This Nurse is the True Example of FIRE!!! Self Made Millionaire at 37! - Episode 31 (Classic Episode)
In today's episode, we are joined by Paul Njoku, who is a retired nurse, dual licensed insurance agent and financial educator. Before his career in finance he specialized in the care and management of stroke patients in his former career as a nurse executive.
Paul's friend introduced them to concepts of financial literacy and wealth-building strategies, which resonated with their experiences. Paul emphasizes the importance of financial education and understanding the game of money, highlighting how the middle class and wealthy approach money differently. He discusses the significance of control and leverage in wealth creation and how the middle class often lacks control while the wealthy utilize leverage to their advantage.
Paul’s passion for financial education and literacy around leveraging various tax codes to provide individuals protection for both their life and money is largely in part due to the huge need for this form of education within his immediate community. He is passionate about educating his fellow nurses who would like to become financially free. He has shown that it can be done by becoming a self made millionaire at the age of 37 years old.
—-
Please join me here, and follow me on social media, Instagram, and Facebook.
Need help getting started on your path to financial freedom? Start Here
Join the Financially Intentional Community
Oh and please subscribe and leave a review on whatever app you're using to stream this podcast.
Get my book Smart Money
Subscribe & Review
Love this episode? Please subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform.
TRANSCRIPT:
[00:00:00] Naseema: All right. Nurses on fire. You guys are in for a treat because we have Paul KU of Team Elite Leadership Development here. What's up Paul?
[00:00:14] Paul: Naima, how you doing? I'm glad to be on the call with you.
[00:00:18] Naseema: I'm doing well. I'm doing well, and I'm just blown away with what you and your wife have accomplished in a relatively short amount of time.
But before we dive into all your incredible successes, I wanna talk about your nursing origin story. How did you become a nurse?
[00:00:36] Paul: I'm glad you asked Nasima. I became from a young child growing up in Africa. I've always wanted to be going to anything medical. One of my best friend growing up in Africa his mom was a nurse.
The dad was a medical doctor. So growing up in Africa my dream was to become a medical doctor. But then I had the opportunity to come to us, a freshman in college. I was already in a me soup school. I was already going on my track, on my way to becoming a doc. And then I had the opportunity to come to us as an international student.
And then what I realized in US is in Nigeria where I grew up in Texas, six years to become a medical doctor. So four years of med school, two years of residence, you are done. And then in US it takes about a hundred years to become a medical doctor. So I quickly realized that I don't have a hundred years to go to study for school, so I wanted to do something that I could get in and get out.
Nursing, what, what makes sense at that particular point? And then I graduated from Chico State. Any wildcat in the house? So I was at Chico State, 2009 graduates, and then got my BSM from there. And then I went into nursing. Nursing was a beautiful career. I did it for 10 years. Pretty much any area that you could think in nursing.
Pq, nicu or OBGYN area. But other than that, anything you could think of in us and I didn't I was a trauma nurse starting now. I was an emergency room nurse. I did icu, I did oncology, I did massage. Pretty much. And because I was one of those people a year into it, I would get bored. Then I'll go, what's the next challenge?
And six months into it, I would get bored. And then some of the hospitals that I used to work, they, some of the managers, they used to like me, but they used to, they hate me too because they would come in, train me, and then off I go, and I want a new challenge. But I did for me,
That you could come in and move from one different department and and then I did that up until thousand and thousand and 18. 2018. A friend of mine, basically shares some ideas with me because at that particular time, 2018, we were in a position, my wife and I what was going on in the ward.
New president coming in, the stock market all over the place. We had some money invested with financial advisors. I mean, a lot of things that could, I guess it's a Moffits law. Anything that could go wrong went wrong. But looking back to that was also a blessing. You know how, like they said, sometimes through adversity in an adversity you can always find a blessing.
I think that was what happened to us because if 2018 didn't happen, my wife and I will not be here talking to you today. So it was, we took an adversity that happened to us, from us, all these crazy things that happened with our 401k 4 0 3 B Mutual fund. We basically decided, you know what we needed to basically take ownership of our life.
To understand what we were doing with finance and all that, and then, that's why we're here today. Yeah.
[00:03:39] Naseema: Wow. Wow, wow. That's an incredible story. But that was, that's a great transition because in 2018 you said Murphy saw everything fell apart for you guys financially. What happened for you to start rebuilding?
Like what did, what opportunity did your friend present to you?
[00:03:57] Paul: 2018 when I met my friend basically some of the things like you hear. I mean, let's be, you hear rich people, oh, they do this. Wealthy people, where would they do this? But it's like you hear that stuff, but nobody really ever sits down with you and tell you, okay, how come they don't pay more taxes than most of us do?
How come they pay less? Rich people, they leverage their money. They make their money work for them. What exactly does that mean? Such a cliche I wanna make my money work for me. Everybody will wanna make their money work for them. That, if that kinda makes sense. Rich people they believe in 10 99 income.
What does that mean? So saw these things that we hear, but nobody really explained it to you. But you will hear on TV or you will hear people say it and then, I think the Chris was a blessing to it. The guy, the guy that really, he was a blessing because some of the things that we've been hearing, he was the one that actually said that.
