Personal and Confidential

I learned long ago to not throw out an anchor when it comes to living space. For me, it closes off too many opportunities to discover life.

Leaving the farm in Reydell, Arkansas was difficult. I’m a country boy to the core and this is my home. We harvest our food from seed and shell and prepare it according to our kosher preference. Bartering is worth more than money and it’s super cool to have 6 crappie filets to trade for a dozen fresh chicken eggs. A place where the wild reigns and the human race is not the top of the food chain. The comfort here is knowing you can eat and at the same time, understand the area feeds more hungry people in the world than any other, hence the skyscrapers in this part of the world are rice mills and dryers.

Topanga Canyon, California is just as hard to pull up my anchor. Escapism at it’s finest and the largest open space in a metropolis area in the entire world. The best pure breed musicians on the planet live here. Creeping through the hidden canyon streets is a music lovers dream. The cleanest music I’ve ever heard. Jam sessions of 20+ people playing early 60’s Les Paul guitars, worn mandos from the early 20’s and keys on pianos have grooves from fingers of the past tickling ivory. It’s unexplainable what really goes on here and the natural beauty is unmatched with ocean views from 3,000 feet above sea level you can visit from a vehicle and trails to walk and bike numbering in the thousands.

Other places like Hot Springs National Park, tough to leave. Some of the best and most diverse fishing left for other locals to enjoy. The amount of clean water here is amazing. Scores of natural hot springs have provided healing waters for over a century. There is a reason Hot Springs was designated the first national park in the US and now coined the name “spa city.”

The Ouachita Mountains vast wildlife and and clarity of water and air will stop you in your tracks. Living here for me, an outdoorsman, was a diamond in the rough. The rolling wooded hills provide as much beauty and seclusion as you want or need. This is an area of fiercely independent camps, like the Moonlight Lounge making reality shows about hillbilly life laughable and damn near offensive. We can build a fire in the rain and friends show up on horseback in stealth mode because that’s what they do. We can skin a buck, run a trot line – survival is they key here, survival with a pool table, fire pit, huge smokers, horseshoe pits, deer stands that are fit for kings and snake pits that will make The Temple of Doom seem like sesame street.

Northeast Arkansas (NEA) has such a vast amount of waterfowl the place turns in to a citified metropolis of camo wearing millionaires for about 2 months. Mix this up with with the best BBQ in the world and the finest delta blues, you have something special.

The area incorporates the boot heel of Missouri and Memphis, Tennessee is the place to go for culture, enough said, right on? Nope, Memphis has as much culture if not more than Paris, London, LA, NY…it’s just pure. Sometimes it’s just not easy to pull up the anchor.

So, what now? The next invitation is from Santa Monica, California. The most progressive beach city on Earth. Why? Because I want to be a good example and practice what I teach.

I help people make financial decisions based on what is most important to them. For me, this includes spirituality, family, friends, work and free time. This next adventure will allow me to live, work and play all in one tiny space…one tiny space encompassing 100,000 people calling Santa Monica home and hosting up to a half-million people a day to enjoy the perfect weather, miles of beaches, great restaurants, shopping like none other, farmers markets, parks, family fun, fishing, and much, much more – I can go on forever. In a nut-shell, the largest playground in the entire world with progressive business practices that incorporate social awareness, environmentally mindful and some of the most brilliant minds of the past many decades.

So, as I pull up my anchor today from one of the best spaces I’ve ever been, I pay tribute to all the places I’ve called home. Thank You Topanga, you’re the real deal and I Love You Dearly. So, as I get the keys to our new home near Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, Sage Pilar says to me, “Papa, You are The God of our Canyon.” Thanks SP.