Finding the best help for your financial freedom journey - Expert Edition Episode 2

Today, we discuss with our expert, Dr. Jay Zigmont, how you can seek help from financial experts and what to expect when you start discussing finance with your financial advisor. We also cover good fundamentals in your finances and how clutter and inaccurate advice on the internet could potentially negatively impact your finances.

Dr. Jay Zigmont’s mission in life is to help people to learn how to live their best life and achieve financial freedom. He is a Certified Financial Planner completing his Education (minimum of a Bachelors Degree), Experience (minimum of 6000 hours), Examination and Ethics. This covers a broad training in the areas of Comprehensive Financial Planning: Financial Planning, Insurance Planning & Risk Management, Investment Planning, Tax Planning, Retirement Planning & Employee Benefits, and Estate Planning.

Dr. Jay Zigmont's site:   https://childfreewealth.com/

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TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:00] Naseema: welcome, welcome, welcome. So on this Tuesday episode, I have the honor to be joined with, Dr. J Sigmond. And we are gonna talk about financial help. When should you look for financial help? And who should you get to help you with your finances?

So welcome back Dr. Sigma, number one. Firstly foremost, welcome back.

[00:00:26] Dr. Jay: Hello, . Hey, I'm glad to be back.

[00:00:29] Naseema: The people need to hear and see you. So let's talk about like people seeking financial help.

And we know that this is something that so many people can benefit from, but there's so many different ways to access financial help. Number one, like even though you can benefit from it doesn't necessarily mean you need help with your finances. Let's walk through like, first of all, who should be looking for someone to help them with their finances?

[00:01:00] Dr. Jay: Well, I'm gonna turn this around on you. I, I warned you to same in advance on this one. All right, so if I'm your patient, do you want me to be on Google first before I come?

[00:01:09] Naseema: Ooh, Dr. Google. Good old Dr. Google. Actually, it's the bane of my existence, especially in labor and delivery where there are so many variables.

And I have never seen one labor or one person who is pregnant look the same. People come to me with all these hypothetical situations that have nothing to do with what's going on with them. And they're super scared because now they've googled something that they think is wrong with them, or they think that they're experts in something because of course they read about it on the Googles. And so it's the vein of my existence to answer your question.

[00:01:52] Dr. Jay: So financial advice is a lot the same. So people go down this Google hole and they come up with an answer, which may work or may not, you know, I call it a recipe problem.

They start mixing recipes and like, when should you reach out to a financial planner advisor? When should I get help? Well, it depends on you. So, I believe everybody has to learn how to improve their finances. Just basics. Gotta learn that. And that in, in the medical example, that's like basics, like taking care of yourself, you know, exercise, eating well, all the stuff we're supposed to do.

But then we go down the hole about, well, you know, is this a mole or I have cancer. And of course Google says you have cancer. Like that's it every time. And it's the same in your finances. Like I get people, well, I've been reading about Roth conversions and what, and I'm like, you don't have a budget and you're in debt up to your ears.

Roth conversion is not your problem right now. Does that make sense?

[00:02:44] Naseema: Yeah, I just, every time I think about this, I think about there's this meme of a guy standing at the bottom of a staircase, and instead of taking the first step , which is like, you know, with finances, like, hey, understanding how much you owe, like understanding just what the whole situation is like.

They're like all they're, this leg is on. Fifth step, and they're like, well, how do I invest in crypto ?

[00:03:10] Dr. Jay: Yep. And, and that, and I get that all the time and, and with financial planners. So, you know, when people reach out to me, it's one of two things. Either like they won the lotto or the world's coming to an edge.

Like it's never anywhere in between. You know, like, I'm gonna retire next week, what do I do? And I'm like, you should have called me a couple years ago. Or, you know, it's the same with the doctor. They call you in, there's a problem. And you're like, Hey, if you had gotten out to me a while ago, I probably could have helped you.

Now it's an emergency. But on the flip side, if we keep it, the medical example, you shouldn't go to the ER to get a script refilled or, you know, have that scratch that you put a, you know, your mom would just put a bandaid over. I mean, it's, it's a balancing act. And I, I, I, I'm saying this as a financial certified financial planner.

You don't all need me. I could probably help most of you, but you can't afford me. So we have to find somewhere in between, you know, let's be real. Getting good help is not cheap, and if it is cheap, it's not good. Like, okay, you're on TikTok and, and Instagram and all. I'm not on all those because I can't give financial advice on TikTok and still be regulated and allow that to happen.

So what makes somebody an expert? And now we're down this Google hole of, you know, or TikTok or whatever land you're in. And there giving be advice. And I think if you're learning, you're growing, you're looking at different advice, good. You know, read some books. Books actually work. That's old school.

Simple Path to Wealth, good place to start. You know, just, just basics and then you can work on the rest. I think the challenge I give people, So we're, we're here, we're actually recording this in December. I don't know when it's gonna air, but that's okay. End of the year, I want you to look back and go, did I make the progress I wanted to make?

