April 1, 2026

From Scratch to Strategy: The Small Money Moves That Change Everything

From Scratch to Strategy: The Small Money Moves That Change Everything

Cecil Williams came to the U.S. with nothing and began building his financial life one small move at a time—starting with just $20 a month and a commitment to consistency. In this episode, he breaks down why structure matters more than income, and how simple systems for cash flow, investing, and decision-making can replace stress with clarity. You’ll leave with a few “start today” steps—and a free set of tools from Cecil to help you build your own from-scratch strategy.

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WEBVTT

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The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are

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solely those of the hosts and their guests and not

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W FOURCY Radio.

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Welcome to to Ask Good Questions Podcasts, broadcasting live every Wednesday,

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six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio at

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w four cy dot com. This week and every week,

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we will reach for a higher purpose in money and life,

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as well as a focus on health and wellness. Now,

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let's join your hosts, Vanita Bell Anderson as together we

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start with Asking Good Questions.

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Hey, welcome to the Ask Good Questions podcast. I'm your host,

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Anita bell Anderson, and today we have a fantastic show.

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We're going to be talking about some very important information

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around you know, actually people coming to the US getting

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started with nothing and it's just a very inspiring story.

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So with that, I would like to invite to the

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podcast stage Cecil Williams.

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Awesome, very much.

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I know this is going to be great. Actually, before

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I do my little intro of him, when when we met,

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the immediate thing that I thought was he reminds me

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of Alexander Hamilton. And if any of you, I have

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loved reading about you know, historical just the books and

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everything out there about how the United States got started

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is really fascinating. And Alexander Hamilton is a young man

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that came to the United States with nothing, And so

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when I'm hearing Cecil's story, I went, oh, he's just

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like that. You know, Alexander Hamilton fought in the Revolutionary War.

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He actually was the one that was the main instigator

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behind getting the US Treasury going, if you can believe

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that anyway, So with that we have our modern day

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Alexander Hamilton. His name is Cecil Williams. He's the founder

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of Semi Fly Money and a financial accountability coach. I

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know that he's actually working on a CFP professional designation,

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isn't that right?

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Yes?

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Yeah, cool? And he helps professionals and families bring structure

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and clarity to their finances, which is something of interest

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in most people out there. He didn't start with a

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massive portfolio. He started with just twenty dollars a month

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ten years ago, and a commitment to consistency. This is

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going to be important today. You're going to hear that

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time and again. Over time, he built real systems around investing,

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cash flow, and long term planning that helped him grow

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wealth by his first home and create investing strategies for

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his family and his clients. That's why you know, when

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you see something like this, it's like, Wow, this is

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an exceptional person. You know, to start from nothing. So

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what makes him different is his focus on structure over income,

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helping families and people stop feeling behind, simplifying their money

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hence the name of his company, and building confidence with investing.

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If you've ever felt like you make good money but

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you don't feel in control of it, then this conversation

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is for you, So welcome, Secel. Anything to add to that.

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Thank you, Benita a large shoes to fill by liking

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me to Alexander Hamilton, so hopefully I could put those shoes.

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But I'm honored for that. But I appreciate that. Thank

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you very much. But you've said it all so I'm

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ready when you are.

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So, well, let's start out. Where did you come from?

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Where did where did you come from? When you when

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you first came to the United States.

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So I migrated from the Gambia. That's why I finished

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high school by way up Sara Leone, which is where

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I was born. Did that when I turned eighteen and

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moved from Gambia, West Africa to California. So went straight

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to California.

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Yeah wow, what a big change?

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Yes? Massive?

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So what did starting from scratch look like for you?

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So for me, I think I moved here as an

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international student, went straight to California, six thousand miles away.

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My parents thought I was nuts, But my primary aim

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was to get an education. So at that point, I

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don't think like myself like most people are, not thinking

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about anything else but to focus on school. I mean

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that was my primary aim, and money and all these things.

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You don't get to understand that until it starts hitting you.

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Where most people say at the age of eighteen you

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become an adult. But to be honest, when you're moving

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from your parents home to all of a sudden you're

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by yourself, it doesn't quite hit you until the responsibilities

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of an adult start coming in and you're like, oh, wow,

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I have to be an adult now. So I think

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that was kind of a drastic change for me. But

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my initial focus was just education, get a degree.

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When you start getting hungry, or you need to wash

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your clothes, or you need to get around someplace, the

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reality kind of hits home.

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Huh, yes, getting around like a car all that stuff.

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But yes, well, what was happening in your life to

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start investing? Basically, twenty dollars you felt like you had

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twenty dollars a month.

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So I mean, and that would fast forward past college

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and you start working. And I think for me around

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that time, realistically and honestly, I was making good money.

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I was working in a consulting job, traveling, but at

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the same time, my mistakes kept piling up. So because

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you have this quest as a young man to succeed

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in life, you start making decisions that follow. You're following

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the crowd. Your friends say, hey, let's do this, let's

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invest in here, so day trading. I think, finally what

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kind of like broke the camels back. I ended up

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in what I would call a real estate Ponzi scheme

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where I was a victim of it and we lost collectively.

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I believe me and three of my friends maybe collectively

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lost over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. And I

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was like, okay, yo to me, young and working so

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hard for money and to lose it all just because

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you're not well educated and informed about financial principles and

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things of that nature. It was heartbreaking and I said

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to myself, Okay, I can't keep going down that route.

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So that's when the twenty dollars a month idea started.

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And it started with like Acorns, which is a robo

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investing app where I'm like, okay, if I put this

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money in here and make certain decisions or answer certain questions,

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and I don't have to touch it and I don't

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have to worry about how it grows. I mean, I

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had to educate myself about investing truly and how it worked,

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and I thought that was the easiest way for me

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to autinate the process. Where I remove my emotions from

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the decision. Then it doesn't mean it completely removes them,

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because the stock market would always be emotion driven for

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a lot of people because these things go up and down.

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But if you choose to just ignore the noise, and

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focus on what's happening. Then it'll eventually pan out of

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all it works, it works out.

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Yeah. That that is why many years ago now, I

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you know, because I've been more than twenty five years now,

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I've been in this industry, and many many years ago,

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I really started focusing on financial education because I saw

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exactly all the things you were talking about, all the

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mistakes people thought and did, and I really started focusing

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on diversification and teaching all of those principles. So what

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did you have to unlearn if you're if you you know,

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realize no day trading and all this, you know, Ponzi schemes,

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all those things don't work. What did you have to

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unlearn about money?

