Why the Tax System Is Not Built for You and How to Win Anyway - Episode 115
In today's episode, I talk with Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson, a former IRS agent who now helps people keep more of their money. She shares how the wealthy use tax laws to their advantage and how regular people can do the same. We talk about why having a business can save you money, what expenses you can deduct, and how to stop overpaying on taxes. Dr. Jackson also shares her own story of leaving the IRS and starting her own business.
About our guest
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson is a retired Certified Public Accountant, Certified Fraud Examiner, and former IRS agent with over 35 years of experience in public, private, and governmental accounting. She is a financial strategist who helps individuals and businesses with IRS audit preparation, wealth creation, debt elimination, and financial literacy. She also conducts training for private companies, non-profits, and churches.
Dr. Jackson holds a Business Administration degree from the University of Georgia, a Master of Arts in Christian Studies, and a Doctor of Ministry in Christian Education. She is also an author of several books, including How To Escape The Rat Race and How To Stick It To The IRS. Through her educational courses, she teaches entrepreneurship, tax elimination, and financial survival strategies to help people thrive in today's economy.
YouTube Channel
Email: Connect@SherryPeelJackson.com
Website
Giveaway Video
—-
Check Intentional Style here: https://www.intentionalstylesuite.com/
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] Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson is a retired, certified public accountant, certified fraud examiner, and a former IRS agent with over 35 years of experience in public, private, and governmental accounting. She is a financial and business strategist who conducts. Basic and advanced financial education seminars across the United States.
She also consults with businesses and individuals in the areas of IRS audit preparation, wealth creation, debt elimination, and overall financial literacy. She conducts training for private companies, nonprofit organizations, and churches. Dr. Jackson has a bachelor's degree in administration from the University of Georgia and a master's of arts in Christian studies from Luther Rice University in Lithonia, Georgia, and a doctor of ministry in Christian education from Andersonville Theology Seminary in Camilla, Georgia.
She also successfully completed the Howard University School of Educational Business Leadership and Ministry training. Course, [00:01:00] and we'll continue to assist people from all walks of life in the financial arena to promote financial and personal freedom and advancement. Dr. Jackson is also an author and speaker.
She is the author of several books, including how to escape the rat waste 4 keys to acquire the life of your dreams. How to stick it to the IRS confessions from a former insider and financial wellness and co author with Myron Golden of
increase your income and reduce your taxes, innovative strategies for wealth creation and legacy building. Dr. Jackson has developed educational courses that will empower and enlighten individuals, nonprofit organizations and churches about proper techniques to go beyond surviving to thriving in life, business and ministry.
She is currently teaching entrepreneurship, debt free living, audit and asset protection, tax elimination and survival in the new economy.
Naseema: What's up, my financially intentional people. I'm super honored to be joined by Dr. [00:02:00] Sherry Peel Jackson today, and she's going to put you guys up on game on her system that is going to help you preserve the wealth that you are building. So welcome Dr. Jackson.
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: Thank you so much for having me, Naseema.
Naseema: Of course, of course. So let's just go into your background.
Like, how did you get into this space? What is your origin story?
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: Oh, Lord. First of all, I have a very pragmatic father. And when I was 16, he said, when you get 18, you're getting out. So I was like, so I had to get out of La La Land and figure out what I was going to do. When I was 18, so he brought a black enterprise magazine home 1 day. Now, this is back in the 70s and he popped it open to the middle and he said, you need to look at this and read this because you like nice things.
And what it was, it was a article. It had the top 100 professions for blacks. So I went through it. I saw [00:03:00] a doctor. I don't want to do the doctor thing. I don't like blood. I didn't want to be an engineer. My uncle is an electrical engineer and I saw his books because he's just 3 years older than me. I'm not doing that Greek stuff.
I looked at accounting. I'm good at math. I can add, subtract, multiply and divide. So I decided back then that I was going to go into accounting. So 1 of the things he told me was if you are an accountant, and especially if you get a CPA. You can work in academia. You can work at CPA firms. You can work in corporate America.
You can teach and you can do your own thing. Those are five different areas that you can go into. So I said, okay, cool. I'll do that. Got my degree from University of Georgia and a couple of years later, after working for CPA firms, I got my CPA. I was at a small CPA firm and they were having me work like oof.
