1:16

Everybody, yeah, we

1:19

got drill bland

1:21

in here. We

1:24

got a, this

1:30

is different for black CFP series. This is

1:33

someone who is currently studying

1:35

a student of the CFP. So

1:37

we'll be able to walk through. That process

1:40

from a little start to finish, obviously I'll throw

1:42

in my story with that as well, but

1:44

without further ado, drill, why don't you tell us about

1:46

you, your story and how

1:48

the hell you even got to, to where

1:50

you're at.

1:52

Hey yes, my name is Jorrell

1:54

Bland and to tell you the truth,

1:56

like many people who have found their way

1:58

in this profession. It was by

2:01

accident. Growing up, I'm originally

2:03

from, Harlem, New York born and raised.

2:06

I'm one of three children. My mom was NYPD.

2:09

Dad was an MTA bus driver.

2:11

I started out my life in the polar grounds,

2:14

living in the apartments early nineties,

2:17

not the best neighborhood to be in where

2:19

there was a lot of things going on outside.

2:22

Actually my grandmother was murdered in the building

2:24

across from us. And my

2:26

mom had to go and deal with that whole situation.

2:29

One of the great things I'll say about it is

2:31

my parents provided a home that no matter.

2:33

What was taking place outside

2:36

inside of our four walls, we understood

2:38

what accountability was and knew

2:40

that, if we wanted to be great we

2:42

had to focus and love one another

2:45

and do the right thing. They really taught us right from

2:47

wrong. I've actually moved quite

2:49

a bit. We move, I've. I'm about, I'm

2:51

30 now and I've moved about 18 times in

2:53

my life. It's the good thing about

2:55

that is though, I understand that change is inevitable

2:59

and I'm always ready for that to happen.

3:01

Growing up, I always thought I would be a professional

3:04

athlete. I actually was really good

3:06

at sports. I played basketball. I also

3:08

play football. And I went to a

3:10

high school upstate New York, which was

3:12

a powerhouse in New York State.

3:15

Played varsity football. And even

3:17

though basketball was my number one sport, I

3:19

was just better at football because my coach would always

3:21

tell me I'm five foot nothing. I

3:23

had the opportunity to go over

3:26

to West Virginia University and

3:28

really be able to walk on to

3:31

the football team my freshman year. But

3:34

getting myself there, once

3:36

I got to the school I knew that

3:38

I wasn't going to be a preferred walk on. It

3:40

was Dana Holgeson's first year at the university

3:43

and he had open tryouts. And, I

3:45

was scared at first, but decided to go and take

3:47

that journey and decided to try out

3:49

for the team. I made the team.

3:51

Now it's not all as spectacular

3:54

as it sounds because, I was a tackling

3:56

dummy, I was a running back. We had

3:58

some of the top players there, like Bruce Irvin

4:01

coming off the end and here I

4:03

am to get swallowed up. But real,

4:05

I realized pretty early that, Making

4:07

it to the NFL was not going to be for me

4:10

and to focus on, my degree.

4:12

And one of the things that I always said was I

4:14

wanted to have a fallback to be able to

4:16

go into business. And, The

4:18

main reason why I decided to study finance

4:21

was, going back to my upbringing, in

4:23

my neighborhood, most people know nothing

4:26

about finances. They look

4:28

forward to social security as a retirement

4:30

plan for them. And I just looked around

4:32

at everyone else and realized that life

4:34

wasn't for me. So I wanted to learn

4:37

how to take care of my own money.

4:39

And in turn it turns out that a lot

4:41

of people need. Help with their finances

4:43

as well. And I always said, if I can find

4:45

a place where I can talk and do well

4:47

for myself, I'll be all right. And

4:49

I wound up stumbling upon financial

4:52

planning by taking the financial

4:54

planning curriculum in my school. And

4:56

I just really fell in love with it. I

4:58

love doing the case studies and doing the planning

5:01

and, being able to change people's

5:03

lives, because in my opinion,

5:05

people work all their lives to accumulate

5:08

these assets. And their real goal

5:10

is to be able to enjoy their life. And I

5:12

think that everybody deserves to have somebody

5:14

there to help make that a reality.

5:17

And I decided to, make that my profession

5:19

and, become an advisor. However.

5:23

Coming out of school in 2015,

5:25

there were not many jobs that

5:27

were able to be had. So

5:29

I actually started out doing landscaping.

5:31

So I was swinging a pickaxe 12 hours

5:34

a day and just moving rocks

5:36

and planting. And then I wound up

5:38

moving to a warehouse where I was

5:40

sterilizing equipment with gamma radiation.

5:43

Is that safe? I don't really know, but

5:45

we won't worry. We won't worry about

5:47

it. But then from there, my mom

5:49

had an advisor at a large

5:51

insurance company and She

5:54

decided to have him speak with me and

5:56

I was promised the ability to be

5:59

an advisor and planner. So I

6:01

wound up drinking the Kool Aid and,

6:03

working at that place for four

6:05

years. But in my, my

6:07

tenure at the company, I realized

6:09

that it was really more, Of a

6:11

sales driven where you eat what you kill.

