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June 17, 2024

Thought Leader, Author, And Wealth Advisor Rocco Carriero Reveals The Three Cords To Unlocking Fulfillment (#343)

Thought Leader, Author, And Wealth Advisor Rocco Carriero Reveals The Three Cords To Unlocking Fulfillment (#343)

“Know yourself and do things that align with your unique abilities.” -Rocco Carriero

In this episode of the Deep Wealth Podcast, renowned Wealth Advisor Rocco Carrero shares his expertise on wealth management, financial planning, and the balanced approach to life. Rocco, who has appeared on major media outlets and contributed to top financial publications, discusses his journey from observing business owners at his father's tailor shop to becoming a distinguished financial planner for business owners, CEOs, and entrepreneurs. 

03:56 Rocco Carrero's Journey and Background

07:38 The Three Chords Approach to Life and Wealth Management

15:28 Insights on Balancing Life and Work

18:09 The Importance of Exit Planning for Business Owners

21:57 Family and Legacy Planning

24:50 Choosing the Right Advisors

31:37 Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up

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SELECTED LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE

Private Wealth Advisor | Rocco Carriero | MBA | MRPC

@roccoacarriero / X

threecordsapproach / Instagram

Three Cords Approach / Facebook

Rocco A. Carriero, MBA, CRPC, APMA - Rocco A. Carriero Wealth Partners - Southampton, New York, United States | LinkedIn

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Transcript

343 Rocco Carriero

[00:00:00]

Jeffrey Feldberg: Rocco Carrero is a comprehensive Wealth Advisor specializing in working with business owners, CEO, and entrepreneurs. He's a chartered retirement planning counselor, accredited portfolio manager advisor, and holds an MBA in banking and finance with over 20 years of experience. Rocco has appeared on Fox and NBC, and his financial insights have been featured in publications including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, Wealth Management Magazine, and many other local and regional publications. 

Rocco is a member of the Columbus Citizens Foundation and has served on the Board of Directors of the American Heart Association, Southampton Business Alliance, East End Hospice, and Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, and serves as the Vice President of Integrated Medical Foundation. Rocco lives and works on Eastern Long Island, New York, with his wife, Heather, and their two children, Ella and Luca.

And before we start the episode, a quick word from our sponsor, Deep Wealth and the Deep Wealth Mastery Program. Here's Bill, a graduate, who says, the Deep Wealth [00:01:00] Mastery Program has transformed the KPIs we're using to accelerate growth and profits.

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Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast. Well, you heard it in the official introduction. We have a fellow entrepreneur, business owner, and overall really smart guy with an alphabet of letters after his name for all the designations that are there. Rocco, welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast. An absolute pleasure to have you with us.

And I'm always curious, Rocco, because there's always a story behind the [00:04:00] story. So what's your story? What got you from where you were to where you are today?

Rocco Carriero: Well, Jeffrey, thank you for having me. yeah, so it's been an amazing journey. So 25 years in the world of wealth management specializing in working with business owners, CEOs, and entrepreneurs. What really got me started was I've always had been interested in, in business. My father had his own tailor shop in our town of Patchaw, Long Island, New York.

And so I spent a lot of time in this tailor shop. Listening to my father work, talk to business professionals that he would do their suits and clothing. And so I've always had a keen interest in business and I've always been interested in helping others. And so I decided that what kind of work was it, what was out there that allowed me to help others.

And be actively involved in business. And that became the world of wealth management, financial planning, and really helping people with their wealth and their businesses. And that's where I am today.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow, Rocco, [00:05:00] what a terrific story. And as you're sharing that, I'm going back in time. I'm imagining you growing up and you're seeing your father as a tailor and he's helping the business people in the community. He's conversing with them, all different kinds of people passing through the shop. So I'm curious, how did that impact you?

Because you saw both sides of the equation there and what your father was doing, the people, what they were doing on the business side, in terms of the big picture, how you looked at the world, what did you learn from that? 

Rocco Carriero: The way impacted life is that sat at the desk there the company is, And I listened to people tell my father confidential things, personal things, and you knew the importance of business relationship.

