Cesar:
Welcome to the I'm Not Dumb but Podcast, where we won't claim to have the answers to life's easiest questions but we'll give you an exciting journey into the realms of knowledge you never knew you needed. Might be mainstream, but not common knowledge. From artificial intelligence to conspiracy theories, no topic is too taboo for us to explore. Let's get curious together.
Rob:
So today I'm your host, rob, joined by Cesar Yo and, of course, the man who made it happen for us, victor. How y'all doing, how you guys doing today, making it work.
Cesar:
Making it work bro.
Victor:
Doing good. I feel like I'm in some financial trouble.
Rob:
I felt like that since I was born, but Juan, anything specific.
Victor:
I just feel like I can't get ahead of my spending. These only fans accounts are you know. They're piling up trying to eat my avocado toast and getting my health down. Yeah, I want to go on vacation more. I want to do things more. I want to go out more. I want to go out to dinner more, but it's just not adding up for me. I think I'm doing something wrong. Well, one.
Rob:
I think that you'll probably never have that. Oh, but another thing. Yeah, I mean vacation and vacation.
Victor:
Is that too much? Is that too much, it's one or the other. Oh man.
Rob:
Do? Do you want a vacation or do you want clean water? Which one do you want? It's funny because a recent article came out by Vice and they were talking about what millennials guys like us what millennials think, how much money they think they need to make to be happy. If you had to put a number on it to be happy in this economy, what would you guys do?
Cesar:
Was this for New York City or was this for the country I?
Rob:
think it was for the country.
Victor:
I'm still going to say based off of New York and the Northeast.
Rob:
I think I need like $150,000 to be happy $150,000 to be happy $150,000, yeah, minimum If you have kids, one or two $165,000, $170,000 minimum. $165,000 minimum 165, 170, then you're going to be happy. All your problems are solved.
Cesar:
No, that's just the tip.
Rob:
That's just the tip. So it's like you need like 170, 180 plus like a $300,000 Christmas bonus, yeah.
Victor:
I gotcha. He wants to send his kids to college.
Rob:
Yeah, Trade schools, that's where they're going. Well, in a recent article by Vice right there was a survey by the financial firm Empower and they said they asked a bunch of American adults how much money they need to feel happy. Of course you guys are kind of on par Millennials shot for the stars with saying the highest amount of money they need to be happy and they said they'd need to earn about $525,000 a year salary to be happy.
Victor:
I mean, yeah, I guess to be really happy Sure With with about 1.2 million in the bank.
Cesar:
Yeah.
Rob:
I think that's that's reasonable.
Victor:
That's reasonable. Yeah, I'd be happy with that, Gen Zers.
Rob:
they said they need about 124,000 to be happy. f*cking Gen Zers I swear to God, they're ruining it for everyone. So I think there's something to be said about that. As a millennial who is feeling chronically broke, are we really not making enough money? Or is this just like an overconsumption problem you guys think?
Victor:
Are you saying that I haveption problem? You guys think? Are you saying that I have the problem?
Rob:
I think, I think, yeah, you are. The problem is, you think, I'm the problem.
Victor:
What is this f*cking group therapy?
Rob:
I came here to blame my problems on something else you just want to talk about your problems I think it's a combination, it's an overconsumption problem, because if you don't have anything to consume, then then you don't need money. I thought this was America.
Victor:
This is a capitalist society. It's all about consuming. He has my vote. This is my run for governor. No, it might be my problem. I might have a spending problem.
Cesar:
I think it's a little bit. I think it's both right.
Rob:
Sometimes you can splurge, but at the same time, I feel like everything is expensive, everything. Sometimes I'm like I get the check and I'm like where's? We're going to see if we can define financial independence or financial freedom. We're going to see why is it becoming popular and is it so important to us? We're going to talk about some common misconceptions about the financial independence landscape and then we're going to see if we can cover a few steps for achieving our goals.
Rob:
Today we have a special guest, george Thomas, owner of the Financial Constructor. George is an advocate for financial empowerment and is providing individuals with the knowledge and resources to achieve their financial goals, with a focus on personalized coaching and innovative solutions. The Financial Constructor is looking to transform the landscape of financial education. George, welcome to the show. Good to have you.
Rob:
I really like what you're doing with the financial constructor and getting into this personal finance financial freedom space because to me, it helped me out a lot. I kind of went through a little hardship with all that stuff and I love when I see people talking about it, because I like when they educate people about it, because I feel like a lot of this stuff should have been, you know, hopefully taught in schools and people need to be a little bit more knowledgeable. But before we get into that, because I understand that you have the financial constructor and then you've been doing that for some time now and you have that community, the Financial Freedom Builders. So what events or what influences like in your childhood kind of shaped who you are today, kind of your passion in this finance space?
George:
So well, first off, I would say you know I have a. I have a finance background. So I got my bachelor's in finance. You know, a little over 10 years ago I got involved. I got my MBA after the fact. So I've always been involved with numbers and finance for from since the beginning of time and I've loved business and whatnot.
George:
But two, I would say there's two catalysts, I would say, more than anything else, that really, that really was the why. Number one was the pandemic. You know People have known I was knowledgeable with finance but I never went out and was openly giving out information or anything of the sort. But around the time of the pandemic I was getting a lot of random text messages from people I knew, different walks of life, asking me just random financial questions and it almost seemed like it was coordinated, but it wasn't. It was just over a span of three weeks I was getting random text messages for financial advice. I remember asking my wife I'm like not really sure why I'm getting all these random text messages for financial information right now, just really random and her response to me was so powerful. She says they simply want to know what you have to say about this and it sounds very simple, but the reality is all of us have access to information Google, reddit, twitter, instagram, youtube and all this but it could have went to these resources, but it was important for them to hear what I had to say and I think that was probably the most defining thing. There was okay. I think that was probably the most defining thing. There was okay. Clearly, there's value in what I'm saying that folks see, and so if I can make finance in a way that's easy to understand for people and that's something that I guess that's my strong point, and I try to explain finance in a way that's easy to understand for anybody and I think through that, there was value on that.
George:
That's the first one. I would say that's the biggest catalyst. Second catalyst, I will tell you, is my father. So my father just a, you know, just a side note, my father is a, is a, is a, is a pastor in here in the in Tampa, but he does. He has a bivocational role, so, aside from being a pastor, he's also a full-time truck driver. He's been doing a dual role for about 14 years. So he's opened his church in 2010 here in Tampa, but he's always desired to ministry full time. However, he's unable to cross that bridge right now because there are financial hurdles he's trying to clear to be able to get into that. So of course, he wants to impact the community and people around him and he's very passionate about it, but his financial circ*mstance told him that he has to still continue to be in the rat race until he can clear that hurdle. And so I'm seeing that and I'm saying there's a there's a passion and a dream that's being hindered because of finances.
George:
I said there's there's a lot of people like my dad out there, right and that, and that want to do good, want to do something special, have a gift for the world, and the fact that they're bound in their financial situation doesn't allow them to do that. So we can bridge the gap between people and their financial freedom. Boy, that's powerful man. The rest is history. So we can move those barriers.
George:
And a lot of times, like I always tell everybody, there's one thing different between those that are wealthy and those that aspire to be wealthy. There's only one thing that's different and everybody thinks oh yeah, the money. It's not the money Information. And the wealthy have access to the information, able to make more money, and those that are not wealthy are seeking that information, that the wealthy have to become wealthy. So that gap is that's the gap, and of course the wealthy they don't want to share that Right, because you know, you know. Then it evens the playing field. Nobody has an upper hand or whatnot. So if we can remove that and provide people that don't have access to that information, that information gives them at least a fighting chance.