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Then? I think a few things. I think first and

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foremost that the financial it's a financial system. It's that

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in itself is a skill like any other that you

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have to master. And I had to learn that obviously,

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more money doesn't fit your problems because a lot of

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people just thought, meaning that case I was young, making

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a lot of money, you just think you can throw

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it out anyway and you can keep multiplying it. I

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had to unlearn that I need. I mean, most people

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think I need to figure it out first before I

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get started. And when it came to the investing, you

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can almost see that's what I was trying to figure out,

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thinking if I went down that route and did it myself,

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just do all these things, you would figure it out

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and you would get going. And I think most importantly,

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I had to learn that being good with money is

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about discipline set of structure. What I mean by that

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is most people just think you can be disciplined at

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what you do sports athletes, but with everything you need

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some level of structure, which is something we would get

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into a lot today. And with that structure, you force

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yourself to be disciplined with it. Right.

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Well, so what was the first really small money move

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Was it that really helped creative movement? Was it just

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automating twenty dollars a month?

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Was that it? Yeah, that's where the shift really happened

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for me. I mean, I think so from a child,

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I've been good, very good at saving. So maybe the

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first shift happened when I was much younger, And I

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always say I saved about the equivalent of about one

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hundred dollars and it gave my parents some money to

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buy me, specifically a shoot, I wanted that. They probably

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wouldn't have bought for me because they would have said

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it was too expensive. So that was a long time

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ago in that savings and they always say you can't

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save your way to well. So the real shift happened

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with that twenty dollars and putting it away, and it

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was small. So if you fast forward to ten years

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now in the future, when you look at twenty dollars,

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just twenty dollars a month growing to twenty thousand dollars.

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I know for most people they look at it like, oh,

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twenty thousand dollars, but it's just twenty dollars a month.

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If you think about it, that's all I put So

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when you see that compounding effect, I tell people, so,

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imagine in your position now, which primarily the people I

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work with high earners, Imagine if it was two fifty

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a month, five hundred a month, one thousand dollars a

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month over the next ten years, how much that would be.

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So I think that's the shift that happened for me.

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But when you see that growing over time, it motivated

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me to say, Okay, this is simple and I can

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keep doing this rather than trying to tinker with the

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system and experiment and keep having missteps.

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Right, I mean, it wasn't really the dollar amount. I

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think what you're saying, it's the structure, it's the discipline

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it's making and even beyond that, it's like getting is

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making a decision. Yes, it's really what you were doing.

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What if you were looking back now, all of those

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mistakes you made, what would you wish somebody would have

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told you and said no this or don't do that.

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What what do you wish people would have said somebody

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would have told you?

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I think, looking back now, what I wish someone would

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have told me, because I think what most people told

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me when I came, don't get a credit card. The

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reality is most young people are going to regardless of

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what you say. But what I wish someone would have

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told me quite early on in the system is track

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your money or it will disappear. So learn about budgeting

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very early on. It doesn't matter how small that tracking

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system starts, but most importantly, start with small amounts invested,

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because back then, or if you say ten years from

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even when I started that twenty dollars, so you would

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have been a twenty year span. If I started with

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twenty dollars. Even then, that money would have grown to

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much much more than what I know. And I think

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automating as much as you can, because automation doesn't need

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will power. Once you put it in, it keeps doing

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it and you don't have to remind yourself to do that.

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So I think that's what I wish someone would have

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told me.

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Then right, well, let's talk a little bit more about structure.

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So I agree with you that I don't think people

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struggle because they don't earn enough. It's not how much

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you earn, it's how much you keep, and so they

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struggle because they lack structure. So in your mind, what

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do you mean when you're saying structure.

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Yeah, so I say structure, And this is something I've

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been very adamant about, and I'll prefers this to say. Okay, first,

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in today's economy, it's not as black and white as

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most people would like to say. Oh, I income of

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a structure. But if you earn a good amount of money,

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it's important to tell your money where to go before

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it disappears. That's simply what structure is. It's nothing complicated.

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You create a plan, you have a system, and your

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money has a rhythm which follows every single month. That's

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simply what structure is in this case.

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So why do you think high earners then so often

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fil behind or they're just disorganized and just you know,

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why do you think that happens?

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Simple, they don't have a system in place. And when

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you don't have a system in place, you have money leaks.

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The system creates a routine for you. So I have

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what I call EDS. So it's the system I created,

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which is I call a semi five money framework. It's

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ed SI. It's an acronym for e earn, which most

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adults do. We go to work, we earn an income

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that I can't control. That's up to the individual. But

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then there is the D which is for debt. Most Americans,

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the statistics show have high levels of debt or some

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level of debt. And then the S is the savings,

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and then the I is an investment. So it's like

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a money flow by which you create some level of

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accountability and a plan for your money. I think most

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people just don't have a system in place, and therefore

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they keep having these leaks. When it comes to money

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and where it goes, they don't know where it goes.

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It disappears essentially.

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Do you think that people have money blind spots?

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Oh yes, I think especially when people start making good money,

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and good money doesn't mean you're making a crazy amount

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of money. But for us, we were all at that

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stage where we went from college making minimum wage to

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now you graduate and you're being paid much more. Or

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an example would be going from residency making for fifty

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thousand to all of a sudden becoming a physician. You

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get five of your salary, so you're making good money,

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but the money increases, but the plan is not there.

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They don't have a clan for what happens to their money.

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High income.

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Yeah, I've been there, done that.

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Yeah, exactly. No system in business for most people, it's

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just co mingling their funds, make business account, personal account,

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all that stuff, and I think most importantly not being

279
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consistent with reviewing what you have you have to auditor. Yeah.

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Yeah, well if somebody's income went up tomorrow, I think

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that sometimes there's stress just stays the same.

