Financial Literacy Series Part 1 With LP

FINANCIAL LITERACY SERIES - PART 1 OF 4:

April is Financial Literacy Month. Over the next four episodes, we're breaking down the money lessons most Black men never learned from emergency savings to investing, credit to generational wealth. 

🎙️ IN THIS EPISODE:

LP (Breion Rollins) is a financial advisor, founder of TRG Financial, co-owner of The Hive podcast studio, and a man who lost everything in the 2008 market crash, then rebuilt from scratch. His story isn't just about finance it's about the gap in financial education that keeps Black men stuck, and the three core strategies that actually build generational wealth.

💭 WE EXPLORE:

Why LP walked away from HR to study finance after losing it all in 2008. The three financial principles every Black man should know: real estate, term life insurance, and emergency savings. Why your tax refund isn't a win (it's an interest-free loan to the government). How consumerism and marketing drain the Black community faster than anything else. Why DoorDash and Uber Eats are financial traps you need to avoid. The real difference between term life and whole life insurance (and why most people get it wrong). Why you should never buy a new car off the lot (25% depreciation the moment you leave). The 60/30/10 budget breakdown: needs, wants, and nice-to-haves. LP's three-bucket strategy for managing money (taxable, tax-deferred, and working accounts). Why your 30s are the hardest financial years of your life (and how to navigate them). How to teach your kids about money before they make the mistakes you did. Why finding your community and making a plan is the only way through chaos.

👑 Ready to go deeper? Join our free community
 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

I just want to thank you guys for tuning in to this today's episode. I sat down with LP and we had a really good conversation about finances, some of the things that we should learn in our community, right? Um, this episode was sponsored by TRG Financial, and we talked a lot about his business, why he started his business. Um, so I would definitely thank you guys for being here. Tap in again with me. Um, and also if you don't know, I did start my community calls. You can reach it um going in the school community, or you can find my Instagram or it'll be in the show notes below. Welcome to the Inner King Initiative Podcast, and where we're coming as black men to grow, um, to sharpen each other and just to be in the space of safe, right? It's not many safe places that we have, but I just want to welcome you guys for being here. And man, today, with this being April, because this episode will come out April, uh the first week of April, right? We're gonna do a financial literacy month. And this is gonna be a series where we're gonna teach um finances for adult. If you like me, I didn't grow up learning finances in the house, right? I learned from life, and that's not fun. So I wanted to create a space where we can learn this month um and really put emphasis on finances because that is a big struggle um within a black community, right? Um, and even people in general, honestly. But today's guest is that financial expert. Shout out to LP. How are you doing today, man?

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Man, I'm doing good. First off, I appreciate being called an expert, you know. Yeah, you know, you know, people may have to judge that as we go along, but I can maybe earn that title. So I appreciate it. You got it with me. You know more than that. I appreciate it. I appreciate it, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Yeah, man. Today's episode is being sponsored by TRG Group. And can you tell us a little bit about that company?

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Yeah, yeah. So TRG Financial is a you know brain baby of mine. It's my financial advising company where we work with personal advisory clients as well as institutional clients. So I can do everything from family wealth, family planning, individual planning, all the way to running a retirement plan for a major organization, making sure they're compliant and they've got investments where their employees can get to and through retirement.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Okay. So how did what led you to this space?

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Man, that that now that's a journey. So um I never thought that I would be the person uh managing people's money as you were getting started. Um, I I learned through life as well. So um remember 0809, I don't know how old of a brother you are.

SPEAKER_03 2:17

I'm 32.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Okay, so 0809, you were just now getting uh high school. Yeah, like you are you are seeing the news headlines of the market crash.

SPEAKER_04 2:25

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Okay, so at that time I'm 28, 29.

SPEAKER_04 2:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Um, was accumulating um, I guess wealth you would say in my career. Um, didn't realize that there could be a few things that would wipe it all out at one time. Okay. And that's what happened to me. Right. Um, recently married. Okay. Um I didn't have any kids at that time, but recently married, and I can remember um going back to my house and being like, well, we're broke. Like the um that's a struggle. Yeah. Hey, hey, you know, I'm living some of it now to this day, but you know, um the investments and things that I made that while they were pragmatic, because I'm not a big risk taker and still not to this day, um, I didn't realize that there were a lot of other influences that could affect the way my money was managed.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

So from then on, I went and got another degree, um, decided I was going to study this, and then I changed my profession and went into finance about two years after that.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Okay. So when you got to this journey, like where did you start off at after college?

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Okay, so from college, I'm communications. So you're also at the Hive. Shout out to the Hive. Yeah, so um communications is actually where I got my start in most things. Okay. Um from there, I worked in uh at the PGA tour. So I've got a love and affinity for golf. Um from the PGA tour, I worked in HR offices at two large institutions. Um, matriculated my way from there to being like the vice president of HR, director of HR in a few different roles. Um, from that, I was tasked. A department head came to me and was like, hey, we got to revamp our retirement program.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Okay, whatever. Um, you know how you get that thing on your resume, duties to be assigned? Yeah. Okay. So that's what happened to me. So I was probably about 32 when that happened. Um, 45 now. So they came to me and they were like, hey, duties to be assigned. We need someone to manage this retirement program. Um, the person who was here had all the institutional knowledge, they retired, figure it out. So, over a period of maybe two years, um, I had to one, not only learn what an investment portfolio was, how people matriculated their way from being an employee to retiring, but also how to have those conversations with staff employees as well as the vendors who worked with us. And that kind of built my muscle to decide, hey, I might be able to do this as a career as well.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Before we keep going, though, I do want to shout out to the hive because you know they have helped me take my podcast to the next level for sure. Um, when I came for the tour, I remember D told me she said, Tell all your friends the hive is live. So here we go. The hive is live, right? So if you're in the area, in Houston area, or you're just traveling down, you need somewhere to record, this is definitely a good space for you.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Man, I appreciate that. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Oh no, absolutely, man. Y'all done a lot from me. Um, and so, you know, you're doing this finance group and you also have the hive, right? Absolutely. Yeah. How are you managing all of it?

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Um, we're not. You know, it's one of those things where um, um, you know, so I would say that you you manage with great people around you. So you mentioned D. Um, um, we won't give her full business out, but I would say she's definitely one of the anchors and partners in the building that makes sure that things are ran effectively. Um, you can't do anything by yourself. Like as we got into this building or even in this industry, um, I always told myself that if it's only my vision, then it's too small. Right. So I'm able to combine my vision with hers and a few other people in the building that I would consider our brain trust. And we've just been trying to operate from here. Now, um, things are growing and we would like them to grow faster. So come join us. Yeah, go come join us. But but yeah, yeah. But we're definitely excited about where we're going as it relates to the hive because we feel like we've got a lot of room to grow here in the city.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Oh, absolutely, absolutely for sure. Um, but you know, you talked about how you lost it all. Yeah, yeah, no doubt. You're struggling. What steps did you take to get back to where you are now? We're not back to where you are now.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

So I I've got um extreme belief in myself also. Okay. So that's one thing that um I don't lack um in any manner of thinking I could figure anything out. Right. So even amongst the times where I may be on margin or feel like there's not a solution, um, one, I believe in myself, and I also believe in God, like that hey, you that you'll provide. Like so I I kind of anchor myself into those things. But um, it really just started with a plan. Okay. And if we go to what I do in my day-to-day career, I think a lot of us we operate on it's just going to happen without a plan being in place that we can follow, track, and measure. Right. And if I allude to like a personal finance conversation, the first thing I usually start to ask people is, you know, if you've got a goal, what were your goals to what was your plan to accomplish that goal? All right. Most people don't have a plan. So I have to sit down and put a plan together. All right, what what's gonna be my next 10 years?