Rob:
To me that that resonates. And I'll tell you why. Because growing up, my parents are first generation, right, they came off the boat. The whole story 16 years old, $2 in their pocket it's like that's all anyone ever had. But they never knew what to do. Coming over, they knew what to do in the old country they were really good at living in the old country but when they came here they didn't understand the game. The way I feel is like it takes a few generations to learn how to play the game. First you come in, then you get the handbook, then it takes like two, two years. You know two generations and then they know how to play.
Rob:
I was always told growing up don't invest your money, it's just gambling. Just put the money in a stable account, savings account, leave it there. And then I'm thinking to myself like by the eighth grade. I'm like but nothing happens to that money. But I never knew because you're not going to tell it. Say anything to your parents, right? You're just going to listen to whatever they say. And then now we're growing up and we're seeing this and we're telling people and you're like I already know what my kids are going to do. You know what I mean, or I have a plan for them.
George:
Yeah, and you bring up something interesting. I love what you just brought up because I, you know I relate to that and a lot of us do. Right, most folks originated from somewhere else. More often than not, right? Especially in recent, in more recent generations, the folks came from another country whether it's a third world country, europe, africa, whatever the case may be and so there was a risk already inherited by coming here. So now they came with nothing because they risked everything to get here and then they tried to build up from the ground up, starting from zero.
George:
So a lot of times the I don't want to seem so negative, but the immigrant mentality is is well, we've already risked enough getting here. We don't want to put what more at risk to go backwards, to have to risk going back to where we were before. But, like we said, the rules of the game say you can't really advance without risk, and so we put in this thing where to your point, the savings account, and don't trust this, you can't trust the bank, and everything is corrupt and all this, and we stymie ourselves and and we don't advance. But we have these you know these desires and we see others around us saying man, how do they get there? How do we get there? Why is it that we're working so hard and not getting anywhere? And fortunately, to your point, I think. Think it's the evolution of the information allows our families and our generations to advance forward to those goals.
Rob:
You always hear the words, you know generational wealth, financial freedom, financial independence, wealth management, all these words, this jargon, and you're always kind of like you just put it in one category. But I want to know like to us, like run us through this idea of financial freedom, how would you define it?
George:
So I think financial freedom has a meaning for everybody different right I, when I engage folks and they you know they want to be part of our community and I love it is every because it's full of folks with different variations of what it means. Some folks is laying at the beach doing nothing and being on the boat and doing that. Some folks there's nothing wrong with it, right? I think that's in your mind.
Cesar:
Is there a beach in Tampa?
George:
Oh, come on now, man. Whenever you're here, I got you I got you.
Victor:
I got you.
George:
Anytime, whenever you're here, I got you. I got you. I got you Anytime. For me, there's not really a destination. There are three indicators that I'm looking for. That tells me, if I hit these indicators in my life, then I've probably arrived where I want to be.
George:
Number one I do not have to react in life due to an alarm set or turned on. I think that's one thing. Number two every minute of my day is for my benefit, for the benefit of myself and my family. Not most people have that right. If you're working nine to five, you're already disqualified by default, right? But every minute is for the benefit of myself and my family. And then number three money and finances. Money itself is not a hindrance or a barrier to a decision I make for myself and my family. Now, those three things happen. I've probably arrived, but it doesn't mean that I'm not what. It doesn't mean that I'm not working. It doesn't mean that I'm not active. It doesn't mean that I'm not doing anything. I just have those indicators active in my life. I know I'm financially free. That's for me, that's what I'm looking for and that's what I'm pursuing as I go day by day.
Cesar:
So I'm assuming the members in your community. You have people on all three levels, right? Some like you mentioned. I want to be on a beach somewhere, whatever, whatever. Another one's like I'm working, but I don't really need to work. So a question that I have is do?
George:
you see similarities or do you see like fundamentals that you can apply to all three levels? Yes, sir, number one no matter where you want to go next on there, your net worth has to be advancing forward, regardless of whatever decision you want to make. So I always tell everybody the most important indicator and that's every single person I talk to whether you're a member of a community, it doesn't matter. I sometimes go to local businesses and sometimes their employees. They want to start an employee plan. So like, for example, there are some organizations that don't offer like 401k, you know, it's too expensive or whatever the case may be. So we provide a cost-effective strategy for them, saying, hey, you may not be able to afford to have employee matching 401ks, but if you provide this your employees, this program can be a cost-effective way. We can provide them financial education, you know, give them a financial future. You know ideas and so on and so forth. So, anyways, I've gone and done presentations at businesses. So everywhere I go, I always tell everyone the most important indicator that's important is net worth and net worth improvement, and net worth is an equation, right, it's the money coming in which is net, that's the total expenses coming out, and so at the end of the day, whether you want to be at the beach, whether you want to be actively retired which is a term I like to coin now, active retirement you can be retired, still active, right? Whether you're working, you got a business, you got all these things. Your net worth has to be moving in the upward direction.
George:
There are physicians that I know that I work with in $300,000, $350,000 a year. They are having financial hardships and you hear something like that and that is the most puzzling thing. You are making the amount of money that it would take folks literally years to make and you are having financial hardships. It's because the fundamental principle of more money is going out less than coming in, and that's on any level. So I always immediately focus on everyone is their net worth improvement?
George:
And the first thing we always go through with every single member is expense management. You've got to be able to manage your expenses. Can't control always what comes in. Whatever you make hourly is whatever you make hourly. Yeah, you may get a raise here and there. You can try to get another job no guarantees. So you can't always control the money coming in. But you have a better chance controlling your finances on what's coming out, because a lot of times, the stuff that's coming out will be unnecessary waste and some of your savings that you're lacking and the investments that you desire to do is either being ate or drank away because of the fact that you're missing these strategies to better manage the money coming out, which improves your net worth.
Rob:
So I went to college. Right, that was mistake number one. So I went to college. I racked up Cheers yeah, absolutely. But no, I went. I went to college. I racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in student debt, no idea what I was doing. Right, I couldn't drink at 18, but I could sign my life away to a bank. Came out of school engineering degree making $6 an hour working at Carvel. It's a lot Especially now Back in the day For an engineering it's a lot.
Rob:
I mean, we were making 550 in civil, but my goal after that was I need to make as much money as humanly possible to pay off this debt. That was it. That was what I thought. Then I found I literally found on the floor, like one of those you know, finance, personal finance books and I read that from front to back. I thought it was somebody's. I put it away lost and found no one ever took it. I went and got it and I said you know what? Let me read this thing In every chapter. I felt like it was saying the exact opposite of what I was doing. It was like what I was doing was wrong and I didn't know it Right. And I agree that a lot of this, like you know, make it people making three, fifty, four hundred thousand dollars a year and they're broke or live in paycheck to paycheck. But do you think it's more than just numbers like in and out, or is there like a mindset to this?
George:
A couple of things there, man. So number one one of the things when it comes to finances in general all of us there are two Ps that come with finance A lot of times when I engage folks for our conversations. Number one pride. Everybody's making an honest living punching the clock. I'm getting after it, I'm doing what I have to do. I'm not doing anything illegal. I may not be making the most money, but it's not due to lack of effort, so there's a pride. That's number one P when you deal with these conversations. Right, I always go in. Understanding P is one pride. Two P privacy.
George:
And folks are very private when it comes to their finances, and rightfully so. Right, because you don't know who you can trust. You don't know, you know you're being. There's a level of vulnerability when it comes to that. So the first thing, to your point, when someone engages me, although I may have a preconceived concept on, or understanding on, hey, they probably are going about this not necessarily the right way I lean into their strengths first. Say, hey, man, you do work hard, you know that work ethic is good, you know your time is valuable, right. And so I start leaning into the positives first. Right, because, although I want to change their mindset.
