Time Stamps:
0:00:00 – Introduction
0:01:50 – Routine
0:02:26 – Where is Jeremy Finger From
0:03:30 – How Did Jeremy Finger Get Into the Finance Industry
0:05:58 – Fears of Transitioning
0:07:40 – Serving the Client
0:13:15 – Taking a Leap of Faith
0:20:35 – Being Your Own Boss
0:22:34 – Advice for Someone Wanting to Start a Business
0:28:28 – Struggles of Being an Entrepreneur
0:31:09 – Tips for Individuals
0:37:38 – Tips for Retirees
0:45:20 – Tips for Young Adults
0:49:34 – Plans for 2020
0:50:37 – MB Championship
0:55:44 – Best Advice You’ve Received
0:57:24 – Mistakes
1:00:06 – Who Do You Know That I Need to Know
1:02:13 – Contact Me
Ronald: Hey, this is Ronald Lambie. Welcome to Experts In Power, where we bring experts to answer some of your questions. Today, we have here with us Jeremy Finger, I’m excited to have him here with us. He is a great guy, we know each other for a little while. We’ve got some things in common, we like poker, we like golf, we got mutual friends and so I feel that he was an excellent candidate for us to have him here on this show to help us with some of the financial planning. He is the founder at Riverbend Wealth Management, so welcome to the show Jeremy.
Jeremy: Hey, thank you Ron.
Ronald: Yeah, Thank you, man.
Jeremy: Thank you for having me.
Ronald: I appreciate you taking your time, man.
Jeremy: Yeah, my pleasure. I appreciate you inviting me, thank you.
Ronald: So how’s Myrtle Beach treating you? Do you do anything exciting this morning?
Jeremy: Not this morning, I just worked out and did a little work at the office, had a few conference calls and came over here to do this. Again, I appreciate the invite.
Ronald: Yeah. No, no. Absolutely, thanks to you. So how often do you workout?
Jeremy: Not enough as you can see, I probably work out, I try to work out two or three days a week. I go to Core Fitness, real good group of guys there, try to do CrossFit. Some people do it a lot better than I do. Age is getting to me.
Ronald: So, this is in Myrtle Beach?
Jeremy: Yes, in Myrtle Beach, yeah. Right off of Robert Grissom.
Ronald: That’s impressive you know, three times a week. That’s really good.
Jeremy: Yeah, I try to. I try to, truthfully, I could probably get more out of it if I just put the fork down. Not easy to not eat so much.
Ronald: I know, that’s like 80% of the battle is the diet.
Jeremy: That’s right, that’s right.
Ronald: Well, I mean, I’m glad you’re hitting the gym and so what time do you usually get up in the morning? What’s your routine like?
Jeremy: It varies some, but I’m an early riser. I probably get up 4 to 5 a.m. every morning.
Ronald: 4 or 5 a.m.?
Jeremy: Yeah
Ronald: So you get up and go to a gym right then or?
Jeremy: No, no, no. I get up and then I do some reading and a little thought thinking or self-reflection usually and then have my coffee and go either to the gym, sometimes I go to work instead of the gym.
Ronald: Okay
Jeremy: Early in the morning, I feel like I can get so much more done.
Ronald: Sure
Jeremy: Before the phone starts ringing..
Ronald: Yeah, or before everybody starts asking questions. Yeah, I feel the same. So how long have you been in Myrtle Beach? Where are you from?
Jeremy: Okay. So, I grew up in a little small town called Nichols, South Carolina about an hour west of here. That’s the one that had all that flooding done for the past you know, and hurricanes. I grew up there and then went to College of Charleston, studied Biology, Chemistry, and Business and graduated from there and then I would become certified, I’ve worked in my industry as a financial planner since 1997.
Ronald: 1997, yeah so you’ve been here since…
Jeremy: 1997. Well, probably one year before that. Yeah , just trying to get my feet settled and everything.
Ronald: How do you like Myrtle Beach?
Jeremy: Yeah, I like Myrtle Beach, yeah. It’s a good place.
Ronald: Absolutely. You can’t beat the sun, the beach.
Jeremy: Right, right, right. It’s kind of a close-knit local community and then you get all the chaos and stuff. It happens throughout the year with all the tourists coming into town but that’s just, that’s Myrtle Beach.
Ronald: Oh yeah. Absolutely, absolutely. So how do you get into this industry like, what made you get into this industry?
Jeremy: Okay. So, all my life I want to be a doctor since I was four years old but my life and so I was always interested in Science.
Ronald: Why? was it like somebody pushing you at home? like…
Jeremy: Well, my dad was a doctor but he wasn’t pushing me. It was all self-driven.
Ronald: He inspired you?
Jeremy: Yeah, yeah he did. He did house calls, people come over and do the things you know, but he did it old-school way. That’s how he was brought up. That’s how he did it but what he would do when he would get home from work was he would watch the stock market on TV and and so I was like, what are those things going across the bottom of the screen? and he would tell me what is stocks. There’s pieces of companies you know, and this and that so I did have a little bit of interest in that and ended up saving up my allowance and buying my first stock at 12 years old.
Ronald: 12 years old?
Jeremy: Yeah, I bought IBM you know, so…
Ronald: And that was an advice from your Dad? He said like, IBM, this is a hot stock right now…
Jeremy: No, he didn’t say that. He liked IBM at the time. This was a long time ago, obviously, I was like, well, I’m saving. I’ve got some money, Dad, buy me a stock, a share of it. So there you go. That was my first one.
Ronald: Wow. 12 years old buying stocks.
Jeremy: That was my only one for a very long time.
Ronald: That’s cool.
Jeremy: But what ended up happening is, after I graduated I took the MCATs and did an interview they wanted me to wait a year for medical school while I waited a year in medical school, I worked for a financial advisor for that summer and I was like my goodness this is really interesting and my dad said to me, he said “Son, how you saw me be a doctor is not the same way that you would be a doctor if you became a doctor nowadays. It’s just not, people don’t do it that way” and then I actually took pause and I said “Well maybe I’ll help people financially instead of physically” and that’s when I decided to become a financial advisor .
