Issues and Answers (D2D)

Wisdom and Wealth

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Karen Thomas (Host), Reginald and Ebony clark

Home

Series Code: IAADD

Program Code: IAADD000031A


00:27 Welcome to "Issues and Answers."
00:29 Say have you ever felt like you'd like to figure out
00:33 how to be better off financially?
00:38 I know I've asked that question myself.
00:40 You know, some people seem to do all the right things,
00:43 you know.
00:44 They know how to be able to pass things on
00:46 and manage their finances so well
00:50 and you look around it,
00:51 it's not necessarily about income.
00:53 Well today we're gonna talk about wisdom and wealth.
00:57 Our guests are Reginald and Ebony Clark.
01:00 They're both graduates at the University of Memphis.
01:02 Reginald is a certified financial planner.
01:05 He's the first elder in his church
01:07 and a recognized leader
01:08 of America's financial planners.
01:10 Ebony is a tax accountant and an auditor.
01:14 Together they run P3 Financial Group.
01:16 And in between that,
01:18 they care for their three precious children.
01:20 Reginald and Ebony conduct seminars
01:22 and trainings to churches
01:23 and the public on how to care for their finances
01:26 and be good stewards.
01:28 Thank you so much for coming.
01:30 Welcome to the program. Thank you.
01:32 Thank you for having us. So glad you can make it.
01:33 Well, I want you to know,
01:35 I have compiled a list of questions
01:38 that enquiry minds want to know.
01:41 And one of those is, what is wealth?
01:44 You have the accountant's version of wealth
01:47 and you have the financial planner's version of wealth.
01:50 Okay, in the accountant and want a best of both worlds.
01:54 There we go.
01:55 So I'm gonna give you my definition.
01:56 It is your assets which is everything you own
01:59 minus your liabilities which is everything you owe
02:03 and what you have left is your net worth
02:05 and another word for net worth is wealth.
02:07 Oh, so it doesn't necessarily mean
02:11 that you are multiple millionaire,
02:13 multi millionaire, billionaire.
02:15 It just means that you've got something left over,
02:17 is that what you're saying?
02:19 You own more than you owe.
02:20 Okay, all right.
02:21 Financial planner?
02:23 Yes, and I don't disagree with that definition at all.
02:24 But I would add to that.
02:25 Wealth is also a measurement of time and not money.
02:29 Here is what I mean when I say that.
02:30 Wealth can be measured in time.
02:32 Wealth is about
02:33 how long can you step away from your job or business
02:36 and still maintain your current lifestyle
02:38 without an interruption.
02:39 For instance, let's say for instance,
02:40 if you have a $5000 saved up
02:43 and your monthly expenses are thousand,
02:45 well, I would consider you to be five months wealthy
02:48 'cause that's how long you can maintain your lifestyle.
02:50 So it's not always the measure of money,
02:52 wealth is also a measurement of time.
02:54 Okay, another question.
02:56 What does wisdom have to do with wealth?
02:58 Wisdom has every thing to do with wealth.
03:02 According to the scriptures, the scripture says,
03:04 "Fear of Lord is the beginning of the wisdom."
03:06 But if you add to that text,
03:08 go to Deuteronomy 8:18, it says,
03:10 "You shall remember the Lord thy God,
03:12 for it is He that gives you the ability to get wealth."
03:15 The one thing I want to bring out there is,
03:17 one thing I probably love that text, it says,
03:19 He gives us the ability to get wealth.
03:22 Two things there, one,
03:23 wealth can't be evil or inherently wrong
03:25 when He want to give us,
03:27 He want to encourage us to do it.
03:28 Two, He says He gives us the ability to do it,
03:31 meaning, we have a part to play.
03:34 You know, He did bless the children of Israel
03:35 all with manna from heaven.
03:37 And but even they had to go gather it.
03:39 So I have a part to play in my wellbeing.
03:42 I can't just sit at home
03:43 and expect God to just stuff it in a mailbox for me.
03:46 And all I'm doing there is just sitting.
