He Tips Strangers $10,000 After 9-Figure Exit

Dean Sweetman spent 30 years as a pastor before founding Tithe.ly at 51 — a giving platform for churches that Accel-KKR acquired in a deal in the hundreds of millions. The same week the wire hit, he moved $1.5 million into a donor-advised fund he can never take back. Today he's worth $30–50M, gives away 10–15% of it every year, and still budgets like he did when he ended each week with $150 to spare.

Like all Moneywise episodes, Dean breaks down his net worth, income, portfolio, and monthly expenses and then I, your humble host, pick it all apart.

We also went deep on: the anatomy of his exit — upfront cash, rolled equity, earn-outs — and where every dollar sits now: 95% liquid, 50% indexed, 5% of net worth in debt. Plus the $10,000 tips he leaves strangers in airports, why he calls himself a "biblical capitalist," the dollar amount where he stopped thinking about money, and what he plans to do with all of it when he's gone.

Below you'll find my summary of the episode along with the entire transcript.

And by the way...this podcast, the concept of it came from Hampton. Hampton is a private, highly vetted community for high net worth founders started by Sam Parr. Members range from companies doing 3-5 million in revenue all the way up to hundreds of millions. The reason we started this podcast is because there are amazing conversations about money and growing companies that typically happen only behind closed doors, and we thought it would be awesome to share all of this information. If you're a CEO, founder, or business owner, check this out. New Moneywise episodes come out weekly.

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Now, below are the notes and the full transcript.

The Numbers

• Company: Tithe.ly — a payment platform serving 40,000+ churches
• Founded: 2015 (at age 51, after 30 years in pastoral ministry)
• Acquisition: Accel-KKR acquired Tithe.ly in a deal in the ~$500M zone
• Ownership at exit: ~40% split between 2–3 partners
• Deal structure: Upfront cash + rolled equity + earn-out
• Net worth: $30–50M range
• Portfolio: 95% liquid — 50% index funds, ~20% bonds, ~25% tech/AI stocks
• Real estate: Under 5% of net worth (primary home in Park City, vacation home in California)
• Debt: ~5% of net worth — buys cars outright, minimal mortgages
• Giving: 10–15% annually; $1.5M moved into a donor-advised fund the same week the exit wire hit
• Angel investments: 6 active, one expected to approach Tithe.ly-level returns
• Largest tip to a stranger: $10,000
• Point where he stopped thinking about money: ~$10M

From Pastor to Payment Processor

Dean grew up in Australia, spent 10 years doing mission work across Asia and Africa, then moved to Atlanta in 1996 to plant a church. The church took off, but Dean always had a fascination with business. The two worlds collided in 2013 when he walked into a Starbucks, paid with his phone for the first time, and thought: church giving should be that easy.

"Back in 2013, I walked into a Starbucks. The iPhone had come out, the App Store was just taking shape, and the Starbucks app, you know, I put it on my phone, I put my credit card in the app, which back then was pretty bold. And then I went to this local Starbucks and held up the barcode, and out came the ticket... And so the ticket comes up and I'm like, 'Man, church giving should be that easy.'"

He officially launched Tithe.ly in 2015 at age 51. What started as a payments tool grew into an all-in-one church management platform — giving, database management, apps, websites, child check-in, volunteer management, event management, and communications — all bundled into one software solution.

"What I didn't realize is that my love for God and the preaching of the gospel and the growing of the kingdom and business would collide in this way."

The Accel-KKR Acquisition

As Tithe.ly grew into tens of thousands of customers, Dean and his partner Frank realized their vision for an all-in-one solution would require acquisitions — and acquisitions required capital. Accel-KKR entered the picture as a partner who could provide that capital while letting the founders keep running the show.

"When you do this long enough, you do get contacted a lot by private equity and investors... They hear about the business, and they hear it growing, and they wanna jump on the train."

The deal landed in the ~$500 million zone. Dean's ownership stake across 2–3 partners was around 40%, though he rolled a significant portion of his equity into the new entity. The deal had three components: upfront cash, rolled stock, and an earn-out period.

"You want that stock, right? Because you're gonna get up every day, and you wanna be stakeholders... A good PE firm is gonna be thinking they wanna 4X their money in five to seven years."

Dean offered advice for younger founders: take money off the table along the way. "To be able to take some off the table and to reward maybe two, three, five years of hard work for you and your senior team, I think is a good thing for the business."

Where Every Dollar Sits

Dean's net worth sits between $30 and $50 million. When asked to break it down, the picture is strikingly simple for someone with that kind of wealth:

• 95% liquid — stocks and bonds managed by a private wealth manager
• 50% indexed — "for safe"
• ~20% bonds — rotating in and out
• ~25% in tech — bullish on AI and the Mag Seven
• Under 5% in real estate — just his two homes (Park City primary, California vacation home)
• 6 angel investments — one he says could "come close" to Tithe.ly-level returns

"There really is a point, and call it 10, 20, 30, depending on your lifestyle. Once you get into that kind of number, it almost doesn't matter after that. And like I don't want a big boat. I don't want any of that. But I know that my investments are gonna spit off 10% a year without thinking."

His spending philosophy is equally simple: almost no debt (about 5% of net worth), no car leases, everything bought outright. His wife — a lawyer — manages the day-to-day books, while Dean reviews end-of-month statements: "Money in, money out, surplus, good month."

The $1.5 Million DAF and Giving Away 10–15% Every Year

The most striking moment in the conversation came when Daniel asked Dean what he did the week the exit money hit his account. The answer: he set up a donor-advised fund — and wired $1.5 million into it before he touched a cent of the rest.

"We didn't have the DAF at the time, and the first thing we did was create the DAF. That week. We'd had accounts set up for money to be deposited into, and then as we were doing that, we had the DAF set up too."

"We took 10%, which is a lot of money, more money than I'd maybe ever made in my life, and we gave it to charity."

Dean gives 10–15% of his income annually, split between the DAF (supporting missionaries, church planting, and anti-trafficking organizations in Uganda and Cambodia) and personal generosity — including tips to strangers that would change most people's lives.

"If the annual's not over fifteen percent, we haven't done it right. That's kinda in that zone where we're at."

The $10,000 Tips

Dean travels frequently and has a habit of striking up conversations with the people serving him — airport workers, waitresses, single mothers behind the counter. Within five minutes, he says, he knows half their life story. And when the moment calls for it, he leaves a tip that changes everything.

"What's the largest tip you've left?"

"10."

"$10,000?"

"I try to leave before they react... On the occasions where they're in shock — they're instantly in tears. It's like literally, 'Oh, I can pay rent this month.' Life and death things that are pressing in their world. And so when you have the ability to do that stuff, man, how can you not?"

It's not tax-deductible. It's not for show. Dean frames it as part of a generous lifestyle that started long before the exit: "I've got all the stuff I need. I would feel tremendously guilty if the stuff I collect is more than what I give away."

