WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:02.359
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
2
00:00:02.359 --> 00:00:04.000
solely those of the hosts and their guests and not
3
00:00:04.040 --> 00:00:06.960
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
4
00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:10.080
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
5
00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:12.480
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No
6
00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:15.759
liability explicit implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio
7
00:00:15.800 --> 00:00:18.559
or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should
8
00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:20.920
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing
9
00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:23.359
W FOURCY Radio.
10
00:00:29.079 --> 00:00:33.880
Welcome to to Ask Good Questions Podcasts, broadcasting live every Wednesday,
11
00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:37.719
six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio at
12
00:00:37.960 --> 00:00:41.399
w four cy dot com. This week and every week,
13
00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:45.039
we will reach for a higher purpose in money and life,
14
00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:48.679
as well as a focus on health and wellness. Now,
15
00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:53.920
let's join your hosts, Vanita Bell Anderson as together we
16
00:00:54.039 --> 00:00:57.320
start with Asking Good Questions.
17
00:01:00.119 --> 00:01:03.880
Hey, welcome to the Ask Good Questions podcast. I'm your host,
18
00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:08.280
Anita bell Anderson, and today we have a fantastic show.
19
00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:12.280
We're going to be talking about some very important information
20
00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:16.200
around you know, actually people coming to the US getting
21
00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:20.120
started with nothing and it's just a very inspiring story.
22
00:01:20.719 --> 00:01:23.359
So with that, I would like to invite to the
23
00:01:23.400 --> 00:01:26.439
podcast stage Cecil Williams.
24
00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:28.280
Awesome, very much.
25
00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:34.040
I know this is going to be great. Actually, before
26
00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:37.200
I do my little intro of him, when when we met,
27
00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:42.000
the immediate thing that I thought was he reminds me
28
00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:47.920
of Alexander Hamilton. And if any of you, I have
29
00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:52.359
loved reading about you know, historical just the books and
30
00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:54.840
everything out there about how the United States got started
31
00:01:54.959 --> 00:01:58.439
is really fascinating. And Alexander Hamilton is a young man
32
00:01:58.480 --> 00:02:01.840
that came to the United States with nothing, And so
33
00:02:01.959 --> 00:02:06.079
when I'm hearing Cecil's story, I went, oh, he's just
34
00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:10.479
like that. You know, Alexander Hamilton fought in the Revolutionary War.
35
00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:14.360
He actually was the one that was the main instigator
36
00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:17.840
behind getting the US Treasury going, if you can believe
37
00:02:17.879 --> 00:02:22.000
that anyway, So with that we have our modern day
38
00:02:22.039 --> 00:02:28.599
Alexander Hamilton. His name is Cecil Williams. He's the founder
39
00:02:28.680 --> 00:02:33.240
of Semi Fly Money and a financial accountability coach. I
40
00:02:33.319 --> 00:02:36.599
know that he's actually working on a CFP professional designation,
41
00:02:36.840 --> 00:02:37.479
isn't that right?
42
00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:38.280
Yes?
43
00:02:38.919 --> 00:02:43.479
Yeah, cool? And he helps professionals and families bring structure
44
00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:49.439
and clarity to their finances, which is something of interest
45
00:02:49.479 --> 00:02:52.319
in most people out there. He didn't start with a
46
00:02:52.360 --> 00:02:55.800
massive portfolio. He started with just twenty dollars a month
47
00:02:56.479 --> 00:03:01.280
ten years ago, and a commitment to consistency. This is
48
00:03:01.319 --> 00:03:03.400
going to be important today. You're going to hear that
49
00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:09.080
time and again. Over time, he built real systems around investing,
50
00:03:09.159 --> 00:03:11.639
cash flow, and long term planning that helped him grow
51
00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:14.759
wealth by his first home and create investing strategies for
52
00:03:14.840 --> 00:03:17.960
his family and his clients. That's why you know, when
53
00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:21.960
you see something like this, it's like, Wow, this is
54
00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:25.439
an exceptional person. You know, to start from nothing. So
55
00:03:25.960 --> 00:03:32.240
what makes him different is his focus on structure over income,
56
00:03:32.360 --> 00:03:36.520
helping families and people stop feeling behind, simplifying their money
57
00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:41.080
hence the name of his company, and building confidence with investing.
58
00:03:41.560 --> 00:03:45.800
If you've ever felt like you make good money but
59
00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:49.639
you don't feel in control of it, then this conversation
60
00:03:50.280 --> 00:03:55.240
is for you, So welcome, Secel. Anything to add to that.
