Welcome to the The VICI Code, where we unlock real stories of small business owners who've battled chaos, crushed doubt, and conquered their challenges. Faith, family, and finances. No fluff, just raw, honest conversations that decode the path to victory, one story at a time. All right, all right. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wealth, worry, and wisdom, where we walk you through the behavioral breakthrough, using psychology to navigate volatile markets and life. But before we jump in, I just want to remind our listeners about the new AG1 Ambassador Program. AG1 has been a staple in my daily routine for several years. Every morning, I wake up and I start my day with AG1. Just one scoop is packed with over 75 high-quality ingredients, which combines a multivitamin, probiotic, and a blend of superfoods. AG1 has been clinically shown to improve gut health and close common nutrient gaps. As a long-time customer, they've offered me a special deal for you if you're interested in trying AG1 yourself. You can use my ambassador code found in the show notes. With your first order, you'll receive one free year supply of D3K2 drops, 10 free AG1 next-gen travel packs, and a free 30-day supply of omega-3 pills. This $130 value is free when you use my ambassador code. But now let's get back to why we're really here. Let's shift gears back to today's guest who believes investing success is often determined by investor behavior, not market performance. Michael Tutcher II has his bachelor's in science and business and is currently pursuing his master of science in psychology. His experience through his studies of psychology and human behavior have proven to be invaluable while coaching his clients through volatile markets and times of uncertainty. Michael has a Series 7 and 66 licenses and is also a designated wealth management specialist. His core purpose is to coach clients by applying human behavior studies to investment decisions. In his spare time, he likes to enjoy a well-made cigar and a nice glass of bourbon and spends time with family. Michael and I were introduced through none other than the Sebastian Rusk, founder of Podcast Lab. Sebastian said that this is a strong opportunity to discuss the emotional and behavior side of finance, a perfect fit for the VG coach focus on personal breakthroughs. Michael's pursuit of a master's in psychology and his deep commitment to family and veterans provides an excellent anchor for a purpose-driven discussion. Dude, thanks for having me. I'm really excited to be here. I appreciate Ready to go? I'm jumping straight into the good stuff, man, because I love that you have this background in psychology. You know, let's go through the psychology of panic, right? You're currently pursuing a master's in psychology, which you call invaluable for coaching clients. What was the most challenging or volatile market event in your career that proved to you that the greatest threat to a client's wealth wasn't market itself, Well, I think the really obvious one that most of us remember, just right around the corner, right? It's COVID. And there was just so much uncertainty. That's really what drove the market crazy was just not knowing what's going to happen. So obviously when those times happen, as an investor, we tend to panic, right? You want, you're scared. The unknown leaves you vulnerable. It leaves you, you know, a potential huge loss. And that's when we really learned how serious the coaching aspect is, not just the financial plan, right? We can put together a fantastic plan, appropriate allocation for them based on all the models and this and that, but none of it fricking matters if you don't listen. Right? If you get scared and you buy and sell at the wrong time and you're trying to time the market, it's not going to work. So COVID was huge because yes, there was crazy, crazy sell-offs. Market was down immensely. I want to say it was like March or so. I don't, I don't remember. It was around that time in 2020. but that year ended up up significantly. It was a great year to be an investor. All you had to do is just not be fucking scared or be scared, but do it anyways, stay disciplined, right? That's where we drove so much value was people wanted to sub out of the game. But it didn't matter, you know, just like you're in a basketball, football game, whatever. It doesn't matter if your dog tired, get in there, right? So sometimes you're 80% better than somebody else is 100%. Okay. But if you're not in I completely agree. Was it, was there a breakthrough moment that made you decide to formally pursue human psychology to I wouldn't say there was really a aha moment as much as it was just, you know, with being partners with my dad and him being in the business for like 33, 34 years now, I was able to see where, okay, if you're going to get clients based on your performance and what you offer from a planning standpoint, they can also be taken away from you. in a performance and planning standpoint. Somebody else is always gonna have these new innovative tools, right? Someone is going to inevitably sometimes do better than us in a performance race, right? So it's what makes us different? How can we drive value to people? And also, If we're looking towards the future with AI and how all of that's gonna be implemented, where can I drive value and not be irrelevant in the next 10 years? So that was the discovery moment, if you will, where it was, where do I fit into this whole thing? What can I commit to that's different than the quote unquote industry norm? value where I know I'm, I'm helping people and I've got that, you know, heart to serve and I want them to Yeah. It sounds a little bit like the, the, the Steve jobs philosophy where we don't claim to do things better. We just claim to do things different. And it looks like your, your perception of like, how can we do