Podcasts about Quicken

Nationally syndicated financial columnist and author Terry Savage joins John Williams to talk about President Trump’s ambitious AI infrastructure investment, the S&P hitting all-time highs, and why she recommends Quicken's new product called LifeHub. Terry also answers all of your financial questions.

Nationally syndicated financial columnist and author Terry Savage joins Lisa Dent to highlight a new service from Quicken called ‘LifeHub’ that allows you to store information in case of an emergency.

‘Hear my prayer, O Lᴏʀᴅ, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness. ‘And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. ‘For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead. ‘Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate. ‘I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. ‘I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah. ‘Hear me speedily, O Lᴏʀᴅ: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. ‘Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. ‘Deliver me, O Lᴏʀᴅ, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me. ‘Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. ‘Quicken me, O Lᴏʀᴅ, for thy name's sake: for thy righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble.' —Psalm 143

Today, we're unveiling the 2025 Method to transform your money mindset. Whether you're overwhelmed by debt, stuck in a savings rut, or simply stressed about money, this episode is packed with actionable strategies to help you think differently and achieve financial comfort.    Important Links: Website: http://www.yourplanningpros.com Call: 844-707-7381   ----more---- Transcript:  Speaker 1: Today we're going to tackle the money mindset transformation method. Hopefully to get us on the right path for thinking in 2025, some positive thoughts and some resolutions maybe, if you will, here on Plan With The Tax Man.   What's going on everybody? Welcome into the final episode of the 2024 calendar year of Tony and myself's podcast here. Plan With The Tax Man. Of course, Tony is the tax man, Tony Mauro. He is Des Moines professional alternative at Tax Doctor Inc., of course, he serves clients all over. So if you've got some questions, need some help, reach out to Tony and his team at Tax Doctor Inc., online at yourplanningpros.com. That's your planningpros.com. He's a CPA, a CFP and an EA of 30 plus years experience in the industry. So great resource for you to tap into.   And Tony, you and I were talking about trying to eat better and get healthy and so on and so forth. And it is that time of the year, right? The end of the year going into the new season where we all want to do some sort of resolution or mindset change. And so we thought it'd be a good idea to maybe talk about that from a money standpoint. How to take some of the negative thoughts that kind of permeate our brains and find a positive better way to spend those. And so I thought that'd be fun this last episode. How you doing?   Tony Mauro: I'm doing good. Coming off Christmas and yeah, everybody's thinking about the old New Year's resolution, so this is perfect timing.   Speaker 1: Do you consider yourself a glass half empty or glass half full kind of person?   Tony Mauro: I'm the glass half full for sure.   Speaker 1: Okay, good.   Tony Mauro: And I do spend some time every year just kind of going through what I want to do for the upcoming year, both my wife and I, even on a personal level, whether it's vacations or just stuff needed around the house to financial moves. It's a time of year to put them down and see what happens.   Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. Yeah, so if you've got any tips on how to change your mindset along the way and building new habits, well obviously it's a great time to share them. So what I'll do, Tony, is I'll give you kind of the negative thought that we tend to hear in the industry and then you give us maybe the more positive upbeat way of thinking about it, try to change that mindset. Okay?   Tony Mauro: Okay.   Speaker 1: All right. So we'll just jump around on my list here because Lord knows there's plenty of them. So let's start with a negative thought that's certainly been bothering people this past year with inflation being so high and the cost of living going up and credit card debt got a little out of control. People will say, "Hey, debt, it's ruining my life." They can't see past some of the charges they've ran up. What's a way to reframe those negative thoughts, if debt is ruining your life or you feel like it is?   Tony Mauro: You feel like it is, yeah. Well, and you hear that a lot and most of the time people say that because they look at their credit card statements because that type of debt can be ugly to start looking at. Certain types of debt really aren't as bad as people think. Mortgages are something most of us need. We can't buy our houses for cash. Student loans with low interest rates allow us to get further ahead and make more money with our educations. And so both of these generally are paying for assets that you can use in the future to hopefully help you increase your wealth and get to your goals. Now, the happy-   Speaker 1: It's an investment in yourself, right? Yeah.   Tony Mauro: It's an investment in yourself. If you do have the bad debt though, you need to work with somebody, even if it's bad, there are ways that you can tackle that bad debt. So eventually you're not going to be having that bad thought of it's ruining your life. You got to take action and do something about it.   Speaker 1: Yeah, it's true. So looking at the other types of debt and saying, "Hey, these are an investment in me," that's a positive way of doing that. And maybe that flows right along with this one too, which is the negative thought is, well, because it's so expensive right now, I don't earn enough to save, let alone invest. I'd like to, right? I'd like to save more. I'd like to invest, but God, I'm just living paycheck to paycheck. I don't earn enough to do so. And that's a tough one, especially when we're younger, so when we're in our twenties or even thirties, but we've got to find a way to turn that negative positive.   Tony Mauro: You do. And really the easiest way is to start very small. Well, I should back up a minute. The easiest way is you need to work with somebody I think, to figure out what you've got coming in and what you've got going out every month and literally detail it out. Because there are some small, small cuts that we all can make on things we blow money on to at least divert into some savings. I mean, if it's 20, 30 bucks a month-   Speaker 1: Exactly.   Tony Mauro: ... or 50 bucks a month, it gets you on the road to saying, okay, I can do this. And for most of us, whether it's a pack of cigarettes, a case of beer or Starbucks, whatever, once you start itemizing some of that out, you're thinking, oh gosh, we spend a lot of money on that.   Speaker 1: Amazon orders, right?   Tony Mauro: Amazon's another one. And so I think you got to take that mindset of surely you can find a couple of bucks, especially if you sit down and analyze it. Because if you start young enough, even small amounts can add up to big numbers over 20, 30, 40 years.   Speaker 1: Oh yeah, well think about something, I don't know, let me go with something as simple as like Netflix. It's a $30 a month subscription. So do you really need it? How much do you actually watch it? Now, I'm not saying that budgets are fun, but if you find yourself in that negative thought, out of that, I can't put anything away, $30 a month. If you're younger, well even if you're a little bit older, that adds up. 30 times 12. And putting in that something that's growing a little money, well then that's even better. So that's how you get that way.   And actually I'll use that one to jump to the next one. I'm going to jump around on my list here, Tony. But budgets, right? People are like, oh, budgets suck. They're restrictive. I don't want to have to live that way. And you could look at this whether you're a pre-retiree, which is a lot of our demographic, or retiree or even a little bit younger, you've probably lived on a budget throughout every stage of your life, but for some reason, retirees, they hate this word. They feel like, oh, I've worked really hard. I want to be able to enjoy myself in retirement. A budget doesn't mean necessarily that you can't enjoy yourself.   Tony Mauro: That's right. And everybody thinks that. If I create a budget and actually detail it out, that I can't go over this budget. That is so far from the-   Speaker 1: It's restrictive.   Tony Mauro: ... truth.   Speaker 1: I don't want to have to live on a plan. But you've always lived on a plan.   Tony Mauro: Whether you wrote it down or not, you've always had a plan. It may have been a bad plan, but if you ask anybody, in my opinion, what they.... They can kind of give you, "Well, I take in this much roughly, and I spend this much, and I don't know what I spend it on, but I know I do." That's kind of a half budget there. But if you can detail it out, all it is it points out things to help you make decisions. Do I still want to keep spending money on that or maybe I don't and want to divert it somewhere else? I have a budget. I mean, if you're really ultra into it, you need to use some financial software, in other words, Quicken, Mint, or some other ones, and have every transaction that comes in your household, every transaction goes out, detailed out in a little mini P&L or monthly saving or earning and spending report, so you can see.   For us, where we tend to spend a lot of money for example, is dining out. And sometimes we look at our thing and say, "Well, we spent a lot of money last month dining out, that's kind of over where we want to be. Maybe let's try to fix that."   Speaker 1: Reigning that in a little bit.   Tony Mauro: That's all budget is, is just reigning it in.   Speaker 1: Take that negative thought of it being restrictive and switch it to a budget is a tool for freedom. It gives me the freedom to go out to dinner, to your point you just made, because I know what my limits are. So we can go out and have ourselves a good time, but it also keeps me from getting myself into trouble. So again, taking the negative thoughts and reframing them in a positive manner. And look, you can play word association games if you want. A lot of people, instead of calling it a budget, they call it a spending plan, right? It's like, okay, fine, call it whatever you want. Call it hopscotch for all I care. But just realize that it can be a useful tool so that you don't get yourself into bad shape.   Okay, good. Good stuff. Let's see, what else could we talk about? Let's jump around different things. Taxes. So one of your favorite topics. So look, the negative thought is taxes suck. They're complicated, right? I don't get it. They eat up my income. They're taking so much of my money, right? Yes, it's hard to argue this one, Tony. It's frustrating, but how can we be a little bit more positive, at least as far as dealing with the fact that we don't have a whole lot of choice. We have to play this game.   Tony Mauro: You have to play the game. And taxes, you're exactly right, they're complicated. They are one of our biggest expenses. However, as bad, and sometimes I get on the government and everything, it's not like the old English where they just come around and say, pay us X, like to a king type of thing. They give us all kinds of laws that a lot of times, especially if you're trying to do things on your own, you don't take advantage of. Because there is some opportunities that they give you to save for retirement. They give you opportunities for deductions if you're out spending on a new house with a mortgage, student loan interest, some of that stuff we all talked about with the debt. So you've got to be able to take advantage of some of that because that is tax efficient investing and also spending. So while it's a bad thing, you got to use it to whatever laws are on the books at the time to the best of your advantage and to try to grow your wealth using that part of the game.   Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.   Tony Mauro: It's part of it.   Speaker 1: And right along with that is the structure of the system that we have is investing. The negative thought being, man investing is so risky, it's so complicated. Same kind of feeling. A lot of people are like, I want to do it, but I don't understand it enough or it intimidates me. So we've got to be able to be positive because it's still a great way for you to grow your wealth and obviously outpace inflation. So what's the positive spin?   Tony Mauro: I think the positive spin on that is your best bet is to work with an advisor of some kind so that they can explain how over the long term, it reduces your risk over time, especially with diversification.   Speaker 1: With a strategy, right?   Tony Mauro: With a good strategy. It's one of the only ways you're going to be able to grow your wealth for the future. There are other ways. You can have your own business, you can get into rentals. There's all kinds of ways to make money, but you got to be able to save some of that money for the future. And I think that's where some people get a little intimidated, especially with the 24/7 information we have coming at us all the time. I mean, whether it's TV, internet, everything else, it's really not that complicated, especially if you have a long-term goal.   Speaker 1: I was going to say, the key I think I took from you there was the long-term approach. If you've got a straightforward long-term approach, you don't have to be trying to day-trade or be some sort of Wall Street whiz kid, but a simple longterm approach can significantly reduce the risk concerns that you have. Now, you're still going to have money at risk. That's the point. So that you can kind of grow and outpace inflation. But I think it doesn't have to be nearly as intimidating as many of us initially make it out to be. My wife says the same thing. She's like, "Oh, I don't want to mess with that stuff. It just scares me too much." So I started showing her some simpler things and she's like, "Oh, this is not so bad." So it's just a matter of coaching.   Tony Mauro: Training. It is. And really with today's, especially in the funds area, mutual funds, they make it pretty easy, and they have great portfolios, many of them, and make it very easy for a small investor to just get started and it's pretty set it and forget it. You got to have a plan in place, but you definitely want to keep a long-term approach. And I wouldn't let that get you too down about it.   Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, for sure. All right, well I'm going to do one last one, negative thought. I'm going to combine two because they kind of work together to me. But the negative thought people have is just around money in general. I'm terrible with it. It's stressful. I make bad decisions with it. Whatever. Whatever you kind of find yourself feeling about money. Like, "This thing, I stink at it. It just stresses me out." Well, there's a simple way to think, you've got to change your mindset about money because it's obviously something that we have to use in society. So what's the positive thought about it?   Tony Mauro: I think the most positive thought that I always think about, and I tell my son this too, everybody wants to achieve whatever level of wealth that they can. But it really just is a tool, I call it a tool to use for experiences that I want to do while I'm on this planet and give me the time that I can go out and do them while I still have-   Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a tool. Exactly.   Tony Mauro: ... some decent health.   Speaker 1: It's no different than a hammer. If you're trying to build a house, you need a hammer. If you're trying to build a life, you need money. It's a tool.   Tony Mauro: It's a tool. I mean, it would be great if we all could do whatever we want and there was no money and we just did whatever we wanted and we could do it. Well, that's not the way the world works.   Speaker 1: You just showed up at Disney World and they let you go around and do whatever you want. Unfortunately, somebody has to pay for the maintenance, right?   Tony Mauro: Somebody has to pay for all that. So it shouldn't be stressful for you. It shouldn't be the root of your problems. But I think this is where some of the stuff we've talked about in the past and even today, about staying on track and having a plan and having someone help you so that you don't feel stressed out about this money stuff because it really shouldn't be stressing you out.   Speaker 1: Well, as we go into the new year, making resolutions is something we all do. So start trying to be more positive, I think, in not just necessarily making a resolution or a wish, because is it a reality if you don't act on it? Maybe write some things down. That goes a long way for people, have success doing that. Maybe write down some goals that you want to attain and then take some action steps on how to do that. And maybe for many people, the money side of things is just finally working with someone who can shine the light on the stuff that we're just not used to doing day in and day out because we're so busy living our lives. But we do need that tool, that tool called money.   So get yourself on the calendar, reach out to Tony and his team at yourplanningpros.com. Get some time to talk with them in the New Year at yourplanningpros.com. And don't forget to subscribe to us on Apple or Spotify or YouTube, whatever platform you like listening to podcasts on, and that way you catch new episodes when they come out. Tony, thanks for hanging out my friend. Have a great New Year and I'll see you in the New Year.   Tony Mauro: We'll see you in the New Year and everybody else have a great New Year as well. Stay safe.   Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. We'll catch you next time here on Plan With The Tax Man with Tony Mauro from Tax Doctor Inc.   Securities offered through Avantax Investment Services SM, member FINRA, SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Avantax Advisory Services. Insurance services offered through an Avantax affiliated insurance agency. Investment strategies discussed in this episode may not be suitable for all investors. Please consult with a financial professional.

The Matt Gaetz report is out, so Trump will surely offer him another job. Surely in need of new Pampers, the President Elect wants to buy Greenland, take back the Panama Canal and occupy Canada. Surely unrelated to the whole canal thing, Shitler is being sued by Panama for tax evasion. Diaper Don reminded America the human impersonator known as Elon is not the president. A GOP congressperson was secretly admitted to a dementia facility. Lumpy brained Pillow Czar Mike Lindell hid financials behind an uncrackable password protected Quicken account. Alaska Repubs rejected a Trump plan to rename Denali. Self-proclaimed Nazi and North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, AKA Tiny Soldier, logged into an online meeting using his Nude Africa username. In an effort to convince the anti-Globist mouth-breathers of our planet's shape, thoughtless leaders of the flat Earth movement were flown to Antarctica. Speaking of flat, Lara Trump blathered she didn't want to be the Crab's Senator.

In this episode of Boldin Your Money, Steve Chen connects with FinTech pioneer Mark Goines, the force behind TurboTax, Quicken, and Personal Capital. Mark reveals the keys to scaling innovations, mastering distribution, and how AI is transforming the future of financial services. Packed with insights on building impactful products, driving growth, and embracing change, this episode is a must-listen for anyone navigating money, technology, and the evolving financial world.

How can the death of a spouse affect the surviving partner's financial stability and credit score, and what steps can be taken to mitigate these impacts?We discuss financial challenges facing Ohioans aged 50 and over, with a specific focus on surviving spouses. Featuring consumer law attorney Laura Nesbitt, the episode focuses on the financial instability that can arise after the death of a spouse, emphasizing the importance of managing banks, bills, and credit scores effectively.Laura highlights that accessing accounts often requires a death certificate, and autopay bills can become problematic without account access. Estate planning should extend beyond a will and power of attorney, incorporating detailed financial documentation to facilitate smoother transitions during crises. Technology aids like Monarch Money, Quicken, and password management tools can help manage finances and account access. Regular credit report checks from major agencies are recommended to monitor and manage accounts.Addressing legal responsibilities, Laura advises against paying a deceased spouse's bills, except in joint account situations. She explains how nursing homes might wrongly bill family members and the need to verify any obligation to pay. Estates with assets or debts generally go through probate, allowing six months for creditors to file claims post-death. Informing credit bureaus of a spouse's death and freezing their Social Security number can prevent new debts and identity theft, while freezing one's own credit can be protective and temporary.Laura discusses the burdens and stigmas of homeownership and bankruptcy. Full mortgage leverage can risk financial instability if the market drops, making Chapter 13 bankruptcy a viable solution for stripping second mortgage liens. She highlights that renting may be more economical for older individuals with no home equity.The financial impact on surviving spouses can include reduced Social Security benefits and loss of additional income. Comprehensive financial information and family support are crucial, with open discussions about managing finances and knowing available resources. For families with dependents like grandchildren, seeking financial contributions from other household members is vital.Laura emphasizes that people often delay considering bankruptcy despite its potential benefits, due to the credit industry's stigma. Bankruptcy can stop creditor contact and prevent further credit score damage. Suitability for bankruptcy depends on individual circumstances, with certain debts like student loans and recent tax debts being non-dischargeable.Key Moments00:00 Consumer law attorney, bankruptcy expert since 2009.03:08 Importance of managing credit scores after spouse's death.09:17 Utility bills can impact credit if reported.12:40 Ensure personal account responsibility; avoid joint accounts.13:24 Keep financial accounts separate to avoid issues.16:32 Organize finances and passwords for estate planning.22:07 Check credit reports quarterly to monitor accounts.24:08 Verify responsibility before paying deceased spouse's bills.27:42 Consider freezing credit, especially for security.31:28 Research carefully before entering debt management programs.35:47 Evaluate finances and debt; bankruptcy may help.38:25 Chapter 13 bankruptcy can strip 2nd mortgages.40:09 Older spouse survivor faces reduced income sources.43:09 Generosity often leads to personal financial debt.47:27 Merging firms for comprehensive tax and bankruptcy services.49:00 In-house services streamline, avoid restarts, ensure continuity.We would love to hear from you.Give us your feedback, or suggest a topic, by leaving us a voice message.Email us at...

A recent survey from Quicken reveals that 43% of Americans with side hustles earn more while working fewer hours than those without additional income sources. The most successful side hustles include personal assistance, cooking and baking, and caregiving. About 20% of respondents identify as business owners, selling products online or offering various services. Many participants report financial benefits, with 82% stating that their side hustle helps them avoid living paycheck to paycheck, and 57% maintaining savings that cover at least four months of living expenses. Younger generations, particularly Gen Z, show a trend where 44% start side hustles to gain skills for future careers, contrasting with 18% of the overall population motivated by the same reason.Learn more on this news visit us at: https://greyjournal.net/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I'm excited to welcome a very special guest: Duncan Lloyd from Maxïmo Park.Duncan has been a driving force behind Maxïmo Park's distinctive sound, known for their energetic blend of indie rock and post-punk revival. It was a real pleasure to sit down and chat with him about his life and career.During our conversation, we explored Duncan's journey—from his early days growing up, to his experiences in school, and his time in the local music and clubbing scene. We also discussed his musical influences and some of the records that have profoundly shaped him as an artist. From personal anecdotes to his creative process with Maxïmo Park, this episode offers a deep dive into Duncan's world, both as a solo artist and a member of one of the UK's most enduring indie bands.I hope you enjoy listening to our chat as much as I enjoyed recording it. If you'd like to support the podcast and help ensure more great conversations like this one, please consider contributing through the links below:Buy Me a CoffeeAcast SupporterPatreon.Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and follow us on social media so you never miss an episode:Off The Beat & Track PodcastWebsite: www.offthebeatandtrackpodcast.comTwitter: @beatandtrackpod Facebook: Off The Beat & Track PodcastMaxïmo Park: A Glimpse Into Their LegacyMaxïmo Park emerged from Newcastle in the early 2000s, riding the wave of the post-punk revival that saw bands like Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand rise to fame. With their debut album, A Certain Trigger (2005), they quickly distinguished themselves with sharp, infectious songs, thoughtful lyrics, and lead singer Paul Smith's charismatic stage presence. Tracks like "Apply Some Pressure" and "Graffiti" became instant indie anthems, praised for their raw energy and heartfelt storytelling.Duncan Lloyd, as the band's lead guitarist and one of its primary songwriters, played a crucial role in shaping Maxïmo Park's sound. His guitar work brings an intricate, sometimes angular, quality that complements the band's emotional depth. Over the years, they've released several critically acclaimed albums, including Quicken the Heart (2009) and Too Much Information (2014), all while evolving their sound but maintaining the same passion that drew fans in from the beginning.Beyond Maxïmo Park, Duncan has explored other creative outlets, including his solo work, which showcases a more introspective side. His experiences with both the band and his solo ventures reflect the depth of his musical background and influences, spanning everything from classic rock to more experimental genres.Maxïmo Park continues to remain a vital force in the indie sceneSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/offthebeatandtrack. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/offthebeatandtrack. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Your running cadence is the pattern or number of steps you run per minute. Increase your cadence and you're halfway to running faster. Lengthening your stride is the other half of the equation, but doing that can be problematic. It's far more effective to focus on quickening your feet. Let's explore why. On today's show, I'm going to dive into your running cadence. I'll go over: why focusing on your cadence can be an important tool for gaining speed with lower injury risk, some myths about the ideal cadence for runners, and I'll explain a few techniques for improving your cadence to help you get faster quicker Welcome to the Planted Runner. I'm Coach Claire Bartholic and my mission is to help you improve your running, your mindset, and your life with science-backed training and plant-based nutrition. If you need more help, you can order my book The Planted Runner: Running Your Best With Plant-Based Nutrition wherever you get books or request a copy from your local library.  Don't forget to stay tuned all the way to the end of the episode for another Mental Strength Minute. Fortify your mind in 60 seconds or less. LINKS: If you'd like help directly from me, you can check out my freebies, personal coaching, and sign up for my PR Team at https://www.theplantedrunner.com/link. For my recommendations of at-home equipment and other running products I recommend, check out my curated list on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/theplantedrunner NOURIFY PLUS from PREVINEX: Simply the highest quality, best tasting plant-based protein powder you can buy. If you are ready to simplify your nutrition and optimize your fueling, you can try Nourify for 20% off the regular price with my unique link https://previnex.refr.cc/default/u/claireb RECENT REVIEWS: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Great podcast! “Love listening to the podcast while running! There is a lot of great information!” Sleepy opossum via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 05/29/24 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Great content “Super informative and educational. Really enjoy the content.” Sara75001 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Informative and down to earth “Claire helps to educate her audience on the science of running but does so in a down to earth way. She makes complex things easy to understand. Her ability to understand her audience and passion for running makes this a podcast a must listen for those interested in better understanding running.” SK CND Music Credits: Music from Uppbeat