George:
You can't necessarily come in guns blazing, but the first thing I would tell you and I completely agree with you is that, as human beings, the pandemic has taught any of us anything that our time is our most valuable asset, and the second most valuable asset we have is not even our money, it's our health, time and health. And, whatever the case, you know, you want to put family, you want to put money, whatever you got after that, but time and health and, quite frankly, we tend to exchange very loosely. As human beings, we're very quick that if something comes in, we're going to invest our time. And the issue is is that with our time, we could do multiple different things that we desire in our lifetime? And so the issue is is to your point, somebody's trying to make more money? The first thing in our instinct is is okay, I want to increase this asset, so I'm going to leverage asset to get this one up. And a lot of times we pick time. But the reality is is that that advanced forward in finances, that advance forward in finances, don't realize that you actually could use less time to make more money?
George:
Strategy is that we have to continue to actively look for ways, reduce the amount of time it takes to make the money that we make. But we're programmed differently, right, when we go to school. Right, you want to be the doctor, you want to be the engineer, you want to be the business guy, you want to be this. So you're coming in, get this piece of paper so that you can then take this to go into an institution to give them what? To give them time in exchange for money. So we are already by default programmed to go about this the wrong way.
George:
And on the other side of that, those that are become knowledgeable again the information they've become knowledgeable saying that, hey, I have a time resource coming in, let me bring them in. You're going to essentially save me time. You're going to be my passive income generator. You're going to give me 40 hours a week plus exchange. You're going to build up my dream and my profits and, in exchange, pay you for the time that you're giving me.
George:
And so what do I teach folks and what do I challenge folks? Number one is that the first way they can make their money I go back to the first thing is that you can start paying yourself back by cutting down your expenses. Less comes out, more money retains. That's actually money you're essentially paying yourself. The key is is not now that the money's in, that you find some reason to spend it, because it's still coming out.
George:
Okay, you brought, you let them. You didn't let the money come in through the leave, the front door. If you find another way to spend it and it goes out through the window or the back door, you didn't really. You missed the concept. But if you could take the money retained, find the money and find a way for the money to start working for you. Now your money is increasing, reserving the most precious asset you have, which is time. It's a journey, though I would be honest with you, because we're programmed run away immediately to time. Right, you meet somebody. You know you got to invest time. You want to start a business that invests time. You want to go? You know, start a business that invests time. You want to go to the gym? You know it requires time. So everything we do requires time, but when it comes to making money, if we can find ways to make money without spending our time, that's when you really start to advance forward.
Rob:
That programming is real. After I kind of got my finances in order and I had I paid off all my debt, right, nothing. So all this money's coming in and I was in such a habit to spend money, it was just like a natural thing, like I had money and I was like I got to do something with it, like I just I felt this need. I couldn't see myself just putting in a bank account because it would come right up All that work. Everyone's buying these $150 Jordans. I said, all right, every time I see something that I want to buy, I'm just going to go on Fidelity and buy the company. If I want to spend $150 on Nikes, I'm just going to go spend $150 and buy Nike. And I did that for like six months. The amount of money I had in that Fidelity account, I could not believe. But it was just money that was going out the window and I had to fill that void of buying something but doing it another way. And that's what I did, did it for six months.
George:
I think another thing and I love that strategy and that's the strategy we share with folks, right, if you're going to buy the product, buy the company, you take both with you, because if you're paying, let's say, a subscription for Amazon Prime boy, but Amazon pays dividends, so why not get your Prime membership back as you go down this journey? Right? And not financial advice, obviously with Amazon, so don't get me in trouble.
Victor:
But I do believe in.
George:
Amazon long-term. I honestly really do believe in Amazon long-term, but that's just an example, right? Same thing with Apple, right, the vision pros and all these listen, if the company is paying dividends and you're buying that, you're buying the products of these companies, why not get in on it so you can start reaping back some of those, those returns, as you go? That's a sound strategy. So I agree with you on that one, 100%. I'll give you another one, just that. We talk about One thing that we do as a best practice and I always tell everybody to do this, and this is one that I always talk about when it comes to expenses do an objective cost assessment. This is a practice that everybody in our community day one, whoever it is, they always go through the same process. What we do is we want to identify what are the spending triggers that someone has. Basically, it's a reflection of a mirror of yourself. So what we do is we have them review their last three months expenses right from the jump. Let's review your last three months expenses and we actually have them do the exercise, because it's a self-reflection, really. So they'll grab their, their, their, their statements and they will list out all their expenses and they'll list out line item by line item. So if it's a particular company, let's say um, you know, down here in the South, publics is a big one, right? Okay, you went to publics, you know you spent $30. Okay, publix, $30. Okay, let's say you went again, you spent another $20. Okay, publix, $20,. You know? So on and so forth, listing out line item by line item, all your expenses over the last three months.
George:
Number one it's going to show you where the majority of your money is going is number one through that, that's number one. Number two it'll also give you illuminating, like some of the, where the excess waste is coming from. So if you're eating out a lot, you're going to start seeing I'm eating out a lot Restaurant here, restaurant here, restaurant here, restaurant here. Then, at the bottom, it's going to give you your bottom line on total expenses spent. Now, you got to look at at the bottom line. Then we challenge them to look at OK, now look at your pay stubs over that previous month. Did your paychecks offset that bottom line of expenses, yes or no? That's something that this is a self-reflection on their end.
George:
If not, and if you had to do it again, what would you have taken? What would you have done differently from what you just went through? And this is where we start challenging folks to find ways to coop some, some of the and it's not money recoup back some of the time spent on making some of that money, getting some of the expenses cleaned up so that you can do other things with the time that you spent making that money. It's just the time. It just looks different.
George:
You may see you know Hooters and you may see you know Burger King. I mean, that's all the time, that's the time, that's your time. That's spent. It's just reflected through a dollar figure. If you're saying that your time was spent to just eat here and call it a day, and now you're still struggling, okay, if I had to do it again, I probably would have avoided doing this, doing this, doing this, doing this, doing this With this. I probably could have done this. Okay, new month, what are we going to do different? Going forward? And that's how we start challenging folks to start changing their mindset on that.
Victor:
There's a lot of these common phrases that we hear. Well, if you only stop buying avocado toast, you'd be wealthy. Not going to do it. If you only stop going out to Starbucks, you'd be wealthy. What are some of the general categories? You see?
George:
the most waste waste most waste is always eating out man. That's the that's the toughest one, man.
George:
It's always eating out, man, and I can tell you why. What happens is we're all so busy, man, and you know they are hungry and all this, and they don't have anywhere, so they just go to the local. Whatever it is the deli, you know, get a uh, you know bacon, egg and cheese or whatever they got going on, and the the thing is it's the dopamine that, hey, I got my fix on the food. Every time it's a shot at your bank account. It's a pullback on your goal, financial goals. Whether it's consciously or subconsciously, you're pulling back yourself from your goals. And so I always look at that and I look at folks and I say, okay, listen, what we never want to do. And, to your point, cutting back the avocado toast is going to make you. No, it's not, man, and I agree with you. I think what we do is we lean in.
George:
Yeah, yeah, thank God, right, and for all of us. I love avocado toast. I always tell folks let's lean into what you like and let's just create some parameters around what you like and that will help you ultimately improve your behaviors financially. How do you do that? Give yourself an allowance and it sounds so trivial like, oh, an allowance. I'm like, listen, that's how you start fixing this issue. What it is is you come up with a dollar figure that you say, okay, I like to eat out. Let's lean on it, let you eat out. How much are you going to allot having fun, whatever you want to call fun, whether it's eating out, going out to the bar, whatever you want to do do your thing. How much are you going to allot to have fun, the amount that you allot? My recommendation I always tell the same folks, I tell everybody the same thing Don't keep it on the card, the debit card, the credit.
George:
Don't keep it out as cash. This cash is your free, guilt-free, wherever you want to do money and you can replenish it, whether it's weekly, monthly, bi-weekly, whatever you want to do that allowance, you give yourself that cash. Once it runs out, you're done, you are totally done. What that does is. It allows you to continue to live life the way you want to live. Your control, then, also protects your account from being compromised based off of your, your cravings and desires that may impulsively come. And so then what?
