Common Sense Millionaire
Common Sense Millionaire
EP 20: A Common-Sense Guide to Reaching Your Financial Goals Through Small Business, Robo Investing and More
In this episode, I'm having a conversation with Tiffany Largie, CEO and founder of DO THE DAMN THING, exploring alternatives to conventional investment methods like stocks and bonds. Tiffany and I navigate how small businesses can be a powerful asset for wealth creation, especially if it's something you're actually passionate about. We also explain the concept of robo investing and share some of the best online platforms for managing investments. More than that, we're going to talk about black-owned banks in the money arena and the potential cons of banking with big institutions.
So, let’s dissect the changing economy, spread some truth around recession, and discuss investor impacts on the US housing market. I'm sure you've noticed the rising costs of airline tickets and skyrocketing car prices, but don't worry, I have a tried and true 4/10 rule for buying cars.
Let’s go!
Thank you for listening to The Millionaire Mindset Podcast with George Dines.
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a common sense millionaire here. I got a very special moment coming up. I was actually walking down the street one day and I actually ran into one of the most important people that I have met in the last five years of my life. That's Tiffany Largy. We had a ridiculous conversation and I just want to share with you some of the items that we talked about. It was just incredible moment. It was hot as hell outside but we had to come inside so that we could finish up the conversation because it was a hundred and something degrees. But that's okay. Here we go. I hope you all enjoy this and as much as I enjoyed speaking with her, I guess we'll just get going. Welcome to the Common Sense Millionaire, where we work to promote your financial advancement in knowledge, process and education so that you and your family become financially secure. This is the place I share common sense action steps that you can take today to assist your financial advancement. So sit back, grab a drink and let's get started.
Speaker 2:Tell me about this thing. Every business owner I know started their business for one or two reasons. Either one they're like me and they had to create like they had to solve a real-world problem. Yes, right, like for me. I was putting my kids to bed hungry. I was always angry, frustrated, and me starting a hustle, first because I just sold my way, and then figuring out how to take my hustle or my ability to sell into a business is how I ended up today. But there are other people who they're like oh my gosh, I need to be a trillion era and I need five bettonlies, Do you still? I believe that a small business is the way to wealth, faster than anything else. That's my perspective. I want to hear is that crazy for you?
Speaker 1:It's not crazy. I mean, that's how everything started. That's how Henry Ford started, in a barn trying to put together a car. And look where Ford is now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:It's not where it used to be because he's gone, so the impetus that went into making this grow is not the same as it was 75 years ago, whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah but yeah, business is really it, Because most people are doing something that they really love.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And this in our lives is really one of the few opportunities that we have to do something that we really love.
Speaker 2:I agree.
Speaker 1:Okay, how many of you all are out there just doing stuff for a check? Correct? There is nothing worse than just doing something for a check, and that's where this world is moving.
Speaker 2:We're saying that, say that in these streets there is nothing worse than doing something for a check. I can't even. Oh man, that is it, yeah.
Speaker 1:Once you start doing something just for the check, you're going down the road of a negative, repetitive activity. And one way that you can break out of that is if you have a particular talent, if you have a particular skill that you can market itself, give it a shot. That's what really makes the country grow.
Speaker 2:Let me ask you this. So about eight years ago and I just want to get your feedback on this I shot a video and it's called the fastest way to wealth and in the video it says you know, every guru tells you that you need to invest in stock and bonds, you need to get real estate. But I was like, forget those two avenues. For me, both of those I need something to make something. That's my philosophy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay. So Investments are a good thing. The key is, yeah, you do need some type of institutional investments for your savings.
Speaker 2:Institutional. You're going to break that down. I need English. I need like poor man's words here.
Speaker 1:You need to put some money in the stock market. Okay, over the past, over history.
Speaker 2:Is it like $50? I need.
Speaker 1:Well, no, you could.
Speaker 2:You looked at me you were like what? $50.