03:48 It doesn't work like that.
03:49 Well, okay, let's see what else people want to know.
03:52 So glad you guys are here, you know.
03:54 Sometimes you meet the both people
03:56 financial planner and accountant
03:58 in the same room and you both Christians.
03:59 Good, I could ask my questions.
04:01 Okay, so in a very practical way,
04:04 how does one build wealth?
04:07 People want to know that.
04:08 They're really only three ways.
04:11 There you need to direct your cash flow,
04:14 increase liabilities.
04:16 Okay, hold on a second.
04:17 What does that mean?
04:18 We're gonna get to it. Okay.
04:20 Direct your cash flow, increase your liabilities,
04:23 increase your assets
04:24 and then use your liabilities wisely.
04:27 Absolutely, so you asked so how do we direct cash flow?
04:30 What does that mean?
04:31 Well, think about this...
04:32 Like direct...
04:34 Yeah, think about this.
04:35 Cash, and let me add to that too.
04:38 The most important word you'll ever learn
04:39 in all the financial planning is cash flow, okay.
04:42 Cash, you have to tell your cash what to do.
04:45 Cash flows like water.
04:46 Water takes the path of least resistance.
04:48 If you don't tell your cash where to go,
04:50 it's gonna find a place to go on his own.
04:52 And when we say direct cash flow,
04:53 there's a couple of stoppers you put up along the way
04:56 that where you're telling your cash flow where to go.
04:58 For instance, as soon as you get your income,
05:01 what's one of the first stoppers
05:02 that should be in place?
05:03 Returning the tithe in offer.
05:05 Yes.
05:06 That's your first stopper.
05:07 Your second is going to be your savings.
05:09 And often time this is where you pay yourself first, okay.
05:11 And we heard that term before, pay yourself first.
05:13 And for some people,
05:15 this is a really tough concept to get around,
05:17 but it's very important that you do that
05:19 because by doing that,
05:21 you're telling yourself how important you are
05:23 as well as you giving your cash another great place to stop.
05:26 And one thing I want to say about savings,
05:27 you need to do in terms of percentages.
05:30 Oftentimes we focus in,
05:31 I'm gonna save $50 a month or $100 a month.
05:34 We have to learn to think about money in terms of percentages.
05:37 A tithe is a percentage. Right.
05:38 If you go to buy a home,
05:40 debt to income ratio is a percentage.
05:41 Right.
05:42 So you need to purpose in your mind,
05:44 you're gonna save a percentage of your income,
05:45 not necessarily a whole dollar amount.
05:47 So after you return tithe and offering,
05:49 after you've committed to saving,
05:51 the next couple of stoppers along the way is going to be
05:53 your living expenses and your bills.
05:55 Can I go back real quick to the savings?
05:57 Absolutely.
05:58 What do you guys recommend as a percentage to save?
06:02 You know, sometimes people,
06:03 you know, what do you suggest?
06:07 A good percentage to start off with would be 10 percent.
06:10 But you have to look at your overall finances
06:13 because doing something is better than doing nothing.
06:15 It's about creating a habit.
06:17 So if you can only start with one percent,
06:19 you are still creating that habit
06:21 where you're putting the money aside for yourself,
06:23 and eventually you'll be able to increase
06:25 and then increase it.
06:27 So more importantly than the actual percentage is
06:30 deciding what you can comfortably do
06:32 and creating a habit of getting it done.
06:35 Absolutely, and I'll add to that.
06:37 That's great, you definitely get into a habit of doing it
06:40 and you eventually want to build up too.
06:42 If you can get to what I call the holy grail of saving,
06:44 as well as only taking you about 50 percent of your income
06:48 to sustain your lifestyle.
06:49 Fifty percent of your income?
06:52 Well, I mean, how many people get to that though?
06:54 I mean, your regular working person can get to 50 percent?
06:57 You can get there, I mean, it's about directing cash flow,
07:00 controlling, exercising modesty,
07:03 exercising restrain.
07:06 But you can definitely get there.
