Eric Thurber: Create a "Life Well Lived" | #215
Most financially successful people eventually ask a deeper question: after the money is made, how do I build a life that actually feels worth living? Eric Thurber, founder of Three Bridge Wealth Advisors, spent 30 years helping first-generation entrepreneurs and venture capitalists answer it. In this conversation he shares how farm-bred work ethic, deliberate self-awareness, and a team aligned around excellence, partnership, and integrity create the conditions for both wealth and meaning.
The episode moves beyond spreadsheets and asset allocation. Eric reveals the advice he gives wealthy clients: define what money is really for before optimizing it, make decisions from abundance rather than scarcity, and prepare emotionally and financially for the market punches that always arrive. He also opens up about the hard choice to give back a multi-seven figure retention check, the values that guided it, and how he keeps a high-demand practice sustainable for his team—remote work, energy rituals, and a strict refusal to let eighty-hour weeks define success.
Listeners will come away with practical tools: a gratitude journaling practice, a framework for asking 'what is money for?,' and permission to build a life where time, energy, and purpose matter more than the next dollar.
Highlights
The episode moves beyond spreadsheets and asset allocation. Eric reveals the advice he gives wealthy clients: define what money is really for before optimizing it, make decisions from abundance rather than scarcity, and prepare emotionally and financially for the market punches that always arrive. He also opens up about the hard choice to give back a multi-seven figure retention check, the values that guided it, and how he keeps a high-demand practice sustainable for his team—remote work, energy rituals, and a strict refusal to let eighty-hour weeks define success.
Listeners will come away with practical tools: a gratitude journaling practice, a framework for asking 'what is money for?,' and permission to build a life where time, energy, and purpose matter more than the next dollar.
Highlights
- Ask clients what money is for first; answers center on security, family, and independence.
- Returning a multi-seven figure retention check built an independent firm clients could trust.
- First-generation wealth creators combine education, passion, calculated risk, and a vision others can join.
- Prepare for the inevitable 50% market drop before it happens—plans die without preparation.
- Sustain performance with energy habits: 90-minute workouts, saunas, gratitude, and meditation.
- Design the firm for balance so you can still love the work at 75 without 80-hour weeks.
Important Concepts and Frameworks
- Life Well Lived — The goal of integrating wealth with purpose, values, family, balance and independence.
- Generation One (G1) — First-generation wealth creators who built fortunes from nothing rather than inheriting them.
- Zone of Genius — Work combining strengths and passions; Eric found it after realizing law’s detail wasn’t for him.
- Energy Management — Sustaining physical, mental and relational energy so neither work nor personal life gets sacrificed.
- Scarcity vs. Abundance — The mental shift from worrying about lack to noticing enough and acting generously with wealth.
Tools & Resources Mentioned
- The Five Minute Journal — A gratitude journaling practice Eric's coach recommended; he says it is simple but incredible over time.
- FFA & 4-H — Youth programs that gave Eric leadership, speaking and farm-project experience from high school.
- FarmHouse — Education fraternity at University of Nebraska known for strong GPAs and Ivy League-bound peers.
Calls to Action
- Ask yourself: "What is the most important thing about money to me?" before adding another investment.
- Begin a gratitude practice tonight by writing three things you're grateful for before bed.
- Audit your week for one energy drain you can remove and one energy source you can protect.
- Write the risks you can plan for and the actions you would take if markets drop 50% tomorrow.
Key Quotes
- "I gave multi-seven figure check back to a bank to do what we do today." — Eric Thurber
- "Everybody's got a plan till they get punched in the face." — Eric Thurber
- "How do I live a more abundant life, and how does that show up behaviorally?" — Simon Vetter
- "I am immensely grateful for my life and my relationships and where I am today." — Eric Thurber
Chapters
00:00 — A Life Worth Living, Not Just a Financial Plan
01:24 — Daily Work Ethic Lessons From a Nebraska Farm
04:35 — Discovering What You Don't Want to Do Early
07:29 — Why He Returned a Multi-Seven Figure Check
11:14 — Firm Values: Excellence, Partnership, and Integrity
13:20 — What First-Generation Wealth Creators Actually Share
16:51 — The First Question Every Wealth Plan Should Answer
19:42 — Preparing the Plan for the Market's Punch
21:45 — Designing the Firm Around a Sustainable Life
38:17 — Ending in Growth Mode, Not Finish Lines
This Episode's Guest:
Eric Thurber
- Eric Thurber is the co-founder and managing director of Three Bridge Wealth Advisors, an independent wealth advisory firm serving successful entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and families.
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericthurber/
- Website: https://www.threebridgewa.com
About the Host
Simon Vetter
- Website: https://simonvetter.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonvetter1
Creators and Guests
Host
Simon Vetter
Simon Vetter, known as The Vision Architect, is an international executive coach, professional speaker and author of "Leading with Vision". He helps leaders create crystal-clear vision and practical execution, aligning teams and accelerating performance. His work is trusted by organizations including AbbVie, Cisco, Lennar, Microsoft, Qualcomm, and Siemens. Born in Switzerland and shaped by 27+ years in San Diego, Simon blends Swiss precision with Californian innovation: pragmatic, energizing and actionable for real-world leadership pressure.
