247: Bitcoin Meets AI: What’s Next?
LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE
Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Stitcher | Spotify
Welcome back to another episode of The Richer Geek Podcast!
This week, as we honor Veterans Day, today’s guest brings both service and purpose to the mic. Joshua Brooks, founder of Exponential Advisors and an Army Reserve Chaplain, combines military discipline, faith, and forward-thinking tech to help families and organizations build real financial freedom.
Joshua shares how he’s blending AI, blockchain, and Bitcoin into modern financial planning, why he believes everyone should take a second look at Bitcoin, and how faith and integrity shape his work. From overcoming PTSD to leading with purpose and even dropping a freestyle rap, this episode proves that money, meaning, and innovation can go hand in hand.
In this episode, we chat about…
Joshua’s journey from Army Infantry Soldier to Chaplain to Financial Advisor
Exponential Advisors serves primarily Army veterans, busy parents, and Christian leaders, blending faith, values, and innovation
The case for Bitcoin as a once-in-a-generation innovation
How AI tools are transforming the way advisors and investors make decisions
Joshua’s Ayahuasca retreat in Peru and its impact on mental health and family life
What discipline and integrity mean in business and money management
An unexpected freestyle rap about tech, wealth, and freedom
Key Takeaways:
Bitcoin isn’t hype, it’s a historic innovation worth understanding.
AI can amplify human decision-making, not replace it.
Faith and finance can align to create deeper purpose and sustainability.
Healing leads to better leadership, mental clarity drives financial clarity.
Character and credibility are the real currency in business.
Veterans’ discipline and resilience mirror the mindset needed to thrive in investing and entrepreneurship.
Resources from Joshua
LinkedIn | Exponential Advisors | Exponential Purpose Newsletter
Books mentioned: Human Compatible by Stuart Russell | In Our Own Image by George Zarkadakis
Resources from Mike and Nichole
LinkedIn | Gateway Private Equity Group | Barcelona Hotel Fund | Nic's guide
+ Read the transcript
Mike: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Richer Geek Podcast. Today, we have Joshua Brooks. He founded Exponential Advisors. He's an Army Reserve Chaplain with nearly 20 years of distinguished service. Thank you for your service, Joshua. Appreciate it. He has expertise in cutting edge financial strategies.
We're going to get into a little more alternative, not your regular financial advisor. Strategies like Bitcoin and AI, he empowers families and organizations to achieve financial security and growth. Mission impact 250 clients over the next decade. He delivers transparent values-driven financial planning with humility, integrity, and belief that sound financial planning is essential for everyone.
How are you doing, Joshua?
Joshua: Hey, Mike. Really excited to add value to your listeners, and I'm here to have a great conversation today.
Mike: Perfect. Now, always start the podcast out. Tell us a little bit about yourself. We talked a little bit about your service. Thank you very much. Even though it's the army, you know, I'm just kidding.
At least it's not Marines. That I wouldn't even have you on if it was a Marine.
Joshua: Yeah.
Mike: Just kidding, Marines out there and you know I'm Navy. We have to tease each other.
Joshua: Yeah, we got some crayons. We got some crayons though. So we'll just got up, put 'em on the side.
Mike: That's right. Joshua, tell us a little bit about yourself. Joshua: Yeah, so. Married to Stephanie, eight years in counting. Four young boys in the house. Mike, I think you just saw one, at our pre-con. That's Hudson. Our oldest son is seven years old, so if that doesn't put the fear of God inside of you, but we are happy. I'm in Weatherford outside of Dallas Fort Worth, west of Fort Worth.
Launched Exponential Advisors after it got approved from the federal and state regulators. Once you say you're doing comprehensive financial planning, that's fine. You tell them you're doing digital assets like Bitcoin and Blockchain and Ethereum and they start to ask, "I got 50 bonus questions from the regulators." That was fun.
But we provide comprehensive financial planning. We serve army veterans, busy mommies, and Christian leaders, and we do that by integrating digital assets into the financial planning process and sprinkling in some AI for all of the tech lovers on The Richer Geek.
Mike: Yeah. And that's interesting.
So tell us a little bit about how you're revolutionizing that financial planning. It's a tech driven world, so you know, why not? So how does that actually work? Are you buying the different funds that involve that or are you actually going out and buying Ethereum? Tell us a little bit how that type of financial planning works.