07:07 Because if you are... you think about it,
07:09 if you are only using
07:10 50 percent of your income to sustain life,
07:11 to sustain your lifestyle,
07:13 what are you doing with the other 50 percent?
07:14 There's a lot you could be doing.
07:16 Invest in, helping people what have you.
07:17 But you know, the most commonly people are told like well,
07:21 if they want to buy a car,
07:23 that would maybe 30 percent of their income
07:26 or if they want to buy a house
07:28 where your debt to income ratio needs to be 40 or 50 percent.
07:33 So it's very different than what you're suggesting.
07:35 You're saying to really live below your means.
07:39 Is that what you are saying?
07:41 Absolutely. Hard to say.
07:43 It's hard to say, it's even harder to do.
07:46 Like I said, that's what I call it the,
07:48 you know, the UV raft,
07:50 if you can do that.
07:51 But it's very possible.
07:53 It just takes planning and it takes discipline
07:56 and it takes Godly restrain.
08:02 The way it works together
08:03 where it talks about not coveting,
08:04 you know, not worried about what someone else has.
08:07 You have to focus on what...
08:09 you got to stay in your line,
08:10 focus on what you got going on and you can get there.
08:12 You can get there.
08:14 Now another key is not increasing...
08:16 Most people get some type of merit increase
08:18 on their job every year.
08:20 Exactly. Right.
08:21 When you get that increase,
08:22 that doesn't mean that
08:24 your expenses are supposed to increase
08:25 to eat all of that up.
08:26 That's true.
08:28 If you got a three, four, five, ten percent raise,
08:29 but you continue to live at the same level
08:32 that you've been living,
08:33 then that difference can be saved.
08:35 Absolutely.
08:36 And then another thing that we do,
08:37 about every six months
08:39 we pull up all of our bank accounts
08:40 and just go through and analyze it for anything
08:43 that I call a leakage.
08:44 And that maybe 999 service here that you signed up for,
08:49 699 there or you may sign up for some type of auto club
08:54 and it's 1499 a month,
08:56 then all of those things individually aren't a lot
08:58 but when you add it up,
09:00 you may have a 100, 200 dollars of services
09:03 coming out of your account every month
09:04 that you don't even use.
09:06 So you stop up that leakage
09:08 and that's the money that you can spend on other things.
09:11 And as well a lot of people who work,
09:13 they eat out five days a week.
09:15 If you start taking your lunch just three days a week,
09:18 say you spend $10, you're saving $30 a week.
09:21 If you compile that over the whole year,
09:23 that's almost $1,600 that you've saved
09:25 by just taking your lunch.
09:27 Three days a week.
09:29 That's it. Wow.
09:30 So there are small changes
09:31 that can make you have more cash flow
09:34 at the end of the month.
09:35 Wow. Absolutely.
09:37 So let's see. Here's another one.
09:40 How...
09:41 let's see here.
09:42 What sounds another key to building wealth, liabilities?
09:46 What's that?
09:48 Using liabilities wisely.
09:50 Your liabilities are anything that you owe.
09:54 So it's very important to get control over what you owe.
09:58 So can a person build wealth through liabilities
10:02 and so you're saying it needs to be controlled better.
10:04 You can build wealth with the use of liabilities.
10:07 But I'm gonna tell you when we talk about liabilities,
10:09 we're talking about debt.
10:11 Let's talk about how important it is to use it properly.
10:15 Just as medicine can be good but if taken it, you know,
10:19 outside the doctor's prescription,
10:21 it can be very harmful.
10:22 Debt is the same way.
10:24 So for the average person,
10:25 I would recommend just staying away from it.
10:27 Unless you got someone that assist to you
10:29 in a proper way to use it for wealth building techniques,
10:32 then you really don't want to go down that road.
10:35 But when we talk about getting out of debt,
10:38 let's talk about getting out of debt for a second.
10:40 We teach people to collect all their debt, all right.
10:43 Get out the credit card statement
10:45 and let's take a peek at
10:46 what is that you actually spend in,
10:48 that you're swiping this card for.