Ronald: Wow. That’s great, that’s great. So you went from doctor to financial advisor.
Jeremy: That’s right, that’s right.
Ronald: That’s good, you know, but everything was inclined to help people. That’s a sign that you were feeling something inside of you that needed help.
Jeremy: That’s right, that’s right. I’ll say I had a very big interest in it as well. Yeah that’s right, that’s cool.
Ronald: What are some of your biggest fears? like you know, going and transitioning from you know, maybe wanting to become a doctor and just going into financial planning…
Jeremy: Well,you know, for a long time I want to be a doctor so changing that there was certainly some uncertainty there. Maybe I was just young and naive. I don’t feel like I had fear. There was certainly uncertainty but I said well, I’m young and I’ve got nothing to lose, I’m not, no one’s lying on me so I didn’t really feel like I had pressure to, well fear there, I just assumed that I was gonna be successful. I didn’t really think too much about it. Again, probably naive-
Ronald: Sure. You just jump on it.
Jeremy: Yeah. That’s what I did but I will say this, the people, the guy who did hire me and he said hey you need to do this, this, this and this and I was open to learning and so he did help me.
Ronald: That’s great. So he was kind of like your mentor?
Jeremy: Yeah, yeah. That’s actually true.
Ronald: How long did you work for that company?
Jeremy: Well, that was, that company that hired me I’m in 1997, had take over, take over, take over with banks and the consolidations and everything, and I worked for that company for 15 years and became a major banking institution and then I went to another competing banking institution for 7 years and then after a while, you know, call it 20 or 23 years in industry. I just felt like there was a better way, a better way to do things.
Ronald: A better way to do things.
Jeremy: Yeah. For me. For me, it was. I mean, I didn’t need to have someone telling me you need to do this, this, this and this and that you need to sell this product, this product, this product. I felt like, hey you know, I want to be able to look at it from the clients’ point of view, knowing what I know, that any conflicts of interest or incentives, what would I do if I were them? and be able to provide that for them.
Ronald: Not being restrictive to like, you know, guide your clients…
Jeremy: Not being restricted and not being incentivized.
Ronald: Incentivize. Yeah, Incentivize is a big one.
Jeremy: Right, absolutely. So it’s like, oh hey, you need to buy this versus this, because this company’s giving me a kickback or whatever. I didn’t want any part of that. I didn’t want any part of that and see, and where I am now. I’m a fiduciary meaning that there are no conflicts of interest. I am solely compensated by the fee that my clients pay me, if it’s this or that, it makes no difference. No difference in compensation whatsoever.
Ronald: Yeah, because I will feel if, I mean, there is a different motivation behind it. I mean you probably guide them more towards that, that way, rather than just what’s best for them, right?
Jeremy: That’s right, that’s right. You know, so there was a lot of boxes I had to check at the previous places I worked. Oh, you need to do this, this, this and this and this and really some of those things may not have been in the best interest of the client, but they want you to do that because the more accounts or things you have dealing with that bank…
Ronald: Yeah, more kickbacks?
Jeremy: Well, the more kickbacks the bank gets. Maybe I don’t get them but more the kickbacks the bank and the client becomes more stickier, meaning that they may have more apprehension to leave that bank if they have a lot of things with them, right?
Ronald: Yeah, that makes sense
Jeremy: But I think the best credit card might be, a Citibank credit card versus Bank of America. It may be a health savings account here, it may be Anderson Brothers Bank doing the loan for this particular client versus Coastal Carolina. So you know, I mean when I represent a client, now, I can sit there looking from the client’s point of view and looking at all the available things out there in the world today, what really is best for them? And really build it according to what’s best for them. It may be and I don’t, I’m not obligated or incentivized to use any particular bank or institution or anything.
Ronald: So how’s that evolution, tell us about like, when you started and now where you are.
Jeremy: Well, evolution, that evolution may have been around well before I realized it. It may have, but it just became a realization that I got over the last few years. I just felt the inconsistencies in the message, you know.
Ronald: Sure, and it was you putting your face on it?
Jeremy: Well, it was okay, so if I saw that something was better for the client, me feeling, getting backlash from doing it and I just, and I’m like, why would I get the backlash? you know, but then I saw that well, it’s not serving the shareholders of this bank right, but truthfully when someone hires me, they’re not looking out for the shareholders defined there. They want me to look out for them, you know? So that’s really where, I still, I took a step back then and I said to myself I said, okay knowing what I know, how would I be able to best serve my clients and that’s when I went and started doing some research for over a year. I visited 10, 12 different companies, talked to 30 different advisors around the country. Every single conversation, I had a list of 20 some questions, kind of probably some of the questions do you have there, but are you incentivized or penalized for any use of any product or service? That was one of the big ones because if I was incentivized, that’s a conflict if I was penalized, that’s a conflict,you know? I wanted to really try to have it be as clean as it possibly could be, right?
Ronald: Yeah, the best for your client.
Jeremy: That’s right.
Ronald: That’s how you can do that. So that’s when you open up your own company?
Jeremy: That’s right and I’m keeping my baby that as a man, okay. I did open up my own company but I’m using Fidelity Investments so all the money is held at fidelity. You’re looking at a trillion-dollar institution. Sure, huge company and I’ve got their resources but I also have a company called Stratus that acts as my back office as well. So then they’re a fourteen billion dollar company. And then I have strategic partnerships in multiple different areas that would be able to help you know, do Security Financing, Financial Planning, Heal Savings Accounts, whatever the case may be. All the different bases are covered, no matter what the client needs.
Ronald: So it sounds like after 23 years, you pick the best of the best while you learn that’s what you experience and you pick the best for it now bringing truly the best benefit for your clients now.
Jeremy: That’s right, that’s right.
Ronald: That’s great.
Jeremy: I can sleep light, you know.
Ronald: That’s a great feeling.
Jeremy: I could sleep nice and it’s wonderful. That’s the business.