Speaker 1:Whatever you got hey, whatever you got Okay. Okay, I respect that and $50 is not going to open an account for you. Some places have minimums, okay, unless you want to try to do it yourself, which I do not recommend Really. No Now, for instance, for me.
Speaker 2:You don't recommend doing it yourself. Hold on, hold on. Do you mean like opening the account online? The Shars Schwab thing?
Speaker 1:And like Well with a company like that, and I try not to use company names- but, those, a lot of those companies require that there's a broker Involved. Okay, so yeah, your money is going to pay for that guy's salary.
Speaker 2:Got it.
Speaker 1:I have played with what they call robo investing, where I just invest money on a monthly basis. Wait what was that name. It's called robo investing.
Speaker 2:Robo investing For all the people like me. I want to make sure you have the English version.
Speaker 1:Yes, and that's where algorithm determines what is going to make up your portfolio. Or you say that, hey, I'm going to. Robo investing.
Speaker 2:Robo investing.
Speaker 1:So I have an account where I play with that. Yeah, yeah, and I'm very happy with the performance.
Speaker 2:So robo investing money's being pulled out automatically. How do you bank account for three months? All this automated stuff. Yeah, it's got to be automated, got it, so it's being pulled out. It goes into some something.
Speaker 1:I've made a determination of how I want the assets allocated. Okay, the money is split, goes into that asset.
Speaker 2:Give it dirty. What are the three online places? If I were going to go to our browser that you would suggest that or that you like. Maybe that you're not suggesting, because we can't suggest anything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but what do you like? Yes, we're not making a suggestion.
Speaker 2:We're not making a suggestion. I'm not an accountant.
Speaker 1:The one that I'm going to go with, one that I think that I like, that I have worked with. Okay, it's a wealth front. Okay, I would. I would really look at that Wealth front. Wealth front, got it. And guess what? Tell me, doesn't cost you anything, uh.
Speaker 2:Uh, but isn't that?
Speaker 1:There's no. There's no fees.
Speaker 2:But isn't that that Robinhood thing?
Speaker 1:no, fees thing too? No, it's not. Is that equal to?
Speaker 2:I'm not talking about the Robinhood, listen, I'm so back words that think of me as like I know that I know that it's something to think, that I and like I have all the knowledge and all the fancy words.
Speaker 1:I understand, but I'm literally like Robinhood was rather interesting when it first came out Fantastic. But it's no longer standing there by itself. It was purchased by a major company.
Speaker 2:Fair enough Okay.
Speaker 1:So typically. So I don't know what's going on with it. You know in detail, don't worry about it, but typically, you know, usually when the big guys get involved, there's fee structures that they're looking for Totally. So that's why I look for just you know, very simple. I say I want 10% by this asset class. My money gets allocated. Okay, I have a way of not, I don't look at this stuff because you look at it, you're like, oh, maybe I'm smarter than the people or the algorithm or the market. No, you're really not. So I'm just going with it, I'm playing with it, I have some money in there and I want to be able to tell people hey, look, you know, this worked for me. So something that you might want to think about, got it.
Speaker 1:Most recently, I had my niece. Okay, she just graduated from college. I pulled her aside. I said look, you know what You're going to be making money. Now. I said do you want to be like the majority of people out there that when they're in their 60s, they don't have anything or they don't have enough saved to take them to 85. Okay, I said you need to start saving now. I said do you want to be rich? She says yes, then you have to listen to what I'm telling you and you need to start putting your money away so that 30 years from now, you have over a million dollars. Okay, I said you got to stop the spending. None of the fake jewelry and designer clothes and all of these things that are really waste of money. Okay, because the Gucci bag in a good mean crap when you're 80 years old and you can't eat anything.
Speaker 2:But hold on, wait a second, because I want to talk from a business owner's perspective. Sure, what if the Gucci bag gets her a man? No, no, I'm serious because there's an idea, just like in your knees?
Speaker 1:How does the Gucci bag get you a man?
