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June 20, 2022

The Freedom of Purpose (Part 2)

Written by 

Jeff Huston
The Freedom of Purpose (Part 2)

In this blog, we dive deeper into the Freedom of Purpose. Join in on my conversation with two young men as we talk about how gratitude plays a part in purpose and why we should be lifelong learners.

Jeff Huston, the Founder/Owner of 3D Money, has a podcast called the Jeff Huston Show — a nonprofit platform dedicated to coaching and inspiring you on your journey towards freedom!

In our previous blog, “The Freedom of Purpose (Part 1),” I shared how I recently met with a couple of young men, two brothers from Spokane, Washington. One of them was just starting college and one of them was just finishing college. They were asking me all sorts of questions about personal development, career decisions and life in general.



The young man who just recently graduated from college asked me, “Now that I’ve graduated college, how do I get started in investing in real estate?” Before I answered him, I asked his dad a question, who happened to be sitting there with us. I asked him, “When did you complete your education?” He answered by saying, “I still haven’t! I’m a life-long learner.” 


I, of course, knew he was going to say that because I knew his dad well and I knew how he thought about things. And that’s how I see it too. We should never complete our education, we should be life-long learners. Just because you graduated from college doesn’t mean your education is done. The best thing that you can do to start investing in real estate is to start educating yourself on the subject. Don’t whip out your checkbook and try to go buy a property. The first thing you have to do is educate yourself by seeking out people, courses, books, etc.


The other thing that I thought about as we were talking about being a lifelong learner is an experience I had when I was getting out of farming. I grew up as a farm kid, and really that’s all I ever wanted to do from the time that I can remember. When I graduated from high school, I started farming; but then I got caught in the Agricultural crisis of the early 80’s and I was displaced occupationally. By that time I was in my mid-20s and had a wife and two kids, I had financial needs that couldn’t be met with a minimum wage job.


At that time in my life, I was talking with a man who would later become a mentor of mine. He said, “Jeff, a man is worth about $8 an hour from the neck down. But from the neck up, it’s unlimited. And going forward you’re going to have to decide which end you’re going to earn your income with.” At that moment I understood that “from the neck down” was a physical, manual labor job. I knew I needed to start investing in my knowledge of things. I made a commitment to myself that year, and since then, there hasn’t been a year that I haven’t been involved in a coaching or continuing education program. 


My conversation with these two brothers progressed from there. As we were talking about mindset, I brought up the concept of gratitude. Gratitude is such a key component in my life. I believe that the superpower of the twenty-first century is gratitude! I’ve found that nurturing a culture of gratitude sets you apart as a business, church, couple or individual. 


The people close to me in my life, they know what I stand for. In this upside down world, that’s a game changer — for someone to take a stand on something they value as opposed to trying to blend in like everyone else. For me, something I value  is having the mindset of gratitude. 


What is the result of gratitude? I think it affects your attitude. When I begin in gratitude, it changes my attitude. When I’m thinking about what I’m grateful for, I’m not thinking about what I’m not grateful for. 


There’s a quote by Charles Swindoll that says, “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”


That’s so powerful. The two biggest takeaways for developing purpose is the idea that if I begin in gratitude it changes my attitude because it forces me to think from a grateful mindset and the idea that we are way more valuable “from the neck up” than “from the neck down.” Those are both really big keys to developing purpose. We have to be lifelong learners and we have to start from a place of gratitude.

The Global Economic Shift

By Jeff Huston • July 25, 2023
The Global Economic Shift

Will There Be A Banking Crisis?