10:49 Are you swiping this card for things
10:51 that have no value at all?
10:52 For instance,
10:54 if I know I'm going to take a vacation in summer,
10:57 I can just swipe it or I can save up
10:59 and just pay for the vacation.
11:00 Just think about this.
11:02 If I swipe that card to pay for my vacation,
11:04 when I come back,
11:05 what do I have a value concerning that vacation?
11:07 You're not gonna buy my pictures from me.
11:09 Right.
11:10 So, you know, so, although I had a great time,
11:12 it's not an asset.
11:14 I can't do, I can't make anything off of it so.
11:16 That's what we call red debt.
11:18 It needs to stop immediately.
11:21 Then we go on yellow debt
11:22 where we'd be using credit to debt
11:24 for the purchase of something that is an asset
11:26 but does not generate you income,
11:28 okay, such as the home you live in.
11:30 That's an asset
11:31 but it's not making you any money.
11:33 The car you drive, it's a depreciating asset.
11:35 So these are examples of using debt,
11:38 but you want to be careful when you do it.
11:40 And again, green debt would be is what I talked about earlier.
11:44 That using credit to debt
11:45 'cause you can actually purchase things like
11:47 as stocks with debt.
11:48 It's called a margin account
11:50 or you can purchase a rental property with debt.
11:52 But in those situations again, you want to be careful
11:54 'cause you want the cost of the debt
11:56 to be less than then income that is generating.
11:59 You want to make more money from the income
12:01 than what the debt is costing you.
12:02 So now every time you look at your bank account,
12:05 think of all of the things that you own and owe,
12:08 think about the stop light and color code your debt.
12:11 We actually advise people to do it.
12:12 Look at their finances.
12:14 Take out a marker? Write down every thing.
12:15 I got three markers.
12:17 I got three markers and mark them
12:18 red, yellow or green,
12:19 and that way you know anything red,
12:21 you need to stop immediately.
12:22 Stop immediately because it is,
12:24 what is that again?
12:25 Bad debt. Bad debt.
12:27 And it's a non asset purchase of...
12:30 Not an asset, in other words,
12:31 you can't sell it
12:33 or it doesn't have something you can hold or...
12:34 is that what you mean?
12:36 Exactly. Like a...
12:37 What if I like computers?
12:38 What kind of debt would that be if a person...?
12:40 That would be, that would be,
12:42 I would consider it a yellow.
12:43 It is something that has value but...
12:47 What about a student loan?
12:49 Student loan will be well,
12:51 there's a whole can of worms there,
12:52 the student loan...
12:54 Lot of people, that's how they get to college a lot of times.
12:56 Let's talk about that. Let's talk about that.
12:58 Student loan could be green debt.
13:01 But I'm so glad you brought that up.
13:03 Here's the issue with student loans
13:06 or here's the issue with college overall.
13:09 So many people today,
13:11 because student loans are so easy to get today.
13:13 So many people are getting student loans.
13:16 But they are pursuing degrees
13:18 that don't have the potential to pay them
13:22 for the cost of the degree.
13:23 What I mean by that is
13:25 you should never borrow more
13:27 in for your total degree
13:29 than what you can expect to earn
13:30 your first year doing what?
13:31 In one year. Yes.
13:33 That's wise. That's very wise.
13:34 Absolutely, because the student loan, if you...
13:36 there's a site you can go to.
13:38 I can't call at top of my head,
13:40 but there's a meter that showing
13:41 where we are as a country
13:43 as far as the amount of student loan debt is out there.
13:45 And what I want to be clear...
13:46 Really? Yes, there is.
13:48 And I want to be sure that people understand
13:49 student loan debt by law can never be bankrupted.
13:53 It's the only debt
13:54 you can't give it up through bankruptcy process.
13:56 So you either gonna pay it off or you're gonna die with it.
13:59 So be carefully with student loan debt and so.
14:01 Then a lot of people, they go back to school
14:04 because they don't know what they want to do.
