Conversations for Financial Professionals

Welcome to another episode of the Conversations for Financial Professionals podcast where we are shaping the next generation of financial advice.

Today we have Miles Beckler. 

Miles is a digital entrepreneur on a mission to help individuals unlock the abundance and lifestyle freedom possible through internet marketing and entrepreneurship.  He brings over 18 years of profitable digital marketing experience to the table making him uniquely qualified and fired up to teach you exactly what is working in internet marketing, right now. 

With the goal of being the 'Most helpful internet marketer ever' you've given away your best 'how to' information for free through your YouTube channel which has grown from zero to 100,000 subscribers in under 3 years and through your blog, MilesBeckler.com.

Welcome to the podcast!

Show Highlights:

• 0:00 Meet Miles Beckler

Resources:

To listen to previous podcast episodes or to by receive a newsletter digest of Jumpstart community happenings, click here.

Subscribe to the podcast by clicking here.

Welcome to another episode of the Conversations for Financial Professionals podcast where we are shaping the next generation of financial advice.

Today we have Dr. Annie Emprima-Martin.

She holds a doctorate degree in metaphysics, graduate level training in positive psychology, and undergraduate in business and associates in criminal justice. 

Welcome to the podcast!

Show Highlights:

• What types of bondage come from not being aware of your personal money story? Annie tells all!  (4:38) 

Resources:

To listen to previous podcast episodes or to by receive a newsletter digest of Jumpstart community happenings, click here.

Subscribe to the podcast by clicking here.

Welcome to another episode of the Conversations for Financial Professionals podcast where we are shaping the next generation of financial advice.

Today we have Teri Ijeoma. 

Teri is the founder of Trade and Travel where her flagship "Trade and Travel" trading course teaches people how to invest for what is important to them. She now has over 1000 students that have entered her “$1000 in a Day”. 

Show Highlights:

• Teri discusses what caused her to make the leap out of her comfort zone and cross the proverbial fence. (3:53)

Resources:

To listen to previous podcast episodes or to by receive a newsletter digest of Jumpstart community happenings, click here.

Subscribe to the podcast by clicking here.

Welcome to another episode of the Conversations for Financial Professionals podcast where we are shaping the next generation of financial advice.

Today’s guest is Deanda Wilson.

I brought her on today to discuss her journey as a career changer into the world of financial planning!

Show Highlights:

• Deanda tells us one word that sums up her process of  passing the CFP exam and successfully making the transition to financial professional. 

Resources:

Listen to previous podcast episodes, clicking here.

Subscribe to the podcast by clicking here.

Welcome to another episode of the Conversations for Financial Professionals podcast where we are shaping the next generation of financial advice.

Today we have Phil Jones. Phil, you are a best-selling author of titles like Exactly What to Say, Exactly How to Sell, and Exactly Where to Start. You are also the youngest recipient of the "British Excellence in Sales and Marketing" award at the tender age of 14. You've reached millions across a variety of languages and people groups with your writings, training, presentations, and workshops. You are exactly like...no one else.

Welcome to the podcast!

Show Highlights:

• Phil discusses where the concept of “Exactly How to [fill in the blank]” came from (06:54)

Resources:

Are you a current or aspiring financial professional?  Click here to receive my 10 Tips for jumpstarting your career.

Listen to previous podcast episodes, clicking here.

Subscribe to the podcast by clicking here.

Welcome to another episode of the Conversations for Financial Professionals podcast where we are shaping the next generation of financial advice.

I hope that you have enjoyed Season 1. I am really excited about Season 2 and what we have in store for you.  During this bonus episode, I am going to recap everything from Season 1, including a one-word takeaway from each Season 1 interview. 

I will also give you a sneak peek of what to expect in season 2 on topics and guests! 

Show Highlights:

• Why I revamped the podcast  (1:54)

Resources:

Are you a current or aspiring financial professional?  Click here to receive my 10 Tips for jumpstarting your career.

Listen to previous podcast episodes, clicking here.

To receive a newsletter digest of Jumpstart community happenings, click here.

Subscribe to the podcast by clicking here.

Want to connect with me? Join my exclusive “tribe” by clicking here.

Want to collaborate? Click here.