Speaker 2:Listen, it's just like in business. So there's a rule of thumb that if I look and dress a certain way, I'm always going to get a certain type of a customer or client. I'm a man, uh-oh.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:This is getting awkward.
Speaker 1:I see somebody with a whole bunch of Gucci and Louis Vuitton and everything You're running the other direction. That's a waste of time because their mind is not focused where I think it should be.
Speaker 2:Got it. So you're like uh-uh, yeah, I mean, I just Do you feel the same way when you do business with people? Like, think about the vendors and customers and clients? That I'm not clients.
Speaker 1:Well, it's the ones I have to turn away. Who, um, uh, they have a business. It might be successful, yeah, okay, but not paying stuff on time, not planning for their taxes, and what happens with that? Folk like that okay, 10, you know they get nice cars and all this other kind of stuff, but at the end of the day it doesn't give them anything. Yeah, what you're going to do with the car.
Speaker 2:Got it. Okay, this is fair. So for you you're like mm. I think a rule of thumb for sure for everybody is get rid of the expenses.
Speaker 1:Foolishness, the foolishness I'm telling you. In my opinion, 30 years from now, this country's going to look different. I mean, I'm going to be old as hell then, so, but I think that people are not getting prepared and understanding the changes that are occurring and they're not being prepared for that. So you know, I don't want to sound like a conspiracy person or anything like that no, no, no.
Speaker 1:I appreciate this the key is that we've got to change how we're interacting financially and I think also, as African Americans especially, have to change. Okay, Because you know we're buying things that create no value.
Speaker 2:We're buying things black people. Can I call them black?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can call them black folk.
Speaker 2:Okay, I have a hard time with African. Americans, that's okay, black folks are buying things that sometimes don't have long value.
Speaker 1:It doesn't make sense. This doesn't make sense. A handbag five grand, okay, you could invest that. Okay, pretty much, you know, 10 percent time over time at some point.
Speaker 2:It's going to become something. What does that mean? Time over time?
Speaker 1:Over year annual periods, yeah, so in the future. In the future, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm breaking that word down for all of the people who might ever listen to this, who are just a business owner and they know how to make a lot of money.
Speaker 1:Okay, and you were talking about the man, right. So I said, yeah, I'm a man. Well, this is what men do, this is what I think men do, so let me, here we go.
Speaker 2:I'm going to be. This is going to get good. This is going to get personal. Here, let me lean in. This is what men do.
Speaker 1:This is going to get good.
Speaker 1:I'm closing my eyes for this because I don't want to hear it. So my wife, my wife and her family everyone in her family lives to over 90. Okay, okay, over 90. Everyone in my family is, like, typically gone by 75. Okay. So, as a man, okay, I have to make sure that my wife is good, so that she's not eating cat food at 90. Okay, so everything I do is set up for that. Yep, okay, yes, there's enjoyment, we have fun, we take trips and all that. But at the end of the day, my job is to make sure that she's good. And that was the only way that I figured that I could do it, which was how do I accumulate assets for both of us in retirement, but primarily for her, because she's going to be around 1995. That's just how it is. That's the reality.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 1:Face the reality.
Speaker 2:That's like the cutest love story. I didn't know, george even had that in you, but it doesn't surprise me.
Speaker 1:I had difficulty. I had to almost start from scratch. It was difficult as hell. Okay, how old were you?
Speaker 2:Not how old are you? What chapter, what phase were you at in your life? Not how old were you, what phase were you at? Because for me, I feel like I have started over more than once, and I think that's the way life is, though.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is. I mean, I was at 40, 42 or something like that and I was like what the hell? I don't have, I don't have shit. I don't have anything as much saved as needed. Totally, I had to get credit back in shape. Okay, I couldn't go buy a car, right, and so, yeah, things started over. I relocated, picked up some very pretty good positions, well-paying positions that allowed me to advance, Okay, and to get in there and take care of the future.
Speaker 2:I get it. I get it, I get it, I hear it. What do you feel like? Is the number one myth that you're hearing around? That around, just like money in the US. What's one of the myths that you're like? Oh, I bought humbug. Is there really a recession coming.