Joshua: Let's just break it into two sectors, right? So, I think your audience is more focused on fintech and my space is the retail or the independent financial planners, you know, that big circle. And so with fintech, absolutely revolutionizing new programs, new software, Wealthbox just got another hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for their CRM model. So you've got fintech applications out of Silicon Valley that are coming out every day. AI investments, magnifi.ai. I saw that the other day.
Let me ask you, Mike, do you think AI investments will be better than human investments?
Say just conservatively five to 10 years down the road?
Mike: Yeah, I think AI's going to compliment. So like in my world, I'm still going to need both in five years.
Joshua: Yeah. I don't think AI replaces the value of having a financial advisor or even that human decision making process. Maybe the kind of the final answer. If you take the emotional biases out and you factor in the fact that it can comp, it can process a lot of data and information. I think those models will actually be superior and AI is already superior. I would argue in some ways, you know, as we're looking at these LLM models that are proliferating.
We're using ChatGPT and Claude, and we're using these LLMs like out of the box. They're coming out with new models and new versions, regularly. So yes, I am on the AI bandwagon. But let me say, also say that I'm reading books by Stuart Russell, Human Compatible and George Zarkadakis, writing about In Your Own Image. How we're creating computers in all the history, all the way back to millions of years.
I'm thinking thoughtfully about how AI is going to really impact our society, right? Those safety protocols as well. Like, will the robots actually become our overlords? So I think it's important to embrace the technology, but also to be prudent and have some reservations as well, and ask some serious questions.
Mike: That's the whole thing is not relying on the AI. I've talked to some people that said, "Well, ChatGPT, said this."
And I'm like, "Well, it's wrong."
They'll talk to me about hotels are flying. I was a commercial airline pilot, and they said, I was curious about this and ChatGPT said this, and I'm like, "It's wrong."
You have to still now in its infancy sit there and it's like , "Are you sure about that?"
And then it's, "Oh, you know what, you're right." And then it'll start correcting. So you can't just go one thing. Some people give me AI interview videos and I'm like, "Oh, that was AI."
You can't sit in the camera and do it yourself. That's so, it doesn't even look real.
Yeah. I get actual videos from people that want jobs. And it is like, "Hello, I am Bob and I want and blah, blah dah." Then it uses words that no one uses.
Joshua: Yeah.
Mike: I'm like going, "Dude, I'm not hiring AI. I was supposed to hire you."
Joshua: Yeah, so that's fintech. In what we are doing in the financial services as an independent advisory firm, right? Is that we are doing two things that are different. That's blockchain technology, digital assets.
And that's AI, right? And actually research is indicating, again, I'm on the AI, we're going to go to blockchain, I promise. But the small businesses that are actually integrating them are doing better. Statistically significant.
And so the lesson that we need to learn, the bottom line up front, as we say in the army is like, you probably want to be utilizing AI and learning more as it continues to get better. But also let's switch to blockchain. So blockchain, a lot of people, they're already turned off. Now, your audience, they probably understand it.
They get the coding. It's a protocol, it's a set of numbers, it's software, et cetera. But what you have to understand about Bitcoin is that this is a zero to one innovation. This is a Peter Thiel type moment. This is not an Apple, iPhone 16s upgrade, and then we're moving to 17 or this is the iPhone moment.
That's why I think it's so unique, and we could get into the economists and all the underlying political philosophy of Bitcoin. We have to do that, but that's why it's different and that's what we do.
Mike: Now, how do you do that? Are you setting up funds that hold those?
What are people actually buying when they come to you and say, "Hey, I want AI or blockchain."
Joshua: So the first thing, the question that we ask our clients is this, "Do you even understand the technology and what you're investing in?"
And then we start looking at the options for, do you want custody at Fidelity? Do you want it in a non-retirement account or do you want it in a retirement account? So it depends on the location. Fidelity just now this year announced that they have crypto IRAs. So imagine you buy Bitcoin at, what is it? A little over a hundred thousand today, right? In your IRA, Roth IRA, and then it goes to a million in five to 10 years.
So we already know the tax advantages of retirement accounts, especially the Roth IRA, right?
Mike: Yep.