So he always taught me. Okay. If I didn't like where I was at point a, do not [00:04:00] complain, go to point B. So I left the CPA firm that was having me travel all over the place. And it would be different if I was traveling to places like New York, LA, but they had me in podunk Mississippi and all kinds of places like that.
And I was like, no, no, no, no. So I left there and I went to corporate America. I only stayed in corporate for eight months because I found out very quickly that it's not. About what you know is about what you do with who you know,
Naseema: Mm
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: and I wasn't about that game there at all So again, I left I saw an ad in the atlanta journal constitution And it was for an internal revenue agent at the irs So I read it and audits I can do that.
I took auditing in college. So I went on with the irs 1988 Stayed with them till 1995, moved up in rank, got lots of awards, really, enjoyed what I thought was doing, the [00:05:00] American thing and helping the United States gather the taxes. But I was disillusioned just like a lot of people. It's hey, wait a minute.
I'm looking at these larger cases and they have these attorneys come in and wipe out most or all of the tax yet mom and pop, are stuck with this large tax bill. They don't have an accountant. They're the low hanging fruit that the IRS goes after and at the same time, I was a young mother and IRS was getting all of my time as I moved up in rank.
And, 1 time, I had to take a bribe and get wired up and go somewhere and meet somebody at night to get the money, all that kind of stuff. And, it might sound exciting, but it's no, you can't even tell your husband where you're going. And so I just decided after a while that I would quit.
I did not have another job. They said, where are you going? Can you stay? Can you just work part time? No, I'm quitting. I came home to be Jim Cleaver. That only lasted a year, though, because I liked nice things, and so not enough money was coming in. I did start my CPA firm in the basement [00:06:00] of my home.
All I had to do was put an ad in two different local papers, and I never had to advertise again because I put an ad that said Uncle Sam wants you. Uncle Sam, what's your money, but I'm going to get it back for you. And I said, I'm, former IRS agent, CPA, and just started doing taxes. After that, I realized a whole bunch of other things about the IRS.
They literally stealing our money. So, had to run in with the IRS. And then I actually relinquished my CPA because, have a license to do anything that you otherwise couldn't do. I know a couple of stockbrokers who will also relinquish their license because they couldn't tell people about the real investments that were making the real money because you're barred from doing that.
There's what's called an accredited investor. And if someone's not making, a million dollars and some other requirements, you can't tell them where the money is. And that's just wrong. Same thing, when I got to the point where I was like, this is enough. I want to tell people the truth and I [00:07:00] stand on the truth, which is this is our money.
It's ours. It's not theirs. And we need to learn how to keep protect and grow it. So now what I do, I have a consulting firm. SP Jackson Consulting. We help people that are having IRS audits. I love to go up against the IRS. Really. It's just, I have several books. Also, one of my flagship books is how to stick it to the IRS.
And so people come to me when they're in trouble, when they owe money, when they don't really think they owe it, or when they get audited, that's one of the things that I do. But my passion in the financial world is to help people start and grow viable, thriving, home based businesses,
Naseema: Love it. Oh, I love this. The whole story, the background, everything is just amazing. I love that. And I'm right there with you in the corporate space you realize that doesn't get you far at all. It was like, I was like, that's how it used to be. I was in healthcare administration.
I was like, I have a brown nose. [00:08:00] I'm not a brown noser. So I'm not about to do all of that. And so I left and went into nursing, so I 100 percent feel you on that. But yeah, especially right now, I think this is a very timely conversation and we're seeing a lot going on, especially in the government as far as 1st of all, there's so many layoffs in the IRS.
That's 1 thing, but then having conversations about who really is paying taxes. We know Trump don't pay taxes. We know Elon Musk doesn't pay taxes. How much in taxes that Tesla has gotten back or they haven't even paid. And all the subsidies that they get and all these things. But as for me, as a nurse working in the every time I share like how much in taxes I pay to state and federal taxes, people are appalled.
And I'm just like, it is what it is.
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: Right,
Naseema: I'm the one that the taxes fall on. I, I bear the brunt of all these people getting all these [00:09:00] tax breaks.