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Yeah, I mean I think the reason that happens. Again,

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I will say, no system, more stress. If you don't

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have a system, if you don't create structure around your money,

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you will always be stressed out, the anxiety will always

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be there because you know in the back of your

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mind there is something you need to be taken care

288
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of that you're not taking care of. So when you

289
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don't put systems in place, your mind is always going

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to wander around when is this due? Because a quick

291
00:16:57.759 --> 00:16:59.559
example I'll give you is I spoke to a young

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gentleman who said, I'm very stressed out. I can't tell

293
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my wife what's going on. I need your help. I

294
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need to fix it. So I said, okay, tell me

295
00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:08.799
how much you make. Do you have a budget. He said,

296
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I don't have a budget, And I said, well, what

297
00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:12.839
do you mean by you don't have a budget? Like

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He's like, I just write things down on paper, so

299
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I don't know when bills are due. When they take

300
00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:21.680
things out of my account. My bank cast sometimes remind

301
00:17:21.720 --> 00:17:24.319
me with a notification or a phone call to let

302
00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:27.200
me know that my account is an overdraft for me

303
00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:30.200
to put that money. So he had absolutely no system

304
00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:34.559
in place, kept creating daily anxiety. So imagine going thirty

305
00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:38.839
days where maybe fifteen or twenty of those days things

306
00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:42.519
like that are constantly happening. You're in disarray.

307
00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:48.799
Yeah, yeah, So let's okay. So like, you know, I'm

308
00:17:48.839 --> 00:17:51.359
sure you tell people you know that, well, part of

309
00:17:51.400 --> 00:17:54.640
this is helping them like calm down and get a structure.

310
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So what is a well structured financial life going to

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look like?

312
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So well structured financial system starts just decisions feel clear

313
00:18:04.440 --> 00:18:07.039
and you're not overwhelmed. So it starts with you know

314
00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:10.359
exactly what bills are being covered and what's left for

315
00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:13.559
you to use. That's just a budget. Now most people

316
00:18:13.559 --> 00:18:16.119
call it a spending plan. It's just a fancy word

317
00:18:16.279 --> 00:18:18.559
for you to remove the anxiety from the word budget.

318
00:18:18.839 --> 00:18:21.440
But you're not guessing. Your money already has a plan

319
00:18:22.039 --> 00:18:26.759
and you're investing, but you're doing that automatically in the background.

320
00:18:27.079 --> 00:18:30.519
And then you have a simple weekly check in that

321
00:18:30.920 --> 00:18:34.480
is not constant stress. So once a week you kind

322
00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:37.160
of check everything, you review, and then every month you

323
00:18:37.240 --> 00:18:38.400
kind of look at the big picture.

324
00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:43.240
I started calling it cash flow. It's the same thing, yeah,

325
00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:46.279
because sometimes like budget gets to be like this bad,

326
00:18:46.920 --> 00:18:48.799
you know, a dirty word. You know. It's like I

327
00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:50.960
don't want to you know, because so many people, so

328
00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:54.480
many of my clients, geez, I can just remember over

329
00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:57.519
the years, you know, just oh my gosh, people hate

330
00:18:57.559 --> 00:19:00.200
it doing a budget, but it's like if they think,

331
00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:04.440
like what you're talking about or cash flow just cash in,

332
00:19:04.599 --> 00:19:07.880
cash out, and it's like maybe I can think of

333
00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:08.799
it in those.

334
00:19:09.400 --> 00:19:12.839
I mean, Robert Kiyosaki has the game the cash Flow Quadrant,

335
00:19:12.920 --> 00:19:16.599
which is like a framework and it's teaching you about

336
00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:19.519
your money. So I think when you reframe your mind

337
00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:23.960
to using softer words, it's much easier than maybe the

338
00:19:24.039 --> 00:19:26.000
B word because a lot of people are just scared

339
00:19:26.039 --> 00:19:26.319
of that.

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00:19:27.559 --> 00:19:29.359
How do you feel, I mean, you call yourself a

341
00:19:29.400 --> 00:19:34.000
financial accountability coach, so how is that different from a

342
00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:36.200
regular traditional financial planner?

343
00:19:36.759 --> 00:19:42.079
So I always say financial planners go through a rigorous

344
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system to get there, but they give advice. Advice tells

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00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:48.720
you what to do accountability make sure it gets done.

346
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And I always give the example to this is a

347
00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:55.240
financial advisor will treat you like an adult, because that's

348
00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:58.519
what you are. A financial accountability You will have empathy

349
00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:03.279
to understand that you might not have had the upbringing,

350
00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:06.720
the systems and everything in place because society didn't give

351
00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:09.279
it to us. I mean, we went to school and

352
00:20:09.319 --> 00:20:11.759
not one of our classes said money one on one.

353
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Not one of our classes say personal finance one on one,

354
00:20:15.240 --> 00:20:19.720
and we came being adults. HR gave you everything and

355
00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:21.920
say this is your fall one kg. Just click here,

356
00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:24.640
do this. So people were telling us what to do,

357
00:20:24.680 --> 00:20:28.279
but nobody was holding us accountable like our parents were

358
00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:31.759
when we were zero to eighteen. Now as an adult,

359
00:20:31.799 --> 00:20:35.400
they say, hey, just figure it out. You have all

360
00:20:35.480 --> 00:20:37.720
the foundations, you just figure it out yourself. So I

361
00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:41.400
think that's what an accountability coach in my case, and

362
00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:44.400
hence I specifically put the word accountability in front of coach.

363
00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:48.200
I help make sure it gets done. It's not handholding

364
00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:51.920
like a child, but I just help you put some

365
00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:54.440
some level of system and structure in place, and then

366
00:20:54.920 --> 00:20:57.839
with that you've built habits and you're able to continue

367
00:20:57.880 --> 00:20:59.079
to do for yourself.

368
00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:04.279
Now, I tell a lot of stories from all of

369
00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:07.200
my experience with different clients, and one of the worst was, like, y'all,

370
00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:09.640
that came into my office. She was going through a

371
00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:12.519
divorce and she handed me a paper bag. She went

372
00:21:12.599 --> 00:21:16.400
like this and handed this paper bag to me, and

373
00:21:16.440 --> 00:21:18.599
it had her statements in it, and it was like

374
00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:20.519
it was like, oh, she couldn't wait to get rid

375
00:21:20.599 --> 00:21:25.680
of it. But to me, it's an example of My

376
00:21:25.799 --> 00:21:28.359
next question for you is why do you think people

377
00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:33.839
avoid looking at their numbers? What? Why do they do that?

378
00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:39.640
People just you're anxious about what you can't control. Yeah,

379
00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:44.119
and if you can't put some level of control. And

380
00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:46.599
when I use the word control, not to be very rigid,

381
00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:49.359
but if you can't put some level of control, I

382
00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:52.680
mean if you raise your kids and you know so.