George:
On the other end of what we challenge folks to and I do this on a regular basis, personally me and just our meal prepping at home. I know it takes time and I know it sounds very cliche. Oh yeah, I got to do that. In all seriousness, if you dedicate and this is what we tell folks you dedicate a day or two a week to make food for a few hours, for a couple of days, if you do it right, let's say you pick two days a week Say, okay, I'm going to cook, for example let's give you guys an example I'm going to cook on a Monday for food for Monday, tuesday and then Wednesday, wednesday.
George:
You say, okay, I'm going to make food Wednesday for Wednesday, thursday, friday, for example. Eat out Saturday and Sunday, although you haven't necessarily crossed that every day you're eating. You're eating from home, normally eating out every single day. You have just cut it from seven to two and it still allows you to still eat out if you enjoy eating out every single day. You have just cut it from seven to two and it still allows you to still eat out if you enjoy eating out. So we lean in on what folks like to live, because you got to be able to live and enjoy life. You have to figure out ways to make sure that everybody is guarded from themselves so that they don't compromise what they're ultimately trying to do with their financial goals.
Cesar:
And kind of just to put a little bow on this, when anyone comes to you or the people in your group right, what you are basically saying, listen, financial independence. For me, I'm going to take a holistic approach to your finances as well as your habits. You marry them together and then we can reach to a level that you want to basically want to get to right, and then you'll provide some strategies that will hopefully get them to where they're going right. That is correct. I come to you and I say, listen, I'm making good money, but I have a high credit cards. Let's say I have a mortgage, I have kids, all that stuff. Where are we tackling? First? I know you mentioned you lean to your positives, right, but where are you hitting me?
George:
So it's all based off of six fundamentals and we go in order for the most part, but it always starts with expense management. Oh, cesar, always, always, always, everything always starts there because, again, between the what comes in and what comes out, have better control of what comes out. We don't have better control of what comes in because we don't know what's making. What job gives you a raise this year and they say, oh, we can't cut it, can't give you anybody a raise the next year because money's okay. You can't control those things. Right, you can try to get another job again. You're playing roulette. Am I going to get a higher paid job? Am I going to be happy? So you can't control the end. Do better controlling now. So we always start with expense management. But our, our fundamental pillars off of six. Number one expense management. The second one is then budgeting. So once we have our expenses in order, we then talk to budgeting next. Right, we organize your money right.
George:
And there's a coin phrase and maybe it's out there somewhere. If it's not, maybe you have to tell me to patent it but there's a plan every penny you make Got to have a plan for every penny you make. It's a phrase. I tell everybody the same thing. I saw that on Fortune Cookie once.
George:
Fair enough, you can have it Shout out to Wings and.
Victor:
Hings and all that. You got it. Y'all got it. You need that on a t-shirt. You need that on a t-shirt.
George:
Yeah, maybe. But once the expense is in order, then we, okay, now, right, because now that we're organizing well, you start saving some money. We need to start putting away some of this money so that, in despite of all the cleaning up, we're not the money's all coming out, we're storing some of it. So it goes expense management, budgeting and savings growth. But that's all defensive, right? All very defensive things, right? Keeping the money in budgeting the money, saving some money, that's all very defensive. So then the the money in budgeting the money, saving some money, that's all very defensive. So then the next three, after that, are on the offense. So the fourth one, then, is net income growth. So, now that we're we're under control with our finances, start figuring out how we can make some more money, right? So net income growth is the next one, right? So we go through the process of teaching folks and how to think creatively when it comes to monetizing themselves, whether it's through a business, whether it's through a side venture, a side hustle, et cetera, et cetera. So that's an offense. The fifth one's investing. Right, everybody loves investing, everybody wants to jump into investing without having their money in order. So we first talk about, hey, let's get the money in order, let's get things in order. And now that we're in order, yes, we're going to talk about more offense, right, investing. And then, lastly, the last one is succession planning. You know, now that you're moving and now you got things going, you retain and keep things in regards to legacy, right, going forward, right, do we have things in order, whether it's, you know, life insurance, the living trust, the will, et cetera, and so we help them at the end on that. So that's kind of the journey.
George:
Now, everybody doesn't necessarily start at one and go to two and three and four and five and six. Everybody starts at one. If you're further along financially, maybe you have your budgeting in order and you're saving money. Maybe you just need to start learning. Okay, I want to learn how to invest. Yes, now that I did have some cleanup here, I could have done things a little bit better, but I want to learn how to invest. So then we go into that one. Folks need to go through one, through six, as we camp out at one for a really long time because it required us to be in one for a while, and then we jumped to two. The process is based off of those fundamentals, because I believe and we believe, that through that process you're going to essentially organize your finances in whatever goal you're trying to get to. You will be organized in wherever you're going next, because at the end about OK, how do we retain this so that we don't give this away to the next generation once we're no longer here? So those are the six fundamentals.
Rob:
Yeah, I love that, I love that and it's a really good process.
Victor:
But let's say, I come to you and I don't know if you ever had this issue with clientele, but I mean, given just today's economy, average income and all that, how can you have them become positive about where they're going to be? Because, like I said, you can come to me and you can say, listen, we're going to cut down your expenses and if you give me a timeline of, yeah, maybe you can afford that house in 10 years and I'm already 40 years old, like you're breaking my heart here, like I can't, what do you mean?
George:
Hopefully so. It's a great question and so you bring up so many interesting points, because a lot of folks when they come in, they're struggling A lot of times. It's not that everybody's doing well and hey, I'm just trying to level up some more. Give me some information to help me get to the next level. Some folks are like, listen, I got nothing, and just investing into this is already a challenge in itself, but I'm willing to give it a shot because I got nothing else to go with.
George:
First thing is is that we start with a pre-course questionnaire. I think the questionnaire is probably one of the more powerful things. It's literally like five or six questions, but it's very intentional questions. It provides a framework to me of where they stand and also provides some thought provoking questions. So one of the questions that are on there, just to give you guys kind of an insight on it, but it says is if you had to compromise one thing and there's four different things that are on there which of these would they be? For example, one of the questions is is like would you be willing to invest more time to make more money? Another one is is would you be willing to cut back on doing your favorite thing for a period of time Thought provoking questions, because it starts to make you think that maybe it's not going to be just a straight line. There might be compromise and, unfortunately, when it comes to changing behavior in anything right just like relationships requires compromises in some regards you just can't have it all the same way, right, if you're trying to change or do something different. Next thing I always do and this is probably one that I like to do, because this is an interesting point that you bring up Folks like to feel like they are progressing. Right, how do I know I'm going better? You're telling me these things and you're giving me these tasks and you're telling me, hey, do these, do these, do these, do these, do these? When you're done, we'll talk again in a week or in two weeks. How do I know I'm progressing?
George:
Something that we provide every single member in our community is a performance profile, start to finish. Again, it's not necessarily on you getting the house. Our focus is your net worth improvement. That's the most important thing. Whether you want to get a house, whether you want to get a yacht, whether you want to be on the beach, the rest of your life, net worth has to improve. So we remove all the noise. Those goals and dreams are important, but we've got to keep this thing very simple. Your net worth has to continue to improve month by month. So we have a little performance profile that we maintain for every member in our community. So they start seeing aggression as they go.
George:
I actually have a powerful story, if you guys don't mind, just like a quick second. So to your point. I have the financial freedom builders, which is the community, and then I also do one-to-one coaching. Right, I have a subset. Now I don't take a lot of folks because it's a year-long program. I'm looking at folks that are, like, really serious about trying to get on this thing and trying to get through until they go through all six phases of the fundamentals through the year. So, anyways, there's a couple that I'm coaching.