If you did, you're probably doing okay, right? That's progress you wanna make. That's not like against, like, I hate these articles. Well, by 40 you have to have certain amount of, like, those are all bs, but you have to be making the progress towards your goals, which means your debt's going down, your net worth is going up.

Those are kind of the basics. If year over year they haven't changed, why do you think it's gonna change next year?

[00:05:29] Naseema: I think that's super interesting. And I like where you said like of how to get started by reading a book. I realized pretty early on that I needed to learn like the basic principles of personal finance on my own, so that.

It was like more of this like teach man to fish kind of philosophy like I wanted to know because I knew how to make money. And I knew that making money wasn't gonna be the answer. Right? And I knew that. I knew how to pay off debt, so I knew it was, that wasn't the answer. I knew it was a combination of some things that I was missing fundamentally that just weren't taught to me.

And so I, when I was going on my journey, sat on a mission to learn as much as possible and learn. I did, because I listened to all of those books. I listened to all the podcasts on two x. And drilled into my head these concepts repetitively until I could answer questions. Like, I remember listening to the Day for Tell, and every time somebody would call, it's like, I already know what he's gonna say.

Mm-hmm. , I already know what the answer is. Like if any, anything that came up, I started to understand the answers, but it was really because. Of number one, like hearing things over and over and memorizing them, and number two, applying them directly in my life. And for me, like that was more important than somebody trying to tell me what to do.

Or doing something for me because to me that SA seemed like a band-aid and a one time fix, but that education that I got in the year and a half where I was just deeply engrossed in those things is invaluable and it's something that somebody nobody can ever take back and absolutely very interesting.

Jane, Dr. Sigma is that This is actually how I learned, like this is after I have my second and master's degree after I was well into my nursing career, is that I learned that the way that I learned personal finance is probably how I should have learned everything because I have D h d beyond when I would listen to personal finance books and personal finance podcast I would listen on two x.

and that was the first time in my life I really understood and can apply concepts really, really fast because it was actually and I don't know where, I think it was like some random tip. One of my friends said, it's like, oh, I listened. I wanna get through a lot of podcasts today. So I listened to it on two X and I realized like that was a tool that worked for me that.

Would've helped me extremely like a lot, a lot, a lot in all my years of schooling, if I would've known. This medium worked so well for me, but that's what put me in position right now because those things I can, I have not unlearned in ways that I've unlearned a whole bunch of things that I've learned in in school, but it positioned me so that I can be an expert.

Right? But like more of a layman, I don't have to be licensed. But those lessons are ingrained in everything that I do because I took the actions and I did the things, and I learned it for myself. So I'm glad that you brought that up as like a first step. And

[00:08:49] Dr. Jay: I'm gonna challenge you because you probably didn't even need to listen to all those that mean the reality check is that most of your finances, your behaviors with finance, If you just like close your credit card and stop using them, that like does half the work for you.

like seriously, that's like budgeting 1 0 1. But I think the challenge with podcast books all that is not to mix recipes. So you, you talk about Ramsey Ramsey's in the, in the No Debt world. I come outta that world too and I was a, you know, I'd actually been a Ramsey preferred coach and done all that. I'm with him.

But if you listen to him and then you listen to Grant Cardone, who's the guy who's like 10 x everything and you need to take loans out for everything and you need to buy. Those two recipes together are going to make a mess. So you have to be careful that the recipe matches you. What I'd rather you do than listen to a whole bunch of different ones is just pick one.

Seriously. They're all like about the same. Now, there's some caveats. So like for example, I work with child-free folks. Most of the stuff out there assumes you have kids. So if you're on the child free side, go look for child. If there's something about you that's special, go look for that, but otherwise, follow the basics and pick one.

I don't care who, like we can fight about the the snowball method or the avalanche method for debt and how, listen, get outta debt. I

[00:10:07] Naseema: don't care how

[00:10:08] Dr. Jay: in the world you do it, it

[00:10:09] Naseema: all works. Yes. Thank you for saying that, because I did, and that's what I did. And I did stick to one thing, but I, it was more or less not, not even like sticking to one like philosophy.

It was sticking to one step at a time. Mm-hmm. and really drilling in on that. Like my, the first thing I had to learn how to do was budget. And until I got really, really, really good at budgeting, I didn't do anything else. And that took a couple of months. Right. And so it was like that. For debt. Yeah, debt, snowball, avalanche, whatever.

It doesn't matter. Just do it. And this is what I find happens when people reach out to me, is that they feel like if they book a one-on-one consultation with me, all their issues will be solved. And I say, No, I don't even want you to meet with me. And I just throw out like some crazy number that I'll never charge them, cuz I don't even do one-on-one consultations, like truth be told, right?

It's like to work with me, it's gonna be like $5,000, but first you have to go through my course and you have to complete it in six weeks and then we can have a conversation. Because I just want people to take the first step on their own to even just understand where they are. And nine times outta 10, 9.9 times outta 10, they won't.

Why do you think that happens?

[00:11:34] Dr. Jay: So so my background, my PhD is in adult learning. So I kind of can get a little too nerdy on this, so I apologize, but it's a motivation. So the, the, the truth with finances is that we are all, we all feel inadequate. A and by the way, we think like earning more money is gonna make us better with finances.