Welcome to another episode of the Conversations for Financial Professionals podcast where we are shaping the next generation of financial advice.

Today we have Andy Andrews. Andy is the author of more than 25 books that have been translated into more than 40 languages among those are several New York Times bestsellers including "The Traveler's Gift" which has was named one of the Five Books You Must Read in Your Lifetime by ABCs Good Morning America. Andy also works as a consultant to many Fortune 500 companies and is one of my favorite authors (I have 7 of your books in my personal library). I think you are one of the foremost authorities on mindset and just a sage when it comes to discussing the topic of perspective.

• Andy talks about perspective and why it is a key attribute for financial advisors. (6:42)

Resources:

Watch a video clip of this episode on our YouTube channel by clicking here.

Subscribe to the podcast by clicking here.

Conversation Transcript:

Welcome to another episode of the Conversations for Financial Professionals podcast where we are shaping the next generation of financial advice.

Today we have Jacqueline Schadeck. Jacqueline, you are a Certified Financial Planner and Accredited Wealth Management Advisor currently practicing in Atlanta, GA at Sherrill, & Hutchins Financial Advisory, Inc. You've also spent time on the FPA of Georgia board and the Kennesaw State University (your alma mater) Black Alumni Society. You are also a recent author of "MONEY PLANNING AND POSITIVITY: A GUIDE TO A BETTER FINANCIAL LIFE". I consider you one of the foremost IG personalities when it comes to someone that is doing it the right way and a role model for not just young planners but all planners.

Today we are going to discuss with Jacqueline as an outsider looking in at a young advisor getting started, your mindset, personal development, engaging on social media, and more! We will also ask Jacqueline about her perspective on the number of women in the financial industry profession, the barriers that they feel, and how to lower the barrier during your initial client meeting! 

Show Highlights:

• How did Jacqueline start her new year, what goals did she make and what changes did she make (3:09)

Resources:

Are you a current or aspiring financial professional?  Click here to receive tools that will help you become a next-generation financial professional!

Watch a video clip of this episode on our YouTube channel by clicking here.

Subscribe to the podcast by clicking here.

The process has not been easy if you've heard me on any other kind of podcast or any other platform talking about my journey I've lately, like in the last year or so, been explaining it as, okay. I said that, this thing happened in my life and it triggered me wanting to be a financial advisor and then boom, here we are CFP. It's just like one linear just journey. I've elaborated on that recently and been like, yeah, it actually wasn't that easy at all. It actually was very, difficult. There was a lot of nights, while I was studying for my CFP that I wasn't able to be social. I had set a goal of, I want to pass the CFP exam on the first time. And, for those in the state of Georgia, the Georgia bar in order to be an attorney actually has a better pass rate than the certified financial planner exam. 

That made me really ancy inside when I was studying for the exam. I was like, I have to do whatever necessary to pass this on the first time, because I cannot go through this again. If anybody has gone through or is considering the Ken's on review course, it's a great review course. I use that in order to pass on the first time, but if you've gone through it, that it's rigorous, it's several months of dedication, which does pay off, he has a really good pass rate. This is not sponsored by the way, but it was very helpful. That process from deciding I want to be a financial planner to actually becoming a financial planner, was difficult. What I wished that I would have had more of at the time was a mentor or something similar to your program that you offer the jumpstart program, which I guess you are in a form of mentor in that program. 

I think what I, some of the thing I, I tell mentees is that, life makes you living life makes you a better financial planner because you have advice about life and not just the black and white, program. Like the CFP is great as it is, maybe kind of, dig a little, dig deeper. Shane Parris says ,double-click, double-click on this issue of like how you started maybe tangibly developed tangibly, developing some of the, things that are kind of germane to you right now. Maybe you're like running past this, but other people are like, okay, well, wait, I need to have a plan. Like I don't even journal or things like that. Maybe talk about how that started for you or some of the milestones. 

And so it's just a good thing. I think, to share that with the world, part of your story, you don't know who needs to hear that you don't know who's going to get motivation from that. You don't know who's going to snap out of a depression from that. You don't know who's going to be able to overcome the challenges that they're going through by hearing some of your story. 