Biblical Capitalism

Dean calls himself a "biblical capitalist" — a label he's thought about carefully. His argument is rooted in scripture: if the New Testament commands followers to help those in need, that command presupposes having more than you need. And the only system that reliably produces surplus, in his view, is free-market capitalism.

"If I'm commanded as a Christ follower to help those in need, by definition, that must mean I have more than I need, and that is a purely capitalistic thought."

He points to the parable of the Good Samaritan as the foundational illustration: "If the Samaritan didn't have extra, how could he have helped the person? He couldn't."

On faith and money, Dean draws a clear line: "It's not that money is the root of all evil. It's the love of money that is the root of all evil. So if money becomes like a god, which I actually think one of the reasons God gets us to give money away is so that we keep money in perspective, so it doesn't own you."

Legacy and Stewardship

Dean hasn't landed on a single legacy project yet — no hospital wing, no school with his name on it. But he knows the direction: missions, church work, and education for women in developing countries. And if it does become something big, he wants it to be anonymous.

"I play golf with a guy, and his dad had sold a big business for six billion... He wanted to build a school and was going to spend $250 million building it. One condition: 'I don't want my name anywhere.' I kinda dig that."

For now, he's still actively running Tithe.ly — in the office by 8am, staying until 6pm — despite having more than enough to walk away. He's a few years from the next phase of the business, and he's still getting a paycheck and living on a budget.

"Everything I own is not my own, and that's the ultimate... You're just trying to be a good steward of what God's given you. Money comes to you. You're not chasing it anymore."

Other Key Quotes

"I walked into a Starbucks... held up the barcode, and out came the ticket. And I'm like, 'Man, church giving should be that easy.' — Dean Sweetman"

"There's a point where you think about money, and then you stop thinking about money. What was that point for you? Like 10. — Dean Sweetman"

"We took 10%, which is a lot of money, more money than I'd maybe ever made in my life, and we gave it to charity. — Dean Sweetman"

"I would feel tremendously guilty if the stuff I collect is more than what I give away. — Dean Sweetman"

"It's not that money is the root of all evil. It's the love of money that is the root of all evil. — Dean Sweetman"

"If the Samaritan didn't have extra, how could he have helped the person? He couldn't. — Dean Sweetman"

"Money is seed, and seeds are good for one thing: multiplying and creating more seeds. — Dean Sweetman"

"Everything I own is not my own, and that's the ultimate. — Dean Sweetman"

Links You Might Like

• Join Hampton Community: https://joinhampton.com
• Tithe.ly — Dean's church giving platform
• Follow Daniel Berk on X
• MoneyWise Podcast: Full episode archive

Full Transcript

Daniel Berk: Some people would see 100 million and think, "Wow, that guy did something right." Yeah, but what, what if you're giving half of it away? And so when Excel KKR acquired Tithely, are you at liberty to disclose the amount that that acquisition was for?

Dean Sweetman: Yeah, it's not in the, in the public sphere, but it's in the hundreds of millions zone.

Daniel Berk: How can you not bless that person, you know, if you have the means? And so I don't know if you've seen, there's this cool thing, I think it's Instagram still, but it's the tips for Jesus, where they literally leaving like $5,000 tips.

Dean Sweetman: So now I get to the point where everything I own is not my own.

Daniel Berk: That is Dean Sweetman. He spent 30 years as a pastor. Then in his 50s, he built a software company for churches and sold it in a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars. In this episode, he tells me his actual net worth. He walks me through exactly where every dollar sits, and he tells me about the one thing he does the same week every wire hits, before he even touches a cent of it, something that most people in his position would actually call insane. There's also something he does to strangers in airports. We'll get to that. I get to talk to founders just like Dean inside of Hampton, a private network for high-growth founders who are doing twenty-five million a year on average. If that's you, you need to check out joinhampton.com. Now let's get into the show. I'm Daniel Burke. Here's Dean Sweetman on Money Wise. Dean, thanks so much for joining us today on Money Wise.

Dean Sweetman: Glad to be here.

Daniel Berk: I'm excited to learn a bit about who you are and to really elaborate on some of what you've done. I think before we get into anything, what you built, I think is more of a, a payment processor that happened to serve churches, right?

Dean Sweetman: Right.

Daniel Berk: Is that how you would describe it to someone?

Dean Sweetman: Yep. Yeah, we, um, we started out in 2015 with the express goal of making giving easier for ch- for the local church. And so that was the, the mission, still is today, although we do some other things these days that we'll probably chat about. But essentially, how can we facilitate easy, fast, inexpensive giving solutions for the local church? And, uh, we got going strong in, uh, 2015.

Daniel Berk: And when you launched in 2015, did you have any inkling that it would one day become what it has now, 11 years later?

Dean Sweetman: Yeah, not really. I mean, I had pretty big plans. And, you know, I came from the side of the business side of church, understanding how churches function, how income and revenue and expenses work inside of a church culture. Not dissimilar to a business, but with some nuance. And then I just became a quick study around payments and moving money, and I had this experience that I, I tell the story. Back in 2013, I walked into a Starbucks. The iPhone had come out, the App Store was just taking shape, and the Starbucks app, you know, I put it on my phone, I put my credit card in the app, which back then is, was pretty bold. And then I went to this local Starbucks and held up the barcode, and out came the ticket, and the girl really didn't know what, you know, we both didn't know if it was gonna work. And so the ticket comes up and I'm like, "Man, church giving should be that easy." And so that was, that was kind of the, the, the, the early seeds of the idea, and then we officially got going in 2015.

Daniel Berk: And you were a pastor for 30 years before launching Tithely, correct?

Dean Sweetman: Correct. Yeah, I did, uh, about 10 years based in Australia, grew up in Australia, did missions into Asia and Africa for about 10 years, supported myself through real estate development and other, other ways. And then in '96, family, we moved to Atlanta, Georgia to plant a church, brand new church, kind of a modern evangelical, pretty standard church, you know, that you might see, um, these days. But it took off, did very well. And then, but I was always fascinated by business. I always loved business. I always kinda thought one day I'd be back.

Dean Sweetman: What I didn't realize is that my love for God and the preaching of the gospel and the growing of the kingdom and business would collide in this way in which, uh, I've been working in the last, you know, 10 or 11 years, which is essentially creating increase in revenue streams for the local church so they can fulfill the mission.

Daniel Berk: When you think of yourself, do you think of yourself more as a business person or more of a pastor that became a business person?

Dean Sweetman: Yeah, I think, you know, obviously what I do day in, day out is business, but I like to think that my values as a Christian drive the decisions that I make to run the business. And so definitely I, you know, I'm a business person first, P&Ls and balance sheets and, you know, budgets and all the things that a business has to run the business well. Keeping an eye on, you know, OpEx and CapEx and head count and, you know, all the things that we do. Um, and so that has to be done with excellence, but it doesn't mean you don't have a soul and that you don't care for people, and that you don't want the best for people, and that you don't treat people how they should be treated. And so I like to kinda overlay my values that I get from Christianity to work in and around, you know, daily in, uh, in the running of the business.