things different? How can we defend different yourselves kind of led you into this path of Let's look at the human psychology aspect. And that, to me, I feel like that's a game changer. I feel like if you can better understand human psychology, you can better understand the market and the people in it and everything else. How do you define volatile markets in times of uncertainty? How do I define them or how do I tackle them? Define them. I mean, you know, if you're talking to a client, how are you, how are you, how are you describing them to your client? What is, what's the single most powerful psychological Well, a lot of it's perspective, right? Because not everybody has the same perspective that I do as a professional to know where we've been historically so many times. And the dips and the recessions and the pullbacks, we've been through all of this hundreds of times, man. It happens like the seasons and it's expected. Then it's about framing it as opportunity. because if I just tell you this normally happens, that doesn't really make you feel any better. It's like saying to people in South Florida where I'm at, okay, a hurricane's coming, but it always happens. It's not a big deal. Well, that doesn't mean anything if your house is flooded and you have all this damage and your community's ruined. So saying that it always happens isn't gonna make anybody really feel better. What's gonna help is knowing what we've done after those events, after those pullbacks, and then being able to explain how it's actually an opportunity. Because when the market's down, when stocks funds are down, we're in a position to buy them on sale. They're not gonna cost you as much as they were before. So if we're implementing strategies into our plan, like dollar cost averaging, where we are systematically contributing to our investments, when you buy stuff on sale, you want it to be volatile. If you can guarantee that you're going to be disciplined to the plan, volatile markets are a huge opportunity for you. So it's about framing, it's perspective, and being able to kind of retrain the mind of the investor to not look at volatility as Yeah, that makes so much sense. Now, what's the biggest misconception clients have about risk tolerance versus So biggest misconception is probably that they can even define it. Because if you've never been through something, you have no idea what you can handle. So it's really about awareness and then the clients thinking that they can do it without a coach in their corner. that they can see something coming that apparently other people can't, right? Especially with our entrepreneurial clients, our executive clients, they've gotten to where they are because they've always controlled everything that they've done. So it's really hard for them to let go of the reins and trust somebody else because their whole financial future has always been decided by them. So it's knowing that there are gonna be times where you're psychologically bugged out, where you think you're either going to outsmart the market or play it safe. So thinking that you can do that on your own without having a coach in your corner to guide you through that along your journey, that's probably the I wouldn't wanna do that. And, and with that, that goes in pretty well with, you know, the next question, which is about, you know, the legacy and family business. So you've, you've had a coach your whole life. You're a second generation advisor working alongside your father. What was the greatest professional challenge in stepping into the family legacy and how did you overcome the Oh, I'm going to be honest with you right now. There, I've never overcome the need to prove myself. That's a constant thing. I don't have just like this dad that brought me on and is looking towards retirement so that I can take over. Like my man is grinding every day, okay? He is probably the hardest worker I've ever met. And yeah, I feel like I have to prove myself on a regular basis because he sets the bar so fricking high and it's only getting higher. He's in the gym 5 a.m. every day. He's in the office by 6.30 every day. And yeah, he golfs four days a week, but that's business in our industry. So as far as professional obstacles that I've overcome, it really goes to like a imposter syndrome, right? Because I started in the business so young and the typical client that you kind of are taught to go after as a financial advisor is, you know, your pre-retirees, your retirees. So we're talking about people who are late fifties to 80 years old. When you're in your 20s as a financial advisor, you really feel like nobody's gonna take you seriously. So you don't have a whole lot of confidence. And to be honest, you don't have a whole lot of reps and you don't know what the fuck you're doing. I don't care what tests you passed and what designations you have, until you have the experience solving problems for clients, you really have no idea what the hell you're doing. So it was about overcoming that inexperience and imposter syndrome and then serving people, right? Just growing by doing the work. and learning how to solve problems for other business owners, for people who think similar that we do, right? That are philosophically aligned. And then realizing like, okay, if I can solve this problem, I can solve this person's problem. I can do this problem. And it really just drove this level of delivering value where, okay, cool. I'm actually pretty good at this now. What do you Yeah, I like your approach of like, you know, there's big shoes to fill, but you're not filling anyone in shoes. You know, you're learning from somebody who is, you know, yes, your dad and you're from the same blood, but he's his own guy. You're your own guy. You're learning from him. But, you know, how can you fill someone's shoes who's shoes keep getting bigger, you know, you're, you're on