If you’ve been listening to me and reading my letters, you know that I highly value personal Freedom. Increasing freedom in my life and the lives of those around me is a driving force in why I continue to do what I do. I view freedom in four core areas. Freedom of time, money, relationship, and purpose. This month I’d like to talk about freedom of money. This can be a difficult topic to discuss because we all have different experiences and paradigms about how to manage, grow, invest, and protect money. The Bible has a lot to say about money. It’s the most frequently discussed topic in both the Old and New Testament. Psalm 62:10 says, “though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them.” The danger is not necessarily in “having material things” but rather in “setting our heart on them.” We’re warned in 1 John 5:21, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” I never really saw how that verse applied to me. I mean, I don’t have graven images or carvings of physical idols laying around! I don’t have anything like that to worship or admire. However, when I read the verse in the New Living Translation (NLT), it comes alive to me in a fresh way. NLT says, “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.” This translation helps me realize that idols in my life can be more than just graven images. An idol is anything that takes God’s place in my heart. Thinking about it that way… I probably have the potential for many idols in my life. The danger with money is it can easily take too high of a place in our hearts. One thing that’s helped me to guard against this is to think more wholistically about my assets. Several years ago, I was introduced to an idea by a friend of mine who was coaching me on some money matters. As I discussed my assets with him, my list included investments, money in bank accounts, real estate, business equity, etc. Those were the things I consider to be my assets. He agreed that yes, those were indeed, all assets, but he suggested that I had other assets I hadn’t thought about or taken the time to recognize the value of. He taught me to think of my assets in four different categories…or quadrants. The first quadrant is Core Assets. Core Assets include our relationships, health, values, integrity, worldview, faith, belief system, etc. These are all at the core of who we are, and are in fact, assets (if we are willing to recognize them as such). The second quadrant is Educational and Experiential Assets . Formal education is an asset. You also have life experiences…both good and bad. Personally, I’ve learned more from my failures than I have from my successes. I love the quote from Hellen Keller, “A bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn.” The “turns” we’ve learned to make in life are all a part of our experiential assets. We should strive to be life-long learners. Living wisely is the goal! Our life education and our life experiences help us to live skillfully, and those learned skills are valuable assets too. The third quadrant is Charitable and Community Assets . These are things that we give time and money to that are outside of us, they have purpose that extends beyond our individual lives. Things we participate in or volunteer our time for. How we live out our faith, etc. The writer of the Book of James admonishes us to act on what we believe. These actions and beliefs are very personal in nature. Therefore, they are extremely valuable assets. Finally, we have the Financial Assets quadrant. This quadrant includes the things most of us consider assets. So, if you wrote down a list of all the things that you value in each of these quadrants, wouldn’t that represent a more complete picture of your net worth vs just financial assets minus liabilities? Your wholistic net worth is the sum total of all 4 quadrants. There is one final part to this exercise…Let’s say that I waved a magic wand and everything you listed in these 4 quadrants disappeared. In other words, you are bankrupt. You don’t have your health, you’ve lost all your relationships, you don’t have your faith, your education, the experiences you’ve learned from, no money, ALL IS GONE! You are broke in totality. Now, let’s say out of the goodness of my heart, I wave the wand and let you pick only one of the four quadrants to get back. Which would you choose to get back first? If you’re like most people, you’re going to choose your Core Assets (relationships, health, values, integrity, worldview, faith, belief system, etc.) Let’s go one step further. I’m going to wave the wand again and give you one additional quadrant back…but only one! What’s the second one you’d choose? From experience, when doing this with other people, most choose their Educational and Experiential Assets. It’s interesting that we intuitively know that if we have our Core, and Educational/Experiential Assets, most of us could rebuild our Financial and Charitable/Community Assets. I started this letter talking about freedom as it relates to money. If we view our assets as just piling up more money, we’re probably missing out on the abundant life Jesus talks about. Sincerely, Jeff Huston and the 3D Money Team 320-905-3306 invest@3dmoney.com P.S. One final thought. Forget ESG investing! It’s a foolish idea! Most of you know how I feel about the subject. Contrarily, 3D Money is committed to Kii investing (“Kingdom Impact Investing.) In other words, we consistently look for ways to have Kingdom Impact through the real estate investments we purchase and the profits we make. If you’re fed up with the rigged game of Wall Street and the unstable US banking system, we have several cash flowing real estate opportunities we are raising money for. We’d love to tell you more!