Ronald: But it wasn’t probably easy to like, jump into it, in the beginning like, taking that leap of faith of becoming an entrepreneur.
Jeremy: Right. So when you asked me the question earlier, did I have fear? I was young and naive. I didn’t have much fear, I didn’t have anything to lose. I’m married and got a kid, right? So and I have a lot of, you know, had some clients and so it was a tremendous leap of faith to go and do this because what typically what advisors do is they go from one banking institution to another banking institution or-
Ronald: That is the safest route.
Jeremy: Yeah, that’s right. It’s like, oh well, it’s not ABC, it’s DEF and you know, but what I did was, I jumped the entire route to go strictly what’s called RIA, Registered Investment Advisor, with no conflicts of interest, no banking ties, and open up my own firm and use some fidelity and that was a tremendous leap of faith but what I said to myself in making that decision was this, I said, What is the way to do the business in the world today, for me? No conflicts of interest and incentives or penalties. Do the right thing and whatever happens, happens. Now fortunately, I’ve been very, very, very fortunate and that it has really worked out unbelievably well. Unbelievably well, I had a worst-case scenario and best case scenario and it was better than the best case scenario but I was prepared for you know, a lot worse but I knew that it was a lot worse but I knew that it was the right thing for me, you know. And for my clients as well, if I’m sitting there representing you and I say hey Ronald you know ,you really need to use this bank or this credit card or you need to talk to this attorney to get some things done. I didn’t want to have an incentive or penalty associated with me saying that and so it is truly no conflicts of interest and so that when I when you leave my office, when I lay my head on the pillow at night, I did, it is a freely –
Ronald: You feel good?
Jeremy: Yes, absolutely right. Now if you sit there and say I’ll say this too though if you sit here and say “you know what, Jeremy I didn’t know what the heck he’s talking about and don’t do business with me that’s also okay, you know. That’s also okay.
Ronald: Sure, not everybody’s gonna like you.
Jeremy: No. Of course not. So you know some people like the, you know, the big institutions that they feel like there’s more of a good ol board club and doing it that way or they feel like, you know, there’s more security and having big glass windows,
Ronald: But truly they are really missing out on so many different possibilities that could be out there you know by going with someone like you they can really show them their way to to be really successful with it.
Jeremy: Yeah, there is not, there isn’t anything, and the 23 years in the business, there isn’t anything that any of those institutions can provide that I can’t provide. Now there are some limitations like it may not all show up on one statement and this and that there’s a little things that are, there that may not be only tightly wrapped into a package but at the end result is the same. I mean are you able to get this, this and this done? The answer is, yes I can and I know that each one of those different pieces is the right thing for them you know, it’s not all one banking institution. I heard it’s one thing before it’s like for a person that only owns a hammer the whole world looks like a nail uh-huh you know, this is the greatest company in the world it can do everything,that’s not true, it’s not the best at everything.
Ronald: Especially when you said that you know, they got incentives and penalties and you’re so restricted to like to that guy that you’re-
Jeremy: Yeah, that’s right you know and I’ll say this though it is not you know that that is a great environment for someone who’s learning. It’s also a good environment for advisors so you may have a bit of fear and it’s also a good environment, it does. Someone really believes that this company does right things in all areas and they’re okay with it, that’s okay too. And there’s a lot of good intention people that work with these institutions and they’re successful in their own right it wasn’t right for me right it just what it just wasn’t.
Ronald: Yeah, so it’s just, what’s right for this person might not be right for this person but you know it’s still good right as long as you you’re coming with the right intentions.
Jeremy: That’s right and my intention was again no conflicts of interest.
Ronald: Right. I share the same feeling with you like you know, one obviously, I handle a roofing company and I just one of the things that I feel really good about myself is going to sleep at night feeling good knowing that I have the choice to do a right thing for my clients you know, even though you know, I mean construction, we deal with manual labor so sometimes, some mistakes can happen sure, but just by doing the right thing and being able to stay behind for these clients whether it’s you know, something there was not done right in the beginning but we came back and we just came to fix a client and we fix it.
Jeremy: And fix it. That’s right.
Ronald: And be able to be free to pick and choose like you know, of what I’m gonna do for my clients you know, they find the best way to do it for my clients right then you know have somebody on top of me because I deal with the same kind of like something similar because I did a lot of new construction when I first started so for ten years I did all new construction so we were working on there a lot of general contractors and so we were pressured to do things you know, and certain ways that I just didn’t like it, that I didn’t feel comfortable pulling that kind of quality for these people are gonna buy a new home and that’s not every general contractor but there are some general contractors they’re truly you know, I don’t know, you understand what I’m saying?
Jeremy: Yeah. The quality that your name was on, you didn’t feel comfortable so I didn’t feel good sleeping at night to like sometimes. I’ve been thinking like man, have we just been rushed you know, the money situation is really tight you know, I can’t cut corners. I just want to do the best thing for my clients and sleep good at night knowing that they are taken care of.
Jeremy: That’s right
Ronald: And I’m sure that’s how you felt.
Jeremy: That’s exactly, that’s really how I felt.
Ronald: That’s a brave decision you know, to like, jump from 23 years working for somebody you know, working to like just be your own boss so tell me about that like right now, how’s being your own boss right now? and what’s the difference?
Jeremy: Okay so two weeks ago, I was in my office, at roughly two weeks ago I remember just really thinking about it I was in my office at 5 in the morning doing some things and I’ve been in the office. It’s sometimes 3:00 in the morning just wake up can’t sleep just want to go to the office so I go and I just remember thinking how awesome it is how fantastic it is really, to do it that way now, I’ll say this though, is that, there’s a lot of decisions that are being made you know that I didn’t have to make before,right hey, is this technology better than this technology? is this you know, creating this email versus that email..
Ronald: Marketing..