George:
They have run into some bad luck. I would say I don't say bad luck, just unfortunate events in their life has hindered them from being able to get to some of their goals. Just recently they came in with some debts and whatnot and they recently paid off their cars. Um, you know, through our coaching, they just recently paid them off. Both of the transmissions blew out. Now they're going through that process of, okay, trying to, we just paid off these cars, what are we doing next? That kind of thing, you know, you get sucked up in the life, right?
George:
Life has its moments of ups and downs, and I decided to take a powerful moment. I said let's pause for a second. Guys, you've been doing this for about eight months. Right, we've done some things you guys have. You know we oh, that's enough. On the performance file there's a task tab, so every task we have ever assigned to them, indicate and list it out for them. So then when they look back this is just as quick side note when they look back at their journey journey boy, this was all it took for you to do it.
Cesar:
It's a visual man. I had to do all of this.
George:
that's right. I remember I did this and this and that, so it's a visual right, reminders of what, what it took, the cop, the sacrifice right, the compromise, anyways, going back to the performance profile. So let's pause, guys. Show you guys this thing and I know I show you guys this regularly, but I want you guys to look at this. So I showed them. They were the first month that they started looking at their net income, their expenses, their net worth, which was in the negative at the time and their starting balance for all of their debts. And then I showed them where they were as of that month and their eyes lit up almost like man, you're right, we forgot this is where we've gone. So sometimes the visual helps.
George:
Yeah, we get lost in the end goal and we want to just get to the end destination. But there's a process to getting to that end destination and sometimes it's nice, important for us to be reminded visually that, okay, we are progressing as we go and that's our biggest thing. Man, yes, we want the house and we have a lot of stories where folks improve their credit. In six months they went from a 600 to a 750. It's cool stories and those are all great stories, but that stuff doesn't. It's encouraging to me, but my biggest thing that I focus on I have them focus on is just continue to improve your net worth month by month, and you will see that you're literally taking steps forward in your journey so recently, um, I've been like looking up to buy a house.
Rob:
I don't know if you know, but this is like a terrible time to buy a house, right? So no, I mean it's just really expensive.
George:
It I mean, uh, it depends for me yeah, well, I mean, I care, it depends, let's real quick. I'm just gonna be quick guy and a quick guy just a quick aside, and I'm gonna let you finish your thought when I say this because for your listeners, because this is important case, because your listeners are gonna listen, this is gonna say, okay, wait a minute.
George:
So the answer is yes, but I'm the. The answer is actually to me it's it depends, depends on the situation. Number one um, and I'm, and I don't want to steal your thunder, so I'm not even going to go into the specific details. I want you to steal your thunder by interest rates and all that. I want you to go into that, but it depends on the circ*mstance. So, number one, if you are buying a home for yourself, a primary residence that I'm trying to live in, yes, might not be an advantageous time, potentially right now, because you are the one that are going to have to eat into the interest and work your way down and then wait for the rates to come down, and then, if you decide you want to refi, you could, but it's got to make sense, because how much long, how much far into the mortgage you are, because then you're going to kind of start over. So are you going to catch yourself up? Totally, agree with you. Good investment property, though, and if you find the right deal and you find out the right price, if you're able to confidently inhabit the home with a tenant that will offset your costs for your mortgage.
George:
An investment is honestly like a sniper. You're literally just. You're always simply just looking for when the opportunity is coming, because if you're waiting and you think it's going to come here, you might miss. The only reason I tell you this is that this month I'm literally closing on my next rental property. The only reason I tell you this is that this month I'm literally closing on my next rental property and again, I wasn't necessarily actively looking for it, but it's always, the sniper is always on man. And so there's a lady that unfortunately she lost her husband, she wants to move up north with her daughter and she has a home in Tampa and she wants to sell kind of sooner than later. So we were made known of it that, hey, this lady wants to sell this house and she's kind of pretty itching to sell and so on and so forth. We just happened to get there a few days before they were going to list it on the market. So we asked the real agent and we said, hey, how much are they selling it for? They've said it's said number One thing led to another is we got to a number to agree on the rate.
George:
Yes was high, point it was high and the payment's going to be somewhat high, based off of what we got it at. I know for us, without a shadow of a doubt, we're going to be okay to inhabit that and be really profitable in that investment. We bought it just under $40,000 cheaper than what the house is actually appraised at. So we came into it 40K in equity already and we're talking about an interest sensitive environment. So my point is and I want you to go back because I know where you're going and I really want you to finish your thought there when it comes to buying a house or just an investment in general, it's like a sniper man, it's like playing Call of Duty and you're in the tree and you know nobody's looking at you.
George:
You don't know where you are. You're doing that thing because you never know. You just never know when it comes into your radar and if you're looking for something saying, ah, you know, oh, you know, I didn't think it was going to happen, or you didn't see this person coming across the screen. I wasn't looking in the screen and you looked. You a primary residence. Yes, I agree with you.
Rob:
For investments. I think what you're saying is there's just always opportunity. It doesn't really matter in any type of economic climate. If you're looking for that investment, if you're at that stage in your plan, it's almost always going to be there. It's just about being ready to jump on that opportunity, and if you're not ready, then it almost looks like luck, correct?
Cesar:
You also have to be well-versed to be ready for that.
Rob:
Yes, and that ties into all that information.
Rob:
Your first thing, because if you're sitting there, yeah, I mean, you know, I was going to these open houses, I'm going to these things and you're seeing, you're just seeing these people come in. You're like, oh, that guy's like me, right, people are just desperate, right, you know what I mean. Like you can see yourself and other people you can kind of almost like see like stories, as people walk in. But what I realize is there are some people who come in, you know, they pull up the Maserati and they walk inside. You know, oh, they just saw this listing, they just got out of Ridgefield. And then you start to think to yourself they're just lucky. You know their parents gave them money or whatever it is. But I was like I think that was planned, I think that their parents or their grandparents, they set this up because that's the next step.
Rob:
And when you come in, it's like so many people are on the defense and are just hoping to get to the offense that they never look past that. That is the actual goal, that is, that's in the playbook. But when you come in and you get the manual, you almost never make it to the last pages and that was big. That was big because I was like they're not lucky, they came into the game early, early. You know, they started off early, maybe 200 years in this game, and I just think that, like, that legacy is so important and I, I now I see it like they walk in and they're like, yeah, I could, I could get this, no problem. And even in this climate for a guy like me, where I'm like, huh, you know, maybe we'll, we'll see what comes up next month, but when you're set up that way, you know you're not really you're not riding the same waves. You know your boat's kind of like just more steady. I agree.
George:
And the thing is, is that, um, when it comes to to the last section, when it comes to succession planning, exactly that, start thinking ahead, you know, and again, we got to live in the now a little bit. We got to enjoy some of the now, because if we're always looking ahead and we're gonna get, we're finally gonna get ahead and then we're gonna be dead, right. So then, okay, we know what. What did we do? Did we enjoy? Did we, you know, were we just going after the money and we didn't enjoy? We got to enjoy life, but always looking ahead. So let me give I'll give you guys a simple one here. So my question to you guys and it's not a trick question Honestly, I'm honestly interested. Do you guys believe that? I won't even say cryptocurrency in general, I'll just say Bitcoin? Let's keep it very general about Bitcoin. Do you guys believe Bitcoin is still going to be around, let's say, in five years? Yeah, I hope I dumped some money in there. I hear you. I hear you. So coin was what in 2013? I think it was like around I don't know, like $1,000, I don't know $3,000. I don't know what it was. It wasn't what it was today, right, but today it's 52 grand. So now we got and this is just a side note, and again it's not advice to buy, hold or sell. I'm just giving you guys a concept to the same point. Same exact thing we're talking about right now. I'm exact thing we're talking about right now. I'm gonna tie it into you right now. You know, you got this bitcoin, etf and you got these institutions now that are putting money into this, this, this fund, and eventually you're gonna see pensions and 401k starting from from these companies, these hedge funds. They're gonna start putting into these things. There seems to be clearly whiffs this at least bitcoin. I can't say all the the, I can't say all the crypto, crypto coins, but at least Bitcoin is going to be around for a while and at one point we've already seen, in 2021, it touched 69,000.