your own, you're on your own path. You're, you're, you're, you're filling your own shoes. And I think that's a, that's an important thing. And not everyone, not everyone experiences that not everyone, you know, gets into the family business. So it's definitely a unique perspective, but I like the way you've tackled it. And I'm curious, what's the most important family principle from your father that became a business breakthrough for you, a principle that So as far as professionally, there's something that he writes as a little tag at the end of emails that he sends out to clients. And it just says three words, faith, patience, discipline. And that's really it. Like I probably didn't understand the significance of it the first few times I read it. But again, as, as there was more experience in the business and experience helping people and seeing the gravity behind those words and how much they mean when they're implemented. Yeah, that's, that's Yeah. And I mean, those three, I mean, you could just give someone advice. Lead by faith, lead a life in faith, be patient, and be disciplined. I mean, those things can help avoid a lot Now, being a husband and father of three, how has your own personal experience with family planning directly influenced the guidance you give clients regarding wealth preservation and Well, it's definitely opened my eyes to what's important. right? Because when you're a business owner, you're in the weeds every single day. You know, you're serving your clients, you're serving your people or your service, your product, whatever it may be. And sometimes it's hard to come up to breathe. And it's easy for us to lose sight of putting a plan in place to take care of our loved ones, whether that's, you know, succession planning, that's, you know, college planning, you know, planning for your daughter's wedding, whatever it may be, you know, but the life insurance side of things, you know, nobody likes to tackle any of that stuff because we feel like we always have time. that my business is demanding a lot of me. And I'm just gonna put it on the back burner. I'll get to it next year or next quarter. And it just never gets done. So that's, you know, I understand it because having three kids and different school activities and, you know, oldest has lacrosse and lacrosse tournaments. Youngest son has jujitsu every day and tutoring. So it's so easy to get caught up going from business to personal and never taking a second to come up and say, okay, what happens if I'm not here? And nobody wants to think about that. It's a terrible thought, but it's reality. And having a little plan in place from a financial side of things to give you that extra peace of mind, I feel like it helps you commit to what you're doing, right? So when you're at work, you're fully committed to work, driving revenue, making money, serving your people. And then when you're home, you can be present home. You can be present with your kids. You can be present with your wife and not worried about work or uncertainty and the stress that's involved with all that. Because even if something crazy was to happen, everybody's going to be okay. So that's, that's really what, you know, being a father and husband has showed me is, is how easy it is to forget to do those things. and being able to kind of empathize with some of my clients, realizing how easy it is to put it on the back burner, but then reminding them of the Yeah, it's very easy to get into a pattern of wake up, work, come home and just forget about how do you protect your family if you disappear because there's no one to wake up and your income's cut in half. If you're a dual income family or if it's cut down to nothing, if you're a single income family, you know, I, you know, we're, we're going over our, our, our policies right now. We're, we're, we're taking a look and, uh, making some changes, but you know, if, if you're not protecting your family for what, if, you know, hopefully it never happens, but you know, you, you're going to be happy, uh, that you have something in place for them, uh, So this is an interesting area that I'm excited to talk to you about, serving those who've served. You're passionate about our nation's veterans and serve as the fundraising coordinator for the Sarasota chapter of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation. How did that specific commitment to service and faith in our veterans become Well, I was really just raised as like, that's something that we do, that you're either serving, you know, you're gonna enlist in the military, or as somebody who gets to reap the benefits of those who have served, you're gonna serve those who served, period. And, you know, my dad got involved in it, 19 years ago now, and just somebody decided to move away who was running everything. And he became the chairman of the chapter. So then when my dad does something, typically the whole family does it. It becomes a whole family endeavor. Like every single year, it's my dad, my mom, my grandmothers, people come in from everywhere to volunteer and help out with this. And most of the time, their last name is Tutcher. So there's a trend when we do the banquet the night before, a lot of thanks are for family. But it's our opportunity to serve those who have served because the benefits that Marines receive and Navy Corpsmen that serve with them, they just don't cut it sometimes. And the fact that somebody made the sacrifice for our country, yes, sometimes they give something to those who served, but then they're kids. And being able to give opportunities for that next generation and knowing that they come from families who have those core values and core beliefs of discipline, hard work and service. Those are the types of kids we want to invest in and see succeed. And that's why the foundation has seen so much success, especially when it comes to