Building True Wealth: From Accumulation to Preservation — A Former Navy Pilot's Journey

In this insightful episode of The Nathan Newberry Show, former Navy fighter pilot and successful entrepreneur Mike Brown shares his journey from military service to building and selling an eight-figure company. Through both triumphs and failures, Mike discovered that true wealth goes far beyond money and requires a critical shift from accumulation to preservation that many entrepreneurs miss.

Introduction: Redefining High Performance and Wealth

For Mike Brown, the definition of high performance has evolved dramatically throughout his career. As a former Naval aviator who flew jets and landed on aircraft carriers, he initially defined high performance through the elite standards of military aviation. However, after building and selling companies, his perspective shifted entirely.

"What high performance looks like to me now is waking up and serving the people that I can help at the highest level," Mike explains. "It's not about me at this point... now every single day I'm living into my purpose and allowing people to create their dream life."

This transformation in perspective mirrors his journey in understanding wealth. After selling his company and achieving what society typically defines as success, Mike made a series of high-risk investments that led to a financial crisis—losing $100,000 a month and facing severe anxiety and depression. Through this painful experience, he developed a more holistic view of wealth as "freedom in four areas: freedom of health, freedom of relationships, freedom of time, and freedom of mind."

In this comprehensive breakdown of Mike's wealth-building philosophy, we'll explore the critical difference between accumulating and preserving wealth, the three levels of financial freedom, and practical strategies for designing a life aligned with your true values.

From Fighter Pilot to Entrepreneur: The Journey to Financial Success

Mike's path to entrepreneurship began with a childhood dream of attending the Naval Academy, inspired by Tom Clancy's "Patriot Games." Though his time at the Academy was marked by "an issue with authority" (graduating in the top 95% of his class), his determination to control his destiny led him to excel in flight school, where he finished first in his class.

After his military service ended in 2012, Mike moved back to his hometown and entered the oil and gas industry. In 2013, he partnered with a fellow Navy pilot to start his own business, entering the market during "one of the greatest oil booms in the history of the world."

"A rising tide lifts all boats," Mike notes, "and we came into the business at the beginning of one of the greatest oil booms in the history of the world. We were able to take advantage of that, harness that horsepower, and make some really good decisions along the way."

This timing proved fortunate, as Mike acknowledges that "revenue covers up a lot of mistakes." Despite making numerous errors, the favorable market conditions allowed their business to scale quickly, eventually leading to an eight-figure exit.

The Investor Mentality vs. Entrepreneur Mentality

A fascinating insight from Mike's experience is his self-identification as an investor rather than an entrepreneur:

"I've always thought of myself as an investor versus an entrepreneur. The difference to me is that an entrepreneur gets an idea, and then they are driven with this 'burn the boats,' win-at-all-costs type mentality, and that's what allows them to be successful. An investor, on the other hand, takes a 30,000-foot view of things. I just need to win more times than I lose. So I make multiple bets, look at where I can generate asymmetric returns, and then try to cut the losers and scale the winners as fast as I can."

This investor mindset allowed Mike to remain flexible and adaptable, cutting his losses when necessary rather than stubbornly persisting with failing ventures. However, after selling his company, this same mindset would lead him into trouble when applied to his personal wealth without proper boundaries.

The Critical Shift: From Wealth Accumulation to Wealth Preservation

Mike's true journey—the one he believes matters most—began after he sold his company. Despite achieving what society typically defines as success (combat experience, an eight-figure business exit), he "woke up and wasn't any different."

This realization coincided with a critical failure to shift his financial approach. As Mike explains:

"When we start off building a company, when you're in that startup mode, you're wearing all the hats. You're doing everything yourself. You're robbing Peter to pay Paul, waiting for invoices to get paid to pay your vendors... That mentality allows you to be successful as a startup entrepreneur."

However, as a business scales, different skills become necessary—delegation, building world-class teams, hiring smarter people. The same principle applies to wealth:

"You need to shift from being an accumulator of wealth to a defender of wealth, and I really failed to make that shift. Early on when I started my company, I was betting on myself, leveraging every dollar, pushing all my chips in the middle over and over. But then as I sold, my job should have been protecting my wealth, but instead, I was still swinging for the fences."

The Disaster of Risk Addiction

After selling his company, Mike thought he needed $100 million to be happy. He began aggressively deploying capital into high-risk investments:

"I was making big bets. I was investing in startups. I was investing in venture capital, stock options, commodity futures. Any deal I could get my hands on, I was just deploying capital as rapidly as it would come in my bank account."

Two years after selling his company, Mike bought a distressed e-commerce business, hoping to turn it around in 12 months and sell it for five times what he paid. The result was catastrophic:

"It was an absolute disaster. I started losing money the day I closed, and it only got worse from there... I had a liquidity crisis. All of my capital was deployed into illiquid assets, and I was losing $100,000 a month. I was watching my bank account dwindle toward zero."

This crisis led to a profound realization: Mike was addicted to risk. Through therapy, coaching, and extensive study, he discovered that his relationship with money and risk was fundamentally broken:

"What happens is that when we take a risk and it pays off, our brain releases serotonin, dopamine... we get this feeling of safety and satisfaction. But what happens over time is every time we take a bet and we win, we need to bet more and win more in order to reach that same level of satisfaction. It's called hedonic adaptation, and I was literally writing checks my butt can't cash trying to keep up with the hedonic adaptation. It's really the neuroscience of risk addiction."