Speaker 1:I feel like it's already here. You know, if there were a recession, you know, you know love you and everything, but I wouldn't be here If I knew that I'd be a genius, but I don't know so much a recession as a change. I think, it's yes, Just say change. I agree 100%. I don't know about the recession thing.
Speaker 2:What do you think about this housing thing that's happening? All these investors who have come through the US bought up a gazillion houses for platforms like Airbnb, like here in this city during, you know, superbowl was here, and I remember having quite a few conversations with people who had portfolios, or, either directly or indirectly, with people who had portfolios of you know, 30, 40 properties in here ready to rake up for Superbowl, only to find out that, as packed as we were here, that 50% of their inventory just sat and I thought to myself that's crazy, because they are the first people who came in, drove up the pricing market. They completely pushed out single moms. In my opinion, they completely pushed out average families from being able to just buy a piece of property.
Speaker 2:They lopsided the market, buy themselves and now, and on top of that, these properties came and they sat. What's your thought or feeling around the truth of where we are, the housing market, and my random annoyance with investors at that level?
Speaker 1:It's very difficult because it depends on where you live. Okay, so I'm, you know, I'm from the Washington DC Maryland area. So right now in that area, in that space, okay, the money, the big money, has kind of been spent. So a lot of properties in that area are cash only, sales Shut up. So, especially in the higher price ranges, it's cash only. Okay, there's not.
Speaker 2:I need a moment for that.
Speaker 1:Not doing a $2 million mortgage right. So now those people, it appears, are satisfied and happy. So market is kind of changing, okay, and what's also happening is, because of the increase in the interest rates, it's making things much more expensive for folks. So it's kind of difficult.
Speaker 2:Are people moving out? Are they moving out of there?
Speaker 1:Not really. You know, DC is kind of state. The DC area is stable because seat of government is there, so it's a continual flow in and out of people. So that's so interesting. It's kind of difficult for folk and families. Now this thing you were talking about Airbnb, so the city of DC has decided to regulate how those things are managed.
Speaker 2:Oh, they are yeah, to make some housing available.
Speaker 1:But look, I've talked to guys and they're talking about how they may make $5,000 or $6,000 a week off of a property. So it's kind of interesting and you can do that in DC because of people still wanting to go there for tourism and all of that and don't want to stay in hotels. I mean, we've seen price increases everywhere.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about airline tickets.
Speaker 2:Oh, don't even. Oh, my God, don't even get me to that topic. What the hell is happening? What the hell is happening, yeah, Airline tickets are ridiculous.
Speaker 2:It's crazy that their airline tickets are ridiculous and that they're able to cancel, like the amount of customer service or customer experience has just gone, ooh, and they maintain the price. And the craziest thing for me is sometimes, especially this year, going onto a plane. I'm like the plane's full Because I didn't expect that, you know. I'm like wait a second, these tickets were $700 and this thing is full. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:So let's go to the thing I hate the most car prices.
Speaker 2:You've talked about this before.
Speaker 1:No, no, this is out of control. I mean, I went just to look at some cars and because I've had mine car for a few years, it's all paid off yeah yeah, yeah. Well, I'm not getting another car right now. That's just not happening Because prices are ridiculous. You go to some of the car lots and I wanted a little SUV and they have like markups on it for like $10, $15,000 on the car.
Speaker 1:Insane and I'm like what the hell? What the hell? Because of tarot it's going on. And then who the hell is paying this Tarot? They're talking about people who are now have a monthly payment of like around a thousand bucks on a car.
Speaker 2:On a regular car. It is in On a car Insane.
Speaker 1:So you know my rule.
Speaker 2:I know your rule For buying a car Isn't the rule the 410, rule the 410.
Speaker 1:Give it Four year least car no more than four years old and 10,000 miles. Okay, a year, Okay, I don't know where you're going to find that now. I have a guy who helped me get the car.