graduation rates and the fields of study that the students go into. It's because of the types of families they come from. And those marine families, we're Yeah. Love, love the work that you're doing there as a Marine veteran myself, Hey, and you know, when kids are going to school, man, we Amazing. I love it. Yeah. We'll, we'll touch base. We're, we're, we're, we're talking a lot about the trades these days in our household. So, uh, but for, for, the right fit. We're very aware that there's certain things if our kids decide they want to go to school, we'll definitely keep that as an option. Have there been any challenges in the fundraising or community work you've done that have led to a breakthrough that taught you a key leadership lesson that you now apply to That's a good question. I'd really say just not being afraid to put yourself out there and serve, right? Because I never have a problem asking people for money and opportunities when it's for charity. But when I know somebody who's maybe not a client yet and a unique opportunity comes across my desk and it'd be a really good fit for him. You don't want to ever be that salesman. You don't want to be pushy, right? You don't want to seem like you're, you're transaction based relationship. So it was kind of learning how to say, this is going to help somebody. If you don't open your mouth and speak, then you are not letting your gifts that you've been blessed with bless somebody else. So it was a bit of that, going from the charity to the practice is just not being afraid to, I guess, let God use you. So that's, I'd say, what kind of translated from Yeah, well put. God gives us all gifts and We're here on earth to use them for his greater good. So well put my friend. How about habits of a disciplined life? You mentioned enjoying a good cigar and bourbon with some reading along with time with family and a job that requires intense discipline and concentration. How do your personal rituals and commitments to fitness fuel the clarity and focus needed to advise people through critical financial Brother, that's everything, man. And I'm not gonna pretend like I'm some David Goggins superhero, okay? Like last few weeks, I've been pretty inconsistent with my workouts. You know, we just moved a lot of, you know, you got a couple of weeks of packing, a couple of weeks of moving all the crap, and then, you know, several months of unpacking and putting stuff together. So, you know, I'm not perfect, but, When you have this discipline and you don't let your little bitch voice in your head win, it really helps you grow as an individual to become resilient. So when it comes to your fitness, you're making yourself stronger and harder. that isn't something that's isolated. That's everywhere. If you're somebody who does hard things, you're gonna be able to withstand things like uncertainty and volatility and craziness that this world throws at us every day. But if you're not pushing yourself and proving to yourself that you can make it through things that are tough, you're kind of setting yourself up for a tough life. Now, my youngest son right now, he's in school. He doesn't particularly love school right now. That's okay. It's not his strength. And we have talked about it and I said, you know, he does jujitsu. I said, brother, You have to go into it with this mindset that you're going to be good because you're someone who does hard things. That's what we do in this family. We do hard things. We don't run from it. We go head on. And yeah, some days you want to cry. Some days you don't want to do it, but you do it anyways. That's what builds up your mental toughness and trying to explain to, you know, I'm now 11 year old. I just turned 11 a couple of days ago. So I'm trying to explain that. Yeah, happy birthday to him. And, you know, realizing that most adults don't even know that. That when you have a commitment to doing hard things, those things don't get easier. The weight doesn't get lighter. You get stronger and you push forward anyways. You know, 315 pounds is still 315 pounds on the bench. There was a time that I could not do that. The weight didn't get any lighter. I got stronger. So it's, it's, it's about who it turns you into. It's not just a physical thing. It's a mental thing. And The physical side is obviously, you look good, you feel good, you have a little bit more energy and your hormones and everything are more regulated, but you have so much more to give. You have so much more of a capacity. So being disciplined and having that commitment to taking care of myself, I think it directly translates to how I run the business and the practice because people feel that. You know, you can understand if it, or, you know, if somebody is confident in themselves, you know, if somebody has done the work and where people don't have the confidence when they go into, you know, various dynamics in business is because they haven't done the work. They can watch these, you know, Pony Robbins videos and whatever online. And then they see themselves in the mirror and they know they're full of shit. Say whatever you want, but you know you didn't do the work. And that's gonna translate into everything. It's gonna translate to your relationship. You're gonna be an insecure little bitch in your relationship. You're not gonna be a good leader, a good man for your sons to follow. Probably not gonna be a good business owner because you're not confident in how you serve people. And it's taking care of the things that you can take care of, starting with your body, is the most important thing you can do. I couldn't agree more. And you hit it on the head. I think one of the key words is confidence. I think strength training just gives you confidence, not just in the gym, but in life. You just have this confidence. It's like an energy that you tap into the more you work out and do strength