It doesn't, it amplifies it. Okay. It doesn't change your behaviors at all. You just start spending with more zeros on it. You know, the, the somewhere over half of the US live paycheck to paycheck and it doesn't change if you're earning six figures. So I think what's happens is people start with the, just, I wanna keep my head in the sand.

then they're going, well, there's gotta be some magic to get me out, you know? And, and let's, we'll go back. Dave Ramsey. He talks about easy to get into debt, hard to get out, like you just gotta do the work. And that's the hard part. And then they think, you know, oh, a financial person's gonna tell me something.

I don't know. I'll be honest, not much. I'm, you know, I've got some tools, but my tools that I use are more on the behavioral side and helping you change your behaviors than the finance. My budget tool, I can give it away. No big deal. You can learn that, you know, financial planning software, you can do all.

The difference is I actually meet, I do meet one-on-one with my clients, is one of my product. And I meet with 'em every month. And every month they get homework and every month they have to make progress. And now they start blaming Dr. J. Well, Dr. Jay says I can't and okay, fine. If I need to be the one you wanna blame, go right ahead.

You know, but now they start working on it and we start setting goals and like some accountability and we're working on it. That's fine if you can afford it. But here's the thing, if you're, you know, $50,000 in debt and you're living paycheck to paycheck, you probably can't afford a professional to help you out on that.

You know? And, and, and this is where we get into kinda like, okay, I know I need help, but I can't afford it. This is the healthcare problem again. Mm-hmm. , I know I need medical help, but I can't afford it. Well, the problem, if we use the medical example, sometimes it's gonna get better and sometimes it's not and knowing which one that is is not always easy.

Same with your finances. If you go, if you go and call bankruptcy attorney and say, should I go bankrupt? Their answer is yes. It's like asking your dog if he's hungry, just gonna say yes. Like,

[00:13:45] Naseema: yeah, everybody, everybody should do it. ,

[00:13:48] Dr. Jay: that's how we get paid. Let's be real on that. So I think the first step is if you think you need help, find a course, a structure, something you know, you've got your course, I've got a self-directed financial planning process.

Whatever works for you, try it. Now. Mine, and I'll let yours, mine actually include group sessions, which is a good way to, like, if you can get a group of people kind of talking about their finance. It's kinda like group therapy, a little . You know, you have to, hi, I'm Jay, I'm in debt. Like, you know, like, but it's that accountability that can get you there.

And by the way, that's a lot cheaper. To pay for a course or group support than an individual. Does that make sense?

[00:14:30] Naseema: Mm-hmm. . Oh, definitely. I know , I, I price my stuff so that it's almost like a no-brainer to kind of, to, to do the process because it's right there in front of you. And because, So like I, I am a little bit different as far as how I deal with people when you know this studying you know, adult behavior.

I take personal responsibility for things a lot and I I take things personally and people don't complete things, and so coaching one-on-one coaching and like being so hands-on with somebody's finances, I knew was pretty detrimental to me physically and emotionally. And so I try to stay as far apart from it as I can unless I know that somebody is really taking action.

And so this self-directed program that I have, like, which I said is like really, really cheap allows me to do. and still be able to help. And so you just gotta know what works for you on both sides. Like people have to know what works for them, coming and seeking financial advice. But as someone who gives financial advice, I have to know what works for me in order for me to keep on thriving in existing and living in this space.

[00:15:44] Dr. Jay: So I'm gonna, I'm gonna make you feel a little better. I've been tracking it. The big changes. I need people to make. Whatever it is, who cares, doesn't matter what it is. It usually takes about two to three months, and I meet with 'em once a month for an hour, but it takes about two to three months to see the change.

Like, like, we'll talk about it, we'll be on board. They'll have a set of homework, some stuff to read, and I'll get back to next month. And they're like, you didn't do it well, why? Now? A good coach balances between Pat on the back and kicking in the butt. I'm no problem kicking you in the butt. I'm a very direct person.

Like, you know, listen, and I've had a few clients that I've had to say, I'm gonna fire you as a client if you don't do this. And I have no problem doing that. I'm like, I'm not gonna waste your money if you're not gonna make progress. And that's usually when they go, oh, oh. And I'm like, all right, well then stop you.

I dining out. Okay. Seriously, you gotta pay your bills. Yeah. like, so we start doing that. I. As someone is struggling, you just need a light. At the end of the tone, half of what I do is to show you. You, you'll be okay now my way. It might be three or five years before you're okay, but you'll be okay. You'll make it through.

Some people, you know, the ones out my heart goes out to are the people that have some type of disability or medical issue come out and now they're trying to handle the healthcare and medic and finance. Ooh. I don't know how you do that without personal help. Like, seriously,

[00:17:11] Naseema: like you have to have help in those situations.

Like it's so many things to navigate that. Yeah. I feel for those

[00:17:17] Dr. Jay: people too. I'm like, I feel bad charged with 'em, but I'm like, there's no way you're gonna get through this without me helping you, you know, like applying for social security disability in the states and, you know, figure out what, it's just, it's just a nightmare.