383
00:21:52.759 --> 00:21:55.079
An example would be as simple as this. When your

384
00:21:55.160 --> 00:21:57.240
kids are within the confines of your house, you know

385
00:21:57.400 --> 00:22:00.680
exactly what they're doing, so you're at these But when

386
00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:03.839
you let them at thirteen go to a party or sleepover,

387
00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:07.279
you have anxiety because you don't know what they're doing,

388
00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:10.559
even though you might have given them the right foundation,

389
00:22:10.759 --> 00:22:13.319
told them everything. That's exactly what it is. When it

390
00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:15.759
comes to your money. There's a lot of anxiety when

391
00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:19.000
you don't have systems around it. People fear and then

392
00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:22.480
I think because of that it leads to continuous procrastination.

393
00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:26.759
But also I do think there's some level of sabotage,

394
00:22:27.319 --> 00:22:31.559
self sabotage that will have within them just based on

395
00:22:31.720 --> 00:22:33.880
their values around money.

396
00:22:35.079 --> 00:22:40.079
Yes, so one thing I did. I've got three daughters

397
00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:43.519
and they all got when they turned thirteen they got

398
00:22:43.519 --> 00:22:47.279
a checkbook, and so I started teaching them by having

399
00:22:47.480 --> 00:22:52.039
them earn money, and then they paid for their school expenses.

400
00:22:52.119 --> 00:22:54.000
And another thing we did which was a lot of

401
00:22:54.039 --> 00:22:56.799
work for us parents, but we did a vending machine

402
00:22:57.160 --> 00:23:02.079
business nice and the girls learned how to. I mean,

403
00:23:02.119 --> 00:23:06.440
so when they left for college, I felt like they

404
00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:10.440
had a little bit of a foundation to get started. So,

405
00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:14.279
I know, you have kids, yeah, and how old are

406
00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:14.880
they right now?

407
00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:20.880
They're pretty young six and nineteen months. So my is

408
00:23:20.920 --> 00:23:23.480
already asking about things. Really, I mean, he has a

409
00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:27.200
piggybank which he puts money in, so we started there.

410
00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:31.359
But yes, they're pretty young for now. But soon the

411
00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:34.680
six year old will start learning about some very basic

412
00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:38.279
principles when it comes to how money works.

413
00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:42.519
Awesome, that'll be. That'll be so cool. They're they're gonna

414
00:23:42.519 --> 00:23:45.759
be lucky kids, yes, because when they grow up, they're

415
00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:48.759
gonna be They're gonna they're gonna be way ahead of

416
00:23:48.759 --> 00:23:49.119
the game.

417
00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:51.880
Yes, definitely, I'll make sure of that.

418
00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:57.839
Well, what do you think accountability looks like? You know,

419
00:23:58.039 --> 00:24:00.240
if you if you want to try to remin of

420
00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:05.480
people feeling like shame and guilt and all that kind

421
00:24:05.480 --> 00:24:08.680
of stuff, especially for listeners who feel like, oh I

422
00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:11.519
didn't get started and I'm late. You know, what do

423
00:24:11.559 --> 00:24:17.079
you think about how to have accountability without being feeling guilty.

424
00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:19.960
That's a great question for the listeners listening. So I

425
00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:25.799
think most importantly you have to lead with empathy. And

426
00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:28.160
in my situation, a lot of what I do is

427
00:24:28.200 --> 00:24:31.799
driven by experience. So it's driven by the mistakes, it's

428
00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:34.559
driven by the trials and tribulations. So I'm not coming

429
00:24:34.599 --> 00:24:37.799
from a place of judgment. If you're going through it

430
00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:40.799
and explaining it to me, it's probably happened to me

431
00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:44.880
or I've experienced it, So you want to lead with empathy. Now,

432
00:24:45.880 --> 00:24:49.920
you also want to make sure you let them understand

433
00:24:49.960 --> 00:24:55.200
that we're going to be focused on one thing and

434
00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:59.480
then when we create a plan, like I said the

435
00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:02.200
ed S, we're not just going to do everything all

436
00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:05.519
at once. We focus and then we're most importantly going

437
00:25:05.559 --> 00:25:10.079
to celebrate those small wins and celebrate them consistently. Because

438
00:25:10.119 --> 00:25:16.000
the mind is it's psychologically, it needs reinforcement. So if

439
00:25:16.039 --> 00:25:19.160
you were waiting for long periods of time to celebrate,

440
00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:22.359
then you're going to feel defeated. But if you're celebrating,

441
00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:26.319
probably if you. For instance, I'm working with a client

442
00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:29.400
currently and we did a walk through of what it

443
00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:32.839
took to make their first trade, and I did it

444
00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:39.640
with her and I kind of got distracted. It was

445
00:25:39.640 --> 00:25:41.880
a zoom call, and while my head was down, I

446
00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:43.480
noticed she was doing it, and then I just heard

447
00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:45.839
her saying I did it, and we celebrated. But you

448
00:25:45.880 --> 00:25:48.839
could hear the excitement and the happy in her voice

449
00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:52.200
because we celebrated that win. And then when we got

450
00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:54.640
on a call about a week later, she says, I've

451
00:25:54.680 --> 00:25:56.920
done that thing you told me to do again, which

452
00:25:57.000 --> 00:25:59.839
was placed more trades, and you'd be so proud of me.

453
00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:02.440
And in my mind, I'm thinking you would be so

454
00:26:02.519 --> 00:26:05.359
proud of you because this is to benefit you. So

455
00:26:05.799 --> 00:26:08.839
I think that's the most important thing. When so people

456
00:26:08.920 --> 00:26:12.319
understand it's empathy, We create a focus, and then we

457
00:26:12.400 --> 00:26:14.839
celebrate those small wings consistently.

458
00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:15.799
Right.

459
00:26:16.440 --> 00:26:19.200
So, I think that in most cases, people are really

460
00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:22.039
driven by habits. I feel like, you know, I have

461
00:26:22.119 --> 00:26:23.920
a lot of habits. I try to make sure that

462
00:26:23.920 --> 00:26:29.440
those habits are positive, uplifting habits. But what's one habit

463
00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:33.559
that you think people should be doing to remain consistent.

464
00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:39.079
Follow the blueprint? You've created. So now, obviously for most

465
00:26:39.079 --> 00:26:41.359
people that will say, well, how do I create that blueprint?

466
00:26:41.480 --> 00:26:43.440
That's you can kind of say that's where someone like

467
00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:46.920
me comes in, whether it's or whether it's your YouTube university.