And he was really terrific at developing relationships with his customers and he through intimate stories and people would tell him all kinds of things. And he worked with some real notable people, high level successful political people. People, high level business professionals, doctors, lawyers, all kinds of different people that would typically wear suits. So the [00:06:00] idea of developing relationships with people and obviously keeping things very, if somebody tells you something that's confidential, being able to keep that strictly confidential and he was really terrific at that.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow. So you really had the best of both worlds that was going on there. And so as you're now going into your own journey, whether it was growing up or some experiences after that, I mean, was there any one moment in time or particular experience that really shaped what you want to do and where you're going to go?

Rocco Carriero: as a kid, I'd be in this tailor shop, right? And I'd see all this equipment from machines that press the clothes to sewing machines and all kinds of machines. And I always wanted to use the equipment and my father said, listen, you sit at the desk, you learn how to do math and learn how to read.

I don't want you to use the equipment.

And so at that point I was like, okay, I guess I'm going to do something. That's not using my hands like the tailor work. And that was a profound point in my life [00:07:00] where I said, okay, I'm I'm probably going to be in the world of professional services or something.

And that was it. I like to use this analogy and I say this with all due respect. Have you ever walked into a Chinese food restaurant? And you see the kid behind the counter doing their homework and we've all seen that image, right? And I was like the Italian kid in the tailor shop sitting at the desk and doing the homework in the tailor shop.

that was a major point in my life. And I learned a lot by being there.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Terrific. And so now we fast forward to today and really you're out there, you're a thought leader. You have your own experience. You've done a lot in the business world, particularly around wealth advising. And so you came up with the book and for our listeners in the show notes, there's a link three chords approach to life and wealth management for business owners.

So for starters, what's the story behind the story with the title of the book? The three chords approach. What's going on with that, Rocco?

Rocco Carriero: So the concept behind the three chords came about as a result of thinking about. What were the three most important [00:08:00] pressing issues that our clients faced? And it always tied in with the three same things. it was their family. Their families were very important to them. Their businesses were very important to them.

And then there was themselves as an individual, which they tend to have neglected, right? They put their business first, they put their family first. And a lot of times these hard charging business owners tend to put themselves last. And so the concept of the three chords was that each of those three areas.

one is not more important than the other, all are really important, and if all three didn't work well together, basically tie together something was going to snap. But if you took all three of those chords and those concepts and you tie them together, the rope becomes really not breakable.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And in the book, and again, for listeners, go to the show notes, click on the link. It is definitely a book to have in your library, in your success library. What I like, Rocco, you started off with happiness. That's the forward. That's the very first part. And what [00:09:00] was nice about that, oftentimes we tend to overlook that and the means to the end becomes the end itself, as opposed to really taking a step back.

And so let me ask you this. When you're working with different CEOs, entrepreneurs, founders. Is there the 80 20 principle, Pareto's Law, where 20 percent of the same issues keep on cropping up again and again that are causing 80 percent of the so called problems that we're all grappling with? Are you seeing some trends or patterns there that you can share with us?

Rocco Carriero: I would say, yes some of the trends are, number one, the business owner neglects themselves physically, right? So they burn themselves out. They mentally, physically, and hard charging. And try to get people to think not selfishly, but we try to have the business owner people think about themselves as it relates to their overall vision and plan for the long term.

That's something that we see. Number two is that their families are really important to them. However, they don't really do a successful job [00:10:00] in teaching their family, how they actually made the money. They don't, they kind of feel that they don't want their family to go through the same struggles that got them to where they go, where they got to, but really they're doing their family a disadvantage.

And the way I'd like to relate it. Is that let's say if you're Phil Mickelson, great golfer would you rather, so would Phil Mickelson's kids rather get his golf clubs or his golf swing? And I think that most people will say they'd rather have the golf swing than the golf clubs.

So what we try to do is we try to have. To teach clients the importance of teaching their children how to accumulate wealth, how to manage wealth, how to handle the wealth, as opposed to just giving it to them, right? Because if you just give it to them, more times than not, they just wander.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Sure. And I know many a business owner who have been on both sides, not having money. It's an area that I think we all struggle with. And I would say probably the success rate is a lot lower than what it should be. [00:11:00] And we're going down a bit of a rabbit hole here, but before we go on to the other areas, What would you say to those listening in right now who, thankfully, they're successful now, financially, they have their independence or they're well on their way to it, and their family will be the benefactors of that.

How should they go about that? Because we hear the old stories, well, when I was your age, I went through minus 10 weather and it was a really big mountain of snow, barefoot going to school and on the stories go. I mean, how do we approach that with our kids, with our family today?