Jeremy: Yeah. Marketing. There’s all these different hats you know, yes, there’s accounting you know, quickbooks and things like that which I you know, I outsource a lot of that stuff and it’s all fine but there’s something I didn’t have to think about before, but what I’ve really been able to see them. I’m not kidding, this is really, I’ve been able to see how the small business owner and the entrepreneur really live because now I’m on that side. I didn’t ever think about it before even though I dealt with a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners but even to feel that and to see that, it’s a whole different world,it is. For me it was one of the best experiences ever. It really is nice.
Ronald: That’s very good that you know, that I’m sure can motivate a lot of people, a lot of the viewers out here that are thinking well I’m in there and I’m in that same spot where he is, what he was back then, you know, I’m restricted, I don’t feel good about what I’m doing you know, and I really want to jump and do my own thing but you know I’m scared you know, what would you tell somebody that is in that situation?
Jeremy: So my thought process was this if I fast forward 20 years looking back at today how would I feel if I stayed on the same path or if I chose the different path? I felt and this was one of these soul-searching things that if I stayed on the same path that I’d be feeling like that for me feeling like I was sold out. I sold myself short, I sold out. I am looking at the clock waiting for it to pass while I grind out this existence and I didn’t want to do that, I just said if I’m gonna fail, I’m gonna fail a different way for me. And I just said what is the right way, in my mind, and then let’s see if we could make that work. And now keep in mind, what I had in my mind when I first started was like this, but what ended up happening when I was going down the path it really was this, so I had to be very flexible in my thought process.
Ronald: but it can’t be at a depth
Jeremy: Yes exactly.
Ronald: The business plan that doesn’t necessarily go according to the plan, I was thinking like truthfully, I mean this is, I was thinking okay I need to have you know the CPA payroll, I didn’t have this trading platform, I need to do this, a piece in a piecemeal all this stuff together myself that’s what I was taught, you register with CC and all that. I was thinking I was going and I was going that around then I was listening to this no joke I was listening to a podcast and I was listening to a guy talking about what he was doing in my industry and so there’s another whole industry set up for people to do just what I did who want to have you know, economies of scale in place for billing market I mean marketing compliance, client management, you know, bundled together to where they can help people like me go from working in a banking institution to doing things independently and so…
Ronald: It was a lot easier than you thought?
Jeremy: Oh my goodness I was trying to put all this, create all the individual piece but put all the individual pieces together but truthfully, someone’s already done that so I could just you know outsource a large part of what I needed to there with a 14 billion dollar company right? so I was like my goodness you know, and so I interview with them and I interview with other companies like that but my goodness did that ever help but I was I was, no joke, I was driving to, I think was close to my son playing, and I was listening to this podcast and I don’t recommend this but I look this number up I look the guy’s number up on my phone, made the phone call.
Ronald: Right then?
Jeremy: Right then. I said “listen you don’t know me, but I, you know, I think we can have some you know, I like what you said” then he called me like, five hours later.
Ronald: Sure and that’s the reason what podcasts are so popular now because you can get so much information that back then you know you had to read through a book or you know now like if you have like somebody that you really like in, you feel that you can get some knowledge from, now you can go into a podcast and just experience…
Jeremy: on any topic. That’s right. I can’t remember what, who was it, who was it, it wasn’t Dale Carnegie but it was somebody like that and they call it Automobile University. As much as you’re in the car, hey yeah I’m learning. I’m gonna get, you could get a whole college degree.
Ronald: That’s how I do, that’s how I get my all my education like you know, I try, I don’t waste time listen to music I mean unless I’m with people rather than I’m you know, we’ve taken a road trip or something like that but I don’t waste time like I drive a lot, you know. I go from job site to job site or meeting to meeting and by the time I get there I’m already researching, you know, better practices for accounting or marketing techniques or how to buy a company acquisitions. I don’t know, whatever I can think of, every day I’m trying to learn something when I’m driving in my car like you say.
Jeremy: That’s awesome and here you are, how long have you been in Myrtle Beach?
Ronald: I’ve been here for 20 years now. so you know, business out here for 16 years now so yeah, I mean it has helped like if one of the tips that I can give anybody out there that is listening will be to just don’t stop learning you know, we’re talking about it before he always have to be a student no matter which level you know, you could be in a big level but you can always still learn more and so I feel that it just keep learning and don’t waste a lot of time like it’s you know, you have so much advantages right now with these iPhones and you know how they connect to your car sure and like you say you can just learn so many things about them by the time you get to you know, half an hour drive you know so much.
Jeremy: That’s right and it’s a little bit, every little bit, you never know what that…
Ronald: That one little thing you heard you know, that’s hurting you like, let me make that phone call
Jeremy: That’s right.
Ronald: You make that phone call then that’s a lot of things changed from there.
Jeremy: Yeah, I was going to that path, but my path altered and it was a very similar path but a lot easier. Instead of the fence being ten feet tall, it became two feet. So it was awesome, my goodness.
Ronald: So tell me someone just struggles like as far as being an entrepreneur, something that you struggle with
Jeremy: Well okay, so self-judgment. Okay like, you let’s say I have eight things to do, which is the best one to do? Sometimes, in my worst moments, I beat myself up.
Ronald: That’s typical from an entrepreneur.
Ronald: Right, but by the same token, let me just say this, is that, I wouldn’t be sitting here today if I wasn’t a lot easier on myself. Before, I would beat myself up so much that I would need to know the answers to the next hundred questions but that’s not true, that is absolutely not true. That’s not possible, it’s not. I’ll be frozen in the moment. I’ve got to trust myself to where, if I make this next right decision, when I reach the next decision, I’ll be okay with not knowing the answer and I’ll find the answer and move forward from there. I had, yeah, I got an intent to be here, but I also have to be open enough to be able to be flexible and move, right?
Ronald: Yes. Self judgment is big, you know, especially when you’re free to choose your path and go whatever you want and you have all these problems coming at you and all these decisions to make too, which one you take first, you know, like are you doing the right thing, it’s a lot.
Jeremy: Right.
Ronald: Once you learn how to manage that…
Jeremy: Yeah, what I say, for me, if I do non-movement, if I try to analyze too much, I get frozen and then being frozen is worse than choosing the wrong thing, it’s better to choose the wrong thing and then learn and change again than it is to hack or analyze on what the right thing is.