Daniel Berk: That's great. And with this acquisition, uh, it's Excel KKR that acquired Tithely. Yeah. Tell me what happened, and were you chasing that acquisition, or did they approach you originally?

Dean Sweetman: Uh, we'd had some investment, some outside investment over the years. Just, you know, we, I had a personal conviction that I, I wanted the business to grow faster, I think. Payments is generally a commoditized business eventually, and you can put payments on top of software, which is what we do. Eventually, that gets commoditized down to, you know, the cost of running a payment. And so we had to add value, and we did that with, you know, SaaS software on top of the payments. But yeah, it was just a matter of, you know, the business, I wanted to grow faster, and so that required capital. So we took some outside capital, uh, which is... Both good for the business and the founders. You know, we, we took money off the table along the way through, which I would always advise young founders as long as their business is in the right place to where they're, you know, have some EBITDA, they're, they're growing obviously. You know, to be able to take some off the table and to reward, uh, maybe two, three, five years of hard work for you and your senior team, I think is a good thing for the business. And so we continued to do that. And then about three years ago, it became pretty apparent that the particular vision of which, you know, and Frank, my partner, and I that we had of where we wanted the business to go was we believed the all-in-one solution was something that we think our customers want. When I say all-in-one, there's not just the payments underlying. There's database management, there's media, there's apps, there's websites, there's kinda all the things that you use, child check-in, volunteer management, event management, facilities management. Like, all these, you know, things, right? Text comm- communications, email communication. The thought of putting all that bundled into one software solution was where we thought everything was going. And so we, we knew we'd have to acquire some businesses. We knew we were gonna keep building software. We spend millions on R&D every year, and it just became apparent to be able to do what we really felt like we were supposed to do was gonna need some outside capital. And our friends at Accel-KKR kinda came along. You know, when you, when you do this long enough, you do get contacted a lot by private equity and investors to... And you know, they hear about the business, and they hear it growing, and they wanna jump on the train, right? Because that, those trains leave the station, and they make a lot of money for the early investors.

Dean Sweetman: And so, you know, we were kinda at that point. You know, three years ago, we were in the tens of thousands of customers. We had a wonderful business. But since joining forces with, uh, Accel-KKR, we've acc-- So access to capital, obviously massive, and we've been able to make some very strategic acquisitions that we could have made, but it just would've been more difficult 'cause apart from working the deal, you've gotta go and find the money at the right terms that you know is gonna be good for your business. And so having a partner that we trusted to be able to kinda play that role for us has allowed us to make some really great acquisitions in the last couple of years and, uh, you know, we're gonna continue to do so.

Daniel Berk: And what was the acquisition amount?

Dean Sweetman: Uh, these were businesses, you know, from 20, 30, 40, 50, $80 million range, so they're not, they're not huge huge, but they're not small. You know, the- these are typically five, $10 million revenue businesses with 15 to 25% growth, profitable. You know, we have this thing in private equity called the rule of 40. It's the percent- percentage of growth. Essentially, you know, once you get a business in that rule of 40 zone, we start looking at these companies, rule of 50, rule of 60. And so there's the business kind of decision, but there's also the group of people. You know, our playbook has been, we don't just wanna buy the business and say goodbye to the staff. We want them to come along for the next part of the journey, which is a- all of us together doing it bigger, better, stronger, all the things. And so we love keeping the founders. We want the founders to stay involved. And so we've said no to a few deals where the founders just wanna leave, and that's got-- that's not our playbook. We, we wanna come alongside founders. We wanna... You know, putting software together is difficult, and making it work and making it seamless and making sure the user doesn't get confused when they're in one different part of the software to the other, so that takes work. And then there's, you know... There are savings along the way when, when you do mergers and acquisitions, usually in finance first, and then, and then oth- other areas become a- a- apparent, and, you know. But we're not in the business of buying a company and firing everyone. We actually want everyone, we want everyone to stay.

Daniel Berk: And so when Accel-KKR acquired Tithely, are you at liberty to disclose the amount that that acquisition was for?

Dean Sweetman: Yeah, it's not in, in the public sphere, but it's in the... I mean, it's in the hundreds of millions zone. It's like-

Daniel Berk: Okay

Dean Sweetman: ... it's, it was a big transaction.

Daniel Berk: More than $500 million?

Dean Sweetman: In that zone.

Daniel Berk: Okay.

Dean Sweetman: Yeah.

Daniel Berk: And what was your ownership stake in Tithely at the acquisition?

Dean Sweetman: Still pretty, pretty decent percentage.

Daniel Berk: More than 40%?

Dean Sweetman: Yeah, between, um, two, three partners, you know, we had about that. You know, we just, we'd, we'd sold little chunks of the business along the way, but we'd-

Daniel Berk: Sure

Dean Sweetman: ... you know, ke- and we got... When you do a deal like this, you, you kinda, there's an, uh, li- you know, liquidity event, as it's known. So you, there's a portion of what you get up front, then you're rolling stock over into the new entity.

Daniel Berk: And was there an earn-out period, or was it all just-

Dean Sweetman: There was earn-out, yep. So there's those three components, right? And so, so you hit these earn-outs. But really, you, you want that stock, right? Because you're gonna get up every day, and you wanna be stakeholders, you wanna be shareholders at, at, certainly at the C-suite. And basically that's, you know, it's a motivator to take what is a great business and maybe we can grow this four X, which is a, you know, a good PE firm is gonna be thinking they wanna four X their money in five to seven years.

Dean Sweetman: And, you know, you just get on the pathway to being more efficient, obviously growing, you know, driving different parts of the business that might be doing well in this season and then, you know, other parts of the business are doing well in another season. And it's just making sure you can keep, uh, all the plates spinning as, as, as hard as you can and keep g- driving forward. But you definitely... You know, it's about making a profit and, and doing well. And, you know, it's interesting, our customer is the church, essentially, and we've always prided ourselves in offering what we feel like is the best solution for the lowest price. We give away giving the platform for free. It's just a transaction fee. We don't charge a, a monthly SaaS fee on top of that. We-- And that's 40,000 of our churches, our customers. That's-- We make money only if they process for, you know, volume. We do sell other SaaS products, of course, that, that is only about 80% of the revenue. But you're essentially You know, you, you're taking these businesses, and you wanna acquire new businesses that are adjacent, that you can integrate, that you can go and kinda merge together and, you know, do all the, have all the benefits that that gives. But you're in business, and so you're... It's unique. We're serving the church, but we also are a company that, you know, makes a profit.

Daniel Berk: Sure. A- so safe to say 500 million is a good range for the, the sale, and-

Dean Sweetman: Yeah ...

Daniel Berk: your ownership stake, I would... I'm curious what personally hit your bank account at the deal closing.

Dean Sweetman: Yeah, a lot. You know, it was-

Daniel Berk: We're talking 100 million?