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: What we do is we teach people how to be like Trump and Elon Musk. The tax laws written for businesses and people that have businesses and know what they're doing don't have to pay either. So you don't have to pay. Employee is unfortunately the, like you said, the brunt you got a W two, they're going to take the money out and you may or may not get some of it back at the end of the year.
You may end up paying more, but businesses, large and small can keep protecting grow what they earn. They don't have to pay. Because Internal Revenue Code Section 162 says that you can deduct ordinary and necessary business expenses. So an employee can't deduct their cell phone, their Internet, their mileage, but a business owner can.
What does it mean when they say ordinary and necessary? Back in 94, there was a woman, her name was Cindy Hess, and she had a business and she took [00:10:00] a deduction for a breast enlargement on her tax return and the IRS laughed. So they just fell in the floor and they took her breast enlargement deduction away.
However. Cindy got a lawyer with the tax court, and she won the right to deduct her breast enlargement. Why is that? Because Cindy Hess, better known as Chesty Love, was a pole dancer. And it was ordinary and necessary for her to have to keep up with the younger girls. Ordinary is, and necessary, is, helpful, common, appropriate.
And that was appropriate and common and helpful for her, so she got that. And I say to people, if Cindy Hess could take her breast enlargement, you shouldn't be afraid. Right off just about everything, but the kitchen sink if you have a business, but the thing is, what we have to do is people is we have to say, okay, I have to have a job.
I have to have insurance for my children and I have to make sure that the rent is paid or the mortgage is paid. But when I come home in the evening, or whenever you're home, instead of [00:11:00] turning on the electronic income reducer, which is the television. And the electronic intellect reducer, then we decompress, take some time with our family, eat dinner, chat with them, put the kids to bed.
And then you start working on your home based business. My mentor says, if you're not making 10, 000 a month, you don't have time to watch TV anyway. So I'm really hard. My the reason why we. Stay behind is we don't forge ahead knowing the things that we really need to do. I talk to people they're broke and they want to start a business.
I go to their house, they got seven flat screen TVs in their house. This makes no sense. All of their children have on Nike, they're wearing Versace and Coach and all that. It's like, When are we going to understand that this system was set up to make sure that we get caught up in the minutia. We get caught up in buying all of this stuff.
Conspicuous consumption. We got to stop that. Take [00:12:00] some time and sit down and say, what do I want? And I have a set of 8 questions to design your future that I go through every year at the end of the year for myself. And I share it with people. But the first three questions are what do I want? Why do I want it?
In other words, why is it important for me? And what am I willing to give up to get it? So that's the one right there. Because if you're going to be an investor, if you're going to get a second business, a home based business. And thrive, there's certain things you're not going to be able to do, men, you can't sit there and watch football all, until, whoever it is is playing now, Cam Newton or whoever is until they start stroking me a check.
My team is the Jackson team. I don't know who's playing right now because I don't watch it. But we should relax. We work hard and we should have time to relax. However, if we want to stop, throwing shade at people who are moving forward, we got to see what they're doing, what these people are doing.
They're opening [00:13:00] businesses and they're taking advantage of all these tax credits and write offs that are there. They wrote this. So what we do is we follow what they do and they can't touch us. So that's what I teach people.
Naseema: I think that's the most important part of financial empowerment and financial education, which leads to empowerment. Is the system is not meant for us to succeed, but if we understand the rules and how to play the game, we can use the system for us. And that's what I'll be trying to tell people all the time.
I know you can preach all day about, like, how the system has got you down and all this stuff, but then what are you doing? What are you doing to empower yourself to empower your family? Because we all know, we all know that, the disadvantages and all of that kind of stuff, but we can either sit in that, or we can grow in the spaces where we can grow.
We can control what we can control. Yeah. Yeah.[00:14:00]
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: I teach people is the system that I use. And when I got into the fight with the IRS, I lost just about everything. I lost my marriage and I hit rock bottom and started to dig.
However, I had to sit down and say, how am I going to get myself back together? I need a system. So that's when I developed the KPG system. It worked for me and it's been working for my client. So let's talk about that. Keep what you earn. We spend too much money on everything. I got to the point where even down to going to the grocery store, I don't go to the grocery store hungry because when you do that, you spend more money, you put junk in there and all that.