Your Daily Prayer

On this week's episode of the Agronomy and Farm Management Podcast, Josh moderates a discussion with Bruce and Kane Lewis, Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator in Scioto County, to discuss both Quicken and QuickBooks. Both Quicken and QuickBooks are different accounting software's that can be used for farm businesses. *Disclaimer – our discussion today is […]

August 18 Service Groveport UMC, Groveport Ohio WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS BREAKTHROUGH PRAYER: Amazing God, We pray that through the Holy Spirit Your preferred future for Groveport United Methodist Church will be made clear to us. Give us the courage we need to follow You wherever You may take us. We ask that You bind us together in love so that we can bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to our friends, families, and community. Open our eyes so that we may see the amazing things You are already doing among us. AMEN. PRELUDE “O Worship the King” LIGHTING OF THE ALTAR CANDLES *OPENING HYMN “The Church's One Foundation” #545 CALL TO WORSHIP: L: Have you heard God's call in your life? P: We're not sure. Sometimes we think we know what God wants us to do; but at other times things are not very clear. L: Place your trust in the Lord. God is with you always. P: Lord, it is a scary thing to do--to just place our trust in you. L: God is with you. You will be safe. P: Thanks be to God who watches over us and guides us. AMEN. HYMN “Go Down, Moses” #448 PRAYER OF CONFESSION: Lord, perhaps your voice issuing forth from a burning bush is what we need to shake us from our complacency. We have a hard time comprehending your call to us because we feel so inadequate to respond in faithful service. So we look to others to do the work. We are happy to support their efforts with our funds and our limited interest. Now, Lord, we need to take the next step into actual service to you. Forgive our slowness of action and heart, O Lord. Quicken our spirits to accept the call you have for us. Give us courage and strength to do your will and help others in need. We ask these things in the name of Jesus our Lord. AMEN. WORDS OF ASSURANCE FIRST SCRIPTURE READING: Exodus 3:1-10 OUR TIME OF PRAYER (During our time of prayer, the altar rail is open for all who wish to come forward.) HYMN “Sanctuary” PASTORAL PRAYER THE LORD'S PRAYER OUR TITHES AND OFFERINGS Special Music – Angela Martin *DOXOLOGY *PRAYER OF DEDICATION CHILDREN'S MOMENTS - (All children1st through 6th grades are invited to attend Jr. Church at this time.) SECOND SCRIPTURE READING: Exodus 3:11-4:17 SERMON “Who Am I?” *CLOSING HYMN “Take the Name of Jesus With You” #536 *BENEDICTION *SENDING FORTH “As We Go” POSTLUDE “Let There Be Praise”

Adam Nash is a long-time Silicon Valley executive, investor and advisor. He was the President and CEO of Wealthfront, a Product executive at Dropbox and LinkedIn, and teaches a course on personal finance for engineers at Stanford. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of Daffy, the donor-advised fund for you and a champion of charitable giving. In addition to his long and successful career he's also a husband and the father of four kids! In our conversation today we discussed:* How to raise financially literate kids* How to think about the question of “am I financially ready for children” and is that the right question* How to teach your kids about charitable giving and philanthropy* The challenges of starting a company as a parent* The concept of “super powers” at work and at home* How to talk about money with your wife and kids* How to do financial planning in your household—Where to find Adam Nash* Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamnash/* X: https://x.com/adamnashWhere to find Adam Fishman* FishmanAF Newsletter: www.FishmanAFNewsletter.com* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjfishman/* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startupdadpod/—In this episode, we cover:[1:41] Welcome[2:47] How did you develop your passion for finance?[5:31] When are you financially ready for children?[12:05] Was financial literacy part of childhood?[14:55] Kids ages and background[15:25] Decision to start a family[18:26] Guardrails[23:35] Conversation with partner about startup[27:12] Concept of superpowers[31:56] Advice to younger Adam[35:49] Advice to ignore[38:53] How do you build financially literate children?[44:09] What is a DAF?[51:18] Your family's philanthropy & impact[53:51] Financial review[57:27] Financial apps[58:48] Mistake as a dad[1:03:57] Rapid fire—Show references:Daffy: https://www.daffy.org/Wealthfront: https://www.wealthfront.com/Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/homeLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/Stanford: https://www.stanford.edu/Quicken: https://www.quicken.com/Steve Jobs: https://www.britannica.com/money/Steve-JobsDonorsChoose: https://www.donorschoose.org/Greenlight: https://greenlight.com/Monterey Bay Aquarium: https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/Acorns: https://www.acorns.com/Plenty: https://www.withplenty.com/Apple watch: https://www.apple.com/watch/Jewish Community Center: https://jcca.org/Cars: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317219/Animal House: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077975/Back To School: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090685/Real Genius: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089886/Star Wars: https://www.starwars.com/filmsBack To The Future: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/Toyota Sienna: https://www.toyota.com/sienna/Honda Odyssey: https://automobiles.honda.com/odyssey—For sponsorship inquiries email: podcast@fishmana.com.For Startup Dad Merch: www.startupdadshop.com Production support for Startup Dad is provided by Tommy Harron at http://www.armaziproductions.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit startupdadpod.substack.com

Matthew 16:1-4

Are you constantly wondering why your savings account isn't growing? In this episode, Allison dives into the sneaky financial habits that might be sabotaging your efforts to save more money. You'll learn about the common pitfalls that can drain your wallet without you even realizing it.You Will Learn:What These 5 Sabotaging Habits Are: Discover the habits that are keeping you from reaching your savings goals.The Impact on Your Financial Health: Understand how these habits chip away at your finances and what you can do to counteract them.Practical Strategies to Overcome These Habits: Get actionable tips and strategies to change these habits and boost your savings effectively.Plus, you'll walk away with an action plan for each habit, so you can start protecting your savings right away.If you're ready to stop the leak in your financial bucket and start saving towards a brighter future, this episode is for you!Article: How To Do A No Spend ChallengeCheck out Simplifi and Quicken!You Might Like: Get the BRAND NEW FREE Goodbye Debt Tracker! Grab my FREE Budgeting Cheat Sheet. Follow Allison on Instagram! @inspiredbudget Check out Inspired Budget's blog. Take my FREE class on How to Budget to Build Wealth!

I talked with a solo lawyer who rebuilt her practice for peak virtuality after the pandemic. Episode Highlights 01:07 - Lawyers' relationship with technology. 01:40 - Focus on solo law practice. 02:16 - Setting the stage for non-pitch discussions. 02:35 - Intro to guest and unique dog breed. 04:41 - Emotionally supportive dog and busy lifestyle. 09:56 - Transition from busy trial practice to ADR. 13:14 - Switching practice approach influenced by life and job changes. 18:15 - Moving IT and practice management to the cloud. 22:44 - Redesigning the website for better client interaction. 24:19 - Personal branding with logos. 25:29 - Implementation of MacBooks to enhance mobility. 27:39 - Choice of Quicken for bookkeeping from anywhere. 29:06 - Future projects including writing and a new website.   Episode Resources Connect with Jared Correia jared@redcavelegal.com https://redcavelegal.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredcorreia https://twitter.com/RedCaveLegal www.linkedin.com/in/jaredcorreia/ Connect with Valerie Botter https://www.botterlaw.com/  

Send us a Text Message.You know about Paul Fiore.  He's the man behind Digital Insight, the first big digital banking tool that was acquired by Quicken for $1.35 billion in 2007.Fiore is back dreaming big and his present focus is a company called WealthNext (nee Digital One), a CUSO that aims to bring powerful wealth management technology tools to credit unions.Wealth tech already is big business - just about every big bank already is in it and so are bushels of fintechs.  Credit unions are late to this game. But not too late.Fiore is optimistic that with the right fintech tools, credit unions can gain a major stake in wealth management - and in this show he tells why he believes that and also talks about how credit unions can get involved in the CUSO and how fintechs that want to be considered can reach out.In the show Fiore mentions CryptoFi, a crypto currency company (now named InvestiFi) that brought crypto to Tulsa credit union WeStreet.  A year ago we did a podcast on exactly this. There's a link in the show notes.  Fiore also mentions the CU2.0 CU 2.0 Live event that took place in Fountain Hills, AZ in early June. Our conversation in fact started there and grew into this podcast episode.Listen up.Like what you are hearing? Find out how you can help sponsor this podcast here. Very affordable sponsorship packages are available. Email rjmcgarvey@gmail.com  And like this podcast on whatever service you use to stream it. That matters.  Find out more about CU2.0 and the digital transformation of credit unions here. It's a journey every credit union needs to take. Pronto

Review Lessons 171-180IntroductionWe now review again. This time we are ready to give more effort and more time to what we undertake. We recognize we are preparing for another phase of understanding. We would take this step completely, that we may go on again more certain, more sincere, with faith upheld more surely. Our footsteps have not been unwavering, and doubts have made us walk uncertainly and slowly on the road this course sets forth. But now we hasten on, for we approach a greater certainty, a firmer purpose and a surer goal.Steady our feet, our Father. Let our doubts be quiet and our holy minds be still, and speak to us. We have no words to give to You. We would but listen to Your Word, and make it ours. Lead our practicing as does a father lead a little child along a way he does not understand. Yet does he follow, sure that he is safe because his father leads the way for him.So do we bring our practicing to You. And if we stumble, You will raise us up. If we forget the way, we count upon Your sure remembering. We wander off, but You will not forget to call us back. Quicken our footsteps now, that we may walk more certainly and quickly unto You. And we accept the Word You offer us to unify our practicing, as we review the thoughts that You have given us.This is the thought which should precede the thoughts that we review. Each one but clarifies some aspect of this thought, or helps it be more meaningful, more personal and true, and more descriptive of the holy Self we share and now prepare to know again:God is but Love, and therefore so am I.This Self alone knows love. This Self alone is perfectly consistent in Its thoughts; knows Its Creator, understands Itself, is perfect in Its knowledge and Its love, and never changes from Its constant state of union with Its Father and Itself.And it is This That waits to meet us at the journey's ending. Every step we take brings us a little nearer. This review will shorten time immeasurably, if we keep in mind that This remains our goal, and as we practice it is This to Which we are approaching. Let us raise our hearts from dust to life, as we remember This is promised us, and that this course was sent to open up the path of light to us, and teach us, step by step, how to return to the eternal Self we thought we lost.I take the journey with you. For I share your doubts and fears a little while, that you may come to me who recognize the road by which all fears and doubts are overcome. We walk together. I must understand uncertainty and pain, although I know they have no meaning. Yet a savior must remain with those he teaches, seeing what they see, but still retaining in his mind the way that led him out, and now will lead you out with him. God's Son is crucified until you walk along the road with me.My resurrection comes again each time I lead a brother safely to the place at which the journey ends and is forgot. I am renewed each time a brother learns there is a way from misery and pain. I am reborn each time a brother's mind turns to the light in him and looks for me. I have forgotten no one. Help me now to lead you back to where the journey was begun, to make another choice with me.Release me as you practice once again the thoughts I brought to you from Him Who sees your bitter need, and knows the answer God has given Him. Together we review these thoughts. Together we devote our time and effort to them. And together we will teach them to our brothers. God would not have Heaven incomplete. It waits for you, as I do. I am incomplete without your part in me. And as I am made whole we go together to our ancient home, prepared for us before time was and kept unchanged by time, immaculate and safe, as it will be at last when time is done.Let this review be then your gift to me. For this alone I need; that you will hear the words I speak, and give them to the world. You are my voice, my eyes, my feet, my hands through which I save the world. The Self from Which I call to you is but your own. To Him we go together. Take your brother's hand, for this is not a way we walk alone. In him I walk with you, and you with me. Our Father wills His Son be one with Him. What lives but must not then be one with you?Let this review become a time in which we share a new experience for you, yet one as old as time and older still. Hallowed your name. Your glory undefiled forever. And your wholeness now complete, as God established it. You are His Son, completing His extension in your own. We practice but an ancient truth we knew before illusion seemed to claim the world. And we remind the world that it is free of all illusions every time we say:God is but Love, and therefore so am I.With this we start each day of our review. With this we start and end each period of practice time. And with this thought we sleep, to waken once again with these same words upon our lips, to greet another day. No thought that we review but we surround with it, and use the thoughts to hold it up before our minds, and keep it clear in our remembrance throughout the day. And thus, when we have finished this review, we will have recognized the words we speak are true.Yet are the words but aids, and to be used, except at the beginning and the end of practice periods, but to recall the mind, as needed, to its purpose. We place faith in the experience that comes from practice, not the means we use. We wait for the experience, and recognize that it is only here conviction lies. We use the words, and try and try again to go beyond them to their meaning, which is far beyond their sound. The sound grows dim and disappears, as we approach the Source of meaning. It is Here that we find rest.LESSON 171Review of Lessons 151 - 152God is but Love, and therefore so am I.(151) All things are echoes of the Voice for God.God is but Love, and therefore so am I.(152) The power of decision is my own.God is but Love, and therefore so am I.- Jesus Christ in ACIM