SPEAKER_04 7:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

All right, I hey, we I I I failed or I I I lost this. How can I recover and be more abundant? And it really started with a plan.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Okay. So yeah, we all need that lesson. Plan. Yeah. You can't really do it. Like you said, you can't do it when you can't measure it when you don't know where you're going, how you're gonna get there. Like your plan is your map, your plan is your guide, at least to keep you on track. Um, but so how did you bounce back financially to even get here?

SPEAKER_00 7:39

Yeah, thankfully, I have always until recently, this is the first time that I'm a full entrepreneur, you would say.

SPEAKER_04 7:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Um, since June of last year, I've always had a W-2. Okay. Like always. Um, and thankfully, well-paying W-2s. You know, when I was working in HR departments and made my way to leading an organization of about 30, you know, I had a lot of responsibility. With that responsibility came a decent paycheck. Uh, when I was a consultant working for my previous investment firm, you know, I had about a$3 billion book. Um, you know, depending upon market, it could have been even a little higher, a little lower at times. But, you know, that that paid well. So um even as I had to pull back from maybe some of the more ambitious things that I was doing, I could anchor myself in that the first and the 15th I was gonna get a check until now. Comfort. Yeah, until now. So for whatever reason, now, um, as I've launched my own investment firm, um, that first and 15th isn't guaranteed. You got to go out and work for it. Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Yeah, you could you can have one good invoice this month, and I have one for like two months.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Man, who you telling? Like, like uh, but you know, we celebrated an invoice the other day. I was like, man, this is this is and they ain't paid it yet. Hey, you know I'm talking to, but but you know, but but at the same time, you know, those are the things that are affirming.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Yeah. And so I know you said you learn finances from life, right? Yeah, like a lot of us.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

But how was your upbringing?

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Yeah, so military. Yeah, so military. So my family was definitely more of a scarcity mindset. Okay. Um, and that's nothing against my parents. They um, you know, my dad, he was in the military for 28 years.

SPEAKER_04 9:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Um, from there, he never got out of a uniform. He immediately went from the military to ROTC. He ran an RLTC program. From running an ROTC program, he retired and he still almost puts on his uniform just because it was a part of who he was. Yeah. Like that's just what he did. Um, my mom, you know, she was an educator. So it's not like we had a lot of resources in our family. So it was more like, okay, we we need to save, or we can't do this camp, or we can't do that. So the first things I was trying to do is I'm gonna make it out with athletics.

SPEAKER_03 9:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Like I'm gonna try to be an athlete.

SPEAKER_03 9:50

That's typical, though.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

That's typical. Yeah, yeah. Um, you know, I had an older brother who played college football. I had a middle brother who was a pretty good basketball player. Me, I was a pretty good multi-sport athlete. My younger brother, he played college basketball. So all of us, we thought, hey, we we're gonna make it in sports. The whole thing. None of us made it. So thankfully, um, I liked math. Okay. So I was kind of able to anchor in on that. And that's kind of where I've gotten to what I'm doing now.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

That's good. And so, how would you say, like outside of money and what you saw, how would you say, like, growing up what your family was for you, how did it develop you mentally?

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Yeah, it the the blessing that I had is that at all times I had both my parents. So I can definitely say that um, you know, not that I'm a unicorn in that, but I know a lot of people in black and brown community, the families may be separated at times or not always aligned. At the minimum, I can say I had both my parents at both times, and they were able to pour into me the muscle of, hey, you can do anything. Right. And even if you don't accomplish it when you want to, my dad, I'm also a PK. So my dad also would pour into, hey, you at church every day, you know, and and that kind of built a muscle for me as well. While um some of the things I may have said, hey, I don't know if I agree with all of that right now. I still have all of those lessons and those details that kind of anchor me moving forward. That's good.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

And I we're gonna get into the finances, I promise y'all got, but I like to get to the foundation. No doubt. Yeah. So for yourself, and I like that because all my guests is for yourself, when did you first find God? Outside of like outside my parents. Yeah, outside of your parents.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

I'd say um right before my freshman year of college.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

Okay, what happened?

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Um, so when at the time when I thought I was gonna be this big shot athlete, and those dreams weren't materializing, a lot of my confidence, et cetera, was built into that.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Not identity, basically.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Absolutely. And when you lose some of that identity, you have to anchor yourself into things that are greater than yourself. And and that's where I realized all the vacation Bible school and the Wednesday church and the Sunday church, those lessons were me finding God in my own way. And it was things that I could pull back and say, Well, I oh, I remember this story. I I'm I'm having my Samson moment or I'm having this moment. And and those were things probably about the time when I got to college that allowed me to kind of, you know, make my way through that. So I'd say right before I got to college.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Okay. And I could say you could probably say, like, from the day to that day, your life changed.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

I would agree. Yeah, yeah. It it allowed me to um walk more comfortably in who I was. Okay. Because not only did I have a creator that believed in me, right, that also was poured belief into myself.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

So how was like all everything, all these lessons that you learn and how are they translating into like your home life with your wife and your kid?

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Yeah, no, it's it's it's exactly almost as weird. I've kind of became my parents. Okay. Yeah, you know, I never I never thought I would. Like um, I used to see them sitting around. I'm like, what y'all doing? Like, but now I see, hey, there's benefit of maybe eating dinner together. There's benefit of having your family come. My wife and daughters just left here.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Like they, they, my daughter was working um the birthday party today. You know, so she not only may have an allowance, but she got a job too, you know. Um, you mentioned D. Her daughter was working here today as well. And that's not because, hey, we don't want someone else to do it. Right. Those are lessons, those are things that I can remember my dad doing the same thing. My dad, um, he did martial arts. Um, he I would go work the dojo with him. My dad was also an official, separate of him doing the military. So I would go learn how to ref basketball games. So it gave me a big piece of work ethic that I put into my family that extending on to my kids as well.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

See, that's beautiful, guys, because that's a legacy right there. No doubt. Right. Yeah. We always think of legacy as financials, but it's the learned experiences. Um, I did a podcast like two weeks ago in New Orleans, and I was like, you know what, I'm gonna break my son. Yeah. First time I ever brought him. And he literally was in there, he was loving it. The producer was teaching him what buttons to press. He produced that episode.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

He'll never forget it. Never and and how old is he now?

