Chief Change Officer
#139 From Dollars to Smiles: Michael Sakraida’s Playbook for Wealth and Joy – Part One
Wed, 15 Jan 2025
Part One. Michael Sakraida, the mind behind Money, Balance and Joy: Improving Your Life Story, brings a fresh, philosophical perspective to the age-old debate: Can money buy happiness? Spoiler: It’s not about piling up cash. Michael reveals his three-part happiness equation—monetary wealth, time wealth, and social wealth—and why achieving balance between them is crucial. With wit and insight, he critiques Wall Street, risk tolerance surveys, and what he calls the “Financial Media Smut Club” for missing the emotional realities of personal finance. He’s not afraid to challenge conventional wisdom, offering a relatable, no-nonsense approach to understanding money and its role in your life. For anyone seeking clarity amidst the noise of financial advice, this episode will make you rethink how you define wealth. Key Highlights of Our Interview: Zen and the Art of Smart Change: Why You Shouldn’t Waste Emotional Energy “Think of change like triage. Some things are worth saving; others, not so much. It’s about focusing your energy on the changes that actually count.” The Happiness Equation: Why Money Alone Isn’t Enough "Money buys happiness when it’s part of a three-part ecosystem—monetary wealth, time wealth, and social joy. Balance the three, and you’ve got the real happiness equation." Feeling Alone in the Crowd: Why Money Isn’t the Only Problem “Inflation, Wall Street, and the financial media don’t get it—people feel isolated and misunderstood. It’s not just about cash; it’s about finding control and direction when everything feels chaotic.” Wall Street’s Blind Spot: The Emotional Toll of Inflation “While Wall Street and politicians stay comfortable, most people struggle, feeling alone and powerless. The key isn’t just money; it’s reclaiming control in a system that’s stacked against you.” Connect with us: Host: Vince Chan | Guest: Michael Sakraida ______________________ --Chief Change Officer-- Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself. Open a World of Deep Human Intelligence for Growth Progressives, Visionary Underdogs, Transformation Gurus & Bold Hearts. 6 Million+ All-Time Downloads. Reaching 80+ Countries Daily. Global Top 3% Podcast. Top 10 US Business. Top 1 US Careers. >>>100,000+ subscribers are outgrowing. Act Today.<<< --Chief Change Officer--Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself.Open a World of Expansive Human Intelligencefor Transformation Gurus, Black Sheep,Unsung Visionaries & Bold Hearts.EdTech Leadership Awards 2025 Finalist.20 Million+ All-Time Downloads.80+ Countries Reached Daily.Global Top 1% Podcast.Top 5 US Business.Top 1 US Careers.>>>180,000+ are outgrowing. Act Today.<<<See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What is the philosophy behind financial well-being?
Hi, everyone. Welcome to our show, Chief Change Officer. I'm Vince Chan, your ambitious human host. Our show is a modernist community for change progressives in organizational and human transformation from around the world. Today, I'm chatting with Michael Secreta, the insightful money philosopher and author of the book titled Money, Balance, and Joy.
Michael dives into the philosophy of financial well-being, showing that money alone isn't the golden ticket to happiness. He talks about the need for a balanced ecosystem, which includes monetary wealth, time wealth and social wealth. explaining that total fulfillment comes when all three work together.
He also takes on Wall Street, the financial media, and financial influencers, pointing out how they often miss the emotional side of financial planning. from risk tolerance questionnaires that don't account for real-life feelings to the misleading advice all over social media. Michael gives a candid and refreshing take. He also shares practical advice on how we can reclaim control of our finances
build meaningful legacy, and manage life's financial curveballs with confidence. Michael, welcome to our show. Let's start with your journey, your money journey, your life journey, and your career journey.
And looking at my journey to where I am today with the mission of trying to help over a million individuals and their advisors, there's really three key segments to it. And the overriding theme in each of those segments is an extension of the Robert Frost poem of taking the road less traveled. I guess I took the road faster.
that wasn't completed and the parts that were completed had some potholes and other damage to it. And so the first part of my journey to how I got here today was the developmental years. My childhood, I had lots of mentors. and guidance and muses from people both alive and dead. Had two great-grandfathers who were very successful businessmen. One who came over from Eastern Europe, civil engineer.
So he did build roads, actually, and made his fortune and went back to the old country, which was unusual. And then another great grandfather who was in banking and finance and extremely wealthy and unfortunately was killed when his bank was robbed back the Bonnie and Clyde days with that. But my childhood, my neighborhood, neighbors, my parents, kind of what came out of that was
Not, I can't do this. I'm not able. How can I possibly do this? It was more, why can't I do it? And would sit around with some neighbors at our beach club in the south shore of Long Island. And I would listen to their stories because I always had that curiosity. And in those stories and just observations, I saw that these were people, yes, they had the money.
but they had the balance and they had the joy and fun in their lives. They had a range of interests that, besides being CEO of a bank, they also had a jazz that they orchestrated music and performed. Even in college, making sure I took not just the business courses, the finance, accounting, but also taking philosophy, having a history major. And there's a lot...