So I would use coupons religiously because you do save money and these things might seem trivial to some people, but desperate times call for desperate measures. And if you want to, what I think a couple of people I've heard say live like no one else. So that later. You can live like no one else.
I would make sure that I shopped at the thrift store. Now I know people that say, Oh, I wouldn't go in there. Those clothes [00:15:00] stink. Wash them, take them to the cleaners. I've saved thousands of dollars by just going to find things. I would, some of the nicest thrift stores that I went to back in the day, they didn't even have dressing rooms.
So I. They would have mirrors all around. So I would wear a cat suit to the thrift store and I would put things in my basket that I thought fit. And then I would get in front of a mirror, strip down my, whatever I had on usually a warm up pants or something into that cat suit and try those clothes on.
Now. When the men saw me, they were going, but women were like, girl, that is so smart. And then I would, whatever fit, I would take it and pay for it. And, even shoes, I got some shoes that were pretty nice and they were like maybe 5. 99. So I was speaking one time and I was saying, I've got these Agner shoes and, I got these Agner shoes from the thrift store and they were pretty nice.
And somebody caught me. at the break and said, it's not Agner, it's Anye. I had no idea. I wasn't even a name on first, [00:16:00] but they look nice. I don't go after that. See we need to change our mindsets about the things that aren't important. It's important for me to look decent, but it's more important for me to be able to travel.
And, as I mentioned to you that I have a home in Costa Rica on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, there's no way I could do that. If I'm running around trying to. Buy up all the clothes and have, I got a decent car, but I paid half cash. And then within a year, I had it paid off because that's proper planning.
When you know, you got an old vehicle, you need to start saving immediately. I don't consider there being many types of emergencies. It's not an emergency. It's not proper planning. When your washer is 15 years old, You need to start putting 20 a month or every other week or so away because it's gonna go out.
You can't claim emergency and then use the credit card and see that's where we are. Everybody using a credit card for what they consider emergency. It's not emergency. You just [00:17:00] You need to start being disciplined and being in being aware of the things that are important to you.
Naseema: But the thing is, actually, right now, we've gotten to a point where we're using credit cards just for our basic everyday expenses. And that's because a lot of people have been victim of lifestyle creep. Their lifestyle has surpassed really what their income can really afford. Especially if there's any kind of setback, a lot of people base their lifestyle off of overtime or off of 2 really strong incomes because people tell you that you can't that they can, like, when you go to qualify for a house, they're going to qualify you for way more than you can actually afford.
It's just that there's so many messages and so many everyday instances of situations where. It's going to cause you to spin, spin, spin, instead of earn more or invest and save. And yeah, so it's important that we have these conversations because we have to [00:18:00] disrupt this narrative, right? Because we're getting it from everywhere.
You're getting it from, when you drive it on the freeway, you got advertisements. Everybody's on their phone. Everywhere you turn there's advertisements. You're watching TV. There's advertisement advertisements everywhere. Everywhere is telling you to be a consumer, but there's not a lot of places that are telling you how to actually save it and actually grow your money.
and even if there are places like that, there's especially now with the rise of social media, a lot of scammers out there. So it's just who do you trust in that area? So that's why it's important for us to have these conversations and I love talking about this and I really want to dive into what your system looks like, how it works and how can benefit my audience.
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: Okay. So what the system looks like is you KPG all at the same time. It's not like you first of all, stop spending and say, you do all of this at the same time. You're going to go in, you're going to figure out what expenses you can get rid of. There are things that what like cable [00:19:00] TV, like always buying name brand stuff.
For example, I'm in a four story house I bought in a foreclosure. I know, this might shock you, but my mortgage is 958 a month and it has a basement. That's one of the other things that my dad said, when you buy a house by a basement, because you might want an office down there, which is what I had at the other house when I was married.
But this basement, I refinanced the house. Put a whole apartment down there with kitchen and everything. And I have a tenant down there paying 1, 200 a month.
Naseema: Okay. Covering your mortgage,
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: Yes, exactly. Plus some. So these are strategically thought of things that I can do to make sure that I'm making money faster than I spend it.