Dwayne Keys grew up in Wilmington Delaware in what he describes as a very low income home with a single mother and two younger sisters. Dwayne constantly talks about how his mom instilled in him high values of ethics and self sufficiency. At the age of 16 his mother told Dwayn that he needed to get a job and begin earning an income to help support the household as well as to be able to buy things he wanted as a growing boy.   As Dwayne tells it, he moved from the 2nd smallest state in the country to the smallest one when he moved to Providence Rhode Island at the age of 18 to attend college. By the end of his college career he had obtained a Master's degree in marketing. He worked at several financial institutions, but in 2017 he decided it was time for a change in his life. He switched careers from working in the profit-making world to working for a nonprofit, Compass Working Capital as a financial coach to educate and assist low income people through a HUD program called Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS). He has risen through the ranks at Compass as you will hear.   Dwayne is quite passionate about his work. Over the next five years he hopes to continue to grow at Compass. Also, he plans to run for political office in Providence in 2026. He will tell us all about his plans. I bet he succeeds.   About the Guest:   Born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware, I grew up in a single-parent household with my mother and 2 younger sisters on my maternal side. As the oldest child and only boy, my mother was determined to instill responsibility and accountability in me from a very young age.   As a student, I was very interested in my marketing classes and participated in DECA, which led to me applying to Johnson & Wales University. In moving to Providence, Rhode Island to pursue higher education. While studying to earn my Associate's degree in Retailing, my Bachelor's degree in Marketing, and my M.B.A. in International Trade at Johnson & Wales.   After deciding to make Providence my permanent home during my first year of graduate school, I made it a point to expand my friends and networks to people outside of my college life by getting involved in many community organizations and activities in line with my passion for economic justice and prosperity. By participating in the Urban League and their Young Professionals, I was able to experience being a community organizer and activist while also being involved in politics at the state and local levels.   Over time, my focus has transitioned to that of ending systemic oppression and structural exclusion while also being a proponent of an�-racism and economic opportunity for all. While I remain a community organizer at heart, I've participated in decision making bodies with the City of Providence – Equal Pay Task Force, Special Commission to Study a Progressive Tiered Property Tax, Providence Municipal Reparations Commission – as an additional way of achieving equity and inclusion along economic means for Black and Brown residents in the city. This hasn't been easy working in the for-profit financial services industry, yet under my current employer I've found the perfect balance between my vocation and my commitment to community advancement.   Ways to connect with Dwayne: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwaynekeys/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/dwayne.keys3/ Twitter/X - DKeys_PVD Instagram – dkeyspvd   About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/   https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.     Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Hi, I am your host, Michael Hingson. And you are listening to unstoppable mindset today, we get to chat with Dwayne Keys. And Dwayne has an interesting story. One thing that really attracted me to Dwayne when we first started talking is he pointed out that he moved from the second smallest state in the union to the smallest state in the union. And I want to know more about that. So we'll have to deal with that and who knows what else. Dwayne, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're really glad you're here.   Dwayne Keys ** 01:52 I am so glad to be here with you as well, Michael, and I'm just looking forward to, you know, speaking and you know, for your listeners to hear more about my experiences story.   Michael Hingson ** 02:04 Well, let's start then. We do have to get to how come you went from bigger to smaller, but tell us tell us a little bit more about you growing up sort of the early Dwayne, if you will. Yeah,   Dwayne Keys ** 02:17 the early to Dwayne. I was born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware. I am, you know, some of the facts that people don't know until they really get to know me, I am the younger of fraternal twins that was born. So I had a twin brother to White who had passed away when I was a year, we were both a year old. So you know, I, you know, I my family expanded with my mother had two other children, my younger sister lover, who was two years younger than me. And then 11 years later, my mother had another addition with my other sister, Vivian. So in terms of growing up, that was my family unit in terms of what I knew, in terms of my father, I always say, I can count the number of memories on one hand of my father, although he did live in the same city. And he also had children as well. Siblings that I really didn't even today don't really know. But knew of and we're aware of.   Michael Hingson ** 03:23 So they were in Wilmington. Yeah,   Dwayne Keys ** 03:27 we were all in Wilmington. My first few years were obviously live, we're living with my grandparents. And, you know, my mother was a young single mother. You know, in hindsight now, it's very easy to say and speak of that. I grew up in a low income household because my mother always was working full time. Also, part time, she was always supporting us, the family, and there are moments where I can reflect on it, we were financially challenged, but yet, I didn't know it growing up, you wouldn't ever known that just how my mother was determined that we would have a comfortable living environment and that we had we need but it's now knowing when I know it's like, oh, we definitely were poor.   Michael Hingson ** 04:16 Yeah. Isn't it interesting how parents keep that from children. And I can appreciate that and understand it because she didn't want you to worry about those kinds of things right. Yeah,   Dwayne Keys ** 04:29 I mean, it's you know, it kind of thinking about it like you didn't you can remember there's moments where the electrical turned off or something that disconnected or there was a notice of something. But as I you know, I she was very supportive of me really, she was very direct on getting good grades, anything with less than a C was unacceptable in the house, and then even if you got to see that was still she always emphasized you can always do better But she definitely had a very high expectation of me not only of, you know, doing well in school, staying out of trouble, but also just being more then the lived experience. So, you know, you know, just, you know, questions about going to college she was very big on, I see you going to college, I see you doing these things, I see you doing more than what we knew in terms of Wilmington, Delaware, more than what the life and she would always emphasize that I don't want you to have to work two jobs, I don't want you to have to struggle like this, I want you to be able to have a you know, have an excellent life have a way of life where you can do work, but get compensated for it. So it was always my you go to school to get the good grades to get the degree so that you can get paid well and not have to struggle financially.   Michael Hingson ** 05:54 Like she did. Did she say those things to you?   Dwayne Keys ** 05:58 Yes, she did. She was as I gotten older, and particularly as I became a teenager. And then as I got to the point where I was able to work, she did emphasize that. So when I turned 16, a month after my 16th birthday, she got me a job working at one of the supermarket that she had worked at as well at that time, that was her second job. And her statement to me was that you are going to now start paying bills in this house, you're going to contribute financially because you're good. And what I didn't realize at that time, but what she was doing was instilling that sense of responsibility. And so she didn't tell him it to me at that time. But years later, she instilled that she was happy that she had made me go to work, because then the concept of me going out earning a living being able to support myself that was instilled early on   Michael Hingson ** 06:52 about what's your sister's? Did she do the same thing with him.   Dwayne Keys ** 06:57 She actually this, my youngest sister lover, started actually working with she was what 15 1415 years old, because, you know, I there was extra money, I was able to have spending money, do some stuff I was you know, I was able to drive my mother's car because I have my license. And so I think my younger sister saw that and wanted some of that for herself, you know? And so it was, well, if you want to have those things like Dwayne does, well, you should consider getting the job, you know, you have to shoot my mother's wedding, you're like, alright, well, Dwayne's works, that's why he's able to get those things and have those things. And so the idea was, well, I should get a full time get a part time job. And so she started working part time, during summers, and also in school, you know, you know, time restricted, but she was able to find her own part time job to work. And that has been the same thing. Also my younger sister Vivian, with, you know, getting employment where all I would say where we all when we want to accomplish a goal and we want to do something, we find a way to do it. We just do I, we may not have everything planned out or or organized at that moment. But we are very determined people when it comes to accomplishing our goals and getting when we want. And so that sense of determination is in all of us. It just shows in different ways at times.   Michael Hingson ** 08:20 Yeah. Well, I appreciate what you're saying. I can't save that growing up, we had such a low income, that we had electricity or anything turned off. But I know we weren't really rich by any standard. And we we had an income that allowed us to sometimes drive to visit relatives and things like that. But we we didn't have a lot of money. And when my parents finally passed, we certainly didn't have a lot of money. They didn't have a lot of money to, to give to my brother and me. But still, I think the same kind of ethic was in what they instilled in us, which was you got to work you got to learn to make your own way. And I think although they didn't say it, probably a little bit more for me than my brother. My parents were told when I was born four months later, it was discovered I was blind that I was gonna that I should be sent to a home for handicapped children because no blind child could ever grow up to a mountain anything and my parents said to the doctors, you're wrong. He can grow up to do whatever he wants. And they really made sure that I grew up with that kind of an attitude. And I certainly have absolutely no regrets with him doing that.   Dwayne Keys ** 09:35 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's amazing how parents have their plan. They don't always tell you or communicate their plans to you. It's only until even more recently, I'm like okay, now what she said made sense. Now what she did make sense. I didn't understand that at times. And at times. It was frustrating because it did feel like oh gosh, she's controlling Oh, got it. It's never good enough. But then in hindsight, I'm like, everything. She had had a purpose that it's now being fulfilled now, but I can see. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 10:08 the other side of that is she may not have had such a well spelled out plan that she really understood all those things. It was just kind of the ethic that was in her.   Dwayne Keys ** 10:19 Exact exactly. I agreed. So   Michael Hingson ** 10:21 you went off to school and you got a diploma and all that, then did you go to college and what did you do there? Yes,   Dwayne Keys ** 10:29 so um, I you know, after completing Brandywine high school, during my senior year of high school, I had been involved in some activities. One was deca, that was the marketing club. And I had participated in the DECA State Conference in Delaware in February, and had won second prize in one of these categories. And lo and behold, Johnson Wales University was there at the conference, and they were handing out brochures, they were, you know, talking about the university and how they offered their, you know, programs in terms of marketing, and then how they had progressed that specialize in advertising, promotion and Fashion and Retail. Sounds exciting? Well, I mean, look at it, you know, it's not gonna hurt to apply. I was debating about what I stay in Delaware, when I go apply to University of Delaware Delaware State, do I stay Do I go? What I found was appealing that Johnson was his curriculum was just, it was not the traditional school. And so it stood out to me that there was more focus, they called themselves back there America's career in a university. So it was appealing to me because it wasn't like, I'm just going to be stuck in where I've been hearing this, this nightmare about people in terms of just going to college, and I have no life, it was more of like, wait a minute, we're going to prepare for you to get that job that you that so desire. So that was very appealing to me in terms of the university. It was also appealing to get out of Delaware. It just it just, you know, I loved my hometown, but I felt that I was stifled there. And I didn't feel so that I could be myself in terms of my ambition, my attitude, the things I aspire to. I saw Wilmington, Delaware. I mean, my mother was saying it's like, it's kind of like a retirement state at times. And, you know, if you want to have an active social life, we will go to Philly Philadelphia, which is like half an hour, 45 minutes away. And it just, he was like, Okay, here's your chance, an opportunity to get away. So I did apply to the school. I did get accepted. what my mother did not know at the time, and I have since revealed I took a secret trip to Providence. High school time join, swim break. during spring break, my mother would took a trip down to Atlanta. And so she was during that year, you know, seeing visited Atlanta, my aunt, her sister had moved, got married and moved down there. And my mother was being told you got to come down to this city, you need to see this, you need to, you know, experience like down here. My mother was falling in love with that city. And during the week when my sister state when my grandparents, I had made a day trip by train to Providence, Rhode Island form, it's in Delaware. When I came here, the mall had just opened up, they were having WaterFire it just felt good. I liked the look and feel of Providence. I liked how it just sounds like yeah, I could be down with this spot. So I was comfortable with coming here, although I never told anyone about that. So most of my family had thought I was just coming to this place not knowing what it was I was coming into when in fact that I had an idea of what I was going to be experiencing. And, you know, I had worked for most of that summer in between graduating from high school and getting ready for college. And then in August, the beginning of August, right before I was due to come to Providence, my mother made a decision. She was moving out to Atlanta, so she and my sisters moved down there first I stayed with my grandparents temporarily. And then my grandparents took me to Providence Rhode Island School instead of dorms.   Michael Hingson ** 14:21 So what did mom say when you finally told her about your secret trip? Ah.   Dwayne Keys ** 14:28 She did not really get mad. I mean, now when she sees all the stuff that I've been doing, and I've been involved in, I think she accepts it that it was it was divine intervention. It was you know, it was only revealed like I said within the last year or so, so well not much that can be done. But I think she now accepts that. It was meant to be meant to be for me to be in Providence. Hey, mom taught   Michael Hingson ** 14:55 you some of the skills you Oh, gosh, yeah. So that's that's still is a great story, though, you, you did what you needed to do, which is certainly a good thing. So you went there. And I gather that you decided to study marketing.   Dwayne Keys ** 15:18 Yes, I mean, my associates was in retail because I was looking at the different areas, the different pathways that Johnson was offered. And so the one that caught my eye, which is the one that I was very familiar with was retail retail. And, you know, the initial idea was okay, you can learn about the aspects of running a retail store or retail management. And then at the end of your two years, when you complete your associate's degree, you can decide if you want to continue on with retail for your bachelor's, if you want to change it up. And so I, you know, just created that pathway. When I complete my associate's degree, I decided to move on to get into bachelor's degree in marketing. I was like, I loved I loved at least at that time, I loved retail, but I was like, I didn't want to limit myself to just retail as my education. And that's generally marketing, because then I can transition to any other aspects of marketing, FYI, so decided in the future.   Michael Hingson ** 16:19 And so you went off and you got your, your Bachelor's in marketing? Correct? Correct. Correct. So when did you graduate with that?   Dwayne Keys ** 16:27 I graduated my bachelor's degree in 2003, and 2001.   Michael Hingson ** 16:33 All right. So they offered an associate's degree at Johnson wells. Correct.   Dwayne Keys ** 16:37 They believe they still do again, it's been 20 something years. So I'm not sure what has changed the curriculum. But that was the pathway at the time. Well, cool.   Michael Hingson ** 16:45 So you, you did that? And did you go get any kind of advanced degree after the bachelors? Or did you just stop there? No, I   Dwayne Keys ** 16:55 had decided to continue on with Johnson law. So my graduate degree, at that time there was this debate, do you get your master's degree get an MBA male, I had took along with myself, and I was saying, I don't want to have to come back to school later on. I did not. I, like many other people thought, okay, college is done, I'm never gonna have to do a study. And again, obviously, I've seen that not to be the case, I can see you to study even in my career. But at that time, I was like, you know, what would make sense. And that was like, I rather get that degree now. Get it out of the way you'll have it and your educational levels, and they you will focus on your professional experience so that when the time comes, and that is a preferred or required education level, I would have already had that in my possession. I didn't have to worry about going back study and be in a position where I'm working full time ever in a career having kids with doing that. So my aspect was, you're still in study mode, you can still take the test easily, you still can do all those things. Go ahead and do it right now.   Michael Hingson ** 18:03 Yeah, I hear you. I decided, when I got my bachelor's to continue on as well. I just thought that it was probably better to to, to get most of the schooling done. The formal schooling at least done all at once. I never had the attitude that I wouldn't go off and continue to learn and do other things. But as far as formal college, I just did it all at once. And I enjoyed it and have no regrets about doing that. Yes, yeah. So when did you graduate with your bachelor's or your masters?   Dwayne Keys ** 18:38 I completed and graduated in 2005. Okay,   Michael Hingson ** 18:42 and then what did you go do?   Dwayne Keys ** 18:45 So, um, one of the things that's also amazing and interesting is that I had always been working full time. For most of my college life. I think the first year in my freshman year I lived on campus, I did work study, I may have taken a job here and there. But the second year, I lived off campus and I hadn't lived off campus ever since. And the second year, you know, my mother had a very honest conversation with me when she was very clear, I can only pay your rents have you been paying rent just for this this year, your sophomore year? And are you on your own? You're gonna have to find a way to pay for your bills. I did have some support from my grandparents. But living with my grandparents in between my school breaks was definitely a challenge. My grandparents were Pentecostal who would you describe is conservative, traditional in terms of their outlook on life? And, and then in terms of, you know, how you should be living in life. But then also, one of the things I I really had a challenge for, for them is the distance a country All. And so anyone who knows me, I'm one of which I definitely am for making my own decisions supporting you in what you want to do, regardless of how I may think about it. But I, I had came up against this experience that because I was being supported financially, that also meant that I needed to do what they said. And that was everything from if I even read a book, I remember reading this book on Islam. And it wasn't that I was thinking about converting, I just wanted to learn more about the religion, the culture, the people. And I can remember her seeing that book, looking at it with the stain, and wondering why we're looking at that. And I didn't need to bother myself with such things. And so it's that type of limitation that I have a problem with. And I was really determined that no one's not going to do that. But at that time, you know, you're 1819 years old, you're trying to figure out this word, they are your grandparents be as respectful as you can. But to kind of sum it up, there were mountain building conflicts that happen. And Christmas Break in 2000. I came down for a few days, and I was like, Okay, I need to get back to Providence, I need to get my life in order, I need to get the shop, I need to get things settled. And my grandfather wanted me to stay longer. And I originally thought we were going to take a trip down to Atlanta to see my mother and my sisters. That was the reason for me coming down. And when that didn't happen, I said, well, I need to get back up to Providence and get this all sorted out. And my grandfather being an upset about that. I had asked my grandmother for some money as I as she had promised. And she wrote a check to me, I want to say was like 250 $300. And he said to me that last Yvette Shepherd their chairs, because that's the last money you get in? Don't you ask for anything else ever again. And I said, Okay. And he took me to the bus station. And I got on my bus back to Providence, Rhode Island, and had to just really work on what were my next steps. So between January and March, I struggled to find a job. And there were days where I didn't eat, there were days where I was behind the bills, there were days I almost, if he was was threatened with eviction, but I eventually got a full time job working for one of the department stores Nordstrom. And that was the pathway on working full time. So really ever since before right around, I turned to age 20, I've always worked full time in my field. And so after doing these different jobs, working in retail working for the school, working in the PR office, I decided that I needed to do something that was different, I needed to do a sales job. And long Behold, I got my job as a financial advisor trainee with Morgan Stanley, and that began my pathway into financial services.   Michael Hingson ** 22:52 So were you doing Morgan Stanley while you were still in school?   Dwayne Keys ** 22:55 Yes, I had gotten that job in April. Yeah, April of 2004, at the end of my first year of grad school. And so in order to keep that job, you have to pass your series seven license. So my first three months, were just studying for that exam, which I, you know, had passed incredibly fast and was grateful, and then had to get additional licenses. But yes, while I was completing my grad school studies, I was doing those license studying for those licenses. And again, working full time and also taking classes in the evening. Series   Michael Hingson ** 23:30 seven is not a trivial thing to get a license for. Um,   Dwayne Keys ** 23:35 and, you know, I can say that now, but we get jobs on the line, because I was like,   Michael Hingson ** 23:39 Oh, sure. The incident was there.   Dwayne Keys ** 23:42 We want to do so. Now. I was like, Okay, I knew what I did with the practice exams and retaining information. Absolutely. But at the time, that was that was really a major mental hurdle. Oh,   Michael Hingson ** 23:55 yeah. So McCobb that's my point. It isn't. It isn't trivial to do. Yeah. So. So anyway, you did that? And when you got your masters and what did you do? Were you working for Morgan Stanley then or what? I   Dwayne Keys ** 24:10 was still working for Morgan Stanley. You gotta remember, this is 2004 2005. So the mindset was, even if you're 20 something years old, or, uh, you know, you, you need to meet sales goals, you need to bring in business, the culture wishes. Now, we will call toxic. You know, again, this is language and words you didn't know about it. But this is a very, at that time, very cutthroat industry. And one in which I just it's like, you know what, I'm not going to be able to thrive here. I'm not going to be to meet the sales goals. So I went to another advisory firm called strategic point that was local nearby. I was there as an advisory associate for about a year. And then I was able to get a job in a call center with Bank of America. Bank of America had just bought fleet. And they were converting all of fleet banks, departments into Bank of America and so fleet on Quicken, Riley and Quicken Riley was becoming Bank of America investment services. That's B, A and C. And so I had gotten that job as an investor. As a investment specialist. That's what they call this. And I was with them for almost five years. So I worked during the 2008, you know, the 2006, market crash and 2007 2008. Financial crisis and in that following Great Recession, which I say for Rhode Island, that recession actually never went away, which is still here in some shape or form. So   Michael Hingson ** 25:43 you say you were a BFA? What about a year? Oh,   Dwayne Keys ** 25:48 actually, almost five years, I suppose. Yeah, I will stay as a investment specialist. I had been moved to the sales gates, I was, you know, opening up accounts online, I did you know, what they call priority service associate or trading gate. So I did every type of securities trade for self employment accounts that you could think about stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options. I was on our Platinum worker services, which was the high net worth trading gates. And then I was promoted to senior vessel specialist or a team leader. So I was one step below being a team manager. And then I also had to get the Series Nine and the 10, which was the supervisors licenses. So I did do that for at least about, you know, I guess, almost five years, how, when Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch, there was the conversion of the companies and Merrill Lynch was coming in with its own, you know, ways of how he ran business. And I think by that time, I had gotten to a point where I was in the call center. And I was like, Yeah, I think it's time to get back into being client facing but not necessarily leaving the financial services world. But I also wasn't desiring becoming a financial advisor, again, like I had been before. And so I came across this role of what they call a licensed banker. So someone who works at a bank, who just happens to have the investment licenses that they can be a connection between the financial planners and financial consultants, but also still being a banker and retail branch and sovereign bank, we now know what a Santander but back then was still called Sovereign was hiring for this license banker role, and Pathak kid, and I had applied for that job and got accepted. And I was with them for almost like two and a half years, aspire to be an assistant manager. And Sunday air when they took over for sovereign, they took away the assistant manager role. So you just there was no way to build up to become an assistant manager or to become a branch manager, it was this, you need to meet your sales goals. Just keep doing what you're doing, but no type of development, no type of mentoring. And, again, that just wasn't gonna do it for me. So another local bank, Baker, I was hired from the system manager I interviewed applied for him interviewed for that role got accepted, and was an assistant manager for two of their branches and was there for almost three years. And then I got cursed back to coming back to South Sudan when they created the premier client manager group, which was a new department that was supposed to be a new way of remote banking, supporting clients remotely, instead of run a branch. And that department was in place for two years. And in May of 2017, they announced that they were going to close that department. And as they did, I had evaluated what should I do? What's my next move? I was applying to other different roles at the bank and other different financial institutions and wasn't getting anywhere back. And I just something said, why don't you check out some nonprofit jobs. I had always served on different nonprofit boards and was part of different, you know, community events when it came to economic justice. And I was like, let me check those out. And I came across the job posting in Brown University Square center for our financial coach. And I'm just learning more about this nonprofit organization called compass and their focus on families with low incomes and subsidized housing.   Michael Hingson ** 29:31 So what exactly does compass do? So   Dwayne Keys ** 29:34 compass was basically providing financial coaching to families who were in what's called the Family self sufficiency program, or FSS for short. And so that is a program that is a HUD program, which your housing provider either like public housing authorities or private multifamily owners can offer to residents To have a section eight voucher. And so compass provides program management to those programs while also the financial coaching in that time, compass was moving forward with one of their one of the fall partners, power preservation affordable housing on launching FSS in the name, you know, FSS at six different locations in New England. So this is the first time that FSS is being offered to multifamily properties. And it only been public housing authorities that could offer FSS and just for people to know what this program allows us that in the family self sufficiency program, participant is able to save rent increases, that happened as a result of increases in earned income. So when your income earned income goes up, your rent goes up. But what happens is the difference between what your rent was when you first started the program versus where it is when you have increases in your earned income, that rent increase is put away in a savings account for you about the housing authority. And there's a five year plus program that a participant can be enrolled in.   Michael Hingson ** 31:10 So what do you do in your day to day job than what compass? So you went to compass in 2017? And you're still there? Right? I am still there. Six years? Yeah.   Dwayne Keys ** 31:21 I mean, so you can say, well, the wall has evolved. Again, I joined as a financial coach, and I've been a senior financial coach. So as a financial coach, I was working with one on one with clients and my portfolio. Meeting with them, we have minimum required times that we're supposed to work with, but it's really supporting them in achieving their financial goals. And I described how I look at financial coaching is, we're in a car, the client is the driver, I'm in the passenger seat. I'm helping with navigation, I'm giving information on what could happen to where, where, what are you going to experience, if you turn left, if you go right, if you go backwards or forwards with the mindset that we're supporting the client, and they'll be making their own decision as to where they want to go on this financial journey. And the emphasis is on asset building my client, you know, people take to move from being asset poor, to asset secure and a public benefit system, you always hear about an emphasis on income and income is important. Yet we do know that having assets having savings for emergencies to be able to buy, you know jumping around the hall to be able to have an asset such as owning your own business, you know, owning your own home having money for retirement, just emergency savings, we know that this is key to families and to people's, you know, success. And so I had started off again, working directly with families one on one. And as a senior coach, I worked on other special projects and supporting compasses of mission. The last three years I was a coaching manager, I was leading a team for up to four financial coaches. We're making sure that we're providing that high quality financial coaching that I did as a coach, and which I was still doing and then more recently, I was promoted to director of programs for our multifamily partnerships. So I mail overseeing the team of coaching managers, program managers who are overseeing coaches and outreach specialists, Sunday making sure they're having effective program management, getting high quality financial coaching, and I'm working with six different multifamily partners on strategies for expanding FSS scaling the FSS program.   Michael Hingson ** 33:35 So how does compass make money? I mean, are they do they get it from funding? Do they get it from the investments that you help people acquire or what? Okay,   Dwayne Keys ** 33:45 so essentially, I combination is, obviously philanthropy. We do do a number of fundraising, but you know, foundations definitely do help. We do get paid for running these programs for the housing partner. So that's the additional source of income as well. Really funded program. So the federal funding it Yes, it is. So, more recently, it used to be the only public housing authorities could get HUD funding to fund these positions to fund the work of FSS now, multifamily owners can do so depending upon if you receive an award from HUD so there is some federal funding involved you also make it the housing provider that we work with this their own sources of funding that they used to pay compass with and then I'll put the bulk of our money that we do is philanthropic   Michael Hingson ** 34:35 Okay. It seems to me and I have to go look I know we've had a somebody else from campus elsewhere on unstoppable mindset, but it's been a long time so I'm gonna have to go back and look, but I know it was it was fascinating to hear what what compass did and and what all you guys are doing. So for you, though, having heard about your upbringing, and so on, and heard about how your life has evolved over time? What would you say your passion and areas of focus in your life is or are? So   Dwayne Keys ** 35:12 the role is where I'm really fulfilling is how do we help families rise up out of poverty, you know how to set one a panel discussion a few weeks ago, which was the witness that world with no poverty where people are not having to rely on this mindset of just pull yourself up from your bootstraps. But wait a minute, we're really giving people the financial education that they need. And I say that financial education, not financial literacy, because I can't stand someone thinking, you know, that we're the financial literacy, people are illiterate, they just may not have the education that you have in terms of this area of personal finance. But also having the assets, the cash, the capital to do what it is that you need to do, is very significant. I appreciate what I've seen some of my client experiences. In the last, particularly at the beginning of the pandemic, like that first year of the pandemic, I had two clients who were able to buy that house. So even in the issue of this, the scary situation of COVID have this uncertainty with the economics of what's happening with our country and all that was going on, I still have clients who are able to persevere who are able to move forward and achieve their goals of homeownership, or, you know, other goals, or just having the money to be able to survive and emergency. And it was also a unique time, because many some of my clients had to then pivot when they had lost their jobs temporarily. They use that time to think about should I go back to school? Should I you know, focus on being self employed? What does that look like in terms of starting my own business? So it definitely opened up opportunities for people to be creative, how do we still thrive and be able to accomplish our next steps in our goals, in spite of all the uncertainty that we're still facing that we still face today? But for me, too, as I said, it's who better to help you support you in this and navigating through these financial systems and the experiences that someone who grew up with it and also experienced it themselves? You know, I kind of joke, you know, joke here and there. But I was like, Who better to help people to death collection that someone who had a debt collection who had to endure that experience and go through it? Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 37:25 you are very fortunate that you had a mother who helped you through it by requiring you to do the things that you did. And so and you also have obviously had to discover some things on your own as well. But you did that, which gives you the skills now to do what you're doing, which is teaching others? Yes,   Dwayne Keys ** 37:47 yes, absolutely. Absolutely.   Michael Hingson ** 37:51 Go ahead. Yep. So all right, go ahead. Go ahead. I   Dwayne Keys ** 37:55 was gonna say, you know, even at Compass, you know, there's been a lot more that I've had to learn, because even though that's what we do, you know, my current role, I've had to learn project management, program management B, what does it mean to run a nonprofit? You know, so there's been quite a number, quite an education I've continued to receive even there in terms of that arena, while at the same time, you know, following up with just making sure that we're providing the high quality financial coaching.   Michael Hingson ** 38:22 So you, you work with people who are probably coming to you with a lot of fear and uncertainty in their lives, right? Correct. Correct? How do you help them overcome fear? What do you do to help them overcome fear and not be so daunted if you will, or blinded by having all this fear in their lives? Because of all the things that have happened to them? Yeah,   Dwayne Keys ** 38:47 I mean, one of the the initial steps with all of our training is you have to build trust with the clients. And it's very hard, because you have to remember, they've experienced systems and organizations and peoples in the past, who may not have treated them well, or they may have not had a best experience. So really, establishing building that trust is key. The next step is understanding their journey, their story, what they what have they done, and also celebrating successes that they've achieved on their own, because we never want to disconnect or distort this, dismiss what someone has achieved. But it's also then having to get back to what is it that you want to accomplish, and when you want to do and, again, we're going to go at your pace. So I've had some clients that they come in, I know they want to buy their house, they know what they need to do they know what they need to work on. Great. We're gonna go with you on that. And then I've had some clients who will say, You know what, I actually don't know what I want to do. I want to start I further say, you know, I want to start my own business. I don't know what that is, okay, well, then we're going to go on this pathway, and then on at this pace, so that we can focus on that. And again, we're going to be flexible and adaptable. So if right now, there's a goal that you'd be focusing on but then something that's happened to you you got to prioritize The other thing that we prioritize that other thing I will say is that this is your journey, this is your financial coach. And this is not my journey, you know, my appointment, and I'm gonna tell you what you need to do, you set the tone of where we're going to focus on. And I'm here to make sure you have the information, the resources, and the support that you that you need to receive in this program. And I think one of the main key things I have been able to do is help people recognize their own successes, people may be just doing things because they needed to do it. Or they may experience a situation where they think it's a failure, when actuality is success, and what are the things which makes him so minor, but I think it's majors, clients work on building up an emergency fund, then they put away their savings, they reach that goal, and then next, an emergency happens. And then they have to use that money. And they're saying, I'm so depressed, because yeah, this happened with the car, this happened with this thing. And I had to use it. And I'm like, great, because that's what an emergency fund is for. That was exactly, so think about it. By using having that money, you didn't have to worry about using credit cards using credit using any type of predatory lending, you didn't have to borrow, you didn't have to do any of the things that would have gave you additional stress, you had the money right there. That's excellent. That's the goal that was accomplished, you accomplished your goal. So just thinking about those things about stuff, which people may feel as though that's not really a major accomplishment. And actually is when you think about how you're trying to achieve financial security and success in your life,   Michael Hingson ** 41:32 trying to bring some perspective back to people because they, they really don't necessarily see what really happened. I mean, you, you guided them, they did stuff. But until something happens that causes them, for example, to use that emergency fund. And then you have to remind them of what that means, then and only then do they really internalize what happened. Yeah, if you had to really give us one story, that was just a great success story, what would it be?   Dwayne Keys ** 42:04 One story was one of my clients who ended up she had saved I'm gonna say up to $30,000 in the program. But even up to that moment where she was completing the program, she still had doubts about if she was going to get that money. And we were she, she had been, you know, increasing our income had been saving. But her budget was becoming very challenged with affording both the rent increase, and the other bills because she also had a car payment. And she had gotten this car loan in order to be able to get to work. But it was causing this this great challenge in her budget. And so we just asked the question, it was like, you know, you're struggling with this payment, you're struggling with being able to meet other obligations, when it makes sense to take some of that money that you've already saved, pay off that car loan. And then by doing that, that helps you get, you know, you'd be able to meet all the obligations and get budget you're able to save on your own, you won't have to worry about that. That item being on your credit, you know, being an obligation, the more you own it outright, you can even maybe adjust your insurance rates, you have to worry about full coverage and save some money that way. What about that, and she was like, You know what, let's do that. And we have put the request in the check arrived two weeks later. And even when she's coming there, she's looking with the tears and running up her eyes because she's like, this is really she's I can't believe this is really happening. You know, because you hear about it, you talk about it, you say this is going to happen for her to actually see that that's happening, we're going to do that right now. And that's why it wasn't just it was one less thing she had to worry about. It was like, think about all the stuff she's not going to be able to do now that that goal, you know, being able to pay down that debt, pay off that debt entirely, not have to worry about that and have a car and her own right that she owns was the phenomenal. So just I always talk about like, even to that moment to see that, oh, this is this is really I'm really going to accomplish this goal, this is really going to happen, I'm really going to be able to say that I did this, that memory still stays in my mind, just but the reaction of you know, the opposite that very moment of the cheque being placed in your hand there was this disbelief that this is really a true real true program to actually exist and helps people. Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 44:26 And they wouldn't have had access to those resources in any other way if you weren't there to advise them.   Dwayne Keys ** 44:32 Correct. Exactly. Exactly.   Michael Hingson ** 44:36 Well, you've been doing this now for quite a while. What do you see yourself doing in five years?   Dwayne Keys ** 44:43 So that you're singing about you know, as we've been talking about, what is the next pathway and I have put that out there? So I do see myself as an executive at Compass we have different levels. You have all staff obviously individual contributor manager level director level Which I'm at now. And I just says, I can see myself as an executive, you know, and I look at my own pathway. I'm like, you know, things could change. Compass has expanded. When I first started, the organization was 25 people. We're now at above 70. So you know, this growth money in the company, where I also see myself is that, as I said to you, you know, I've always done this volunteer work in terms of advocacy, special events, work, doing things with different nonprofits, and I've come to be a specialist when it came to like community engagement strategies when it comes to people of color, particularly in this part of Providence, just being a special advisor, facilitating meetings. And what I've done is I've been able to wrap up all those of the special projects and what I've done in terms of workshops and teaching, and things outside of campus, and to my own sole proprietorship, Deacy solution, which I've had in place since 2015. But really, this past year was really one in which I've done a number of projects. So just being like a business coach and a workshop instructor to participants who are looking to design, you know, set up their own design business and supporting them in terms of business developments, and how did you set up a business bank account and have you set up your own business to be able to, you know, launch as a business entity. That's been fulfilling, but a number of other projects have been doing. And then obviously, I aspire to hold elected office, I did run for state rep in 2018. And I will be pursuing running for our local city council races in 2026.   Michael Hingson ** 46:45 Oh, not till 2026. Every four   Dwayne Keys ** 46:49 years. So my counsel first and just read in one her third, third term in 2022. But she's term limited, the more currently I've been supporting her ever since she first ran in 2014. Definitely have been a, you know, great admirer of the work that she's done with our area. And in a way I want to be able to continue which he had started in our terms. So you know, it's been something we're we've been openly discussing, but I've been very firm to it. Yes, I am running in 2026. I do have my campaign account open, I do have things are in place. And as we get closer to that date, more TOCOM?   Michael Hingson ** 47:29 Well, I would only say the other side of that is that at least her term limits are causing her not to be able to run, then you won't be able to run against her, which is a good thing.   Dwayne Keys ** 47:38 Correct. You know,   Michael Hingson ** 47:41 good to have friends, you know? Yeah,   Dwayne Keys ** 47:43 yeah. I mean, people have asked that question, why don't you run? And I said, No, no, no, I made it very clear that I do support our incumbent, I definitely do admire her work and what she's done. And so no, I was not going to challenge her. But I said the moment she said that she was done, I'm running.   Michael Hingson ** 47:58 Well, that's fair. In a lot of ways. So what what issues are there in your surrounding community? And I guess I would say overall, for all of us, that we need to be a little bit more aware of things that you want listeners to know about that they ought to deal with.   Dwayne Keys ** 48:17 Yeah, I mean, this is also reflecting that up, you know, the last seven and a half years, I was the chairperson of the South Providence neighborhood association. So that was a nonprofit that was launched in 2015, when, you know, the council person had just gotten office. And there was the desire for us to have a group a body a place to come, where we can get information and talk as a community neighbors, you know, neighbors, what was going on the neighborhood, what's impacting us, and how do we move forward? In this experience, I will say there's a number of things that are going on. One has to deal with zoning and urban planning issues. You know, with Providence, we have huge issues when it comes to housing design. We have a situation where I like it, you know, I have to say this, I use just words. You still have segregation and redlining practices embedded in how we have housing development housing projects that are being done. We definitely have this issue of housing affordability, which is across the nation, but you know, it here in Providence, we have displacement that's happening where a lot of residents, you know, low to moderate income, primarily, black and brown residents have had to move out or move elsewhere. And because they haven't been able to afford the high cost of prices, you know, they're not able to the wages aren't keeping up with the prices of inflation and the housing costs of class in Providence, unlike some other cities, where they require housing developments to include units include price points for low to moderate income Up. in Providence, we're okay with people who want high luxury housing development just behind luxury development, know what the subsidies. So it's also creating these divisions in my view where we're not. We're not providing opportunity for families, individuals, those from different walks of life to be living in all parts of Providence, it's almost as if, oh, this price point, you only have this type of housing and this one part of the city or that part of the city, and it's perpetuating that. Another thing has to also deal with the issue of taxation, you know, Providence, we are a college town, but literally half of our properties or either owned by colleges and universities or by governments, because we are the capital city, or we're an island. So we've definitely had financial issues, when it comes to our pensions. When it comes to our viability, there was this huge major issue between what we call the pilot program payment and low taxes with the universities, colleges, universities, many residents and think that the universities are paying more than they should. And we do have a big hospital community in my part of the neighborhood in which there's been debates about that community not paying their share, and also fears that that hospital community will take more land in the neighborhood for their, their buildings, their parking lots. So there's a history of how do urban renewal eminent domain homes were take, you know, were bought, and people had to move out of the neighborhood for the expansion of the hospital community. And you have many residents will still talk about that today,   Michael Hingson ** 51:37 without any kinds of issues that you might be seeing or encountering regarding persons with disabilities, which is, you know, usually a large minority that people don't talk about.   Dwayne Keys ** 51:49 So one of the things that has already come up in terms of the city where I already said, I'm like, we are not ABA compliant, when it comes to our sidewalks, when it comes to people with wheelchairs, a major issue that happens and this is where we're talking about, you talk, think about something as simple as shoveling the sidewalks during the wintertime. And what I've seen, you've had people but in particularly those people who have mobility issues having to walk in the street, because that person or that company or organization did not shovel the sidewalk. So we have a public safety issue, which is every one that I find with people with disability disabilities, for those who have a mobility issue, that is a major crisis that is going on. And then the main thing also with Rhode Island, and particularly Providence, we have old housing stock. So there's a number of people who may again, because of mobility issues, they can't get to the third, second or third floor. So they are limited, but housing. So we have a number of people and actually one of my good friends, colleagues Titi Podesta, and she was like She's someone who has mobility issues, she was speaking about this, you know, there's housing, there's units, there's places that she can't go, because it's not accessible. So that is one thing that I definitely see here that you don't think about until it's time to have the activity or until it's time to do something and that person candidate get in and she made a good point. She was like, I bet you the majority of the folks if I was if you were to have an event or something that your house will not be able to come to your house? And I'm like, no, because I'm on the third floor, no elevator, no other way for you to get off to the third gift to me.   Michael Hingson ** 53:25 So yeah. How do you deal with that?   Dwayne Keys ** 53:27 So I mean, one of the things we have to do is we talk about infrastructure, we have to invest and we upgrade or design the housing a way that is accessible for people to be able to get into the dwellings. And then you also have to deal with this practice of preservation and look and feel and care, because we are an old historic New England town. Absolutely. And we to have nice gorgeous Victorian houses and everything else. And at the same time, we have this housing crisis, people need to use that space. How do you balance look and feel and character and uniqueness with this need of mobility of access?   Michael Hingson ** 54:12 Well, to go another direction, though, which in some senses ought to be a whole lot easier to address. So what about things like? Are the city websites accessible? What are you What is the city doing to make information readily available? website accessibility across the board and so on? Michael,   Dwayne Keys ** 54:29 the website accessibility, it's not even accessible to those who can say so we have a we have a whole issue,   Michael Hingson ** 54:37 good political answer, no information really works.   Dwayne Keys ** 54:42 So you have people who struggle to just get information in general from the city at times. And so we're, you know, so you bring up a very good point. It's not even at the forefront, not because it's not, it's not important. It's more of like we're just struggling to get the basics of everyone just know what's going on. Er yet.   Michael Hingson ** 55:01 One of the things that I talk about from time to time in speeches that I give as well, as I've mentioned a few times on this podcast is, when people talk about diversity, they never really talk about disabilities, because we're not part of the conversation, we're not part of the discussion. And that's what really needs to change until people recognize that diversity. If it's going to truly be diversity needs to include everyone, then that's not going to change. And so I oftentimes have discussions with people about inclusion as opposed to diversity because they say, Well, we're, we're working on being inclusive, but you're not inclusive, well, but we're partially inclusive, Nope, doesn't work. You either are inclusive, or you're not. And if you're inclusive, it's a mindset. And if you are inclusive, then you're going to be dealing with disabilities and so on. It's unfortunate that we're not there yet. As I said, we don't really make disabilities part of the conversation. But I know what you're saying about housing and so on, you know, my, my wife used to watch when she was alive, a lot of the shows on house building and all the people who come and renovate homes and all that sort of stuff, they would not invariably do anything, to think far enough ahead that if somebody had a house, and they were renovating it, that they might make it accessible for the next person who might buy that house. And so none of the people that really deal with all the house stuff on TV, deal with it, either. The only time it ever comes up is if you happen to have somebody in a wheelchair or whatever it is, it is unfortunate, we're not part of the conversation. Yeah,   Dwayne Keys ** 56:42 and I think that goes into this other piece, too, is equity when it comes to design and decision making. So when we're making the decision of what gets done, or how it gets done, or do we have everybody who needs to be included, not just in that conversation, but agreeing that this is the way that this is going to go. And that is very, that is lacking in many particular cases, I see it both not just in terms of like accessibility, but even with those who have a disability, who are also receiving public benefits, SSDI or SSI. In some cases, I have seen that where there's limitations when it's time to transition for them being able to go back to work and be able to earn a living, you see that limitation there in terms of you're limited to how many hours that notching it, how many hours how much you can earn in that particular time period. Yeah, if you can lose this benefit, you lose that benefit. And so that was one of the things to your point, when I first came to Compass, we had always up to that point at work with more public housing authority clients, who see almost all of them very rare that you came across someone who had a disability who was receiving one of those benefits. And when I came into, you know, compass, I encountered a number of people who enrolled, who had SSI SSDI benefits, particular SSI, who wanted to go back to work, but he had all these limitations and how he could save how they can earn. And lo and behold, even at Compass, I'm like, what do we do, and we had nothing in place. So I had to use my first two years are really just like researching developing content and information for us to put in place to support those clients. So even to your point, it wasn't intentional. But that never been considered a compass until it presented itself.   Michael Hingson ** 58:33 We still do not recognize it. Inclusion should be part of the cost of doing business and part of the cost of life, which is really the issue. But yeah, you're right, there are so many limitations on people who are receiving benefits, like SSI and SSDI. There's only so much that can be done. And Congress isn't really willing to change that. So it is unfortunate that it did it continues to happen. Yeah,   Dwayne Keys ** 59:01 I mean, even one of the blessings was the ABLE account, which was That was great. But you have to be aced what your disability had to have occurred on or before get 26 birth that right? I'm like, okay, so what happens if I'm 30 something years old? And it's something Oh, I can't use that. So still is excluding a segment of population who could benefit from that program? So   Michael Hingson ** 59:23 there's a lot of that, oh, it's an very unfortunate situation. And we're not. We're not anywhere near dealing with any of that yet. You also have your own little enterprise outside of campus, right?   Dwayne Keys ** 59:33 Yeah. So the key solution that you know, as I said, I've been doing a number of practical projects. I don't have any like formal business model. But what I in the past I've been asked to facilitate a meeting or lead a workshop or do this one on one, you know, business coaching. So there's a number of areas that I have outside of, of compass that I've worked on, like I said a lot of stuff in terms of just my expertise with planning A zoning committee engagement just thinks, you know, supporting Black and Brown business owners in terms of moving forward. And it was like, Well, why don't you start, you know, maybe doing that as a business. So long Behold, this past year, like I said, there's always every once in awhile, I will have a project where I was asked to do something, pieces, you know, you know, you know, some money, but nothing significant. This year, I had been sign up for a number of activities, as I said, like being a workshop, instructor, business coach, doing consistent, you know, activities, and I was like, Oh, this is gonna be different. And so I said, it's hypothetical, this is this is not going to be something I should file like, I should not, I should treat this as a business income that it is. And I had had the key solution already set up. And I was like, Okay, why don't you make this a regular thing? Why don't you put this out there that you do these activities at a price. And so that has been a whirlwind. But I've completed a catalyst Fellowship Program, which is a paid fellowship program to learn how to be a nonprofit consultant. There has been other particular things that I've done in terms of CES, like, there's one pro