Joshua: So that's one option. You can also self custody. So Mike, are you familiar with that particular option as well? Yeah, again, tech forward podcast. And so Unchained Capital is a particular company that I partner with, but there's no monetary compensation. Affiliation agreement. But they help you store your Bitcoin securely and they're in Austin, Texas. I personally have self custody as well. So you also have a company that's been around for a while, Bitwise investment. So they have an index fund called the Bitwise 10 cryptocurrency Fund, in which they have the top 10 cryptocurrencies buy market cap. And so you can just invest in that through, say, Fidelity or whatever. Now, I am in custody, with Altruist, okay?
They are one of the big independent, tech forward, custodians as well. One of the other companies that I was looking at as I launched the business was a Robo Advisor.
I won't say any names. But the only fund that they had was a 50 50 Bitcoin e fund. And that's not gonna work for my clients who are digital asset enthusiasts.
Mike: Yeah, that makes sense. So I gotta ask you this, four kids under seven, you just started your own business. It's like, I figured you'd be like me. I mean, your hair falling out. How do you juggle? And plus being an army chaplain.
My goodness. It's like, "Whew!"
Tell us a little bit about how you just, you know, use maybe some of the army values of sit there and just like, you know, compartmentalize and the calmness. Talk just a little bit about all of that.
Joshua: Yeah. So Mike, for your listeners today, what I want them to hear, listen to someone who's served in the army 21 years and counting active duty army infantry soldier, chaplain, come from a rough background in Houston, h town. And maybe I'll drop some freestyle, some rap bars for your listeners.
If you're in business today, if you're making money, and if you listen to this podcast and go through the things that Mike is teaching, one thing I want you to hear is credibility. Integrity, credibility, and character. Don't get ahead of yourself. What do they say? Like, you get too far over your skates or something like that.
In my faith tradition, I have to reorient myself and say, what is my, and I have to do that on a daily basis, on an hourly basis. Can I share a brief story that really impacted my mental health?
Mike: Yep.
Joshua: So, I grew up in a rough family. My father was killed by a biological type when I was young.
Went into the Army. Trauma fighting and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Just found out I had PTSD like 2021, doing some counseling. I went last month on a trip to Peru with the Heroic Hearts Project in New York. We did a psychedelic retreat, 12 veterans. We had a Navy Seal guide. Take us through their La Medicina Retreat in Terra Potto outside of Lima. We did three ceremonial sessions, Mike of Ayahuasca.
So for your listeners out there, that's a psychedelic plant medicine drug. It's a purgative, so you're throwing up a lot. And what that did was it provided in Western medicine terms, clinical terms, a neurologic reset.
Mike: Yep.
Joshua: So it helped calm my central nervous system so I don't fly off the handle at my kids when they're yelling and there's a lot of crying at my house. It's like a UFC tournament and a circus combined at the same. You don't have to teach your kids to fight. These boys will just start wrestling on the floor, right?
Mike: Sure. That's what boys do.
Joshua: So my faith, yoga, exercising at the gym, it looks like I've seen, you know, you're probably doing a little bit of resistance training as well. So just to be square, I wanted to share that story with the listeners, especially the people out in California or Oregon or Colorado.
They're more comfortable having those discussions.
Mike: Oh, yeah. Shrooms are wrapped in Colorado right now. You know, that's good, I'm involved. I can't think of the buddy of mine, Rob is starting a foundation where they do that. They're trying to get veterans off of the psychedelic pharma drugs.
Joshua: Yeah. Off the antidepressant. I'm off of my antidepressant.
Mike: Them taking variants of something.
Joshua: Psilocybin. Yeah.
Microdose.
Mike: Microdose and it takes them off of the pharma and it's not addictive, you know, because you're not taking it all the time. So I get what you're saying.
You know, Rob is really involved in that and I think anytime you get anybody off of pharma, I think it's a good thing, you know? Joshua: Absolutely.
Mike: So let's talk about, someone goes to your website, I'll have you. Well, you know, before that, gimme a little H-town.
Joshua: You ready?
Mike: All right, I gotta see if you're legit or not.
Joshua: Okay, well, just for fun, you know, uh, maybe I'll put some glasses on too. Uh, you know, to keep it real.