The system is broke, so sometimes you need help. So, okay. If you need, if you, if you have, if you're a complex situation, got a bunch of money, or you're just in over your head, you might have to ask for help. So let's go over kind of some of the people that can help you. And we go from like the cheapest to the most expensive, and we'll kind of like be real on that one.

Mm-hmm. . So on the cheaper side, you've got financial coaches. Now I, I did coaching for quite a while. I've done executive coaching, all the career coaching, financial coaching, and all that for over a decade in different ways. Here's the problem with coaching. There's no guarantee of who that coach is or what makes them a coach.

I'm an Instagram and influencer that makes me a coach. Well, I guess technically there's no like bar requirement, so you gotta be very careful on who you're getting. The other part, if you're gonna do coaching, I want you to look and see if there's any group for whatever group you're in that does nonprofit or low fee coaching for you.

They have ones for vets and for moms and for whatever. There's always these groups that specifically handle people, and the nonprofit coaching tends to be on the better choice. There's coaches that will do it for volunteer and help out that, that's where I want you to go. With coaching, you're paying hourly or monthly for some type of package to help you.

The rule is if you're not getting value, you gotta fire him. And I said that with all my clients. If you're not getting value, fire me. I want you to fire me. Expect you to fire me. Now. A coach has no responsibility to you, no fiduciary duty, no privacy there. There is nothing regulating. So it's a little bit of wild, wild west.

but the bonus is it's a way to get somebody cheap to help you out. What do you think about that, sema?

[00:19:09] Naseema: I a hundred percent agree because I'm a coach and and I, I'm in the coaching world and I can definitely attest to, results may vary and you have to find a right fit, but there are some really good people that can help you for little to nothing but.

Have to actually do the work. Number one, . But then you also have to vet, you know, people and understand why and how they're calling themselves a financial coach. And actually at the end of the day, what you're being charged. Yeah.

[00:19:47] Dr. Jay: Yeah. And, and just. Be aware. It's by completely. I'm not saying good, bad, I'm just saying by beware, you get what you pay for.

Now, next one, a little more expensive, but for a different path is the financial therapist. Now this is a little bit on a different path, so. Great examples of this. A if you have any diagnosable issue that you need to have addressed, that's a therapist, not a coach. Okay. And, and you know what that is? If you have other issues that come together, cuz by the way, finance just puts everything like into like a squish and it just, Makes a mess.

So that's part of where it is. The other part of it is a lot of it is your background, where you came from. Trauma issues, you may need to address those before you can address the finance numbers of it. The financial therapist digs in on that. Sometimes also with couples, you may have a financial therapist or counselor because the couple needs some serious work.

Some of the examples of this, like financial in. It's called financial cheating, in case you missed that term. You know, like, hey, I, I went out and gambled off a hundred thousand dollars, right. You know, didn't claim my IRS taxes for years, or, you know, I'm spending it on my, you know, side, whatever. You know, like, it's just kinda like that's the stuff Yana a therapist for and.

I mean, the way I tend to look, it's, it's not right, is kind of if more of your background's holding you back, definitely need a therapist. You know, like, you know, I, it was the way I was raised. I was, if you, if you're telling me all that, you probably have to get over those issues first. Do you follow me on that?

[00:21:21] Naseema: A hundred percent. And I think sometimes we don't understand it until we hear it from somebody else. So I have this group of financial coaches and people just in the personal finance space that we have like a. Twitter, talk of Twitter space with, and just so happened this last Monday, we were talking about financial traumas basically, and pretty much everybody tolds a story that was relatable and something that has held them back in the past or continues to hold them back.

And I just say for me and my experience and the people that I work. , 90% of the people need a financial therapist because there are traumas or there are past behaviors that you have learned about money, and especially in my community. And I, I feel like it's just, you know, a survival mechanism. Like not to expect so much.

Not to like the, like the runs a whole gamut of things that are holding people back financially. Therapy is probably the first step that you need to take in order to heal those things. Because I believe you said it in the last podcast episode, but it's like 80% behavioral, right? Finances are 80% behavioral, and so that is like the biggest hurdle to tackle.

And so , somebody will just need to start there.

[00:22:43] Dr. Jay: Yeah. The way I look at it is, across your life you need three people in your life. You need someone to look back, someone to look up, and someone to look forward. And the therapist. May help you with the back, by the way? Not always, but just kind of go with it.

The UP tends to be kind of that more spiritual kind of where's my fit in the world? Sometimes it's religious, you know, whatever that means for you and the forward is a financial planner. You know, somebody, a planning side of going, all right, where are we going? My work is, I go forward, like, I acknowledge you're back.

I'm like, yep, that's good. That's where you've been. You know, we'll put, we'll steal from Dave Ramsey again. He talks about. That was stupid. You pay your stupid tax and move forward. Like, just let, let's just move forward. And if you can, that's great, but if you need to fix the stuff in the, in the past, you need to fix that stuff first.