Speaker 1:He goes out to the auction for me picks the car and comes back but can't find what. He can't find what I want and, as a matter of fact, I've given him a bunch of referrals and he's having a hard time finding what these folk want. So I don't know, it doesn't make sense. It's not making any sense. What's? The solution for this, the 410 rule is a problem now because these cars are so expensive that when people either lease them or pay for them, they don't do the maintenance on it.
Speaker 2:No, they don't.
Speaker 1:They don't want to pay the maintenance?
Speaker 2:Okay, they don't, and they don't feel like they need to, because they're going to be getting rid of this car.
Speaker 2:Anyway, the car anyway, and I think, that's a good reason because of the amount of incentives, especially coming after the pandemic, as the manufacturers. I wanted to use the word recover, but I have so many mixed feelings about what recovery really is for these companies because they paint these. But there's so many companies painted these pictures I've got. I'm recovering and I need to recover, but then you look at that report at the end of the year and you're like you made how much in profit. What are you talking about? Literally Like it's the most asinine ass backwards kind of approach for me and I say to myself how, what's the win? Is the win even for me? Like, as I teach people, is the win for me to teach people how to make more money? Yes, I can, but I almost can't teach them anymore about making more money without teaching them how to be better with money that's correct and how to navigate. What the hell is happening?
Speaker 1:I'll be in a meeting and someone's like well, how can I? I save money? I said well, I said let's, let's look at this. I said I can guarantee almost let's say almost guarantee I can save you $4,000 a year right off the bat.
Speaker 2:Okay, tell me how to save $4,000 a year.
Speaker 1:Cancel, your damn cable Cancel your cable. Anybody paying a cable bill of 350 a month. Oh yes, you have lost your freaking mind, correct, okay.
Speaker 2:It doesn't make any sense to me.
Speaker 1:I have not had this argument, I bet I was like no People are paying 350 a month. As a matter of fact, when I told a client that they didn't like that message, I said well that's right.
Speaker 2:You told me about that.
Speaker 1:I said yeah, you want to save 4,000 a year here. This is it, Boom, Boom. You could use that for this. We have got to figure this out as people, as everybody has got to figure this out.
Speaker 2:Everyone has got to figure this out. Yeah, I find that you know my money's savanness, so I'm going to tell you something you probably don't know. I don't think anybody knows about this, but you're about to hear I know this is coming and we can't turn back from this. Okay, so let me take a deep breath.
Speaker 2:20 years ago maybe a little less than 20 years ago I was a coup-bonner oh, okay, no, no, the extreme couponer, okay, and I used to have 20 to 30 newspaper papers every single Sunday and cut coupons. I Used to get my family to get involved in this. Did you ever know this about me? I Used to get my family, my kids, everybody. But let me take you one step further. I'm gonna show you how serious and deep this is, because I want you guys to be like oh, she's wins a storm bot.
Speaker 2:20 papers no, the truth is that sometimes I couldn't come up with the papers because they would all be gone. But guess where I would go to go get them? The garbage I would dumpster, dive into the garbage Crawl inside. I want everyone to get this visual because of how important Saving money, having more money, being in control of my money, was now. Before that, I didn't come from like this long line of like, like money saviness. I actually, jada, maya, were really young and we just were in such a bad world, bad situation Financially, and I went to visit a church one day and the ladies you know how those women surround you and suck you up and they'll like come to Bible study or woman something group.
Speaker 2:They didn't know who they were talking to, but I went to it anyways and as I was sitting there, I thought the whole thing was useless and very upset. And then someone went oh, I caught my coupons and she had this very neat binder. Now I'm telling you this because she had this binder and all it took was me seeing this binder and then making a decision. The truth is that I feel like every person can make a crazy money decision right now, where they are and sometimes You're you make the decision, you get going and then you spiral out of control.