6:14

And I really wanted to provide a service.

6:16

So I needed to, branch out. And

6:18

one thing that my mentor there put me

6:20

on to was Michael Kitsis. I

6:23

don't think he realized how deep I

6:25

would go down the rabbit hole, and

6:27

just CFP. Reading

6:30

about the, becoming a fiduciary

6:32

and doing the right thing and, from

6:34

there, I knew I had to make a change

6:36

and plus, working at

6:39

that, the place where it's all only commission,

6:42

one, it's really difficult to be a fiduciary

6:44

and my ideals just did not align

6:46

with it. So to be. Completely

6:49

real with you. I did not make a ton

6:51

of money, and I used to always say that my

6:53

rocks to Richard story will be a real one.

6:55

Because I'm coming from, working at the company,

6:58

I'm sleeping in Harlem or my

7:00

aunt's living room floor, my blow up

7:02

bed, surrounded by six Yorkies going

7:05

into work every single day, scraping

7:07

up quarters to get dollar pizza. But

7:10

I knew that the path that I was on

7:13

was meant for me and whatever's meant for

7:15

me. Can't be taken from me. And

7:17

I wound up meeting Larry and finding

7:19

Midland after my four year tenure, and

7:22

to be quite honest, it's one of the best things that

7:24

happened to me when I first met with him,

7:26

we were only supposed to meet for about a half

7:28

hour, wound up talking for two

7:30

hours. And it just felt like it was the

7:33

right fit. I knew what I wanted and

7:35

I knew that I wanted to be with somebody who was

7:37

a fiduciary and wants to do right by the people

7:39

that they serve. And that was him.

7:41

So now, it's been. Four years

7:43

or four plus years and working at

7:45

the firm and I've continued to level

7:48

up and, now I'm the associate wealth advisor

7:50

here. I started that career track

7:52

and continue to move forward.

7:55

And now I'm studying for the CFP because

7:57

to me, being in a role where I'm taking

8:00

on. A lot more of the relationships

8:02

in the firm. I think it's my duty

8:05

to make sure that I can provide the best service

8:07

as possible and be able to

8:09

give the best advice and guidance. Like I said,

8:12

these people work very hard to

8:14

get everything that they have and who

8:16

am I not to provide that

8:18

best service and advice as possible. That's

8:21

just, how I was raised and truly

8:23

who I am. That's a little bit of the story

8:25

of Jarrell and how I got to this point

8:27

to be in front of you today.

8:28

Absolutely. That's a that's a hell of a story

8:30

and very similar to mine, my own. And

8:33

you had mentioned that your mother was in NYPD

8:36

and your father worked at the bus line and that's

8:38

service, right? And that's where

8:40

you come from. So when you said

8:43

you got insurance, I went Oh, Nope. Been there

8:45

and there. They sell you on that service shit. And

8:47

then it's not what it's cracked up to be. Like

8:50

you said, I don't, you don't regret that time. I don't

8:52

regret my time. I learned. And

8:54

you move forward. And obviously Larry's

8:56

good buddy of mine. We just spoke at shift

8:58

together. So I'm glad that you're at Midland

9:00

as well. When you talk

9:02

about the CFP exam I

9:05

get mine done. I got mine done in

9:07

2018. Okay. But then

9:09

we didn't have the behavioral component of

9:12

it. Which I don't know if that's good, bad or indifferent.

9:14

I know it's way better now, but I don't know if it's makes

9:16

it tougher. I failed it twice,

9:19

right? I studied mine pretty

9:21

quickly as well. Now, luckily for me, some

9:23

of my college courses, I think, Build

9:26

in three of them but I filled it in March

9:28

by five questions. I filled it in July

9:30

by five questions and then

9:33

really finally passed it in November

9:35

of 2018. And I know the stress

9:37

level of all of that. I know going through that

9:40

and I've mentored a couple

9:42

other CFPs since then. Talk

9:44

us through the, just

9:47

the studying, right? I don't think people

9:49

quite understand. How

9:51

much studying goes into the CFP,

9:53

right? I'm a huge proponent of, I believe

9:55

the CFP or it doesn't matter if it's CP

9:57

or not, but we need like a doctorate

10:00

level type feeling for

10:02

our industry when it comes to a designation, right?

10:05

We know that JDs have JD. We know

10:07

that doctors have doctorates. In our

10:09

world, the CFP right now is the equivalent

10:11

of that. Why don't you talk us through how

10:13

in depth these courses and the training

10:16

actually is.

10:18

Yeah. Yeah. So

10:20

first it's a lot, it's

10:23

definitely a lot. You have to go through

10:25

depending on what program you're going through.

10:28

Me personally, I'm going through the American college.

