- I helped my own clients for 30 years
then I let my licenses expire
and I've been a consumer advocate.
Now my goal is for the next 30 years.
In this episode,
I'm going to disclose secret number two
in a series of Doug Andrew secrets.
(upbeat music)
So my name is Doug Andrew.
I've been a financial strategist
and a retirement planning specialist now
for nearly five decades.
I've been very, very blessed
to have authored 12 bestselling books.
I've been able to have a national radio show now
for nearly 14 years.
I have a YouTube channel
and we have about a thousand educational videos.
I'm very passionate about helping people like you
gain insights into opportunities
that maybe you didn't know existed before.
So in this video, I just wanted to share a secret
that may help some of you to understand
where I'm coming from, where I've been, where I'm going,
and maybe you can get inspired
based upon where you've been and where you are going
with whatever you do, okay?
So I began in 1974.
Back in that year, two wonderful things happened.
The first is in February of 1974.
I got married to my wife now of nearly 49 years
as of the recording of this episode.
We're very blessed with six children
and now 20 grandchildren.
But in 1974, we got married in February,
three months later she was expecting our first child.
She got pregnant.
Three months after that,
she ended up in the hospital in intensive care
because she had a huge setback.
This was a football-size cyst
meshed between her liver and pancreas,
and so it nearly took her life three times.
We were able to have our first child normally,
but the doctor wept when she was born
'cause they didn't think she would be normal
because of all of the shots
and the things that she had to go through
with IV meds in the hospital numerous times.
Well, I actually learned some things
because in July of 1974,
I was in my senior year at college, I had some scholarships,
but I wanted to become an attorney.
And as a means to that end,
I got my Series 1 securities license,
they don't even offer that anymore,
I could sell any stock, bond, mutual fund, or whatever,
and also my insurance license.
And I did that so that I could help people optimize assets,
minimize tax, and what have you,
as a means to get my way through law school.
Long story short, because I had to start and stop
my senior year several times I was very, very frustrated.
But actually having those licenses
allowed me to be able to work, work, work
when I had the time to focus and then study, study
or attend to my wife and little baby when she was born.
And so it was actually a blessing for that flexibility.
But the dean of the college, when I went in frustrated
and says, "Golly, I don't know what to do.
I've had to start and stop my senior year several times
in the last couple of years."
And he found out when I was earning part-time,
which was double what he was earning,
he said, "What are you doing in college?
Do you love what you're doing?"
I said, "Actually, a lot of attorneys said
that if they had to do it over again,
they would do what I'm doing and not practice law."
And he said,
"How much could you make if you went full-time?"
And I said, "Oh, at least double, maybe triple,"
which I did, okay?
So I actually learned more from rubbing shoulders
with some of the top financial strategists in America.
And I love to also share what I have learned.
So let me tell you what sort of happened
from 1974 until about 2004.
That was a 30 year period.
And from 1974 to 1980,
I actually had licensed and trained
over a thousand financial advisors
with their securities licenses and insurance licenses.
And because some of them didn't make it
or didn't stay in the industry, by 1980,
I was responsible for over 3000 clients
in 13 western states, okay?
And so I loved helping the general public,
and my clients, and also these other clients
to understand the best ways to save, and invest,
and prepare for retirement
with liquidity, and safety, and tax advantages
by not following the herd
of putting money in traditional IRAs and 401ks
and what have you.
And so I began to do that more and more.
And so I became
one of the top advisors.
It's called the top of the table in the insurance industry.
The top 500 advisors in the world.
And I qualified for that in 1990.
And for 12 consecutive years,
I was honored to be in the top 500 financial advisors
in the world from 1990 to 2002, okay?
Now, during that time period,
I actually belonged to several mastermind groups.
One was Strategic Coach that's headed up by Dan Sullivan.
Dan Sullivan has coached over 5,000,
I think now 6,000, of the world's top entrepreneurs.
And as soon as I got into Strategic Coach,
the advice was given to me,
"Doug, you are so preoccupied, you know,
selling the cake, so to speak, to your own customers,
your own clients.
Have you considered selling your recipe,
making your competitors your customers?"
And I said, "What?"
He said, "In fact,
you may wanna just give up all your licenses
and you'll probably sell 10 times more investments,
insurance, and what have you,
by you educating people without the shackles,
the straight jacket put on you by,
you know, the regulators and what have you.
And you could write books, you could get on TV,
you could get on radio, and you could help so many people
understand these concepts.
And once they learn this,
then you can point them to licensed advisors,
and then you train these advisors how to do it properly,
and then you charge these advisors for your wisdom.