As I said, Paul, I've been in this country for too long. I don't care what anybody tells you. At some point you gotta understand. That the game, that win, that means it is an entrepreneurship. I don't care what you do, as long as you clock in and clock out for someone, you might be able to do that to fund their dreams.
But if you are looking for freedom, you gotta be able to think about other things that most people are not thinking about. So he was the one that kind of started having the conversation and I'm like, okay, I've been thinking about these things, but now actually have someone that is basically, we are speaking the same language.
Just being around, you know how like sometimes you meet people that make you better, right? You think start thinking different. That was exactly for us. My wife and I, Chris half Filipino, by the way, half Chinese, right? So that was kinda what that did to us. And then basically he is Paul do you know that there are things you could do there that puts you in a position where you don't lose money?
Because guess what? We just went through that. So I was open. I'm like, wait a minute. There's a way that you could actually save money. And you don't lose it. He is yeah. I'm like, now you're talking to me, speaking my language. Do you know there are things out there that you could do where you pay little to no taxes?
He's have you heard about what the top 1% in America do with their money? And I'm looking at him, top 1%. What is that? So as he begin to elaborate, some of the things he was saying was resonating with me because we've done it the traditional way and we know the traditional way is not gonna work. So some of the information that he was sharing, really it was almost like, not that I wanted to be a consumer of some of the things he was sharing.
I told my mom, I'm like, honey, this is what we need to do because here's the thing. I have an MBA degree from San Francisco State. My wife have an mba, a degree from from Mississippi. My wife is from Mississippi. But what we realize is, is one thing to be education, which is your booksmart. I was a damn good nurse.
I, like I said, I pretty much every area you could take in nursing, ICU U emergency room, I could tell you scenario disaster, what we need to do sometime during Covid. I'm the one telling the doctor we need to do, so I was good in that. But here's the thing though, I was book smart, but no School in America teaches you financial education.
It is wanting to be book smart, but it's also another thing to be financially literate. Paul and Stephanie, Prior to thousand 18, we educated people, but yet also financially are listening to me on this. How can that. Think about it. Most of us went to nursing school. We educated, did they ever teach you during your nursing school, Hey, this is how you manage money.
Hey, this is what you do. They don't do that, right? They give you the degree to go build other people's dreams. So I think for us, what this Chris did for us was for first time somebody actually sat down with us. Gave us the basis. We cannot be playing a money rule. Most of us are playing money rule, but we don't understand the game.
Imagine me coming from Africa, where we call it football. Football in Africa means different thing. Football in America means different thing. Football in Africa is soccer, football in America. You throw it with your hand. Can you imagine me going, coming to America and I'm trying to play football with my legs?
What do you think I'll be successful doing that? Or can you imagine going from America to Africa to go play football with your hand? They'll be looking at you like you're crazy. Some of us we're trying to play this money game or 401k four three B retirement debt savings, but we have no clue how to play the game.
Why nobody have us. Believe it or not, I know I use that analogy, but believe it or not, what I just said right here, if you catch it, you can understand that. The point is you can do it on your own. Somebody have to sit, explain to you how some of these things works. That makes sense.
[00:08:50] Naseema: Yeah, it totally makes sense.
And you hit the nail right on the head by saying, financial literacy isn't something that's taught to us. It's not it's not extremely challenging, it's just something that we just don't know whether that's intentional or not. I have my thoughts about that, but, You said something interesting earlier about like how we think about money, like middle class people versus rich people with the wealthy people.
You wanna reiterate that cuz I think that drives that point home.
[00:09:20] Paul: Absolutely. Absolutely. So for the middle class which by the way, that's where we were. My wife and I up until three 2018, we were, I was a registered nurse. My wife was a registered nurse. I did pretty much best bedside nursing and then charge nurse.
My wife, pretty much, she did Kaiser nursing. I would let her tell her story. Remember, we might need to have another podcast she would get into other with you, Seema. But the point is, middle class, our, our idea of is, I gotta go pick up. Over time, when we think of money of making money, we think the harder you work, then the more money you will make.
That's how I used to think about money when I was a registered nurse. A record, I don't know, maybe some of you nurses on this scope probably did this to tell you how crazy I was when it comes to workaholic, one time in my nursing career, I did a 16 hour shift, 40 days in a row, 40 days in a row. But looking back now, what was the point of that?
I made money, but how much did the uncle, everybody on this call, we all have the fifth, right? Uncle, right? I, the same uncle that I have, that's the same uncle that the same I have and all these thousands people on the call, we all have that uncle that we all love. Uncle son, but Uncle Sam, truth than I have for that money.
When I is oh, great job, Paul, where I keep doing it. But what am I trying to say though? Middle class, our understanding of money is very limited. Most of us, where do we save money? 401k 4 0 3 B Company pensions, money in the bank. But you see none of those things that I just mentioned will make you wealthy.
None of those things that I just mentioned. 401k, 4 0 3 B, pension plan, savings account, none of those things will make you wealthy. Why? Control middle class are trying to save money where they don't have control. Wealthy people are trying to save money where they have control. Think about it. Whoever have control of did not.