10:30

And you have 7 different courses that

10:33

you have to go to go through and

10:35

they pretty much say it's about, 40 to 60

10:37

hours each course of

10:39

study time that you'll have to go into pass

10:42

because throughout each course. Now, the way

10:44

they have it set up through the module is

10:46

you have. Weekly discussions that you have

10:48

to do, you have to do all of the reading you

10:50

have a review and that's pretty much your homework

10:52

assignment. And then after the end of

10:55

that 10 week process you have a testing

10:57

window, and then you have to go in pass

10:59

a review. Maybe 130 question

11:02

exam to move on to that

11:04

next module and you continue to

11:06

do that. So you're doing that, the fundamentals of financial

11:08

planning investments you

11:10

have retirement planning, you

11:13

have taxation, you have a

11:15

state planning. Insurance

11:17

and risk management. So you're going through

11:19

all of these different things. And at the end of all

11:21

of that seventh class, you actually have

11:23

to do a capstone where the

11:26

board wants to make sure that you're capable

11:28

to dissect the person

11:30

situation, create a full financial

11:33

plan that will be conducted

11:35

by their standards to be able

11:37

to give that advice. And even after

11:39

you do all of that. Then

11:42

you have to get ready to sit for the

11:44

board exam, which is about six hours

11:46

over one day, which you can have to take. But

11:49

to prep for that exam you also

11:51

have to do a review. Now,

11:53

can you do it without a review? Sure.

11:56

But they highly suggest that

11:58

you do take a review. So the review

12:00

I'm getting ready to jump into is that

12:02

Dalton review. And They're

12:04

telling me that, it requires up to

12:07

250 hours of study

12:09

time to be able to be prepared

12:11

for that final exam,

12:13

come July for myself. I

12:16

personally, I have to sacrifice. A

12:18

lot of time, so I'm studying 20

12:21

hours a week for this exam.

12:23

I'm work 3 hours a day, 5 days

12:25

a week. And then Saturday,

12:27

I actually study 5 hours in that

12:29

day. And then I take Sunday off, but, even

12:32

Jesus needed to rest, to make sure that I do

12:34

that. So I make sure I do that. And,

12:36

it becomes tough, especially

12:38

now at this point where I'm in that lockdown

12:40

mode, where I can't really have any

12:42

distractions because this is so

12:45

important to me and it's so important to

12:47

my development in my career. I

12:49

have my girlfriend where, sometimes she

12:51

has to take a back seat. I'm like, Hey, listen,

12:53

I got to get up early and I got to study like,

12:55

Oh, you want to go to this place? I would

12:57

love to, but I've got this penciled into

13:00

my calendar that I have to do it. And

13:02

to me, I say, what's one quarter for

13:04

the rest of my life? It's just sacrifices I have

13:06

to make. Like even, this weekend

13:08

I'm going to go upstate and see my parents, but my parents.

13:11

And live in upstate New York, and if I'm

13:13

taking the train because we don't want to drive out there,

13:16

it takes me 5 hours to get up there. And that's just,

13:18

it's not really conducive of the things

13:20

I'm trying to accomplish at this time. So it's a,

13:23

it takes his toll, and

13:25

then, As you're studying, sometimes you

13:27

can get down on yourself because some

13:29

of it can be mundane in the process,

13:32

but you got to remember, what you're doing

13:34

it for. And, your why and

13:36

for me, my, why, when I first found

13:38

out about the CFP, to be quite honest 2015

13:42

I had did my I was in one of my financial planning

13:44

classes, had to put together a case study. And

13:46

at the end of my name, they put Jorrell

13:49

R. CFP. And I was like, Man,

13:52

that looks good. Yeah, man, that looks

13:54

good. And then it wasn't until I started doing more

13:56

of my homework in 2020 about

13:59

the actual CFP itself, where

14:01

I realized how, Underrepresented

14:03

people who look like me are at

14:06

that time they had came out with their research

14:08

report that have 90, 000 CFPs,

14:11

only 1200 of them were black.

14:13

And I just felt that, we couldn't,

14:16

I couldn't stand for that. Like I wanted to be one of the

14:18

ones who continues to

14:20

push not only, the profession

14:23

forward but also, my race

14:25

because honestly, Before coming

14:27

into this profession, I have no

14:29

idea what financial planning was. And I

14:31

know so many people who

14:34

look just like me don't know either. I would walk

14:36

out of my apartment in Harlem, get

14:38

on my way to work and nobody

14:40

knew what I did. All I knew was I wore a suit

14:42

every day, and I'm just wanting to make that

14:45

change. So I think it's really important that,

14:47

I am visible and I'm outspoken

14:50

so that I can shine a light on a profession that

14:52

can change so many different lives. Since

14:54

that time that research came out it's

14:56

gotten a little bit better, a little bit better, a

14:59

little bit, but we'll

15:01

take it in increments, I think the last

15:03

time I checked, we're about, 98 90,

15:05

98 thousand CFPs, 99,

15:08

000 and 1900 black CFPs. So

15:11

about 1. 9%, we're looking

15:13

to crack the 2 percent mark and

15:16

then the two would just continue to, continue

15:18

to progress. I think it's important

15:21

that. We continue to shed our knowledge.