George:
I told the members of my community. So in December I did a class and so every month I think I mentioned this to you guys, but if I didn't, every month we do a monthly financial class in the community for financial freedom builders. Sometimes I give the class, most times I give the class, but I've had industry experts from different fields giving about advice. Sometimes it's about fitness. So in January we had a fitness expert tying fitness to finance, and it's been great, and I've been doing this for a while now where at the end of every year, I give the forecast. Those are just the forecast of what I believe is going to be what's going to happen next year, one of the things I mentioned in the class. There's a few things I mentioned in the class that have kind of already started manifesting itself.
George:
At the time, bitcoin was, I think, in the 30s. I mentioned that I believe somewhere in Q1, between Q1 and Q2, I think Bitcoin would get between 55 and 60. But my point is is that I do believe that Bitcoin is going to be around for a considerable amount of time in the future. That's just my belief. So why can't I start a crypto account for my young kids If I think it's going to be around in 10 years? Why can't they have some account? Why can't I be stored in Bitcoin? We think that Bitcoin is going to be 50,000 in 10 years if it's still around. I don't think so. It's going to be at least six figures, if not more.
George:
I mean, I have kids that want to go to college at some point, they want to buy a car, they want to get married and of course, I'm putting their 529 savings and I have a little Roth IRA account for them and all custodial account and all those things. But if I think crypto is going to be around and that's one of the faster moving vehicles, in particular Bitcoin, why don't I start an account for each of my kids, so each of my kids? I have a cold storage wallet Each of my kids that I've been storing crypto in for the last two and a half years been ongoing with it. I have Bitcoin in there, I have Ethereum in there and I have a couple other ones. Just been chipping away at it, man, not for now.
George:
To your points for the legacy later. Chipping away at it, man, not for now. To your points for the legacy later. Bitcoin wherever it goes later it's going to either three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Whatever it's going to do, their accounts are going to be further along. So it's again setting them up so that when they get everything and daddy, you know, is no longer around or not doing his thing, or on the boat next to caesar or whatever the case may be, hey, never never know, I'll see you there.
Cesar:
Man or Bud Light Lime, whatever you play with.
George:
And so I left something for them. It's thinking ahead, right, so that kind of stuff, that thought process. So somebody's like, wow, I could be doing that. It's not that you can or cannot. I'm challenging you to start thinking ahead. Think ahead. That's the exercise. So when I show folks things, it's not to, oh, I'm doing this, I'm doing that, it's that I'm challenging folks to start thinking different. Okay, I'm seeing what he's seeing. I'm seeing what he's thinking. Members of my community sometimes say I'm thinking about doing this, this and that and I'll tell them hey, that's a fantastic idea. Why don't you post that in the community chat?
Victor:
People can hear about that that's, a last part of which is succession planning. Yeah, you said you've always been interested in business, finance, things like that, but if we were to add in more education, maybe early on in certain areas. What do you think are the hurdles to try to get people either interested, or are they being delivered something that seems boring and therefore they just lose interest altogether?
George:
So, number one, the point of why I did this is to A it's to provide information, but now it becomes that this is a safe place where I can get valuable information. I don't need to go to Reddit and Twitter and say is this a verified account, is this somebody? Hey, I'm looking for a place where I can find trusted information and be around like-minded people. That's the vision. Again, mcdonald's sells burgers, but McDonald's is a real estate company. It's far beyond the burgers that you're seeing. This is not so much about the information. It's about creating a safe haven for people to find information, a portal of information. That's really the sales, not the information. You can go anywhere to find information.
Victor:
You found a better way to get off of Wall Street bets. There you go, man. That's it, man.
George:
Listen, you don't got to take your chances. But to your point number one, listen. I'm big on the fact that I'm disappointed in our education system in regards to how they set us up. We were all duped man. All of us were duped man.
George:
Personal finance being an elective? Yeah, that's crazy. Why is that an elective, right? Why is this not emphasized? Why is this not on the SAT, right? If you really cared about us, why didn't you do this? Why? I'll tell you why it's because of the interest rates. Money off of us, off of interest. If we know what we're doing, the government's not going to have money to be able to continue to circulate through our debts, and so there's no value in that. But I'm disappointed in the fact that the education system doesn't provide that. That's one thing. So I'm with you on that one. Listen, I wish this was out there more. I wish everybody had access to the information and then they can ultimately make their own decisions accordingly, based off of their choices. But we're all dealt a bad hand, and unless you have somebody that can kind of talk you out of that, you kind of go down this dark road.
George:
Number two, with finance. Yes, it is boring for a lot of folks, but I mentioned this in the beginning. The thing about me and why I have found folks that seem to like around when I talk finance is because I have found ways to explain finance in a way that's easy to understand. I like using analogies. It becomes very simple to understand. So one thing I mentioned the other day, and I'll give you guys a quick one too. I love giving. I'll just give you guys like random things. Oh, I love it. Look, it's a wisdom for the audience. This is all free stuff for them, but this is all stuff that I should take advice on or notes on, not advice. But the number one is okay.
George:
When it comes to investing, I tell folks okay, as you invest, you got to make sure you take profits along the way, but you don't want to necessarily take all of your profits. You just simply want to trim your profits. You don't want to take all the profits. Okay, what does that mean? Let me give you an analogy, and this is what I'm going to get for everybody here. This is the analogy I get when I talk about trimming profits.
George:
It's like planting a tree. You spend a lot of time seeds in into the ground. You're watering the soil buds out. Now the tree's growing and it's blossoming and it's coming up and it's growing and you're still watering, you're taking care of the tree and it's growing and it's showing signs of life. Now the fruit came out and now you got your first apple that came out of the tree. Just because the apple came out and you want the apple, you don't have to cut the whole tree down to get the apple. All you got to do is go get your apple and keep watering your tree. Guess what More apples are going to keep coming out. You don't have to lose the tree pursuit of grabbing the apple that you want.
George:
Same concept with trimming profits. You can grab profits and still protect your investment altogether and as it continues to grow, you grab some profits along the way. So you're still reaping. Once the tree shows that it doesn't show signs of life, then you can cut the tree. But by then, how many apples have you already grabbed? Same thing with your investments. They start reversing and the S&P 500 start going the wrong direction and whatnot. You can cut your losses At that point. How much profit have you gained along the way? So that's how you organize profits Trimming profits. I don't know what that means. Take the apple from the tree and keep the tree growing. Got it?
George:
Off they go, and that's powerful advice because that's how the smart investors do. It Simplified it in a way that somebody can understand, but people don't like that. Finance gurus like the jargon and the covered calls and iron condoms.
Cesar:
Come on, man Give me my options.
George:
Who are you trying to impress? If you really want to give somebody value, empower them with the information you have and find a way to make it relatable.
Rob:
I was in the defense stage for like 10 years. I started coming on to the offense and the way I started to think of it is like it's like Monopoly If I'm going to try to win, someone's got to lose, someone's got to lose for me to win to lose, someone's got to lose for me to win. And I feel like that's what a lot of this is, is that the information is kept and the people who have that are able to do that. So you know, when we were talking about the education, I think that's kind of where it might go. Like, if you're in the group that has the info, then you don't need to be taught it in school because you'll be taught it somehow.
Rob:
But what I really like in what you've done is you came through some hurdles, right. You kind of took it a little further. You not only started giving this info out, you're creating multiple streams of income it seems like right. And you also set up a business where I can see you're probably drugging a lot of stuff at one time. So, like, at what point were you like I'm going to make a business, I know how to do this, because to me that's a scary thing, right? It took me years of budgeting. It took me years to put that together. It took me years to get over the fear of investing. I would go on like Investopedia and do like investing simulators just to be like if I put 5,000, where would that have gone? It took like two years to get past it. But even getting through that, I don't know how to get past this fear of like. Okay, I'm going to just jump in here. This is what I want to do. How did you get there?