468
00:26:47.640 --> 00:26:51.839
Just to make sure you have a budget, I always

469
00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:55.279
implore people that's where money starts. You have to audit

470
00:26:55.319 --> 00:26:58.000
yourself and you have to understand what's coming in and

471
00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:01.799
what's going out. So once you start that process of

472
00:27:01.880 --> 00:27:04.799
documenting what comes in and what goes out, you have

473
00:27:04.839 --> 00:27:08.119
to keep following that because the breadcrumbs will tell you

474
00:27:08.200 --> 00:27:11.200
exactly what's happening. You can't be afraid of that because

475
00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:13.519
that's always going to be the starting point.

476
00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:17.960
Would you say that that's how you help people track progress, then,

477
00:27:18.519 --> 00:27:23.640
I mean, because again I want this to be empowering.

478
00:27:24.119 --> 00:27:27.359
I want this to be encouraging for people and not discouraging.

479
00:27:27.559 --> 00:27:32.559
So I think for people looking to track progress, I

480
00:27:32.599 --> 00:27:35.039
want you to understand that if you can see progress,

481
00:27:35.079 --> 00:27:37.759
you will stay consistent. It goes back to my twenty

482
00:27:37.799 --> 00:27:42.279
dollars start. It was automated I put it and to

483
00:27:42.359 --> 00:27:45.559
give encouragement. However, you want to see long term that

484
00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:49.400
twenty dollars by the time my kids will reach the

485
00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:52.119
age of forty would be almost a million dollars. So,

486
00:27:52.599 --> 00:27:56.440
like I mentioned, six year, one year. So now I

487
00:27:56.480 --> 00:27:58.599
get your mind to think, like, oh my god, it's

488
00:27:58.680 --> 00:28:01.359
just twenty dollars a month. So if you can see it,

489
00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:04.519
then you will stay consistent and you just need to

490
00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:08.599
follow the roadmap. You need to just stay consistent and

491
00:28:08.759 --> 00:28:12.400
understand that it will happen as long as you stay

492
00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:15.480
on track to what you're doing. Now, give yourself grace.

493
00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:17.960
There are going to be times that you forget to

494
00:28:18.039 --> 00:28:20.759
do things. You don't beat yourself up about it. You

495
00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:23.000
pick it up from the next month. For instance, my

496
00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:26.319
wife and I have monthly meetings. We have weekly checkings,

497
00:28:26.359 --> 00:28:28.720
but we have monthly meetings. We were supposed to have

498
00:28:28.759 --> 00:28:31.440
one this Sunday, but she had to work, so we

499
00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:33.640
missed that meeting. But we're just going to have a

500
00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:36.240
quick check in. Now we're in the first of the month,

501
00:28:36.279 --> 00:28:37.799
so we'd have to wait till the end of the month.

502
00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:40.119
We're not going to wait till then. We have these

503
00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:43.160
weekly checkings to still make sure we're still on track

504
00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:46.920
to what we're doing. So communicate with yourself, communicate with

505
00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:50.359
your partners, just to make sure that you're on the

506
00:28:50.440 --> 00:28:54.599
right track and give yourself grace. We're human, we make mistakes,

507
00:28:54.839 --> 00:28:56.000
but just stay at it.

508
00:28:56.759 --> 00:29:00.000
Yeah yeah, just pick yourself up and keep on going. Yeah,

509
00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:03.759
well we have you know, this time always goes so fast.

510
00:29:03.960 --> 00:29:06.200
We have about fifteen minutes left. So I want to

511
00:29:06.200 --> 00:29:10.160
focus on some systems. Yes, let's talk about some simple

512
00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:16.680
systems that listeners can start today. So let's say if

513
00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:20.440
someone can only do one thing this month to reduce

514
00:29:20.559 --> 00:29:23.160
money stress, what are you going to tell.

515
00:29:23.880 --> 00:29:26.920
Give every dollar job before it disappears. We've talked about

516
00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:30.440
it earlier, but that's most importantly. One thing that you

517
00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:32.640
could do, which is easy. Now you can say, well,

518
00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:35.480
how do I get to do that? A simple way

519
00:29:35.599 --> 00:29:40.119
is create separate accounts for everything money flow, So what

520
00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:42.920
comes in comes in one account. That's something simple you

521
00:29:42.960 --> 00:29:45.799
can really do. Because some people have a checking account

522
00:29:45.839 --> 00:29:49.119
and everything comes into that. So you create a checking

523
00:29:49.160 --> 00:29:53.000
account that everything comes in. You create let's say an

524
00:29:53.039 --> 00:29:56.880
expense account where it could just be specifically bills go out,

525
00:29:57.279 --> 00:30:01.359
something that could be for savings, and then something for investment.

526
00:30:01.400 --> 00:30:05.079
Then you have these buckets where specifically things go in

527
00:30:05.400 --> 00:30:08.240
and you're able to see them so you know you're

528
00:30:08.240 --> 00:30:12.240
making progress rather than everything comes in one, everything starts

529
00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:15.279
going out one, and you are confused as to when

530
00:30:15.559 --> 00:30:18.880
things go out when things come in. But most importantly,

531
00:30:19.079 --> 00:30:22.359
give every dollar a job before it disappears.

532
00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:28.559
Right, Yeah, many years ago, I learned, Oh, if you

533
00:30:28.680 --> 00:30:31.680
paid monthly, like for car insurance or life insurance or

534
00:30:31.720 --> 00:30:34.880
something like that, there's like a monthly fee tacked on.

535
00:30:35.319 --> 00:30:39.720
And so if you just save and have a savings

536
00:30:39.759 --> 00:30:43.039
like I have a savings account for life insurance, the

537
00:30:43.119 --> 00:30:45.799
premium that I pay once a year because the cheapest

538
00:30:45.799 --> 00:30:49.680
way to pay it is annually. But before I learned that,

539
00:30:50.119 --> 00:30:52.720
you know, I'd have this three thousand dollars bill that

540
00:30:52.720 --> 00:30:55.000
would come up and I'd go, oh, of course, you know.

541
00:30:55.160 --> 00:30:57.000
And so that was when I was much younger than

542
00:30:57.039 --> 00:31:00.440
I was, like before I started getting a clue about this.