Dean Sweetman: No, no. That's 'cause I rolled a lot over, right? But we're very comfortable. We own homes in Park City and Beverly Hills. We kinda go back and forwards once it gets to grandchildren. We've got more grandkids in Nashville. But-

Daniel Berk: It's closer to the 50 million mark or, or I guess where's that range?

Dean Sweetman: Yeah. A- but here's the thing for us. W- me, personally, I'm not measuring my success, right, on, on amounts. I'm abs-

Daniel Berk: But some people would see 100 million and think, "Wow, that guy did something right."

Dean Sweetman: Yeah, but what, what if you're giving half of it away?

Daniel Berk: Exactly. So I am curious, how much of that are you giving away? I know, you know, practice what you preach is, you know-

Dean Sweetman: Exactly.

Daniel Berk: ... the, the very perfect moment-

Dean Sweetman: Yes

Daniel Berk: ... for someone who is a, a pastor and built a giving app. So I'm curious-

Dean Sweetman: Of course

Daniel Berk: ... what hit your bank account. If you can give me a range, that would be helpful, and then, uh, you know, I would love to know personally how much of that you have or plan to give away.

Dean Sweetman: So we... It's, like, many millions of dollars, but we have a separate donor-advised fund. So i- if, if there's a liquidation event in a given year, a DAF a- allows you to... You're allowed to put money in that DAF from stock you've sold, and if there's a capital gain from that stock, you get that tax-free. You don't have to pay tax on that gain. It goes into the DAF, and then you make donations to charities from there. So every time we've had an event, 10% of what, you know, we get goes into the DAF.

Daniel Berk: Okay. Over the, over the-

Dean Sweetman: And that DAF is your personal DAF with your wife-

Daniel Berk: Yeah ... or, or-

Dean Sweetman: Yeah.

Daniel Berk: Okay. So, okay, cool.

Dean Sweetman: But we don't benefit at all from that. That, that all goes to... Like, we support a lot of missions. You know, I just, just yesterday I got a note from a friend. They're doing, um, incredible mission work in Uganda, which is a place where I used to go as a missionary. And so, and now they're setting up stuff in Cambodia. They're doing stuff around sex trafficking. So that's the kinda thing that we love to give to. And then church planting, buil- church buildings, you know, all of that kinda stuff. So we... So as soon as there's an event, we take that 10%, and then boom, that goes in the DAF, and it's distributed to registered charities only. You gotta be, have a tax ID, and you can't just kinda funnel it where you want.

Dean Sweetman: And then on top of that, what we c- committed to do is we have some other things that... We love supporting veterans. There's a big charity here in town that basically looks after vets that have lost limbs, and it takes them, it puts them in these chairs, and they actually ski down the mountain at Park City.

Daniel Berk: Oh, cool.

Dean Sweetman: And I'm skiing one day, and I'm seeing the joy on this guy's face, and it was just one of the most powerful things. And I came home, I said, "Oh, yeah, honey, we've gotta, you know, we've gotta help. Do something here." And we're going to a charity event next week. So there's that. And then, man, there's just opportunities to be personally generous. You know, you get... I'm a bit of a sucker for, you know, single mothers, man, that struggle and work hard and raising couple kids. And I'm on planes a lot. You're probably on planes a lot. You're going through the airport. You're sitting there. You're having a s- you know, a burger or something, and typically there's gonna be a single mother who's serving you a burger and a beer. And, you know, and I'm, and, you know, I, I talk to everyone, so I start yakking and talking, and then before five minutes, I kinda got half her life story. Well, how can you not bless that person-

Daniel Berk: Yeah

Dean Sweetman: ... you know, if you have the means? And so I don't know if you've seen, there's this cool thing. I think it's Instagram still. But it's the tips for Jesus, where they literally... Right? Leaving, like, $5,000 tips. That, that is extremely fun.

Daniel Berk: And so what's the largest tip you've left?

Dean Sweetman: 10.

Daniel Berk: Wow. 10. And I, I imagine, do you watch their reaction, or do you leave before they react?

Dean Sweetman: I try to leave before they react.

Daniel Berk: Yeah. 'Cause that's a life-

Dean Sweetman: Right?

Daniel Berk: ... changing amount of money for so many people.

Dean Sweetman: Yeah. And so, and, and on the occasions where whatever, you know, they, they're in shock. Like, they're instantly in-

Daniel Berk: Oh, uh, tears I'm assuming. I mean, you, you... how do you even react to that?

Dean Sweetman: It's, it's unbelievable, and it's like literally, "Oh, I can pay rent this month," or, "I can..." Like, life and death things, right, that are, like, pressing in their world. And so when you have the ability to do that stuff, man, how can you not? And so, yeah. That, and that's not, that's not tax-deductible. That's not, that's not anything other than... You know, in my mind it's just continuing to commit to the generous lifestyle. And, you know, I've got all the stuff I need. And I like nice things. People that have money have nice things. I like to spend money on things that, you know, I like and, and... or maybe are an investment, or maybe it's a watch, or maybe it's a vacation, or maybe whatever. But I would feel tremendously guilty if the things I com- accumulated were kind of, like, you know, beyond the house and the basics that I, that I want. But, but the stuff that we collect, I'd be disappointed if that stuff that I collect is more than what I give away.

Daniel Berk: Yeah. And I, I wanna, I wanna dig more into the generosity aspect. I think-

Dean Sweetman: Yeah

Daniel Berk: ... that's unique and, and special. I'd love to understand from that acquisition first, where does that leave your overall net worth?

Dean Sweetman: I mean, our net worth is, you know, even though I'm still working, and, you know, we're g- we're a couple years away from kinda the next kinda phase of what we're gonna do with the business. So I get up every day. I'm at the office by 8:00. I usually stay here till 6:00. And n- I could not. I could just-

Daniel Berk: Pack it all up and-

Dean Sweetman: Sure

Daniel Berk: ... go on the... have happily ever after. Especially when you have a market like 2026, right? You're like, I'm, I'm watching this going, "This is crazy."

Dean Sweetman: I, I know, I know, and like just the whole year. I mean, I think this, this quarter most of the indexes are up 15, 20%. That, that's, that's not gonna last. Like, I'm not here to give financial advice to, to anyone, but anyone who's been around a little bit, and I'm 62 now, and I've lived through a few, 1987, 2002, I've lived through recession.

Dean Sweetman: There is, uh, this frothiness that starts to come into the market that we may or may not be at, depending on how you believe AI and what, what all that's gonna do moving forward. But it feels like to me we're peaking a little bit like with the stock market. So I could not... But even, doesn't matter what the stock market does, I'm, I'm not all in stocks, you know, I'm doing-

Daniel Berk: So if you had to give a number of your net worth-

Dean Sweetman: Uh-huh

Daniel Berk: ... you know, you had to give a number or a range, what would that be?

Dean Sweetman: Out of the roll-up, oh my gosh, I could, I could almost go to any country in the world and live happily ever after.

Daniel Berk: So we're talking $75 million, $100 million, $150 million?

Dean Sweetman: It's more than you can like think... You, you don't... You know, there's a point where you think about money, and then you stop thinking about money.