In this remastered episode of the RPGBOT.Podcast, we discuss running one-shot adventures and what level at which you should do so. We discuss the pros and cons of a 1st-level adventure, what levels we recommend for 5e and PF2 one-shots and why, and how to handle one-shots for classless systems and systems that don't use the concept of levels like Shadowrun and Fantasy Flight's Star Wars RPG. Special thanks to @oaks_and_ravens on twitter for the question of the week this week. This episode was originally published on January 19th, 2022 MATERIALS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE RPGBOT.Podcast Episodes How to Play Dungeons and Dragons, Part 2 – Characters Episode 18 – Downtime Articles on RPGBOT.net DnD 5e – Practical Guide to Campaign Planning DnD 5e – Practical Guide to Starting Above 1st Level DnD 5e – Encounter Builder Dungeons and Dragons (DnD 5e) Xanathar's Guide to Everything (affiliate link) Pathfinder 2e Core Rulebook (affiliate link) Little Trouble in Big Absalom – Free PDF Sundered Waves 5th-level one-shot adventure On Roll20 On Paizo.com Other Stuff Halo: Reach on wikipedia Quicken (affiliate link) – I bet you thought we were kidding. Shadowrun Beginner Box (affiliate link) Star Wars Edge of the Empire (affiliate link) The Drake Equation on Wikipedia If you enjoy the show, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. It's a quick, free way to support the podcast, and helps us reach new listeners. If you love the show, consider joining us on Patreon, where backers at the $5 and above tiers get ad free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT.Podcast, can chat directly to members of the RPGBOT team and community on the RPGBOT.Discord, and can join us for live-streamed recordings. Support us on Amazon.com when you purchase products recommended in the show at the following link: https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ How to Find Us: In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net Tyler Kamstra Twitter: @RPGBOTDOTNET Facebook: rpgbotbotdotnet Bluesky:rpgbot.bsky.social Ash Ely Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games Twitter: @GravenAshes YouTube@ashravenmedia Randall James @JackAmateur Amateurjack.com Producer Dan @Lzr_illuminati

In this remastered episode of the RPGBOT.Podcast, we discuss running one-shot adventures and what level at which you should do so. We discuss the pros and cons of a 1st-level adventure, what levels we recommend for 5e and PF2 one-shots and why, and how to handle one-shots for classless systems and systems that don't use the concept of levels like Shadowrun and Fantasy Flight's Star Wars RPG. Special thanks to @oaks_and_ravens on twitter for the question of the week this week. This episode was originally published on January 19th, 2022 MATERIALS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE RPGBOT.Podcast Episodes How to Play Dungeons and Dragons, Part 2 – Characters Episode 18 – Downtime Articles on RPGBOT.net DnD 5e – Practical Guide to Campaign Planning DnD 5e – Practical Guide to Starting Above 1st Level DnD 5e – Encounter Builder Dungeons and Dragons (DnD 5e) Xanathar's Guide to Everything (affiliate link) Pathfinder 2e Core Rulebook (affiliate link) Little Trouble in Big Absalom – Free PDF Sundered Waves 5th-level one-shot adventure On Roll20 On Paizo.com Other Stuff Halo: Reach on wikipedia Quicken (affiliate link) – I bet you thought we were kidding. Shadowrun Beginner Box (affiliate link) Star Wars Edge of the Empire (affiliate link) The Drake Equation on Wikipedia If you enjoy the show, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. It's a quick, free way to support the podcast, and helps us reach new listeners. If you love the show, consider joining us on Patreon, where backers at the $5 and above tiers get ad free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT.Podcast, can chat directly to members of the RPGBOT team and community on the RPGBOT.Discord, and can join us for live-streamed recordings. Support us on Amazon.com when you purchase products recommended in the show at the following link: https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ How to Find Us: In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net Tyler Kamstra Twitter: @RPGBOTDOTNET Facebook: rpgbotbotdotnet Bluesky:rpgbot.bsky.social Ash Ely Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games Twitter: @GravenAshes YouTube@ashravenmedia Randall James @JackAmateur Amateurjack.com Producer Dan @Lzr_illuminati

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In this episode, I'll share the top 3 financial regrets of Americans and how to counteract them. No one manages their finances perfectly so we all have regrets, but it's important to be aware of what the most common ones are so we can take actions to avoid them.In this episode...Emergency Funds [03:15]Investing for Growth [08:02]Buying a Home [9:57]Unconventional emergency fund options [14:25]Now no one is perfect when it comes to financial decisions. Like everyone else, I've certainly made my fair share of financial mistakes which I chronicled in a few different episodes of this podcast. In episode 18 I shared about a time when I sold a stock for a 50% loss because I succumbed to fear during the Great Recession only to see that stock since that time, rocket over 11,000% higher. You heard that right, I missed out on an 11,000% return. In episode 43, I shared the financial mistakes I made as a young adult and what I wished I had known about money sooner. Having financial regrets is a normal part of learning and growing, but it's important to be aware of the biggest regrets so we can take actions preemptively to avoid them.So just what are the most common regrets of Americans so we can avoid them. These insights are courtesy of the personal finance software company Quicken, which surveyed about 1,000 Americans and found that a whopping 80% said they have financial regrets. The top three regrets were not having a big enough emergency fund (mentioned by 28% of respondents), not investing aggressively enough (25%) and not buying a house when they were younger (22%). A few of the other regrets mentioned were lending money to a friend and family member and not investing in stocks. Emergency FundAs a Certified Financial Planner™, financially speaking I know that few things can provide the peace and security that an emergency fund can provide. An emergency fund is way more than for just emergencies, instead it's financial insurance allowing you to have way more freedom in how you choose to live your life. For example, having an emergency fund allows you to quit a toxic workplace. I recommend having three months' worth of expenses in savings if both spouses work and if you are single or only one spouse works, then you will need 4-6 months worth of expenses saved. Sadly, far too many Americans don't have emergency savings as nearly 6 in 10 Americans could not come up with $1000 in the event of an emergency. Far too many think their credit card is their emergency fund.How do we prevent this regret and ensure we have an emergency fund. The first step is to have a budget and ensure that you have extra money left over each month. The next step is to set aside these extra funds into an account that you don't regularly access.Not Investing For GrowthThis had to be tied to the fact to some painful emotional memories. Maybe they succumbed to fear in the moment and sold stocks only to see the stock market soar higher. Here is why it's so important to invest with a higher allocation to stocks. For nearly a century, stocks have provided returns of nearly three times that of inflation. As an asset class, they have been the greatest generator of effortless wealth in history. Since 1926 stocks returned between 8% – 10% where as the bonds returned between 4% – 6%. The best way to counteract this fear of not investing aggressively enough, is to ignore the noise and stay invested. Buying A Home The third biggest regret for American's was not buying a home when they were younger. This one seems a bit unfair as there can be a lot outside of ones control when it comes to purchasing a home. Prices...

A new MP3 sermon from Bethel Baptist Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Quicken Thou Me Subtitle: Spring Revival 2024 Speaker: David Wood Broadcaster: Bethel Baptist Church Event: Special Meeting Date: 4/15/2024 Bible: Psalm 119:25 Length: 52 min.

A new MP3 sermon from Bethel Baptist Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Quicken Thou Me Subtitle: Spring Revival 2024 Speaker: David Wood Broadcaster: Bethel Baptist Church Event: Special Meeting Date: 4/15/2024 Bible: Psalm 119:25 Length: 52 min.

A new MP3 sermon from Bethel Baptist Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Quicken Thou Me Subtitle: Spring Revival 2024 Speaker: David Wood Broadcaster: Bethel Baptist Church Event: Special Meeting Date: 4/15/2024 Bible: Psalm 119:25 Length: 52 min.

Join host Tim Ringgold on the latest episode of Pickleball Recovery as he interviews Darren Lancaster and Dr. Ethan Kreiswirth from Go Sleeves, the world's first kinesiology sleeve. They dive into how the sleeve came into existence, the problems it solves that traditional kinesiology tape and compression sleeves suffer from, how Go Sleeves help during pickleball, but also how they can help AFTER.   If you want to save some coin on their amazing stuff, just use the discount “PBR” at checkout to save 15%! Or just shop at https://www.gosleeves.com/PBR.   Follow the guys and the brand online:   IG:   @gosleeves @darren_lancaster @dr.kreiswirth   If you are struggling with feeling stiff, sore, or in pain from your passion for pickleball, go to www.pickleballrecovery.com for your free guide to feeling better on and off the court! Follow Pickleball Recovery Here: FB: https://www.facebook.com/PickleballRecovery IG: https://www.instagram.com/Pickleball_Recovery/ TW: https://twitter.com/PickleballRecov This podcast is sponsored by Zamst. Zamst reinforces and protects athletes by providing premium technical products in the form of athletic braces and supports derived from innovative materials, designs and manufacturing processes for the ankle, knee, elbow, and more. Find out more about these high quality products built to prevent injury, improve performance, and ultimately help you spend more time on the court at www.zamst.us and use the code PBR to save 15%!

