Why Wealth Strategists Think Differently Than Wall Street

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In this powerful conversation, Dave breaks down a fundamental shift that high-performing investors must make to truly build lasting wealth—moving from a traditional financial planning mindset to a strategic, holistic wealth approach. Through a clear side-by-side comparison, Dave illustrates how the conventional “4% withdrawal rule” from a $4M portfolio can leave investors with far less than expected after taxes, fees, and inflation. In contrast, leveraging private investments like real estate can potentially double income while unlocking powerful tax advantages through strategies like depreciation and cost segregation.

Dave also dives into what separates the ultra-wealthy from the average investor: control, tax efficiency, and intentional portfolio design. Instead of relying on Wall Street’s one-size-fits-all model, he emphasizes thinking like a strategist—studying how centimillionaires allocate capital, prioritizing private assets, and understanding how every financial decision impacts the bigger picture. This episode is a masterclass in shifting your perspective, increasing your financial IQ, and building a portfolio designed for sustainable cash flow and long-term freedom.

Traditional financial planning often overlooks taxes, fees, and inflation—reducing real income significantly.
Private investments can offer higher cash flow and meaningful tax advantages compared to public markets.
True wealth building requires a holistic, strategic approach—not just chasing returns.

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What’s great, JP, is you and I both have passion about this, and it’s really helping other people figure this out, right? Because it took us so much longer to figure it out. So if we can get other people to do it in half the amount of time, you know, that’s the opportunity. That’s where we can really create impact. Dick, let me ask you for your help. You made it when we were talking; I think you were in the first and the second time, and you were like, “I am not a financial planner; I’m a wealth strategist.” And I felt your passion.

Tell me about that and what that means to you. Because I understand it, but I’d like you to explain to the audience why and what the difference is to you and why that’s so meaningful. Yeah, so for me, again, and that’s why I felt it was important to kind of talk about my origin story. Right, because I think probably a lot of people, you know, were in my shoes, right? You can kind of relate to that. And then I just came to wealth building, really not knowing anything about it. And I looked at option A, which is what Wall Street prescribes, right? Just throw us all your money. You’re not smart enough to handle it. We’ll pick a variety of funds to kind of put it in and then we’ll produce this plan for you, right? And in fact, let me give this example. This is such a great example, JP, for listeners out there.

So let’s just take that. Again, option A: let’s say you build $4 million in your net worth, right? And you go on that traditional path. Then they tell you, “We’re going to do this Monte Carlo synthesis, right?” And realize that you’re going to withdraw 4% a year at 65. So. That is 4% of 4 million, 160K a year, but they don’t really talk to you about taxes, fees, or inflation. So that 160 is probably like 110 if you’re lucky, right? Okay, now let’s juxtapose that to a scenario just like we’ve talked about that we’re doing, which is the same 4 million. And I’ll even give you the benefit of the doubt and say I’ve got four million in deals with JP, multifamily deals, and real estate deals, okay? My guess is you’re paying; maybe you can be making an average of an 8% cash-on-cash return on those deals, which is double. That’s literally 320,000 that you’re making on that same four million. So you’ve actually doubled your income. And oh, by the way, you’re using cost segregation and depreciation, right? So a lot of that is actually tax-free. So now you’re at 320k net, you know, roughly speaking. And oh, by the way, your principal is actually still growing in value, right? So that’s really the difference, right?

I think about these two things, and then to answer your question, I’m an entrepreneur. started asking questions like, “I’m not going to build wealth at 7% in the market where I have absolutely no control.” And why does it make sense to defer taxes and things like that? So I just kept asking why, why, why? At the same time, I was learning a lot about myself and what I was looking for in life. And then really trying to curate and really synthesize the best from the best, right? What are centimillionaires doing? What are billionaires doing? Take a look at the Tiger 21 portfolio allocation, right? I’ve had Michael on the show as well, and we’ve talked about that the best, you know, you know, over 100 million in net worth with 1300 members, and how much is the average allocation to public equities? It’s about 22 % on average, right? But why does every financial planner from Wall Street say, “We’ll take all of your capital, and then we’ll decide on stocks, bonds, mutual funds, some 60-40 split, or something like that”?

So it was really coming to that conclusion that I believe that there’s a lot of, ah, being a strategist, being much more macro-driven on trends. Uh, understanding again what the best of the best are doing in terms of investing. And let’s face it, let’s also be, uh, basically financially, uh, astute and creative on how you can do all these different creative things, right? And private assets give you that. That’s one last thing I’ll add to this as well. JP is right; first of all, this isn’t taught anywhere. It’s not taught in school; it’s not taught anywhere. And then let’s just compare private assets to public, right? In private assets, one of the biggest differences is you’re essentially bypassing Wall Street, so I can invest directly with someone like you in an asset, which means I get a better return, and then more importantly, I get that tax offset from that. But when you invest in public markets, you don’t get that, right? It’s not there. Yeah. Dave, last thing I want to ask you, first of all, who is your perfect client? How many clients do you have? Who’s your perfect client? And then ultimately, if someone in the audience wants to know more about what you do, how do they find out more about Pantheon?

Yeah, appreciate that, JP. Um, I mean, look, we’re typically working with, you know, high-net-worth entrepreneurs that are very ambitious, growing, scaling businesses. They have the most opportunity to be able to reduce taxes. really create wealth, and our strategies really apply there. But also, you know, we’re just working with people that, um, again, are looking for that holistic wealth and where we can kind of, you know, create value for them. That’s what we’re looking to do, to just help people think differently from the conventional sense. And how would they find you? So if anyone liked the topics today, um, what I wanted to do is give a free copy of my book. to your audience for hanging in. Em, it’s holisticwealthstrategy.com.

We’re in a new age where people can really take back their financial independence and their financial freedom and not have to rely on Wall Street or third parties and really take control, which ultimately is how you… You can’t create fulfillment or happiness if you don’t have a good plan. So what you’ve been sharing with us is so valuable. And for those of you don’t know, I have so few conversations. I’ve interviewed… for my own wealth over the years, so many wealth strategists, people who don’t know how to play the game in all aspects. When you’re talking about tax planning, estate, investments, taxes, and everything, they all four interact. And Dave, very few wealth strategists or people can play the game; what I call it is like four-dimensional chess. Every one of those levers affects another lever. And so I can just nerd out with you all all the time. I know we’ve hit our hour, but I could just keep going on because I love this stuff. Yeah, me too, me too. And I think that, you know, what’s great, JP, is you and I both have passion about this, and it’s really helping other people figure this out, right? Because it took us so much longer to figure it out.

So if we can get other people to do it in half the amount of time, you know, that’s the opportunity. That’s where we can really create impact. Thanks for tuning in to our special solo series. If this episode sparked something for you and you’re ready to learn more, head over to holisticwealthstrategy.com and download a free copy of my book. You’ll also get access to our investor community, where we share exclusive educational content, new opportunities, and resources designed to help you accelerate your path to freedom. And if you want to take it even further, book a call with our team to learn about our virtual family office services or join our mastermind group where we go deep into building true generational wealth. I’ll see you on the next episode.