Daniel Berk: Sure. And-

Dean Sweetman: What was that point for you? Like 10. Okay. But then there's-

Daniel Berk: So it's more than 10.

Dean Sweetman: Oh yeah, but then there's another point where you really don't... Like, now you have to intentionally spend the money wisely.

Daniel Berk: Sure.

Dean Sweetman: 'Cause, 'cause now, you know, once you get past 20 and 30, you start... Money's just going, going everywhere.

Daniel Berk: Yeah.

Dean Sweetman: And oh, this is $500 a month, and that's $300 a month, and then we just bought this thing, and oh, we need a new car, and like the money just, you can... So, and, and I know plenty of much richer people than I am, billionaires, and they're, they live on budgets.

Daniel Berk: Yeah.

Dean Sweetman: And it's not like, they might have bigger things. You know, I got a buddy, he's got his Gulfstream 650, and it's 20 grand an hour to fly that thing. And, but it's not like, "Oh, I'm just gonna go jump on the plane when I feel like it and fly six hours and, and blow 150 grand." Like, he's like, "Well, I'm in a business thing here. I'm gonna go visit two companies, and I might take two hours to go to the Bahamas on the way home with my family," right? But it's never just, "I'm just gonna just spend money like crazy." I'm sure there are people that are like that, but everything I've read, even billionaires, it's not like, they wanna know where the money's going.

Daniel Berk: Oh, of course.

Dean Sweetman: There really is a point, and call it 10, 20, 30, depending on your lifestyle. Once you get into that kind of number, it almost doesn't matter after that. And like I don't want a big boat. I don't want a, I don't want any of that. But I know that my investments are gonna spit off 10% a year without thinking. So, like that's, that's just gonna keep going forever.

Daniel Berk: Yeah, yeah. So are you, are you willing to give a, a, a number on, on that? Uh, just give me a range. It can be-

Dean Sweetman: Yeah, I-

Daniel Berk: ... a range ...

Dean Sweetman: I think we're, you know, I think we're the under 50, above 30 range.

Daniel Berk: Okay, under 50, above 30. So with that-

Dean Sweetman: Could be ...

Daniel Berk: you're, you're incredibly generous-

Dean Sweetman: Yeah ...

Daniel Berk: which is awesome. I wanna dig into that a little bit more.

Dean Sweetman: Yeah.

Daniel Berk: But tell me what a, a monthly-

Dean Sweetman: Yeah ...

Daniel Berk: personal spending habit looks like. I mean, where... Really, I'm curious where that 30 to 50 million is in-

Dean Sweetman: Yeah ...

Daniel Berk: liquid versus illiquid assets. You mentioned real estate. Would love to understand that.

Dean Sweetman: Yeah.

Daniel Berk: But also just your, your, your personal spending. I mean, where is the money going month to month?

Dean Sweetman: Yeah, so we have a, you know, a private wealth manager that basically manages the money, and then we have like a Wells account, right? That we live out of, that my pay goes into, and, or we might need to do some landscaping around the house, and it's 40 grand or whatever. Like, we're gonna pull that out of, you know, the private and put it in just a Wells account that we can use daily. But the invested, it's mostly all liquid. Like this, I've done some opportunity zones. I've done some commercial real estate, less liquid, more long-term set and forget. I still invest in small companies. I've got probably six angel investments out there.

Daniel Berk: Okay. Doing well?

Dean Sweetman: Uh, one of them's gonna do really well. Yeah, I'd say. I can't say a lot right now, but yeah, it's gonna be a killer.

Dean Sweetman: I don't think it's gonna be all of Tidely. It might come close, though. Like, it's pretty, pretty cool. Anyway, and so, so that, that world just churns. Then you have your budget, right? And I still get a paycheck. Then you have your budget. You live within that budget. And, you know, my wife, who's a lawyer, does most of the books and kind of manages day-to-day. Sh- And she does it for her brother, too. She's just that way. She's kind of genius. So I don't really look at day-to-day bills, but I do look at the statements end of the month. I go money in, money out, surplus, good month, you know?

Daniel Berk: Yeah.

Dean Sweetman: And, and it's like, and if we have a big purchase here or there, you know, we, we do it. And we don't think about it. We don't feel guilty about it. But we're living within a means that's... So that, and so then that's kind of the investment side. Real estate, the only two main real estate investments I have now are my homes. So I've got my home-

Daniel Berk: And you have a primary in Park City.

Dean Sweetman: A primary in Park City and a vacation home in California.

Daniel Berk: In California. So you're primarily in Park City, but then vacationing in California?

Dean Sweetman: Yeah, correct.

Daniel Berk: And those commercial real estate investments, those are-

Dean Sweetman: They're more part of the trust. They're in trusts that are part of, you know, the private wealth side of things. So I don't know where they're at.

Daniel Berk: How much is in real estate total?

Dean Sweetman: Oh, of the percentage, under 5% probably.

Daniel Berk: Under 5%? Okay.

Dean Sweetman: Yeah.

Daniel Berk: And then where's the other 95%?

Dean Sweetman: All, all liquid stock, bonds.

Daniel Berk: Liquid.

Dean Sweetman: Yeah.

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Dean Sweetman: Yep. Um-

Daniel Berk: And primarily in indexes, or are we talking...?

Dean Sweetman: Eh, about fifty percent. Fifty percent are indexed to-- for safe. Probably twenty percent bonds floating around in there at any given moment. You know, you're buying them and selling them. And then I'm pretty bullish on tech, which is my-- be my most risky. You know, that's-- At my age, I'm probably risking the most on continuing to ve- invest in tech and, of course, AI and all the things. You know, Mag Seven, I'd-

Daniel Berk: So like twenty, twenty-five percent then in tech is the-

Dean Sweetman: Yep, yep

Daniel Berk: ... is the remainder?

Dean Sweetman: Okay. Pretty normal. And-

Daniel Berk: Cool. With the personal spending, what is that, you know, to your mortgage, and do you have a house cleaner-

Dean Sweetman: Yeah

Daniel Berk: ... um, health and wellness?

Dean Sweetman: Yeah.

Daniel Berk: I mean, what does that look like month to month?

Dean Sweetman: Yeah. We went down to almost no mortgages. So we-- Like, you get offered a lot of money for credit, and I just have this thing about... You know, I, I know the economics.

Dean Sweetman: Hey, I'm gonna borrow money at six percent, but I'm gonna go make ten, so the arbitrage is the four, and I'm ahead. But sometimes you just wanna go to bed and not have to think about what the market's doing to get that four percent.

Daniel Berk: Sure.

Dean Sweetman: And so we've chosen to minimize debt as much as possible. We don't do car leases. We don't do, we don't do any of that.

Daniel Berk: You just buy it all outright?