SPEAKER_01 14:05

He's eight.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Okay. At at I Can Promise You He'll Never Forget It. We just did a birthday, and sorry, I'm not trying to talk the hive, but we do birthdays in here for um youth where it's a unique experience where they either produce a podcast or make a short film and they get to do like a red carpet and all this stuff. That the kids never forget it because it it's like, where else would you do that? Like I promise you, your son will never forget that.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Oh no, he ran down the stairs this morning. I just finished my podcast. I said, huh? And he was, I see, he's like, Yeah, I was watching a podcast. I forgot what show it was. Oh, Percy Jackson podcast. Nice. And I'm like, There's a podcast for everything now. Oh, absolutely. But he's so stuck on it. And I'm like, my wife looked at me, she said, You implanted that seed. He'll never forget it. If you remember last week, my last time I came to record, my wife was here. She was. She sure was. I said, Yeah, didn't you enjoy coming to watch it? She said, Yeah, I did. I ain't gonna lie to you.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Yeah, see, and that's what I tell people that this is more like not only and I appreciate your style, so I'll give you some flowers before we even get more into it, but I've talked to you personally, right? Just about what you're doing and the level of conversations that you're having with black men and that I appreciate that. Where I lobby to be on the show. I said, Hey, let me know. When can I get on? Yeah, I'm I'm being honest. So um, just to see your family be able to come here, that's the environment we want to create. Some studios, it's not gonna be like that. Nah, you know, I I want anyone to feel comfortable bringing any extension of them because I want them to feel comfortable that you're here, right? Because you're an extension of them when you're gone. So this space needs to be an extension of you.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

So that's kind of how it looks like and it's also to have that support in a room for people too. Because if, and as this is for any business, honestly, when you're serving your people, they want to come back. That's why I can sit here and say the hive is live, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:45

Man, I appreciate that. Yeah, for real.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

But let's get into finances because, and I want to start off with helping those families who are struggling, they don't really know what to do. So let's say a family is like down on they're down on the ends, right? And they have sixteen hundred dollars that they want to invest or you know, build for the future, what would be your best first step for them?

SPEAKER_00 16:04

Yeah, no, so that's a great question. Um, I would say you're not going to invest.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

So if you're um, and that's counter to my industry.

SPEAKER_03 16:14

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 16:14

So my industry would tell you, hey man, give me that$1,600 so I could charge a percentage and we try to grow that. But if you're down in your last 1600, I want to see what your emergency savings looks like. The the first thing I want to see is, are you prepared if all your income left to make it the next three to six months? Right. So I would sit down with you again and have that conversation about a plan. The the first thing that I'm always going to do, and this is like even as a part of my credentials, I need to make sure that you're prepared for any type of investing. All right. I need to make sure that your finances are in a way where you're not over-leveraging debt. I'd say, hey, maybe that's 1600. You got some high interest debt. We should pay that first. Okay. Because that high interest debt is going to outpace anything that you would make in the market. So let's make sure we clear that out. Um, if if you um, you know, maybe have some things like some medical procedures or stuff like that that we need to, we need to have a holistic view before I would ever sit sit down with someone when they said, Hey, I just got this bucket of money.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Because that would be counter to what a holistic plan view would be of an individual.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Okay. So from your work, how um, because you know you said pay off the debt and stuff, how much debt do you see? Well, you don't give me like a number, but you know, how often do you see debt like taking over families?

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Oh, 100% of the time. Like, oh, we we're in debt, like Americans, just in general. Like uh, Americans are um the most debt-rich country in the world. Like most people who are making it, especially now in the current state of the economy, um, you know, they're putting the high price of gas on credit cards. Oh, yeah. That's not coming out of people's, you know, cash because that cash flow they've got to use to pay their bills. Or, hey, we just left Christmas season. That trillion dollars that was spent wasn't all cash. A lot of that was on high interest debt. Um, those loans that people take out to, you know, maybe manage uh expense. Or I will also include vehicles or um secondary purchases that people do. We we are a leveraged society. And and I'm not excluding myself in that. Like I'm I'm leveraged in a variety of things, I'm just leveraged in different things. Right. I'm I might be leveraged in a real estate portfolio, or um, I might be leveraged in a business environment where I've got some debt that's towards that. But we are leveraged as a country, especially black and brown people.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Oh, yeah, especially it's like they kind of walk you into it. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. You got this credit card. I hate going to zero interest. You know, we'll give you 35% off this purchase. I'm like, okay, what about the next ones?

SPEAKER_00 18:43

And and and what people don't realize, um, marketing has been around before debt. Oh, yeah. Marketing is the first thing that puts you in the mindset of you need this, you you have to do this. And then if you have to do it, you're gonna take every step necessary, including getting yourself in debt to do it.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Yeah. So you have to stop being a consumer.

SPEAKER_00 19:05

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, consumerism is probably what drains our community the most. Oh, yeah. Not only consumerism amongst the people who are selling us things, but we do it amongst each other also because we compare our consumerism amongst each other.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

Oh, yeah. Because everybody has to have the uh the Tahoe. Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

The big house, the I have a hundred pairs of Jordans for no reason. I'm just being honest. Like, I would I would not I I can't sit up here and be a hypocrite. Right. Like you will rarely see me in the same pair of shoes, and it was a ridiculous thing for me to do.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

I was there and I started throwing away. I was like, I'm almost out of it.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

I'm almost out of it. Trust me. I it's hard.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

It's hard because when you start seeing them shoes on them apps, you're like, I could just order this and be at my house tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

And and it does. And and they made it too easy for us to buy things.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Convenient sales.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Yeah, it absolutely does. Every time and and you know, took convenience, the thing that I, and this is a soapbox for me. Um, anybody who's around me, if you do DoorDash or a Grubhub or anything, I'm judging you immediately because the convenience fees that you're paying on that is ridiculous. Almost double. Sometimes more than double. Yeah, sometimes it's and people don't consider that all for them not to get out of the comfort of their location. So if there's one soapbox that I'm always gonna be on, it's gonna be DoorDash Grubhub.

SPEAKER_01 20:19

I feel that because I sometimes I look at Uber Eats and then it says, Oh, you can get it faster, priority. It needd be like a minute faster. It may be a minute faster, but people be like, Oh, let me hit that.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Yeah, and they don't know that that extra dollar ninety nine, and the driver never comes a minute faster. Oh no, they never come a minute faster. Yeah, absolutely. And then you have to full call.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

I think it's I had to stop one day because I was ordering tacos from this taco truck by my house. And one day I was like, let me go up here and price match the difference. And it was like 15 bucks. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

I said, This is insane. And and no one, so you did yourself a service. Most people, they're almost you almost have guilt when you start to do it that you don't want to go see if there's a difference. Yeah, like you don't want to be proven wrong.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

You know there is, you just like it.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

You don't do it, and and that's behavioral economics. Like we trick ourselves into certain purchases, and the people who are selling and things know that they know that they can do it, and they make it convenient.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Uber makes a lot of money off of Uber Eats. Absolutely. Because I think the restaurants get charged too.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Everyone gets charged, which is crazy. And and and then think about it, Apple makes the most money. Yeah, because they're on all the transactions because the device is on your phone.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

Yeah, Apple Pay. Yeah, everything. Every every what March they have an Apple event selling whatever's new. Every December, the phones come out and people are like, Oh, I got the new phone. I had to stop doing that too.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

It's consumerism, man. Like, you gotta remember, um, they have their only market research is studying how to get people to spend money. Yeah, they don't really the products almost are the same every year. Yeah, but their market research.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Slight changes.

SPEAKER_00 21:54

Hey, we know if we make this one little change, that's gonna impact the thousand avatars that they have of Adam. They got a thousand of you, and they only need to get one of those thousand in your head. Oh, I gotta have it now because they made that one thing that I was looking for, and they've ran your algorithm uh maybe a million times. Probably.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

That's how it works. Yeah, they got a gotta do it too. Absolutely. Yeah. Get out of consumerism. Like, really think about your purchases before you make these purchases because it is uh hurting your financial future for sure. Um, but let's take it back because I know you said for those ones who are struggling their last 1800 or 1600 and they you pay off debt and catch up, right? So let's say a better situation family, one who, you know, they can cover their bills, everything, they just have extra money because they got the income taxes. Yep. About right right now. Right? That's that's true. Instead of booking that trip or going to that concert, because we know tax season is concert release season, yep, right? What should they do with that money?