And that's that balancing act of kind of throughout your life, you're gonna need one of those three. So let's talk about the more expensive one and the, the one looking forward, the financial planner. Now I wanna, I'm gonna throw in a whole bunch of terms and I, I'm gonna try to define 'em all. The first one is, if you see somebody that's a financial advisor, Once again, not a regulated term, just like financial coach.

So you can be an insurance salesman selling life insurance and say you're a financial advisor. And by the way, if you ask them you have a problem, you know what their answer's gonna be. Life insurance, of course.

[00:23:59] Naseema: Yes. Yes. That's you make the money on whole life. IOLs, all those fabulous things. It's that

hammer

[00:24:08] Dr. Jay: nail routine, you know,

So what financial advisor, not what you're looking for. Okay. So the terms, some of the terms you're looking for. So Certified Financial Planner is the certification for people that do financial planning. You know, it's you, you gotta have a bachelor's degree, you take extra courses, 6,000 hours of experience, of tests and ethics, and you gotta register.

And that's what that is. You know, it's, it's like when somebody says, oh, I do medical stuff. You're like, yeah, what's your certification? You know what? Financial advisor is not a certification, it's just a business card. You know, so you look for a certified financial planner or cfp, you'll see those, those letters.

But then even in that world of CFPs, there's a whole lot of differences. So the first thing I want you to look for actually, sorry. With the cfp, the bonus is they're a fiduciary. And fiduciary means they have to put your financial interest ahead of their own. That's important. Remember that life insurance salesperson, they're not a fiduciary.

They can sell you whatever you they want. So fiduciary. The next is this debate, and you'll see these terms. And by the way, I'm giving you the terms. Cause then when you Google, you'll know what to find. You'll see fee only or fee based. Now that looks like one word different, and it's a whole huge word. Fee based means they're getting commissioned to sell you stuff and maybe you're paying them.

Now here's the problem. That's like going to a doctor who gets paid to give you a. Nah. Could be a good doc. Might not be a good idea. Like I, people go, well, but it's free to me if it's free to you. You are the product. Mm-hmm. . Okay? Yeah. They're selling you something to make money, so stick away from fee, fee based.

Now, by the way, you'll probably get some hate mail on this for me saying that, but go for it. Tough skin. So I push people towards feel. Which means you pay a fee for them to to help you, and nobody else pays 'em. That's kinda like what I want. Like I want them to have my best interest and in order for that I need to pay them.

Does that make

[00:26:17] Naseema: sense so far? A hundred percent. A hundred percent. All right. One thing I do wanna ask though, to clarify, so fiduciary actually, Somebody can be a fiduciary in one area, right. And not a fiduciary in another area. I've heard that phrase. Oh see, can you

[00:26:35] Dr. Jay: explain that now? Hold on. You opened the can of worms.

Sorry. I know

[00:26:40] Naseema: was that's why I'm trying to wait. Cause I wanted you to get through your terms first. We Do you wanna come back to that?

[00:26:46] Dr. Jay: Yeah, let come back to that one. Let's come back. Come back. Let's do that as a follow up. Okay. Alright, so here's the thing. Fee only, there's lots of ways to get fees. So the historic way, and what you'll see is it's called an A U M fee Assets under Management.

This is when they take over your investments, do it for you, and they charge you 1%, one and a half, whatever percentage of your assets every year. Good and bad. Good is it comes outta your assets. The bad is it comes outta your assets like you know you're paying it somewhere. Now that is one option. The other option, You'll see, and by the way, that goes along with investment management where they take it over for you.

The other option, and this happens to be what I do, so I'm biased, so go with it, is what is new in the world. It's called advice only, where they teach you to do it and you do it yourself. That's what I believe is the better answer. So the way I look at it is I guide people to do it. I don't do it for 'em, and I charge an hourly or a retainer basis on monthly, which works out about the same as an hourly.

It's the same concept. And they pay me outta their checking account or whatever, and just whatever their assets are, that's theirs. Because here's the difference. I have clients, so I, I work with child three folks and many of them don't care about how much money they have at the end. So if I had, if I was somebody that's charging for assets and percentage, I'd actually have some issues because I'd wanted to grow and they're wanting to spend.

Just kind of throwing that out there. So there's actually, when you Google, there's a advice only network, which has a whole bunch of advice. Only planners, and by the way, you can find a financial planner online, meet via Zoom. You don't have to find one next door like it used to be. You had to go to the local office.

Nobody does those meetings anymore. Well, people do, but it's so little like it's a generational thing. Now Zoom works. so you can find advice. Only you pay for it. So like if you're having trouble, you could buy like a couple hours or a couple months with an advice only planner, get things in place, then go peace, I'm out and, and keep working on your own.

Mm-hmm. , that's. A better solution for you to find that balance? What do you think?

[00:28:57] Naseema: I love it, . You know, I'm like all about it. But the thing is, is that there's levels like, like we like to say, , we like to say it's levels to this, right? Because you might not be able to pay for that and sometimes you are so lured into.

The like front loaded things where, you know, your investments are, and I know that this is something that Dave Ramsey does, which some people find, find this controversial. Mm-hmm. is that a lot of his financial advisors will put you into things where they get paid. Right when the product is invested. And so you don't use, you don't get the ROI right away, you get the roi.