Dean Sweetman: Buy it all outright. And, you know, we bought a c- a car for my wife when it was five years old, and we'd bought it, and it was time to get a new one. We bought the same car. The difference was fifty grand. Five years, ten grand a year. That's less than a lease. And I just kinda gave back the keys and got the new one, and it cost me less. And so, like, there's-- So we just find that's an easier way for us to live. Plus, I don't wanna be paying fifty bills, you know, even though I can auto-pay. Like, we just, we feel good about less debt, and so that's kinda the way we live. And over time, what we've done is we-- has, you know, we've experienced influx. We just keep pounding the debt. Now, ca- we carry some, but as a proportion of our, you know, net worth, it's much less than most people. Like, and we're talking, like, five percent.

Daniel Berk: Now, I'm curious about the, the generosity and the giving. How does that play into your overall monthly burn?

Dean Sweetman: Yeah, we're probably at twen- uh, we're ten to-- ten minimum. And when I say mon-- when-- I-- It's more we think yearly giving rather than monthly. So the annual, if the annual's not over fifteen percent, we haven't done it right. That's kinda in that zone, um, where we're at. And so, you know, whether through the DAF or whether it's just to being generous or whether it's just helping people, deduction or no deduction, I'm not really there for the deduction. It's good to get when you get it. But, but if I really feel, "Oh, I wanna support this," I'm not gonna go, "Oh, how do I make it a tax deduction?" It's like, no, I'm just gonna, you know, go and support it, because that's what the right thing to do is. But yeah, it's, uh, you know, it's all-- that's just all man-- I think the, the same principles that when you first have a job, and you're earning a thousand bucks a week, and you're paying your rent, your car payment, your food, and your entertainment, and all the things, and you're left with a hundred and fifty bucks, right? That doesn't change a who- Like, the amounts change, but the thinking of, "I'm going to live within a budget," is the same. You're not-- It just goes, I can sh- I can go to the supermarket and buy something that's not on the, kind of the list, right? Or I can, if I'm at Home Depot and I want some tool or something, I'm not gonna nickel and dime myself to death, but I can just go buy it.

Daniel Berk: Yeah.

Dean Sweetman: But I'm not-- I, I, I want, I still want discipline in my spending habits, and I think a lot of times... And look, most of the guys that have been very successful that I know, same. They have disciplined spe- spending habits, so they're not just throwing money around.

Daniel Berk: When you got that initial wire from the Tithely acquisition, I'm curious, was your, was your initial thought, "This is what I'm gonna buy," or was it, "This is how much I'm gonna give away"? And I, I know-

Dean Sweetman: Yeah ...

Daniel Berk: the, the right answer is the, the latter.

Dean Sweetman: Yeah.

Daniel Berk: But I'm curious, like-

Dean Sweetman: Yeah ...

Daniel Berk: what did you actually do that day that you came into, you know, tens of millions of dollars personally?

Dean Sweetman: Yeah. You know, it's, uh, it's funny. Like, we didn't have the DAF at the time, and the first thing we did was create the DAF.

Daniel Berk: Really? And-

Dean Sweetman: That day? Yep. Or that week, rather. That, that week. Yeah. We'd had, like, we'd had accounts set up for money to be deposited into, and then that-- w- as we were doing that, we had the DAF set up too. And it was almost, like, simultaneous, and we had to make the decision. There's one, and there's, you know, we have different trusts and there's all.

Dean Sweetman: The, the, the money we spend to manage the, all the trusts and, and all that is, is a lot, but we have to sort-

Daniel Berk: How much, do you know?

Dean Sweetman: It's a lot. It's thousands of dollars a year just to keep it all managed. Um, and minimize tax, right? I don't wanna give the government money I don't have to, especially some gov- some governments that don't spend it very well. Um, I'm not gonna do that if I don't have to. But I remember we set the DAF up, and then we had to distribute the wires

Daniel Berk: And that was a pretty cool moment The same week the exit money landed, Dean wired $1.5 million into a DAF he could never take back. DAF is a donor advised fund, a charitable giving account that lets you receive an immediate tax deduction, grow your donation tax-free, and support your favorite nonprofits whenever you're ready. This is not something you decide to do in the moment. He decided it years earlier. He's been giving away money generously ever since he started earning income, which is what made giving that much money away that much easier, almost second nature. These are the kinds of things I hear inside of the Hampton community constantly. Not how do I get to the exit, but what's the plan for the week the money actually hits? Most people don't actually have a plan, but Dean did. Check out joinhampton.com if you wanna be in those rooms

Dean Sweetman: Because we took 10%, which is a lot of money, more money than I'd maybe ever made in my life, and we gave it to charity

Daniel Berk: Do you remember how much exactly that was?

Dean Sweetman: I think one and a half million-

Daniel Berk: Yeah, that's-

Dean Sweetman: ... from memory.

Daniel Berk: And you just poured it into the DAF

Dean Sweetman: And once it's in, it's gone, 'cause I get the deduction that year. And now I've got time to distribute it. I don't have to give it all away in that, that year. And that's one of the benefits of it. That's a pretty interesting moment, man, when you're faced with, oh, I'm distributing wealth to that trust and that trust, and that trust is gonna own that home, and you're doing all the things and then like, oh, now I'm gonna fund the DAF, and in, and that whole mix. It's a pretty, uh, it's a pretty cool moment.

Daniel Berk: How involved are you personally in that process versus someone managing it for you and just giving you updates?

Dean Sweetman: I am very involved in the distribution, so probably even a bit more than my wife. Like, I have a penchant for supporting missionaries and, 'cause I did missions for 10 years and so, and church planting. I'm pretty, you know, very committed to, uh, church buildings, you know, make the contributions there. So I'm, I'm driving that mostly. And, like, we do, we do big amounts rather than lots of little ones. You know, they're peop-- I, if, if I'm gonna give someone 50K, it's 'cause I trust them. I know them. I kn- I know what they're doing. I've taught them how to communicate to me and other high net worth individuals that are donors and, um, you know, I'm gonna give to things that I believe in and support. But it might be six checks a year, right?

Daniel Berk: Right. Yeah. Yeah. You call yourself a biblical capitalist. What does that mean?

Dean Sweetman: Oh, yeah. Well, I believe in, um, I believe in the free market, and I think I, you know, and I'm a student of history. I've obviously ... I've, I've studied the Bible, you know, cover to cover for many, many, many years. A Jesus follower here coming on 40 years. So, you know, I think I have a, a fair understanding of what the Bible teaches around things like personal choice, individual rights. Me, you know, there's a lot of scripture teaching about helping the poor in the New Testament especially, and in the Old. The mistake most people make is they don't know where the money comes from to actually help the poor.

Daniel Berk: Hmm.

Dean Sweetman: So if you go back to bit-- like fast backwards to a time when you, a government couldn't print money, which is the only two ways we get money today is we print it, and in the case of the United States in the last 10 years, we printed a lot of it, or it's taxed from people.

Dean Sweetman: It's taken from people who work a job. I personally work for the government till about July 4th. That's how much tax I pay, right?

Daniel Berk: Yeah.