I, I wouldn't be ashamed to have that conversation with my clients. I think that it's important to keep that in mind, not only do you have compliance, that is a hurdle that you need to jump through, but you also have the fact that like, whatever you put on there is exposed to the world. All of my social media is public, so anybody can see it at any point. I don't put anything on that I wouldn't want to talk about. I also don't do anything in my career or, I try not to do anything in my day-to-day life that I wouldn't want to talk to anybody about that I wouldn't want to own up to. Like you said, our industry is still, I like the term, but boattend up on that, we are still buttoned up and there's not a lot of like breathing room for advisers to be able to share their story or to be able to share stuff on social media. 

For those of us that can, we're really winning right now, as you can see Dom, I see you're winning. For those of us that can, we're winning right now. I would like to encourage people to just be on there in any way, shape or form that they are comfortable. 

Absolutely. Imposter syndrome, that's a good one touch on. I think you will give some of that kind of a feeling when you're first in the industry, like, wow, like I'm telling people with millions of dollars what to do, and I don't have millions of dollars. It's not necessarily, I want you to change your mindset about that as opposed to being an imposter. Just say that you're in preparation for that and you're going through the process. If you talk to any, if you are client facing or you just talk to anybody that's older and has more money, let's say 60 plus ask them their story of how they got it. They either inherited it. They, had some windfalls or they spent time building that up. I mean, there's, I don't know how many other ways there is to get it, but generally they would have spent their entire lifetime building up that money. 

The term that I like to use for people is to extend yourself, grace, because you're growing, you're learning your bank account is going to be growing as well, as long as you're taking your own advice. Just know that you're going through the process. I wouldn't consider yourself an imposter, but just that you are working through the process. As far as the mental health goes and like managing that and talking to clients about that, I honestly have learned so much about trauma in the last, like two years. Things that like, I didn't even know. Not even about myself, just about trauma in general. The biggest thing that I've learned is that, trauma doesn't have a timeline. So. 

The best advice that I can give when working with your firm on compliance, or any kind of growth oriented kinds of things is I would say, try to do that vetting before you sign on as an employee, because vetting, I did that vetting before I signed on as an employee. I said, Hey, I am into the social media thing. I like to share things there. I like to be vocal. As far as being growth oriented, I knew that I wanted to get another designation. I knew that I wanted to finish my masters. I asked, what kind of support do you provide for that? What's going to be the timing. There going to be any kind of grace on, can I take time for schoolwork, that kind of a thing. I try to do that vetting before I get into that position. Now, if you're already in that position and you're trying to figure out what to do next, it's just important to have that conversation with your supervisor like, Hey, these are my goals. 

Yeah, I, as soon as you brought that up, I was like, I think we talked about that in our first podcast. Go back and listen to that, but I'm still rooting for women. I still think that we've made better financial advisers. I mean, part of it is that emotional intelligence, that's part of being a financial advisor. You have to have emotional intelligence and you have to obviously have intelligence. With it's because there's always, when you're doing financial planning for clients, there's always an emotionally correct answer. And there's a mathematically correct answer. Two, I think in my opinion to be a good financial planner, you gotta be able to balance both of those with your clients. As far as women being better financial advisors, I think that, like you said, men like want to hear their own opinions. What I was saying was that, part of why women, I think make better financial advisors is because when we are in that a setting where there's a husband or wife, or I'm working with just a male client, there's less of that need to feel like he needs to prove himself as being big, bad, the best investor. 

No, I was going to piggyback on that. I mean, we need to be accepting of other people's choices. It's going to be really hard to be a financial planner. If you cannot accept other people's choices for. It's not that you always agree with them, but you still have to just let people believe and do what they want to do. This has been a politically charged year. So, you've gotta be willing to accept people's choices. You're gonna have political conversations with clients that you're not going to agree with. Are you going to get into a raging argument with them or are you just going to accept their choice for what it is? So speaking to career changes that are older, that story changes. The thing that I think that's so beautiful about being a career changer is that you've had so much experience before. You get to share, I went through this personally, I wish I had known this. 