61
00:03:56.280 --> 00:03:58.960
Thank you, Benita a large shoes to fill by liking
62
00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:03.080
me to Alexander Hamilton, so hopefully I could put those shoes.
63
00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:06.560
But I'm honored for that. But I appreciate that. Thank
64
00:04:06.599 --> 00:04:09.400
you very much. But you've said it all so I'm
65
00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:10.280
ready when you are.
66
00:04:11.159 --> 00:04:13.319
So, well, let's start out. Where did you come from?
67
00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:15.319
Where did where did you come from? When you when
68
00:04:15.400 --> 00:04:17.079
you first came to the United States.
69
00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:21.040
So I migrated from the Gambia. That's why I finished
70
00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:23.199
high school by way up Sara Leone, which is where
71
00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:27.519
I was born. Did that when I turned eighteen and
72
00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:34.759
moved from Gambia, West Africa to California. So went straight
73
00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:36.360
to California.
74
00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:38.560
Yeah wow, what a big change?
75
00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:40.160
Yes? Massive?
76
00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:45.279
So what did starting from scratch look like for you?
77
00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:50.639
So for me, I think I moved here as an
78
00:04:50.680 --> 00:04:54.959
international student, went straight to California, six thousand miles away.
79
00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:58.800
My parents thought I was nuts, But my primary aim
80
00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:02.319
was to get an education. So at that point, I
81
00:05:02.360 --> 00:05:05.240
don't think like myself like most people are, not thinking
82
00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:08.000
about anything else but to focus on school. I mean
83
00:05:08.600 --> 00:05:13.560
that was my primary aim, and money and all these things.
84
00:05:13.800 --> 00:05:16.839
You don't get to understand that until it starts hitting you.
85
00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:20.879
Where most people say at the age of eighteen you
86
00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:24.279
become an adult. But to be honest, when you're moving
87
00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:26.560
from your parents home to all of a sudden you're
88
00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:30.519
by yourself, it doesn't quite hit you until the responsibilities
89
00:05:30.519 --> 00:05:33.680
of an adult start coming in and you're like, oh, wow,
90
00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:36.879
I have to be an adult now. So I think
91
00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:40.160
that was kind of a drastic change for me. But
92
00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:43.879
my initial focus was just education, get a degree.
93
00:05:44.439 --> 00:05:46.800
When you start getting hungry, or you need to wash
94
00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:50.040
your clothes, or you need to get around someplace, the
95
00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:51.439
reality kind of hits home.
96
00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:58.519
Huh, yes, getting around like a car all that stuff.
97
00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:03.639
But yes, well, what was happening in your life to
98
00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:07.639
start investing? Basically, twenty dollars you felt like you had
99
00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:08.959
twenty dollars a month.
100
00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:12.519
So I mean, and that would fast forward past college
101
00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:16.920
and you start working. And I think for me around
102
00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:21.199
that time, realistically and honestly, I was making good money.
103
00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:24.759
I was working in a consulting job, traveling, but at
104
00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:29.519
the same time, my mistakes kept piling up. So because
105
00:06:29.560 --> 00:06:32.920
you have this quest as a young man to succeed
106
00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:37.519
in life, you start making decisions that follow. You're following
107
00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:39.879
the crowd. Your friends say, hey, let's do this, let's
108
00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:43.600
invest in here, so day trading. I think, finally what
109
00:06:43.839 --> 00:06:45.759
kind of like broke the camels back. I ended up
110
00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:47.680
in what I would call a real estate Ponzi scheme
111
00:06:47.720 --> 00:06:52.160
where I was a victim of it and we lost collectively.
112
00:06:52.199 --> 00:06:55.199
I believe me and three of my friends maybe collectively
113
00:06:55.240 --> 00:06:57.199
lost over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. And I
114
00:06:57.240 --> 00:07:00.480
was like, okay, yo to me, young and working so
115
00:07:00.600 --> 00:07:04.560
hard for money and to lose it all just because
116
00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:09.040
you're not well educated and informed about financial principles and
117
00:07:09.079 --> 00:07:12.120
things of that nature. It was heartbreaking and I said
118
00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:15.920
to myself, Okay, I can't keep going down that route.
119
00:07:15.959 --> 00:07:19.920
So that's when the twenty dollars a month idea started.