Rocco Carriero: think a lot of times people don't Basically tell the stories, but I think they need to tell the story in a positive sense. And so not use it like as a, in a talking to their family, like in a resentful way, where it's, they're saying, well, you're getting it too easy. And when I had to do it, I had to do it like as it comes across negative, but really sharing these stories in a positive way and sharing the fact, the reason why I'm telling this.

To you is not to impress you, but to impress upon you. And some [00:12:00] people choose to, kind of, jot it down in the journal. Other people choose to kind of, verbally communicate it, but really important to share. Share those stories with others, because if you don't share those stories with others, they'll never know.

Jeffrey Feldberg: It's a fair point. And again, it's not the focus per se of this episode, but while we're on that, I mean, what have you seen that has really worked for people in terms of, well, how do you share the stories? What does that look like?

Rocco Carriero: I've seen it a couple ways. I've seen people really create a lesson journal, where they take basically a regular notebook, They write stories and they write information and they write tips and tools and strategies in that book and they give it as a gift, right?

So whether it's a graduation gift at some point, and they say, here's, I've just, I wrote some things down and I want you to have them. And I've seen it done that way. I've also seen it done in an organized way where families have almost like quarterly off sites.

And they have conversations around particular topics. Really done like in [00:13:00] an agenda format. And that's been effective too. Or I've seen it done where people, they do one on ones like a one on one special trip with a family member and it, those types of conversations come up in it, but you gotta communicate gotta share those stories really important,

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely. And as you're speaking about that, actually, I'm going down memory lane, Rocco, where in my family, as an example, I'm thinking of my grandfather before he had passed away. He began that process it started off as a letter. I said, you know, Hey, grandpa, for your upcoming birthday, you know, you're reaching a milestone in life.

Why don't you write a letter to the family of your thoughts, looking back at your life, lessons learned. And Rocco, I got to tell you, not only did I give him joy and fulfillment, that letter later turned into a book. And later on, while he was doing that, it gave him a new sense of purpose and fulfillment, and sadly, he passed away a short while later.

But the gift, the legacy, that he's able to leave the family in the form of a book because it was published while he was still living, and the pride and joy as he was handing it out to friends and [00:14:00] family in his community, in his network, We still have that today for the next generation and the ones beyond that.

So it's some terrific advice on that. And it's a great takeaway for our listeners. So Rocco, I want to go back to your book because there's so much wisdom that you've distilled in there. And when we go to the first chord, which is us, you're talking about in chapters one, two, and three. Okay. What's next in life to your health.

And then from there, you're you're rounding things out with balancing life and work. So as we look at that, and again, I've. A bit of a tough question here, forcing you to take those three chapters and put it into a few words, what would be some of the insights or the wisdom that you want us to walk away with, or at least become curious about with the first chord?

Rocco Carriero: I would say that, you the first chord is really all about yourself. In a way that that you're thinking about basically seven different areas, right? You can think about what are the hobbies and interests that tie in with your life and own wellbeing, your body, your food intake, your exercise.

Do you see doctors do you [00:15:00] have a purpose? Are you thinking about a legacy? Things that really what you want to do for yourself. Again, the business owner typically puts themselves last. This has been my experience, but we're asking people to kind of put themselves first, at least for the period of defining what is it that you really want for yourself, right?

And so that's really what the first part of the book about is helping people define what they want for themselves as an individual.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And let me ask you something going back to chapter three, you're talking about balancing life and work. And I know particularly if there's a population set, it's entrepreneurs, founders, business owners. That can tend to be a struggle because we tend to really lean in one direction more than the other.

And we can be more out of balance and imbalanced based on your own experience, your journey, working with your clients. How do we do that? How do we have that balance? Or as I like to say, that blend in life of both the personal and the work.

Rocco Carriero: [00:16:00] Well, I think the important thing for listeners to recognize is. That there's no perfect balance, but it's, but what you should do is you should use a model calendar to kind of, you think about what are the most important things in life? So let's just talk about a calendar for a second, how people create this balance.

Usually for most business people, if there's something on the calendar, they're usually will show up, right? Whether it's a meeting whatever it may be. And we tend to only put. The important business things on the calendar, but if you put on there the personal things, whether going to, making sure that you're off from your business when your kids are off from school, or there's an important birthday or milestone, you Or whatever it may be, if it's on the calendar, we know that there's an 80 plus percent chance that you're going to show up there.