I don't care what it is that you do in life. If you have control, you'll have a better chance of winning. Cause then that means control means you can, so to speak, you are like the gps, like you can dictate and decide which direction. Oh, there's a hard currents. I don't wanna deal with that. Wave. Let's veer this way.
Oh, if I go this way, it's gonna crash. Let's veer that way. Versus somebody that doesn't have a control. Then if a current is going, you're gonna go right into it. And then that's why a lot of middle class, that's one. So that's one plan. Control. Another issue with middle class and also the top 1% is leverage.
The wealthy people understand the power of leverage. I'll tell people, the wealthy people, their language is leveraged, right? Leverage, meaning they use what they have to get what they want. They use what they have to get what they want. You want to get this from me? If you give me this, then I will give you this.
Let's look at what I mean by that. Look, think of the banks, for example. Wealthy people do not put a lot of money in the bank. They use the banks like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, US Bank. Those banks don't use them as a leverage Bank of America. They will go to them and ask them for millions of dollars or billions of dollars.
Bank of America will ask them, pay 5%. They will borrow the money from the bank, quadruple that money, give the bank money. The middle class. On the other hand, the bank uses the middle class as a leverage. So the middle class, everything is, let's go to the bank, everything. But when we go to the bank, we are going to the bank to ask for help.
We are not going to the bank to say the bank, you give us this or we give you this. That's what, when I say leverage, that's what I mean, and that's why you would see a lot of middle class. They're saving money for retirement or they get a lot of money? Oh, how much do you have in your savings? A hundred thousand, 200,000.
I can guarantee you right now, average millionaires or average billionaires do not have more than 10 or $15,000 sitting in their bank account. Most of them do not even have the savings account. You know why? Why would they allow the bank to use their money and make all this money and then turn around and give them less than 1% of their money?
Middle class, on the other hand, believe that, oh, everything is the bank, and that's why the bank deceives us by calling it savings account. But another name for savings account is lending accounts. The Bank of America, west Fargo, are not relying on you to put that money there. They'll be like, Hey, the money's sitting there.
What they're doing is they're turning around and using that money in your savings account to look for business owners like us. And then, Hey Paul, Hey Warren Buffet. Hey, bill gets we Do you need loan? And then they will use their money and give loan to all these billionaires and millionaires and then charge them 10, 15% on the loan.
And then they give you 0.1%. What I just explained there. If he understand that now I'm not advocating people shouldn't have savings account. That's not what I'm saying. But what I'm saying is we need to be smarter about what we do with our money and the vehicles that we are using to grow our money.
It, it is one thing to make the money, but it's another thing to leverage your money. Meaning how do you want to grow your money? How do you grow in it? So that's really key. Most people can make it, but most people don't even know how to grow it. And oftentimes most people don't know how to keep it so those are really things that, we try to educate people to get them to understand, it's all about moving to the next level. So
[00:15:06] Naseema: hopefully that I appreciate. Yeah, it definitely does. And I know that you are bridging the gap to, for financial literacy, one family at a time.
Absolutely. Absolutely. And, and that's your model that you that your business has run off of. But I wanna know, what were those things that you put into place after your friend introduced you to these concepts that were also foreign to you and are foreign to most people? What were there, those concepts and how did you then use that to actually be able to, both you and your wife retire early?
[00:15:43] Paul: Absolutely. So some of the concept that my friend introduced us to was really some things like compound interest when we had, I didn't know what it meant. I remember taking compound re and physics. I've always been a nerd, but I didn't really understand what it met. I'm like, I it is like comp brother ban Einstein.
Speaking of Ban Einstein, his birthday was two days ago. One of the smartest scientists to ever live. He was a German scientist. He basically came up with the algorithm that talks about how compound interest, simple interest. Basically his whole thing is the idea of compound interest is how soon do you want your money to double for you?
Never heard of it, but hey everybody that on this call. Don't you think that's something that we should know? If you're gonna make money and save it, don't you think you should be figured out? Do I want this hundred thousand to double in two years? Do I want it to double in hundred years or do I want it to double in one year?
Don't you think that's something, because it's called war compounding. In fact, for me, that was a game changing. Cause I'm like, wait a minute. First of all, I didn't know what it meant, but then once I understood it, I'm like, okay. He's Paul, do you have a house? I go, yes, I do have a house. He's do you have student loan?
I was still paying on my student loan. I go, yeah, I do have a student loan. He's do you have the credit card bills debt? I'm like, yeah, I do. He's you have things that the banks are using compound interest on you, and yet you still don't understand compound. I'm like, brother. I'm like, what are you, are you speaking what language is this?
This is foreign to me what's going on? It's when you bought your house in California, How much interest was on your mortgage? I go 3%. He go, that 3% you bought on your, how much is your house? What? We bought our house. I'm not gonna for the sake of, but we bought our house for, and then he goes that hundred thousand dollars in 30 years, how much do you think that you gonna end up paying the bank?