Unpack the toolbox of technology that's promising to redefine retirement planning, but does it deliver? This episode takes a critical look at the wave of innovations, from personal finance management software to online calculators, and questions whether they truly simplify the planning process or introduce new complexities   Important Links: Website: http://www.yourplanningpros.com Call: 844-707-7381   ----more---- Transcript:    Marc Killian  00:01 Let's unpack the tool box of technology that's promising to redefine retirement planning. But does it actually deliver? So on this episode of playing with the tax man will take a critical look at the wave of innovations, from personal finance management software, to online calculators and more. Stick around for this episode playing with a text.   00:22 Look up in the sky. It's a bird.   Announcer 2  00:24 It's a plane. No, it's the tax man. He may not be a superhero. But Tony Morrow has saved many retirement plans with his extreme knowledge of tax planning strategies. It's time for a plan with the tax man.   Marc Killian  00:38 Hey, gang, what's going on this week here, Tony Morrow and I back once again to talk investing finance and retirement. And Tony is going to help us talk about you know, technology, is it and how is it redefining retirement planning? What are some pros and cons of various different things we'll run through and how does he feel about it as a seasoned professional, a CPA, a CFP and an EA of 30 plus years? What does he think of all this tech and the things that he's seen through his many years of helping folks to and through retirement? So that's on the docket? We're gonna get into it with Tony this week. What's going on? Brother? How are you?   Tony Mauro  01:10 I'm fantastic. Looking forward to talking tech. I love tech.   Marc Killian  01:14 Yeah. Big tech guy.   Tony Mauro  01:16 I'm a big tech guy. Okay, sometimes to my own detriment.   Marc Killian  01:19 Aren't we all?   Tony Mauro  01:20 Yeah,   Marc Killian  01:21 that is certainly the case. Well, you know, like I said, You've been doing this a long time, Tony. So you've certainly we've seen this tech boom. And I'm not trying to make you sound old, by the way. Because I know you're not, but you just been doing this a long time. And there's been a obviously a huge boom, in various different things in the last 20 years, from a tech standpoint. So it should be an interesting conversation to have, because many of your clients and the folks that check out our podcasts and things, they are 50 over, I'm 52, right, we're starting to get older, and I'm pretty tech savvy as well. But you know, you have friends that are the same age or maybe a few years older, and you can see that some people just aren't as up with it or something, you're think you're tech savvy, then something even newer comes out. And you're like, Man, I'm I'm so tired of this stuff. I don't want to learn one more new thing, right? So it can be daunting. So let's, let's talk about a few here. Let's start with the simple big elephant, 800 pound, gorilla, whatever you want to call it. In the room, which is Google, everybody, Google something at some point, and it has certainly altered how we look up information, what's your take on it from the financial standpoint, or   Tony Mauro  02:27 from the financial standpoint, I think it can be good, you know, and I'll try to do goods and Bad's of of each of these that we hit. But you know, obviously, the ease of it is you can get a lot of financial questions possibly answered. Very quickly, you have many, many choices. Many people obviously, don't scroll down very far. They take about the first two or three and take that as gospel. And I think that's where sometimes it could get you into trouble a little bit on the financial side is is what you're reading from somebody what I would consider authoritative. In other words, somebody that you know, really knows what they're talking about? Or is this just some guy or   Marc Killian  03:08 gal and it's hard to tell the paid ads? Yes, from the resources, right, because they've gotten so good. And allow now a lot of times, they better will say sponsored or something, you might notice that in the fine print or whatever. But just be careful. Again, I think it's a great way of looking at it to get some general information rolling Google's fantastic. I think at this point, it's obviously changed our world entirely. You know, there's certain things that the cell phone the smartphone, obviously changed us, I think, as a species and as as a society on all the things that change that way. But then there's certain things with inside that and Google being one of those. That is I don't know that anybody doesn't use it on a regular somewhat regular basis. So just grain of salt, right? Don't you know, don't go too far or don't believe everything you see that your Google right away. That's   Tony Mauro  03:56 true. I started using and really have been into and it's very, very new, you know, is the AI the artificial intelligence and chat GPT especially for accountants, sure. And financial planners, where it's actually spooky to ask it things and it gives you answers that you have to read them. But it isn't like Google, you don't have to search it gives you answers. And I don't like to say it's just scary. Interesting.   Marc Killian  04:25 Yeah, very true. Yeah. Well in that regard, in that regard, then let's go to the next one, which is robo advisors, which kind of is using AI and predictive elements. So as an advisor yourself what's what's your take on the Robo?   Tony Mauro  04:38 Well, Robo since they're, you know, competitors, I gotta say, I don't like him. No, I think that they have a use. I've looked at them and you know, they do a pretty good job or a simple things, especially now I'm sure it'll it's gonna get better as time goes on and whatnot. And, you know, I don't think they'll ever rip Replace the human advisor. I think that most of the facts are good. But I think what the robo advisors aren't showing me yet is, you know, is this in tune with, you know, the most tax effective strategy? You know, how often can a person change a plan? It doesn't seem like there's a lot of flexibility, but they do have some appeals probably, especially to the younger people who are very used to just wanting all that they don't want human interaction, they just want to deal with somebody, you know, something quick.   Marc Killian  05:28 Yeah, quick and easy. And I'm with you, I think there's certain industries where I can see where people say, hey, if it's the computer, the computer is not going to try to take advantage of me, but it also is not going to be able to understand you, or, you know, relate with you as a human to a human. So there's, it's a double edged sword, right, dealing with humans does have its pros and cons. But it you know, when you find the right one, I think we all can probably agree that there's there's relationships where it's truly more beneficial, because you are working with another person. So   Tony Mauro  05:58 I think so. I mean, I think it's an emotional factor with human beings, at least with our clients. You can relate. Yeah, an emotional thing. Yeah,   Marc Killian  06:05 you know, what I'm going through, you've been there to your you know, your fellow breathing human. online calculators, Tony, super popular, you can online calculate just about anything and mortgage retirement accounts, all sorts of stuff. I don't know, kind of a useful tool, but do you want to take them to, you know, to super hard or what, I don't know, what do you think, you know, I   Tony Mauro  06:25 have a lot of them on our website. And I do like them for a quick hitters, you know, that people can go out now and calculate all kinds of things, whether it's a future value, like you're saying mortgage, amortization schedule, even some tougher things, you know, I mean, if you go out to like, calculator.net, they have got just a ton of free and I'm talking stuff, it can calculate your, you know, your body mass index, they got everything. And it is cool to play with, I think it's good for quick hitters, especially for talking in the financial area. And then I think you need to try to incorporate that with your advisor, and help implement it into your plan. But at least it gives you an idea of some things that were very difficult to calculate, you know, in previous years. And so I use them a lot, but I use them in the context of our overall financial plan. But it is nice to add it to show closure.   Marc Killian  07:18 Yeah, yeah. And again, something like that kind of thing can be a very useful tool to start kind of getting yourself quickly dialed in or walking into your advisor and saying, okay, hey, I did some quick online calculators with this, this and this. You know, here's what I'm seeing, you know, how do we break this down? What are you seeing? What do you think? And that way, when you're stress testing, various scenarios, you guys can kind of be on the same page. So great use, yeah. What do you think about platforms like Scottrade, or trade or any of that stuff that's out there. You know, it's certainly very appealing to the do it yourselfer, as well, and, you know, fidelity and so on and so forth. So, and clearly not going anywhere. What's your take on it as a as a CFP?   Tony Mauro  07:56 Well, I think some people look at him and say, Well, you know, these are, you know, there's I have no use for my advisor, you know, and whatnot, because I don't need you to trade what you really don't I mean, every product is available to you without an advisor. I think so the goods of them are they have all across the industry, even with us, it's brought costs to do things down. And I think that's good for the end user, the investor or the client. But I think though, that and they do, some of them offer a lot of information. Now, probably maybe information overload. But I think, you know, if you're going to use those kinds of things, you know, you just use those to execute trades. And you know, that kind of thing. I still think there you need a plan with an advisor or on your own. And, you know, work that plan. Those are just platforms to execute transactions in my in my opinion, we basically one of our financial planning packages is we do the plan. And if you don't want us to help you manage the assets on an ongoing basis, you paid us for the plan, but you can certainly go out and manage that part on your own not through a Scottrade e trade or something, and then just have check ins with us, you know, we're all fee based anyway. So it is it doesn't really matter where you hold the assets if you want them with us in advisory fee, you can but it's not necessary either. So I think they have their place even for working with guys like us.   Marc Killian  09:24 Yep, never very true. Right. And so there's so many things you can do there. And obviously, many clients want to build a plan. They want to build a strategy, Tony that's going to help them feel good sleep at night, have that peace of mind all those things, and have that good, strong financial plan together. But they still also want to dabble a little bit. They do kind of enjoy the you know, picking some stocks or doing some things and that's cool too. So having an account to do that is great. Just again, make sure you're working with your advisor on what those things are you're doing and make sure that it's speculative. Make sure it's something that you can sort of fund money if you will, and if you hate if you knock one out of the park, that's great, but if you Do something it's not going to derail the retirement. Right? Yep. Okay. Well, you know, podcasts, for example, can be added now to economic and business news. Certainly 24 hour news channels have been the thing for a long time. But think about that for a minute. Even just financial, economic and business news, Tony, 24 hours a day, multiple channels seven days a week. They have to and we know the nature of news anymore is they have to be creative. Right, where it's constantly they have to, they have to fill all this time with some sort of content. And that kind of gets sometimes a little sensate. Well, not a little they get a lot sensationalistic or whatever, because they just need to get eyeballs. So, you know, be careful. And it's certainly changed people's view on finance, right? Because think about it, you'll you'll turn on the news. And you'll say, you know, see the market, you know, suffered a, you know, a crashing day today. And it's down like 1%. Right. And it's like, really, is that really worth the crushing headline?   Tony Mauro  11:07 Yeah, I think this for us, as an advisor, at least for me, in my opinion, is kind of somewhat the bane of our existence. Because people do watch too much of it, I think. And it gets them all worked up. And if you let yourself get like that, the whole idea of all these things we're talking about is to try to make your life easier and simpler. And if you let yourself just believe all of everything you hear about verifying it, which I think that's where the adviser steps in and puts some, you know, some expectations and some truth to it, is you can let yourself go down weird rabbit holes. And then if you're actually following some of this advice, which I think these most of these people are journalists, they're there, like you said, to get eyeballs, they're not doing financial plans everyday, they may come off like they do. Yeah, but they really aren't. And so I always say take that with a grain of salt, double check, you know, what they're saying with your advisor? For sure.   Marc Killian  12:06 What do you think as a professional, what do you think about personal financial software like Quicken, for example,   Tony Mauro  12:11 I like Quicken, I really like personal financial software from the more from the accounting standpoint of knowing where you're at with your personal finances at every step of every month, just like everything else. And all the software it's gotten very, very good. It can pull bank feeds in it's not cumbersome. Like it used to be. But I think a lot of people get confused with it. Stop using it because they sometimes can't figure it out. And they just throw up their hands and say, I don't like it now Quicken again, I have a love hate relationship with their, their company, which is into it. I mean, into it's been around, I do like into it. But I think sometimes they try to make it again, all encompassing, kind of like the trading platforms where they're trying to steer you along your financial way. It basically by answering some yes, no questions. And I think there's a lot more to it than   Marc Killian  13:01 that. Even good software companies, the new business model of constantly updating or subscription based, that stuff can can certainly get annoying. Definitely. But yeah, it's it can be a love hate thing. But I think overall, it can be a useful tool.   Tony Mauro  13:16 I think it'd be a very useful tool. Absolutely. I would recommend anybody using Quicken mints, whatever else they can find that they like, keep track of their personal monthly finances, ya   Marc Killian  13:26 know? And yeah,   Tony Mauro  13:27 I think, you know, the, the downsides are minimal. You know, the other thing I don't like is, we were talking about it on the last episode, because we didn't touch on this is, you know, the data mining that these companies do with us, they get us all in there. And they know everything about us. And they can, you know, mine our data and market us, but that's part of it. I think you're better off with personal finance software than without, okay. Well,   Marc Killian  13:50 and we'll finish with kind of staying in that sort of space. Right? So that's personal software, maybe you've downloaded or maybe it's you know, now nowadays, it's definitely just, you know, over over the web, mobile banking apps, right. I mean, just, you know, 10 years ago, seven years ago, you know, maybe half the people I knew felt confident or comfortable using the, the mobile banking app right from their phone. Now, it's virtually everybody. It's just, it's just faster and   Tony Mauro  14:13 easier, faster and easier. And you can really pretty much do everything on the mobile app, now that you could inside a bank, you can even now take pictures of cheque you get and mobile deposits. It's up to a certain amount, I think, at least with my bank, but you really don't need to visit the bank, but the bank is still there. And you've got that mobile app, check. Check balances paid bills, right from your phone, again, with the idea of trying to make your life easier this this whole thing is if you use all this tech properly, you can really simplify your life but you can also go down and it just you feel overwhelmed. So I think you need to get with your advisor. We help clients with their tech. We're trying to make their life as easy as possible and they basically can run their life we always tell them we want you to run your life from your phone. And no matter what age you are, you want to be confident to do it. We want to help   Marc Killian  15:04 them do that. Yeah, for sure. And finally, Tony, if you're talking about digital space and doing some of these things, what do you think about the digital estate planning services, you know, online wills trust or Legal Zoom? Like, I don't know, you know, I kept feeling back and forth with some of this stuff. It's this kind of world where it's quick and easy. And maybe if it's really basic, maybe that's okay. But, you know, it's still worthwhile to see a professional, if you need something a little more complicated.   Tony Mauro  15:30 I definitely agree with that. 100%, I try to steer people away from that, let's say just need something very, very basic. The attorney is, in my mind, I know they get a bad rap, we always, always make fun of them. But I think that they are essential in you know, wills, trusts, things like that by cells, whatever, to make sure all your bases are covered. Now, I just had my own will updated, you know, and I went to my attorney, you know, and they're talking to me, just like I talked to clients about stuff that I, you know, kind of brushed over and I don't know, if I would have got it online, maybe I would have maybe I wouldn't have but you know, my financial power of attorney, my advanced directives, you know, my medical power of attorney, all that stuff, that I you know, unless you're answering the boxes in the questions, right, and online, you may not have that, and you may not even know it. So again, having a real life, bro, it's a human, I think is better off in that area. 100%   Marc Killian  16:32 Yeah, yeah. And again, there's so many facets to this stuff nowadays, it's certainly changing everything in the world. So you know, just kind of wrapping it up. It's, it's just something to be cognizant of, it's, we have to think about, think about COVID. And people having to go to zoom for so many things, and especially even seeing their financial professional or whatever. And we had to do things online. And in the first couple of months, talking with advisors, people, you know, clients were very leery to have to use the portal and then be sharing and talking online, right on Zoom, if you will. And then as time went by now, people actually prefer it, because now they're like, I it's time for my annual review. I don't need to come into the office, right, we can just do this over zoom, you know. So we   Tony Mauro  17:12 do it really literally today is our day in and this is mostly seniors, and this deals with tax clients. But we have a day where the seniors who just can't get on the portal because we normally have our tax clients e sign, you know, they look at their tax return and there's a page they sign it's it's legal for us at the IRS says that that serves as their signature, but some just can't, can't do it. And so we have a day where they come in and they make an appointment, and they come in just to sign which again, I think is a waste of time, but their time that is right, right. But it's not everybody's gonna be able to adapt to the technology. But I you know, we have many, many seniors that I It surprises me   Marc Killian  17:54 that they're okay with not driving, and they're like, yeah, we'll just do it online.   Tony Mauro  17:58 They do it online. Yeah. I mean, they more and more of them, you know, are adapting to this, which tells me that they haven't thrown up their hands yet and says, I don't want to learn anything, because the world's forcing them to do it came true,   Marc Killian  18:10 very true. My mom's 82 And she's pretty good with a lot of stuff, a lot of digital and online stuff. So which I didn't see coming, you know, so kudos to, to her. But you know, I think yeah, sometimes though, you know, some people just like, hey, I still want to, I still want to look somebody in the eye and shake a hand. So, and there's nothing wrong with that, either. Oh,   Tony Mauro  18:31 nothing wrong with that.   Marc Killian  18:32 There you go. All right. Well, how was technology redefining retirement planning? It is there's no way around it. It's changing it a lot has been and of course, you know, we have to adapt or get left behind. But I think there's still a way to have a happy medium. And of course, if you need some help, you know, kind of finding that balance. I mean, a retirement plan is about balance. So also in the way you're using tech to work with your retirement plan. It could be about balance. Tony and his team are here to help you're planning proz.com That's your planning proz.com. He's got 30 plus years of experience helping folks get to and through retirement. As I said earlier, he's a CPA, a CFP and an EA. So a great resource for you to tap into. So give him a call. Get on the calendar, stop by whatever you need to do if you need some help. And don't forget to subscribe to us on Apple, Google, Spotify. Guess what YouTube now instead of just Google, they've merged everything over to there but either way, find us on whatever podcasting app you like by simply searching it out playing with the tax man or visiting in his website. You're planning proz.com Tony, my friend, have yourself a great week. Aren't you the same. We'll see on the next episode. We'll see you in April. Hopefully you won't be too too swamped with tax season, but we'll catch you next time here on plant with the Texas.   Announcer 1  19:47 Securities offered through a van tax investment services SM Member FINRA SIPC investment advisory services offered through a van tax advisory services insurance services offered through an event tax affiliated insurance Agency investment strategies discussed in this episode may not be suitable for all investors please consult with a financial professional  

Send us a Text Message.Finn is being held hostage by the high king at Tara.  The quickiest man in all of Ireland is sent on a task in order to free him.  Gather up two of every animal in Ireland and bring to the king.The Second story, Hostel of the quicken tree. a foster child of Finn looks to revenge the murder of his father and brothers.  He sets up quite the snare for the fianna.Support the Show.Irish Mythology - Mythical Cycle - Book of Invasions

Tina Lin is the Director of Product Marketing and Brand at Quicken. This week on the On Brand podcast she walked us through the process of revamping this iconic 40-year-old brand while preserving its history and legacy. Anyone thinking about a rebrand won't want to miss this episode! About Tina Lin Tina Lin has spent her career building, marketing, and operating B2C, B2B, and B2B2C products and services. With over 25 years of experience, she has built and launched new businesses across many industries, including sports, online gaming, small business finance, and Internet advertising. As Director of Product Marketing and Brand at Quicken, Tina led the revamp of the 40-year-old iconic Quicken brand, with a new logo, visual identity, and website, signaling its vision for the future. Tina started her career as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and CS First Boston. She holds an MBA from Stanford Business School and a BS/BA from the Wharton School/College of Arts & Sciences of the University of Pennsylvania From the Show This is Quicken at 40. Check out this article detailing the rebrand Tina shared with us during the show. What brand has made Tina smile recently? Tina shared two of my personal faves — Nike and Canva! Connect with Tina on the Quicken website or LinkedIn. As We Wrap … Listen and subscribe at  Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon/Audible, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn, iHeart, YouTube, and RSS. Rate and review the show—If you like what you're hearing, be sure to head over to Apple Podcasts and click the 5-star button to rate the show. And, if you have a few extra seconds, write a couple of sentences and submit a review to help others find the show. Did you hear something you liked on this episode or another? Do you have a question you'd like our guests to answer? Let me know on Twitter using the hashtag #OnBrandPodcast and you may just hear your thoughts here on the show. On Brand is a part of the Marketing Podcast Network. Until next week, I'll see you on the Internet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a very special episode of our podcast, where I, Leslee, am thrilled to have my husband Brett join me for a heartfelt conversation. In this episode, we open up about our unique approach to integrating family life with the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship. We dive into the crucial role of spousal support, the art of managing family goals alongside business ambitions, and the practicalities of organizing our busy lives through alignment meetings. Brett and I discuss the nuances of financial management within a family, the importance of setting realistic and achievable goals, and how we navigate the complexities of parenting while pursuing our business dreams. This episode is a candid look into how we strive to maintain harmony in both our family and business, offering insights and inspiration for couples navigating similar paths.Resources:Couples' Alignment Meeting Template: https://learn.lesleeowen.com/unlock-your-business-and-household-successYour Financial Dashboard - Simplifi by Quicken: https://www.quicken.com/lp/ppc/brand-simplifiDid you listen to an episode and love it? Let me know! Tag me with your "aha" moments and Follow me on Instagram and Facebook!

Today's Passage: Hebrews 10:19-25Today's Prayer: Lord, we love at all because you have loved us. We make room for you, Jesus. Will you animate us to deep, costly love for each other? Quicken within us a heart that finds it easy to love our neighbors, our neighborhood, our city, our basketball team, our department, our world. Jesus you have made a way for us. May we make a way for others saying “There is room for you. There is room for you. On the darkest day, there is room for you. At the bottom of the pit, there is room for you.” And may we never forget it for ourselves. Because of you Jesus.  For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever…AMEN.NOTES & LINKS:21 Days of Prayer and Fasting WebsitePDF Guide to Prayer & FastingAs part of the 21 days, we're committing to 21 days of 24/7 prayer. Sign up here.Reach out to the Adult Ministries Team 