543
00:31:01.559 --> 00:31:05.400
Example is what your bank does with your property taxes

544
00:31:05.559 --> 00:31:08.039
or insurance. They put it on ESCRO, so they literally

545
00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:11.079
just save it for you every month and they pay

546
00:31:11.240 --> 00:31:14.759
once a year. And that's that. You don't think about

547
00:31:14.759 --> 00:31:17.279
it and it happens without stress or worry.

548
00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:23.240
Yeah. Absolutely, So what would you say, is your minimum

549
00:31:23.400 --> 00:31:27.960
effective cash flow set up something simple that still works

550
00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:29.519
for real life. What do you think?

551
00:31:29.799 --> 00:31:33.039
So, like I said, the separate income account, bill account,

552
00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:37.799
spending account, savings and investing. If you create those separate things.

553
00:31:38.039 --> 00:31:42.039
And I say this because it's worked for me. It

554
00:31:42.119 --> 00:31:44.400
worked for me, and then I got married and my

555
00:31:44.480 --> 00:31:47.759
wife and I had to put everything together, and everything

556
00:31:47.920 --> 00:31:50.559
was coming out of this one account. So even though

557
00:31:50.640 --> 00:31:53.960
I was someone who was used to systems and everything,

558
00:31:54.039 --> 00:31:59.839
now putting two together just completely confused me all over again.

559
00:32:00.119 --> 00:32:02.279
And you start having this anxiety. And I said, you

560
00:32:02.319 --> 00:32:04.839
know what, I have to have the same system that

561
00:32:04.880 --> 00:32:08.079
I've put in place for me for us. So now

562
00:32:08.119 --> 00:32:10.880
we both get to know that it's the same thing,

563
00:32:11.000 --> 00:32:13.720
income account, bill account, spending account. Then you have your

564
00:32:13.759 --> 00:32:15.759
savings and investing. Simple.

565
00:32:16.279 --> 00:32:19.519
Well, I bet you she appreciated that because a lot

566
00:32:19.519 --> 00:32:23.359
of times, a lot of times that doesn't happen, a

567
00:32:23.400 --> 00:32:27.599
lot of times a spender will marry a savor. Yes,

568
00:32:28.039 --> 00:32:32.119
and then it can cause friction because you've got different

569
00:32:32.119 --> 00:32:37.079
ideas about how to deal with money. That's another conversation. Yes,

570
00:32:38.160 --> 00:32:40.960
So well, so if we have some if we have

571
00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:44.680
a beginner here who feels intimidated and is like, oh,

572
00:32:45.039 --> 00:32:48.559
I don't know how to do that. What's the easiest

573
00:32:48.599 --> 00:32:52.039
on ramp that builds confidence fast? What would you say

574
00:32:52.039 --> 00:32:52.359
to that?

575
00:32:53.160 --> 00:32:57.480
So for beginners, especially if you think about investing, I

576
00:32:57.839 --> 00:33:03.079
tell beginners to start with robo investing audo investing simply

577
00:33:03.119 --> 00:33:07.920
because it's a starting point. It lets you see what

578
00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:11.200
happens without you having to figure out the mechanics of

579
00:33:11.240 --> 00:33:13.680
what happens behind the scene. Because a lot of people

580
00:33:13.759 --> 00:33:16.319
want to start, then they say, hey, teach me how

581
00:33:16.319 --> 00:33:18.720
to do this, So they open their account, they do

582
00:33:18.799 --> 00:33:22.319
all these things, and then they start investing in stocks

583
00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:25.599
that people told them. A friend says, hey buy this,

584
00:33:25.759 --> 00:33:29.880
buy that, do this, do that. They buy it, loses money,

585
00:33:29.880 --> 00:33:33.440
they lose interest, and they never do it again. But

586
00:33:33.519 --> 00:33:36.359
it's for your future. So if you do these robo

587
00:33:36.400 --> 00:33:41.160
advisors like Acorn's Betterment, you still get the same results,

588
00:33:41.359 --> 00:33:44.440
which is what you wanted, growth without having to think

589
00:33:44.480 --> 00:33:47.920
about how it happens. So I highly encourage people to

590
00:33:48.039 --> 00:33:53.279
look into auto investing or robo investing, which is a start,

591
00:33:53.319 --> 00:33:55.839
and then as time goes on, when you start seeing

592
00:33:55.880 --> 00:33:58.559
the compounding effect, you can learn why that's happening.

593
00:33:59.319 --> 00:33:59.519
Right.

594
00:34:00.839 --> 00:34:04.400
I probably have a little bit of a different take

595
00:34:04.440 --> 00:34:06.799
on it. But at the same time, what I also

596
00:34:06.880 --> 00:34:11.119
teach people is diversification and to not have everything in

597
00:34:11.320 --> 00:34:14.599
one thing, and so that's one of the things that

598
00:34:14.679 --> 00:34:19.679
we have taken. We do a lot of academically globally

599
00:34:19.719 --> 00:34:24.880
diversified accounts, so sometimes that people don't have an advisor

600
00:34:24.920 --> 00:34:28.400
to do that with. Sometimes they'll use index funds. So

601
00:34:29.239 --> 00:34:34.760
there's kind of a principle behind that of diversifying widely,

602
00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:37.840
because if you spread a wide net, then you're then

603
00:34:37.880 --> 00:34:39.079
if something crashes.

604
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:43.599
The whole thing with robo investing is it actually invests

605
00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:47.440
specifically only in index funds and etf so it gives

606
00:34:47.519 --> 00:34:51.440
you gification and it would probably invest in no more

607
00:34:51.480 --> 00:34:54.880
than four so that way it goes. So for instance,

608
00:34:54.920 --> 00:34:59.880
it'll go latge cap stocks, small and a national medium,

609
00:35:00.079 --> 00:35:03.039
so it gives you good diversification and you don't have

610
00:35:03.079 --> 00:35:05.920
to start saying I want Apple, I want in video,

611
00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:08.000
I want this, So it really does that for you.

612
00:35:08.039 --> 00:35:11.599
That's why I said it's a good start where it

613
00:35:11.639 --> 00:35:15.239
gets you to your goal and if you become more curious,

614
00:35:15.280 --> 00:35:18.800
then you can learn as time goes on. Because of

615
00:35:18.840 --> 00:35:22.880
these platforms that I mentioned, send you emails that are

616
00:35:22.920 --> 00:35:26.440
breaking simple things down for you for you to understand

617
00:35:26.920 --> 00:35:29.719
whilst it's working in the background, so you're not the

618
00:35:29.760 --> 00:35:32.519
tinker like me that was day trading and trying to

619
00:35:32.519 --> 00:35:34.840
figure it out myself in the early pages.