Ronald: Yeah. Try to reach perfection, it just slows you down, it just never be, there’s never perfection, you know. Even trying to not get is so perfect but it’s gonna slow you down.
Jeremy: I’d never be here if I did that. I’d never be, because there were so much unknowns, so many unknowns. I just had to go almost by faith well not almost by faith, really by faith that this is the right thing to do and I will, it will work out and I trust it I’ll figure it out.
Ronald: Cool. Well, it sounds like you are on the right path and you’ve done a lot of things. So let’s talk about like, some you know, we’ll talk about giving some tips like one of the things if we try to do this at this podcast is to give a lot of you know, good content to to people to like make some decisions so we’re giving some good information so let’s talk about like some great tips that we can share as far as retirees and you know, maybe homeowners. Let’s share some tips of what we can, you know, what can they start doing right now to live a better life financially
Jeremy: Okay, so I’ll probably say a couple of few different things, okay. It is, deal with someone you trust, deal with someone who’s competent, also deal with someone who looks at your overall picture. Okay, let me share with you why that’s the case, is that some people like get so fixated on this particular issue that they’re dealing with meanwhile, there may be another issue that is three times the problem that this is that, it wasn’t even, that we’re not even aware of, okay. So no joke, this is no joke like, so I was sitting with this lady and she fell and broke her hip and she was in a nursing home and she wanted to go home well, truth of the matter is, it’s way safer for her for it to be in the nursing home at this particular lady, safer for her, she gets three meals a day and it was a lot more freedom she knew ton of people on the hallway and people could come and go and visit her at any point in time. I was like, wonder why you want to go home? You know, but she still was concerned of the money and she was adding everything up I said, she had really no idea how well she was off, how well off she was, that the money was not an issue. Again, in her mind she’s thinking about the money, but truthfully there was, she was totally okay. So I guess it would be, really make sure you talk to somebody who looks at the overall picture because whatever you may be focused on may not be really the problem, I’ve talked to people who thought they were in trouble and they were well off.
Ronald: The outcome of this lady like, what happened? How did you help her?
Jeremy: Okay, so she was, God I love her but she was totaling up what, how much it cost to live there she’s like how in the world I’m not gonna be able to stay here? that’s like, I said and she was 91 at that time. I said you could live here for 300 years and still be okay. She had no idea, now, you know, she just was so concerned about the dollar amount of the monthly she just was concerned that was a lot of money and it wasn’t for her. It just wasn’t.
Ronald: So you broke it down for her…
Jeremy: Yeah, I said listen, this is what, this, this, this, and she had no idea.
Ronald: You help her like, put the money somewhere-
Jeremy: Yeah, all of that according to what her needs were, making sure you know she’s charitably inclined. Things were set up that way, she had her will set up, beneficiary was named correctly. I would recommend that make sure everybody named a beneficiary, right? There have been instances where someone’s ex-wife is the beneficiary of their accounts.
Ronald: And they haven’t been in-
Jeremy: I’ll keep in mind I said ex-wife okay, so yeah, that can cause some problems if the beneficiaries aren’t named right.
Ronald: So it’s so about that, but yeah, it’s something so simple but…
Jeremy: The people overlook or some people don’t name a beneficiary and that can also be a problem because it may call some tax problems if they die. Everybody thinks for 10 feet tall and bulletproof but your accidents happen everyday, right?
Ronald: Wow, that’s a great story so you helped her out, stay there.
Jeremy: Yeah, that’s right and by the same token this was, I met with someone, this is two scenarios here. That was someone yesterday, they saw that their neighbor was a burden on her children and that it, they were, their children were a long ways away and they kept having to come visit to take care of the dad who was having some health issues and it was all very stressful. He didn’t want to be a burden so he’s going to move closer to the kids and he was so concerned about you know, if this home sells early, if it sells, you know, and he’s got to move twice and have things in storage or whatever and I’m like okay how much it gonna cost you to do in storage or whatever? $3,000, $4,000. I don’t know I’m like, just simply ask for $4,000 more for your property if they accept it don’t worry about it. He was so concerned about the perfection of how he wanted to deal with it versus really accepting what except in it as it came. You all, you asked for a certain price you’ve got a certain price. Don’t worry about it you know you can, you can outsource this other stuff and they, may some people don’t know that there’s another company out there they can outsource this stuff like I didn’t, I was looking at all these different options but there was a company out there that actually do it all. You know in my industry, in dealing with someone like me who’s been in this you know in the local area for 23 years. I know of so many different types of people who do so many types of things roofs or whatever they help them client go from A to Z with the least amount of hurdles okay but sometimes people are so closed of it that they don’t want to be open and really share within what their concerns are and if they’re not then really does rely on them but the help can be out if they’re open to it.
Ronald: If they’re willing to listen and you know, adapt to that change you know just open up your mind and-
Jeremy: Yeah and deal with some, deal with someone who’s you know, open and honest and ethical and you know, sometimes people have an axe to grind, unfortunately. But those who don’t can really help people do the right thing.
Ronald: Yeah, absolutely. So we talked about earlier before some of, a lot of, out of our audience they have homes. Retirees like what would be your best advice for them to, because we find a lot this sometimes did they have a big leak, the walls being rotten in and they feel that they can’t afford it because they didn’t plan for it you know, they didn’t plan ahead of time to maintain the property so that they could be so like a simple maintenance they could adjust just make the property and the rule for deciding or anything lasts much longer but it was just some a little bit of maintenance but now it’s too late now they got all these different problems and I can cost them $20,000,$30,000,$40,000.
Jeremy: That’s true.
Ronald: Sure. What would you recommend to somebody you know,
Jeremy: So a lot of times with people who end up in that situation they have failed a plan earlier. If they’re living with that very small margin of safety, meaning that they didn’t have an emergency fund set aside, that’s a problem. Maybe they’re not living within their means.
Ronald: That’s a big one.
Jeremy: That’s a giant one.