I, over time, like it's not the worst thing in the world, but they're, you're gonna pay them some kind of way, but because it doesn't necessarily come directly outta your checking account, you don't feel it as much. And so it's a psychological thing. But I, I just always caution people. Be careful what you're giving up when you think you're getting something for free.

[00:30:03] Dr. Jay: Yep. So those are fee-based. Mm-hmm. . So go back to his terminology and I pulled about somebody's portfolio. They had been with a fee-based advisor and this and the other. I'm gonna leave names out of it because I don't wanna shame 'em, but the funds they were in, it was almost a 4% fee by the time you had the intro and then per year.

Two and a half on the way in one for the year and something else, like there was an extra fee. And I'm like, you, you gotta make up 4% of fee

[00:30:31] Naseema: before you can even make a penny. But I don't think people understand what that means in like real numbers. Like can we give like a, I know it's like on the fly, but like a $10,000 investment example.

Like if you are paying 4% fees, like.

[00:30:50] Dr. Jay: So, lemme, lemme make it even simpler for you. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . So on average, depending on which book you wanna follow stock market to return seven to 10%. That's kind of like the generic number. Yeah. 4% fees means you're giving up half of your growth every year for the honor of having it.

don't even worry about the number. You're like giving up half of your money. Just to

[00:31:10] Naseema: say you have that fund, so now you're like in the high yield savings account territory, you might as well

[00:31:16] Dr. Jay: high yield. I just saw the other day, I high yield had 4% on it. I'm like, yes, . And there's no fees, man. No, seriously.

So, but what, by the way, so I do this with everybody. I, I go through and to give you an idea of the funds I want people in, they call it somewhere around four to eight basis points, which is eight tenths of 1%. Like we're like way percentages of percentage. Versus two, three, 4%, which doesn't sound like much, but it compounds.

This is that compound interest thing. And every year you, you're paying and on and on and on and on. By the way, that's why they sell life insurance and annuities cause they make money on it every year. I mean, that's the reality check. You're always paying the bill. Yep. All right. You're get, you're paying somehow.

I'm telling you that right now, you're not getting it for. You know, I, I and most other financial planners do an intro meeting for free. You get one hour of my time for free. You want a minute past that you're paying. I'm just, I'm not trying to be rude about it, but like, the, the one hour is cuz people don't know what I do and, you know, I gotta do the intro and see if I can help you.

But then the Clark's

[00:32:26] Naseema: ticket, you gotta pay somewhere. But Dr. Sigma, why should people be paying if they're broke?

[00:32:32] Dr. Jay: Well, the, the, this goes back to if you're broke this year and you change nothing, you'll be broke.

[00:32:39] Naseema: Keep that same energy. Okay. ,

[00:32:44] Dr. Jay: you know, it, it's one of those, those balancing act, I mean, I just, the hard part is when I talk to people, I do a lot of intro meetings, just cause I, I like helping people and I get about halfway through, I know whether they can afford me or not. Whether or not, like, there are many times I'll talk to people in the intro and I won't even pitch 'em.

I'm like, Nope, we're done at the end of this, you know, you can't afford. Regular package. I'll send myself direct package, but I'm doing it just to help 'em. And we'll run over a budget. We'll do numbers, we'll work out, you know, like there'll be these, I call 'em blinking red lights, you know, like where, oh my God, we gotta stop and fix this right this second, and we'll do all that.

And what happens is a lot of people need that hand up and saying, Hey, you know, let me just push you just a little bit and see progress. Because the truth is they haven't made any progress in. Or two years or three years, or it's going net, you know, downhill. Like for example, if you live in paycheck to paycheck and now we're in a high inflation world, now your debt's going up.

Mm-hmm. . So I don't know. I think the hard part is you gotta pay for it. Something. Now, you asked me a question before and I promise I'd get back to it on this fiduciary versus something else. So there is, brokers can actually file something called a best interest standard. Which this is kind of weird. And by the way, I'm not the expert on it cuz I've never followed that standard.

But the effective is, I think this is in your best interest. It's different than saying, a fiduciary says, this is your, you know, this is you. Primarily, I have to follow your law. So like, I'm like, I'm selling you this product. Yeah. This is in your best interest to buy a life insurance policy that you don't really need

You know, like that's kind of, it's like a, if you could justify it in your head, Now the problem is, what happens is you, you're looking for a registered investment advisory firm, r i a, which by the way does not mean they're special, it just means they're registered with the state or s e c. And an RIA has to file a fiduciary.

Somebody can be an RA and a broker at the same time, and they can like switch hats in the middle of a conversation. I don't know how this works. Like, like seriously, I, I,

[00:34:49] Naseema: yeah. I, I just don't know. It's my numbing. It's like best to avoid

[00:34:53] Dr. Jay: and I'm in the, I'm in the world and I, I just, I read all the litera and I'm like, I don't know how you do that.

Because let's very out how you pay people, changes their, what they recommend or what they wanna do, or. You know, if, if I'm getting 2% to sell the such and such product, I'm gonna sell you that product. Yeah. That's kind of that balancing act. And, and by the way, investing, you can learn on your own, not too hard.