SPEAKER_00 22:47

Yeah. So that, you know, that's a layered answer now. Okay. So so now we've got someone who may be in a position where they can sit down and do an actual financial plan.

SPEAKER_03 22:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

So if if someone, because I kind of look at taxes um not as really a um bonus. Right. Most people do. You just get, I know that, and that's that's why I'm different, but that's why I'm I'm in the industry I'm in because I know that you just gave that interest-free loan to the government all year.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

And they really just gave you a portion of it back.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

So, you know, I once I learned that, I was I said, you know what? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

So, but if someone was in a position where they were able to get a tax refund, the first thing I would sit down is is let's come up with an actual statement of what you have. Okay. What's your net worth? Let's sit down and really see, okay, these are your debts, these are your assets. Okay. Let's figure out where you fall as it relates to your net worth because these dollars that you have, yeah, they may be better positioned in the market, but they also may be better positioned doing something else with it. Or you may be in a situation where I'm not so much concerned about you investing. Hey, go do something fun.

SPEAKER_02 23:55

Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

I think too many times we martyr ourselves in savings. Yeah. I want us to save. I want us to get to retirement, but I also want us to live a full life.

SPEAKER_02 24:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Because we're only promised one of these. So if you came to me and you were like, hey, we we got this money sitting here, we may take a portion of that and start doing something with a vehicle. But if you had a goal to take your family somewhere, let's let's do that. Right. Let's let's let's figure out a way to fit that in our plan and in our budget. And as long as it's not sacrificing what we're doing 10, 15, 20 years down the line, then let's do it. Because I think too many times you'll hear the stories of, well, you you can't do this because um you don't buy that coffee. That coffee's messing up. It's not right. Coffee's not messing up your financial plan. It's the abundance of things around that coffee and the habits that you've built that's messing up your financial plan.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Going to get that coffee buying a Starbucks cup.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Yeah, it's all the other things. Like I think what we what we've done in society, we make small things the problem when it's really the habits that we've built that's the issue.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Yeah, because a lot of us didn't see money in a light. Like I saw my parents spend money. Yeah. So that's what I learned. I was like balling out. We was off the balcony, we having fun, right? And it wasn't until Job season hit, and I was like, something don't feel right. And so a lot of us, and I that's hilarious. It's funny because I'm I'm talking to a lot of people like around my age, and they're just like, rebuilding after 30, and you'd have made all these decisions at 20 is hard.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

Yep. Right. The 30s really are probably the most difficult years.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

Um, as speaking from someone who's 45. And the reason why I say that is because you really don't know anything still.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

Right. You still kind of learn a lot.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

You don't have the years of experience in your field. I'm just gonna say it. Sometimes you're you're making your way to your second relationship. Nah, I'm being real. Let's be real. That's real. That's real. Like you're you're you're um, you may have moved and didn't realize how um damaging that move was going to be to your financial situation. Um you you you may have the 30s are when you you think you're at your best, but you're not. Like you're you're really still sorting out life.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

Right. You're still climbing to your best.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

Yeah, you you're you're still in your accumulation phase. Okay. Like everything in your 30s, you're thinking is what's next, what's next, what's next? In your 30s, no one ever stops to celebrate. Tell me the last time you stopped to celebrate.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

When I went in the woods like a month ago.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

Okay, and we talked about that. We did. And and what did I say when you I said, Man, I can't believe you did that. Because you're 30. You know what I'm saying? I would have never thought, hey, I need to take a break.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

Right.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

I everything at that time was accumulated, accumulated, accumulate, accumulate. Y'all are just healthier than we are, right? You know, y'all have learned the lessons of sit down for a second, take a pause, take a beat. Um, you know, people of my, I'm the oldest millennial. Um, you know, we grind ourselves down. Oh, yeah. Because we were taught.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

That's what we saw. That's what we saw. And even me, that's what I saw. I don't know. It just, I just knew I didn't want to be like that.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

That's and I respect that. I knew that's why I like this show. Right.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

I didn't want to work myself to the bone. And I caught myself doing it at one point. I was just like, yeah, no, I'm good. Yeah. Um, but back to finances for sure. Um, dang, that's good. So when we go into finances, I just want you to break down like some principles that you feel like everybody should know, basic principles. Um, of course, as the series goes on, we will get deeper into these things, but just give us something to start off with.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

Yeah, no, that that's a great question. So to me, there's kind of like three basic things that um, and I'll specifically talk about our community. Okay. You know, I'll start with us. Um, the first thing is um, as people, most of our wealth will be accumulated in real estate.

SPEAKER_02 27:48

All right.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

Um, most of a black person's wealth, at least in this country right now, um, it's not going to be starting a Fortune 500 company. I mean, I'm just being real. You know, but but people are um, we've got a lot of um illusions that we're the we've got the next great idea.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

It's that get that LLC tomorrow and be rich me today and be rich tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

Exactly. Um and people will, uh me included, will push all the chips onto the table for that one idea. Right. When some of the safer things that communities can do is anchoring themselves in a single family home.

unknown 28:30

Right.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

And I'm not going to say that I'm an advocate for real estate first, because remember, I'm just giving you a few things. Oh, yeah. We'll get deeper as we go along. But most wealth is generated in a real estate asset. Second thing I would say is that we should anchor ourselves in some type of long-term protection, i.e., insurance. All right. The second piece of our wealth that's typically inherited or accumulated is someone passed and they had some form of term life insurance. Okay, where the beneficiaries, and I'm gonna say this again, the beneficiaries were correct on the document. So you didn't have to go to probate or you didn't have to go to court. Your family could go in, sign paperwork that said, hey, this policy belongs to Adam. I'm gonna give you this million dollars for you know being deceased.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

Right.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

That that's another way I would always say protect, cover your family insurance. Seems like it's a waste of money, but in reality, it's a way it's not. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

It looks pointless until it's not.

SPEAKER_00 29:33

And and that's all insurance. Now, some you can be overinsured. Right. So I'm not here to tell you to go out and get universal index life, term, whole. Like I'm we can go through all the policies, but I just encourage people the cheapest way to do something, and again, this isn't advice, we're just having a general conversation. That term life policy.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

Right.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

20, 30 years based on your health. It's gonna be$10,$15 a month. You know, and your your family may be able to get$250,$500,$750 a million dollars based on that. So, and then the third strategy that I would always say is you have to build an emergency savings bucket.

SPEAKER_02 30:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

Um, and I'll use me as an example. Um, over the summer, um, as I was having discussions with my former employer, it led to me being essentially laid off.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

Okay. So had I not been in a situation where I've been following some of these plans and guidelines, um, most of us can't cover an emergency that's more than$400. At one time right now, you need a tire in your car, most of us are putting that on credit or can't do it.

SPEAKER_03 30:44

Right.

SPEAKER_00 30:44

Your refrigerator goes out, most of us are putting it on credit and can't do it. At least in this case, I was fortunate enough to have three to six months of emergency savings.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

That's the important part. It didn't change too much about your life.

SPEAKER_00 30:58

Exactly. And to the point where I can say, all right, it gives me a little more comfort to know I can make some decisions differently because okay, at least I I've got this for a while, and I don't necessarily have to go get a job that I may not want. Or I don't have to go do things that are counter to my beliefs to make sure I keep food on the table. Right. Hey, that happens, man. Like, you know, so if those if those are just some entry-level things, do what you can. Don't don't put yourself in extreme debt, but try to get in some real estate.