By Jeff Huston • June 12, 2023
Fall of 2020, the Covid Pandemic was raging, the economy was shut down, inflation was 2%, interest rates were near zero, and the Federal Reserve was printing massive amounts of money. While the Central Bank printing presses were running full steam, I heard two economists make statements that seemed impossible to believe at the time, because the world was at a standstill. Chetan Ahya, Managing Director and Chief Asia Economist at Morgan Stanley said: “The driving forces of inflation are already aligned, and a regime shift is underway.” Paul Tutor Jones, Hedge Fund Manager said: “We are witnessing the great monetary inflation…an unprecedented expansion of every form of money unlike anything the developed world has ever seen.” As we now know, our current economic reality is quite different from what it was just 2 ½ years ago. Interest rates have risen significantly, inflation remains stubbornly high, and banks are tightening credit and hording deposits because they have massive unrealized losses in their bond portfolios. There are now legitimate concerns about the stability of the banking system. About the only thing that remains constant is the ridiculous childish gridlock that continues in Washington. I wish they would stop playing politics and start doing their job of governing. But I digress… I was recently piloting my plane from Dallas back to Minnesota. As I began my decent, I flew into the smoke that had migrated down from the Canadian wildfires. My visibility went to near zero. It reminded me of today’s investment environment and outlook. Visibility is currently quite low. Therefore, it is more important than ever before to have a sound, long-term strategy with a clear focus. Risk management needs to be a key priority. This is a good time for investors to do a fundamental review of how they are positioned, and determine what needs to change now to optimize investment results in coming years. Making sound investments has always been based on anticipating how the world might evolve. While no one has a crystal ball on making bullet proof long-term predictions, I believe many of today’s key trends and themes can be utilized to make smart investment decisions. So, while there are a lot of uncertainties in the short-term, I believe investors should remain almost fully invested with high allocations in real assets. This is your downside protection against inflation, a falling dollar, and an unstable financial system. The most important advice we can give you at this point is to set your priorities right. That means, first and foremost, having a very safe and secure place to store your wealth. This is relevant because we have been receiving increased questions concerning our current 6% rate. I recently had an investor ask me if I thought our rate should be higher since there are short term CD’s floating around offering rates that seem too good to be true. My response was that you must ask the question, “Why would a bank be willing to pay…say…5% for deposits whe n they are making loans at 7%?” That spread is not enough for their business model to work. So, why would they do that? The only answer I can think of is that they need more deposits to shore up their depleted capital. All this reminds me of Mark Twain’s quote when he said, “The return of my money is more important than the return on my money.” What to own, has really become one of the most critical questions in wealth and risk management. The recent banking crisis shows that investors simply can’t assume banks are safe anymore. There are great benefits and opportunities to be found when investing in cash flowing real assets. This doesn’t just offer more diversification, but it greatly enhances wealth protection as well. Additionally, we find that our clients use the monthly cash flow for all kinds of wonderful things, enhancing their lives and the lives of those they care about. If you’d like to speak with someone about securing your investments, we would love to connect with you! Gratefully, Jeff Huston and the 3D Money Team invest@3dmoney.com 320-905-3306

Chasing The Wind

By Jeff Huston • May 25, 2023
I’m mad at myself! I let myself get sucked into the endless news cycle again. I’ve never considered myself a news junky, but there have been times when I’ve been more “connected” than others. A few years ago, I made the decision to cancel all my news subscriptions except one. Since then, I have only been reading the Wall Street Journal. No nightly news, no magazines or other newspapers, no talk shows, no social media. I did that, because all the other news sources caused me to do what King Solomon referred to as “chasing of the wind” in the book of Ecclesiastes. It consumed my thinking and wasted way too much of my time. “Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea. Everything is w earisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.” Ecclesiastes 1:4-8 NLT Reread that last verse, the one in bold print. Isn’t that an amazing summary of the 24-hour news cycle? No matter how much we hear, we are not content! For the past several years, I’ve been true to my self-imposed limits and guardrails in this area. However, a couple months ago, I cracked the door open. I’d go on YouTube periodically to catch up on the latest happenings in the news cycle. As I did that, I got caught in their spiderweb. They kept me clicking for more and more content…wasting more and more of my time. Thankfully, I recognized the error of my ways and quickly put a hard stop to it. It can be such a trap for me! Maybe it is for you too? In the book titled “Your Attention Your Property,” the author addresses “thinking about your thinking.” He says that we can step back and not only see what our attention is focused on, but we can experience how we are fully conscious and present with the particular experience we are having. We can do this at any given time , we just need to make a habit of actually doing it. We must learn to focus our attention, so that we can gain the ability to think about things. For me, the endless news cycle causes an emotional reaction to physical things, to other people, and to other people’s thoughts. When I’m in “the cycle,” I’m not thinking clearly about my own thoughts. I’m 100% focused on someone else’s thinking. When that happens, I end up thinking negatively. However, when I take back control of my thinking, I’m able to align my ways with God’s ways. My thoughts become aligned with God’s thoughts. It’s a beautiful thing. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart because it determines the direction of your life.” So, how do we guard our hearts? There are multiple ways I guard my heart, but one of them comes down to always making my contribution bigger than my reward. I want to spend my life being a value creator, not a value extractor. It’s why I love capitalism. The way I see it, there are two kinds of people in the world. Those that embrace, promote, and believe in Capitalism and those that hate it! For me, Capitalism has been the growth process that has multiplied my uniqueness as a businessperson and as a God follower. The people that want to lead us toward socialism don’t know what they are talking about! Capitalism is about Value Creation. Socialism is about Value Extraction. In 1800, the French economist Jean-Baptiste Say coined the word “entrepreneur.” He said, “The entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield.” I love that. It perfectly summarizes our value proposition at 3D Money. Since 2010, we have been doing jus t that. Looking for opportunities to shift resources (people and assets) from a lower level of productivity to a higher and greater yield. Our investment focus on opportunities creating housing, jobs, and food, positions us for an ever-expanding future of value creation for our investors, our team members, and our customers. Once again, we want to thank you for your continued trust and confidence. Sincerely, Jeff Huston and the 3D Mo  ney Team invest@3dmoney.com 320-905-3306 P.S. About a year ago, we offered you a PDF copy of the book “Your Attention Your Property.” If you didn’t get one but would like a copy, please send a request to info@3dmoney.com We are happy to email you one (as a thank you gift from us).
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