14:05 Exactly.
14:06 Well, if you don't know what you need to do,
14:08 you can...
14:09 or want to do, you can take time to figure it out
14:11 but you shouldn't incur more debt
14:12 while you're doing this.
14:13 So I know so many people that have gone
14:15 back to get Masters degrees
14:16 because they weren't sure
14:18 how they wanted to use their undergraduate degree.
14:20 But you are about to incur another
14:22 60, 70, 80, possibly a $100,000 of debt
14:26 just to figure out what you want to do.
14:29 And if their Master degree has a potential to earn...
14:31 I said it, again, like she said,
14:33 the Master degree is going to cost you $40,000.
14:36 But only has the potential to increase your earning power
14:39 by another two or three thousand dollars,
14:41 is that a good return on your investment?
14:43 No. Not really.
14:44 Absolutely not.
14:45 So we really need to educate our kids
14:47 and our daughters as well,
14:48 think before you just go
14:51 planting into student loan debt.
14:53 So just think, if the school says,
14:55 hey you got $10, 000
14:56 that you can have for the semester,
14:58 doesn't mean to go get that $10,000.
15:00 Exactly. Exactly.
15:01 You're saying that you need to really be able to see
15:04 maybe go online or look and see
15:06 what the income is going to be
15:07 for that particular career path.
15:09 Absolutely.
15:10 And if you need...
15:11 loans are there if you need them
15:13 but only get what you need.
15:17 I laugh because I've learnt it the hard way.
15:19 We both did.
15:21 Then of course, there are some ways
15:23 that people are able to,
15:25 you know, find a way to get out of their student loan debt say,
15:28 by volunteering in the arm forces.
15:31 I would say volunteering but serving
15:33 in the arm forces or serving in public entities
15:38 where you get your debt forgiveness.
15:40 Absolutely.
15:41 And if you work, make ten years worth of on time payment
15:44 say you work for non profit, your loans are forgiven.
15:48 So you're saying it's a plan.
15:49 Come with the plan if that's what will take you.
15:50 Come up with the plan. Exactly.
15:54 So what are some other ways to be wise about wealth?
15:58 Now you defined wealth now,
16:00 guess we could all be wealthy in that regard.
16:02 You are saying that if we have a way
16:06 to pay for our living expenses
16:09 beyond the immediate month, we're wealthy?
16:11 Absolutely.
16:13 Is that what you're saying, really?
16:14 Absolutely, and let's think about
16:15 this along the same thing.
16:17 Remember in my first definition
16:18 I talked about time being able to walk away.
16:20 Tell me about that.
16:21 You may have given that in a seminar some place.
16:23 Tell us here about that?
16:25 Let's say...
16:26 let's talk about how the wealthy people do it.
16:29 How they think?
16:31 If I want to purchase a car, okay,
16:35 traditionally what we would do is go and borrow the money
16:38 and go out and buy the car.
16:39 But a person is thinking along the lines of a wealthy mindset,
16:42 they would say I need an asset to pay for that liability.
16:46 For instance, good, let's use student's loans.
16:49 If I want to pay back the student loans, I could,
16:52 you know, I've seen people having student loans
16:54 in excess of $100, 000.
16:55 That's no longer abnormal.
16:58 I could work really hard to pay this $100, 000 off
17:01 or maybe I could go purchase some rental property.
17:03 Get the rent from that, pay for the student loan.
17:06 So now I'm letting my assets pay for my liabilities.
17:09 And when my liabilities are paid for,
17:11 I still have my asset that still generate an income.
17:13 That's the bonus.
17:14 That's the bonus usually. Absolutely.
17:16 It's like the... It's like the bonus.
17:17 Tell us about that?
17:19 That's the bonus, the fact that once the liability is paid off,
17:20 once the student loan is paid off,
17:22 you still have the goose.
17:23 You still have what the goose is producing the egg.
17:26 The golden egg. Yeah.
17:27 Okay.