So you're selling your wisdom,
you're selling the recipe of your success
'cause you're one of the top 500 in the world."
Now, to be honest with you,
when he first brought that up around 2000, 2001,
I sort of resisted it.
I thought, "Whoa, whoa,
you want me to give him my licenses?" you know.
And finally by 2005,
he had convinced me that was the way to go.
And so the last business day, December 30th of 2005,
I actually walked in to the state where I lived
and I let my licenses expire.
They didn't expire on that date, but I relinquished them.
And I said,
"I want to end at the end of this calendar year."
And I let them go to become a consumer advocate
to go out and help the general public
understand these concepts
in the language they needed to hear it.
Because frankly, when you're a licensed individual
with all the regulations,
sometimes they won't even let you use certain terminology.
I remember I had to change the terminology I used
about a dozen times in that 30 year period
because they kept changing.
Oh, you can't say it that way.
You can't say it that way.
You can't say non-qualified
retirement planning alternative anymore.
You gotta do this, you gotta do that.
And it's what Joseph Schumpeter
in the book "Creative Destruction" actually talks about.
He said sometimes they, the industries, they come in
and they begin, because of regulators, changing things
and it creates destruction in that industry
unless people break away and become an industry transformer.
So my coach says, "Doug, out of all of the 5,000,"
up until that point, entrepreneurs that he had coached,
he said, "You're in the top 12
that I would consider an industry transformer.
You will transform the financial services industry,
but in order to transform it
you've gotta give up your licenses
so that you can teach the general public
what they need to know
in the language that they can understand it.
And once they understand it,
then you can point them to the licensed individuals
that you can then, you know, share your recipe with."
So if that makes sense, that's what happened in 2005.
Actually, from 2003 to 2007,
I had over 3000 financial planners, advisors,
CPAs, tax attorneys, realtors,
all kinds of financial professionals come through
and pay $6,000 in tuition to come for three days
to learn my recipe, okay?
And so if you do the math, that was very lucrative
and I was able to do that very effectively.
Now, some of them, they didn't go out and implement,
and 2008 hit and that eliminated
a lot of financial advisors in America
when that 2008 crash hit.
But now, today, I am very passionate
about providing educational content like on this channel
for the general public and for financial advisors
so that they learn to not just follow the herd.
And so this has really been an exciting journey
that a lot of people don't understand where I came from.
But I would recommend that whatever you do
if you have wisdom, I don't care if you're an orthodontist,
a chiropractor, a realtor,
if you have wisdom and a system.
I have been telling my personal trainer this
because of the unique way that my trainer does things.
I said, "There's a lot of other personal trainers
that would like to know how you do what you do
to bring in consistent income on a shoestring budget,
coaching people and doing your, you know,
your fitness training out of your garage."
And so it's a hard thing to get your brain around sometimes
that, wait a minute, people will pay me for my recipe,
for my wisdom?
Yes, it's been a blessing,
and in other episodes I'll share sort of how I do that.
But I have absolutely loved being a consumer advocate
getting on the radio, getting on YouTube,
getting in front of TV cameras,
and writing books to help people like you get it.
Whether you're a member of the general public
and you just wanna learn how to optimize your own assets
or whether you're an advisor and you're wondering,
"Golly, how do I implement what Doug Andrew teaches
in a fast power curve instead of a long learning curve?"
And so that's why if you're a member of the general public,
I would recommend that you learn
from one of my most recent best selling books
called "The Laser Fund."
If you're a financial advisor,
you may want to check out how to learn the recipe.
And you can go to IUL Insiders,
iulinsiderspro.com,
and you can check out and go to a webinar
to learn how you can learn the recipe from us.
If you're a member of the general public,
I wanna gift you a copy
of this book called "The Laser Fund."
This is how to diversify and create
the foundation for a tax-free retirement.
Now, this retails for 20 bucks. I'll gift it to you.
Here's how you claim your free copy.
You simply go to Laser Fund.
L-A-S-E-R fund.com or click on the link below
and you contribute a nominal amount
towards the shipping and handling,
I'll cover the rest of that,
and then I'll fire out a hard copy to you.
But there's options in there
if you'd also like to listen and learn or watch and learn.
There's even a master class.
But there are webinars that we teach on a regular basis,
and you can even schedule a time to talk
with one of the top IUL specialists in America
by setting up an appointment
to see how these strategies may work for you.
But this is about you and your brighter future, so enjoy.
This is the second of many secrets
about sort of what happened in my lifetime.
The first 30 years helping the public.
The last 30 years really becoming a consumer advocate
and helping the professionals help the general public
so that we can reach more people.
(upbeat music)