So doing those kinds of things when it's hot outside when it's cold outside, I have a little space heater that I take from room to room. I'm not blasting my heat [00:20:00] and having a 5, 6, 700 bill, but when it's hot outside, it's harder because you don't have an air conditioning. But when I first moved in here and wasn't making much money, I made a portable air conditioning.
I saw it online. It's made out of a cooler. 1 of those styrofoam coolers put 18 bottles of water in there. Thanks. cut a hole in the top and put a fan in there and then you put one of those like pipes that come out from your furnace and it blows right on you and those 18 bottles of water would cool me for two hours.
The hardest part about all that was taking the 18 bottles of water After they've melted and put them back in the freezer and get 18 more. I did that so that my electric bill in the summer wouldn't be 2 and 300. These are kind of things that people a lot of times aren't willing to do. But when you change your mindset and you have a goal in mind, that's what you do.
You go in and you figure out what your expenses are, write down everything that you owe. Some people I've done [00:21:00] that. With them and they were very embarrassed about what they bought, but then you start knocking it down. I like the snowball method You start out and you get rid of the first bill The smallest one and then you take the money that you were paying on that one And pay off the next one and the next one that's what I did and when I had a lot of credit cards when I was young and incorrectly informed.
I would pay off a credit card, I would cut it in fours, I would drop it down in the garage and do a dance on it. That was my happy dance. I would take all of the extra money that I got when I was an IRS agent, when they sent us traveling, they gave us per diem. But I would just go buy a whole bunch of little things from the grocery store and I would put that money on bills.
Those are, those are the discipline kind of things. And so that's, And that's about keeping now protecting your money. Of course, you're going to make sure you have the insurance. You're going to make sure you have what I call assurance. Assurance is saving six months of expenses. So if your expenses are 5000 a month [00:22:00] somewhere, you need to be putting 30 K away because things happen.
People get laid off and all these things and you need to continue on people spending every dime that comes in. Yeah. is they're just not going to, it's not going to be successful. So that is protecting what you are making sure you have insurance, making sure that you have someone or yourself that understands taxes so that, you can be protected from the IRS.
I call the IRS the insidious representatives of Satan, by the way, because they're taking money, the stuff that they're doing with our money. it's uncalled for, and I won't get into all of that. I'm sure that your listeners will probably, when they look at me of, they'll get an ear and an eye full, but I'm that person that's going to tell you the truth.
As far as growing the money, you got to. Get a home based business. People talk about get rich quick schemes. There's no get rich slow. You can't get rich slow. There's so many [00:23:00] different things out there because we have the internet that you can do to make money. What you're doing now having a YouTube channel, having podcasts.
I, my clients, a couple of my clients, they're writing books. They are thinking of a blog, these kinds of things that you have something of value to add to the marketplace. And what you need to do is get in the marketplace, figure out what the people want. Don't just say I have a degree in archaeology.
So I'm going to offer some classes and people don't want that. Go find out what the market wants and give the market that and you will make money. So then when you get your home based business, then you can write off yourself on your laptop, your. Everything. And when you have a home based business, you can even hire your Children.
You can hire your Children to work for you and you won't have to pay any tax, not federal, not state. Not social security, not Medicare. So when I was younger and my children were younger, they worked for me, they swept, they cleaned up and I allowed [00:24:00] my clients to come into my office in the basement, bring their children.
My children would go and entertain their children. They had little. Videos like the veggie tales and little things like that, that they could watch on a television that was upstairs. So these are things that wealthy people do this all day. Every day. They teach their children how to make money work for them instead of how to, earn money and babysitting and cutting grass is fine.
But we need to teach ourselves and our children how to operate on a global level. Both my children also when they were young, they were involved in businesses that were. Network marketing businesses. So they would get checks. This was back when we get checks in the mail They would get checks in the mail from their little network marketing business Of course my name was on it, but they were doing the business So these are things that that's the key protect and the growth There are so many different ways to grow money But I like the way that I I learned from a couple of my mentors from afar Which is cash flow banking.