George:
The first thing when it comes to any strategy you come up with for a business. Um, there's a side hustle, and I mentioned that. We teach this in our net income, but there's a side hustle, whether it's, uh, anything. We have to remember we are not necessarily selling a good or service. You are essentially selling a solution. If you find, and you identify, a solution that is of value somebody else, that's the hardest part, because people think they have solutions. They're selling goods and services. That's why they struggle. Got this thing and you got to get this and this is that I'm like why do I need that? I don't't feel like I need that. I feel like I'm doing okay without that. Right, if someone is. If you feel, if you create a solution to a problem, that's the hardest part. If you get that, now it's taking the time to build the blocks around it. You talked about processes. That you're that. You're big on that. Processes, that you're big on processes. I think that's fantastic, man, because that's a time saver, where you build processes and you build the concept around the solution. Fail-safes right, you question the fail-safes. Okay, this was this what goes wrong, and this takes time. This takes time.
George:
I didn't wake up one day and just start off. I'm going to start off, I'll Off, we go. You know, there were a lot of nights, man, I was going to bed at two in the morning, getting up at work, getting up at four, 30 in the morning to go to the gym after that, and I barely slept. And of course I got my father of three kids and got you know, and I got my wife and and I'm involved in my parents' church I got a lot going all this stuff that I got going on. But I felt, especially after those messages and after what my wife said and what the responses were, I said, okay, it's not really about the money making. I have a solution to a true problem. And I said all I got to do is figure out the strategy and the optimization of the processes around that solution. We kind of just go what do I want to do? So I said, okay, I'm going to start coaching.
George:
At first I was just coaching people. I said, okay, I'm a coach, I have limited time. I got a full-time job. I got all this other stuff going on in my life I can only take a handful of people. So we started that way.
George:
Okay, starting with the coaching, figuring out the curriculum, right. Okay, what are the things that are most important to me? What are folks ultimately struggling with? Okay, this is a fundamental. Okay, this is also fundamental. That's how expense management, budgeting, savings, growth, net income growth, investing that's where that came from.
George:
Okay, what, in each of these topics, am I going to teach? What do I believe is valuable information to the consumer? Again, this is late nights. Again, I can't do this during the day, after dinner. Not the kiddos. They want daddy's attention, all this. So once everybody's in bed at 10, 30, 11 o'clock at night, I'm like all right, everybody's sleeping. I'm not compromising anybody's time. All right, I would like to go to bed, but I feel like I have a solution to a problem. Oh, I'm staying up. So now I'm starting at 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock, one o'clock, 2 o'clock. Well, I would keep going, but I got to go to the gym in two and a half hours before I go to work. So I call it a day, and so there was sacrifices going. It's only because I truly believe that I had solution to a problem.
George:
The first thing is is that, once you got that, at least have something to carry on and if you truly believe you have a solution. Then you got to build the blocks and build the processes. And if you got time, you better have a lot of automated processes and seamless processes. So you better have a lot of stuff done in the front end. Build out my contracts. I said, okay, I'm going to need a contract. How long do I want this to be? Three months, six months, a year, whatever. Okay, I think in a year I can get it done. So this is the contract terms.
George:
So, to start it, at this point, I said, okay, now that I have this going, I'll be able to reach more people but not have to consume as much of my time. So what did I do? Ok, I can't always give two 30 minute sessions to two or three hundred people. I don't got that time Right.
George:
If you start a community, now you've got everybody in one spot. You're literally still giving individualized attention one-to-one through email. Now I don't have to give you 30 minutes twice a month as the emails come in. I'm providing assignments, I have the profiles and I'm giving you. Okay, so you feel which is not, and it's not a gimmick. This is truly why I did it. You feel in that email that you the most important person to me and we're working together and I have my notes and we're doing things and things are happening, but now it's less of my time and more people, but again it all started with I have a true solution to a problem. That's the first step. Man, once you got that and if you believe it, just start building little by little, man, brick by brick, Go through the process, just step by step.
George:
And yes, there's a lot of times you lose sleep at night and all this. I lost a lot of hours of sleep. Boy man, when I get the story, like George, I can't thank you enough, man. I'm like man. This is the win, man, this was the win. It wasn't about the dollar, it's not about them, it really isn't about the money. At least through this episode, at least I hope I have proven that I don't need that money. Right, I've got other ways to do it. But I feel that I have truly provided a value to people's lives, which was a true solution to their problem, and I think that's the biggest thing.
Rob:
Yeah, I guess that's the. It seems like you started with this idea and then it just kind of built on itself and it didn't happen overnight, and I think that that's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking well, oh, you just go on and you do this and that's it. That's how it starts.
George:
So recently I did a digital version of the expense management course, so some can do the whole community and all that. And OK, here's the course. If you just want expense management again in it from scratch. Now this other stuff was already in place. Ok, this is the next thing we wanted to build. So now it's a digital product on this. Just two weeks ago some folks wanted the investment trimming thing but the whole. Hey man, I wish there was a way I can just plug in a number and help out you. So we built that out, but again, it's little. It just you're just building off of it. But it all started with the first piece of it, which is I have a solution problem, and I just believed that and I was willing to go through. The process Took me time, patience and consistency, you know to your point, not day after, but it took time, took several, several, several weeks, but I was committed to doing this because I felt that I had a true solution and, thank God, it seems this seems to be effective so far.
Cesar:
Yeah, man Foundation is all there.
Rob:
Sounds good, man George you kind of let us know that a lot of early mornings. I got to know, man, what time you wake up in the morning.
George:
Tuesday, thursday, saturday, 4.30. That's not early enough. Monday yeah, monday, 5.30. Wednesday, 5.30. Friday I'll kind of get it up like at 7. And, yeah, monday 530,. Wednesday 530. Friday I'll kind of get it up like a seven. And Sunday I'll get up at seven, because Sunday we'll go to church. But I work out five days a week but I do so Monday and Wednesday I just do cardio, and then Tuesday, thursday and Saturday I'll hit the weights and I'll do cardio 30, like like five or 10 minutes of cardio at the end.
George:
So I used to play basketball growing up but then I put on the dad weight and the whole, the whole. It was a disaster. But in 2022 I decided to get on it and, um, I had a one of my really good friends he's a he's a personal fitness trainer says, hey, you want to, you want to get on this, and I said, okay, I'm, I'm down to do this, and so you know I needed to figure out where I can consistently do this. I had so many things going on in my day and I was like I'm not a morning person, I like nights, but sometimes I'm tired at nighttime. So when am I gonna?
George:
do this so I ended up compromising, said, well, I'm a morning person, but boy, this is the only time I can consistently do this, that I'm not compromising time with the family or anything on the sword and whatever. I started getting up and it's been me time in the morning and I've become a morning person now. But I mean, I'm a human being. Some days I don't feel like getting up. I still go and I push myself. I'm like, oh, listen, this is important to me. But I will tell you that's helped me with my business too. Honestly, because the discipline in my fitness. I was trimming down the weight. Listen. In 2022, in June, I was 225 pounds. Now today I'm 175 with like 9% body fat.
Cesar:
But again, that's a journey.
George:
But there was a discipline there I was able to apply as I was trying to build on this concept that I was trying to build. But so tomorrow, tomorrow's what? Wednesday? So I'll be able to 530 tomorrow in the cardio and then I'll get on with my day, sleeping in huh, sleeping in, sleeping in man can't wait, I love it.
George:
Listen, man, I love my friday mornings and I love my sunday mornings because then I get a little more time and whatever. But boy, yeah, and and will I do it forever like this? Not? That's why I'm pursuing what I'm doing right to get my time back financial freedom, but season, not till you sell your company, bro.