The Three Levels of Financial Freedom: A Strategic Approach to Wealth

Through his journey, Mike developed a framework for financial freedom that provides a practical roadmap for entrepreneurs:

Level 1: Basic Financial Security

"The first level of Financial Freedom is 12 months of living expenses in a liquid, non-volatile asset that you can access in 24 hours."

This might be a money market account or another interest-bearing, easily accessible vehicle. Mike emphasizes that this foundation is non-negotiable:

"If you're a founder listening, or any high earner really, and you don't have 12 months of liquidity, do not pass go. That is the first thing you need to be building toward because that's the foundation, the safety net that allows your mind to quit constantly worrying about where your next dollar is coming from."

Level 2: Traditional Retirement

"Level two Financial Freedom is what most people look at as kind of retirement. We can use something like the 4% Rule and go, 'How much money do I need to live for 30 years if I retire at 65?'"

This traditional approach to retirement planning focuses on accumulating enough to sustain your lifestyle for a defined period.

Level 3: "Escape Velocity"

"The ultimate in Freedom is level three Financial Freedom, which I call 'escape velocity.' Escape velocity is where my assets generate enough income every single month to pay for my ideal life without ever drawing down on the principal—essentially a perpetual money machine."

Mike uses the "Rule of 33" to calculate escape velocity: 33 times your annual spending is enough to fund that lifestyle indefinitely. For example:

• $20,000 monthly spending ($240,000 annually) requires approximately $8 million
• $50,000 monthly spending ($600,000 annually) requires approximately $20 million

This perspective completely shifted Mike's goal posts: "I thought I needed $100 million to be happy. That's significantly less to reach escape velocity and then start scaling impact."

To achieve escape velocity faster, Mike identifies three strategies:

1. Make more money - Scale revenue and profit as quickly as possible
2. Spend less - Reduce spending to pull your timeline forward
3. Save on taxes - Though Mike notes this is the least efficient approach: "Every time you spend an hour working on a tax strategy, you're only saving between 30 and 40 cents on the dollar... versus spending that same time growing your business, you're keeping 70 cents of that dollar."

Designing a Purpose-Driven Life Around Your Values

The ultimate goal of building wealth, according to Mike, isn't accumulation for its own sake—it's creating freedom to live according to your values and purpose.

The Four Dimensions of Wealth

Mike's definition of wealth extends far beyond financial assets:

1. Health Wealth - "A healthy man wishes for many things, but a sick man only wishes for one. If we're not taking care of our body, it's really hard to go out and live that life that we want to live."
2. Relational Wealth - "Your network is your net worth... you are the average of the five people that you surround yourself with. Who am I letting in my sphere? Who am I taking influence from? Who am I spending my time with?"
3. Time Wealth - "The freedom to do what we want, with whom we want, when we want. That really is why most entrepreneurs set out to start a business—they want freedom over their time."
4. Mind Wealth - "All the money in the world doesn't matter if I'm staring at the ceiling at 3:00 AM worrying about where my next hit is coming from."

Aligning Your Resources with Your Values

A powerful insight Mike shares is the importance of working backward from values to financial decisions:

"Show me your bank account and show me your calendar, and I'll show you what you actually value. What I want to do is turn that on its head. I want to define what it is I value and now align my bank account and my calendar to serving those values."

This approach provides a framework for making financial decisions with partners and spouses:

"Let's forget about money for a second. Let's define what it is we actually value. Is it being home every night at six o'clock to have dinner with my kids? Okay, cool. Now we can start to work backwards."

By shifting the conversation from money to shared values and time, couples can make more aligned decisions:

"If we move from spending 20K a month to 15K a month, we actually pull our timeline forward by two years. That helps couples start to get on the same page because now we're talking in terms of values instead of terms of dollars."

Conclusion: The True Path to Wealth and Freedom

Mike Brown's journey from Navy fighter pilot to entrepreneur to wealth advisor illustrates that true financial success requires more than just making money—it requires a fundamental shift in mindset and approach. The critical transition from wealth accumulator to wealth defender is where many successful entrepreneurs stumble, often leading to unnecessary risk and financial setbacks.

By defining wealth more holistically as freedom across health, relationships, time, and mind, Mike presents a more meaningful target than arbitrary financial goals. His three-level framework for financial freedom provides practical milestones anyone can work toward:

1. Establish basic security with 12 months of liquid expenses
2. Build toward traditional retirement security
3. Reach "escape velocity" where assets generate enough income to support your ideal lifestyle indefinitely

The ultimate insight from Mike's journey is that money is simply a tool—a battery to store and deploy energy toward creating the life you truly want. By getting clear on your values first, then aligning your resources accordingly, you can build wealth that serves your purpose rather than becoming enslaved to endless accumulation.

As Mike explains, the traditional path of deferring life until retirement ("put off your life, work your ass off, wait till you're 65") can be avoided through strategic leverage. By building systems that generate wealth without demanding more of your time, you can create freedom now rather than decades in the future.