I didn't know we did. 3% mortgage for the next 30 years, I will end up paying the bank $300,000 on that house, that 3% interest is compounded on the mortgage. So I will end up buying that house times three. When he said that, I'm like, okay, wait a minute. And then he's if 3% is gonna make you buy the house times three.
What interests are you paying on your student loan? I didn't even know. I didn't know what interest that's to tell you how the point you see now, like literally I went to ok, wait a minute, now I see why we're making money. But we're not saying this is, by the way, this is common. Okay, this is common.
So I have a student loan I'm paying back. I don't know what interest I'm paying him back on. Then I went and looked my student loan, I was paying back 8%. It's if 3% tripled over 30 years, your student loan is scheduled for you to pay it off in 10 years. What do you think 8% would do in 10 years?
And then credit card. And we didn't have a lot of credit card bills. But the point is, credit card bills, when you get into paying minimum payments, compound interest 22. To 25%. If 3% is tripling in 30 years, what do you think credit card bill that is compounding on you? 20 to 25% would do in a year. See, I started paying attention, just paying that attention.
I paid off my student loan in one year. My student loan paid it off in one year cuz I'm like, oh no, we can't have this right. My credit card, I paid it off in two months. I'm like, oh no, we can't have this. What am I trying to say? Of speaking of middle class, you run into a lot of middle class that have a lot of money.
Own on student loan, a lot of money owned on credit card, but they got also a lot of money in their savings account. Speaking of understanding, being self aware. So you are ing money in a credit card where you're gonna be paying 10 or 15% in interest. You have a student loan where you're paying five, 10, 15% interest, but then you get a lot of money sitting in your savings.
That account where you are earning less than 1% in interest, what sense does that make? You are better off paying off your debts. Reassessing and seeing where you are, it doesn't make sense to have a lot of money sitting in the bank where the money is growing at a lesser interest rate, but you have paying debt is costing you more on the debt than you actually saving by leaving that money in the bank.
So compound interest was one of them. Another one that really blew my mind now was taxes. Everybody wants to save money, but speaking on top 1%. And the middle class, the top 1% who, speaking of taxes, they understand the power of leverage. Wealthy people are looking for ways to make money mitigates how much they're pay in taxes.
Middle class are only looking for ways to make money, but they don't think about the letter or they just want, I just wanna make enough money. So if that means I gotta clock in, I gotta do a lot of overtime, I gotta do it. I, they wanna make more money. But the problem is W2 income and 10 99 income and also the vehicle 401k four three B plan is a task code for business owners.
If I own a business, you want to work for me. I give you a job. I offer you 401k. I'm offering you that 401K to keep you happy so that you don't have to quit on me. Anything that I put into that 401k, IRS will give me that money back. It's not costing me anything to offer you. 401k business owners like me, I don't do 401k.
There's something out there. I call it seven, seven. 7 7 0 2 sub session A. That is a task code for the wealthy people in America. That is a task code for wealthy people in America that allows them to make as much money as they can, and they don't have to pay taxes on that money. My wife and I, when we discovered this concept three years ago, we wanted to get this information out to as many people as we can.
I'm not here to say that 401K is bad. I'm not here to say that 4 0 3 is being as bad, but I want you to think about something. If the goal is retirement, if this goal is to already present what you already got if you have a vehicle that would allow you to do just that, but when you need that money, you don't have to pay taxes on it.
Makes sense to me. Makes sense to me. So these are some of the concepts. That we literally started, like Chris when he started us, then he start breaking some of these things down. I was like, okay this is definitely something that not only that my wife and I need to understand more but also we need to make sure that too many people out here in the community and beyond that they really, they get educated with this information, but compound interest.
I begin, I, I say it and I say it. It is a game changer, right? Because he allows you to start understanding what is it that you are. I call it asset and liabilities. What are your liabilities? How much is your liabilities costing you a year? If you get a $20,000 debt and you, how much interest do you, do you pay on that $20,000 in a year?
Or are you better off having to get rid of that debt and then at at least not begin to start clean slate to really see where you can go. And then obviously how money grow, everybody wants to make money, but again, you get, it's not about making it, it's about putting yourself in a.
You can really preserve not having to pay taxes more than you need to. Look at what's going on in California right now. I live in California. Look at what's going on in federal taxes now. The country is in depth. You will hear me as many people. What do you think? Where do you think this country is going?
Do you think taxes will go down in the future or do you think it's going to go up? Most people, even if they don't know anything about money, they will tell you where poor taxes is going to go up. If you think it's going to go up, then what are you doing today to prevent you so that when it goes up in the future, you don't get affected?
You see wealthy people already, everything that I'm saying, they already know that. So every decision they're making today, they're making it today, understanding what will happen in the future, and they're trying to prevent for whatever happens so that he doesn't affect them. Middle class, the problem, most of us we're too busy, right?
Going to work, going back, traffic, raising kids, doing all that. We're not really paying attention to what's going on. But the truth is, you don't have to take my work for it. There's a big tsunami coming. And it's called task. It's going up. And it will happen in our lifetime. This is something that most people that really understand it they're then they're taking precautions to really prevent that, right?