Ronald: That’s the probably one of the biggest ones that everybody, most people face.
Jeremy: No question about it. So one at one of my former friends and he does really good at working out he says you never can out train a bad diet. Which I’m a perfect example of that, I could probably go seven days a week and still be this way but you know I’ve seen people make a million bucks a year and go broke. I’ve seen people make $50,000 a year and be wealthy. Living within the means and some people are unaware of that well oh I’m okay well maybe you’re not you know the reverse is also true this lady in the nursing home who happened to be perfectly okay there’s many, many people I’ve talked to who were thinking they were okay and they’re actually or not and hey it’s okay to know that you’re that the I mean, financially speaking did you got cancer, you really need to make some changes here or two or three, four years down the road if you had a roof leak if you had some problems you’re not going to be to deal with them, okay and so it is a hey maybe you know spending money here, here versus here. maybe something to take a look at
Ronald: So stop maybe putting some money aside for..
Jeremy: Absolutely have an emergency fund. And people need to have either between 3 and 18 months worth of emergency cash set-aside meaning that if they had spent if they their monthly income monthly expenses 3 to 18 months and why the big variance well if you’re if you’re a sole breadwinner with a spouse and children at home maybe you need 18 months. if you’re single and a government employee with no debt maybe three months and so there’s a variance between the those
Ronald: So listen for example, I’m a homeowner, I’m retiring with this much money is it so the first thing so if I feel that you know, I’m not gonna be able to to budget for some of these things just start looking at your expenses and thinking like what can you start
Jeremy: That’s one thing, another thing that I’ve been able to help people with okay hey I do have this experience in this example this person about moving you know they want they have no debt now and they want to move and build his house and they may need 70,000 what’s the best way to get $70,000. Is it to liquidate from the investments is it to take out a mortgage is it to do a line of credit on my investments a line of credit you know, what’s the best option and that depends on it depends on their particular situation
Ronald: So that’s when you when someone like you comes into the picture right and just help them out to understand the numbers better
Jeremy: That’s right. That’s exactly right.
Ronald: I mean, I’m not a numbers guy but you know, I’ve been a businessman for 16 years now and sometimes I feel like you know all these numbers are here and like what’s the best decision to make you know, even though I could be very smart with business doing transactions with business, you know, I might be not so good a you know financial decisions.
Jeremy: That’s so true so another thing is that the dump, the financial numbers may tell you one thing, but emotionally speaking, I might not be able to handle that, you know, I might for example let’s say and this is no joke, this is last week, so this one lady and she’s young she’s I say young I’m saying she’s young she’s 33,32. She’s like I’m real conservative and I did, I gave her a risk score, yes she was conservative no doubt, she did and so, oh you need to have your money invested this way okay because you’re conservative. Great well she sent me her 401k investments. Investments on how she has a 401k and she was this risky. She was really risky with her 401k and probably had no idea. No idea so it is a lot of people just are unaware what was out there.
Ronald: Right all right so yeah you have to have somebody with that experience that they can help you to guide you through the whole process
Jeremy: Right. Well, it certainly helps.
Ronald: Yeah. Absolutely, absolutely. You don’t know what you don’t know, so that can hurt you. Yeah. That can hurt you especially financially, I mean right now I feel that I’m you know, a lot of the studies when we go to these conventions and we do a lot of these events that where people talk about financing on the roofing industry like for example they talk about like how like most people don’t have any funds like you know, they only have you know $1,000 saved in the bank for emergencies so anything said like 70% live paycheck to paycheck
Jeremy: I’m gonna I’m gonna plug somebody here, Dave Ramsey. It’s a very good, very good book and he’s got baby steps, like 7 or 8 baby steps or what people can do to get the finances right one of them is the first thing have $1,000 safe okay so yeah people need to what, okay so, what would be best for you may not be best for me we’re all on different steps right and so each individual person really needs to think about what’s their next best step. Paying down a credit card, whether it be paying off their mortgage or whatever
Ronald: I’ve been watching, I know you Gary V..
Jeremy: Yeah. of course
Ronald: So, I see how he gives advice to people. Hey, I came here as an immigrant and I was you know, we were like eleven people in one room and maybe what you need to do is you need to downsize and just be there with like, maybe ten roommates that’s right. Do whatever it takes, do whatever it to get ahead of the game. If you don’t get ahead of the game I mean, the game is over for you, so you got to do whatever it takes and that’s when it comes to like change you know, like that’s a tough bar but I mean we’ll have to face it at some point and to live within our means and it’s sometimes…
Jeremy: That’s right. People are attaching identity to a certain thing as well. It’s like oh if I take a step back that’s a reflection on me and that’s so bad well sure, everybody goes through ups and downs and it’s okay, it’s just normal. It’s a learning process, you know.
Ronald: Absolutely, so and then we also talked about before, about some tips for young people out there that you know, yeah. You have a son, how old is your son ?
Jeremy: He’s 15.
Ronald: 15 years old he you told me just recently he had a good hit video
Jeremy: Oh yeah, yeah.
Ronald: On Tiktok.
Jeremy: He did, he did.
Ronald: How many viewers he had?
Jeremy: 2,000,000
Ronald: 2,000,000. Wow. He was really nice
Jeremy: Yeah and he’s embarrassed by it. He gets all this, he’s embarrassed by it. But at 15…
Ronald: He’s a comedian you mean, he’s got that comedian inside of him.
Jeremy: Yeah he does.
Ronald: He was making some jokes,right? That’s how he got there. So you know having a kid and you know, having all these young people that they’re coming into becoming an adult, what would you advise these guys knowing what you know now.
Jeremy: Start saving early, I said start saving and they give me an example all right if you put $5,000 in an investment every single year for 40 years okay in this particular investment I’m not quoted, that’s okay if you did every single year for 40 years that’s 200 grand at the end of all of that, you’d have close to $1,700,000.
Ronald: $1,700,000
Jeremy: Off a $200,000 on the last investment.
Ronald: So $5,000 every single year.