There’s a line in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet that says, “Know thine self and to thine own self be true.” One of the benefits of age and maturity is we tend to gain a deeper understanding of who God created us to be as individuals and how we can be most useful to His purposes. I’ve always worked to focus on the abilities I’m strong at, vs feeling guilty about the many things I don’t do as well as someone else does. A few months ago, I hired a coach to help me understand my Unique Ability more deeply. I’ve always been a pretty laser-focused person, but I wanted to take my understanding of my unique giftedness to new levels. So far, I’ve had five 2-hour sessions and I have learned a ton about myself. This coaching journey has come at an interesting time of year. This December, I’m reading the Gospel of Luke. There are 24 chapters. So, reading one chapter per day starting on the 1 st brings me through the entire Gospel account by Christmas Eve. I’m always amazed at the intentionality of Jesus. From the time He was a young boy getting left behind at the temple, because He was so engrossed in the teaching environment that He didn’t even know His parents had left … to the purposefulness of His public ministry. Jesus clearly knew who He was and what He was destined to accomplish. This was evident right up until the time He resolutely turned His face toward Jerusalem, fully knowing what was ahead. He didn’t have need for a unique ability coach to clarify God’s call on His life. From my perspective, purpose in life is really about who you are as opposed to what you do. In other words, who are you when no one is around? Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” After exiting my financial services firm in 2010, I found myself in a career transition. I was trying to decide what God wanted me to do in the next chapter of my life. I spent six months fasting, praying, and petitioning God. I desperately wanted to know His direction for my life and what He wanted me to do . When I finally heard His voice, it was short and sweet. He said, “Jeff, I don’t care what you do, I care what you become.” This profoundly impacted me. So, I set out to identify the kind of man I wanted to become in the next season of life. What characteristics did I want to expand? What habits did I want to leave behind? Zig Ziglar said, “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” God showed me that what I become is reflective of my purpose in life. It’s true for me and it is also true for you. A few years back, I met with a couple of young men. They are brothers and they live in the Pacific Northwest. They asked me questions about personal development, career decisions, and life in general. I really appreciated their interest in gaining wisdom and insight. The fact that they asked great questions was impressive to me. One of them asked, “what are the keys to being successful in the real estate business?” When the question was asked, I think they expected me to talk about it being financially lucrative, how you can utilize leverage, how it is tax efficient, etc. However, that is not the track I went down. I started with another quote from Zig Ziglar, “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” So many times, people focus on themselves. What’s in it for them? The most successful people in life are more focused on how they can help others. I know when I’m focused on how I can help others, I’m more likely to be in the right place and time. This is when God can fully use me and my unique abilities. Jesus was a master at this. The first step to accomplishing this is to shift your focus outward. When Dennis, Gabe, and I started acquiring real estate, we took time to speak with other landlords and real estate investors to see what we could learn from them. There was one person we met that said something we found quite offensive. He referred to his tenants as “his animals.” As we drove away from that meeting, we made a pact. If we ever started thinking that way, we agreed to sell everything and get out the business. We believe that every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of their economic position in life. Again, it comes back to the mindset of focusing on other people and helping them get what they want. It’s not a give-to-get thing. It’s your purpose, it’s who you are — as a human being, as a man, as a woman, as a God follower. It makes no difference whether you’re a real estate investor, business owner, employee, homemaker, or retired. Whatever you choose to do, do it through the grid of Loving God and Loving People. You can never go wrong with that mindset. When Jesus was asked in Matthew 22, “What it the greatest commandment?” He gave the following answer, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” My email tag line originates from these verses. It’s the mantra of my life… Love God, Love People, Do Cool Stuff! I’m not sure how it works, but I know that it does work. When I start with Loving God and add a healthy dose of Loving People … Cool Stuff seems to come my way! Jim Rohn said, “There are some things you don’t have to know how it works. The main thing is that it works. While some people are studying the roots, others are picking the fruit. It just depends on which end you want to get in on.” Pick the Fruit this Christmas season that comes from the tree of Loving God and Loving People. I guarantee you’ll love the gift it gives! Merry Christmas Brothers and Sisters! Jeff Huston and the 3D Money Team invest@3dmoney.com 320-905-3306