Because too many people will be highly disappointed when, when they get ready to retire, 10, 15, 20, 30 years from now what they thought they had today. Half of that, or maybe more than half of that will be a concern. So you, you begin to do things a little different.
[00:25:03] Naseema: So I hear you paid off your debt.
You took your money out of 401ks and 4 0 3 Bs and restructured how you guys were saving your money. And these are things that, these are concepts that you teach people. I. And this is then that was your path that you used to retirement. So can you explain from like when your friend introduced this concept to you to when you actually retired, like how long that took?
[00:25:32] Paul: Actually, in a matter of rather quickly, like in a matter of thousand and 18, January, by 2019 January, I was fully retired. Like I was like, less than a year I was, I was, I was retired because what I realized was, yeah, and I don't want pe I know this is, I don't want nurses to take this wrong way. I love nursing.
I really, it was my passion. But for me though, the idea of retiring was in a year after, I started doing what I was doing. I went on this venture. What I realized was, I had a bigger purpose. That doesn't mean nothing wasn't a bigger purpose. We know what to do. You're a nurse, people get sick.
You come in, you train them. Prognosis, diagnostic, and we know what to do. But I like to use the analogy that we went from healthcare to healthcare care. Most people believe it or not. There's a lot of people out there that are sick. They come in, we take, take care of them. C h F, patient diabetes, noncompliance.
We know, at least we get a treatment for them, right? Your blood sugar is still high. We give you a little insulin, we bring it down. C we give you diuretic. You, put you on C, make sure you take your, you, we know what to do. We can manage it somewhat, but what I, from January, To December, 2018 was, there's a lot of people in this society, especially in the minority community, that their finances needed a cpr.
Like he needed, like somebody needed to go there and like literally like pound on their chest, give them some epinephrine and some demine and get this thing moving in the right direction. The Bible says where there is no vision, people perish. What if, if where there is a vision, then people will not perish.
I am from Africa, my wife is from Mississippi. Don't take this the wrong way, but the point is, too many people in the minority community, it's not that people don't wanna be successful, is sometimes people have not been thought. The discipline, the financial literacy intelligence on things that they needed to, how can you be making six figure income year after year and you're still broke?
That doesn't make sense, right? So this is literally for me, when I say care, when I sit down with somebody, I'm literally trying to see, like you, an emergency room, you telling a. What the trying, when is the onset, is it excruciating? Is it nomine? Is it this? What do we need to do? What did you do? What was your last activity?
When I say that with someone, I'm literally going into I'm trying to understand what is going on. What can we do to put you in a better financial standard? So for us it was really, yeah, I retired like in less than a year because. The the problems that I was seeing and the need for my expertise that I was seeing.
I told my wife, I'm like, honey, I'm jumping right. People need what we offer. And my wife, I'm gonna be honest, she looked at me, she thought that I was crazy. I'm like, honey, no, no, no. That's why you marry me. I am. People need what we offer. We need to go out there and help them. So that transition happened like about a year.
But the reason why I accelerated that transition was because I saw the need for what we do. People, a lot of people out there are literally, they're dying in silence. Some people are going through. Like when I I've sat down with some people, I'm like medical doctors, professionals. But they're dying in silence.
You know why? Cause most people in the society are, are too busy trying to impress people that don't even care about it. And in the process of trying to impress Lord that don't even care about them, they end up putting themselves in a financial situation that shouldn't have never been in the first place.
I'm a medical doctor. Wonderful. Great for you. Where I have to live in Aland Hills, who say you have to live Inland Hills. Paul, you know I'm a nurse, my wife, nurse, so we gotta Mercedes. Who says. Paul, you don't understand. I'm aesthetic. I mean my, I gotta be a job. Who say you have to drive it.
What happened to Toyota? I'm a pharmacist, I'm an engineer, engineer. I mean, we making six figure income, it's a status. And I got a doctorate degree right next to my neck. Ev, my neck means everything, so I gotta go buy a 1 million home. Who say you live an apartment?
So basically are too busy. Thinking that people are thinking about them, and then in the process, they're putting themselves in all this situation and you looking at you are clocking in and clocking out and you're living a lifestyle that you can't afford. And then if they fire you, then everything collapse.
Covid 19 happened. They caught down your hours. Everything collapse. People are trying to live their lifestyle, get into a lifestyle that 40 hours a week clocking and a clock, and I will not sustain. So they're living a lifestyle that they have to work 60 hours a week to sustain their lifestyle. These are things that, because I work with a lot of medical professions, so that's why I understand what's going on there, right?
So again, this is the thing. The education that we're trying to give people belong. You cannot live a lifestyle that you cannot sustain. So when I sit down with them, literally we hear me tell them, Hey, this is what I see. This is what's going on, and I don't think if you keep doing this, you're gonna lose your house.
If you keep doing this, you're gonna something terrible is getting ready to happen. And they'll be like I'm like right now you can't sustain me. Until you could make it make money while asleep. Like what Buffet says right When you start making money, it's called passive income. That means your, your money is working for you.
You shouldn't go get a lifestyle that you can afford and or you're dependent on lifestyle on that overtime. So these are the things like literally nasima that we, we started seeing literally shortly, six months into this is what I started seeing. Many plus are too busy trying to press people that don't care about them and then the process, they're getting themselves into financial rooms.