15:23

And like you said, you're doing the mentoring

15:26

and showing people the way that's something

15:28

I try to do, even though I'm going to be honest,

15:30

I face some imposter syndrome when

15:32

I first did some, mentoring,

15:35

because I always felt like, who am I to

15:37

tell anybody anything? But

15:39

I realized that. I am the

15:41

perfect person because, I don't come from,

15:44

a large background

15:46

and family with money and, I'm

15:48

just a, a little black boy from Harlem who's

15:51

trying to make it and I've had a lot

15:53

of different turbulent times in my life

15:55

and things were not easy and

15:57

if I can do it, so can you.

16:00

I found that I think I'm the perfect person

16:02

to help out and lead people to

16:04

learn from my mistakes and stop

16:07

them from getting, pigeon hold into

16:09

certain places. Yeah.

16:11

Yeah.

16:12

That, no you're right. There, there needs to be more

16:14

of us. We need to be louder for each

16:16

other because ultimately our people have never seen

16:18

or rarely have ever seen

16:21

any minority for that matter, in this

16:23

type of position, one as a CFP,

16:25

but two talking about money, I grew up the same

16:27

way. There was no way I knew really anybody that

16:29

dealt with money. The only one was my uncle

16:31

and he's state farm regional director, but that's

16:35

okay. You know what I mean? That's cool, but

16:37

that's nothing to do with anything that we do. It doesn't

16:39

even touch the surface. Talk to us a little bit

16:42

about your philosophy and

16:44

obviously at Maitland. I know them and

16:46

people listening can go tune into the

16:48

couple of episodes that we've done with Larry, but from

16:51

your perspective and who you work with.

16:53

Give us your vision in really what you do.

16:57

Yeah. Yeah. Here at Midland,

16:59

I'm able to plug and play and, we

17:01

have our core values that that are near

17:03

and dear to me, as well as to the firm,

17:06

the first one being, proactiveness and proactive

17:08

and responsive communication.

17:10

One, I think that's so important because

17:13

a lot of times when people are having

17:15

someone deal with their money, when they have questions,

17:17

they don't want to have to wait, to the end

17:19

of the year or have to call

17:22

a 1 800 number

17:24

and speak to a bunch of different people all

17:26

the time, we make sure that the families

17:28

we serve know that we're always

17:30

available to them. And if we're not able

17:32

to get right to you right away. We're

17:34

going to respond to you within 24 hours,

17:36

whether if it's me, it's Larry Carmen,

17:38

anybody else, we're making sure that, we're

17:41

taking care of the families that we

17:43

serve. And now, for us, especially

17:46

me, what I believe that my job

17:48

truly is to really be able to understand.

17:51

Whoever's sitting in front of me, figure

17:53

out what their goals and objectives are and

17:55

really learn what they imagine their life to

17:57

look like, and then try to create a roadmap

18:00

to make that a reality. Now,

18:02

a lot of times when people think about working

18:04

with an advisor, we're always talking about the

18:06

quantitative portion, but so

18:08

much more of it comes down to that qualitative

18:11

side and understanding

18:13

what's truly important to them. Cause

18:15

sometimes some people may come to us and, Not

18:17

even worry about the finances. They may say,

18:20

Hey, look, my son is, starting

18:22

in the workforce and looking to find a way

18:25

to get in it. Do you know anybody just

18:27

being that person to be able to like, you know what?

18:29

I have a few contacts in the space, I

18:31

can't make any promises, but, I'll

18:34

reach out to them and see, what I can do.

18:36

And I was able to actually, Find somebody

18:38

a job, which was, very rewarding situation.

18:41

And then even, one of my favorite things that's actually

18:43

happened to me in this last year. I had

18:45

a family who I was working with who never

18:48

ever thought they would be able to buy a house. And

18:50

then going through the planning, a situation came

18:52

up where they had a few months to either buy the

18:54

house or they had to get out. And

18:57

we were able to put them in touch with a mortgage broker

18:59

who was able to teach them different tactics,

19:02

such as getting the seller's credit to bring down

19:04

what they have to bring to closing just

19:06

little things and being able to be that quarterback

19:09

to handle all of the areas of their financial

19:12

life that are not just pertaining

19:14

to. Investments and asset

19:16

management because financial planning

19:18

is so much more than that and realistically,

19:21

being a good person is more than that.

19:23

Being able to, take care of them the

19:25

way I would want to be treated or, my

19:28

future kids or my mom, that

19:30

means more to me than anything. And I think

19:32

that's exactly what we're able to bring

19:34

to the families we serve.

19:36

Yeah. And it's about you nailed it. You were talking about financial

19:39

planning, right? Planning means.

19:42

Ongoing planning means when

19:45

shit happens and comes up, you're there for

19:47

them, right? Our industry gets lost in

19:49

a lot of, we're bringing the investment side,

19:51

right? Like investments only is what it is.

19:54

That's just a tool in my opinion, but

19:56

people bring up like creating a financial

19:58

plan, right? I'm going to go see a financial

20:00

planner. They'll give me a financial plan and I'll

20:02

be good. And that's a good start.