Tax planning, much harder. Big financial planning, estate planning, all the big picture. Am I ready to retire? Those are the harder questions, you know, so you can, I, I talk about the book, simple Path of Wealth. It's. 90% of the stuff you need in there. Like, and if you follow it, you're, you're, you're in a good place.

You know, I'm, I'm much more, if you're getting outta debt, go to Ramsey, get the Total Money Makeover and get outta debt, then go to Simple Path to Wealth. Like seriously, like, you know, that, that's just my shift. But I think what happens is if you're overwhelmed, it's based on how you learn. So you talked about you do best in podcasts at two x.

Cool. If you're one of those people you know, you can't learn on your own, well then you gotta call somebody and pay. Like seriously, you're listening to this podcast that, so I have a video in my course that says, when should I ask for financial? And I'm like, if you're watching this video, the answer is ask for help.

[00:36:19] Naseema: facts. Period. Period. .

[00:36:22] Dr. Jay: I got one that says, when should you ask for a lawyer? If you're watching this video, go to a lawyer like . Yes. You know, you know just, well as I do where you're at. I think the hard part is you have to make an investment. And I'll tell you, I had, I had somebody Who I didn't think could really afford me, but she, she was struggling, had a good mission, had a good, why don't you wanna go but wanna get, she's like, I'll think about extra shifts at Uber and then come pay for you.

And I was like, now that's somebody I wanna work with. Like, seriously, you're willing to put in an extra hour. By the way, most people, so I, I charge $500 a month for my one-on-one. They get together for an hour and they do work offline for an hour and they get access to my assistance. All this, get a whole bunch stuff.

But here's the thing, I tell 'em, if you got get 500 of value fire. people don't, cuz I can find them $500 of value. Re relatively simply, in most cases. Not always, but most cases. And I can, the hard part is the financial planning stuff that I actually help people most with is preventing them from doing stupid stuff.

And there's no way I can put a dollar sign on that. Mm-hmm. , that's your, Hey, I'm in debt and I wanna buy crypto. You know, like, no. The rule for investing is you only invest in things you understand and let's just leave it there. You

[00:37:38] Naseema: is or the thing, I think the things that your kids can explain to you.

That's how I, that's how I do. Yeah. Like if your kids can't tell you what it does and how it works, probably shouldn't invest in it.

[00:37:48] Dr. Jay: Yeah. It's like, it's like a dumb one. I, I worry about people getting on disability insurance, you know, actually getting a policy and if you never use it, good. If you use it, you're gonna love me for having to get on that policy.

Now, by the way, I recommend those palsy and I make nothing for it. I'm just watching out for people. That's the difference.

[00:38:06] Naseema: Yep. Yep. All right. Let's summarize this for the people. One sentence, who needs financial help

[00:38:14] Dr. Jay: when you are not making the progress towards your goals, you wanna make, ask for help.

[00:38:19] Naseema: And what level of help should people seek?

[00:38:24] Dr. Jay: Whatever you can afford. ,

[00:38:25] Naseema: that's a separate, basically, yes.

[00:38:28] Dr. Jay: I mean, is that what you pay for? Yes. I mean that, that is the reality check.

[00:38:33] Naseema: But sometimes I really feel like people wanna jump to like, high level financial coaching or financial advising and don't understand the fee structure.

So I think that we did a good job, a good job of covering that because sometimes paying a lot of money doesn't necessarily equate better help. And so, yes, I, I'm

[00:38:52] Dr. Jay: with you. That's why I encourage advice only, fee only cuz you know you're paying for their hourly, whether you come to me with a negative. Or tens of millions, you get charged the same price.

Right? Because my hour, my time, my skill is what you're paying for, right? You shouldn't have to pay extra because you have an extra zero on it

[00:39:12] Naseema: now, which some companies do charge because it's gonna be buy how much money you have in your portfolio, right? So, and

[00:39:19] Dr. Jay: also so while we're there, you don't need to go to a giant name and be like, oh, I go to so-and-so, and that's the cool one.

Seriously , you can find somebody. And what I encourage people is most financial planners focus on a niche. So mine is to be child free, find somebody that serves people like you, whatever that means. There's one just for nurses. There's one for moms, one of my colleagues does a sandwich cherish. And taking care of parents and your family, your kids at the same time.

Like there's, there's people that specialize in you. Go to that. Yep.

[00:39:52] Naseema: And then explain to people how your financial services are structured.

[00:39:57] Dr. Jay: Yeah, so I, it is funny, you know, like, almost set this up. No, , I have a self-directed product, 50 bucks a month and you learn it on your own. And we have, we have group sessions that we meet regularly.

I mean that, that's kind of deal. A hundred videos, 15 courses, does assessments and financial planning software, all the fi, fun tech stuff. By the way, that's made for most people in the US it's actually priced for the median income of the us. You, you spend 50 bucks a month on your streaming services. You can spend 50 bucks a month on learning how finances preach.