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Chapter 2: How can money contribute to happiness?
brokerage firm paid more, but I didn't see the same growth and development and didn't like the whole, at the time, brokerage model. So I took the lower paying job and was very successful with that. Again, because I didn't know I was too young. We had this mutual fund that was started to take advantage of foreign tax credits for U.S.-based companies.
Chapter 3: What is the three-part happiness equation?
We started cold and had all these companies interested, but no one wanted to be first. And so I'm doing a cold call to a treasurer of a large corporation in the Northeast. He hung up the phone on me and I called him back. I said, you just made a big mistake.
took him off guard i said yeah i understand nine out of ten times person calling you doesn't have anything really unique and that's not going to really help you well this time it's i'm that one out of ten and so he was like okay go on and he not only was one of the larger investors in the fund, but he was the first one. So everyone else was standing around the pool waiting for someone to jump in.
He's the one that jumped in, then everyone else jumped into the pool. So I had this ability through looking at the human element
Chapter 4: Why is balance between wealth types important?
Chapter 5: What lessons can we learn from financial influencers?
Chapter 6: How did Michael Sakraida's journey shape his views on money?
And looking at my journey to where I am today with the mission of trying to help over a million individuals and their advisors, there's really three key segments to it. And the overriding theme in each of those segments is an extension of the Robert Frost poem of taking the road less traveled. I guess I took the road faster.
that wasn't completed and the parts that were completed had some potholes and other damage to it. And so the first part of my journey to how I got here today was the developmental years. My childhood, I had lots of mentors. and guidance and muses from people both alive and dead. Had two great-grandfathers who were very successful businessmen. One who came over from Eastern Europe, civil engineer.
So he did build roads, actually, and made his fortune and went back to the old country, which was unusual. And then another great grandfather who was in banking and finance and extremely wealthy and unfortunately was killed when his bank was robbed back the Bonnie and Clyde days with that. But my childhood, my neighborhood, neighbors, my parents, kind of what came out of that was
Not, I can't do this. I'm not able. How can I possibly do this? It was more, why can't I do it? And would sit around with some neighbors at our beach club in the south shore of Long Island. And I would listen to their stories because I always had that curiosity. And in those stories and just observations, I saw that these were people, yes, they had the money.
but they had the balance and they had the joy and fun in their lives. They had a range of interests that, besides being CEO of a bank, they also had a jazz that they orchestrated music and performed. Even in college, making sure I took not just the business courses, the finance, accounting, but also taking philosophy, having a history major. And there's a lot...
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Chapter 7: What is the emotional impact of inflation on individuals?
that people don't understand about history in terms of the value of it, because it's not just remembering regurgitating dates and locations and activities, but what led to it, what really caused it. With history, You have the advantage of that time so that you can have now the revisionist, the more accurate view of that history. So I applied all this to that, which took me to my second stage.
And that was the kind of the learner's permit, as someone told me at my beach club. And that is going out there, working for companies. When I started, I had two job offers. One was with a brokerage firm and being a stockbroker. The other was investment management firm.
Chapter 8: How can reclaiming control lead to better financial outcomes?
brokerage firm paid more, but I didn't see the same growth and development and didn't like the whole, at the time, brokerage model. So I took the lower paying job and was very successful with that. Again, because I didn't know I was too young. We had this mutual fund that was started to take advantage of foreign tax credits for U.S.-based companies.
We started cold and had all these companies interested, but no one wanted to be first. And so I'm doing a cold call to a treasurer of a large corporation in the Northeast. He hung up the phone on me and I called him back. I said, you just made a big mistake.
took him off guard i said yeah i understand nine out of ten times person calling you doesn't have anything really unique and that's not going to really help you well this time it's i'm that one out of ten and so he was like okay go on and he not only was one of the larger investors in the fund, but he was the first one. So everyone else was standing around the pool waiting for someone to jump in.
He's the one that jumped in, then everyone else jumped into the pool. So I had this ability through looking at the human element
of sales the human element of working with financial advisors getting sub-advisory work with large mutual fund companies and other institutions that human element i quickly realized was make it about them not about their company but what do they want in life and everyone wants more money they want books
balance or time and they want more joy or social wealth and so trying to show that to them this big discovery incorporating this into all these programs and huge success with this but Total fights every step of the way because I was the change agent.
And by me being successful in implementing this change in the eyes of these people that were there for years and years, I made them look like failures, that they couldn't do it and this non-insurance guy had to do it. And after a while, I got tired of
of working at these different companies doing wonderful things for them for their financial professionals that we sold to for their clients but always being sniped at and so i just got tired of always fighting that fight and Actually having a target, the more successful I was, the more I helped my companies, the bigger the target was.
So then decided to go into the third stage and that is having consulting business and going out there and working with different financial companies. It's really funny. As an employee, they swipe at you. They don't want to listen to you, question everything you say. As a consultant, all of a sudden now they listen and they want to do what you have.
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