17:29 So you are not using the goose or using the eggs
17:31 and once it's paid off,
17:32 that goose is gonna continue to produce eggs
17:34 and that money can go somewhere else.
17:37 So you know, have you ever seen people that become
17:40 so obsessed with becoming wealthy that they, you know,
17:44 they are doing everything they can to, you know,
17:47 chase the money down?
17:48 Are you suggesting that for everything that we have,
17:51 we should be looking for some kind of way, I mean,
17:53 tell us about that.
17:54 What do you think about that?
17:56 You know there's a lot of things out there.
17:57 Yeah.
17:58 Well, yeah.
18:00 But we talked early that
18:01 the title of this topic is wisdom and wealth.
18:03 And what we want to be sure, we're doing as Christians,
18:06 we want accompany godly...
18:08 We want godly wealth because it comes with godly wisdom, okay.
18:11 We don't ever wanted to seek to build
18:13 wealth outside the will of God.
18:14 Wisdom being,
18:16 that's gonna lead you to a multitude of problems,
18:17 multitude.
18:19 You're gonna get rich yourself
18:20 involving get-rich-quick schemes
18:21 or business that's, you know, less than honorable.
18:25 So we don't want to get,
18:27 we don't want to find our self chasing that rabbit.
18:29 There's a scripture that talks about
18:31 the blessings of the Lord overtaking us.
18:33 I heard this term a lot, people say I'm paper chasing,
18:36 I'm chasing the money.
18:37 Well, I tried to live my life and I wish people lead a life
18:40 as such where I don't have to chase money.
18:42 God's blessings chases me
18:44 if you live in according to His will.
18:46 Yeah, that's excellent.
18:48 That's excellent.
18:49 So now how could a person be prudent
18:52 and responsible and understanding,
18:55 being within the will of God make certain decisions.
18:57 What's that way, you guys mentioned about
19:01 rental property or having a asset
19:03 perhaps that could pay for some.
19:06 How would one go about that if, you know,
19:08 they're not coming from a family
19:10 where people are really good at that?
19:12 Seek advice.
19:15 Just like if my car needs service.
19:18 I don't know how to fix the car.
19:20 So I go to someone that knows how to fix the car
19:22 and then I can be pretty sure that they are going to fix it
19:26 and I can be on my way.
19:28 And there is nothing wrong with realizing
19:30 where you don't know everything about a topic
19:33 and going to someone who can.
19:35 And I think that's being prudent.
19:37 It's seeking advice from professionals
19:41 that can help you reach your financial goals.
19:44 And though, I mean, even if it's...
19:47 If you don't have a professional
19:48 or you don't know someone directly to talk to,
19:52 then maybe you can use other recourses online
19:55 or sometimes you can just talk to someone
19:58 who has done it before.
20:01 And they can be a start.
20:02 So get the information
20:06 and getting the information that's being prudent.
20:09 And then you should be able to be successful.
20:12 And can I add something? Yeah.
20:14 Today, there's a ton of information
20:17 that doesn't cost you a dime on the internet.
20:19 Most of the books on personal finance are there,
20:22 you can just download them today.
20:23 So it's really not whereas back,
20:26 you know years before
20:27 that was a close guarded secret on a lot of stuff,
20:31 a lot of wealth building techniques
20:32 or just good information in general.
20:35 But a lot of the things...
20:36 Yeah, you could just download a lot of this stuff.
20:38 So, you know, just Google in,
20:42 you know, different headings,
20:44 how to be build wealth,
20:45 or how to manage my money builder.
20:47 There are so many websites,
20:48 even when you talk about balancing your check book
20:51 or just tracking your cash flow,
20:54 free websites that are available
20:55 to help you do that, to help you get started
20:57 because documentation is the key
20:59 to ways to beginning.
21:00 It's the first step of the whole wealth building process.
21:03 Okay, I have another question.
21:06 I am, have available on my job a 401k...
21:13 Okay. Okay.
21:14 Plan and I have options to be able to buy stocks or bonds,
21:19 you know, they go to, but the idea of,
21:21 you know, how do you, you know,
21:22 a lot of people, you know, with your job,
21:24 you get pension and you know, how do you,
21:26 what's a good way to do that?
