“Where should I invest my money?”

It’s the question I hear most often from clients and prospects.

People want the magic answer. They hope I’ll reveal the perfect investment that guarantees returns. But I can’t tell you where to put your money.

Not because I don’t want to help. But because I don’t know you yet.

Where you should invest depends entirely on you. Your investor DNA makes all the difference.

The problem is that most financial advice treats investing as a one-size-fits-all proposition. You’ve probably heard recommendations like “max out your 401(k),” “buy index funds,” or “invest in real estate.”

These generic recommendations completely ignore what makes you unique as an investor.

When I sit with clients who ask me where to put their money, I don’t immediately recommend products or asset classes. Instead, I ask questions about their goals, experience, interests, and what they truly value.

Why? Because the best investment for one person might be a terrible choice for another.

Financial planning typically focuses on meeting needs—the bare minimum. What do you need in retirement? What do you need in life insurance? When did “needs” become the standard for a fulfilling life?

This needs-based approach creates scarcity. It shrinks your vision and lowers the bar. It forces you to dream smaller when what you actually want is freedom and abundance.

The best planning focuses on wants. Because when you structure your finances to achieve your wants—the life you really desire—your needs are naturally covered along the way.

This is why understanding your Investor DNA is crucial.

What Is Investor DNA?

Investor DNA is a concept developed by Garrett Gunderson, a strategic partner of mine and the author of What Would the Rockefellers Do?. Investor DNA is about understanding who you are, first. Then using that knowledge to find investments that fit you.

Everyone’s different. What works for me might be terrible for you.
Your Investor DNA consists of four key components:

1. Core Values: What matters most to you.
2. Core Competencies: Your strengths and knowledge areas.
3. Core Drivers: What motivates and energizes you.
4. Core Focus: Where you create habits and results.

The best investments align with these four components. When they do, you invest with confidence. You understand what you’re doing. You can evaluate risks properly. You make decisions from knowledge, not fear.

The Four Best Investments

1. Quality of Life

Most people think investing only deals with numbers on paper. It’s not that at all. Your first investment should be in yourself and your quality of life. Your health matters most.

Create a line item in your budget for investing in your quality of life:

• Better food
• Holistic doctors
• Physical therapy/personal training
• Massages
• Purpose-driven vacations

When you feel good physically and mentally, you make better decisions and bring more energy to everything you do. This foundation of health and well-being enables you to pursue the next critical investment.

2. Skillset and Knowledge

Your income is a byproduct of the value you create. The best investment is growing your skillset and knowledge.

Many people skip this step. They rush to invest in things they can’t control like markets or real estate. These aren’t bad investments, but the order matters. Before investing elsewhere, remember that you are your greatest investment.

Create the return you want rather than trying to chase it. When you commit to developing yourself professionally, you’re not at the mercy of market fluctuations or economic cycles. You have direct influence over your earning potential.

With your health optimized and your professional skills enhanced, you’re now ready for the third critical investment.

3. Financial Education

Losing money hurts emotionally and financially. Learning proper due diligence prevents costly mistakes.

What are you doing to grow yourself so you know how to invest your money? Take care of your money today so it can take care of you later. Don’t take this lightly.

Your financial future is your responsibility.

One fantastic resource for financial education is What Would the Rockefellers Do? by Garrett Gunderson. This bestselling book reveals the financial system used by the wealthy to protect, grow, and pass on legacy wealth. Click here to get your free copy now.

4. Cash-Flowing Assets

Most financial planners talk about compounding interest. I focus on compounding cash flow.

The typical advice says markets average 10% returns. Just dollar-cost average and stay in for the long haul.

When you focus on cash-flowing assets, you’re building something that produces income regularly. Examples of cash-flowing assets include:

• Income-producing real estate (rental properties, commercial buildings).
• Dividend-paying stocks from established companies.
• Private lending and notes.
• Cash value life insurance (when properly structured).
• Businesses with recurring revenue models.
• Royalty-generating intellectual property.

The beauty of cash-flowing assets is that they work for you whether you’re actively working or not. They create multiple income streams that can eventually replace your earned income entirely. And unlike assets that only appreciate in value, cash-flowing investments provide you with usable income today. Instead of just a promise of growth in the distant future.

With each cash-flowing asset you acquire, you build greater financial resilience and move closer to true financial independence.

Also, there’s a smart way to buy cash-flowing assets, and that’s using whole life insurance. There’s a reason why smart investors use whole life insurance to buy real estate, for example.

Once you’re ready to invest in cash-flowing assets, you’ll face a crucial decision. Should you spread your investments widely (diversification) or concentrate them in areas you deeply understand (focus)? This brings us to another key distinction that separates successful investors from those who struggle.

Focus vs. Diversification

We’re taught to diversify with investments. But diversification is the opposite of focus.
Wealth is built through focus, not diversification. When you spread yourself too thin across things you don’t understand, you “di-worse-ify.”

I like Andrew Carnegie’s philosophy:

“Focus, don’t diversify. Put all your eggs in one basket and watch it like a hawk.”

This doesn’t mean owning just one asset. It means mastering one category before moving to another. The fastest periods of growth in my life weren’t just because I worked harder. They came from being in the right rooms with the right people having the right conversations.

People who challenge how I think, not just cheer me on. People who normalize big visions instead of watering them down.

This focus-driven approach to investing directly contradicts another piece of conventional wisdom—that building a large nest egg should be your primary financial goal. This brings us to a final critical distinction.

Two Investment Philosophies: Cash Flow vs. Accumulation

The Accumulation Approach

Most typical financial planning focuses on accumulation—building a nest egg that you’ll eventually draw from in retirement. This approach tells you to:

• Maximize contributions to retirement accounts.
• Invest primarily in growth-oriented assets.
• Defer gratification until retirement age.
• Minimize withdrawals to preserve principal.
• Hope that market returns and timing work in your favor.

The problem? This approach creates dependency on factors beyond your control and doesn’t address your actual living expenses until decades later.

The Acceleration Approach

The alternative is to focus on acceleration instead—building cash-flowing income streams that can support your lifestyle regardless of your age or work status. With this approach, you:

• Invest in assets that generate regular income.
• Create multiple streams of passive revenue.
• Match asset income with specific expenses in your life.
• Reduce dependency on earned income over time.
• Build financial independence gradually, not all at once.

Our bills are paid by cash flow, not by an account balance. While most financial planners suggest you’ll be in a lower tax bracket in retirement, I want my clients to be in the highest bracket possible—but pay the least in taxes through proper structuring.

When you focus on cash flow in your investment choices, you start thinking differently. Every time you take a bill off your plate using income from an asset, that’s a win. That’s measurable progress toward financial independence.

Over time, you transition from earning income to managing income. That’s real financial freedom—and it often happens years or even decades before traditional retirement age.

So, Where Should You Invest Your Money?

Now we can answer the original question. Where should you invest your money? The answer is: invest in yourself FIRST. In your mindset and skillset. In your financial education and emotional intelligence.

YOU are always your best investment. Because your human life value is the source and creator of all your property value.

Once you invest in yourself and you’ve grown your knowledge, you’ll know exactly where your money should go. For YOU. Not for someone else, but for you personally.

Once you have this you should then build a proper structure where small assets produce income like big assets. Focus on cash flow for freedom, not just accumulation. Build assets that produce income so you can match them to your expenses.

That’s financial independence. That’s freedom.

Let’s spend 30 minutes discussing your current financial situation and goals. No sales pitch, just clarity. We can figure out what investments may best align with who you are.