When Money Became The Goal: The Legacy Loop Series w/ Rhiannon Nilson

Episode 049: What happens when money quietly shifts from being a tool to becoming the goal?

In this episode, Rhiannon and I look back at a season when our lives became focused on building—buying our first fourplex, adding rental properties around Gonzaga, starting businesses, working multiple jobs, and trying to create financial security for our future family. What started as an exciting challenge eventually taught me an important lesson: if you don't know what money is for, it's hard to know when you have enough.

We share the fun, the resistance, the risks, and a few of our favorite memories from those years—including Rhiannon's reaction when I wanted to use our house savings to buy a fourplex, the scary basement she refused to enter, managing dozens of college renters, and finally buying the home where we would begin raising our family.

I don't regret those years of working, learning, and building. But looking back, I wish I had understood sooner that money was never supposed to be the destination. It was a tool to help us build the life that mattered to us.

And that sets up the question we'll wrestle with next: What is money for once you have kids?