SPEAKER_03 31:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

You know, have some protection through insurance and then have some emergency savings.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

And that's not in order, but those were just kind of three things.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Yeah, three things. Um, can you go a little bit deeper into term life? Yeah, absolutely. You know, we don't a lot of people don't really know about it, especially in our community, right? Yeah. I remember one point everybody was like, go get this term life policy. No, they were saying whole.

unknown 31:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

They were saying whole life, yeah, yeah. Whole life. And then borrow against it. I was like, that only makes sense to me.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

But yeah, yeah, yeah. So there are multiple types of um insurance policies, um, even down to um in in the investment world, there are people like myself that also sell what's called an annuity. Right. And an annuity is an insurance contract where you would take a portion of your cash, that portion of your cash is sold to an insurance provider, and then they give you some form of guaranteed income over your duration of life. Okay. But if we're talking about just the basic life insurance that I would encourage everyone to get, and again, I have to disclaim that this isn't advice, but term life is the easiest policies to get. Okay. They're the cheapest policies to get. Okay, and they are the less expensive based on your time and effort that you have to put in. So, for example, most term life policies or how insurance sometimes works, you might have to go get a medical exam to know if you're insurable.

SPEAKER_04 32:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

If you got a chronic condition, it may raise the amount of your premium. If you um have family history, like they, you know, some in policies they may be looking at, hey, did your dad have heart conditions? Did your mom um have kidney failure? Um, what was your two furthest up? Did your grandparents have, you know, ex cancer or something like that in their family? Typically, with a term life policy, those are very easy to get. Okay. They're really inexpensive, and they're indexed based on your age. And what I mean by that is you being 32, they're gonna look at you as 32. They're gonna say, hey, I'm you might have life expectancy until 85.

SPEAKER_04 33:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

So someone would say is, hey, we're gonna give you a 20-year policy. So what some people would say is, Well, I'm throwing that money away for these 20 years.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

Okay. Yeah. You might not make those 20 years.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

And that's what I try to tell people. So, what that 20-year policy is, they may give you$250,000 as life insurance. You'll get that certificate, it'll sit at your house. And if anything were to happen, as long as you've got your beneficiaries, you may only pay eight, nine bucks a month for that based on your health.

SPEAKER_03 34:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

And to me, that's one of the easiest things because let's let's imagine, you know, we don't want anything negative to happen. Let's say something does happen. You got the eight-year-old, the wife, the four-year-old, whatever it is, if they could get that quarter of a million dollars, they're gonna be in a much better position than doing GoFundMe's.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

Oh, yeah. Because I will say they can grieve better with knowing they have money in the second care of thanks to trying to grieve your loss and you not being there and at the same time trying to raise money to bury you.

SPEAKER_00 34:25

Because they're gonna do GoFundMe. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I've seen it. And and I'll and there's even see what people don't know, there's even final expense insurance.

SPEAKER_03 34:32

Really? Yes, I didn't even know that.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

You can buy insurance just for a final expense. Like anything that would happen after death, there are they're they're not as expensive as other policies. They're called final expense, and that's something that'll take care of those burial expenses and things like that. But if you sat with someone who would help you with a plan, they may say, Hey, um, you've got this history of your family. Right. And we're not gonna make this a morbid conversation, but let's be realistic and understand that you had lupus.

SPEAKER_02 35:01

Right.

SPEAKER_00 35:01

Lupus in your family took out XYZ before a certain age. Let's let's have that conversation. It's a possibility. And you have to do that because if we're here for the next generation, then we need to prepare for that next generation also.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

Right. Yeah, and we it helps us to get better at accepting it. Correct. And the ones who come after us and we'll make it easier for them to accept it too. Or you might be one of those people who just I beat it. Yeah. So now you know how to beat it. Absolutely. And so back to like the term life and everything, does that affect like your tax time at all?

SPEAKER_00 35:33

No, no, no. See, see, those type of things, um, the only time that you typically have a tax hit from anything related to this is once you start to pull money out.

SPEAKER_02 35:46

Right.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

That that's when you will have income or you'll have a distribution or you'll have something that may impact your tax situation. Now, if you're getting, let's say you're getting insurance through a job, okay, that's where it could potentially affect your tax situation because that's coming off of your paycheck. When you receive your W-2, they'll be like line items for the insurance that you paid, um, how much your company may have put in for the insurance for you also. That may have an impact on your overall tax. But what you do on an individual level, it's gonna be minor. You know, you'll work with your accountant, your accountant will say, well, how much did you pay in insurance policies this year? They'll look at that, they'll be able to see if there's some form of deduction or some form of credit that you'll receive there, and you'll move forward. But it's not gonna impact you in a negative way at all.

SPEAKER_01 36:31

Okay. Because I I never knew that. And I'm asking questions too because I'm a student. Right, no doubt. Um, and this is why you should have conversations like this because you people know things that you don't know, but you need the um the knowledge for your own life, no matter what field you're in, honestly. Um, especially when it's finances, finances is everywhere, it's everywhere. Yep. No matter what you do, you have to spend money. Absolutely. And it costs a lot to leave your house. It costs a lot to live. I mean, people don't doubt that.

SPEAKER_00 36:54

Yeah, and die. It costs more to die sometimes than it did to live. It's like I'm leaving here with problems. Correct, correct, absolutely. I mean, people people don't even consider like, you know, that you you're taxed on death. There's inheritance taxes.

SPEAKER_01 37:07

There's inheritance taxes?

SPEAKER_00 37:08

Absolutely. If you were to leave money to your family, depending upon how you were structured and how you planned prior to death, your family could get taxed a good amount on the money that you leave them. And and those are all conversations that I have with people on a day-to-day basis.

SPEAKER_01 37:26

Okay. This is not personal advice, guys, but do you feel as though you know that money should go into like a trust or LLC for something?

SPEAKER_00 37:34

Okay, so there are different tools that provide different levels of protection depending upon um the level of income that you would be leaving. Okay. Do I believe in a trust? Absolutely. Right. Is it the tool for everybody? No.

SPEAKER_04 37:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

Um, is an LLC the tool for everybody? Absolutely not. Um, especially in the state of Texas, because Texas has franchise taxes on their LLCs that people aren't even aware of. And most of the time when people have an LLC in Texas, they're not paying those taxes. Their LLC don't even be active. No, I'm being for real. They don't even know it that it's not active. They're going around um with their um EIN and all these things. They haven't paid those franchise. The the state of Texas isn't honoring them as an LLC.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:18

They're just lucky no one's came to try to get um any money from them where they thought they would have the protection of that. No, that's going straight to the personal. So there's different, there, there's different rules that you need to understand before you make a decision to do anything. Right. Whether that's, you know, trust, last will and testament, LLC, buying things in an LLC. Um, you know, you you need to understand those rules because there's a lot of rules anchored into those. And I learn new rules every day.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

Right. Man, see why this episode is sponsored by TRG Financial, right? Oh man. So let's go into like like every day. I know we talked a lot about death, right? Yeah. I don't want to get too more on it.

SPEAKER_04 38:59

No doubt.

SPEAKER_01 38:59

Um, so like let's say a family is trying to start a budget. Yeah. You know, what would an ideal budget look like if you were to give like a template of it?