20:04

In my opinion, it's a very good start. Someone just has

20:07

a financial plan. And the problem is. As soon

20:09

as you write that financial plan, it's usually

20:11

out of whack somewhere, right? Because

20:13

something happens in life and ultimately

20:15

what we need to do is the planning and

20:17

it's ongoing. It's a journey, right?

20:19

We listened to your journey just to get to Midland

20:22

and all the ups and downs and twists and

20:24

turns and all those things that happen. It happens

20:27

to everybody every day. In

20:29

life and what they need is they need

20:31

guidance. They need that person that they can rely

20:33

on. You have found it at Midland with

20:35

Larry. Others have found it with you

20:37

as the advisor. Like they need a

20:39

strong person to guide them in this

20:41

thing called life. Now

20:44

I'm going to throw something out there because I told you

20:46

I'm going to throw something out there before. And you

20:48

and you're newer to this game of social

20:51

media, you're newer to being the

20:53

face in, in speaking out. Talk

20:56

us through and I had this when I first started,

20:58

talk us through a little imposter syndrome and how it feels

21:00

to be out there now and

21:02

what you had to go through just to do your

21:04

first video, let alone, this

21:07

podcast.

21:09

Honestly, for me personally,

21:12

I'm typically more of a private person.

21:14

I don't really post on, before

21:16

I didn't really post on social media, whatsoever.

21:20

I wasn't a picture taker because

21:22

I didn't want to be a person who lived through

21:24

my phone. I wanted to actually experience

21:26

what was going on. And then also.

21:29

Even my story, I've had a lot of, trouble

21:32

telling my stories because, I don't want

21:34

people to, Make different

21:36

kind of insinuations about who

21:38

I am based on my background or where I

21:40

come from or judge me for certain

21:43

things. So I was always taught that,

21:45

keep things close to the chest, keep it close to the

21:47

vest. And that was really difficult.

21:49

One of the things that I had to

21:51

do was realize that. I don't

21:53

have to tell people everything

21:56

right away, I can give it in portions,

21:58

I can still protect myself and, I

22:01

wear my heart on the sleeve. I get it from my father,

22:03

but I can, protect myself in that

22:05

way. And, And really look to just

22:07

try to, put it out there in pieces.

22:09

One thing I found out is doing social media

22:11

is also a lot of work. I did not

22:13

realize, how much work it is

22:16

to, not only come up with content,

22:18

but. Put it out, then, respond

22:20

to people and do that because

22:22

I still struggle with that because it is

22:24

so difficult. But I'm learning

22:27

as I go. I definitely faced

22:29

a lot of that imposter syndrome because again,

22:31

like I said, like, why would these people

22:33

want to hear from me? Like I'm

22:36

30 years old, yes, I've been

22:38

in the profession, for eight years,

22:40

but. People have dogs older

22:42

than me, So it's just been, one

22:45

of those things where I'm trying to navigate

22:47

try to decide, what my voice should

22:50

sound like, because you have to figure

22:52

out, who you are. Before

22:54

you actually put that out on display

22:56

and then, being able to be authentically

22:59

you. So I think that's really important.

23:01

But sometimes you gotta give it a little bit of doses, a little bit

23:04

of doses. So that's been the

23:06

real struggle for me trying to

23:08

keep up with it. Because you have to be consistent

23:11

and two, three, four times

23:13

a week, different content. And

23:15

a lot of times I found that. A

23:17

lot of it doesn't even really need to

23:19

be all about finances.

23:21

People want to hear about who you

23:24

are. And that's the big thing of why

23:26

I need to continue to do it. Because

23:28

when you look at, millennial generation, like

23:30

I said, I'm a millennial and all

23:32

of my friends who are looking to work with an advisor,

23:35

they don't want the advisors of yesteryear.

23:37

They want people who they feel. Are

23:39

real and are actually people they want to know what

23:41

you do in your spare time. They want to see

23:44

you at, an engagement party

23:46

dancing, they want to see you

23:48

hanging out or hiking

23:50

or anything like that. That's what we care

23:52

about because I know I'm that way and, I'm

23:55

in that demographic. So it's important

23:57

for me to put myself out there and. Is

23:59

it a lot? Is it scary? Yes,

24:02

but I do realize that doing

24:04

it will put me in a much better place in the

24:07

future and allow people to,

24:09

know who I am and also

24:12

allow me to really find my tribe, and

24:14

it's hard to find your tribe if you're not being

24:16

open and authentic you

24:18

won't attract the right people who you're looking

24:20

to to be around. So Yeah,

24:23

social media important, but difficult,

24:26

it's exhausting, right?

24:28

It's exhausting, crazy. We were at shift

24:30

conference and before

24:33

Larry and I got on stage, I had a podcast

24:35

episode. I did, then I spent an

24:37

hour and a half, almost two hours doing 40

24:40

different reels and shorts. Content

24:42

and then do that. It's it's so exhausting.

