kids. So, we got the Brian David Band back together, reached out to some old musician friends, and started doing a live music event each year to raise money for the Amie Muller Foundation. Practicing and rehearsing for this show was a highlight of each year for me. It brought me back to why I loved music in the first place. Being on stage and singing my heart out always brought so much joy, and I had forgotten how important that was to me. Then, the board of the Amie Muller Foundation brainstormed ideas for doing a family fun event to raise money. We started doing a Family Fun Day at the Mall of America each year, with fun auction items, cartoon mascots, balloon art, and magicians. These two events gave me something to look forward to. They gave me purpose but also joy.

Before Amie died, a good friend came to visit and had her write down some things she wanted for me and the kids. These notes became one of the most sentimental things she left behind, and I made a graphic of them and called them Amie's Rules for Life.

Amie's Rules for Life:

1. Pursue Your Dreams
2. Love Deeply
3. Always Be Kind
4. Have a Pet
5. Follow Your Heart
6. Have a Passion
7. Read Often
8. Camp and Sleep Under the Stars

I put a lot of pressure on myself to try to live life to the fullest after Amie died. Probably too much pressure. I tried to make everything extra special for the kids. I went all out for Christmas and Halloween. I bought a 20-foot Coleman trailer, and we started camping at all the best campgrounds in Minnesota and even took a two-week camping road trip to the Black Hills, Devil's Tower, and Colorado. I will never forget those trips. They are forever burned in my mind and were a form of therapy being in nature and creating these amazing experiences for my kids.

I knew I needed to bring a passion back into my life again, so I started writing music again and eventually put out eight singles from 2021 to 2023. I kept reading self-development books to stay positive, and in February 2024, I pursued my dream of having my own financial planning and wealth management firm and starting a podcast. Today I am the founder of Momentous Wealth Advisors and do a weekly podcast called Wealth Decisions by Brian.

You don't need a traumatic event to happen in your life to change things for the better. You just need to decide right now that you want something more. If you are reading this book, you have already decided you want more for your life. I want to congratulate you for taking that first step. The fact that you know there are things you want to improve or change and are willing to work on them is a giant leap from where most people are. Accepting that things need to change or that you can improve is half the battle. The answers and motivation you need to transform your life may not just come into your life at one point but in parts. I hope to give you a spark to think and reflect on what is most important to you at this point in your life. Decide what you truly want your life to look like in the next 5-10 years and beyond. The past has little to do with your future unless you let it. If you read this book in its entirety and take action by setting new standards for yourself, create a new vision for your life, and take the time to craft a M.A.D.E. LifePlan, you will be on your way to living a richer life. But things won't change unless you take action. Not all at once, but small actions every day. The M.A.D.E. 90-Day LifePlan is about making one commitment in each area of the M.A.D.E. framework every 90 days. It's about taking small steps toward a richer, more balanced life.

What Stops Us from Changing Our Life?

What stops most of us changing our life? Fear? Lack of confidence? The past? Worry? Stress? Or is it just a lack of time? A lot of people don't take action because they fear that it might just be a waste of their time. If they change their habits and put forth the effort that they need to, they won't get the results that they are looking to achieve. Nobody wants to waste their time. Nobody wants to put forth more effort with fewer results. The key is not giving up at the first sign of failure. You will have a period of time where you still feel like you are going sideways with more effort, and then all of a sudden, six months from now, one year from now, 18 months from now, things start compounding. Your health will improve, your net worth will start to grow in the right direction, and your relationships will improve.

Always Try to Do Your Best

Bring your best self to each day. If you don't do your best each day, you will have regrets down the road. You will look back, thinking you could have done better.

I have wasted my fair share of time in my life coasting along with no measurable progress, and I can tell you from experience that it doesn't feel good in the future. Jim Rohn often said, "We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret." It's your choice. He goes on to say that the pain of discipline weighs ounces, but the pain of regret weighs tons. If you don't choose discipline, you automatically get the pain of regret.

There will be ups and downs and moments when you go sideways. My first single as a solo artist in 2006 was titled "Up Down Sideways" and became the theme for my life at that time. We have all had ups and downs in our lives. We have all had those weeks, months, or even years when we felt like we went nowhere or didn't make progress. That's okay. The past is the past. Learn from those times. It's part of life to have ups and downs, and you will not always have success after success without some failure along the way. You will have lows, then see the light. You will feel wrong, then feel right. Believe in your ability to choose the thoughts to get you through, take the action to find your way, and learn the things to get you back on the right path toward the life you envision for yourself. You will fall. You will falter. But in the end you will be better. To quote a line from my song "There From Here," "When the inches turn into feet, and the feet become yards, without ever knowing defeat, you will never know who you really are."

I remember a point in my life when I was drifting. I was making an average living and pursuing my dreams of being a singer/songwriter/rock star. Every song I wrote during that period was, well, kind of a downer. I would always make the excuse that most songwriters say in interviews: "I write sad songs because those end up being the best songs that come from a place of hurt and heartbreak." I would write songs that weren't necessarily uplifting to get them off my chest and go on with my life being happy. Well, I wasn't completely happy because, by focusing so much on music, I was neglecting my talent and potential as a financial advisor. The regret of knowing that I could have done better started to paralyze me, and it was tough to find that spark again when I would see my friends getting ahead while I was falling further and further...