Strong Fathers Raise Strong Daughters with Brandon Ruttley

Brandon Ruttley married about as well as a man can (I’ve known his wife since we were 10 years old). He’s also the father of three beautiful girls, ages: 10,7 & 3

Affectionately known as “Ruttley,” or just “Rutt,” in recent years he’s more than quadrupled his income.

Nowadays, we’d call a man of Rutt’s caliber, a “dude” (we used to call them “studs”).

And I haven’t even mentioned—Ruttley is a former 5’9″ walk-on Division I basketball player of a Caucasian persuasion.

“Walk-ons” have a different mentality from the rest. Ruttley now sells commercial insurance, where I’m told, “he kills it—everyday.”

Prior to his role in insurance, Ruttley spent seven years in athletics’ administration as the #2 at Nicholls State University.

His position as Associate Athletic Director for External Affairs at Nicholls State (2010-2016) meant overseeing all fundraising, ticket sales, sponsorships, marketing, football scheduling, and facility planning initiatives for the athletics’ programs.

When his own plan to become Athletic Director didn’t pan out, he wasted no time using connections he’d made over the years to quickly find another opportunity.

One thing I admire about Ruttley. He’s a master relationship-builder. In fact, he believes, “relationships rule the world,” adding, “without strong relationships—we never unlock our full potential.”

In this episode, he shares his secrets to building strong relationships. Secrets which have helped him become a “Peak Producer” for his management of many large accounts—not just in Louisiana—but all across the country.

In this episode, we talk about how he became a fan of the Man Overseas podcast. He explains how the show has helped him to become “financially prepared.”

For example, he’s set up Roth IRAs for he & wife, Georgia. He now has 529 plans for his daughters. He’s enrolled in a 401K plan for himself and setup taxable brokerage accounts—all over the past six months.

He also reveals that he’d never read a single book about personal finance before listening to the podcast, but has now read several. (All of this is music to my ears, of course.)

We also discuss the book Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know by Meg Meeker, M.D., which Rutt generously sent to me in the mail last summer.

One of the key takeaways from the book is the importance of improving your communication skills. People often think of communication skills as being more articulate or having an extensive vocabulary, but it’s so much more than that.

The author talks about how you say something is as important as anything you say. She uses the following example. Ask your daughter: “I just can’t imagine being your age—what’s it like being a 13-year old girl right now?”

That’s genius. It’s open-ended. It demonstrates empathy and compassion. And most importantly—it’s likely to get your daughter talking without feeling threatened. My copy of Strong Fathers, Strong Daugthers has as many highlights as any other book I own.

Ruttley and I have a chapter-by-chapter discussion that would benefit any #girldad too busy to read an entire book.

There’s a reason Ruttley & I have become better friends through the years. It’s the elevated quality of our conversations and the desire to get better every day. In this episode, we have a tremendous chat that I’ll cherish for a long time. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Questions asked:

Which podcast conversations resonate with you the most?
Which book had you read prior to starting to listen to the podcast?
What was your biggest takeaway from The Richest Man in Babylon?
Do you know which group / [demographic] does best when it comes to investing?
Why do you think you are so frugal-minded? Where do you think that demeanor comes from?
Why were you raised by your grandparents?
Was there any way to project whether it would be a good season [for shrimping]?
When is shrimping season?
Did your father finance his boat the same way you would a mortgage?
What was your grandfather’s education level?
When was the first time you received money for your work?
Did you think you were going to be fisherman when you got older?
Does the name Ernest Porter ring a bell?
What player from the NBA most resembles your style of play?
Tell me about how you knew you were going to get to wear a uniform for game day. When did that happen?
What made you think you could compete at D1 level? Why were you so confident?
Did you consider transferring to get more playing time at a [Division II school]?
What is your opinion for why there’s so many transfers nowadays [in Division I sports]?
How do you think that experience as a “walk-on” benefited you later in life?
Don’t you think that men have sort of abdicated their leadership role to where women take more of the lead in disciplining even young men?
How do you think about social media usage from the perspective of your own daughters?
What did you get from Chapter 1 of the Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters book?
At what age did you start reading to your daughter?
How do you think about developing your daughters’ self-esteem?
Is sex something you talk about with your oldest?
Do you find that a lot of men when it comes to daughters will defer to mom too much because they’re a girl?
Do you have any thoughts on Chapter 2 of the Meg Meeker book?
What is the purpose of these “Dont’s” from the Meg Meeker book?
Why is it important to teach your daughter about humility?
As an Assistant Athletics Director at Nicholls, how does scheduling games work?
Can you give me a big basketball school that we played against & [we] had a pretty big payday?
How does it work when small schools start to have success, but they want to be able to retain their coaches?
[Question from Tyler Johnson] Which championship run did you enjoy being a part of the most?
How did Kobe’s death affect you?
So you were raised without God—when did you make that change?
What’s the hardest part of the retreat at Manresa?
In what way could you improve your relationship with God?
Did you realize you would be staying in Louisiana long-term when you decided to go the athletics administration route?
When was the FBS/FCS moniker applied rather than [Division] 1A and 1AA?
Do your kids have to wear masks to school?

Fun questions:

Is social media a net negative or net positive for society?
Is not wanting something just as good as having it?
If you could spend two weeks anywhere in the world & money is not an object, where would you go?
You’re a Jeopardy contestant. You get to choose the category for Final Jeopardy. What category are you choosing?
As you enter Final Jeopardy, all 3 contestants are tied with $10,000. The Final Jeopardy question is NCAA sports. How much are you wagering?
[Final Jeopardy Question] If the Saints play 16 games this year, how many games will they win?
You’re given an opportunity to have lunch with Drew Brees, but it’s going to cost you $10,000. Will you do it?
What is your favorite baseball/basketball card that you’ve ever owned?
First person that comes to mind when I say the funniest man alive?
First person that comes to mind when I say I want to be successful like him?
In their prime, who are you taking on a dinner date – Christie Brinkley or Kathy Ireland? Halle Berry or Lisa Bonét? Halle Berry or Christie Brinkley?
Overrated/Underrated: Jimmy Fallon, Jay Leno, Adam Sandler, Dave Portnoy, Dave Chapelle, Joe Rogan
If you were hosting a dinner party at your house and money were no object, are you having 4, 6 or 12 guests?
You get to eat at one last restaurant in New Orleans before meeting St. Peter at the gates— where are you going?
If somebody dropped a $1 million in your lap tomorrow, what would you do with it?
If I gave you $100,000 and forced you to invest in one of these three (3) companies: Spotify, Airbnb, or Lululemon – which one would you invest in?
Same amount of money, but your options are – Apple or Amazon – which one are you putting your money into?
You’re given $100,000 but this time you get to divvy it up between Costco, Lululemon, and Nike. How much are you investing per company?
If you believe that COVID was unleashed deliberately on the world, what should be done about that?
Do you have a favorite book?