"And, uh, check the mic. One, two, check the mic. One, two. Mike Stohler in the building, hotel king supreme from Navy Ops to airline pilot living the dream. Now you're teaching geeks and techies how to make their money work while I'm showing them the future where traditional methods lurk, Gateway Private Equity, you stacking those keys, 1500 units strong, bringing investors to their knees. But let me introduce you to the digital frontier where blockchain meets real estate. The future is here. Richer Geek, Richer Geek alternative is the way beyond the W-2. We're building wealth today from hotels to crypto diversification's key exponential strategies. That's how we stay free. Check it out.Check it out. IT professionals, tired of the same old stock advice. I'm bringing them solutions that are worth any price. Defi protocols, net plays tokenized real estate. While you're flipping hotels. I'm showing them their fate. Navy discipline meets financial innovation. I serve the communities that need representation. Tech minds understand the blockchain revolution. Exponential Advisors provides the solution."
Mike: Yep. Drop it.
Joshua: Yo. Check the mic, Mike. Check the mic. The Richer Geek.
Mike: There we go. First time ever, The Richer Geek. We've had an H town boy go at it.
Before we leave, how did they get a hold of you? Any education materials, you know, 'cause you're not doing the exact same stuff as the financial advisors.
What is your website and what are they going to find?
Joshua: Yes, sir. Thanks. That is exponentialadvisors.net. Again, exponentialadvisors.net. And I'm just updating the page for exponentialadvisors.net/media. So I'm transitioning from Substack Mike, and that's going from Substack to my own newsletter on kit. It's called Exponential Purpose. A lot of my subscribers on Substack will get transitioned. It was called the Diverse Lens, but it wasn't really a financial planning focus. So we're tightening the shot group there. I'm also going to be releasing some short form videos, so I'm working with out of Colorado into content marketing.
The most watched social advisor Nick Meyer on social media, like 500 million views, just insane numbers. We're really happy to be working with them. And then you can visit that website, like I mentioned earlier, and we have the financial freedom for Army veterans. So that really gets into the details.
It's a valuable resource that my team and I put together. I'm on the podcast, pushing out newsletters, Exponential Purpose and doing what we can to serve our clients, army veterans, busy mommies and Christian leaders.
Mike: There you go. Is there anything that I may not have hit on that you'd like to wrap up with?
Joshua: Yeah. I know with you and real estate and having some hotel exposure there, I really want the listeners to give a second glance to Bitcoin. And I want you to think about the traditional system that your money is like an ice cube. The US dollar is melting at 36 trillion, so I'm not going to ride this horse out to the sunset. But Bitcoin is a fixed supply of 21 million, you have a fixed supply that is higher demand that's going to push the beach ball down and just the beach ball's gonna spurt out the water, and the price will drive up. So that's the last thing I wanted to share with your listeners, is that if you have a scarce asset that's credibly a forced 21 million, decentralized, not controlled by any business or government entity.
That's the best risk reward ratio investment I could argue right now but then I tell my clients, you know, lastly, if you want to make the stock market, we can get you 8%, we can get you 10% back in the days. But if you really want to blow up your wealth, then go real estate because there's a whole different set of numbers.
Mike: There you go, everybody. Joshua Brooks, Exponential Advisors. Thanks a lot. Again, thank you for your service and have a wonderful day.
The information, statements, comments, views, and opinions (collectively, “Information”) provided in this podcast are not intended to be and should not be construed as financial, economic, legal, accounting, tax or other advice. For our full disclosure, click here.
ABOUT JOSHUA BROOKS
Joshua Brooks is the founder of Exponential Advisors, a financial planning firm that helps families and organizations plan for a secure future using smart and modern strategies. He served in the Army for over 20 years, including time as an infantry Soldier in Operation Iraqi Freedom and as a chaplain in Operation Inherent Resolve. Joshua now combines the discipline he learned in the military, his faith, and new tools like Bitcoin and AI to create plans that fit each client’s goals.
He has traveled to countries across five continents, giving him a wide view of the world and fresh ideas for solving problems. At home, Joshua is a loving husband to Stephanie and proud father of four sons, including Hudson, named after missionary Hudson Taylor.
Outside work, Joshua enjoys freestyle rap, inspired by artists like Wu-Tang Clan and Jay-Z bringing that same passion and creativity into everything he does.