"A Wall Street insider on choosing temperament over intelligence — and how your best business instincts work against you"

Successful business owners often become poor investors for one simple reason—they bring the wrong mindset. David Phelps sits down with investor and author David Leiter to unpack timeless investing principles, avoid costly mistakes, manage emotions through market cycles, and build lasting wealth through productive assets instead of hype.

Episode Links:
David Leiter's website - https://www.theultimateinvestor.com/
Pre-order David Leiter's book - https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Making-Stupid-Investments-Wealth/dp/1394377657
Get David Phelps’ Book - https://exitoptional.com
Join David Phelps' Workshop - https://www.freedomfounders.com/freedom-number-method-workshop/

Timecodes:
00:00 – Why Smart People Make Bad Investments
03:16 – Business Success vs Investing Success
09:24 – Evaluating Private Investment Deals
15:12 – Hype, Ego & Investment Scams
19:48 – The Power of Long-Term Compounding
23:57 – Real Estate Lessons & Market Cycles
31:39 – Debt, Risk & Protecting Wealth
37:03 – Investing vs Speculating
40:22 – Today's Biggest Investment Mistakes
45:35 – Building Real Wealth That Lasts

Mike Capuzzi—entrepreneur, author, publisher, and host of the Unstoppable After 50 podcast—shares what happens when success stops being about building more and starts being about living better. This candid conversation explores purpose, family, health, relationships, and why the second half of life may be the most meaningful chapter yet.

Episode Links:

Get David Phelps’ Book - https://exitoptional.com

Connect with Mike Capuzzi:
Website - https://mikecapuzzi.com/
Unstoppable After 50 Podcast - https://unstoppableafter50.com/

Timecodes:
00:00 – Intro
02:41 – What Am I Building It For?
06:53 – Building a Business That Has Value
09:56 – The Real Definition of Wealth
16:50 – Health, Fitness & Longevity After 50
22:13 – Why Relationships Matter More Than Ever
29:07 – Marriage, Family & Life Transitions
33:04 – Timeless Advice for Younger Generations
34:12 – The Biggest Mistakes After 50
36:18 – Finding Purpose Beyond Success

In this conversation, David and Patrick get into what actually separates good decision-makers from poor ones — and why the moment you feel most certain is often the moment you're most exposed.

They unpack why elevated emotion gives a false signal of clarity, why indecision is itself a decision you're responsible for, and why you can't hold control over your life without owning the outcomes that come with it.

From there the conversation turns to the next generation: what feels fundamentally different for young people today, why struggle and friction are the very things we've engineered out of modern life, and what it costs to protect people from the hard things that actually build them.

And underneath all of it sits the question: when the ground keeps moving and certainty is gone, where does real stability actually come from?

It's a conversation about decisions, ownership, and the difference between standing still and standing your ground.

Patrick Precourt is an investor, author, and onetime rugby player and fighter. He bought his first property at 25 and went on to close more than 1,000 deals before helping build the real estate education company FortuneBuilders. Then he walked away from it to study human behavior — and now helps entrepreneurs get unstuck and reach goals they'd written off as impossible.

Get David Phelps’ Book: https://exitoptional.com

Connect with Patrick Precourt:

Website — patrickprecourt.com
Instagram — @patrickprecourt (instagram.com/patrickprecourt)
Facebook — facebook.com/patrickprecourt

01:06 — The decisions that actually shape a life — career, marriage, scaling, partnering, selling, leaving

02:45 — What separates good decision-makers from poor ones

04:12 — Why feeling certain makes you most vulnerable, not most powerful — the adrenaline trap

05:26 — Rehearsing decisions before the pressure hits

07:17 — Is it permanent or reversible? Why the cost of delay can outweigh a wrong call

09:45 — You can't separate the power from the responsibility

10:14 — Making the right decision and still getting the wrong outcome

13:02 — The next generation: what feels fundamentally different for young people today

15:57 — Does everyone need college? AI as leverage, not replacement

20:09 — The case for gap years, skin in the game, and why we delay kids "adulting up"

25:31 — The harder truth about parenting: protecting kids from the struggle that builds them

28:11 — The paradoxical comfort zone — trading fulfillment for a false sense of safety

29:47 — Why we bury our heads when the next mountain appears

30:47 — Ownership and agency: "if you don't own it, you can't control it" — even in a W-2 role

33:00 — Change the system, not the person — why mediocre output is a system operating perfectly

35:33 — The skill that'll matter most over the next 10–20 years: emotional intelligence