Scripture-2021-05-12 Psalms 119:90 Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. Psalms 119:121 AYIN. I have done justice and righteousness: Leave me not to mine oppressors. Psalms 119:122 Be surety for thy servant for good: Let not the proud oppress me. Psalms 119:132 Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me, As thou usest to do unto those that love thy name. Psalms 119:137 TSADHE. Righteous art thou, O Jehovah, And upright are thy judgments. Psalms 119:128 Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; And I hate every false way. Job 42:2 I know that thou canst do all things, And that no purpose of thine can be restrained. Job 42:3 Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that which I understood not, Things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Job 42:4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak; I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Job 42:5 I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; But now mine eye seeth thee: Job 42:6 Wherefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes. Psalms 119:138 Thou hast commanded thy testimonies in righteousness And very faithfulness. Psalms 119:139 My zeal hath consumed me, Because mine adversaries have forgotten thy words. Psalms 119:140 Thy word is very pure; Therefore thy servant loveth it. Psalms 119:141 I am small and despised; Yet do I not forget thy precepts. Psalms 119:142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And thy law is truth. Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: John 8:32 and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Psalms 119:143 Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me; Yet thy commandments are my delight. Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Psalms 119:144 Thy testimonies are righteous for ever: Give me understanding, and I shall live. Psalms 119:145 QOPH. I have called with my whole heart; answer me, O Jehovah: I will keep thy statutes. Deuteronomy 4:27 And Jehovah will scatter you among the peoples, and ye shall be left few in number among the nations, whither Jehovah shall lead you away. 1 Peter 2:9 But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Deuteronomy 4:28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. Deuteronomy 4:29 But from thence ye shall seek Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt find him, when thou searchest after him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. Deuteronomy 4:30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, in the latter days thou shalt return to Jehovah thy God, and hearken unto his voice: Deuteronomy 4:31 for Jehovah thy God is a merciful God; he will not fail thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them. Psalms 119:146 I have called unto thee; save me, And I shall observe thy testimonies. Psalms 119:147 I anticipated the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy words. Psalms 119:148 Mine eyes anticipated the night-watches, That I might meditate on thy word. Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Psalms 119:149 Hear my voice according unto thy lovingkindness: Quicken me, O Jehovah, according to thine ordinances. Psalms 119:150 They draw nigh that follow after wickedness; They are far from thy law. Isaiah 36:10 And am I now come up without Jehovah against this land to destroy it? Jehovah said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it. Philippians 2:13 for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. Isaiah 10:24 Therefore thus saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian, though he smite thee with the rod, and lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. Isaiah 10:25 For yet a very little while, and the indignation against thee shall be accomplished, and mine anger shall be directed to his destruction. Isaiah 37:3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of contumely; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. Isaiah 37:4 It may be Jehovah thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which Jehovah thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left. Isaiah 37:5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. Isaiah 37:6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith Jehovah, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Isaiah 37:7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he shall hear tidings, and shall return unto his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. Psalms 119:151 Thou art nigh, O Jehovah; And all thy commandments are truth. Psalms 119:152 Of old have I known from thy testimonies, That thou hast founded them for ever. Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Matthew 24:38 For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, Psalms 119:153 RESH. Consider mine affliction, and deliver me; For I do not forget thy law. Psalms 119:154 Plead thou my cause, and redeem me: Quicken me according to thy word. Colossians 1:27 to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Psalms 119:155 Salvation is far from the wicked; For they seek not thy statutes. Psalms 119:156 Great are thy tender mercies, O Jehovah: Quicken me according to thine ordinances. Psalms 107:20 He sendeth his word, and healeth them, And delivereth them from their destructions. Psalms 119:157 Many are my persecutors and mine adversaries; Yet have I not swerved from thy testimonies. 2 Corinthians 12:9 And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Psalms 119:158 I beheld the treacherous, and was grieved, Because they observe not thy word. Psalms 119:159 Consider how I love thy precepts: Quicken me, O Jehovah, according to thy lovingkindness. Psalms 119:160 The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. Psalms 119:161 SHIN. Princes have persecuted me without a cause; But my heart standeth in awe of thy words. Judges 7:7 And Jehovah said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thy hand; and let all the people go every man unto his place. Psalms 119:162 I rejoice at thy word, As one that findeth great spoil. Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing; But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. Psalms 119:163 I hate and abhor falsehood; But thy law do I love. Psalms 119:164 Seven times a day do I praise thee, Because of thy righteous ordinances. Psalms 119:165 Great peace have they that love thy law; And they have no occasion of stumbling. John 14:15 If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments. Galatians 1:6 I marvel that ye are so quickly removing from him that called you in the grace of Christ unto a different gospel; Galatians 1:7 which is not another gospel: only there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Psalms 119:166 I have hoped for thy salvation, O Jehovah, And have done thy commandments. Psalms 119:167 My soul hath observed thy testimonies; And I love them exceedingly. Psalms 119:168 I have observed thy precepts and thy testimonies; For all my ways are before thee. James 4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and covet, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war; ye have not, because ye ask not. Romans 8:26 And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered; 1 John 5:14 And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: 1 John 5:15 and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him. Psalms 119:169 TAV. Let my cry come near before thee, O Jehovah: Give me understanding according to thy word. Matthew 11:25 At that season Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes: Proverbs 13:20 Walk with wise men, and thou shalt be wise; But the companion of fools shall smart for it. Psalms 119:170 Let my supplication come before thee: Deliver me according to thy word. Psalms 119:171 Let my lips utter praise; For thou teachest me thy statutes. Psalms 149:6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand; Psalms 149:7 To execute vengeance upon the nations, And punishments upon the peoples; 2 Chronicles 20:21 And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed them that should sing unto Jehovah, and give praise in holy array, as they went out before the army, and say, Give thanks unto Jehovah; for his lovingkindness endureth for ever. 2 Chronicles 20:22 And when they began to sing and to praise, Jehovah set liers-in-wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, that were come against Judah; and they were smitten. 2 Chronicles 20:23 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. Psalms 119:172 Let my tongue sing of thy word; For all thy commandments are righteousness. Psalms 119:173 Let thy hand be ready to help me; For I have chosen thy precepts. James 4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and covet, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war; ye have not, because ye ask not. Psalms 119:174 I have longed for thy salvation, O Jehovah; And thy law is my delight. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 12:2 And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Psalms 119:16 I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word. Psalms 119:175 Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; And let thine ordinances help me. Psalms 119:176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; For I do not forget thy commandments. John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Romans 5:17 For if, by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; much more shall they that receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, even Jesus Christ. Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Psalms 119:90 Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. Psalms 119:121 AYIN. I have done justice and righteousness: Leave me not to mine oppressors. Psalms 119:122 Be surety for thy servant for good: Let not the proud oppress me. Psalms 119:132 Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me, As thou usest to do unto those that love thy name. Psalms 119:137 TSADHE. Righteous art thou, O Jehovah, And upright are thy judgments. Psalms 119:128 Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; And I hate every false way. Job 42:2 I know that thou canst do all things, And that no purpose of thine can be restrained. Job 42:3 Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that which I understood not, Things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Job 42:4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak; I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Job 42:5 I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; But now mine eye seeth thee: Job 42:6 Wherefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes. Psalms 119:138 Thou hast commanded thy testimonies in righteousness And very faithfulness. Psalms 119:139 My zeal hath consumed me, Because mine adversaries have forgotten thy words. Psalms 119:140 Thy word is very pure; Therefore thy servant loveth it. Psalms 119:141 I am small and despised; Yet do I not forget thy precepts. Psalms 119:142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And thy law is truth. Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: John 8:32 and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Psalms 119:143 Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me; Yet thy commandments are my delight. Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Psalms 119:144 Thy testimonies are righteous for ever: Give me understanding, and I shall live. Psalms 119:145 QOPH. I have called with my whole heart; answer me, O Jehovah: I will keep thy statutes. Deuteronomy 4:27 And Jehovah will scatter you among the peoples, and ye shall be left few in number among the nations, whither Jehovah shall lead you away. 1 Peter 2:9 But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Deuteronomy 4:28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. Deuteronomy 4:29 But from thence ye shall seek Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt find him, when thou searchest after him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. Deuteronomy 4:30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, in the latter days thou shalt return to Jehovah thy God, and hearken unto his voice: Deuteronomy 4:31 for Jehovah thy God is a merciful God; he will not fail thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them. Psalms 119:146 I have called unto thee; save me, And I shall observe thy testimonies. Psalms 119:147 I anticipated the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy words. Psalms 119:148 Mine eyes anticipated the night-watches, That I might meditate on thy word. Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Psalms 119:149 Hear my voice according unto thy lovingkindness: Quicken me, O Jehovah, according to thine ordinances. Psalms 119:150 They draw nigh that follow after wickedness; They are far from thy law. Isaiah 36:10 And am I now come up without Jehovah against this land to destroy it? Jehovah said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it. Philippians 2:13 for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. Isaiah 10:24 Therefore thus saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian, though he smite thee with the rod, and lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. Isaiah 10:25 For yet a very little while, and the indignation against thee shall be accomplished, and mine anger shall be directed to his destruction. Isaiah 37:3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of contumely; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. Isaiah 37:4 It may be Jehovah thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which Jehovah thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left. Isaiah 37:5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. Isaiah 37:6 And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus saith Jehovah, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Isaiah 37:7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he shall hear tidings, and shall return unto his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. Psalms 119:151 Thou art nigh, O Jehovah; And all thy commandments are truth. Psalms 119:152 Of old have I known from thy testimonies, That thou hast founded them for ever. Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Matthew 24:38 For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, Psalms 119:153 RESH. Consider mine affliction, and deliver me; For I do not forget thy law. Psalms 119:154 Plead thou my cause, and redeem me: Quicken me according to thy word. Colossians 1:27 to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Psalms 119:155 Salvation is far from the wicked; For they seek not thy statutes. Psalms 119:156 Great are thy tender mercies, O Jehovah: Quicken me according to thine ordinances. Psalms 107:20 He sendeth his word, and healeth them, And delivereth them from their destructions. Psalms 119:157 Many are my persecutors and mine adversaries; Yet have I not swerved from thy testimonies. 2 Corinthians 12:9 And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Psalms 119:158 I beheld the treacherous, and was grieved, Because they observe not thy word. Psalms 119:159 Consider how I love thy precepts: Quicken me, O Jehovah, according to thy lovingkindness. Psalms 119:160 The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. Psalms 119:161 SHIN. Princes have persecuted me without a cause; But my heart standeth in awe of thy words. Judges 7:7 And Jehovah said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thy hand; and let all the people go every man unto his place. Psalms 119:162 I rejoice at thy word, As one that findeth great spoil. Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing; But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. Psalms 119:163 I hate and abhor falsehood; But thy law do I love. Psalms 119:164 Seven times a day do I praise thee, Because of thy righteous ordinances. Psalms 119:165 Great peace have they that love thy law; And they have no occasion of stumbling. John 14:15 If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments. Galatians 1:6 I marvel that ye are so quickly removing from him that called you in the grace of Christ unto a different gospel; Galatians 1:7 which is not another gospel: only there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Psalms 119:166 I have hoped for thy salvation, O Jehovah, And have done thy commandments. Psalms 119:167 My soul hath observed thy testimonies; And I love them exceedingly. Psalms 119:168 I have observed thy precepts and thy testimonies; For all my ways are before thee. James 4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and covet, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war; ye have not, because ye ask not. Romans 8:26 And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered; 1 John 5:14 And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: 1 John 5:15 and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him. Psalms 119:169 TAV. Let my cry come near before thee, O Jehovah: Give me understanding according to thy word. Matthew 11:25 At that season Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes: Proverbs 13:20 Walk with wise men, and thou shalt be wise; But the companion of fools shall smart for it. Psalms 119:170 Let my supplication come before thee: Deliver me according to thy word. Psalms 119:171 Let my lips utter praise; For thou teachest me thy statutes. Psalms 149:6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand; Psalms 149:7 To execute vengeance upon the nations, And punishments upon the peoples; 2 Chronicles 20:21 And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed them that should sing unto Jehovah, and give praise in holy array, as they went out before the army, and say, Give thanks unto Jehovah; for his lovingkindness endureth for ever. 2 Chronicles 20:22 And when they began to sing and to praise, Jehovah set liers-in-wait against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, that were come against Judah; and they were smitten. 2 Chronicles 20:23 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. Psalms 119:172 Let my tongue sing of thy word; For all thy commandments are righteousness. Psalms 119:173 Let thy hand be ready to help me; For I have chosen thy precepts. James 4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and covet, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war; ye have not, because ye ask not. Psalms 119:174 I have longed for thy salvation, O Jehovah; And thy law is my delight. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 12:2 And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Psalms 119:16 I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word. Psalms 119:175 Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; And let thine ordinances help me. Psalms 119:176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; For I do not forget thy commandments. John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Romans 5:17 For if, by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; much more shall they that receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, even Jesus Christ. Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

On today's Tax Tuesday, host Troy Butler, Senior Manager of Bookkeeping at Anderson, speaks with Jeff Webb, CPA, Vice-President of Professional Services at Anderson about some timely tax questions around deductions and payroll. The discussion also addresses some detailed information around bookkeeping including services offered by Anderson, and other apps and software that are best for certain situations. Submit your tax questions to taxtuesday@andersonadvisors. Highlights/Topics: "How do you write-off classes or courses, cars, equipment, or anything in general? What is the process? What do you keep? How do you show your proof of funds spent?" In a C-corp, you're allowed to take education for new lines of business. Other entity types, you're only allowed to deduct education for business tha you're already doing. "What's the best way to get payroll started? I want to start with hiring a couple of part time employees." - I highly recommend using a third-party for payroll. I don't recommend that you do it yourself, unless you have a full-time dedicated bookkeeper that this is their job. "Can I deduct expenses for working from home, and what forms can I use?" - What we recommend, typically, is that if you have an entity such as a corporation or even a partnership, you do administrative home reimbursement. "What's the best way to record startup expenses incurred on your private accounts?" There's a lot to read there, so we'll go on to the next one. - Startup costs, organizational costs are actually intangible assets, and those intangible assets get amortized. "Which bookkeeping app would you recommend for four units or less landlords to make our tax preparation easier for all of us?" - QuickBooks is always good. I like QuickBooks Online. "Can we discuss how our bookkeeping service works?" I can do that pretty well. "We're drowning in Excel and Quicken." - We have several different services we offer here at Anderson. The flagship one is called full service bookkeeping, and that's where we're going to do your books on a monthly basis. "What are common expense categories I should use?" - There are lots and lots of templates of charts of accounts out there that can give you a good baseline. For our Platinum members, we offer some generalized templates. "Can I discuss some big picture strategies to help with bookkeeping automation/AI?" “We have a physician set up their PLLC in New York State. Do I need to set up payroll, give myself W2? How much do they pay themselves to avoid an IRS audit? What's the bookkeeping needed? How do I take the remaining money out as a distribution?" That's seven questions in one. They're getting their money's worth out of that one. “What are the minimum requirements to do so and suggested curiosity of tasking?" – If you have a ton of activity, and a week's worth of transactions takes you four hours to do, then you probably shouldn't wait a whole lot of time to do your bookkeeping. At the minimum, I would recommend doing your books quarterly. "If our business is still paying off business debt from previous tax years, how do we account for that as far as bookkeeping and reporting?” - If you take out a loan, and you're making payments against that loan, those loan payments aren't expenses, except for the interest on that loan. “How does the bookkeeping service integrate with the accounting service?" – If you're using us for bookkeeping and using us for tax, we will coordinate your tax return with your tax preparer. Your bookkeeping team will work with your client tax coordinators/tax preparer Resources: Infinity Investing https://infinityinvesting.com/ Email us at Tax Tuesday taxtuesday@andersonadvisors.com Tax and Asset Protection Events https://andersonadvisors.com/real-estate-asset-protection-workshop-training/?utm_source=aba&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=how-to-write-off-general-business-expenses Anderson Advisors https://andersonadvisors.com/