I would've been so much better off had I done X, Y, and Z. I mean, that's a beautiful thing about being a career changer. One of my business mentors, when I first got into financial planning, this person was not a financial planner. He was like, well, why are you then trying to become a financial planner straight out of college? He was like, go do something else, get some experience and circle back to financial planning later when you have some experience to share. I obviously didn't follow that routes. I had followed my heart, but I think there being a career change later on in life can beautiful. 

Yeah. Working with them on that front and being accepting of other people's choices is important. I want people, I want financial planners to practice what they preach and to be free to be themselves. What I mean by that is I don't want you to just put on your financial planner hat and then you're accepting of people then when you're not a financial planner, you're raging flying off the handle. Like it's not okay. I've seen it on social media. I've seen other advisors being attacked on social media for diversity inclusion for some of their views. It's like, why can't we just be accepting of like, that's what works for them. This is what works for me. I want people to have that same kind of a feeling throughout, in one of those podcasts that I think you had soundbite from, they asked me, am I the same positive person in real life that I am on social media? 

I just turned the question on them. I said, well, you guys have talked to me off camera. What did you think? And they were like, it was pretty good energy in the room, like, okay, thank you. I want this to be a real genuine thing. I don't want it to just be by a financial planner. Like I want all the black to be positive. That's something that I preach to my mentees is like, don't do things just for your career's sake. Like do things for your own personal growth that you can have flourished through your career. 

You wouldn't want to see everything a disease. 

A day, honestly. So I have to say. 

I posted it in August, I believe. Part of that, as well as wanting to be an author and then, shout out to COVID for the lockdown. I wrote the book bearings, 

Other time, shout out to COVID. I told you we're going to flip everything and put a positive spin on it. So thank you for that. COVID forced for me to sit down and actually write the book. And, as I was setting the 10 year goal, I had heard a podcast or YouTube video or something where this motivational speaker, I can't quote them. I don't know who it was, but he said, what if you could accomplish your ten-year goals in six months? And so I set out on a mission to do that in 2019. Some of it got done, some of it didn't, but some of it got done this year, which was the book. Money planning and positivity speaks to what my brand is. A couple of years ago, I had just adapted that kind of tagline. So, as I was trying to figure out what exactly it was that I wanted to write about, I wanted to make sure that, there's no other books in the works, but I wanted to make sure that my first book, possibly my only book, is actually encompassing of what I stand for. 

In the book, I break it down into four pillars of wealth. The first pillar being actually healthy, I had a short stint with COVID, at the beginning of the lockdown where I myself was sick for several weeks. I want to make sure that was included in there. I talk about, of course, financial wealth, social wealth, and time wealth. The book breaks down all four of those pillars that really just hold up your entire life. That's why this is a guide to a better financial life, because I feel like your finances are the heartbeat. So, I really, hope that people find this book enjoyable. I hope it is something that is helpful for your life. It can be found on Amazon. I'm sure we'll link it. 

Thank you. I appreciate it. When that side of launching things, getting things out there, I've had a lot of feedback from your side, and a lot of people have mentioned you during our last, I think there's been a couple of years of knowing each other. I want to commend you as well for your efforts. I know making YouTube videos and podcasts and like all the content and all the ways that you help young advisers get into the profession. I know it's not easy work. Somebody has to do it. I appreciate you for helping propel our profession forward. 

I would leave tomorrow's financial professionals with keeping yourself and keep pushing forward. 

Absolutely. It's very important that you're not attaching yourself necessarily to a company or to a title, but that you do realize that you are your own brand, especially in this digital era where you can brand yourself. You are your own brand. 

Today we have Rob Bertman. Rob holds both the coveted CFA and CFP® designations and is a University of Michigan alum. As a senior consultant for Student Loan Planner, he helps borrowers rid themselves of student loan debt. 

Rob is also a Family Budget Expert helping parents find the extra money in their budget to reach their financial goals.

Today we are going to talk in depth about the student loan crisis. Rob will answer:  (1) Just how bad is the crisis through his first-hand personal assessment of the situation; (2) what the contributing factor(s) is/are; and (3) some potential solutions, practical tips and the student loan system in general. 

Show Highlights:

• The student loan crisis and why it is so bad (4:22)

Resources:

If you'd like to connect with Rob, click here.  Need a strategy to eliminate your student loan,  check out the Student Loan Planner.