120
00:07:19.959 --> 00:07:23.399
And it started with like Acorns, which is a robo
121
00:07:23.480 --> 00:07:26.120
investing app where I'm like, okay, if I put this
122
00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:29.839
money in here and make certain decisions or answer certain questions,
123
00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:31.720
and I don't have to touch it and I don't
124
00:07:31.720 --> 00:07:33.959
have to worry about how it grows. I mean, I
125
00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:37.639
had to educate myself about investing truly and how it worked,
126
00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:39.439
and I thought that was the easiest way for me
127
00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:43.639
to autinate the process. Where I remove my emotions from
128
00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:46.160
the decision. Then it doesn't mean it completely removes them,
129
00:07:46.199 --> 00:07:49.519
because the stock market would always be emotion driven for
130
00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:51.959
a lot of people because these things go up and down.
131
00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:54.720
But if you choose to just ignore the noise, and
132
00:07:54.759 --> 00:07:59.720
focus on what's happening. Then it'll eventually pan out of
133
00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:01.560
all it works, it works out.
134
00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:07.639
Yeah. That that is why many years ago now, I
135
00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:11.120
you know, because I've been more than twenty five years now,
136
00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:14.079
I've been in this industry, and many many years ago,
137
00:08:14.120 --> 00:08:17.879
I really started focusing on financial education because I saw
138
00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:20.399
exactly all the things you were talking about, all the
139
00:08:20.439 --> 00:08:25.879
mistakes people thought and did, and I really started focusing
140
00:08:25.959 --> 00:08:30.279
on diversification and teaching all of those principles. So what
141
00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:33.120
did you have to unlearn if you're if you you know,
142
00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:37.399
realize no day trading and all this, you know, Ponzi schemes,
143
00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:39.480
all those things don't work. What did you have to
144
00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:40.600
unlearn about money?
145
00:08:40.600 --> 00:08:44.600
Then? I think a few things. I think first and
146
00:08:44.679 --> 00:08:50.039
foremost that the financial it's a financial system. It's that
147
00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:52.440
in itself is a skill like any other that you
148
00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:57.639
have to master. And I had to learn that obviously,
149
00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:02.639
more money doesn't fit your problems because a lot of
150
00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:05.080
people just thought, meaning that case I was young, making
151
00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:06.720
a lot of money, you just think you can throw
152
00:09:06.759 --> 00:09:10.039
it out anyway and you can keep multiplying it. I
153
00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:13.200
had to unlearn that I need. I mean, most people
154
00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:15.279
think I need to figure it out first before I
155
00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:18.000
get started. And when it came to the investing, you
156
00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:20.240
can almost see that's what I was trying to figure out,
157
00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:23.000
thinking if I went down that route and did it myself,
158
00:09:23.159 --> 00:09:24.799
just do all these things, you would figure it out
159
00:09:24.840 --> 00:09:28.639
and you would get going. And I think most importantly,
160
00:09:28.679 --> 00:09:32.600
I had to learn that being good with money is
161
00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:34.960
about discipline set of structure. What I mean by that
162
00:09:35.080 --> 00:09:37.360
is most people just think you can be disciplined at
163
00:09:37.399 --> 00:09:41.080
what you do sports athletes, but with everything you need
164
00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:43.279
some level of structure, which is something we would get
165
00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:47.360
into a lot today. And with that structure, you force
166
00:09:47.480 --> 00:09:51.440
yourself to be disciplined with it. Right.
167
00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:56.759
Well, so what was the first really small money move
168
00:09:56.919 --> 00:10:01.320
Was it that really helped creative movement? Was it just
169
00:10:01.639 --> 00:10:03.440
automating twenty dollars a month?
170
00:10:03.559 --> 00:10:07.639
Was that it? Yeah, that's where the shift really happened
171
00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:10.120
for me. I mean, I think so from a child,
172
00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:12.960
I've been good, very good at saving. So maybe the
173
00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:15.840
first shift happened when I was much younger, And I
174
00:10:15.879 --> 00:10:18.399
always say I saved about the equivalent of about one
175
00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:21.639
hundred dollars and it gave my parents some money to
176
00:10:21.639 --> 00:10:24.559
buy me, specifically a shoot, I wanted that. They probably
177
00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:26.360
wouldn't have bought for me because they would have said
178
00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:29.320
it was too expensive. So that was a long time
179
00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:31.600
ago in that savings and they always say you can't
180
00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:34.200
save your way to well. So the real shift happened
181
00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:36.960
with that twenty dollars and putting it away, and it
182
00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:39.840
was small. So if you fast forward to ten years
183
00:10:40.200 --> 00:10:42.519
now in the future, when you look at twenty dollars,
184
00:10:42.600 --> 00:10:47.679
just twenty dollars a month growing to twenty thousand dollars.