So the way that you're going to get the balance is to schedule it. And if you don't schedule it, it's likely not to get done. So if you said, yeah, date night is a really great thing for me to do with my wife, and I'm going to do it once [00:17:00] a month. And then I ask you the follow up question, well, when?

You're like, well, I don't know, whenever I have time. you're going to skip month after month. So even myself, right? So the things that I have on the calendar set with my wife we do things that we talk about that we'd like to do, but it's not on the calendar. We don't. So simple tool for yourself, whether it's scheduling to go see doctors, scheduling time with your family, obviously scheduling time to grow your business, all really important things.

So management is really important if you want to have balance.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And as you're talking about that, really what you're reminding me of, Rocco, is that old saying, what gets measured is what gets done, but in this case, what gets in the calendar. is what gets done. And we have the opportunity of really another analogy, you have that glass jar and you have all this sand and these big boulders and rocks and little pebbles.

You put the big boulders and rocks in first to make sure that gets done. So a terrific strategy and takeaway. And so we really looked at, okay, what do I want for myself? Cord one. So second cord, [00:18:00] we're now talking about us in the business. And what I'd like to right up front. For the second chord, you talk about something that's near and dear to us here at Deep Wealth.

You talk about the ExoPlan that really most business owners, it's an afterthought for them. They'll plan more time on a vacation or perhaps going away on some kind of retreat than they will on the ExoPlan, which could be for the rest of their lives, which is the irony in that. So why don't we start there?

So what's going on as business owners, we look at the ExoPlan. What do you want us to know? What's the message here?

Rocco Carriero: The message here is number one, as business owners you tend to pay everybody and everything first, and a lot of times business owners may not. Pay themselves or be thinking about the underlying equity within their business or thinking about a exit strategy or creating a saleable business or creating a self running business.

Most business owners, you're just trying to get through the day and so what we're trying to communicate to business owners that they really need to be thinking of it. as creating something that is a [00:19:00] real asset that could be sold to somebody else and you need to develop a strategy around it, you need to know how your accounting has to be, what's important in your industry to a potential buyer.

And so that's what the next part about is really either positioning your business for sale to somebody else or positioning your business to transfer to somebody else. you don't want something you spend 30 and 40 years building, just, shut the door and letting it die. it's going to get moved over. It's going to get sold or something else is going to happen with it.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And what I like about that, as you're thinking about that, as you're playing that out, I actually want to go back to the first core that we were talking about earlier. It really helps put the business and the whole plan in perspective. Okay. This is not a sprint. It's a marathon, Rocco, in your example, you're saying, well, it's going to be a 30 year journey for me.

And I really feel that helps to crystallize the first chord. What really resonated with me is in your book, you're saying family for me, that's got to come first. And you can correct me if I'm off base here. There's a story that you shared where you could have gone to a business [00:20:00] conference, met one of the presidents.

I think it was Bush. And you didn't do that because the next day it was your daughter's birthday. And as you're thinking about that, you said, okay, I will do this. And that's great. And perhaps some other things can come out of it, but you know what? Family first. And it made it very easy for you as you have that interplay between the different chords at a very personal level, perhaps you can share with our listeners how the chords have really made what would seemingly be a tougher decision, really an easy one.

Rocco Carriero: I think it ties in with values, right? So everybody has values. We all have five important values. Say, well, How do people know that? whether you write down the values or not, you can tell what people's values are based upon the decisions that they make. For me my five important family values are family, helping others, respect, generosity, and personal growth.

All decisions in my life, Tie in with those five different values. So, As much [00:21:00] as I would have liked to have had breakfast and met President George Bush the idea of family came first. So it's like, do you go home for your daughter's 16th birthday, or do you meet the President of the United States?

And it was like, okay, well, the decision become very easy that I'm going home for my daughter's birthday because that is more important as much as I would have liked to bet the president it just basically, yeah, the decision became easy. there was not even a chance that it wasn't going to not do that.

And so for listeners the, this cord that we talk about with family does tie in with your values. And if you're clear on your values and family, if family is one of your top five values and you've defined that and you understand that, your decisions become easier, right? Do I pick up the next million dollar client or do I go to my daughter's regatta or my son's golf tournament or whatever it may be?