Dean Sweetman: And then you, what you have is the money that the government gets from taxation, then they chop it up, and they go and spend some on schools, and they spend some on law and order, and they spend some on the military, and they spend some on health, and that's all my tax dollars, okay? So go back 2,000 years before you could print money and before there was a real... Like, there was temple tax. The Romans taxed. But a, the system was very much rigged. For the person who paid the tax, they weren't necessarily getting any, anything back. May- maybe they're getting an army so they didn't get, like, taken over by the Gauls or something, but they're not getting a lot. They're not getting a lot of social services. There's no, "Oh, I lost my job. Where's my paycheck?" There's no medical. There's no nothing. You're not getting a lot. But then Jesus comes along and says, "Hey, I, I want you to care for the poor." And it's like, okay, so if you start to think about that, and it's a, it's a recurring theme in the New Testament. If I'm commanded as a Christ follower to help those in need, by definition, that must mean I have more than I need, and that is a purely capitalistic thought.

Daniel Berk: Sure.

Dean Sweetman: The socialist thought is I'm going to have just enough what I need, and someone else is gonna make the decision for me to take some of my money and distribute it other places, but I didn't have any control of it. That's called, that's called theft, which is the basis of socialism. I don't have it, and I think we should all be equal because I think that feels good, so you're gonna go work hard. I might not work, even work as hard. I might just work 20 hours a week, and I'm out here working 60 hours a week, and you're gonna come along because I've worked harder and I have more, and you're gonna take some and give it to someone who maybe didn't even work at all.

Daniel Berk: Hmm.

Dean Sweetman: So I think the Bible's very clear about self-responsibility. If you look at the parable of the Good Samaritan, doesn't get any better. The guy's minding his own business. These two other guys rob this guy going down from Jericho. These religious guys walk past. This Samaritan and, you know, we don't have to get into the depths of the Jews and the Samaritans, but they didn't like each other, and there's a story really behind the story, how you're gonna have two hated groups and still do good for one another. And so the, the Samaritan's coming along, and he sees the guy. He's beat up. He's bleeding, he's all things. So it says, oh, he bandaged him up, put him on his donkey-

Daniel Berk: And he took him to an inn, and he said, "Take care of this man, and I'm going on a journey. And when I come back, if it's any more that has to get paid for his care, I'll take care of it."

Dean Sweetman: Okay, step back. If the Samaritan didn't have extra, how could he have helped the person? He couldn't. So the idea that, you know, we think, well, we wanna take all of this, this pool of money that people create, and we wanna distribute it out is, is not-- it's not scriptural. It's not how it's explained. It's always the, the giver decides, and then Paul goes into it deeply, you as the donor decide where you want to give. I don't get to tell you where to give. And it all comes back to personal liberties and, you know, self-reliance and making the right decisions. If I make wrong decisions, they have certain consequences. I, I make right decisions, they have other consequences. So it's me continuing to make right decisions that allow me to keep moving towards a better life and providing for my family and doing all the things. If I'm l-lazy, I'm, you know, I'm called a wicked fool in the Old Testament. Paul says, "If you don't work with your hands, you're worse than an infidel." So we value hard work in Christianity.

Dean Sweetman: That biblical work ethic that has really pervaded American culture for two hundred and fifty years is-- comes from the Bible, where we work hard, and we honor work, and we honor God with our work. And then if God blesses us, we have extra, and then now we're able to do some good, and you can't do that under any other system other than capitalism.

Daniel Berk: That's interesting. How do you-- You write a lot about stewardship, and I'm hearing some, you know, some different patterns here that have to do with stewardship. How do you think about what happens to your money when you're gone?

Dean Sweetman: Yeah, it's go- I'm the kind of benefit. You know, you can't take it with you, as the saying goes, and, and, you know, go back three thousand years, and all those Egyptian kings are, are buried with all their gold, and it all was-- got stolen. Some- someone else got the benefit. They didn't get to touch it. So of course, you're not touching anything in the afterlife, um, that you make here. So, you know, even if you look at, like, the Bill Gateses of the world and the Warren Buffets and, you know, Michael Dell, watching him, we have this thing in America now where they're trying to give, you know, kids that are just born a, like, a, an account so they can actually be in the market from when they were born. And then-- And, you know, Michael Dell comes along and says, "Here's seven billion. I wanna top that up," right? And it's like, uh, seeing-- I think there's a beautiful spirit of generosity that's, you know-- You hear all the negatives about the greed in American business especially, but there's a lot of good that happens. So Michael Dell comes along, he starts building computers in his dorm room 40 years ago. He's standing with his wife writing a seven billion dollar check so underprivileged children who would never get this start in life can get a, a, a savings account connected to the market. Capitalism is evil, and I think we'd all-- we just, we should redistribute everything, and we all should have the same, but you don't get the Michael Dells of the world that had the incentive for 40 years to probably work 80 hours a week, to be away from his family, to take risks, to borrow money, to spend capital, to then get to this point in his life where he says, "Here's seven billion." That's capitalism. And for all the ones you wanna show me, like, oh, he was greedy, and he kept this, and he getting-- I'll show you 10 Michael Dells, and that's the power of capitalism.

Daniel Berk: And so when you think of your own wealth distribution, capitalism, uh, biblical capitalism even, a-and even, uh, I would say some of this wrestling, I imagine, from Tithely and, you know, going from a pastor to now a wealthy businessman-

Dean Sweetman: Yeah ...

Daniel Berk: how do you think about m-money and faith? Uh, you're obviously-

Dean Sweetman: Yep ...

Daniel Berk: a very faithful person. Yep. How has money affected your idea of faith?

Dean Sweetman: Hopefully not much. I just think, you know, the Bible's pretty clear. It's not that money is the root of all evil. It's the love of money-

Daniel Berk: Hmm ...

Dean Sweetman: that is the root of all evil. So if money becomes like a god, which I actually think one of the reasons God gets us to give money away is so that we keep money in perspective, so it doesn't own you, and God says, "Oh, you can bring your tithe to the storehouse. You can be generous to people in need. You can decide that you wanna help people." And I think that what that does, it, it kind of, uh, cleanses the soul, and so we don't get too inward and too greedy. So God's kind of sets up a system that if you become a follower of Christ, you are now to become a generous person. And when you live that kind of lifestyle, it just becomes part of who you are, and you're not doing it to be flashy or show off or to do any of that, but to-- Because the further your walk of faith goes in, into your understanding of who God is and what God's called you to do, the more you continue to just yield to that and submit to that.