185
00:10:48.200 --> 00:10:51.960
I know for most people they look at it like, oh,
186
00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:54.840
twenty thousand dollars, but it's just twenty dollars a month.
187
00:10:54.879 --> 00:10:57.600
If you think about it, that's all I put So
188
00:10:57.639 --> 00:11:00.720
when you see that compounding effect, I tell people, so,
189
00:11:00.919 --> 00:11:04.080
imagine in your position now, which primarily the people I
190
00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:07.200
work with high earners, Imagine if it was two fifty
191
00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:09.919
a month, five hundred a month, one thousand dollars a
192
00:11:09.960 --> 00:11:13.200
month over the next ten years, how much that would be.
193
00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:15.759
So I think that's the shift that happened for me.
194
00:11:16.120 --> 00:11:18.840
But when you see that growing over time, it motivated
195
00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:21.960
me to say, Okay, this is simple and I can
196
00:11:22.039 --> 00:11:24.960
keep doing this rather than trying to tinker with the
197
00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:29.120
system and experiment and keep having missteps.
198
00:11:29.480 --> 00:11:33.399
Right, I mean, it wasn't really the dollar amount. I
199
00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:36.519
think what you're saying, it's the structure, it's the discipline
200
00:11:36.600 --> 00:11:40.000
it's making and even beyond that, it's like getting is
201
00:11:40.039 --> 00:11:44.279
making a decision. Yes, it's really what you were doing.
202
00:11:46.200 --> 00:11:48.320
What if you were looking back now, all of those
203
00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:50.559
mistakes you made, what would you wish somebody would have
204
00:11:50.600 --> 00:11:52.879
told you and said no this or don't do that.
205
00:11:53.279 --> 00:11:56.080
What what do you wish people would have said somebody
206
00:11:56.639 --> 00:11:57.559
would have told you?
207
00:11:58.039 --> 00:12:01.279
I think, looking back now, what I wish someone would
208
00:12:01.320 --> 00:12:03.200
have told me, because I think what most people told
209
00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:05.159
me when I came, don't get a credit card. The
210
00:12:05.240 --> 00:12:07.960
reality is most young people are going to regardless of
211
00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:10.279
what you say. But what I wish someone would have
212
00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:14.080
told me quite early on in the system is track
213
00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:18.159
your money or it will disappear. So learn about budgeting
214
00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:21.279
very early on. It doesn't matter how small that tracking
215
00:12:21.320 --> 00:12:27.360
system starts, but most importantly, start with small amounts invested,
216
00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:30.679
because back then, or if you say ten years from
217
00:12:30.679 --> 00:12:33.360
even when I started that twenty dollars, so you would
218
00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:35.840
have been a twenty year span. If I started with
219
00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:39.279
twenty dollars. Even then, that money would have grown to
220
00:12:39.399 --> 00:12:42.759
much much more than what I know. And I think
221
00:12:42.919 --> 00:12:47.840
automating as much as you can, because automation doesn't need
222
00:12:47.960 --> 00:12:51.679
will power. Once you put it in, it keeps doing
223
00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:54.399
it and you don't have to remind yourself to do that.
224
00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:57.000
So I think that's what I wish someone would have
225
00:12:57.080 --> 00:12:57.519
told me.
226
00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:02.960
Then right, well, let's talk a little bit more about structure.
227
00:13:03.480 --> 00:13:08.360
So I agree with you that I don't think people
228
00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:12.600
struggle because they don't earn enough. It's not how much
229
00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:15.159
you earn, it's how much you keep, and so they
230
00:13:15.159 --> 00:13:19.320
struggle because they lack structure. So in your mind, what
231
00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:22.759
do you mean when you're saying structure.
232
00:13:24.200 --> 00:13:26.679
Yeah, so I say structure, And this is something I've
233
00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:29.639
been very adamant about, and I'll prefers this to say. Okay, first,
234
00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:33.080
in today's economy, it's not as black and white as
235
00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:36.000
most people would like to say. Oh, I income of
236
00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:40.519
a structure. But if you earn a good amount of money,
237
00:13:40.600 --> 00:13:44.879
it's important to tell your money where to go before
238
00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:48.879
it disappears. That's simply what structure is. It's nothing complicated.
239
00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:52.639
You create a plan, you have a system, and your