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely. And it's a perfect segue to the third chord, which is all about family. And not just us, as we think [00:22:00] about it, as our immediate family, but you also touch upon legacy and estate planning. And again, sadly, we talk a lot about this in the 90 Day Deep Wealth Mastery Program, where we have people do this.

They bring in the right advisors at the right time to do this well ahead of when it's needed, so that when you do need it, it's there, it's done, you've thought through it. But as we look to the third cord, again, I'm going to ask you, what are some popular themes of what you're seeing of what really works well that you encourage your clients to keep on doing and the flip side of that, hey, this just isn't working.

Let's change our mindset or let's change our actions or how we're approaching this. Can you share both sides of that with us?

Rocco Carriero: Well, when you're thinking about legacy planning, estate planning, all that work has to be done up front. You can't do it after the fact, unfortunately. and you gotta take time to do it. And most people know that they probably need to do something, they just don't know what they need to do.

That's why it's important in the area of business. You align [00:23:00] yourself with the right professional, the right wealth manager, the right estate planning attorney, the right tax advisor, the right risk management person, the right banker. And so, the estate planning piece is a really important piece because those documents.

are the blueprint as to what will happen after you pass away, or, and, or, if you're not able to act really important topic, I can't tell you how many people we sit with that don't have an estate plan but, some of those people, it's late life, they just got lucky that they never needed to act beforehand, some people don't get that benefit use The celebrity singer, Prince, right?

Prince had no estate planning documents. Prince was very wealthy. Everybody knows the musical singer, Prince. And Prince was a very private person. And if by not having trust documents and all these different things in place, Prince's full estate became public information. And everybody knows that Prince probably wouldn't have liked that.

It's too late, can't go back and do an estate plan after the fact. Does that answer that [00:24:00] question?

Jeffrey Feldberg: Well, absolutely. And it gives a lot to think about. And while we're talking about this, Rocco, actually just the other day, I was speaking with a business owner who is sharing the story of how one of the principles, one of the founders in the business suddenly and unexpectedly pass away. And so we talk about the exit.

Oftentimes you don't think about the final exit. I mean, who wants to think about that, but it happens to all of us. It's just a matter of when, not if, and to your point, when we're prepared, if we don't want to do it for ourselves. Do it for our family, for our loved ones, for the people in the business.

We'll save them a whole lot of heartache time and trouble when we can plan this out and have the time to think about it with the right professionals around us. And so Rocco, speaking of this, because you've been there really as that advisor and you've been there for the business owners and the entrepreneurs and helping them set all this up.

What do we look for in finding, whether it be an estate planner or someone like yourself who was doing the wealth advising? What are some of the questions? What are some [00:25:00] of the red flags? What would you want us to know?

Rocco Carriero: there's a lot of people that are out there in the world of wealth management. And while there are some amazingly talented people in the area of wealth management, there's also some people that are not good. And I think that people need to do their own due diligence and talk to other people and see whether that they were also happy.

Talk to other professionals that may have worked with those other people and kind of see whether they were happy. You've got to do your own due diligence and structure your team. because if you choose the wrong professional, you could end up with kind of a mess. Whether it's the asset manager, wealth manager, whether it's the tax advisor or the estate planning attorney.

And, you've got to take personal responsibility in understanding what the people are doing for you. But a lot of times the wealth advisor is the quarterback, the person who kind of coordinates everything. You want to choose a a wealth advisor that has the ability to work with other people and network with them. [00:26:00] And that has done this before. And so one of the things that would tell listeners to make sure that they have an effective team, that the team, whether they've worked together before, or they have the ability to work with other people, super important because you want everybody on the same page.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Morocco, as you're talking about, that is really a page out of our Deep Wealth Mastery program. Step six, when we talk about the advisory team, that's exactly what we're saying. We're saying one and the same thing. Hey, we all get those cold calls or those cold emails. And the person may be terrific, but you just don't know, and there's too much at stake.

So go within your network, ask the people around you, and you can share if you're on base or off base with what I'm going to say next. What we really like here at Deep Wealth about the network referrals, if someone's referring you to someone either that they've worked with or they know, that advisor, in this case, it could be a wealth advisor, isn't just working with you, it's not just you, it's really the entire network.

Because if they drop the ball with you, Word's going to get back [00:27:00] and because their business is likely a referral business, there's a lot at stake. So they're going to go above and beyond to make sure, hey, Jeffrey's happy because Susie recommended me and Susie is terrific and sends me a lot of business.