24:44

And it's funny cause a lot of us were there after

24:47

we had got done talking and we were talking about, we

24:50

don't love doing it. We

24:52

need to do it right. Like our duty

24:55

for everyone else is to do this type of content.

24:57

Because in our industry,

25:00

it's always been about money and power.

25:02

It's never been about education. It's never

25:05

been about the power of actual people and humanity.

25:07

It's been about, can I get your assets

25:09

to make you more money, but I'm going to make more money than you. That's

25:11

been the way our industry has grown

25:14

and sadly is still prominent

25:16

in that way, but in order for them

25:18

to understand who we really are and

25:21

what the real conversations

25:23

are like with clients, we have to

25:25

be in there. We have to be in social media. We

25:28

have to be out there as much as all the other content

25:30

because if not, who's going to do it? It's

25:32

not, I promise you it's not going to be

25:35

the big front. It's not gonna be Vanguard, Fidelity,

25:37

Schwab. It's not gonna be them. There's

25:39

no way Merrill Lynch is doing it, right? None of those things

25:42

are happened because it comes down

25:44

to us as individuals as the planners to

25:46

do and so I'm happy that you're

25:48

in the game now. Also

25:50

sad for you a little bit because it's exhausting, but

25:52

I'm glad you're, I'm glad you're in the game.

25:54

Yeah. And I feel it's important for us to pay it

25:56

forward. So like you're talking about that financial

25:58

literacy and education, being able

26:00

to give that away, and because. Realistic,

26:03

the average person, a lot of my family members.

26:05

And when I talk about, finances,

26:08

they need it to be, I don't want to

26:10

say like dumb down, but they need me to bring it

26:12

to a level where, they're like, tell

26:14

me like I'm in kindergarten, like I need

26:16

to know the basics before I can learn

26:19

these, high level topics. And

26:21

a lot of times just telling them the basis

26:24

of things can really change

26:26

their life, just telling them what the five

26:28

29 plan is. It's it's an education

26:30

savings vehicle, showing them what that is and

26:33

allowing them to do that, it puts

26:35

them in a good place. And I like to tell I always

26:37

try to tell stories, for me personally I

26:39

eat my cooking. So I

26:41

have a 529 plan where I'm

26:43

putting money away from college for

26:45

my future kids. I don't plan on having kids

26:47

anytime soon. However, I'm

26:50

doing it because, I'm still paying

26:52

back student loans. And if I can put, my

26:54

future children in a situation where they

26:57

don't have to do that, then I just

26:59

set them up to, be better than me.

27:01

And really, that's my goal. I think

27:03

that we all stand on our previous generation

27:06

shoulders. And my goal is to make sure

27:08

that, my kids can do better than

27:10

me and their kids can do better than them and

27:12

so forth and so on. But it

27:14

starts with me because I'm that pathfinder.

27:16

Which is a, which is heavy too.

27:19

It's heavy. In our industry, majority

27:21

of us, minority CFPs are

27:23

the pathfinders. We are the first

27:25

generation. We are the ones that

27:28

are, bringing this light to this tunnel,

27:30

this long ass tunnel. Right? That is

27:32

on us. And that's heavy for a generation in

27:35

a person, ultimately. That's something

27:37

that we don't get to fall back on. We don't

27:39

get to fall back on books of business. And

27:41

billion dollar IRAs that have been around forever.

27:44

We don't get that. That's not in us.

27:46

Not to mention the majority of our

27:48

clientele base also are

27:50

first gen or second gen and don't have.

27:53

Hundreds of millions of dollars to fall back on from their

27:55

legacy plans. And that's what

27:57

that that's, what's different. That's what's changing

27:59

and shifting. We literally had a a post

28:01

today from Thomas Kopelman and everyone

28:04

jumped on it both LinkedIn and Twitter, by the way,

28:06

and he was saying that there's a shift in our industry, the

28:09

shift away from investments and investment management,

28:12

as that just now was a tool and a commodity.

28:14

A shift to financial planning and

28:17

I'll throw in that it's more of a modern family office

28:19

where we are quarterbacking everything and bringing Those

28:22

experts and professionals to

28:24

our clients right not making them go find

28:26

them We're bringing them to their doorstep

28:29

to make sure that plan is in place And

28:31

so we had brought that up and everyone's all over the

28:33

map a little bit But ultimately we all agree

28:36

It's a shift towards financial planning and

28:39

the way we're going to shift towards financial planning is

28:41

we need to know that we have Professionals You

28:43

have some type of board certified

28:46

exam for us right now. That's a CFP,

28:48

right? In order to get done and that people

28:50

can trust that in that light. I

28:52

told you I'm from the insurance world. They call themselves

28:55

financial advisors. Now they

28:57

don't know. They don't do that. They do

28:59

mutual funds, maybe some stocks. Yeah,

29:01

that's not financial advising. That's just investment

29:03

stuff. And guess what? Everybody investments

29:05

make up a very small piece of your entire pie.