So I felt the need that I was needed in that arena. Because most people that I work with are medical professional that are nurses. So you know, when I tell them, I'm telling them from experience. I'm also telling them from what I need, what I've seen. So that was really, yeah, literally less than a year.
I mean, basically I retire, but not only that, I retire, most of my colleagues, including my manager, ended, I retire. She, she joined me in business because she's brother, I see what you are doing. And even in my community, I feel the need that I need to go in here and speak up. So it's a real, the problem is most people don't wanna talk about it, but financially literacy is a disease, right?
And until someone really has sit down with you and point it out, most people don't, is a disease that most people don't even know. Imagine having you are diabetic, you don't even know you're diabetic. Like you going up to the doctor, they're like, check your hemoglobin a1c. Where the minute is that your hemoglobin is 10.
Like literally you're like, you've been getting ready to go into diabetic ins. You didn't even know it. So that's really, so a lot of what we do is really trying to get people to, a real problem, a real problem, honestly.
[00:33:02] Naseema: So both you and your wife are retired from nursing, but you still have this elite financial, I mean, elite Team Elite leadership development.
Sorry about that. But you see, you have this business where you teach mostly, or you lead mostly medical professionals into a state of wealth building, right? Like you take 'em out of financial literacy. Yes. And you help them build wealth. And so that's what you guys do. You both are doing full-time now.
Totally, totally. Outside of nursing. Like totally retired from nursing. And you guys are doing this full-time.
[00:33:37] Paul: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:33:38] Naseema: How does your program work? Like, how do people work with you if they wanna retire early too? Cuz that's what we are about, we're about nurses retiring early and,
sounds like you have the toolkit. So how can people work with you?
[00:33:52] Paul: Basically the financial literacy part of what we do, there's a basically people coming, they're like, where Paul? This is what I got going on. How can you help me? Then we can look at their situations and make recommendation and things that they need to do.
And then a lot of nurses, I'm gonna be real with you guys, a lot of nurses, oftentimes some are, I'm not business minded, however, I'm paying a lot of money in taxes. So how can I reduce my taxes? 10 99 income. 10 99 income. Making $200,000 on W2 is different than making $200,000 and 10 99 income.
Obviously, I'm not a spa a task expert, but you gotta understand the idea of owning your own business. And then you go from 10 99 income to now incorporate yourself. Team Elite that you see right here is incorporated. So that means I have a company now. And then when you incorporate yourself, then it's even better.
Because now you haven't, so they don't treat me Now as Paul and Jocko, they treat me. Now. Assimilates State, California knows me, assimilate company, IRS knows me, assimilate company. So now basically I have my own company. But you have your own company. You have things that you can really begin to do when in terms of you, running a business and payrolls and you know all that.
Now I know these people probably might be going, oh my God. I have a CPA at NoDa. So that is go, oh my God, scalp llc. What is that? I have a CPA and a task leader, ATDA, but my point is you have got to figure out a way. We know Naima probably can agree with me with this. We know that clocking and clocking out is not gonna do it.
I don't care who you are. I don't care who you are. You gotta figure out a way to supplement that clock nine clock now. But if that's what you wanna do, like wholeheartedly, hundred percent of the time it would be possible to retire. Cause think about it, the 401K idea is you making a hundred thousand dollars a year.
We gonna tell you to put, put away 10 to 15% of your income every year into a 401k plan but me on this. But then most people that are making hundred thousand dollars a year, they're still living paycheck to paycheck. So you make hundred thousand, they tell you to put away 15, which is, but so 85 is not enough.
But we are telling you to save 15,000 when you retire. That is going to be enough. If 85,000 is not enough today, what makes you think 15,000 a year when you retire is gonna be enough? So the point is, I'm not a mathematician, but we already know just from looking at it, that map does not work. Right?
Or they tell you we are gonna give you pension. Great. Then you put away 15,000, and then you get a pension of 15,000. Then if 85,000 today is not enough, what makes you think 30,000 later when you retire is gonna be enough? That is if everything works. But if everything doesn't work, and then the year you get ready to retire, COVID 19 happened, or real estate crash happened like it happened in 2008.
Now that little money that you, you're banking on is gone, or you stick up pay taxes. So my point is, These things I've thought it through. I've read a lot of books to know that they don't work. I'm not anti, I'm not hitting on anybody doing, but you help me tell people, if the goal is to have a successful retirement where you can comfortably retire, still be able to maintain your lifestyle, then you gonna begin to find other things that you could do to supplement.
Because if you don't supplement, then you're gonna put yourself in a situation where, you're gonna end up eating Palo and chicken sandwich, right? So we don't, we don't want that, right? We wanna maintain that lifestyle of lobster, steak, dinner, even when you're retired, right? If you want to, then you're gonna be able to stop planning for it.
But but so that's really, and then the, so how did my wife, how did my wife, I, what was the other question again? We talked
[00:38:07] Naseema: about how you guys retired, but I wanted to talk about like, how can people start working with you?