I want to keep everyone happy. Thoughts about that?

Rocco Carriero: Yeah recommendation is usually the best way to find outside professionals, but you also want to kind of, and I tell this to my team, there's three components in selecting a professional, right? And so I tell the advisors on my team. There's three components, and here are the three components.

Number one is that, are you likable, right? does the client actually like you? Do they want to work with you? Do they feel that you have their back? Number two is, aside from likability, is do they unequivocally trust you? Do they completely trust you? And the third component is, do they believe that you have the ability to execute, and have you demonstrated execution before?

So three really important pieces, do you like the person, do you trust the person, and [00:28:00] do you believe and have you witnessed that they have the ability to execute? Three really important areas.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely. And it's a nice insight on what it's like on the advisor side of what they're striving for and what we should want on our side in terms of that chemistry. One of the questions that we asked our participants in the community going through the Deep Wealth Mastery Program. Imagine you're with this advisor, you haven't hired them yet but you're thinking about hiring them, you're going to be going on some kind of a business trip, the plane breaks down and you're stuck on the tarmac, the pilot comes on, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to be stuck here for the next nine hours, we can't go back to the gate.

And now you're on the plane. After the first five minutes, you're sitting next to that person. Are you crawling out of your skin? Oh my God, get me out of here. I can't take this. Or does a time really fly by? Oh, that wasn't so bad. Wouldn't have wanted it to happen that way, but I didn't mind speaking to so and so you're absolutely right with the chemistry being front and center in terms of what you're looking for. In the Rockwell, I want to circle back to the third chord because you talk about the income that we're going to be having once we're retired, and then once we get [00:29:00] on and up there in terms of, well, our health and how the cost may change because of what it's going to cost to take care of ourselves, perhaps some issues are going to be coming up.

What are some of the biggest surprises in terms of what you're calling the elder care income and the health that comes up? What would you want our listeners to know that they're probably not even thinking about?

Rocco Carriero: Yeah, these are, this is really an important topic, some people are under the belief that they should transfer all the assets out of their name and that state will take care of them. And while that may work if structured properly, the person, meaning yourself, that transferred all your wealth, may not be happy with the care that you'd be getting as a result of making yourself destitute.

So you gotta be careful with that. again, for clients that are older, I've seen private care, nursing, and I've also seen. Care that is not, at the highest level of private care and it's not, the same. I can tell you it's not the same.

I was at a client's house they filed for Medicaid and they had lots of assets that they had transferred out of their name [00:30:00] years before and I saw the hospital bed that they wheeled in and it was this little thin mattress and I'm singing to myself. This isn't good.

This person should be getting the very best bed possible. Not this. And so people have to be really careful as they're getting older to make sure that they're going to be taken care of the idea is that, you earn that money, if you need to spend that money, you spend that money for yourself for your own care that's just my personal belief and it drives me crazy when I see clients not receive the proper care because they've transferred all their assets.

That's out of their name and maybe their family members are being cheap with what they should be providing mom or dad. And so, you know, that's wrong. So again, important for listeners as you're doing your own estate planning, you just want to make sure that you've got everything structured the way that you want it structured.

especially if the wealth creator, because if you're the wealth creator, you probably become accustomed to a particular lifestyle. And you want to make sure that you continue to get that [00:31:00] lifestyle, even when you're, late, late in your years as well.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Rocco, as you talk about that, it's just a terrific reminder of why we should really surround ourselves with the absolute best advisors. This is not something we want to do on our own or a friend of a friend told me this, so I'm going to go along in this way. It's really finding someone who has the experience and has these insights because Rocco, I'm sure that this is one of many examples that you can share with us of what not to do because here's what could happen that we never would have thought of otherwise.

So it's a terrific takeaway for our listeners. And Rocco, speaking of takeaways, as we begin to bump up against some time here, we're going to be going into wrap up mode. But before we do that, I'm wondering, is there a topic or a message that you'd like to get out to the community, something that you want them to think about that we haven't yet covered?

Rocco Carriero: I would say creating a financial plan, actually creating a written, documented financial plan that looks at all of the important areas, which would be their cashflow, their risk management, [00:32:00] their taxes, their estate planning. there were investments, so looking at all of those different areas,

Jeffrey Feldberg: It's a terrific takeaway. And for our listeners, you're probably not thinking about this, but here's someone who's doing this day in, day out, who is thinking about this. It's some terrific advice. And speaking of advice, Rocco, it's a terrific segue for our wrap up question. It's a tradition. It's an honor here on the Deep Wealth Podcast, where I have the privilege of asking every guest the same question.