I don't know if you've [00:25:00] talked about that on your show, but using insurance to to grow your wealth. And I have, a few of those policies. So I'm able to borrow from my own, self and use that money and then put it back and borrow again, as opposed to begging the bank every time. The property that I have some property here.
Besides my house, I have some property in South Fulton County. I have Three properties in Costa Rica. I have the house that I stay in, but then I'm developing. I'm a budding real estate developer. I have my company there and here sister company, middle of paradise. Middle of paradise in the United States, middle of paradise in Costa Rica.
I have some hilltop property and some beach.
Naseema: Mm-hmm
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: I think that discipline is what we lack in order to move forward. If we say, this is what I want and I'm focused on it. I'm not going to let anything distract me and I'm going to get the help that I need. Now, that is something that's important. I had a mentor.
I had several mentors. I had, A couple of [00:26:00] mentors that I knew face to face and then mentors that I joined some like mastermind groups. And between all of those, I didn't have to reinvent the wheel. I followed the path that they took so that I could be in a situation where I had the money and I did what I was supposed to do with the money that I knew was going to work because they had done it.
I was what, 18 days in Costa Rica, since the 13th of February. And it was a joy for one of my mentors face to face to come and visit me on his way to Panama and see, the results of, what he taught.
Naseema: Yeah, I love that. I love that all the things you talk about those small sacrifices that you have to make what I want people to understand is that You have to make small changes and they're not big things, but they will make you uncomfortable. You have to get uncomfortable just for a little while for big changes.
And I tell people like when I was getting out of debt, [00:27:00] like. All of that stuff, it seemed and when I was working on it, it seemed like it would be forever. But when I look back, it was only a little over 2 years, and from there, those things that I've set in place, I haven't even had to do too many things on a day to day basis.
To turn that money into a million dollars, and that's why I tell people it's just getting uncomfortable for a little while. It's putting those things into place right now. That'll help you grow. But the thing is that people just want to keep on pushing it off and pushing off and pushing it off and there's no better time to do it than now.
But like you said. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. You don't have to do this alone. There are thousands of people that have done this before you. All you need to do is find the right person that can show you their road map and follow the steps. It's not that hard.
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: You're right. And one of my mantras is life begins at the end of your comfort zone. And, I've found [00:28:00] that to be true with a lot of people. I've really. Never had a comfort zone just because of the way I was raised. But people will get in and they'll say, I'll say, how are you doing?
I'm okay. Under the circumstances. Do you understand what that means? Circumstances means you're standing in a self imposed circle, looking out at what everybody else is doing. So you need to get out of that self imposed circle and figure out what you're going to do to make money. There's so many, there, there are eight or nine ways to make money on YouTube.
There's ways to make money blogging. There's, podcasts, all these different things. Creating a product one time and selling it thousands of times will bring you money. I've written 10 books and I get money every day because people buy the books every day online. So that's something that's going to take you some time. It may take you six months, but it should take you six months or less to write a book, figure out what people want to hear about.
Maybe you have a dynamic story. Maybe you have some [00:29:00] skills that are in marketing to help people. You have some health tips. I had one client. She was making a million dollars because she was selling something for the gut. She got from 1 million to 3 million because she got on there and she Whatever it was she was selling it was, so figure out what the marketplace wants and market that to them, whether it be a product or service.
I like more so if you create a product, and this is what one of my mentors said, create a product with a profit margin of 20 and you have to sell 50, 000 of them. But if you create a product with a profit margin of 200, you only have to sell 5, 000 of them. And if you create a product with a profit margin of 2000 dollars, you only sell 500 of them.
If you have something like a, for example, yourself, you're a nurse, if you come up with something that you have the background in health. If you come up with something that you could sell, whether that be a course on how we eat better or a course on something, [00:30:00] you sell that course for 1, 997 and you sell that course.
It's let's say it's an eight week course, 10 week course, you get people paying you 2, 000. It's not going to take long before, you're in a situation where you're making money and you're making money faster than you spend it. This is what I tell people to do. I have to help them along though, because they don't know what to do.
1 lady said, I want to do some quilting. I love quilting. I said, baby, you need to keep that a hobby because Walmart and target have quilts. So we have to start out at the beginning. Do you have the right business? Once we figure out that you have the right business, how do we start it? And that calls for how do we set it up also?