Dean Sweetman: So now I get to the point where everything I own is not my own, and that's the ultimate. Does your local church know how much money you have? Yep, they do. They, they're beneficiaries of it. And I teach guys, like, if you have large donors, don't budget on that money. Put that aside. Put it in a building fund. Put it in a rainy day fund. Don't budget on large gifts, 'cause I give one big, you know, for, to, to a few different churches, but it's a big gift. And I say, "This is not for your budget. What are you building? What are you fixing? You, you wanna renovate the children's ministry? Great. Go and use it for that." One-off cap. We call that CapEx, right, in business. It's not for OpEx, operational expenses. So I give them a little quick little business lessons on what CapEx and OpEx and where this money should go. And yeah, so but it's like-- And plus we do big lumps, you know, but I just, I just give them that caution. It's like, you know, oh, don't- I mean, yeah, bonus your staff a bit. You know, we u- we like to-- we usually give either end of December or early Jan, and, you know, do some fun things like that. But you just get to this point where y-you are not foolish with what you give away. And getting back to your question of, you know, what, like, what do you take with you? What's on the other side? Well, not my money is not making it to the other side. And so you're just trying to be a good steward of what God's given you and take care of your family. You know, my parents are still alive. I try and do things for them. They're reluctant to receive anything from me, but I, you know, I'm always trying to do things. I wanna do things for friends, do things for grandchildren, pay their school fees, like all the things that you get to do. But ultimately, you're at this point where like, man, this is-- I'm, I'm literally stewarding this, this money to be able to put it in the hands of people that can do so much more with it than I could do, and it just doesn't own you. Money comes to you. You're not chasing it anymore, right? Like, that's a, that's a moment when it's coming to you and you're not, you know, you're not getting every day trying to hustle the next dollar. It just comes.

Daniel Berk: When you say you won't take it with you, I mean, what's your plan? Um, is it to spend it all before you pass away? Do you have something set up to pass it on to, you know, children or, or, or family, or what-

Dean Sweetman: Yeah ...

Daniel Berk: does that look like?

Dean Sweetman: All of that. You know, I think I'm probably still formulating a legacy thing. I don't-- haven't thought about it. Like, a lot of times, you know, people build a hospital wing or...

Daniel Berk: Right?

Dean Sweetman: Like, there's ways to do good. I play golf with a guy, and his dad had sold big business, big, like, sold it for six billion. He still owned a big chunk of it, and, uh, he wanted to build a school, and there's a lot of backstory to it, and it was gonna-- he was gonna spend two hundred and fifty million building a school, and it was just kind of this thing he just had-- he, he'd had it in his heart for a long time, and it had germinated and, and by the time he could get to do it, he knew-- he had a full plan, where it was gonna be, who was it gonna be for. I don't have that yet. Uh, 'cause I started in missions and the Third World, and that was kinda where God used me early on after I came to Christ. I, I, I'd imagine it's gonna be something, you know, in that. It'll, it'll be definitely church related. I think it'll be missions related, you know, in, in parts of the world that are doing it pretty tough, and maybe education. Education w-for women, you know, we're both pretty passionate about. So yeah, I think that I'm still evolving. But the-- and, but here's the other thing too. The guy didn't want his name on the school. He put the two hundred and fifty-

Daniel Berk: There you go ...

Dean Sweetman: he's like, "One condition. I don't want my name anywhere." I kinda dig that, so I, I, you know, I, I'd probably wanna be the same.

Dean Sweetman: It's like, "No, just go and build it. Give the glory to God," you know? Something about the anonymity, I think that's, uh, that's got a nice ring to it.

Daniel Berk: Absolutely. Absolutely. Very, uh, very biblical.

Dean Sweetman: God's... You know, you just go about, do your thing, and I'm not looking for the praise of man, you know. I'm trying to look, uh, while no one's looking, get, get that, "Well done, good and faithful servant" from Lord.

Daniel Berk: That's awesome. Dean, I really appreciate you joining us today on Money Wise. This has been great, and I think your real philosophy and, and opinion and mindset about generosity, it's something I'm learning from right now, even as you talk. I hope some of our listeners will, will learn from it as well.

Dean Sweetman: Absolutely, man. Enjoyed it. A-absolutely.

Daniel Berk: Before I stop recording, is there anything you wanted to talk about or wanted me to ask or, you know, have strong opinions on? How do, how do you feel?

Dean Sweetman: The conversation around money and how it works, you know. And, and especially I see a lot of young people that are-- they're a bit clueless on how money works and where it comes from and where it goes and how it goes. Um-

Daniel Berk: In what sense, I guess? How can I frame that?

Dean Sweetman: I just think in this rise of kind of, you know, they got these lost generations, you know, that are now, they're now, like, thinking, "Well, socialism might be the better way because we're seeing such excess of wealth." And Elon became a trillionaire and, and all this kind of stuff.

Daniel Berk: Elon pays more taxes than anyone in the history of the human race.

Dean Sweetman: Oh, yeah. Right. I know.

Daniel Berk: I d- I did some research-

Dean Sweetman: Yeah ...

Daniel Berk: on that recently, and it's like-

Dean Sweetman: Right ...

Daniel Berk: vomit of how much he...

Dean Sweetman: Yeah. And if you, if you want him to pay more, you go and legislate for him to pay more.

Daniel Berk: Sure. I'd love to understand your thoughts on how the world around us is operating when it comes to money. Obviously, you've built an incredibly successful tech company. You're invested in some startups and in some, uh, public equities, and you're an incredibly generous person. What are your thoughts on money in general?

Dean Sweetman: Yeah. I think, uh, you know, you have to, uh, and I've tried to educate younger people especially around, you know, the function of money and how it works and why some people build-- people tend to accumulate it, and why some people tend not to accumulate it. There's some, some life habits that, that, you know, do set you up to be able to do well financially. Not spending more than you earn is probably, uh, the number one. But I just think we've got to teach young people that money is not evil and that money is a means. And if you wanna go, if you wanna go real hardcore deep, you know, the Bible's very clear what money is. Money is seed, and seeds are good for one thing: multiplying and creating more seeds. So when you understand that money is seed, and when Paul is talking to the Corinthians, he's trying to get across to them. Every time I invest, whether it's in a missionary, a startup, an orphanage, a donut company, right? It doesn't matter. It's seed. And I've been stewarded-- I've been gifted that money through whatever means to grow it. I'm here to grow the money. Agricultural terms are used a lot in the New Testament. Like, I am a farmer, and I've been given seed, and I'm to pray, "Give me more seed to sow," 'cause the more I sow, the more I'm gonna reap. And God's very clear on that. And so it's teaching people that don't, don't even maybe have a world-- a biblical worldview, is that money has got so much power in it when you put it in the right place, the... and it'll multiply, and ultimately, you'll be able to help you, and you'll be able to help others.

Daniel Berk: Dean's worth something between thirty and fifty million dollars. He has five percent of his net worth in debt, and half of his portfolio is indexed.

Daniel Berk: He gives away ten to fifteen percent of his money every year, and his spending rules are the same ones he had when he was left with a hundred and fifty dollars at the end of the week. The amount's changed, but his habits never really did. That's the entire episode. That's the Dean Sweetman mindset. Conversations like this one we just had on Money Wise are very similar to the ones that we have inside of Hampton every single day. Hampton's a private network for founders and CEOs doing on average twenty-five million a year in revenue. If you're doing three million in revenue or have exited for ten million or more, go check out joinhampton.com. That's the episode. I'm Daniel Burke. This is Money Wise. See you next week.