So let me set this up for you. It's a fun one. When you think of the movie Back to the Future, you have that fabulous DeLorean car that will take you to any point in time. So Rocco, I want you to imagine it's tomorrow morning. You look outside your window. Not only is the DeLorean car there, that door is open.

It's waiting for you to hop on in what you do. And you're now going to go to any point in your life. Rocco, as a young child, a teenager, whatever point in time you would choose, what are you telling your younger self in terms of life wisdom or life lessons? Or, hey, Rocco, do this, but don't do that. What would that sound like?

Rocco Carriero: if I could take [00:33:00] myself back to probably in, in my high school years you know, just to have been more aware of the more aware of. being prepared for I would say my, late teens, early twenties, and I'm just, really Going through like a clarification exercise of really what I wanted more for myself.

So getting an early start on it, I would say.

Jeffrey Feldberg: So how would that sound exactly to your younger self in terms of clarifying what you want, which I think is a terrific insight. How would you say that to you back in the day?

Rocco Carriero: I would say that, there's a lot of different things. So did I really know myself? Did I know myself and knew what my key strengths were? And and being, paying attention to it. And then doing things at that age that were aligned with my strengths. I didn't kind of figure that out until my mid to late twenties.

So learning that a little bit earlier, understanding my unique abilities at a younger age, I think would have been beneficial to me. It would have been beneficial to me in my late teens and my early twenties [00:34:00] for sure. and I think that just would have helped me later on in life as well.

Jeffrey Feldberg: I, yeah, it's terrific advice. So really what I'm hearing you say is know yourself. And once you know yourself, align yourself with areas that play to your unique abilities, to your strengths.

Rocco Carriero: Yeah, there's nothing like working within your unique ability. We all love doing things that are within our unique ability, for sure.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Rocco, as you say that, it really resonates deep with me because from my side, here's my belief and you can say, Jeffrey, you're so far off base, or yeah, there's something to that. I believe every person comes here with a unique talent set, some superpowers. But we don't know what they are. And it's not only our mission, it's our duty to find out what that is.

And once we know what that is, to take it to the world. And what you're saying for me really resonates and lines up nicely with that.

Rocco Carriero: That's so true. I mean, I couldn't agree more. Thank you, Jeffrey.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so Rocco, let me ask you this. Someone who's listening, wants to learn more. They have some questions and I know you also do speaking. Maybe they even want to bring you in to give [00:35:00] a talk or to really elevate the organization, help them take it to the next level. Where's the best place online for someone to reach you?

Rocco Carriero: They can go to my website, which is RoccoACarrero. com. So R O C C O, middle initial A, last name C A R R I E R O. com.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Terrific. And for our listeners, it's all in the show notes. It's a point and click. It doesn't get any easier. Well, Rocco, it's official. This is a wrap. Congratulations. Absolutely loved it. And as we say here at Deep Wealth, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe. Thank you so much.

Rocco Carriero: Thank you, Jeffrey. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: So there you have it, Deep Wealth Nation. What did you think? So with all that said and as we wrap it up, I have another question for you.

Actually, it's more of a personal favor. Did you find this episode helpful? Have you found other episodes of the Deep Wealth Podcast empowering and a game changer for your journey? And if you said yes, and I really hope you did, I have a small but really meaningful way that you can actually help us out and keep these episodes coming to you.[00:36:00]

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Rocco Carriero Profile Photo

Rocco Carriero

Wealth Advisor/Author

Rocco A. Carriero is a comprehensive Wealth Advisor specializing in working with Business Owners, CEO’s and Entrepreneurs. He is a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor, Accredited Portfolio Manager Advisor and holds an MBA in Banking & Finance with over 20 years of experience. Rocco has appeared on Fox, NBC and his financial insights have been featured in publications including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, Wealth Management Magazine as well as many other local and regional publications. Rocco is a member of the Columbus Citizens Foundation and has served on the board of directors of The American Heart Association, Southampton Business Alliance, East End Hospice, and Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center and serves as the Vice President of Integrated Medical Foundation. Rocco lives and works on Eastern Long Island, NY with his wife Heather and their two children Ella and Luca.