[00:38:13] Paul: Yeah, how people can start working with. So now, so you got the progress on the business that people will come in and then that's what we do.
Free complimentary review. So free complimentary review. Nasima is basically where people will come in. We sit down with them, try to understand what they, where, what they're looking for. Some people might come in and be like, where Paul, I want to make more money, which is cash flow. But the problem that I'm having right now is, I got so many things going on, but I don't feel like I'm make enough money.
In that case, then we would need to sit down with them to understand when they say they want to make enough money, what can they put a, can they quantify that? What is enough money? See enough money for me? Three years ago, I want enough money from you right now is different. It's all different level right now.
So we need to understand what is enough money made like for you. Is that 2000, is that 10,000? Is that, you see what I'm saying? So based on where they are, then we can understand what they need and then what would then begin to talk about what that would look like. And then, so that's really where we get into.
Basically one-on-one or group session, and then I'll be like, okay, this is what they, I will have to show them some things, a, a, a specific plan that will allow them to go do that. That's what they wanna do. Some people will come in and be like Paul, I got a child. I wanna plan for college. I wanna plan for retirement.
I don't know where to begin. How can you help me then? No. Again, complete complimentary review. We'll look at what they have, look at what they got going and I'll tell them, okay, this is what I see. This is what I see. This is where I think you need to go. But again, these are some of the things I will have to show things, not just what I say.
I will have to show, show some visual so that people will be able to see.
[00:39:50] Naseema: So it's very personalized plans depending on whatever their goals are and you help them get there. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. That's awesome. That's awesome. So share with everybody cuz you have dropped so many gyms already. I just want people to know like, where can they get in contact with you? How can they sign up to work with you?
Share your information so people can follow up with you.
[00:40:16] Paul: Absolutely. So I'm on, I'm pretty much so my cell phone my cell phone is five three 3 5 4 7 1 8 5. That's my cell. 5 3 0 3 5 4 7 180 5. My email address is P as in Paul. Last name is N as in Nancy, J as in Jacob, O as in Oregon.
K as in Kentucky, U as in Ure, P N j O K u nine gmail com. You can follow me on Twitter or you can follow me on ig Instagram. Instagram is a team team elite leaders. Instagram is team elite, leaders team elite. So the of my company team and. You will see me there on Instagram, on Facebook is also the same thing.
You cannot see them. Yeah. So basically the name of the company, team Elite and the leaders again, cell phone number is (530) 354-7187. Okay.
[00:41:19] Naseema: And I'll I'll have all the link. Okay. I'll have all these links here. Just so, just so you know, everybody will have the links and the, and your number will be in the show notes so people don't have to write it down or try to follow it.
They'll be able to, they'll be able to click on it in the show notes. Yeah. And you were saying your offices aren't in San Ramon, California.
[00:41:41] Paul: The office is in San Ramon, thousand Crow ca Place suite 4 0 5 is in San Ramon, California. San Ramon, 2000 Crow ca Place Suites 4 0 5. Zip code is 97 8 54.
[00:41:55] Naseema: And so the, to wrap things up, I just wanna know, since you and your wife have a chief fire, what's next for you guys?
[00:42:03] Paul: Fire. Firefighter, right? It's all about ne it's all about next for us. It's all about growth, right? It's all this thing called, life is all about growth. Wherever you are, you gotta begin to grow next level.
So every time I talk, I'm like, what is the next goal? What is the next level? What is the, some people in life. Excuse me, don't take this the wrong way. Some people in life, there's nothing wrong with Toyota, right? There's nothing wrong with Toyota, right? But you'll have me tell, tell people the life.
You got the Toyota Lane and then you got the Ferrari lane, right? You got the Toyota Lane, you got the Ferrari lane. So I believe go, go, go home. So I'm always in the Ferrari lane. I'm going 1000 miles an hour. Let's keep this thing going. Let's going. What is the next goal? What is, that's really what it takes, right?
I don't believe in life is, people say life is fair, life is not fair. I don't really believe in that. And also, one of the biggest thing for us is giving back to community. We, we've been blessed. We are blessed. I'm, and I'm, and when I say that, I don't say that to brag, I don't say that to my wife is from Mississippi.
Through my foundation, our foundation, we've been able to do a lot of good in the inner cities and Mississippi where she's from getting kids, putting them on after school program. We got some people. Right now we're paying for scholarship for them to go to school in Mississippi. I'm from Africa before every year, my wife.
Even though we retired from, the only year that we didn't go was last year obviously with what was going on Covid. So we couldn't do that. But six years ago, first time that I took my wife to Africa she kinda hurt my feelings, she hung out, oh honey, I can't believe this is where you from and people are dying and what can we do?
We need to build a hospital. And I'm looking at her. I'm like, honey, build a hospital. Where, how we gonna do that? She's honey, I dunno. So the point is I looked at her and I thought she was crazy cause she wanted to build a husband. Cause to me, we didn't have a way to do it last year.
That's why I was saying Covid 19 has been a blessing in so many ways. The dream. Building a hospital that she wanted to do. Cause think about it, we go home every year to do medical mission. We treat people free, healthcare free order. A year later we go back, and then most of them, there's no maintenance program.