21:28 Is it should we just leave it and let it go or as Christians,
21:34 is it okay for us to take a look at bonds
21:37 and stocks and then how?
21:39 What's the best way to do that?
21:41 Oh, that's a great, great question.
21:43 Let me jump in there.
21:44 Um, 'cause I get that question a lot.
21:47 Should we as Christians
21:49 because some of them purchasing stocks,
21:50 is it, is it, and I get the question a lot,
21:52 is it a lot like gambling.
21:53 Well, let's address that.
21:56 There's a difference between investing and trading, okay.
22:00 When you're stock investor, this is what you are doing.
22:03 You're examining the benefits or the merits.
22:05 You're looking at, what is this company producing,
22:08 what's their good of service, is it something that I like,
22:11 is it something that I use.
22:12 And you're also looking
22:13 at the fundamentals of the company.
22:15 Is this company making money?
22:16 Do they got a good board of directors in the place?
22:18 How is the management team?
22:19 That's the attitude of an investor.
22:21 An investor says, hey,
22:22 this company doing some good stuff,
22:23 they're making money, I want to participate in it.
22:25 I want to own a piece of that company.
22:27 That's all the stock is.
22:28 It represents ownership in a company.
22:30 Whereas a trader,
22:31 trader is not looking at any of the things
22:33 that I've just mentioned.
22:34 Trader is simply looking at stock prices.
22:36 They're jumping in, that's gambling.
22:37 They're jumping in and out,
22:39 they don't care what the company is doing.
22:40 The company could be sinful, they don't care.
22:43 They're just looking at the stock prices,
22:44 they're jumping in and out, that's gambling.
22:46 So investing and trading is two different things.
22:50 So I definitely encourage people to become investors.
22:53 By owning stocks,
22:55 stocks traditionally being the fastest appreciating
22:57 asset in this country.
22:58 So when you look at being a part owner
23:00 of some very reputable companies.
23:03 Yeah, you want to participate in that.
23:05 Absolutely.
23:06 So how does one go about it, again,
23:09 looking background or not, you know, again, the wealth,
23:11 and how to build wealth for people
23:13 who don't know how to build wealth.
23:14 How to be wise about wealth?
23:16 Maybe they inherited some money even.
23:18 Want to be wiser, they don't blow it, right?
23:21 Is it a good idea to go buy a lottery ticket for example?
23:25 No, that's not a good idea.
23:26 What's the Christian, we got to cover it.
23:28 We got to cover it.
23:29 What's the...
23:30 What's the...
23:32 How does God view lottery tickets?
23:33 I wouldn't advice that.
23:35 That, you know,
23:36 as the scripture talks about a get-rich-quick schemes
23:38 that they were following it there.
23:40 But you talked about participating in 401k.
23:43 If your company offers a 401k, you need to participate
23:47 because the thing about it is,
23:49 it's hard to miss what you never had.
23:51 The good thing about 401k is that,
23:52 they take the money out before
23:54 you ever have a chance to spend it.
23:55 And for most people,
23:56 they don't have that discipline on their own,
23:58 that's a great way to get some investments going
24:01 as well as prepare for your retirement.
24:03 And it's also they take it out pre-tax.
24:05 Absolutely.
24:07 So that's less money
24:08 that you use in the calculation
24:10 of how much your taxable income means,
24:12 so 401k is that's taken out pre-tax.
24:15 And then a lot of times the companies will do a match.
24:17 So they may say, okay, if you put in a dollar,
24:20 we'll put in 50 cents.
24:21 And that's free money,
24:23 so we definitely recommend people
24:25 to contribute to their 401k,
24:27 especially, if they're getting a match
24:28 from their company.
24:30 Well, some people would say, well, you know,
24:31 the stock prices going up and down
24:34 and with the market,
24:35 you know, we're just, you know,
24:37 recession and the economy going up and down,
24:39 is it a good idea versus
24:41 just putting the money in the bank?