Jeremy: Every single year. Now the exact same investment you did 30 years instead of 40 years. All right, so you invested 150,000 versus 200,000. How much do you think it would be worth?
Ronald: One point something?
Jeremy: No. $700,000
Ronald: $700,000, okay.
Jeremy: Maybe even a little bit less so another word…
Ronald: That makes a big difference
Jeremy: A million dollar difference. Just by starting early, so my boy named Elliott, I said birthday money all right you save some, birthday money you save some, whatever. So he has. He’s started to save.
Ronald: That’s awesome. That’s great advice. Being able to start saving early
Jeremy: Early. Oh well what am I gonna do in 40 years. Hey, if you’re gonna be around for 40 years you might as well be wealthy.
Ronald: Right. Yeah I mean that’s you know instead of buying you know cars, watches, something that’s going to depreciate. Just to impress people that don’t really care about you.
Jeremy: Yeah and 5,000 is not that much.
Ronald: So this is for an example, that you get out of high school you get a job making let’s say what $20,000, $25,000 a year. You know live within your means and try to save that $5,000
Jeremy: Absolutely. If your company has a 401k plan or a retirement plan automatically save on that. And as you get pay increases, increase at least, take half of that pay increase and put it in a retirement plan.
Ronald: Sure, you’re gonna go party then drink a cheaper beer
Jeremy: That’s right, that’s right.
Ronald: Do whatever it takes.
Jeremy: So I had a client of mine who retired at 50. He saved 50% of his income from 816. Every single… but he retired at 50 and he is oh man he’s well off, really, really well off and really lives a life of unbelievable I mean travels the world, everything but he just-
Ronald: He made the price so he could pay the price now.
Jeremy: Right but he’s still and he lives off of 50%. He lived off of 50% of his income.
Ronald: That is hard to do, you know. I mean I’m not saying that it’s hard like emotionally because you want to go do these do that right but at the end of the day I mean that’s the best move.
Jeremy: Yeah or just say live off a 90%, save 10%. Save 10%, most people don’t do that. Most people spend 101%
Ronald: Yeah. You make a $100,000 then you spend the $200,000.
Jeremy: Yeah. Overspending 101. They’re going against the game.
Ronald: Yeah. Absolutely, absolutely. Alright so those are great, great tips. Some really good tips. What are your plans for 2020?
Jeremy: Plans for 2020, Could you know, be a better dad, be a better husband, be better a business owner.
Ronald: What about all your business, you have any good plans? Any good goals?
Jeremy: Truthfully, Ronald, I try not to have specific goals because whatever I might be fixated on may not be what is what I need to work on, right? But each day I have an intent to work on certain things and if something else shows up much more important I’ll do that. Just help more people
Ronald: Absolutely, absolutely. That’s good, that’s the best intention you can have, try to help out more people. The more you help the better that this world can become. I was just really out here through my notes. This is something that I wanted to touch, the talk about is, when you wanted that on the achievement part, when you helped out Myrtle Beach High School, when did the championship and tennis, can you tell us a little more about that.
Jeremy: Yes, so, legendary coach, Rivers Lynch, legendary coach has been around forever and ever. Great, great guy, always smiling, great, just great guy and he was head coach and I was assistant coach and unfortunately right before playoffs last year in 2019 he passed away, heart attack. And it was just, I needed to be head coach. I mean I was assistant coach, there was no one there and so I became head coach and two of his grandsons were on the tennis team. I mean, they haven’t won a state championship in about 10 years or close to 10 years and this crazy thing is the day of the funeral, we played our toughest opponent that afternoon. Unbelievable, and because it was so emotional it was so, it was, it was not a dry and a place. Now, wonderful about Myrtle Beach community. We had tons of people show up with signs and banners and all, man, it was fantastic but also as a testament to how wonderful a person Rivers Lynch, I mean, he was just a wonderful person. And two of his grandsons, his grandsons are on the team and they played. I mean they are playing again, and playing against the toughest opponent. We ended up, at the end, we did something a little unusual because you can mix up your doubles match, doubles teams. We only needed one point, they needed two. Typically you put your two strongest players at the one position just because you want that one point. The team, it wasn’t my decision, the team decided to mix up the best player with the worst player and so on and mix it up, that’s controversial at that moment, and it was still my final decision because I had to write it down and I kneeled down in the middle of the court people thinking I was kneeling down writing which I was but I spent an extra 45 seconds there praying. Praying no matter what happens please help me be able to be a good coach, coach to these boys you know but what happened was that mixing of the line up was so controversial. The other team never thought they would do it and we won easyWe won easy and then ended up winning the state championship, the state finals that last year. It was awesome, it was unbelievable I mean, really more than..
Ronald: Very emotional, but great story.
Jeremy: Oh my goodness. Oh man, that community is just unbelievable. I mean they’re really great support for kids in the community, it really is wow.
Ronald: That sounds like a really emotional time and you know having a great person like you is helping throughout the whole…
Jeremy: As much as I can, yeah
Ronald: That’s awesome, that’s awesome. Jeremy, this is a question that I always ask anybody that sits here with us. If you could talk to the young Jeremy and give him an advice, what kind of advice would you give yourself?
Jeremy: I would say, be easier on myself like, I would beat myself up right in my inside my own head and it would be easier on myself people it’s okay to make a mistake, just move forward okay it may feel like you’re moving backward but that even that is a learning experience so just be easier on myself and I think that if I was easier on myself I would have been free to take more risk as a younger person and see things a lot better.
Ronald: Yeah, that’s a big thing you know what, you beating yourself too much you know, you really can’t see too far when you know like you’re the person who judge yourself the most and you know like you you feel that maybe everybody else is judging you but you’re the hardest person on yourself
Jeremy: That’s right. So the pain, what would end up happening and I was, I would feel so much. I would anticipate so much self pain if I did something wrong that what I would do is I would freeze myself from doing a lot of new things or things that I think could be done better
Ronald: Right, sure. That’s a great advice. What about some of the best advice you ever had?
