.png)
Garrett Gunderson’s “What Would the Rockefellers Do?” isn’t your typical personal finance book…
It doesn’t obsess over building a better mousetrap or formulating some clever new way to beat the system. Instead, it asks its reader to dream of a fortune that’s much, much larger. A fortune that’s built to last for multiple generations to come.
At its core, the book is a roadmap for building your very own financial legacy — a manifesto that demands us to stop chasing short-term wins and start thinking like the wealthy families who’ve already won the long game.
And not just in terms of the way we invest our money … but in the broader mindset we have on concepts of stewardship, education, and family structure.
While Wall Street tells you to maximize yield, the Rockefellers focused on maximizing continuity. Gunderson’s book reminds us that legacy is never built by chasing trends — it’s built by establishing values, protecting capital, and structuring systems that don’t depend on market luck
Speaking as someone who recently became a father myself, I can tell you this is a truly transformative read.
Because in Gunderson’s eyes, the difference between families who stay wealthy for generations and those who lose it in a few decades isn’t the rate of return. It’s the rules we choose to live by. The family culture we build through days and years of time spent together.
The Rockefellers, for example, didn’t just pass down their wealth in terms of assets and liquidity. They passed down a system for preserving the family’s wealth. That system included clear family values, a living trust structure, and something Gunderson highlights as essential: a properly designed whole life insurance policy.
Not for death benefit alone. But for what it enables while you're alive…
Because the way Gunderson sees it (and I agree) — once you understand the role of whole life insurance in legacy planning, your view of money changes.
With a plan that incorporates whole life insurance, you’re no longer chasing the highest return at any cost. You’re building liquidity, protection, and long-term coordination across generations. You’re no longer just chasing one singular goal like retirement. The blinders are off. You’re creating long-term options for your heirs, increasing your estate’s flexibility, and suddenly you’re acting like a steward, not just a spender.
In fact, Gunderson goes so far as to call whole life insurance the “backbone of the Rockefeller strategy.”
Not because of some secret tax loophole or arcane financial hack — but because it’s one of the only tools that allows wealth to be protected, passed on, and strategically deployed without friction or delay. It offers control in a world where most wealth tools demand submission to the market’s mood swings.
Gunderson rails against that “tunnel vision” mindset, where investors stay laser-focused on their bottom-line number, piling up assets in retirement accounts and just hoping for the best.
Instead, he advocates for focusing on investing some time with one’s family.
The book detail’s Gunderson’s various experiences with his kids, including everything from establishing a new family crest to taking annual retreats where they openly discussed long-term investment strategies and how to strengthen family relationships.
As a new father, I’ll admit that this portion of his strategy really resonated with me. Because there are so many aspects to financial success that can be passed down to the next generation. If only we proactively made the time in all our busy schedules!
Of course, as more experienced parents know, that kind of education isn’t always practical. Which is where the next phase of the Rockefeller strategy comes into play. Specifically — a family office that manages the various policies held within a charitable remainder trust.
The family office is there to help guide future generations, ensuring their financial decisions are in line with the trust’s long-term family goals and helping to preserve the family’s legacy.
And that is the genuinely amazing Rockefeller Method.
Not only does it protect the family legacy, but it creates tax-advantaged liquidity, offers guarantees during volatile markets, and gives heirs the ability to avoid liquidating assets under stress. It buys time. It buys grace. It builds a bridge between generations.
Banks know this. That’s why they use life insurance to serve similar long-term goals. The ultra-wealthy know it too. But most retail investors never hear the whole story. They might find out about a few of the benefits of whole life insurance, but then message boards will quickly shoot them down — pointing out the superior returns available from stocks.
What Would the Rockefellers Do? is the counter-narrative. It’s the playbook for people who want to step out of the Wall Street-driven accumulation model and into a rich, values-driven family strategy.
Because Gunderson isn’t just talking about money.
He’s talking about capital — intellectual, relational, and yes, financial — all working together to produce security, purpose, and generational momentum to ensure your family’s future happiness and success.
That is the difference between wealth and legacy.
Wealth fades. Legacy compounds.
So if you’re tired of chasing returns, tired of hoping your retirement calculator spits out the right number, tired of treating money like a finish line instead of a tool…
Maybe it’s time to ask yourself, “what the Rockefellers would do?”
And then do it — with precision, with purpose, and with policies built to last.
Because when you structure your financial life like the Rockefellers did, you’re not just securing dollars. You’re preserving direction. You’re giving your future children — and their children — more than just a lump sum. You’re giving them clarity, liquidity, and most of all: permission to build something greater than themselves.
That’s the play. Not riches, but relevance. Not just inheritance, but intention.
Ready to see how this could apply to your wealth plan? Click the big yellow Clarity Call button and let’s map it out together.
.svg){kind=logo}