29:08

Because if you cannot get your

29:10

budget, your insurance in order and all

29:12

of those things in order, you should not

29:14

and cannot be putting money into investments. And

29:17

so it doesn't matter what return we can get you. If

29:20

there's 0 in there, zero

29:22

times, whatever is still zero, right?

29:24

So we got to focus on those other things. A

29:26

lot. And so Bravo to you

29:28

to understanding that and finding the firm that

29:30

can let you ride that way. Now

29:33

let's get into sports, right? We're both football

29:35

players. I think you're a running back. I

29:37

finished my career as a linebacker. As

29:40

of today, I want to see me

29:41

in the a gap.

29:42

Oh

29:43

don't do

29:43

that. Now don't do that.

29:45

I'll put them back on. I will

29:48

bring my ass all the way up there in New York and

29:50

I will put them back on.

29:51

I stay in shape. Yeah, I still be,

29:53

moving weights. They'll be on the field, okay. Okay.

29:55

Let's see.

29:57

What do you believe that grind

29:59

of being specifically a student athlete?

30:02

Which never felt like a student athlete, it always felt like

30:04

a full time job, pounding my body,

30:07

and then, oh, by the way, I still have to go to school. What

30:09

do you think that has done and adapted

30:12

you as a person? What were those,

30:14

that time that you were an athlete?

30:16

Taught me two words. Discipline

30:19

and commitment, like to

30:22

me, being an

30:24

athlete and being a part

30:26

of a brotherhood, one of the main things

30:28

I never wanted to be was the weakest

30:30

link. I refuse to be the weakest

30:32

link it also taught me to

30:34

stay hungry. I was always undersized.

30:37

So it put a chip on my shoulder and

30:40

I may not be the most talented person, but

30:42

I always knew that nobody was going to outwork

30:44

me. So it really put that In

30:46

my mind and became a, ingrained

30:49

and at the core of my being. So

30:51

being able to overcome and just

30:53

persevere I really got

30:56

that from, playing sports day in and

30:58

day out. Understanding that there

31:00

are different. Personalities

31:02

on the team. So being able to,

31:04

have conversations with people from multiple

31:07

different backgrounds, not judging

31:09

them. Honestly, I think

31:12

without, sports and athletics,

31:15

I don't become the man I am today.

31:17

Stop me from getting in a lot of trouble. It's

31:19

really hard to get in trouble and get caught up

31:21

when, like you said, you're getting

31:23

up, you got your, you 6 a. m.

31:25

workout. Then you got to go to class

31:27

and then you got practiced and you got mandatory

31:30

study hours. And, that it makes

31:32

it really difficult. You still got to watch film and

31:34

I got, do more homework. It makes it really difficult

31:37

to get caught up. And I think that's definitely

31:39

a blessing, for me. Yes,

31:42

like sports is everything to me,

31:44

honestly, like honestly. And I, and

31:46

I didn't come from my immediate

31:48

family. My dad didn't play sports or anything.

31:51

So I was the guy who, I went out there and

31:53

went at it alone, I didn't even think my parents were

31:55

going to come to my senior night when I was playing until

31:57

I walked out in the field, get ready to walk out my coach

31:59

and they popped in. But yeah,

32:02

I think that it allowed me to

32:04

be able to find. Again, that

32:06

like that tribe and find family

32:08

members and be able to look

32:11

out and and seek out people who are

32:13

willing to pour into you to

32:15

make you be the best version of you

32:17

as possible. I can definitely

32:20

take criticism because of it.

32:22

Yeah,

32:23

definitely do that. So I think those

32:25

are. Like some of the big things and

32:27

again, that drive, we all looking for that ultimate

32:30

goal and, and luckily, for

32:32

a lot of athletes who most of us will

32:34

not go pro, but we turn that

32:36

same mindset that made us great athletes.

32:39

And we take it right to the workforce and, we

32:41

have that drive and that commitment and that diligence

32:43

to continue to progress. And,

32:46

that discipline and that regimen

32:48

really. To continue to progress and

32:50

we have really good careers. So I

32:52

think any youth should be in anything

32:55

like sports organized. However,

32:57

will it be football for my children? I

32:59

don't know about that. You may look at soccer,

33:01

see some of these contracts is going out there, baseball.

33:04

Yeah, I'm not sure, but yes, I

33:06

think sports has really

33:08

molded and shaped my life and put me in

33:10

a good position to succeed, even

33:13

if it has nothing to do with athletics whatsoever,

33:15

what do you miss the most?

33:19

Honestly, the thing I miss the most

33:21

spending time with the boys, man. Honestly,

33:23

that was, we still, I still got my group

33:25

chats. So we still talk about it, like

33:28

getting pizza, be throwing hot pepper flakes on

33:30

it, just the dumb things. And

33:32

it was just, I missed

33:35

that, that camaraderie and, actually I was able

33:37

to go down and see a few of the guys over

33:39

this weekend. We just talked about the

33:41

good old days and don't get me wrong

33:43

yeah, playing was great, I'm a running back.