So some of the things we gave them six months later is gone. But there's no way. Sheila, why don't we build a hospital where these people can have follow. So that some of these things that, we have into every year, we gotta start from clean, stage one. If they have a place that they can go to get regular checkup, then they will be in a better, position.
Do you know that right now we just secured a land and we are talking to the architecture right now where we gonna build a, a hospital, a hundred bed hospital in Africa. That's what opportunities like this. You see, some people can say money is, is the root of olive oil this or no? I believe like Oprah and Winfrey says, money only reviews who you are.
If you're a bad person, money is going to magnify. A bad heart to people. If you're a good person, a good kind of person, their money is only gonna reveal that. So that's what this thing has really done for us. Back home in Africa, we probably got close to 500 families that we are feeding. Since Covid 19 happened last year, we have people that we are literally giving food Monday, uh uh, Monday to Sunday to Sunday, breakfast, lunch, dinner.
That's. Allowed us because God has really blessed us beyond our, dreams. Things that we didn't really think that we can do or because of this, I couldn't do this if I was telling us that's the truth, right? Because most of you that are on this call, you know how much, nurses make, right?
But this business has allowed us. To be able to do things that we never really thought that we can do. And literally, this was something that I just started because somebody shared an idea with me started doing a spare time. It went from spare time to part-time, and then it went from part-time to full-time.
Now literally, we are in a position now where money is not an issue. I believe it's basically it's giving us freedom. What is freedom? Being able to do what you want to do, when you want to do it. That's really, that's a big deal, right? That's more than money. Can you put, can you put a price tag to your, to freedom?
I don't think so, right? I don't think so. So that's really what this thing has done for us. So again I would love to, sit down with some of you and maybe share some ideas and. Things that you could do to begin to, start building for you and your family. I would definitely love to do that.
I love that. So again,
[00:46:37] Naseema: thank you Nasima. Of course, of course. And I know you got me fired up. I know the audience out there is fired up. Like you guys' story is just incredible. But what makes it even more special is that. We can see ourselves in you. And so it makes it possible for us. So I appreciate what you're doing, what you've done, and I am completely floored on about like how much you're able to give back to the community, but how easy money is to you now.
It's effortless and I tell people that money begets money is just those first steps that you have to take. To switch that control. Like you said, it's all about control. Once you switch that control, then the sky's the limit. And thank you for being such a positive example for our community. Thank you for doing what you're doing and thank you so much for taking time to share with our community because these are the stories that we need to hear.
And I just really appreciate you and your wife from the bottom of my heart because you guys are phenomenal and we just need to hear more of this. So I appreciate you.
[00:47:43] Paul: Absolutely. I would appreciate you too. Thank you for the opportunity. We're gotta get the message out. So again, my wife and I just wanna, she really, she like, honey Seema, you gotta miss this wonderful lady.
She's doing a lot of things, she's making it happen. I'm like, okay let's, get on her pocket. Let's make that way. Cause at the end of the day, this life, This thing called life is not an individual. Even though we might come from different places, we might come from different, but at the end of the day, we are still one people.
That's really what I try to get people to understand where everybody got the same means and wants. You want the best for your two beautiful daughter, just like I want for my kids. You want the best in life, just as I want the best in life. It doesn't matter our ethnicity, it doesn't matter where we come from.
At the end of the day, everybody want the same for their family, which is we want better life. We want things to, so all those things, whatever it is, how desires, that's what everybody wants when you really think about it. So then once you understanding and start looking at it from that angle, what, what are we fighting for?
It gets enough for everyone, right? There's really enough for everyone. So with that, again, we need, To really come on board on this crusade of really educating. Cause there are too many of us that are working, changing life, but they're not really, they're not thinking about themselves or too many of us that are really working, making all this money.
We're in debt or too many of us that are really working, but we can't retire. Think about it like we are working, working, caring for other people, but too many of us want to retire, won't be able to do it. There's a way to do, right? There's a way to do it. And that's really what this is all about, because I truly believe that we have all the takes to really go out here and change this world and change the community.
So more s Yes. More.
[00:49:23] Naseema: Yes. Yes. Yes. That's what it's all about. That's what it's all about. So we, I am, that's my, that's my slogan. I'm here to normalize nurse millionaires. And anybody that's, that's on that same path as me, I mean like, let's team up. Like you said, it's enough out there for everybody.
You having something doesn't take away from anyone else. Like it's an abundance mindset. So I love it. And thank you. Thank you guys so much for what you're doing. I really appreciate you.
[00:49:51] Paul: Absolutely. Thanks for having us. Thanks for having us. Of course.
Hey there I’m Naseema
My dream is for everyone to know that financial independence is attainable with a little intentionality. Learn how I can help you finally break the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck.
Join the Facebook Community
Join the Financially Intentional community and get access to resources to guide you on the path to Financial Freedom.
Watch these Videos To Learn How to…
Keep Listening
Here are some more episodes you may enjoy…
Our guest shares how he lost everything—his properties, business, and even his personal relationships—during the financial crisis. But that wasn’t the end of his story.