620
00:35:35.679 --> 00:35:38.000
Yeah, the problem, one of the problems I've seen with

621
00:35:38.039 --> 00:35:41.480
people with day trading is they'll invest in things that

622
00:35:41.960 --> 00:35:45.559
they have a bias of familiarity bias where they're familiar

623
00:35:45.639 --> 00:35:49.679
with something and they don't really know they don't really

624
00:35:49.760 --> 00:35:52.280
know what would be the best thing. And so yeah,

625
00:35:52.440 --> 00:35:55.840
I really try to get people not to do day

626
00:35:55.840 --> 00:35:59.320
training because because there's just some red flags that come

627
00:35:59.400 --> 00:36:05.760
up all the time. Do you have some decision rules

628
00:36:06.480 --> 00:36:09.920
that you teach clients so that because sometimes I mean

629
00:36:09.960 --> 00:36:15.119
I've seen people who like what I call decision fatigue. Yes,

630
00:36:15.840 --> 00:36:19.760
they just it's just overwhelming. So do you have some

631
00:36:19.840 --> 00:36:23.119
decision rules that you help teach to clients.

632
00:36:23.880 --> 00:36:26.920
Yeah, I mean, so the phrase is just really decide

633
00:36:26.920 --> 00:36:33.239
once and you keep it, you eliminate fatigue. In this case. Now,

634
00:36:33.280 --> 00:36:35.199
to decide once, I have what I call the three

635
00:36:35.280 --> 00:36:39.280
c's mindset. There's clarity, confidence, and consistency. You first have

636
00:36:39.480 --> 00:36:42.320
to click clarity around why you're doing what you're doing.

637
00:36:42.760 --> 00:36:46.079
So simple is why am I investing? It could be

638
00:36:46.559 --> 00:36:48.559
I want to retire, I want to buy a home,

639
00:36:48.800 --> 00:36:51.320
I'm doing this for my kids. Then you have your

640
00:36:51.360 --> 00:36:54.800
clarity as to why you're doing it. Confidence will just

641
00:36:54.840 --> 00:36:58.159
come from taking action, opening that account, setting things up.

642
00:36:58.440 --> 00:37:01.440
As you're doing you're building confidence. As it's growing, you're

643
00:37:01.480 --> 00:37:06.639
building confidence. Consistency is doing it every month, whether it's

644
00:37:06.960 --> 00:37:10.800
automatic or if you choose to actually put your time

645
00:37:10.840 --> 00:37:13.920
and effort into figuring it out, it's still creating a system.

646
00:37:13.920 --> 00:37:15.920
Putting it on your calendar on the fifth of every

647
00:37:15.960 --> 00:37:18.400
month is when I will do this. So you have

648
00:37:18.480 --> 00:37:21.880
to create some level of consistency as to how you're

649
00:37:21.920 --> 00:37:24.519
going to do things every month every year for it

650
00:37:24.559 --> 00:37:27.880
to compound. So the three c's mindset and once you decide,

651
00:37:27.920 --> 00:37:31.079
once automate it and move on. Wow.

652
00:37:33.079 --> 00:37:37.119
You know, I hope that we have people that are

653
00:37:37.159 --> 00:37:40.119
going to take some action on these things because it

654
00:37:40.280 --> 00:37:44.280
makes such a big, huge difference. So if you could

655
00:37:44.360 --> 00:37:52.639
give listeners a thirty day from scratch to strategy challenge,

656
00:37:52.960 --> 00:37:57.480
what and you broke it down like every week? Yeah,

657
00:37:57.559 --> 00:37:58.920
what would the weekly steps be?

658
00:37:59.760 --> 00:38:02.880
So I'll have something that I call the cash method,

659
00:38:02.920 --> 00:38:05.760
which will make it easy for you. Think cash, think money,

660
00:38:05.840 --> 00:38:10.440
So it's cash. First is clarity. Week one, you're going

661
00:38:10.440 --> 00:38:14.159
to list all your accounts, like we talked about income, expenses.

662
00:38:14.480 --> 00:38:16.519
You're going to know your real numbers in one place.

663
00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:18.719
That's what you do in the first week and nothing more.

664
00:38:19.039 --> 00:38:22.519
Week two is accountability. You're going to set ten to

665
00:38:22.599 --> 00:38:26.400
fifteen minutes every week to check in and track your

666
00:38:26.440 --> 00:38:29.440
spending and follow your plan that you created in week one.

667
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:33.119
Then in week three you're going to add some level

668
00:38:33.159 --> 00:38:35.199
of structure to what you're doing. You're going to set

669
00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:37.840
up your money flow. Now we're just set these things

670
00:38:37.880 --> 00:38:41.199
up where income goes into the bill account, the bill

671
00:38:41.239 --> 00:38:45.280
account goes into expenses, savings, and investing. Once you set

672
00:38:45.320 --> 00:38:48.440
up those accounts, you're going to separate everything, and we

673
00:38:48.480 --> 00:38:52.119
talked about it, assign every dollar a job. That's what

674
00:38:52.159 --> 00:38:55.039
you do in week three. Week four is the h

675
00:38:55.159 --> 00:38:59.199
the habits. You're going to automate your bills, your savings,

676
00:38:59.239 --> 00:39:02.599
you're investing, and you will make your first investment in

677
00:39:02.639 --> 00:39:05.679
this case because we've kind of put everything in place,

678
00:39:06.079 --> 00:39:13.400
and then you're going to just stay consistent. So clarity, accountability, structure, habits, cash,

679
00:39:13.440 --> 00:39:16.199
as they say, cash rules everything around me. So you're

680
00:39:16.239 --> 00:39:18.840
going to just stick with that in week four and

681
00:39:18.960 --> 00:39:23.159
you should have a system whereinby after thirty days, you

682
00:39:23.199 --> 00:39:27.559
have put something around your financial life or money and

683
00:39:27.840 --> 00:39:30.920
you just repeat that. You put that and repeat every month.

684
00:39:31.480 --> 00:39:33.760
Twelve months go by, and the years go by, and

685
00:39:33.800 --> 00:39:35.280
you're going to thank yourself.

686
00:39:34.920 --> 00:39:38.119
For it, and you're going to go, WHOA, how about that?