It's natural to not like competition, but having it is key for successful entrepreneurs. In this episode of the Class E Podcast, we talked with Fred Cary, a serial entrepreneur and thought leader who has over thirty years of experience. Cary discusses the various successful companies he has taken to the next level and shares how his current company, Idea Pros, provides anyone a path into the entrepreneurial world. He also encourages entrepreneurs to view failure and competition as good things in their ventures. Guest: Fred Cary Host: Mary Sturgill Producer: Isabella Martinez '24   TRANSCRIPT MARY: Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Class E Podcast. I am your host Mary Sturgill. As you all know, this is the podcast that's brought to you through a partnership between the Hill Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the Communication Studies Department here at Furman University. Our hope with these podcasts is to share the story of innovative and entrepreneurial thinkers in hopes of inspiring you. And today we welcome, serial entrepreneur and thought leader with over thirty years of experience in that space, Fred Cary, has created transformational strategies that have resulted in billions of dollars in corporate value, and these stories cross boundaries. He's built high-growth businesses in finance and software, mobile technologies, data, retail, consumer products and E-commerce and probably a lot more. Through all of that, he's acquired of course thousands of lessons along the way that he is now going to share with us and he's sharing in his latest venture Idea Pros, which is an entrepreneurial startup services company. Fred, welcome to the show.  FRED: Well, thank you so much. I'm not sure I'm gonna I'm going to share thousands of lessons but we'll hit some of the big ones.  MARY: We'll share what we can with the time we have. So you have a… just to give everybody a little bit of background on you, you have a background in law with the Thomas Jefferson School of Law and Harvard and you have an MBA in business from the University of Liverpool. But I suspect that your history with entrepreneurship started kind of way before long, way before you did any of that stuff. What sparked innovation and entrepreneurship for you?  FRED: The fact that I didn't fit the mold. I always felt kind of like an outsider from the way that my childhood and teenage friends approached what they thought was going to be their adult life. And the way that I did it, I was always all over the place. And I was always thinking about how to do things the different way, in a more unusual way, than my friends were. So that's really… by 21 I knew I could never work for anybody else.  MARY: So you knew at that point that you were just going to create whatever you needed to create at that point in time to work for yourself?  FRED: Absolutely.  MARY: Yeah. You've… we've listed briefly some of the ventures that you've had. What I'd like you to do, just to give everybody a little bit of background, can you go… take us through some of those, just briefly, maybe your favorites and briefly talk about what they are and where you took them.  FRED: My favorite companies?  MARY: Yes, yeah.  FRED: Historically?  MARY: Yeah.  FRED: Ok. So I think one of my favorites was Boxlot. And the reason for that is it was a company that was going to be a disaster. We started in 1998. And we were chasing eBay. eBay was literally a year ahead of us with their app and well, their website mostly at that point, and we just couldn't catch up. We had an auction website, we did better auctions than they did, much finer quality things than they did. And we ended up being just a distant second that we couldn't change. We had a lot of money that had already been invested in us. And it was time to either shut the doors down or figure something else out. And we had to make a really, really big pivot. I don't like quitting, and so, our pivot became let's be a technology company. The reason was a lot of the underlying technology needed for options, reverse bidding, bitter buy, accepting multiple bids, automated bidding increments, and a lot of that technology didn't exist. And so we turned ourselves into a technology company and re-sparked everything and all the biggest companies in the world started using our technology. And we ended up getting an agreement 18 months later for $125 million acquisition of our company which it was something that should have been in the assets. So I think that's a good one for me.   MARY: Yeah, that's huge.  FRED: Yeah. Another one's Imagine Communications. When HD first started penetrating American households, the cable industry was in really bad shape because the cable that would go to the home would only support one megabit of data and they needed back then 1.5 megabits to deliver an HD signal. And so it was going to be disaster for the cable industry. We came up with a technology that we approached the cable companies with our proposed technology and they said if you can make it we'll buy it and my engineers said, “You're crazy. We can't make it.” But we did. And nine months later, we came up with a technology that could in different residential communities that actually took their infrastructure and we quadrupled their throughput. So instead of only being able to handle one standard definition signal, they were able to deliver to HD and one standard using all the same infrastructure they had in place. So that company now, Imagine Communications, does probably $750 million a year in revenue and you know, it started from an idea that couldn't happen.  MARY: Right, that people thought just wasn't possible at the time. Yeah, that's amazing. And then what would be your third one?  FRED: Well, my third one is IdeaPros, the company I'm in right now. It's the hardest even though I brought a couple of companies public, it's the hardest I've ever worked really. And it's because we become co-founders with entrepreneurs and it's expensive to work with us. It's not cheap at all, but the entrepreneurs that we're about ready to go out and spend 100, 200, 300, $500,000 to build an app, build a company, do all the engineering for physical products, we approach them or they approach us most likely to be the co founder and they will pay us an upfront fee, a fixed fee of around, it's around $100,000 and they give us 30% of the company we're going to form together and then we do everything. We do all the heavy lifting from research and competitive analysis, customer profiling, branding, naming, positioning, development of the website, development of the app, development of the physical product, engineering, and all the way through marketing and then launching while we're training the entrepreneur how to really, really be experienced in a year period of time. So that's been very, very fruitful. I've had 100,000 applications in the last two years. We've taken 400 companies and we have about 24 of them that we think are going to be worth around $100 million dollars each. So $2.4 billion worth of value right there. So that's been very rewarding and very stressful at the same time.  MARY: Yeah, I bet so because I mean, I know, and you probably experienced this in your own journey that, you know, you have this great idea, but sometimes, a lot of times, you don't necessarily have the skills that it takes to make that idea into a company or a viable company, right? And you guys seem like you're providing that for some of the idea people.  FRED: You know, when I was a kid, the rich people were the doctors and lawyers and the businesses down the street and the movie stars, the athletes…now when people think about wealth, it's about entrepreneurs. When you have social media, it makes it look easy, but if you look at the underlying data, literally 94% of the multimillionaires and billionaires are entrepreneurs, went to really great schools, over 60% of them got advanced degrees from those schools. They know how to be an insider, they know how to play that insider game. And the rest of us the 95% of us, including me, we were all outsiders. We don't know the rules. We don't have the connections. We don't know what we're supposed to build and that's why the biggest cause of failure for new companies in America is that entrepreneurs build something there's no demand for. How crazy is that? You think the number one thing would be not enough money. The number one thing is that you built something that nobody wants. Your mother won't even buy it and that's really devastating to think all those dreams crushed. And so we started Idea Pros to really turn those outsiders into insights.  MARY: Yeah, so that's what I was gonna say is you're taking those outsiders and giving them the path to get on the inside.  FRED: Exactly.  MARY: Yeah. Yeah. I love that. So can you talk about a couple of the companies that you're working with?  FRED: Yeah. And I have to be careful because I'm just launching in semi secret mode. But we have one company that is, it's an app company. It's basically if you think of it as Uber for the construction industry, and it's called Grunt. You can find them at trygrunt.com. And basically, what it is is this, this founder came from the construction industry, always breaking tools, running out of supplies, and they need to go off the job site and you waste the day, waste a couple days and a couple of people that are going out there for hours. And with Grunt, you can place orders for whatever you want. Grunt drivers pick it up, deliver it to your site within an hour and in some cases two depending on how many places they need to go to. And so it really sells a major problem for the industry. On top of that, we're trying to make Grunt drivers sexy, you know? I can't tell you the number of guys in their 20s and 30s that probably hate delivering groceries to grandma at 8 o'clock at night. You know, it's not a very compelling side hustle. Be able to tell your girlfriend you're gonna go out and pick up some lumber and that's part of what you do in the first place. We want to make it like UPS when UPS first started coming out their drivers with the sexy shorts and everything was a big spin on things. And so we're doing the same thing with Grunt to try to make it a side hustle that you can be proud of doing if you fit that profile.  MARY: Yeah, and that's actually… I agree that's so much needed. I volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, and it was my job to get that project… get them all the materials we needed for whatever project on site and it does take a lot of time away if you're not prepared for that.  FRED: Yeah, yeah, anything can happen. You get there and then it's the wrong, the wrong thing.  MARY: Absolutely.  FRED: So, we're gonna do really, really well with that. There's another one that talking about kind of, Habitat for Humanity and things like that, there's another one called Exhale. Exhale is a web based solution. Our partner has been in health care for many years, and she's dealt with people with lung issues. And insurance companies only cover you when you get to stage four lung disease, which is insane to me. It's like okay, we're gonna help you die. Stages one, two, and three is where people really really need the help and it's not covered. So we built this company called Exhale. It's all… hundreds of videos, advice on how to eat, how to sleep, the types of exercises you do, you have groups. You put it all together and she's launched. She's doing really, really well. There's a lot of doctor groups that are signing up with her. She actually got picked to be on the board of the National Board of Directors for the American Lung Association, because of this work. So that's been a really noble work that's's really really taken off so that I think that's another good example.  MARY: Yeah, absolutely. What are some of the criteria that you look for? Because I'm sure some people have come to you, they've had the money. But you've looked at… you've done your due diligence and you look at them and you just don't think this is viable. What are some of the things that you're looking for?  FRED: You know, I was the first person doing this and so I've made a ton of mistakes, speaking of thousands of lessons. When we first started, we were really mostly interested in the idea and of course, the capital you had contributed or my model didn't work. If you don't have skin in the game, you're not as motivated as if you do. That's one lesson that I learned historically. So now, the entrepreneurs are actually even more important than the idea, because we can take an idea as long as it's a decent idea, we can take it and we can massage it and we can turn it into a great idea but you can't turn somebody into a great entrepreneur, if they don't have the heart if they don't have the grit and determination, not able to accept failure as a step towards success. If you don't have those things, you're not going to make it no matter how great of an idea we turn this into. So ultimately, obviously, got to be able to fit the financial profile. But then the very next step is are you somebody who's not going to quit? And if you got those two things going, now let's take a look at your idea. And let's see what that real market need is and whether or not this thing can go in and become a dominant player in that space. Those are the things that we look for in that order.  MARY: What's one of the problems that you wish that you discovered in any of your processes in any of your companies that you wish someone had told you beforehand?  FRED: Um, well, I think the most obvious one is things never work out the way you intend. And everything's gonna take twice as long and cost twice as much. And that's just the way it is, you know, and we have, we as entrepreneurs, we look at things and we see that there's a real need, and we believe that the world is going to come running towards us with this new great solution. And it's really, really a long process. I mean, if you look, everybody talks about Elon Musk and, and Tesla and everything. Number one, he wasn't the founder of Tesla, it's two other guys that did it. But number two, the first electric car 1890.  MARY: Right.  FRED: 1890.  MARY: I literally just read that the other day.  FRED: Oh you did?  MARY: Yeah.  FRED: I got my facts. So, the reality is that things take a long time and just because you're first doesn't mean you're ever gonna make it. And sometimes, I think the second lesson I learned is sometimes it's good not to be first. If you're second, third, fourth, you're making something but you're making it better because you've had the first ones go in there and crash and burn and try to do things but not do it well. And now you have a market demand, you have people who have penetrated the market, you have customers that are screaming about that one star component of the solution, and you can make that one-star thing, your five-star thing. So I would say don't be afraid of competition and understand that things take a really long time. So don't be afraid of failure either.  MARY: I think a lot of times and correct me if I'm wrong, because you probably know more about this world than I do, but I think venture capitalists sometimes look at the competition aspect of it. Is there competition in the marketplace already? And that kind of almost contradicts what you just said about it's okay to be the second or third company.  FRED: Yeah, well, you know, if they were worried about that, they would have never taken HelloFresh after Blue Apron or Lyft after Uber. There's always room for more than one. And if you look at, for example, the food delivery apps, there are at least a half dozen… ones that are doing really, really well.  MARY: Oh, yeah.  FRED: So venture capital, there's no venture capital firm that would give a dime to Quicken. When Quicken first started, he literally went door to door to every venture capitalist in Silicon Valley. Now over 240 of them, not one would give him a penny. They thought it was a stupid idea. Of course, after he really started kicking butt everybody wanted to give money at that.  MARY: Of course.  FRED: One thing you have to understand or the audience needs to understand about venture capital or any other type of investor, they don't know everything. A lot of times they haven't even ever started their own company. Some of them are just finance people, and bankers, and they are theoretically inclined, as opposed to being able to really find that target market and understand that there's an opportunity so don't be discouraged. If you can't find money in one place, go find it somewhere else. Because eventually you'll get it. Yeah, venture capital…To me, somebody comes in right away and says, “Hey, I have no competition. It's awesome.” If you have no competition, there's no demand, right? Because competition fills a demand that is generated by consumers or whoever the ultimate customer is. And if there's no demand and you're doing something so revolutionary that you have to actually build a demand where none existed before, then that's billions of dollars probably to get there. I mean, people..I use the example of the first car you know, somebody could argue that there was no competition when the first car came out, but the competition was horses. You know, that the issue was transportation. And so the demand was there for to be transported. You just had a different way of transporting people. And you're going to compete against that horse in the beginning. Cars were actually slower in some cases than horses and buggies. So, there's always competition and if there isn't, you know, you're gonna be one of those that fail because you created something that there is no demand for.   MARY: Yeah, I think that's a very good point. Let's see, do you have and I kind of feel like you do, just from our conversation, do you have kind of an entrepreneurial philosophy of entrepreneurism?  FRED: Well, my first philosophy is, don't.  MARY: That's what everybody says.  FRED: Look, if you want to be an entrepreneur, you need to understand it's a lifelong struggle,no matter how far along you get. I mean, Elon Musk with SpaceX, he was one rocket failure away from losing everything that he had after he'd already had a couple of successes. A big payday for PayPal. And yet, still having those issues, problems with testing, problems with Twitter. There are always fires. And if you're not comfortable wearing a fire suit, you shouldn't be an entrepreneur. But if you are, then I think for me, the kind of mantra for entrepreneurship is be comfortable with pain. Because you know that in the end, you can help a whole lot of people. Whatever it is that you're doing, if you're doing it for the right reason, with the right purpose, the right determination that you're a potentially a world changer, and you can't change the world without hurting yourself. And as long as you're willing to do that, and do things for the greater good, you're going to be able to make it no matter what you're trying to do.  MARY: I think that's a great mindset to be in because I think you're going to be more prosperous if you're in the mindset that I'm doing a greater good, rather than I'm going to make money. The money is going to come.  FRED: Yeah, yeah. And I say that all the time too. Don't chase the money, chase your dreams. Make it a reality and as long as you have your dream and be really strategic about how you take that dream and actualize it. When you can actualize your dream, the money will follow. It's as simple as that because doing it the right way, doing the research, understanding what the real need is, and being able to deliver on that need results in capital coming your way. But when you're focused instead on the dollar, you end up being like the Enron's of the world and no matter how big you get the corruption of chasing the dollar can take you down really, really hard.  MARY: And fast. You know a lot of people create business ventures obviously we talked about, that they're not always successful. Is there another piece of information that you're thinking or advice maybe that you're thinking that people need to understand or know that they might not know?  FRED: Oh, yeah, we don't know anything when we start a business, you know? When I talk about that… literally the way that we approach entrepreneurship, nobody would do that in something like sports. Can you imagine if I wanted to hire you as my coach for a sports team, and you're asking me like, right, well, what sport is it? And I tell you, I don't know. Do you have any competitors? I don't have any clue. But I think I'm the only one. And well how big is this sport? I don't know, what are the rules? I don't know. How do you get all of the spectators to root for you? I don't have a clue. Right? But that's how we go into entrepreneurship. We don't know the market. We don't know the market size. We don't know the growth. We don't know the holes in the market that we can exploit. We don't know what those personas really want and how to take them not only as customers but as passionate advocates of a brand. So what I would say to our entrepreneurs or want to be entrepreneurs, you need to do your homework. Think about it. That you're a coach of a sports team. DO you know all the rules? Do you know all the competitors? Do you know how to win? And if you don't know those things, you gotta get them. You know, I have on my website a free resource. It's called the insider checklist. And you can just go to ideapros.com and download it. As I said, it's absolutely free and it gives you seven points, seven highlights of the things you need to consider when you're starting any business. And then on top of that, for the next seven days, you get an email from me, and each day that email will cover one of those seven points and cover it in a lot greater detail and there's an embedded of 20 minute or so video on that subject from me. And so by the end of the seventh day, you'll not only know all those seven points, but you really get in depth knowledge about them. They're a critical foundation for anything that you want to do as an entrepreneur.  MARY: Do you recommend that people do that before they approach you as far as becoming partners with you?  FRED: Yeah, oh, yeah. You know, you need to understand what it's all about. And if somebody wanted to be my partner… Excuse me, that was a lingering allergy cough. But if somebody wants to be my partner, I would definitely suggest going through those things first. And you know, one of the things that we did…Idea Pros ended up becoming a drinking out of a firehose. There was just so much incredible demand. And I only had this one holding solution. But now we have a lot of things that are really inexpensive like I have master classes on purpose-driven entrepreneurship, we have things… for $1,800, we have a program that will take your idea and completely… everything I said about the market research and everything, will completely dissect that idea. Look at all these things you need to be looking at. Give you back a 40-page report on exactly what that market is, how you should exploit it, who your personas are, and how to go out and raise capital and you're going to need to go further up that food chain. So we do have a whole lot of things. If any of your audience wants to reach me or learn more…my executive assistant is not in the room because she always kills me when I say this, but you can write to me directly fred@ideapros.com and I'm happy to kind of steer anybody where they need to go.  MARY: Yeah, and you can check that out on Fred's website as well - ideapros.com. Fred, you've talked about the videos a little bit. Am I mistaken, don't you have a TV show like on YouTube?  FRED: Um, we actually have a TV show coming up. It's not, it's not out there yet. But, I do have over half a million followers on Instagram and I provide advice on personal development entrepreneurship every single day. I encourage you to go there. It's official fred cary, C-A-R-Y. And that is… I put my heart into that. I never have a script, I never have bullet points and never know what the heck I'm going to be saying. I'll just start talking and I'll put it down there but I think you could spend a minute a day on just going and seeing what I'm saying today, it will give you a good foundation to be a better person and be a better leader.  MARY: That's… how important do you think social media is now for companies for startups? FRED: For a startup, well most startups, it's critical. Your persona is represented digitally nowadays. You don't have a real storefront. You have digital storefronts, and everything that you do is measured by what is seen online whether it's your website, whether it's your blog posts, whether it's your LinkedIn or Instagram or Facebook or YouTube channels. Everything you do is what you're being measured by. And so if people look at you… Suppose you're a web development company and you go to your website, your website doesn't look great, or you have that copyright 2021 on there and instead of 2023. You know, these little things, that's how people would look at you in the real world before. And so social media, in the sense that it is addressing your customer base, it's critically important. You always want to have what you believe is your persona. It's the clear representation of your company and your belief system is projected in everything that you do online.  MARY: When you say persona, you're talking about brand?  FRED: Yeah, yeah, your brand. People think your brand is what you write down. Your brand is what people, your customers think of you. And so you can have, you can say your brand is this or that or whatever it is and write it on all the walls in your office and make every employee chant it when they walk in in the morning. But that's not your brand. Your brand is how you're perceived by your public, by your audience, by your customers. That's what your brand is. So that's why it's so important - social media and otherwise, every engagement with your audience. It's really important that what you want your brand to be is projected in such a way that your audience believes that as well.  MARY: Yeah, I just finished ghost-writing a book for a local businessman and so I'm totally stealing this from him.  FRED: Let's tell his name.  MARY: I'm not sure he wants me to, but I'll ask him first. But he says perception is reality. So it's going along with exactly what you're saying that how your audience or your customer base perceives you or the community that you're in perceives you is the reality of the situation.  FRED: Yeah, and you're, you know, no matter what you want that to be, you're never gonna get unanimity. You're never gonna get 100% of people buying into it. I mean, even in what I do, you know, but look at venture capital. Venture capital, 90% of their bets fail.   MARY: Right.  FRED: I'm trying to make my percentages way higher than that. But even so, let's suppose I have a 25% failure rate. That means 25% of my clients, my customers, my partners, probably think Fred is…you know, they don't feel that highly of me because their dreams have not been able to be met. So trying to manage your brand essence is very difficult when you can never make everybody happy. So you really have to make sure that what you're doing affects the most people so that you can curate. A lot of people don't like Apple, but their brand is very, very powerful and their brand… they do that in everything they do. You know they start with their why as much greater speakers than I did a really good review on but they start with their why and everything that they do, you know, at the end is we just happen to sell iPhones and computers, but that's the last part of the statement. They don't lead with that. They lead with the essence of being different or thinking differently, in creating unusual things. And you can see how powerful their brand is because if I told you that, I just heard that tomorrow Apple is releasing its first ever electric toothbrush. I wouldn't have to say another word. Not true at all. But you would know it's going to be sleek. It's going to have Bluetooth, it's going to tell you whether you're brushing right. It's going to crash and break into little pieces as other stuff does. But you're going to know the essence of… what this thing…you have it, you're imagining it in your head because they've done such a great job of creating their brand imagery for you. And that's what you need to strive for.  MARY: Yeah, and that's branded loyalty. Because Apple customers are super loyal.  FRED: I argue they're prisoners. Both of my daughters have Apple and I have Apple stock.  MARY: Well, that's good. I'm an Apple girl all the way. I call myself gadget girl all the time because I have so many gadgets and most of them are Apple. And Apple did not pay me for that little plug there either.  FRED: Nor did they pay me for that toothbrush. If it comes out, you guys are my witnesses.  MARY: If they come up with it, yeah. You heard here first folks. Fred's idea. Fred, what is next for you? And maybe Idea Pros, or maybe you want to separate that into you personally or Idea Pros.   Fred: Well, with Idea Pros, we still have a long journey ahead of us because as I started this company, previously, we only had this kind of flagship product. You know, all in co-founder. And there are a whole lot of entrepreneurs who need help at some level. Once you decide to be an entrepreneur, even if you fail miserably your first time, and you go back to corporate America, you're going to come back out. And so, we want to create this kind of umbrella that really addresses entrepreneurship from the very nucleus all the way through larger companies that need strategic consulting advice. So, they're a lot of programs, a lot of new solutions, that we're building with Idea Pros, and that's gonna keep me busy for a while. We're out raising capital right now and what hopes to be our last round before we think about going public within the next couple of years. But so, that's a big journey, but I think one of the big things for me personally is finding a way to balance my life a little bit. You know, I tell everybody else to do it and I do spend the first hour of the day or more trying to take care of me, working out, mediating, things like that. I'm working 10, 12 hours a day, working on the weekends, and I gotta find a way to calm down and relax a little bit. Maybe make, you know, three months out of the year working out of Italy.   MARY: Oh, that's a great idea. I just went to Malta and I worked from Malta when I was there so I think it's a fabulous idea.  FRED: Yeah, yeah.  MARY: Well, Fred, thank you so much for this great conversation. I've just thoroughly enjoyed it.  FRED: Thank you. I did as well. And I'm looking forward to crossing your path again.  MARY: Yeah absolutely, We need to get you to come speak at Furman.  FRED: I would love to do that. I think if you can educate people early enough…one of our partners, client partners, actually they had double MBAs, from prestigious schools…so she came and decided to work with us and she said the first six months of working with me, she learned more than both of those programs together, so I'm happy to speak to young people and try to let them know what they're getting into and let them know how to deal with the fires ahead.   MARY: Alright, listeners remember if you or someone you know is an entrepreneur or just has an idea that they've been thinking about launching, our Greenville Starts program is a great place to learn what you need to know and to make some of the connections that you're gonna need that can help you make your venture happen. The Fall cohort is full though, I will tell you, but you can get on the list for the Spring cohort and all you have to do is go to the Hill Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship website and go, I think it's the very first thing that pops up and put yourself on that list so you can get into that cohort. We've had some fabulous launches from that group. That does it for this episode of the Class E Podcast. Remember this is the podcast that's brought to you through a partnership between the Hill Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Communication Studies department here at Furman University. Remember you can catch the podcast two ways now wherever you listen to your podcasts and also we have a brand new YouTube channel where you can watch the podcast. So you can go to YouTube and check that out as well of course, it's just under the Class E Podcast channel. To make sure that you don't miss an episode, make sure that you hit that subscribe button to YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode and most of our episodes are produced by student producers, currently Isabella Martinez is our student producer. So she will have created this podcast for you. We want to thank you for tuning in. I am your host Mary Sturgill. Until next time everybody, dream big.  