Cesar:
Yeah right, dude, and then you'll be co-coo, just chilling on the beach with me. That's it, man.
George:
That's the plan, yeah, man nah, but I'm big on that man and and and I love what you guys are doing with this. I mean, I think this here is powerful, man, because I'm podcasting as a voice. There's a voice out there, but this here has a following of itself and there's people that are listening to this. That will gravitate to you guys, and there's more that will, and I think it's just building on. Whatever is it that you're trying to do with this? What is the solution we are trying to provide?
Victor:
Great time to bring up our masterclass now.
Cesar:
You want to be a speaker?
Rob:
No man, I love what you're doing. I like that we were able to just unravel a little bit about all the stuff that you got going on and maximizing that. I mean, I can see the way that you're handling the finance is tying into your time, your optimization, but you're not just using it there. You know what I mean. I can see the way that you're handling the finance is tying into your time, your optimization, but you're not just using it there. You know what I mean. Like you're kind of applying it to all the different parts of your life. You know, because I'll tell you, I got, I got a wife, I got no kids, I. You know what I mean. And I'm doing half the stuff you're doing. My alarm's going off two hours after you're already up, so it's like you know what I mean.
Cesar:
So it's like it really is about?
Rob:
it really is about, like setting it up.
George:
So I just like that Purpose. I'm big on this. What's your North? Where's your North? And for me, there's a few things that that are important to me. Um, being an example to my family here, right, my wife and my kids right there. They're counting on me, and there's a lot of other people in the world counting on me, but, like my wife and my kids are counting on me A consistent staple to my sons. I have three boys right Looking at dad. Right, how does dad carry himself?
George:
The thing is is being present for my kids. That sounds crazy. How are you present for this? Well, listen, there are things I put to the side and things I have to put in. I have to organize myself so that those priorities are there. It's just organizing my time and then understand that I can't get to everything every day, but I want to make the most of the time that I have, every day that I can, and I just organize myself. This is the thing I'm doing today, I'm doing this, I'm doing this, I'm doing this, I'm doing this, I'm doing this. Tomorrow, I'm doing this, this, this, this, and just keep organizing myself as I go to make the most use of my time.
Rob:
So before we go, we don't get out much. You know we're from the Northeast, you've been there. Just give us a little insight. You know we hear things about other dates and stuff like that. So can you tell us is there any truth to Tampa, florida, having a Native American hurricane shield? I have never heard of this yeah.
Victor:
I don't know.
Rob:
So apparently.
Victor:
I've never heard of this.
Rob:
Apparently Okay. Tampa Florida has not really had a direct hurricane impact since the 1920s. That is a fact. That is a fact. That is a fact. So legend has it that there's mounds built by the Tacobaga tribe that lived in the areas from around like the 900 to the 1500s, and they built these mounds that would protect Tampa Florida from major storms. So the tribe built these mounds of like layers of like shell and sand, and one of the oldest remaining ones is actually located near old Tampa Bay.
George:
Listen, this is the first I'm hearing of this. This is really interesting.
Cesar:
I have probably the last time to hear it.
George:
I have homework I have to do for on this one I got to get back to you on this one. This I'll say For whatever reason, this is the truth. I don't want to jinx my, I don't want to jinx Tampa, but we have never been hit directly with a hurricane. Now we've gotten impacts for sure, but never been directly hit. But I will tell you that, god forbid, if that ever happened, old Tampa, oh boy, boy, oh boy, it would be a disaster, disaster. Oh my gosh, it'd be a disaster. Um, it's almost like a basin down there at the bottom. It's almost like, oh, just, just, it would be a epic disaster. But, um, no, I and I and I happen to live north of it, I'm more inland, so I'm more north of tamp, like right on the outside of Tampa. Yeah, that I can confirm that directly hit by a hurricane hasn't happened. We've gotten close recently, in recent years it's gotten close but hasn't happened, I guess, in a really long time. But I don't know about that shield thing. I got to look into that.
Rob:
I never heard of that. You could thank the tacobagas.
George:
All right, I may have to man great city though hopefully rob didn't jinx you for 2024 I certainly hope not yeah it says the shield turns away when you uh when you
George:
say tacobaga three times oh my gosh, it's a great city, though if you guys never been to tampa, I will tell you this is uh. This is I was reading somewhere, I think it's like the in this city. I think it's the 10th fastest growing city right now this year in the united states, or something. So it's uh, it's, it's growing man, it's uh. A lot of folks are coming, a lot of folks are leaving up north and going. You know, for whatever reason, you guys know how those things go, but um, it's for whatever reason.
Victor:
You guys know how those things go, but um, it's not for whatever reason, you know why.
George:
Oh, hey, hey, I'm not doing it. It's too cold up here.
Cesar:
I'm not doing it and so um.
George:
but uh, I would say that it's a great city.
Victor:
All right, well, thank you.
Rob:
Thanks for coming on today, man. Um, so let our listeners know how they can uh stay connected with you.
George:
A couple, a couple of ways. Number one is we do have a website. If you want to check out a little bit about me and kind of what we do, it's on the wwwthefinancialconstructorcom, so there's a website there. You're welcome to look into that kind of see what we're doing there. I'm also on Instagram at the financial constructor. It's probably where the probably the social media I'm most active in is that one the financial constructor. It's probably where the private social media I'm most active in is that one.
George:
I do have a TikTok and you can find me there as well, but on there I like to just give information, make it fun, make it engaging. We'd love to connect with anybody that's looking for guidance, support, want to be involved in a community that's giving like-minded forward, like-minded people. But even at the if, if, if I've never met any of you, if you listen to this today. Number one if you're not subscribed to to these guys, you got to subscribe to them. These guys are doing a great thing. Or two is is that I hope you take something from this and, uh, maybe shoot these guys an email something you learned today and how you're going to apply it to your finances, and I think that's a win for us as well.
Rob:
All right.
George:
Thanks, george. Great information, that was a lot of fun.
Cesar:
Wish you the best.
George:
Yeah, Great time man. I appreciate you guys. We'll have to do it again soon.
Rob:
Now, that was a. That was a good episode. So what'd you guys think, man, what are your?
Cesar:
takeaways Caesar. Yeah, man, I thought it was a great episode, great interview. Um, you know, I think, uh, first you got to fix your mindset before you can try to tackle your finances. I think that's a great way to do it and that's what he seems to be doing with his clients, and that's something I'm going to take away, vic.
Victor:
I think what George is doing with the financial constructor is great. I hope that people take away from this episode just a completely different mindset on how to view their own expenses and their own personal finance Again, your personal finance. You're not going to crack the code in a night. You're not going to set it and forget it. This is something that's going to be ongoing, but it's so important to, I think, to all of us that we should all just be paying attention to it. If we can get the information that he talks about, if we can be the insider on those informations but not use insider information, because that's illegal and unless you are, you know, work for the government, but go on.
Victor:
But other than that, yeah, I feel like what he has going on is great and I encourage our listeners that if they feel the need to reach out to him, go for it.
Rob:
I agree, man. I love what he had to say. I like the way he structured the program. My favorite part was probably when he talked about how he basically developed and grew the program, where it turned out to where he was just coaching. Then he needed, you know, he was running out of time and then he developed the community and then basically it just turned into what he had now and I just thought that was really interesting. Yeah, and see all that he puts into this program and I'm really happy that reached out and said he wanted to be on because that was awesome. That was great.
Rob:
Please check out the financial constructor on his Instagram at the financial constructor, or his website at the financialancialconstructorcom. If you enjoyed today's show, please feel free to name drop this podcast to your friends and family. We encourage you to be an active part of our community. Whether you have questions, suggestions or just want to share your thoughts on topics we can cover. We want to hear from you, to stay updated on new content and to join on the discussion. Check us out at Twitter at I'm Not Dumb but and leave some comments on our Facebook page. Stay curious.
Victor:
Later.