SPEAKER_00 39:07

Yeah. So for me, I I use percentages more than anything. And it and it's really based on how much you're bringing in. Yeah, and family need. Okay. Because, you know, there there'll be individuals who may have a child with a condition that requires a certain treat of type of medical treatment that this standard budget may not work for them, or they may have a condition themselves. But typically I'd say you want to put about, you know, 60% of your income should be for, you know, the things that you know you have to do.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Right. You know, that's your Sunday fun day. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:45

You know, like, you know, the things that you know you need, your living expenses, your transportation expenses, your food expenses. And I'm not talking about the Uber Eats and the you know, the Grubhub. I'm talking about groceries, you know, things that you know that's probably gonna be about, you know, anywhere from, you know, 50 to 60 percent of your income, period. Right. That those are those are your needs. Okay. Okay. Then I would tell people that you've got wants also. And those are the things that, hey, they may not be exactly, and and and a part of that 60% also includes your savings. Okay. That's also gonna include your savings and your retirement and the things that you know you have to do. Then there's gonna be like your wants. You know, you might be looking at that, you know, 30%, you know, 60 to 30% now. So there's some things that I know I want to do. I I gotta have a standard of living. You know, you're you don't want people to just to martyr themselves, like I said. And then that 10% is gonna be the things that's kind of like nice to have. Like, you know, something that either, hey, I could set aside and do some additional investing with this, or it's gonna be a part of my um additional emergency savings bucket. So of that 100% pool, you're gonna make sure you take care of everything first. That's 60%. Yep. And then that 30%, we're gonna be able to have some flexibility bit, but it's still gonna be some things that you're required to do. And then at 10%, do whatever you want to with, unless you're on the margins where you've got high interest debt or loans that you need to be covered. Because that 10% needs to be covering all that. Right. You know, it needs to be a part of that process. But if you got a pretty clean bill, we can come up with a pretty solid plan for you.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

Okay, pay that debt.

SPEAKER_00 41:23

Yeah, absolutely. If there's anything that I would say, and trust me, I need to pay mine. So I'm not, I'm again, I'm never a hypocrite. I always talk about what I'm going through as well. You you have to pay that high interest debt first.

SPEAKER_01 41:33

Yeah, you have to because it eats you. You start seeing that number just go up and go up and go up.

SPEAKER_00 41:37

And and don't pay the minimum because it's not even eating the interest of the debt. It's not, yeah, it's not, it's not.

SPEAKER_01 41:42

Back when I didn't know finances, of course. So back when I was like 20 and I first got credit cards on the city. Absolutely. I got paid$25. You saw that?

SPEAKER_00 41:49

Uh you was blitz.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

I was happy. Now I realized I was like, I've been paying this for a while. This still ain't zero.

SPEAKER_00 41:55

It it'll never, it most people don't realize if you just pay the minimum balance, it'll take up to 40 years to pay off a card.

SPEAKER_01 42:02

That's crazy. That's a mortgage.

SPEAKER_00 42:03

Longer.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

Yeah, that is longer.

SPEAKER_00 42:05

Yeah, we we they might introduce a 50-year mortgage. I discourage it, but they might introduce a longer mortgage to let people get in based on house affordability. But most people's mortgages are 20, 30 years.

SPEAKER_01 42:16

I'm not paying on a house for half a century. Right. Right. But that's and that's another thing. A lot of people, when we get money, we the first thing people go buy is cars and homes.

SPEAKER_00 42:24

Correct. And and I'm not uncomfortable with the home.

SPEAKER_01 42:27

Right.

SPEAKER_00 42:27

And the reason why I'm not uncomfortable with the home is because there's an appreciation value depending upon where you purchase it. There's maybe additional income. And then also, if you're maybe using a strategy where you house hack or some things like that, where you're able to make your home an income-producing property, I'm not opposed to that. I am opposed to new vehicles though. Yeah, I've never bought a brand new vehicle.

SPEAKER_01 42:48

I've bought two of them.

SPEAKER_00 42:49

I've never bought a brand new vehicle. Now I've bought used vehicles from the lot, but I've never purchased a brand new vehicle. Once I learned that trap, probably about 21, I've never purchased a brand new vehicle.

SPEAKER_01 42:58

But what's the trap? Let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_00 43:00

Because as soon as you go off the lot, it's depreciated about 25%.

SPEAKER_01 43:04

Which is crazy.

SPEAKER_00 43:05

But that's how it works. Right. You can't even get off the lot. Once you sign that paperwork and you get off the dealership, you can't come back in and get anything near to what you just bought it for.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

That is crazy, though. And it's a scam.

SPEAKER_00 43:19

And that's the trap. Yeah, that's because the trap is unlike houses and land, they're not making any more land on earth.

SPEAKER_02 43:27

Right. Like you got what you got.

SPEAKER_00 43:29

You've never heard of anybody, man. I just found this new land. But you know what they make every year? A new model of a car. Yeah. So the old model of the car value is already down because there's a newer model.

SPEAKER_01 43:43

And it goes back to what we said about like iPhones. They made one tweet.

SPEAKER_00 43:46

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 43:46

And I think they changed the body style every four years. Every four years, yeah, yeah. And I remember I bought 2020. I didn't get a good deal on it because I was running game. But I bought my wife a brand new uh 2020 Honda Pilot. Okay. Because that was our deal. She was like, if we have another kid, I need an SUV.

SPEAKER_00 44:02

You need an S UV, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:04

Bet. Right. But that's when I was hot rolling. No doubt. I got you. That was before Christ. And so I got it. And then I ended up the next year, I bought myself a brand new car.

SPEAKER_00 44:15

Oh, so you were in deep now. You got two pavements.

SPEAKER_01 44:18

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I was two pavements. And um, I was we was living in Georgia at the time. When we moved down, I sold my house and I made like 80,000 off of it.

SPEAKER_00 44:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 44:25

And I threw that at the car notes and was like, I want these cars.

SPEAKER_00 44:28

Smart man.

SPEAKER_01 44:29

Smart man. It it has its blessings and curses if you do it the right way. Yeah. But if I could go back, I wouldn't have bought those brand new.

SPEAKER_00 44:35

Yeah. I I I've never um I've never bought a brand new car off the lot. Like um, even my wife's vehicles, everything has been either the year before, or um, even if it's in the same year that we've purchased, it's gonna have some miles on it. I just I just I learned that lesson at least relatively early. And I've never fought fell into that trap.

SPEAKER_01 44:58

Yeah, that them shiny jewels.

SPEAKER_00 45:00

Oh, maybe it may be looking so good too. Uh come on. Smelling good. And that's marketing too. You know, because your car will never smell as good as it did. That's a lot of fresh detail. It'll never smell that good. So they they know how to get you.

SPEAKER_01 45:13

Yeah, it's kind of like stores because the layout of the store is strategic. Absolutely. I used to, when I was uh high school, I was working at HEB and that's when I learned it. I was like, the layout is strategic. They get you all the healthy stuff first, and then you cut that corner, you get the meat section.

SPEAKER_00 45:26

It's it's phenomenal at that point.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

Oh, yeah. You put the eggs and the milk all the way in the back because you got to go through all these. You have to, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:33

And not to mention the shelf placement. You know, at eye level, it's gonna be all the things that parents may want, but at that mid-level, it's gonna be every expensive cereal possible that the kids shouldn't be eating, and that's just how it works. It's conditioning.

SPEAKER_01 45:47

Yeah, and I see those little juices that have the cartoon characters on top of them.

SPEAKER_00 45:51

Yeah, those are so expensive too.

SPEAKER_01 45:52

And them kids be like, I want one of these.

SPEAKER_00 45:54

Yeah, it and it it's the same juice, but marked up 150%, which is crazy. That's how it works.