Speaker 2:Every time that I like, every time that I Think about me couponing, it's probably one of the happiest times of my life and I owned a hustle there, not a big business, but I say it's one of the happiest times of my life because I was so on top of how much did I spend for that thing? Like to the penny. So I was a person who went into the grocery store 200 dollars worth of groceries, paid $5, and and for me, like I felt like it was a way of life. And just last Month, my daughter, or last month or two months ago, my daughter was like mom, we should start couponing again and it wasn't out of a place of need. But I realized that the action was tied to the behavior.
Speaker 1:Okay. So let me ask you this All right, you do this couponing, right? So let's just say, at the height of your, of your couponing, let's just say, for our units sake, you had it was the Sunday paper which usually has the most coupons, right? Yeah, all right, so let's all right. How much did you say of a month?
Speaker 2:well, this is a little excuse just from the coupons because I was buying to save, but I was also buying to sell no, no, I understand, but that's.
Speaker 1:But when you were Saving, how much did you say?
Speaker 2:I don't know about the month. Okay, so I would say a couple thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 1:But I think you kind of got to where I was going. So you, you, you saved, but then you use that to fund a business to sell.
Speaker 2:Yes, I would buy more products. Yes, that's fine.
Speaker 1:That's what you made money totally okay. So what'd you do with the money? Paid bills okay.
Speaker 2:Point, the whole point is I could use it to invest. That's exactly right.
Speaker 1:Yes, I exactly were engaging in a, in a business activity which most people 90, 95 percent of people- wouldn't be doing correct. So that's why you know I was trying to get you on that one. No, but I didn't work because you know we did what. I was going to recommend I built it, but I invested.
Speaker 2:That's my point. I wasn't investment the same way. Businesses and investment, that's fine.
Speaker 1:That's fine. But I'm saying most people they save the money. Well, what do you do with the money? Do you do? You say, they just do the money and say I'm gonna put this in the savings account, or is it one of those Situations where oh well, you know, I want the handbag or something that's fine.
Speaker 2:They just throw it.
Speaker 1:I watch those, those coupon shows when the people are come on, but they they never give the result at the end. What was the end result of all of them in this?
Speaker 2:No, they don't give the result at the end, and that's what we all need to see.
Speaker 1:We all need to see a damn result for what we're doing.
Speaker 2:You know, I tell you what I know we got to get out of here, but I, you know even me thinking about couponing. I think my, I think that's I. I maybe didn't understand stocks and bonds back then, but I definitely understood investing.
Speaker 1:Well, most people don't trust it. I'm speaking for my family. My father did invest, but he never trusted it. But he came from an era where you couldn't go to an African-American person at any of the major brokerages Okay, they didn't work, they weren't allowed to work there, correct, okay. And this was the age when you paid huge commissions and basically went to pay for the salaries of the people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So he didn't trust the system Totally Because we were not allowed to play in the system.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:Okay, I get it, but now we can.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:We have black-owned banks that, unfortunately, I don't think we utilize enough or work with.
Speaker 2:I wanna hear you talk about that in the future. That's an interesting topic for sure. I don't want you to go there now because I know we could be here all day. But I'm like but black-owned banks that we don't really use, period, got it Okay? I?
Speaker 1:mean, we put money in that big bank that had the stagecoach that basically just ripped off their own clients. Okay, and we were some of those clients, correct, and we haven't moved.
Speaker 2:And we haven't moved. We kept our money right there. We kept our money in the same bank. We're like, yes, you did the whole thing. Basically, we're like it's okay, yep, it's okay, it's not okay. It's not no, George Dines everybody. Okay, George Dines everybody.
Speaker 1:So that's great. One day I'll see. Oh, I guess he's turning it off now, right?
Speaker 2:No, he's still going. He's turning it off now. No, he's not turning it off, he's still going. Oh man, this is the blooper section. This is no. This is going straight on the episode. Oh no.
Speaker 1:You've been listening to the Common Sense Millionaire, where you can learn how to go from zero to a million using common sense solutions to everyday financial issues. Make sure and subscribe to stay connected with more content, tools and help so you can advance towards your financial goals. If you need assistance or have questions, leave a comment or you can email me at george at commonsensemillionairecom.