training. And, and there's a level of, uh, uh, what's the word I'm looking for. Um, resiliency, you know, created, you know, the more you push yourself, the more you do hard things, you know, you just become more resilient and no bad times. always come and go. Um, and it's usually a balance. You probably got just as many bad times as good times. Um, and building up that, that habit of doing hard things creates a sense of resiliency. And, you know, you won't panic when things are going bad. It's just like, Hey, we've been here and that's where that calmness and that confidence comes in. So yeah, well put man. And then, you know, do something hard as much as you can. Don't do stupid things. We don't need that, but do hard things because it creates resiliency and confidence. If you could give one piece of tough, candid advice to, let's say a high net worth individual as money, but maybe is led with fear and indecision, what would it be? What would your Well, the first advice is start looking for a financial advisor. Start building your team. Start putting together, you know, finding your trusted CPA, your tax strategist, you know, your estate planning attorney, and your financial advisor. If you don't have a team of people that are gonna help you navigate this, you're setting yourself up for failure, man. You know, if you're a high net worth individual, you got a lot more on the line than other people. And you're going to try and do it yourself. Come on, we really have to make the most of the resources at our disposal. And I understand that it's really hard for some people to let their guard down and trust other people with their future. But I mean, that's the recipe for success. So it starts with being vulnerable maybe and asking people who you do trust, who they use, right? And asking for a little direction because we don't get to be successful on our own. We get there through a network, we get there through a tribe and ultimately you gotta build a team to get to that next level or stay there. And so I would, I would give advice to somebody like that saying, start building your team if you haven't already. Be vulnerable. And this Yeah. You gotta, you gotta know what your limitations are, know what you're good at, know what you're not and stick, stick with what you're good at and stay in your lane. Um, but you know, it does start with trust. It starts with, you know, you know, a referral from somebody, you know. Um, so yeah, great. And then, uh, I just want to go over for our audience some of these key takeaways. This is just packed with great information. The vital role of behavioral finance, there's a psychology to it. Stay in the game. Don't be scared. But sometimes that can be not good if you don't have the right team. If you don't have the right people telling you when to sell, when to buy, you could miss out or you could end up with a bad situation. So it's important to have mental strength in this area, but also you got to be smart and have the right people. And then the power of family first approach, as you know, we've talked a lot about your family, your nuclear family, your father and where you came from. And Um, you know, there's a lot to learn there and, you know, don't recreate the wheel, right. There, you know, family first will always guide you in the right direction. Um, and if, and like, you know, God, family, country, fitness, freedom, whatever you want to call it, you know, family's gotta be right up there. And then, you know, the connection between discipline, purpose, community service, right. You know, God's given us gifts. you know, if we've been able to tap into those gifts and do well for ourselves, let's also do well for our community. Let's pay it forward. Let's help other people. And that's what I love a lot about the service industry is it's all about helping each other. It's all about helping those, educating them. So, Michael, you've shown us a lot of how to do it the right way. And I really appreciate your commitment to your clients, to your community. and to the people who have served our nation. If someone wanted to follow you, you know, you're on LinkedIn, you're on Facebook and Instagram. Can Yeah, just simply searching for me, you know, Michael Tutcher on either one. You do have to pay a little bit of attention for the second on there because Uh, my dad is Mike senior. It's the same exact name. It does get a little annoying at times, but Hey man, it's, it's all fun. Just give, give you something to pay attention to. But yeah, I can be reached on all those on the professional side of things. You know, most people like LinkedIn. Um, I'm probably most active on Instagram and And if our listeners wanted to learn more about the work you do with the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation and Yes. So that's, I believe it's mcsf.org, MarineCorpsScholarshipFoundation.org, or just reach out to me directly. I'd be happy to give you as much information as I can about how to get involved or how That's great. We'll, we'll, we'll provide that information in the show notes. So Michael toucher, Michael a toucher, the second, that's where you'll find him on LinkedIn. And then Michael toucher, uh, Got it. So there you go. Awesome, Mike. Perfect. I so appreciate your time. Thanks for dropping some knowledge on us and being vulnerable and sharing all that, man. Opening up on your family and everything. That was, that was really good stuff, man. I really appreciate you. Yeah. Thank you for having me. It was, I really enjoyed this. All right, everybody. Thanks for listening to Vici Code. Join us next time as we continue to explore the journeys of purpose-driven leaders. Take care until then. Thanks for tuning in to the Vici Code, where the underdogs rise and the numbers finally make sense. If today's story hit home, share it. And remember, faith fuels a fight, and your comeback is