SPEAKER_01 46:00

Well, hey, consumerism, they know people are gonna buy it, and that's why they put the candy at the top. Absolutely. So it's like you really have to have the emotional intelligence to say, I'm not gonna buy this. Do I really need it?

SPEAKER_00 46:09

Yeah, no, I don't I fail on candy though. You know, um, they get me every time.

SPEAKER_01 46:14

That's niggas look good.

SPEAKER_00 46:15

They're gonna get yeah, they're gonna get me on some gummies, they they will definitely get me on it for sure.

SPEAKER_01 46:19

So you have to really, I had to go in a store with a plan. I can't go in there hungry, I can't, because I know like going in there like that, I'm like, oh, I want this, I want to do this. And then when I get home, I didn't really want that. You don't, but that not even just a store, that's just in life, right? Yeah, fun day, Sunday, well, Sunday, fun day. Yeah, drinks. Yeah, I'm going to hook, I'm going to get um bottomless mimosas, I'm gonna do this, not realizing how much money that eats up.

SPEAKER_00 46:44

Yeah, it's expensive, man. Like the the day-to-day of what you can do, at least in Houston, because a lot of people experienced this over spring break. They didn't realize how excuse, yeah. Hey, Houston club owners and restaurateurs, they made out during spring break because they had their margins up 80% on people and they didn't even know it. Oh, yeah. Now it's local people we knew, but the out of towners, y'all got scammed.

SPEAKER_01 47:09

Like I'm just telling you, yeah. I'm not gonna say the name, but I pulled up somewhere before and like parking was like a hundred dollars.

SPEAKER_00 47:15

That's insanity.

SPEAKER_01 47:16

A hundred dollars.

SPEAKER_00 47:17

We don't even charge for parking here like that. That's crazy, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:20

But yeah, just to put my car in a spot for a couple hours so I can go in there and spend more money, and people do it. Yep. I I remember I was trying to put a friend group uh trip together, and it was January, and the trip wasn't until like July. Okay. And all I heard, it was like was like what$1,700 a person, maybe maybe less than that, actually. It was less than that, it was per couple. Um, and people's like, Oh, I can't make it. I'm like, it's January. How you know you can't make it? Like, do you like look at your finances past this week and talk about plans? Right.

SPEAKER_00 47:51

Didn't have it because you can plan for a trip like that. Hey, I'm gonna put aside 300 a month.

SPEAKER_01 47:54

Yeah, and I said, That's so simple. Just I got to the point to where I don't even want to see it. When I was getting paid, just go to this account. Yep, and when I'm ready to book that trip, I'm like, oh, I got it. Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 48:04

And and see, you're you're ahead of the game. So I I'll give a piece that, and you know, this might come in a later conversation. But I I if you work with me, you're gonna have three accounts, right? You're gonna have three buckets because I don't, just like you're saying, I don't want you to see the money that we're saving. Right. Because you're gonna spend it. Yeah, I that you that needs to be auto-drafted into whatever investment vehicle or whatever savings account or whatever we're doing, because that's gonna make it much easier for you to follow the plan. Right. And that, you know, I've got a three bucket strategy that we use, but you know, there's gonna be some stuff that's taxable, there'll be some things that's tax deferred, and then there'll be things that we just use as an account.

SPEAKER_05 48:43

Right.

SPEAKER_00 48:43

And and I and I really like to set things up that way because it allows you to consider, okay, I've this, I won't even touch this until I retire. Right. But these other two things is what I'm managing my life across. And so you were doing exactly right, planning for that trip the same way.

SPEAKER_01 48:58

Yeah, and because that's how I always it's crazy because I'm always I wasn't good at finances. Nah, nah, you got it if you're doing that in certain areas. I'm like, but I can do it there. It's like you have to revamp your mind and say, I know what I'm doing. Absolutely, I just have to use it more productively. Because if I could plan for a trip, I can plan for two months, right? Yeah, um, but I I seen it in that instance because it was, oh, I can't go, but I see you at uh Palpados every two weeks. I see you at Sunday Fun Day, yeah, and that's about three four dollars a day. Easy, easy, easy without blinking, easy, especially in Houston, easy, and so it's more so you have to have that discipline, yeah, finances for sure. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And prioritize like your future.

SPEAKER_00 49:37

Yep, yep. I completely agree. I think um most of us have a short-term view of life. Okay. Um and a question that I typically would ask people if I'm asking about a goal, the answers that I typically get back are within the next 24 months.

SPEAKER_03 49:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 49:56

I need to know what you think in the next five, 10 years. Because if you're working with me, our relationship, I don't plan it to just be the next 24 months.

SPEAKER_01 50:02

Right.

SPEAKER_00 50:03

I should be working with you until we're both old.

SPEAKER_01 50:06

Yeah, because you should have one part, you shouldn't bounce. Well, well, maybe not, you know. Well, not too much.

SPEAKER_00 50:11

I think there is some, you know, benefit of maybe seeing what other people were doing. You know, I've won and lost clients, you know, that that happens. But I would definitely say that, you know, uh financial advisor or institutional consultant roles that I play in people's lives, those are relationships. I'm I'm damn near someone's spouse. No, I'm being for real. Like I'm having real conversations, like I'm having real conversations with people. I'll people will call me about something that they want to spend. And I may have to be the middle person between a couple. Like I that happens to me. Like, hey, well, um, and then they'll Brion said do this, or what I'm like, hey man, like not only are you using my government, you know, but but two, like, why are we, why are we, why, why am I in this? Right. But that's the role that I play in some, and then at institution levels, sometimes I'm the middle person between a CFO and a CEO. Okay. Hey, hey, um, our retirement plan needs this investment. Um, I need we believe in this investment because of this. Well, well, how does this affect your investment policy statement?

SPEAKER_02 51:18

Right.

SPEAKER_00 51:18

What why are we going to make this change? Well, I know the person here, but let's go back to this investment policy statement. That's why you have documents and plans because you can always go back to the decision we make. When I work with families, man, I bring the kids in it. If they're over 12, you need to sit in these meetings because you need to learn.

SPEAKER_01 51:34

Yeah. Like I don't know much about finances, but I'm still learning, really. Um, but I make sure my kids need something. Absolutely. Right. Um, and I'm teaching them to you don't have to spend just because you want something. Correct. And kids need people think that, oh, kids are just so young, they're well, they're only five, they don't understand. It's like them kids understand.

SPEAKER_00 51:52

Man, they know, yeah, they know, and they compare themselves against their peers. Yep, they do that immediately. You know, I got a middle schooler that they compare themselves against their peers. Even and and she wears a uniform, really, and they still compare themselves against their peers. It happens, and you all look the same, even as adults.

SPEAKER_01 52:09

We do it though.

SPEAKER_00 52:09

That that is true, that is true.

SPEAKER_01 52:11

In social media, right? Yeah, everybody's scrolling and you see in these big houses. I got caught in too. I was like, Man, why am I living in this? I deserve better. But it's like, I know I ain't there yet. One day, uh no doubt. That's that comparison, especially in middle school. Absolutely. My oldest, she just started middle school this year, and for the first like month, I want a phone. For what? Yeah, yeah. For what? Yep. Well, my friends, for what? It has nothing to do with you. Yeah, as their parents are the parents. Different value decisions, different values. And I now what we're in the second semester, I can see the difference between her and other kids.

SPEAKER_00 52:45

Yeah, they're they're definitely um the way um, and that's why those that home life is important. I'm not saying that one home life is better than the other, but being able to have a relationship with your kid about your values and especially your values as it relates to money will carry her forward forever.