Watch a video clip of this episode on our YouTube channel by clicking here.

Subscribe to the podcast by clicking here.

Rid themselves of student loan debt. I guess when you're not bulldozing student loans, you are known as the family budget expert, which is your brand to help parents find the extra money in their budget to reach their financial goals. Even if the cost of raising kids is breaking the bank and stressing their relationship. Having put two kids through college at this point for myself and working on the last one, I really wish I would've met you about six years ago. Welcome to the podcast. 

00:02:15

Rob

Hey, thanks for having me Dominique and happy to be here. 

Yeah, man, this is great. You and I know, 

Yeah, thanks.

Yeah. I've, I've often compared this and it sounds like I've been right to do this. I've compared the student loan crisis to the housing crisis, except for the fact that at least with the housing crisis, you had a mortgage, you could actually go sell the property. Whereas I don't know that you can mortgage your brain. Like, there's like, there's no collateral. Like this is, one of those loans where the holder of the paper, which is maybe the reason why this thing has gotten securitized so many times and yada I'm the holder of the paper is really like, kind of SOL there's really nothing else you can do. But, I guess what I'm trying to say is the implications for what this may mean for taxpayers 10 or 20 years down the road, because in a lot of instances, it's not the private sector that backs these loans. 

00:14:40

00:17:50

 No, I love that. I think this is a reason why, and always get back to this theme. This is the reason why I think more often than not people need the accountability, the professionalism that is brought by a financial professional. It's just because it, and it may not because you're not a good investor. I mean, you might actually do well in the market, but as you're, as we've been having this conversation for the last 30 minutes, we've not even talked about investments, but all this stuff we've talked about are so crucial before you even get to the investment, because otherwise you may end up pulling out your 401k as good as it's doing in a year, like last year in 2020 to help subsidize your living expenses because you haven't done things in the right order.

00:30:16

So, what I would really love for you to opine on, is this notion about having a financial professional? 

Cause you said a couple of things there were so juicy. The first, the thing about choice, right? So I love the substitution of choice for four, because I think as financial professionals, what we are as stewards to help people take their limited time and money and spread that across unlimited choices. I think that's a beautiful way that you've put that. In regards to choice, let's talk about a specific strategy and I know you guys have some information on student loan planners that we'll definitely link up in the show notes. We got this whole thing with the zero interest moratorium. I've had clients ask me about that and strategize around whether I should refinance, but I'm in zero interest in blah. I think this points to let's talk to a professional, but I, since you are a professional you're boots on the ground, I want to get your opinion on maybe some strategies there or what the best next step would be for someone that has student loans, but we got the zero interest moratorium right now. 

In fact, it's encouraged for them to be on there because they need to understand what's going on the rules of engagement on how it works with a specific client and they can give more commentary and color so that we can give even better advice. It actually makes the advisors look really good. 

00:43:37

Rob

Yeah. Yeah. Dominic, thanks so much.

Show Notes:

Today’s conversation is with  Ana Trujillo Limon. Ana has worked in the communications and media industry for more than a decade. First as a reporter and now as editor-in-chief for the Financial Planning Association’s publications, including the APEX Award-winning Journal of Financial Planning and the FPA Next Generation Planner and Practice Management Blog. 

She also serves on the FPA Diversity Committee and is the co-founder of FPA Latino, a member resource group for Latino FPA members. 

Today we dive into why financial planning is important, what it means to Ana being a woman and a minority in the field, what the next 5 to 10 years may hold for the financial planning industry, and the steps needed to get into the financial planning industry. 

Show Highlights:

• Ana’s newly adapted “pandemic” routine (3:27)

Resources:

Check out Ana’s articles on the FPA website by clicking here.

Watch a video clip of this episode on our YouTube channel by clicking here.

Subscribe to the podcast by clicking here.

Ana

Cause I don't feel like sitting in a bank filling out paperwork because that's not my experience. That's not what I'm used to. I think what I'm hearing you say is that financial services, although not totally there, like if you're coming into this industry in the next five to 10 years, you need to be thinking that way because that's where we're going. With the level of technology outside of this industry, is that true? 

Ana

Ana