Today we're going to introduce a game changer in the dental practice management software world...‍‍This is an innovative, all-in-one, cloud-based practice management software, and it offers an array of powerful features that are custom built for dentists by dentists ready to revolutionize the way you work. ‍If you are a start-up and decide to sign up with Oryx, they will NOT charge you a single dime, until you reached 200 active patients!⁠⁠They are partnering up with all startup practice owners and making sure you succeed, fast!⁠⁠ Click this link to schedule a FREE personalized demo and to see more on their exclusive deal!⁠‍‍‍Guest: Jay LetwatBusiness Name: SunbitCheck out Jay's Media:Website: https://sunbit.com/Email: jay@sunbit.com‍‍Other Mentions and Links:FicoBeyoncéT-MobileBurger KingCheesecake FactoryStarbucksVantageExperianiPadGimbelsTargetCare CreditLending ClubTerminatorEBITDA - earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortizationFlip the Script - Oren Klaff‍Host: Michael Arias‍Website: The Dental Marketer Join my newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/‍Join this podcast's Facebook Group: The Dental Marketer Society‍‍My Key Takeaways:Expensive treatment plans can build a wall of resistance in a patient's mind. Be sure to address these fears, and provide customizable options for financing.Sunbit approves approximately 85% of patients who need care for financing options. That's more than double the average!Nobody budgets for a $3,000 dental procedure out of the blue. Be sure to stress that patients don't have to pay all of this at once!The credit approval system in the US has largely been untouched since the 60's. It is about time to update the process and allow more accessibility.The patients that are scared away by price will mostly likely never return. Having great finance options will help them feel safe and included!‍Please don't forget to share with us on Instagram when you are listening to the podcast AND if you are really wanting to show us love, then please leave a 5 star review on iTunes! [Click here to leave a review on iTunes]‍p.s. Some links are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Please understand that we have experience with these products/ company, and I recommend them because they are helpful and useful, not because of the small commissions we make if you decide to buy something. Please do not spend any money unless you feel you need them or that they will help you with your goals.‍Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)Michael: All right. It's time to talk with our featured guest, Jay Lewa. Jay, how's it going? Jay: Everything is great, Michael, how are you? Michael: I'm doing pretty good, man. I'm doing pretty good. I appreciate you coming on. If you don't mind me asking. I know, I know. But like for our listeners, where are you located?Jay: Based in, uh, Los Angeles. Based in Los Angeles. Yeah, that's where our headquarters are at. Michael: How are you liking this Jay: rain? It's kind of new to me, to be honest with you. I've, I've only been in LA for five, six years. Um, so it's new in the sense of la but like, I'm originally from the Midwest in Chicago, so it rains and snows and could snow in, you know, August could rain in, you know, March.So we used to kind of the four seasons here, people start to panic a little bit when the rain comes or when it gets cold. It's kind of funny, but, uh, but it's nice, it's fun. Yeah. Michael: Yeah, we do. Yeah, we, that happens a lot all the time, but Awesome man. Okay, so then tell us a little bit about your past, present.How'd you get to where you are today? Jay: Sure. So I've got about 20 years of experience, um, mainly on the technology disruption side. So I did a lot of consulting early on in my career. A lot of performance improvement, compliance work as well. Uh, then kind of moved along into the technology space and, and where I really have spent my time is in a lot of, um, startups or growing, uh, technology companies that have kind of passed the startup phase in which they have a unique technology and they need the ability to market that technology to the masses and, and typically, It's a company that, is really changing the game.It's really, really disruptive. So what I love to do and what I'm doing now at Sunbelt is we're taking a disruptive technology in the pay over time space. And what we're trying to do and what we're doing it successfully is gaining significant market share in many different vertical markets, including the one that I manage, which is, uh, the dental patient financing space.Michael: Okay, so break it down to me Sun Bit. I'm under the impression Sun Bit is a bank Jay: or no? No, we are, we are a technology company. So we have the, uh, technology that allows or enables folks to get approved at a very high level. the technology enables us to approve about 85% of all people that apply for financing.And, and if, I'm not sure how familiar or not you are with specific financing, but usually that number is in the 40% range, 35, 40% range. Particularly now in a, in a. Recessionary sort of environment, inflationary environment, it typically tops off at 30, 35%. We're more than double that. And a lot of it is really because of the technology that we use, a lot of ai, a lot of machine learning.Cuz at the end of the day, what we're really doing, it's basically a math problem, right? Because you go to a bank, when you're a small business, let's say, and you go for a loan, Most people get rejected for a loan, for, for many reasons, may maybe their, their overall credit isn't good. They haven't been in business that long because the bank doesn't wanna take a risk on you, right?Banks don't like taking risks. what we do is we're able, using our technology to provide folks all throughout the credit spectrum, you know, not so great credit. Mid-level credit, very high end credit. We're able to get all those folks the patient financing they need when they walk into that doctor office.And so we allow through the technology, more people to say yes to treatment. And that's ultimately what we're doing. We use, we have, uh, banks, that kind of administer the loans, but at the core, our focus is on the technology. Because it's really a technology problem, like, the ability to have someone who is, you know, a good person, but they may have subprime credit, Historically, those folks don't get credit, right? You go to to Target or Walmart or Nordstrom's or wherever. If you're subprime, you're not getting a credit card. When they ask you if you'd like to, you know, get a red card or get a Nordstrom card, right? What we're saying and what we're doing is we're enabling folks both at the low end of, of FCO and at the very high end, full spectrum.They can get the credit they need on the dental space as well as other verticals that we work with. And we're comfortable that we're going to get repaid and we do it in a fair and transparent way and cost effective for the patient or the customer. And you can only really do that. With like mathematical formulas, algorithms, ai, et cetera.This isn't, uh, you can't do it via spreadsheet like, like the banks do, and like some older, uh, patient financing companies that have been around for 30 years. Gotcha. Michael: Okay. So I know you wanted to show something, right? Like a demo? Sure. Real quick. Sure. Of course. Sure. The demo is for what? Like for the patient doing Jay: it?Right. So what we do, maybe I can explain it a little bit. So mm-hmm. What we do is we do point of sale financing. So let's say you, um, haven't been to the dentist in a few years. You go to the dentist, they give you a comprehensive oral exam, they say, Michael, thanks for coming in. Appreciate it. Here's a list of seven things our doctor, uh, the dentist thinks you need to get done.Right. And those seven things have. Each, you know, a treatment and a cost, right? And at the end it's like, let's say $4,000. And they say, well Michael, how would you like to pay for the $4,000? And you're like, holy cow, I didn't budget for that. I don't have $4,000 in my pocket. Cuz it doesn't matter whether you have great credit you, you make a lot of money in your job or you don't.No one budgets. For unexpected medical expenses, like you can't go on your personal Quicken and, and, and say, okay, 2024, I'm gonna budget $3,000 for dental. Doesn't work that way. So what happens is that patient generally either says no to the treatment that they need, or they do kind of like a partial kind of, you know, French menu sort of thing where they say, okay, I'm gonna grab maybe the cavities here.You know, I'll, I'll take this $500 treatment here. But the other $3,000 doesn't really hurt me so much today, so I'm gonna go home and then when it really hurts me, maybe I'll come back. Right. And that's dentistry for the last 50 years, What they call case acceptance. So the ability of, let's say you, you have those seven things and it costs $4,000 and let's say you're only able Michael to, um, pay for 400 of that.Well, your case acceptance is basically 10%, right? $400. Divided by the 4,000 that you should have, uh, that you was prescribed to you, right? Which is terrible, which means 90% of your needs are not met, right? Mm-hmm. And you're walking out the door and probably never coming back. So that's kind of historic dental.So what we do is the patient comes in, they get qualified very quickly, and we approve nearly nine out of 10 folks. Without doing any kind of hard credit check, we do a soft credit check and the process is very simple, very clean. we like to think that it's like an un refinancing sort of transaction.It's almost like buying a coffee at a Starbucks drive-through. We want the experience to be not the same experience you get at a bank or from some old time patient finance company that, you know, maybe may still do it on, on pen and paper. Okay? Mm-hmm. So, That's kind of the preface of, of what we do. and I can, I can show you the kind of the process, how it works, because it's very, very different than anything you've seen or folks in the dental market for the past 20, 30 years.They've generally never seen it, and they usually have a very positive reaction to it. Like, you know, where have you been all my life? And can we talk and, and, you know, use this at your, at your practice. Yeah. Michael: Could we see it? Could we see how it Absolutely. How it works and stuff. And so absolutely. For absolutely.Sure. Sure. Our listeners listening right now, if you want to go on the show notes below, you can watch the video version of it and we can see it right now. Sure. Jay: so right on my screen, you see iPad. Okay. And that's the iPad I have in my hand right now. Okay.So we provide this iPad. To every dental office, and it could be more than one iPad, just depends on how many people, what kind of patient flow you have. So the first thing the, office team does is they will select their name. Okay? So again, this is a demo. Michael, who do you wanna be today? Michael: Beyonce always.Jay: Excellent, excellent choice. Who? Who doesn't wanna be Beyonce after all? Come on. Yeah, you click on Beyonce, then you click scan card, then we take the driver's license. Right? And it doesn't matter which state it works in all states. On the back is a barcode, right? So you take that barcode and what I do is I just scan that baby right there automatically.What happens is, and again this is in real time, I'm not, you know, slowing it down, speeding it up, takes my home information. Patient types in their phone number and email. They continue and then you simply ask the patient, Hey patient, is this your updated info? They usually say yes. You click copy to form the patients a agrees to check their options. And just like that you've been approved for $6,100. This is the approval process. Wow. That's it. We're done. Okay? Mm-hmm. So now there's a ton of things that happen in the background, right? But that's invisible to the practice, invisible to the patient, right? And again, this kind of goes into how we're a technology and data company.So a couple things here. One, you were approved for 6,100, we're approving every single patient. With a FCO score of 500 or greater. So when you, when if in terms of F ICOs, 500 is a very, very low F ico, right? Mm-hmm. But we're able to approve them because of our unique and flexible model. If you approve from 500, it equates to typically 85 to 87% of all patients that apply. So going back to the dentist example, the the office example, you know that. Eight and a half outta 10 people that walk in the office have the ability to get qualified for finance and can get the treatment they need.So that case acceptance number I gave you before, whether it's 10, 20, 30, or 40%, it shoots up dramatically so they can actually walk out being happy because they're, you know, dental problems are solved. Okay. So the first thing, high approval, second thing, we never do a hard credit check. So in the us, typically when you are.you know, when I signed up for T-Mobile mm-hmm. They do a hard credit check, which impacts your credit. It's not fun. Right. We do a soft inquiry to get to this point. So all we do is, get basic information. It doesn't impact your credit score whatsoever, but the kicker is, even if you decide to move forward with the loan, we still do not do a hard credit check.So it has no impact. Your credit has no impact. If you apply or take the loan initially, which is again, very, very unique. And again, it kind of is because of our kind of technology backbone. And the last thing is we approve up to $20,000. So I'll just show you one more screen. Mm-hmm. So let's say for instance, your treatment plan is 2100 bucks.So you click 2100. And then what we have here is basically. A menu of options like, you know, burger King, have it your way. Other, partners of our, of ours call it the Cheesecake Factory Menu of options here, we usually have three to six options here, right? We highlight the one that's the most affordable.So, hey, patient, you don't have to pay $2,100 today. Again, sigh of relief, right? You can pay 48 months, 48 to over 48 months, 56 bucks. In this particular case, it's a dollar down payment. Again, eight APRs vary. It could be 0%, um, or higher. In this particular case, let's say it's 12.99, you see everything very clearly delineated.There's no tricks, there's no penalties. Uh, we don't do any kind of deferred interest. If you're familiar with that, maybe the patient wants 0%. We have 0% options too. And so the idea is, and they just kind of select what they want. They kind of go through, the process. Make sense. Go the z Michael: go to the zero present one real quick.Sure, no problem. Okay. Okay. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. So it, it all changes throughout the, you're not set with the percentage then? Jay: Correct. So the, the idea is, The patient gets to choose what's best for them, right? We don't wanna make a judgment call, right? We don't wanna be judgmental, period in life, right?We don't know what shoes the other person's sitting in, but particularly the dental office. I mean, you don't know whether somehow someone is dressed and, and we shouldn't be making that. Let's let the patient decide maybe they're comfortable with 121 bucks a month. But maybe they're not. Maybe $56 is more comfortable for them.We let them decide, and that's kind of the power of the solution. There's again, three to six unique offers that they're getting, and they choose what's best for them. That's kind of part of the secret. If you give a product that's customizable to the individual, They're gonna like it more, and oh, by the way, they're going to pay us back at a higher rate, right?Which lowers the defaults, which again allows us to loan to more people. here's something like I learned early on. So payday loans, right? Terrible, horrible, predatory, four, 500% terrible. Mm-hmm. Well, why? Why are they four or 500% It's not because the money costs four or 500%, right? I mean, you can get a loan from a bank now even with high interest rates.12%, 13%, right? But the reason is because maybe five out of 10 people don't pay it back. So the five that do pay it back are paying for the five that don't pay it back. So that's why the interest rate is high. But if you can create a product that's customizable down to the individual you have a greater amount of people that pay you back.It's kind of like a self-fulfilling thing. You can continue to loan to more and more people so that your approval rates continue to be higher and higher and higher and satisfy more patients. And that's been kind of our goal from day one. We want people to pay back. So we, have developed unique offers for every individual.Michael: Mm-hmm. Can they customize also the down payment due at Jay: checkout? Yeah. Yeah. So they can, for instance, you can, um, Let's look at here. Let's say they wanna lower the $56 a month. Let's say it's still too high. Mm-hmm. You would just go click here and say, okay, I wanna pay 500. What? What? I just wanna make sure remember the 56 30?Mm-hmm. So let's say they wanna make a $500 down payment, right? Because they wanna lower the monthly payments. You click update and then magically what happens? It's $42 a month. So totally customizable, and a lot of people do that, and we want them to do what's most comfortable for 'em. I don't wanna dictate what's best for them.I, I don't know what they want, but they know what they want. So let's give them the option. when you go to the Starbucks drive-through, do they tell you what coffee to get? No. You know, you can get 10 different variety, 20 different, uh, variations of a macchiato. That's why they're successful.Michael: Yeah. Interesting. Jay. Okay. so a couple questions I have when it comes to the technology, because you said this is new, right? Disruptive technology, nobody's doing it in the industry or, no, I mean, Jay: every, their, their patient financing has been around.For 25 years. but historically, even today, it's very much FICO driven. So if your FCO is 6 81, you get the credit you need. If it's 6 79, you get decline. It's like a straight number. Right? And there's companies that provide those numbers. There's. You know, uh, vantage, and there's various, you know, uh, Experian, TransUnion, et cetera, to provide the number.So most of the companies historically just do that. And there's not really any technology there, right? That's mainly how banks are like old school patient financing companies that have been around since like 1990. That's what they do. But, but think about this example. let's take you and I, today.Our FCO scores are six 50, right? Both of us, like it looks like we're the same, right? But what if a year ago, yours was 600 and mine was 700, Who's the greater risk? We're not the same. Six 50 is not the same. You're a much better risk than I am because you're on your way up, you're trending. And I'm on my way down.So our offers might be a bit different and they should be a bit different. We can't be treated the same. So we look at thousands of data points. It all basically, and we're not getting any kind of secret information. This is, we're doing a soft data inquiry, right? So we're getting kind of condensed data.and then we take that data and we use it to model basically we measure it against our, our AI model. And then it spits out the information. Okay, approve, not approve. If we're gonna approve them, how much are we gonna approve them for? What's the a p r? you know, then again, what's the e fee, if there's a down payment, et cetera.So it's that uniqueness that enables us to up with an offer that could be very different than someone else. So typically, a lot of the folks that we're approving people aren't touching with a 10 foot pole. Why? Because historically, if you're measuring things by fico, it's just not real accurate for installment loans of 18 months or 24 months.Mm-hmm. So we have confidence that we're gonna get paid back. And in terms of our, you know, numbers, people do pay us back, at great rates. So that's, I think, the difference. It's. Everyone is a bit different in the world. every American is different. When they apply for credit, they're different. And you have to have a product that takes that into consideration.We're not like just a score, right? We're, we're made up of, of thousands of different, you know, uniqueness characteristics, whether you're, I'm not talking about finance, but just in general, we're all different. Mm-hmm. So you need to have kind of a scoring system, a mathematical model that takes that into, into consideration.Michael: now when it comes to, when it comes to this, I know you mentioned soft data, our data pools mm-hmm. And what's behind the soft Jay: data pool? So basically how it works is.These credit agencies basically charge money, right? To companies that would like to pull your data. Of course, it's with your authorization. So I, I don't know if you remember on, on the iPad there's clear authorization that says you, you know, agree to having your, uh, credit soft pulled. So basically it's like a condensed credit file.Mm-hmm. Okay. So, If you get that condensed credit file, that soft inquiry, it doesn't have any impact on your credit score, If you get a hard credit check, which by the way, nearly all the patient finance companies use, why do they use it? Because it has much more granular data, And they basically take the granular data, they feed it into their kind of limited model and, and they say approve or not.Our technology takes the condensed, takes the more limited data, and then we feed it into our proprietary model, and it gets us to an answer that's satisfactory such that we don't need the hard credit check. And oh, by the way, hard credit checks are terrible. Like, like if you're, you know, if you're buying a house or an apartment.it hurts you, it's questionable in terms of how much and and how long it's, it hurts you on in terms of your report. Mm-hmm. But it clearly hurts your credit for a period of time. So we avoid that. We avoid the friction in the office staff because of that. And again, they're regular people, just like the folks that are walking in.They don't wanna offer a product or service that's going to hurt their patients. Right. That's just not human nature. So it reduces the friction. So when they use, um, you know, when they're working with us, you know, some that working with, you know, with the iPad, they can be comfortable that it's only a soft inquiry.And so that helps us get a lot more utilization than, than the company that they used before. You know, we got to their office. Yeah. Does that makes sense? Michael: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I know a lot of the times like. When, I remember when I was trying to build up my credit, like it was in the 600 s and I'm like, oh man, I, any little thing, hard inquiry.Oh yeah, you get outta there, right? Like, I didn't want that Jay: terrible Yeah. Kind of thing. Yeah. Like, I'm, I'm like, I'm like paranoid. Like I, I have, you know, um, those free credit services and I look on the report because you, you wanna check it like you, you, or if you're in the process of buying a house or whatever, or a car, you, you don't want your hard credit check.But even if you're not, like in general, there's really no reason like, When I, I was telling a story when I got to, when I moved to LA and I went to the T-Mobile store, they took down my information and before they even asked me what package I wanted, they were like, oh, we need your social security number cuz we need to do a hard credit check.And I'm like, why? Why do you do a hard credit check when you don't even know what, what I want? Like what if I want prepaid? Mm-hmm. Like, I'm gonna, I would maybe pay you the cash. Now, that's not what I wanted, but they're like, no, we have to do a hard check. It's like, no, well you really don't. Just that they don't have the technology in place to kind of determine the credit worthiness of that customer.And we do. So that's why, it's a soft inquiry and we're, I believe, the only company that does it throughout in terms of the app, the, uh, approval process. And then when they actually take the loan. Still, no, our credit check. Wow. Michael: Okay. So I never thought about that, Jay. I always thought it was like a people problem instead of a technology problem when it came to like being approved.Jay: It's not, it's, it's, it's, I'll tell you, it's like a co it's a complex math problem, right? It's like this guy who has a six 10 fico, let's say has a job she has a job, they have money in their checking account, But based on historical, credit worthiness standards, They are not getting any credit card whatsoever, right?Because it's been told by them that it's not happening. But we look at it very differently. Like if it's a $2,000 installment loan and it's over 24 months, the question is, does this person have a hundred dollars? And they're checking account every month cuz we're pulling out of their checking account.And the answer is generally yes, but it goes against. All the kind of the credit, decisioning that's been going on since like 1950. I mean, I brought something here, which kind of cool. So you're, you're from the West coast. This is a credit card application. There's a store called Gimbals based in, I believe, Philadelphia.Open in 1880, close in like 1987. This is actually, we kind of see it here. This is actually a credit card application from 1967. Pristine condition. Okay. Yeah. So what's interesting about it is if you look at the question that's kind of small, prince, I'll read, if you look at the questions, the same questions of what's your income, do you rent versus own?Are you married versus single? this is 1967. So what have credit card companies and patient financing companies done? All they've done, this is the same 1967 application. They've just digitized it. They're asking the same questions. I guarantee you, if you go to an office that has another patient financing solution or you go to Target or you go somewhere else, they're going to ask you married versus single.What's your income rent versus zone? These are questions literally 60 years old, and they're still asking, this is basically what you see today is digitized. So it's, there's like a lack of innovation that has taken place that actually hasn't taken place, right? And, and specifically patient financing in 30 years.Literally nothing. Literally nothing. And so what we're doing is we're focusing on the technology and solving the math problem. And helping a heck of a lot more people get approved and get the dentistry they need. And that's why we're growing so rapidly. Gotcha. Michael: So then I like that part where you light bulb, I mean like it, it opened my eyes.It's true. It, we just put it on a computer and now we're kind of like presenting people and we don't really see the need to change until you kind of showed us the demo. I have a question. True. When it comes to the risk on this, let's just say, okay, six 10, right, credit score, I'm gonna pay you back. And then we do the sun bit thing and then we're like, okay, boom, I'm gonna pay 58 something.He pays the first one, then he kind of skips on the second one, third one, oh no, it's starting to go down, right? It doesn't look good. Who runs the The risk there? Jay: So. we do non-recourse loans, which means we take full risk. let's say you're, you're, you're at the dental office and you do a, a $2,000, uh, transaction for, I dunno, bridge, crown, et cetera.Two days later, we send those funds to the office, then we sit back and we wait for the patient to pay Huss if they don't pay for whatever reason. That's my mistake. You guys are sitting on the money within two business days and we will never claw back those funds. So we, we are taking the risk.And as you can imagine, that being said, you know, we have a very heavy duty data analytics, you know, risk fraud, et cetera, group that manages this risk. And obviously there's a lot of, Techniques that we use in the process to kind of minimize this. But we also have a huge collection group. So we have a customer, uh, care center, 160 people in Las Vegas.Our employees, we manage it top to bottom and we call it like collections with kindness. So it's really, really important for us. To maintain those relationships because we have al also customers that are fixing their cars, uh, getting a new set of tires, new batteries, and those same cu customers are our dental customers as well.So there's a lot of, cross vertical, uh, customers. We have even more when you think about it. Remember, we're not, we're not financing powerboats, right? It's not like someone goes and says, I'm gonna buy a $30,000 powerboat and then I'm not gonna pay it. Right? These payments on average could be 70, 80, 90, a hundred bucks a month.So generally when that's the case, plus the process is good. It's very clear they, you know, we only work with, you know, great partners. they may be late by a day or two, so we'll call them up and say, Hey, what's going on Very nicely. And generally no one wants to ruin their credit for 70, 80, 90 bucks.Mm-hmm. A month. Now, if it's a $30,000 power boat, That's kind of a different calculus, right? You may want to say, I want the powerboat and I don't wanna pay for it. Right? And it kind says okay, kind of. I understand kind of the logic there. I don't agree with it, but I understand it. But in dentistry and auto and the other verticals we're in, typically it's, it's high frequency, lower dollar, monthly payments, and generally people are paying them uhhuh.Michael: That makes a lot of sense. So then, Into practice. Let's just say somebody's listening and they're like, oh, cool. Sun bit. Right? I'm gonna check 'em out. I'm gonna try it. But they already have like Care, credit, lending Club, Verity, right? All these other ones. Is this just another add-on? Like do we just add it on?Or what do you recommend? Do we take others? Would it even make sense to have other ones on anymore? Cause we have some bit. Jay: Yeah. It wouldn't because we, we like to say we are the waterfall because we're approving folks from 500. So every single patient that has a 500 FICO and higher. We're approving. So again, it's 85 to 87% generally.So that's higher than all those solutions combined. Right. Even if you kind of stack 'em up. Mm-hmm. Um, so when we go to an office, we believe, and I think it's been proven by, you know, we've got 9,000, uh, locations in dentistry that we believe we have the best. Financing product out there for patients, bar none.the process is better. The approvals are better. So if an office has multiple products, well, here's a question. I mean, if they have multiple products, why do they have multiple products? Right? It's like, it's the old saying, like, if you have two quarterbacks, you have no quarterbacks, right? They have, they have four products.Cause they had one, right? And then they had two didn't work, then they had three. It didn't work and they had four. They use us and generally they eliminate everything. that they typically use in the results are better because we're eliminating a lot of friction. The office staff loves the tool we have.we have a appreciation program for the offices as well. We have a Sun Beast program, which, you know, they can get, you know, uh, for just doing the regular course of their work. They can get, you know, gift cards, et cetera. Uh, we also do some fun stuff as well, but in, in general, we are the primary financing provider of all the offices that we're in.Michael: Gotcha. Sun Beast is the appreciation program. Correct, correct. Oh, okay. And that's with like the Jay: practices? Correct. So we have, right. So if you think about it, you know, we're, we, we've got right now 40, I, I wanna say 50,000 sun beasts because we have an application and, and then when we train an office, they download the application and then we, you know, send them cool things like they're just different promotions and things like that.They can learn that we have like a, you know, a sun bit tip of the week, things like that. We want to. Train appropriately so that the office team members are really, really comfortable. We also wanna make it fun. Like we don't wanna be, you know, the boring finance company. Like we wanna be the guys that are helping people doing it the right way, not charging any crazy fees or anything like that.We don't do any kind of, you know, deferred interest. we think we can be the good guys, be profitable, and, Help a lot of patients get the treatment that they need. Gotcha. Michael: What are the, what are Jay: the fees? So the fees in, in general, they're risk based. I won't go over like in detail, but in general, the fees are pretty much the same, very, very similar on a blended basis as what they're paying today.The difference is they're gonna get double the amount of approvals and. They're gonna have more people apply. So it's very common that they see our practices and our groups and our DSOs. We've got, you know, large groups, mid-size groups, single location groups. Um, it's very common that we see three x four x, five x, the amount of production with Sun Bit.Then whatever they're using today, because again, it's so easy in the high approvals, but the cost is basically about the same as what they're paying today. Michael: Gotcha. Yeah. And I noticed like it's never, that's never really the issue when it comes to like, uh, presenting or when it comes to accepting this, right?Like let's just say, yeah, I'll take some bit, right? Or I'll take another third party. What's the issue is more like the patient's accepting it, right? And the one barrier is like, oh my gosh, you're not approved. You can't, even if you wanted to accept that, you can't. Right. So that's a barrier lifted with some bit, both.In your experience, what's the best way we could present this to a patient? Jay: It's a great, that's a great question. That's a great question. It's something that we, we talk about quite a bit in our training. So what we like to say is, Have the iPad, do the talking, right?Show them the product, say, hey, you know, when you go through the treatment plan, you know, you do the comprehensive oral exam, you do the treatment plan, you're sitting down with the tc and the TC generally says, or the office manager says, Hey, You know, it's $2,500, but you don't have to pay everything today.Let me get you qualified. Takes 30 seconds. No hard credit check again. Cuz what happens is it's such a pressurized experience and it's happened to me too. Like even like prior, prior to Sunbelt, family member needed some significant dental work. It was like seven, $8,000. And you're like, you gasp. You're like, oh, man, that's like crazy, right?Mm-hmm. It's not cheap. It's, it's not getting cheaper. It's getting much more expensive. So what happens is the person goes with, you know, sits down with the tc, they hear that number. All of a sudden there's like a wall, right? There's a wall that's built. It's panic. You're, you don't know what to do on one hand, you need to get the work done.On the other hand, it's a crap load of money. And you're like, what do I do here? And you've stopped paying attention to whatever that other person is saying because all you're thinking about is the, the little thoughts in your head, like, how am I gonna pay for this, right? Mm-hmm. And again, it doesn't matter if you're making 300,000 a year, a hundred thousand a year, 50,000, it doesn't matter.It's a lot of money, right? No one budgets for this. So when the TC can put the patient at ease and say, Hey, I know this might be a, a large sum, but hey, you don't have to pay for everything Today. We have a patient financing solution that approves, 85, 80 7%, let me walk you through. It takes 30 seconds, no hard credit check.And then usually what happens is there's like a sigh of relief. The wall gets removed, there's a bit more openness, right? It's, it is very much like human psychology or, and it's, and that's what I've kind of, it's, it's very interesting and. The wall gets, uh, broken down and the patient is able to communicate clearly with the TC and the TC with the patient.And once they do, they show the demo or they show the the iPad. It's a very easy, simple, understandable process. And, and that's generally the best way to do it. just want to kind of let the iPad do the talking. Yeah, I like that. And present it. But you gotta, you gotta present it like it doesn't, we can't approve loans.If the iPad isn't presented right or if, yeah, you have to basically understand that hey, 40 to 50% of patients that walk in the door have less than a thousand dollars in their checking account, right? Mm-hmm. And if you wanna truly help patients, right? This is a huge impediment to case acceptance, right?Like money. So if you can help them, then help them with this. You can get them more treatment, which is I think, the goal of everyone that's working in the office. Including the, the Michael: dentist. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. It is the goal. I mean, but that's the thing we have to remember, like to present it right. Um, all the time to the patient.Yeah. But I like what you said, how, how it's human psychology. It's true. Even if get approved, cuz for example, let's just say you have the cash and you don't get approved. Sure. You, you're, you're in a negative flow now, right? You're like, of course. Of course. I didn't get approved. That's what I thought.You know what? I'll, I'll, let me talk, talk to my husband, my wife about it. You know what I mean? I'll get back to you, blah, blah, blah. But when you're approved and you're like, oh, I never get approved. I'm approved. Jay: Exactly. Wow. Look, Michael, I've seen people cry. Mm-hmm. Tears of joy when they get approved.I've seen it multiple times. I've gotten hugs before and like, it's, it's very weird. Like it's, it's, it's a beautiful thing, but it's very strange for it to happen because it's so infrequent. But you understand, We're not doing brain surgery here. Let me just put that out in front.But we are helping people with their oral health, which, which impacts the rest of their body, And if we can help people, Full spectrum of folks that normally can't get helped. It's amazing. And you're right there. There's two sets of what happens here. They get approved and they generally haven't gotten approved before.In some cases, they're super happy, but the alternative is in the past, when they get declined from other providers, they do not come back to the office. You know, it's like the Terminator when he says like, I'll be back. Yeah. He never comes back to the coffee shop at the end. And you remember he, he never comes back.Mm-hmm. Right. So it's, it's kind of a gr it's, it's really a gratifying thing that you wanna help these folks, and this is a great tool for case acceptance, you know, increasing the production of the office and helping patients get the treatment that they need. Michael: By any chance, Jay, do you have any like, stats on how this has improved, like any specific practices, you know what I mean?Of course. Jay: Yeah. I mean, we have, we have lots of case studies. I mean, we've, we've seen cases of, you know, ebitda, Significant ebitda, uh, improvements, significant production case acceptance. We've seen sometimes 30, 40%, uh, increases. significant. Um, because again, if you're offering something that approves nearly everyone, you're going to get great results, right?Because keep in mind, from the office perspective, if you offer and someone gets declined, just like the patient won't come back, the office staff. Won't offer it anymore. So that's what's typically happened. So there's, you know, there's, there, there, you know, a large competitor out there that's been around forever, but a lot of people don't use it because they have, been declined.You know, the office has declined folks, so they just stop offering it. But, so even though they've stopped offering it, that doesn't mean that the patients walking in the door don't have needs. Right. They of course have needs, you're just not offering it to them. Michael: Interesting, interesting. Okay, so Where can we reach out to you if we have any questions or concerns? Sure. Jay: So, um, the best way is, uh, sun.com, slash dental. can also email me. So I manage the dental practice at sun j y sun.com and happy to, help anyone that, whether it's, again, whether it's a single practice, you know, single practitioner, Multiunit group or large d s o we work with, um, all of them.again, we wanna help people. We wanna do it the right way. And, and really that's why we're, we're growing at the rate that, that we are. Michael: Nice. Awesome. So guys, that's all gonna be in the show notes below, so definitely reach out to Jay and Jay. Thank you for being with us.It's been a pleasure and we'll hear from you soon. Great. Thank you Jay: very much, Michael. Appreciate being on.‍‍

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