SPEAKER_01 53:03

Oh, yeah. And I think that's in any aspect, not even just finances, the more you teach in your home, the you know, the you're laying the foundation. Absolutely. And I think where a lot of parents go wrong is they're expecting the schools to teach their kids everything their kids need for life.

SPEAKER_00 53:16

Correct, correct.

SPEAKER_01 53:17

They're not doing that.

SPEAKER_00 53:18

No, they don't even have the bandwidth. No, they don't. They they're they're paying for their own supplies. You know what I'm saying? You expect them to they already on a margin, yeah, and you expect them to be able to teach your kid the the values, you gotta always supplement what's happening at the school.

SPEAKER_01 53:33

Absolutely, or at least that's my thought. It is because my wife was a teacher um for a while, and I would see it. Yeah, and I'm just like, well, they're expecting you to do a lot more and things that really they should be doing as parents and teaching finances, teaching uh spiritual and stuff is that's essential. Um, and so now how does it look for you to um show your kids finances or have you gotten to that point?

SPEAKER_00 53:55

Yeah, absolutely. So my um oldest for sure. So she has um her own debit card. Okay. So the work that she does, you know, hey, don't she do I I put her on my taxes too. She's an employee. You know, I get there, I can teach y'all how to do that as well. You know, you know, your your kids can't be an employee, but uh, so the money that she'll make here, she doesn't see it, it just gets put on a debit card.

SPEAKER_03 54:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 54:19

But she can log into the banking app and see what her balance is. Okay, but I give her a limit of how much she can spend a week.

SPEAKER_03 54:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 54:28

So um, let's say right now she might have like$300 in this account. Okay, but she can only spend 10% of that a week.

SPEAKER_01 54:34

About 30 bucks.

SPEAKER_00 54:35

And be pissing her off during spring break. She went with her friends to like first colony mall. They was in Sephora, they was all these places. She went over there, just she tried to break the limit. Oh, yeah. She went over there, tried to buy something that I was like$45, declined in front of all her friends.

SPEAKER_04 54:54

And I'm happy.

SPEAKER_00 54:55

I'm happy this happened. Right. Because hey, and they're like, I thought you had money. Right. Well, you need to explain to him that well, my dad has me on a plan.

SPEAKER_01 55:02

Right. And she had to have that conversation. Yeah, you have to. Because they have to bump their head. I think about how like God treats us. He'll walk us into a fire and then say, This is you shouldn't do that.

SPEAKER_00 55:12

I'm gonna do it though. That's my problem. I mean, look, look, I can definitely say uh don't do it. Yeah, it's gonna, yeah, yeah. I'm gonna touch the iron a few times, you know, and and see how bad I get burned before I decide if I'm gonna do it again. But that's my I'm a risk taker sometimes too. You can but that's my fault. Yeah, that's my fault.

SPEAKER_01 55:30

I think as a good entrepreneur, you have to be a risk taker. Yeah, yeah. And some kids are. I remember my uh my four-year-old, my wife was telling her, Don't touch the stove, it's hot. She burned her hand. Now, stove hot. Stove hot. Like, I nope, I don't want to touch it. I'm like, yeah, you learned a lesson. That's how you learn. And we could have saved her from it. Nah, you gotta let them do it. Sometimes you have to let them let them do it. Sometimes you gotta let it bump on your head, just like you know, in life, that's the I wouldn't say experience is the best teacher. Um, because you can learn from other people's mistakes. Absolutely, but it's a hard teacher.

SPEAKER_00 56:01

It is, it is. It's probably um, if you can learn from others, of course, like you said, that's best. But I don't think there's anything like your personal experience. There's nothing like it because while you can have empathy for someone, you really didn't know how that felt. Right. And when you go through it, it kind of changes your whole um demeanor around things.

SPEAKER_01 56:24

I'm telling y'all, that joke season changed my whole life around finances. Yeah, like I see personal honesty everywhere. Um, but as we're wrapping up, I just definitely want to thank you for being here. No, come on, yeah. Thank you for having the hive, for having the TRG financial. Um, what would be your other message to the world right now?

SPEAKER_00 56:43

Yeah, so the world is in chaos, quite frankly, right now. Um, and it's not and what I would say is it's not at any fault of one individual. I think it's a series of things that's kind of got us all uneasy. Right. So, what I would encourage people right now is um go to what you believe in and the people who love you and make a plan.

SPEAKER_04 57:07

Right.

SPEAKER_00 57:08

Because, and I'm not talking this isn't even a financial conversation. I'm just talking about just a life plan. Right. Because what happens is in America, especially, we got so individualistic. Very much so. My family, my resources, my own community, right, versus being willing to expand and support those who are around you. Right. So I would say find you a community, find you a tribe, make sure that what you're believing in, you're anchoring in what you believe in, because we're gonna be chaotic for a good bit.

SPEAKER_01 57:43

I can see it.

SPEAKER_00 57:44

And um, that chaos will turn into scarcity for a lot of people. And that scarcity for a lot of people may make them make decisions that they otherwise wouldn't. You wanna be on the good side of that.

unknown 57:56

Right.

SPEAKER_00 57:57

And if you're on the good side of that, that means that you've got a community that's there to support you, you know, similar to the community that you're building. The community that you're building will be able to support people through a lot of this chaotic time.

SPEAKER_01 58:07

Right. Yeah. And I've seen it this morning, actually. I had my first um coaching call, community call.

SPEAKER_00 58:12

Congratulations. Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 58:14

And the fellas showed up, it was at seven o'clock this morning.

SPEAKER_00 58:16

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 58:16

And I and I made it early on purpose because I wanted to see who was gonna show up for themselves. Because it wasn't for me, it was for it's for you. Yep. And the fellas that came in, I can tell like they needed it. Yeah, they needed a space um and a community just to let free. A lot of guys let some stuff go that they've been holding on to. And it was the first call. And I'm like, we definitely need it. Um, for a long time, I said black men didn't have safe spaces. Um, and so creating one was a full circle moment for me. It's like, okay, I I saw this problem, but I I have a solution for it. And it's could be the same thing for you and the other answers as well. Um, but man, this is the first of our series. Um, if you have any questions, drop them below. I'll ask them on the show, right? Uh your finances is important. You are important, it's a part of your mental health, it's part of your your holistic being, right? Um, and as we're going through uh Financial Literacy Month, continue to learn, not even just from this podcast. Find other shows that talk about finances. Do your own research. Um, and how can they reach you, you know, if they want to get hope with you?

SPEAKER_00 59:14

Yeah, yeah. So you can you can reach me at www.trg-financial.com or my government. You know, most people call me LP, but you can also send me an email, Rollins R-O-L-L-I-N-S-B-R-E-I-O-N at T-R-G-financial.com. Um, or on Instagram. You can find me under my name also. Um, I'm always putting out a lot of finance content. Like my content is going to be based on the conversations we're having today, or you're always welcome to come here to the hive. Um, 7800 Amelia Road. Um, I'm here pretty much every day.

SPEAKER_01 59:49

He live here. Yeah, at this point, he might got a cop somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 59:52

Yeah, I need to I need to get out of that. But you know, I know where we're at in the phase of this business and I know where we're going. So yeah, you can find me at those places.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:00

Yeah. And that speaks to just knowing the vision and making the sacrifices that make it happen. No doubt. Right. But again, guys, that's your lesson for the week. Thank you guys for tuning in. Like, share, subscribe, um, leave a comment, leave a review, whatever it is you want to do. Um, but see you guys next week.