Do you set it up as a sole proprietor, a partnership? A corporation. Where do you set it up? Everybody runs down to their local secretary of state. Is that the right thing to do or is it not? I only have one business with my footprint in [00:31:00] Georgia because I like anonymity and privacy. So there are certain places that you set up businesses that will do better for you.
There are certain places. If you want to grow your business and sell it, then you start out in different states.
Naseema: But how did you learn where those places were and how to do that? Yeah.
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: , and learn from others that are online teaching. there are certain people that are. Companies that are willing to just give you a little information. The mentors are willing to share everything with you, especially if you're paying them and they don't mind. But I learned from some great mentors what to do, and I've shared that information.
Some of that I share just online on my YouTube channel. Some of the, I share privately with the clients, just to get them going. I have several clients that have started businesses that have grown their businesses. I have some clients that have been zeroed out with the IRS based on what I told them and one that [00:32:00] recently got money back.
So I'm really wanting us to win. I want the little guy to win. And I want everybody to start some kind of a home based business so that they can write off everything. As soon as you start the home based business, you can hire your Children. You can write off your cell phone. I bought at the end of last year, based on how much money I made, I bought a new souped up Apple computer the a couple of years before that I was made some money and I'd rather do something with it for the business, then give it to the IRS. So I had a huge party at a hotel and it was like a celebration and a thank you for my clients. And I had all those clients and fed them dinner and that and they appreciated that. But they got something in return. For me to appreciate what they did and the iris didn't get that money. I'm here to teach people how to keep protecting grow. I'm here. I don't invest in IRAs 401ks mutual funds or anything like that. I invest in hard [00:33:00] assets, silver, gold and real estate, something that I can hold in my hand. Or put my bare feet on to get grounded. That's it. I had a professor in my freshman year.
I went to Tuskegee Institute and yes, it was Institute. That was a long time ago, but he said, among other things, land is the basis for all independence. So I think that. They're trying to take that away, with these 15 minute cities and all the stuff that's going on, but land is important. Our forefathers, had land.
Everybody had a garden. These are things that were important because if the grocery stores closed down, for example, in my neck of the woods in Costa Rica. Just go pick something off the trees or you go in fish. But when the grocery store is closed down here, we don't have pandemonium. So these are things to think about as opposed to making somebody else rich by sitting in front of the electronic income reducer every day.
And the news, I don't even watch the news anymore because it's like, it's so negative. You wake up and you [00:34:00] turn any alarm goes off and there's death and destruction and fires and all this. And you go to bed to the same thing. It's keeping your mindset. In a negative position and that negative energy is not doing any good positive energy Thoughtful energy and strategic thinking is the way to go.
Naseema: I love all those things and those things I definitely don't usually invest in and talk about, but I think that that's very interesting. Like, how you develop that philosophy. And I think that there's a lot of truth to that. I really always appreciate when people come with different perspectives, because I definitely don't operate in the echo chamber.
I, I love that.
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: i'm out of the box I don't even know what the box is anymore and my philosophy about investing is I don't invest in anything that can Disappear in the blink of an eye there. There are movies out there and things online That'll show you that the stock market is being manipulated. It's rigged So nobody winning, but Nancy Pelosi and all of them, they have insider information.
Naseema: Pelosi
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: It's, it's not just [00:35:00] like you said earlier, it's not meant for us to thrive.
And I'm out of the box to teach people how to really thrive because they're not teaching that
Naseema: Yeah. I love that. You did talk about like mentors and that you even pay for mentors. How do you go about finding your mentors and what's your overall philosophy about paying for mentors?
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: time is infinitely more valuable than money. And if it's going to take me 10, 000 hours to learn something, but I've researched and I see that that person has it down pat, I would rather pay them than try to go over it on myself and mess up and spend 10, 000 hours and still don't have it. So I watch people.
I look at what they do. I look at what they say. I look at their lifestyle and I, and if they are practicing what they preach, they don't have to be a millionaire, but if they are practicing what they preach and they've got it down pat, then I said, okay, I'll pay you to help me to grow my business or I'll help, pay you to teach me how to do international real estate or [00:36:00] whatever that is now.