687
00:39:38.639 --> 00:39:38.840
Yeah?

688
00:39:38.880 --> 00:39:44.119
Yeah, yeah, absolutely well. Now, one thing I always say

689
00:39:44.719 --> 00:39:47.800
during these episodes is that on my website, on the

690
00:39:47.880 --> 00:39:51.920
Ask Good Questions podcast dot com website, I have a

691
00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:55.800
place and also I have a place on my Benita

692
00:39:55.800 --> 00:39:59.480
Bell Anderson website where I have just downloads and like

693
00:39:59.559 --> 00:40:02.480
a play for people to find out more about you,

694
00:40:03.039 --> 00:40:09.559
because I think that you have like there's some free tools.

695
00:40:09.559 --> 00:40:12.559
Do you want to talk about that real briefly, about

696
00:40:12.639 --> 00:40:14.880
the tools that you have for people.

697
00:40:15.320 --> 00:40:18.760
Yes. So if listeners go to my website which is

698
00:40:18.800 --> 00:40:21.440
see Me Fly Money, So see me Fly is spelled

699
00:40:21.559 --> 00:40:28.519
CIMI f li money dot com and you forward slash resources.

700
00:40:28.719 --> 00:40:31.599
So within there, I have a lot of free resources

701
00:40:31.920 --> 00:40:36.000
for people who just want to get started, nothing complex,

702
00:40:36.280 --> 00:40:38.840
just the basics, and I keep adding resources. I'll be

703
00:40:38.880 --> 00:40:42.199
adding some more resources in there, like a budget template

704
00:40:42.480 --> 00:40:44.360
for people that want to get started. But when it

705
00:40:44.360 --> 00:40:47.400
comes to investing, the five steps you need to take

706
00:40:47.679 --> 00:40:49.280
if you want to invest for your kids, if you

707
00:40:49.320 --> 00:40:51.239
want to invest for yourself, just a lot of good

708
00:40:51.360 --> 00:40:54.320
resources that are going to be there that would help

709
00:40:54.400 --> 00:40:57.039
you get started. Or it's a starting point for a

710
00:40:57.079 --> 00:40:58.559
lot of people and it's good information.

711
00:41:00.079 --> 00:41:03.519
Awesome, Well we will do that. We will make sure

712
00:41:03.559 --> 00:41:05.960
that that is there for people to find you if

713
00:41:05.960 --> 00:41:09.920
they're accessing and finding that pathway to find you from

714
00:41:09.960 --> 00:41:16.519
today's episode, and so anything else to add to this

715
00:41:16.639 --> 00:41:19.880
whole system that I hope people take very seriously.

716
00:41:20.440 --> 00:41:22.920
Yes, I mean I hope people take it seriously. But

717
00:41:22.960 --> 00:41:25.239
at the same time, just understand you're doing this for

718
00:41:25.320 --> 00:41:28.159
your future, you're doing this for yourself. Enjoy the process.

719
00:41:28.400 --> 00:41:31.800
It's not something that's supposed to Initially there would be

720
00:41:31.800 --> 00:41:34.079
a lot of friction, but once you create the systems

721
00:41:34.079 --> 00:41:37.400
and you automate everything, life will be good. So life

722
00:41:37.440 --> 00:41:40.159
is good. Just enjoy the process and don't stress out

723
00:41:40.480 --> 00:41:43.199
too much about it, and just understand why you're doing this,

724
00:41:43.320 --> 00:41:46.639
and it's to create freedom, time, freedom most importantly. I

725
00:41:46.679 --> 00:41:50.239
know people talk about these things, but it's possible once

726
00:41:50.280 --> 00:41:52.960
you release the stress of some of the things that

727
00:41:53.119 --> 00:41:54.920
cause it. And in this case, for a lot of

728
00:41:54.960 --> 00:41:58.960
us adults, money is a big stressor Yeah. Yeah.

729
00:41:59.039 --> 00:42:03.800
One thing I've always told people is that if your

730
00:42:03.880 --> 00:42:08.199
money's in chaos, typically the rest of your life is

731
00:42:08.239 --> 00:42:12.000
in chaos. Right, And if you've got your money handled,

732
00:42:12.480 --> 00:42:17.239
then it just seems like everything else flows a lot easier.

733
00:42:17.679 --> 00:42:20.440
Yes, definitely, that justice is.

734
00:42:20.360 --> 00:42:23.800
A thing, you know, you just got to realize that. Man,

735
00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:27.840
start with getting your money under control, and then go

736
00:42:27.880 --> 00:42:30.840
out and do the things that will be purposeful for you,

737
00:42:30.960 --> 00:42:34.239
that'll have meaning for you.

738
00:42:34.280 --> 00:42:34.880
Definitely.

739
00:42:35.199 --> 00:42:41.760
Yes, Yeah, it's just so important. So with that, our

740
00:42:41.800 --> 00:42:43.760
time is up. Can you believe it? I mean, it

741
00:42:43.880 --> 00:42:46.039
always goes so fast, but today.

742
00:42:46.239 --> 00:42:48.800
We went fast. But I enjoyed it, and hopefully the

743
00:42:48.880 --> 00:42:52.440
listeners enjoyed it. But they most importantly took nuggets from

744
00:42:52.480 --> 00:42:55.760
it that they would go and implementing their lives and

745
00:42:56.119 --> 00:42:58.519
make for better lives for themselves and their families.

746
00:42:59.079 --> 00:43:03.760
Yes, so, thank you so much, Cecil for joining me today,

747
00:43:04.800 --> 00:43:07.480
and thank you so much for joining us on the

748
00:43:07.599 --> 00:43:11.039
Ask Good Questions podcast. We will see you next time.

749
00:43:11.559 --> 00:43:11.960
Thank you.

750
00:43:16.360 --> 00:43:20.480
Today's episode is over. But we did ask good questions again, didn't.

751
00:43:20.519 --> 00:43:24.280
You don't miss out as we broadcast live every Wednesday,

752
00:43:24.360 --> 00:43:28.079
six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio at

753
00:43:28.280 --> 00:43:32.480
w fourcy dot com. Joined Nina Bellanerson next week for

754
00:43:32.679 --> 00:43:38.280
more conversations with experts on finances, retirement, behavioral finance issues,

755
00:43:38.400 --> 00:43:43.039
health and wellness, and Moore. Until then, remember to ask

756
00:43:43.239 --> 00:43:47.320
good questions