33:45

I was getting hit every play, even if I ain't got

33:47

the ball, I'm getting hit. And do I miss that?

33:50

Not really at all, that camaraderie

33:52

and leaning on each other and just being

33:54

together and being a unit and really

33:57

that journey that we went through together.

34:00

That's what I missed the most.

34:01

Absolutely. We Desarte Yarnway. I don't

34:03

know if you've met him, but he was running back too. And we

34:05

were chopping it up. It's what do you, we're talking about what

34:08

we missed. Obviously it's the boys, it's the family. You are so

34:10

close. You do so much and grind together

34:12

that. That's what you're going to miss. We're talking

34:14

about, it's like we trained for

34:17

nine months, basically eight and a half months

34:20

to get 11 opportunities to

34:22

play like opportunities. You weren't guaranteed

34:24

to play, right? Like you could have been on

34:26

the bench. You could have been hurt. Like just eight

34:28

and a half months of 6

34:31

00 AM workouts and summer workouts and grinding

34:34

and tearing our body apart just to have 11

34:37

potential opportunities. To

34:40

perform at the best of your abilities

34:42

and when you think about drastically

34:44

different than anything else that you have

34:46

to deal with in life, right? When

34:49

we talk about finances all the time and in the

34:51

grind of all of that we're making decisions

34:53

every day though You're in the game

34:55

every day when it comes to money It

34:58

isn't training forever. And then those

35:01

little opportunities. And that's something

35:03

that I love to talk about with,

35:05

athletes, but also our clients is like, Hey, you

35:08

might feel like you're in this grind every

35:10

day. Because you are, but

35:13

from my perspective as your coach,

35:16

you're training, right? You're training.

35:18

Yeah. You might have those little decisions every day, but for us,

35:20

that's just training those big opportunities.

35:23

Those 11 usually it's not 11 for people,

35:25

but every year, there's gonna be about 2 to

35:27

4 big decisions that you make

35:30

that will sway your journey

35:32

one way or another, right? Some of it

35:34

is A new career, having

35:36

a kid, getting married, but also

35:39

some of it is figuring out, how do I get that

35:41

next step of a promotion? How do

35:43

I invest back into myself, both my mental

35:45

and physical health to reach another

35:47

level, right? And that's, what's really

35:49

cool about our position is we

35:51

are a quarterback, we are a coach, we

35:54

are a consultant, but we're the ones that can

35:56

keep you in this path and that track. Again, kudos

35:58

to you to join in this firm or the firm

36:00

and getting involved with the CFP. Now,

36:03

before we let you go and let everyone

36:05

go, what is one thing

36:08

that you want everyone to take from you, your

36:10

journey in order to either

36:13

fulfill their purpose, come work for

36:15

you, or with you, what is one thing that you want

36:17

everyone to take away?

36:19

The main thing that I want People

36:21

listening to Takeaway, don't

36:24

ever quit, it may seem you're

36:26

at the point of maybe no return,

36:28

you don't know which way to go, you

36:30

can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, but

36:33

just keep those feet moving,

36:36

just keep going, because what's for

36:38

you is for you, nobody

36:40

will ever take that away from you. And

36:43

you will reach the promised land.

36:45

Eventually it may be a long,

36:48

dark road, but don't ever give

36:50

up because the guarantee is if you

36:52

give up now, you're never going to make

36:54

it, but you have that opportunity that if you

36:56

keep going, you'll get more than you ever

36:58

could have imagined and really.

37:01

That's all I hope you take away from, speaking

37:03

with me, meeting with me. I want

37:05

you to be a better person and be better off

37:07

that because you had a conversation with

37:09

me or met me. I want to leave you

37:11

better off than the way I found you.

37:14

And that's what I have to say.

37:15

You heard it from the running back. Don't stop your feet. Don't

37:18

stop the feet moving. Where can we find you

37:20

at? People want to reach out to you.

37:22

Yes, I am on Twitter.

37:24

I probably should know what my handles are, but

37:27

don't worry about that. We got you.

37:29

So I am on Twitter. I'm on LinkedIn.

37:31

And if you want to see some other stuff, I'm also on

37:33

Facebook as well.

37:35

Absolutely. And hit us up, chop us up, communicate.

37:37

We love to chat on those social medias as

37:39

well. Again, you heard it from our

37:41

man, Daryl bland, the resident running

37:43

back. Keep your feet moving. This is

37:45

no BS wealth podcast. Come check us out on our

37:47

new website as well. But like we always

37:50

say, just keep grinding. Just

37:52

keep running.

37:54

My

37:54

man pleasure.

37:55

The proceeding program was sponsored by black

37:58

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38:00

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38:02

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38:04

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38:06

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38:09

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38:11

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38:18

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38:20

is available on the Black Mammoth website,

38:23

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38:26

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38:28

for profit or loss. Investment

38:30

strategies such as asset allocation,

38:33

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38:35

do not assure or guarantee better

38:37

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38:39

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38:42

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38:44

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38:46

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38:48

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39:01

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39:06

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39:11

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39:13

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