24:43 Well, let's look at that.
24:46 The average bank right now as we speak today,
24:50 the savings accounts are paying a little less
24:52 or right at one percent, okay.
24:56 And you say, what else,
24:57 I mean, I know my money is going to be safe.
25:00 But you look at the average cost of prices rising,
25:03 is about three percent.
25:04 So if prices are rising at three percent,
25:06 but I'm only earning one percent
25:08 and that says I'm losing two percent
25:10 every year of my purchasing power.
25:11 So it's just the illusion of safety that you have
25:15 with just letting your money sit there.
25:17 So, yeah, stock markets move up and down
25:20 just like real estate moves up and down.
25:22 For years we thought real estate only went one way.
25:24 But the recent financial crisis taught us different.
25:26 The real estate can depreciate.
25:27 So but over the long run, over the long run,
25:31 the stock market has been a great place to build wealth
25:34 averaging 10 to 12 percent of its lifetime so, yeah,
25:37 in short, and you have to,
25:40 the way you balance that is,
25:42 you never put money in the market
25:44 that you need in a short time and by short time I mean,
25:47 within the next, you know, four or five years.
25:50 If you want to use the stock market,
25:52 use it for long term wealth build strategies,
25:54 anything five plus years.
25:56 Well, you guys have, and both of you...
25:59 Reginald and Ebony,
26:00 you both have answered so many wonderful questions.
26:03 You're just so wonderful resource.
26:06 I really appreciate your coming.
26:07 One of you can have prayer before we close out today.
26:11 Sure, absolutely.
26:12 Let's bow. Okay.
26:13 The Lord, thank you so much for another day.
26:15 Thank you for the wisdom
26:16 you've given us to build wealth.
26:18 Thank you for giving us the ability
26:20 to build wealth as well.
26:21 Lord, thank you, please help us to be better
26:24 stewards and managers of our finances
26:26 and help us to consult you
26:28 and seek out opportunities that you would be pleased with.
26:32 And give us a mind and the knowledge
26:33 to bless you with all that we do.
26:35 Give us a heart, to purpose in our heart
26:37 to return unto you a faithful tithe
26:39 and honest offering and let us not be hoarders
26:43 but let us have a mindset to bless others
26:45 as you have blessed us.
26:46 We ask these blessings in your Son
26:48 Jesus' name we pray, amen.
26:49 Amen. Amen.
26:51 So if we wanted to be able to have you come
26:55 or if someone watching the program,
26:57 are you guys available to travel?
26:58 Oh, absolutely. Definitely.
27:00 Okay, so do you have like one day seminars,
27:03 how does it work?
27:05 Yeah, we do one day seminars.
27:06 We've done...
27:08 do a lot with churches.
27:09 We can come in and do
27:11 a Wednesday night Bible study...
27:12 Oh, really?
27:13 Yeah, yeah, Wednesday night
27:15 or Monday seminars, workshops,
27:17 we like workshops 'cause it's more interactive.
27:19 On various topics so it can be as broader,
27:21 specific as you want it.
27:24 Absolutely.
27:25 Well, again, thank you for coming
27:27 all the way from Memphis, Tennessee.
27:29 I appreciate the sharing that you did today.
27:31 And for those of you at home,
27:33 I hope that the program was really helpful.
27:35 I know, I kind, you know,
27:37 it's nice as a host
27:38 when you get to get information from your guest.
27:41 So I know it benefited me tremendously.
27:44 So I hope it does for you at home.
27:46 So hey, we did learn today that we can all become wealthy
27:51 just by learning how to live within our means
27:53 and learning how to live underneath our means.
27:56 We've learned that God has given us
27:58 all the ability to be able to get wealth,
28:02 and so we want to be able to be a blessing
28:05 and open up our hands and our hearts
28:08 to receive whatever God has for us.
28:10 Thank you for joining us today. May God bless you.
28:14 Have a great rest of the day. Bye-bye.


Home

Revised 2017-01-12