I didn't get any, I had to go to the school of hard knocks with the international real estate. So that's going to be one of my new areas to teach people. About international real estate and how much different it is and what they can do to make sure that they don't run into the roadblocks and have to reinvent the wheel like I did. But yeah, mentors are very important because you, they help you change your mindset. They keep you on track because a lot of times we could sit and Terry, you're excited about something like at the beginning of the year, you want to lose 50 pounds and all that. And then, maybe the next month and then you're losing your motivation.
But a mentor like myself. I'm going to kick you in the behind. Where are you? You haven't called. What are you doing? Because you paid me and I produce results and I can't produce results if I let you pay me and then you disappear. So you're on the when you get me as a mentor.
Naseema: I love that. Dr Jackson, so how can people work with you or find your abundance of books or [00:37:00] resources?
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: So my website, which is being redone because it's got some flaws in it, but it's still there right now. It's sherrypeeljackson. com. And I have a special gift for any of your listeners. If they would go to my LinkedIn. And write in the word tax, then I will give them one of my books. My first book called Basic Financial Survival.
It's a book and a workbook together, and it teaches you some of this practical stuff that I was talking about. I guess it's the forerunner to the KPG, but they can just say tax in there and I'll send them the free book. And they can get in touch with me through LinkedIn and through my website.
Naseema: Is it just like on your LinkedIn page or they're messaging you on LinkedIn.
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: Messaging me on LinkedIn, just send a message that says tax, and that'll let me know that, they want to information about the basic financial survival book. They can also ask questions about, my consulting. I do have consulting. I have small consulting, like one hour or three hours, but I [00:38:00] also have three months, six months up to a year plus.
And then some of my premium consulting, I actually literally take people with me on excursions to Costa Rica.
Naseema: Wow.
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: Where they get to see, the beauty and learn and, see if they want to invest because a lot of people are concerned about the direction that the United States is going and a lot of people in other cultures already have a plan B, so we need to wake up and get the plan B.
Naseema: I love that. And I just love that. You turn everything that you've experienced that could be like, look that as like an adversity, like something that can set you back and use that to grow like your experience with the IRS could have been like, Oh, I'm just so depressed. And I just won't do anything.
You turn that and turn those lessons into a profitable business and to help other people. So I really love that. I love yeah. People that turn, all of these [00:39:00] testaments into a testimony, right? All these tests into testimonies. And it's just encouraging to see and I love what you're doing because I know when the people like, maybe I need to leave, I need to put together a plan B and C.
Because things aren't looking very nice, especially for black people in America right now. And if people aren't seeing it, it's like that slow simmer and we got to get out before the pie gets too hot or or figure out a plan of what we're going to do. Because it's nothing is going to be in our favor, but I love what you have for people like you have practical guidance and everything that you're saying are things that are totally attainable and doable.
So I really appreciate you sharing with us and I'm going to link. All of these resources in the show notes of the episode. So you guys remember to hit up Dr. Jackson on LinkedIn in her DM so you can get that tax code. And then I'm sure you can check out all the other resources that she has, especially I'll link [00:40:00] all of the everything in there.
Anything else you want to leave people with.
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: Yeah, I want to say, and you said something about how I've made all this adversity and turned it around. My father used to say something and I found out later that it came from my grandfather. And it's just simple. Keep getting up. Keep getting up.
Naseema: Yeah, I love that. I love that you can knock me down but i'm gonna keep on getting up and that's my philosophy In life, too So i'm glad that we see eye to eye on that But I just appreciate you coming on and sharing all these gems with my audience I know they'll take a lot away from this and I just hope that this will be Another wake up call for them to start taking action.
Yeah, reach out to Dr. Jackson. See what she has in store, but I hope you guys really enjoyed this conversation as much as I did. And I really appreciate you, Dr. Jackson for
Dr. Sherry Peel Jackson: Thank you so much for having me on, Naseema. This has been great. I really love what you're doing. And, people are listening. I [00:41:00] see that you have a nice audience. And I pray that as they listen, they put these things in action.
Naseema: Same, same. Thank you.
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…
We talk about how debt can make you feel sad, stressed, or stuck, and why it’s important to heal your money story.