Mm-hmm. , then one-on-one or in the, you know, my retainer month, 500 bucks a month. And by the way, if you go, wow, that's crazy expensive. Well, that's it for people making six figures. Okay. Seriously. I mean, like if you're making 50

[00:40:41] Naseema: a year, but it's not. But it's not, I think people just haven't priced out services and understand.

So when you told me, Dr. Sigma, how much you charge, I was like, you are the bomb.com because for what you are doing, like I know how much other people charged that aren't bringing half the value. So I really feel. It's very reasonable what people, if you don't know, you don't know. So now you know.

[00:41:01] Dr. Jay: Yeah, and, and I think the difference is it's transparent.

Mm-hmm. , you know, so there's a transparency movement in financial advisors. You should know what you're getting, how many hours or what work or whatever it is, versus you pay me a percentage and I will call you once a year, like,

[00:41:19] Naseema: I'm all about a hundred percent transparency in all things, cuz I, I'm the person that's gonna tell you how much I get paid per hour every day down to the minute how much I'm paying taxes.

Because n not because I'm trying to stunt, but because I need you to start talking like that and understanding that because the more you understand where your money is coming from and what it's doing for you and what it isn't doing for you, the better you can do financially. And that's the same thing with products and services that you buy.

You need to understand the true cost of what you're buying now and in the.

[00:41:48] Dr. Jay: Absolutely. And and maybe you can throw a link to it. I actually just started with somebody. Oh, the couple we're actually filming their financial planning process. You can actually see what it's like. Talk about transparency, like actually go through it and deal with it and all that.

And what happens is you find out they're normal.

[00:42:06] Naseema: Like you, they struggl just like you. Just like you. Seriously. Everybody has some issues and even, you know, people in the finance space aren't exempt to this. So I am gonna throw that link in the show notes, but we are gonna be doing something special here with Dr.

Sigma. if you are willing to come on the podcast and, you know, share your story. And you know, Dr. Zigman has all the legal documents and all of that stuff. But we, he's gonna be offering financial advice for one of our listeners. So break that down, Dr. Zigman, cuz you can explain a little bit all. So

[00:42:41] Dr. Jay: here's the deal on this.

I'm gonna give you what I give my clients for free, but you gotta record it. You gotta share it with everybody. Yep. And, and Thema is gonna be there as my devil or angel on the shoulders. I'm not sure which one of that is, but depends on the day exactly. But we will actually take you through the whole financial process and we're gonna take one of, one of the people who are from the Financial Intentional Podcast and do it now, by the way.

You go, well, do I have enough money for it? Whatever you are, that's, you know, it is what it is. Like, seriously, I got people that are struggling. I got people a lot of money. I got people who let it make. The whole, the whole downside is you gotta be willing to share. Yeah. And that, that's really like, oh, I can't talk about my money.

I swear people wanna talk about their sex life, wanting their money. Like, you know, they'll publicly carry that on a podcast . But yeah. How much did I pay for groceries? Oh, you know, like I get people, oh, well I spent this amount on Amazon. I'm like, I spent more than that. Okay. Seriously, you, you don't have to

[00:43:32] Naseema: hide that.

Like, it's no shaming. It's no shaming. It's really about true, getting true help. The one you need it, but this is a way that you can do it for free 99. So I would take advantage of it if I were you.

[00:43:46] Dr. Jay: and we're only taking one couple or one person on this and we're gonna let Nasima pick who that is cuz I don't wanna have to pick

[00:43:51] Naseema: So , I'm wanna pick cause I'm gonna pick somebody good

And now I'm just like, I'm gonna pick somebody that really, really needs the help and that is really willing to do the work. Because we want this to be impactful. The benefit to this is that it's gonna help so many other people. And so that's why Dr. Sigma generously offered this. And I want you to know that this is not for us.

This is for you guys, not just the person getting help, but for all of the listeners. And so I'm super excited to find that person. So we're gonna be looking in the next couple of weeks. Episode is going to air. This episode is airing December 13th. So we'll look through the month of December, so into the new year.

We should have our person, our couple.

[00:44:38] Dr. Jay: Start a new year on the right

[00:44:40] Naseema: foot? Yes. Yes, yes. All right, Dr. Zeon, this has been an incredible episode. I hope people have some incredible takeaways. I know I do like like every two minutes I was like, this is a clip I need to highlight. This is about to be a bombass reel.

So , I appreciate you being here, and of course you're gonna be back because you're one of our in-house experts.

[00:45:03] Dr. Jay: Absolutely. I don't know what a bombass reel is, but I'm good with it. . ,

[00:45:08] Naseema: you're gonna be an influencer before you know it. Dr. Zon, I'm gonna make

[00:45:12] Dr. Jay: sure of it. I have a website that is good enough. I am not doing a TikTok dance or any of that, so I

[00:45:18] Naseema: we're gonna be, we're gonna be twerking.

Before this is over.

[00:45:22] Dr. Jay: Oh boy. I guarantee it. . There's some things you don't wanna see. .

[00:45:26] Naseema: Oh, it'll make for a good, a good TikTok, Felipe. Anyway. Thank you Dr. Zig. We will see you very soon.

Hey there I’m Naseema

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