Jeremy: Best advice I’ve ever had… Wow gosh. Man that’s, I’ve had so many. So the thing is that, a lot of times I get good advice and I don’t remember it until later you know but sometimes I’m not ready for it right and then when I hear it again I’m like, yeah. The best advice I, you know, my dad always taught me to save early see, I start early. I was a good saver from the very beginning and then you know going through you know a lot of, I probably say being a little bit easier on myself. People have always said that but I never understood it and understood really how much I’m limiting myself by doing that by not being easy on myself
Ronald: so you start understanding this more now that you open up your own firm?
Jeremy: Well, yeah. That’s not just my own firm , there’s other things that I’ve been working on you know, self reflection of myself to where I can. I can be more easy on myself and have better clarity around what I’m doing. It’s more of a spiritual thing.
Ronald: Yeah absolutely. I totally understand where you’re coming from because I feel the same way you know, sometimes I feel that you know I need to be easier, you know. I just and that’s one thing that I tell all my or anybody around me like employees, because you know sometimes they come out here just pretty much freaking out, I think, wow man you know, I just you know, I should you know go this route like you just made a mistake, it’s just so normal it’s not there’s no reason to like you know to like get stressed out about it just forget about it let’s just focus, refocus and let’s just leave it in the moment right now what happened, happened.
Ronald: Learn and just move on. For us as a team there’s no need for us to just come out here and just be stressed out all day about some mistake that happened and that’s you know a lot of people kind of confident right here to you know to my office they come in and they feel like well that’s not that they might think like, I’m gonna be upset maybe that also myself that you know maybe you know, we give the wrong beep to these, now we’re losing money, well we’re gonna come through no matter what because that’s our responsibility and they thinking. I said, look, it was just some mistake you know, don’t beat yourself up and I’m not really you know, I’ve done it before so let’s just move on let’s just use that as a put it on the file cabinet that’s right you know write it down that’s the mistake you know now we understand it. you know you’re gonna learn that mistake no need to stress out right here I don’t beat myself too much to be honest with you so I learned that earlier,too.
Jeremy: So someone said in a way, is to take all the mistakes of the past and dump it on my head and all the worries of the future dump it on my head. I mean that’s just a way for me to live but that’s what I did for a very long time but when I’m free to understand that mistakes of my past helped me have a better understanding if I let it to the moment I’m in there now and understand that I gotta have a bit of faith in the future I don’t need to know all the answers the future I don’t and guess what I might not, I’ll never I mean, that I’ll never know, and so if I am in the present moment enough that’s really where relations happen and everything yeah and gosh man, it was like the whole world became lighter, right?
Ronald: And so be able to to learn how to live on uncertainty
Jeremy: That’s right, this uncertainty about knowing but a faith that I know. I’ll be okay, the faith is I’ll be okay. How that okay looks is my own ego want to know hey whether that be you know driving this core of this core whether it be owner own business for being an employee whether that be whatever hey I’ll be alright.
Ronald: Sure, yeah, that’s the right attitude. Last question for you, Who do you know that I need to know?
Jeremy: Greg Harrelson.
Ronald: Greg Harrelson, okay.
Jeremy: Yeah, a good friend of mine, One of the best real estate agents in the world in the country, really is, an entrepreneur like yourself you know, manages a lot of people great with podcasts and everything you know super guy.
Ronald: Awesome, so how do you know Greg?
Jeremy: He elbowed me in the face playing basketball 25 years ago.
Ronald: Oh okay, a long time friend.
Jeremy: As a matter of fact, he introduced me to my wife.
Ronald: Wow, so you’ve been married, how long?
Jeremy: 18 years.
Ronald: 18 years, wow. That’s great, so he introduced you to your wife, good, right friend.
Jeremy: Yeah, good friend.
Ronald: Great entrepreneur
Jeremy: Absolutely and he mentioned a lot of these things to me throughout you know, past 25 years 20,25 years and I just was not aware. I wasn’t the student open enough to get it you know, but now I hear some of the things I hear now I’m like damn, Greg told me that so long ago about this I wasn’t open.
Roald: I think like becoming a business owner and an entrepreneur really humbles you. It really humbles you because things you know they just a lot of times they don’t go the way you thinking that you planning and that really humbles you, you know be able to you know you see all that adversity and all the you know, all these different things that in front of you they can make you fail and make you feel uncomfortable.
Jeremy: That’s right
Ronald: Then you start thinking well that’s a great advice you know somebody told me and I can apply right now. That’s one that really open up your mind I think.
Jeremy: That’s right.
Ronald: I understand some of these concepts and advises.
Jeremy: Incredibly rewarding.
Ronald: Absolutely.
Jeremy: It’s unbelievable.
Ronald: Well Jeremy, it was a pleasure having you here with us. I hope to see you soon and you know I wish you the best and hope you keep helping a lot of the people that need it here. Yeah, we’ll be around.
Jeremy: Yeah, oh by the way anybody got you know wants some, sign up for my newsletter. I send out educational information usually on a weekly basis. Email me. I’ll put you on the list. Any questions they may have at all whatsoever, email me. No questions too dumb or too simple.
Ronald: And I was reading that your newsletter, man and that’s some great content there’s some great pieces of content that really make you think and help you know, to guide you through you know whatever you are financially.
Jeremy: I try to keep it very simple. It’s not you know, store-bought stuff.
Ronald: Because what happened is also when you’re talking to a financial planner and you know you get those emails I feel that sometimes this is so much vocabulary. I don’t even understand, I don’t understand the point because it’s too complex. Well you keep it really simple, easy to understand and really good tips that you can really take action on.
Jeremy: That is my intent, that is absolutely my intent.
Ronald: Well you’re doing a great job
Jeremy: Well thank you very much I appreciate it right
Ronald: Yeah thank you so much and then you know let’s just put his email address, Stan, let’s put it right there, write their, you know, on the end of the you know, right somewhere right here on the screen. Awesome. Thank you so much, Jeremy.
Jeremy: Yeah, thank you, bud. I appreciate it.
