Latest / Share Your Fire / Share Your Fire, Ep. 2-5: There's a Different Answer (Jennie James)

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Share Your Fire, Ep. 2-5: There's a Different Answer (Jennie James) · Share Your Fire

• John: Each of us has a torch, a passion burning inside that ignites our motivation. When it's fed, the fire spreads and helps those around us keep their own torches shining bright. Our combined light can keep any monster at bay. We bring together people from around the world, sparks of light and glowing embers with enlightening stories of kindness, success, and overcoming adversity, fanning the flames of love, compassion, and positivity. Sharing their light to help those struggling in darkness. I'm John Verrico and this is Share Your Fire. John Verrico: Hello everybody and welcome back to Share Your Fire. You're going to love this episode because I love this episode because I love the person that I get to talk to today. I want you to think about something. How much debt do you have? How much debt have you accumulated? And for those of us who've gone to college, how much school debt do we have? My guest today, Jennie James, is a super warm-hearted, amazing individual who has been helping people to overcome the overwhelm of debt. and and and then also going in in so many other places too. But we're just we're gonna start there. And let me bring in the fascinating Jennie James. Jennie, how are you? Jennie James: Hello, John. Well, thank you for that. Very kind. John Verrico: well you're you're just such a pleasure to be around. You have so much positive energy. and and Jennie James: yeah. Three. John Verrico: you know, and and that's what happens to us when we become debt free, right? Jennie James: I it's one of the wonderful things, yes, absolutely. It's amazing. John Verrico: Well, you know, there there's so much myth about how to get out of debt. and and as Americans, we kind of live our lives in debt. We live above our means. and not just intentionally. I mean, it just sometimes it just happens, but also, you know, school debt becomes just phenomenal. And it's only here in the United States that we deal with this. Jennie James: Yeah. John Verrico: So so it's such a detriment for people, especially folks who are just getting out of school, and and pursuing their careers. Now, your career path was in the nursing side of the world. And we know God, imagine what I I can only imagine what the school debt was for that. And and so you kinda you kind of focused your energies there. So I'm just gonna Jennie James: Yeah. John Verrico: let you kind of take it from here and kind of how this all got started for you and what you were doing. Jennie James: Well thank you. Yes. w it's it's it's a long journey, but yes, I did start out life in my career path as a nurse. and I really enjoyed it because I I really I love people and I and I really was happy to be there and and you know offer people an opportunity, a safe place to land, if you will. but I also discovered that it wasn't the only way to help people out. I and I although I enjoyed it. I just felt like there was something else that I was supposed to be doing. I didn't really like the bedside grind every day. Not that I didn't like the people, but just the activities and I thought there's gotta be something better. So I tried a bunch of things and gosh I taught ballroom dancing, which was a blast. And John Verrico: I love it. I love it. As a disco dance instructor, I'm right there with ya. Jennie James: It really was fun. and and I've done a number of other things over the years and worked in IT. But I always came back to I really like people. And I I worked in healthcare IT for quite a while. And I and that was all well and good and I certainly learned a lot. But you know, it's kind of back end and I'm I was working with the technology and not really the people. The people around me, but not really the customers, if you will. But at some point in my life, I discovered in my probably my mid-50s, I did what a lot of people do. Pardon me, they they look at their life and they begin to realize, you know, I'm not gonna live forever. And I'm carrying this debt, and I don't have that many more years to work, and what am I gonna do? How am I ever going to be able to Choose. Not everybody wants to retire formally, but people want the choice of whether or not they want to retire. John Verrico: You said something that is rather staggering, in realization, that some of us have so much debt that it carries beyond our working years and our earning years to be able to pay that debt off. Jennie James: Yes, yes, yes. Well, and one of the most I think obscene examples is people in their fifties and sixties taking out 30-year mortgages. Or even the new thing now is the 50-year mortgage. Now, John Verrico: Oof. Jennie James: at even at 50, when are you ever gonna pay off? Of course, maybe the idea is they don't think they will, but We always have to remember that just because you pass on doesn't mean that debt passes on because if you've got heirs, that debt will go to them. John Verrico: Right, right. And as and so there's a lien on whatever they inherit and Jennie James: Absolutely. John Verrico: they still owe on it. Jennie James: Yeah, yeah. So all of those things, and and you know, I like to talk to people when I'm talking to people about options and and and possible ways to alleviate this or ways to avoid it or or ways to knock it out quickly. One of the things that I try to make sure people help them understand is that look, we all have a lot of debt. And it's not that it's a failure of character. Unfortunately, so many people feel like they've failed or something's wrong with them because they have debt. I'm here to tell you it's the system. It's rigged, and it's not rigged in our favor. And and everything that's been set up over maybe the last, I don't know, 50, 60 years, it's gotten much more apparent. But it's Definitely rigged in favor of the financial institutions and every little thing they do isn't always apparent to us, but it it's a little tiny thing that just makes a big difference in the long run. So when people are feeling terrible about themselves because they have debt, I try to help them understand, look, first of all, you aren't in debt. It's not a fault of your personality, you simply have debt. Now we have to figure out how to not have debt. John Verrico: Ooh, that is a great delineation. Jennie James: It's an important one because I think people take that on as a as a personal quality and it's it's not. It's it's a it's a financial situation that is from a system that is certainly not set up for our benefit, most of our benefit. And debt is sort of kind of unavoidable if you want to be able to it it affords us the opportunity to do things that we otherwise wouldn't be able to do, buy a house. I mean, how many people can pay cash for a house or even a car these days? Yeah. John Verrico: Even a car nowadays, yeah. Jennie James: So I'm not saying that debt is a terrible bad thing, but the inability to get it paid off in a timely fashion such that you can then move on with your life is the problem. And so I work with people and show them how that's possible. And actually I I can help people. see ways to eliminate that debt. I well here's an example. I had a guy that I was talking to, this was a few years ago, but he had he was in his mid-40s, had probably I want to say $800 to $900,000 of debt at mid-40s. And it was a house and some loans and some other stuff and maybe a little school debt. I think he did have a little. But that's a lot. That's a lot. John Verrico: It's a lot. Jennie James: of debt. John Verrico: Yeah. Jennie James: And he was due to be paid off when he was maybe ninety-eight, according to the lender's plans. So I an analyzed his debt and kind of played around with the numbers a bit and showed him following this particular program he could be out of debt in less than ten years. John Verrico: Whoa. Jennie James: Save himself over two hundred thousand dollars in interest that he would never have to pay. John Verrico: That's that is hugely significant. Let me ask you something, because this this has dawned on me only recently. Is it because of the the ability to do to do things on time? you know, time payments as they used to call them. But being Jennie James: Yeah. John Verrico: being able to to kind of stretch out payments over longer periods of time, is that why things have become so expensive? You used to be able to just buy a car, right? But now car prices have gone through the roof, but you can finance them. And Jennie James: Right. John Verrico: I th I I wonder if the prices didn't go up because of the ability to finance. It's like, don't worry about having to pay this crazy astronomical price because you could pay it over time. Jennie James: You know, y I I would yes, I think that that's definitely a factor, but it's certainly not the only factor. You've got prices now. We know there are a lot of other things. But just just John Verrico: No, we we know prices have gone up for materials and all the yeah. But Jennie James: from a financial standpoint, you have interest in the way interest works. And that's the kicker. Most people don't truly understand how interest really works. Usually when they're thinking of interest, they're thinking of like you go to the store. Sales tax. It's a flat rate, you pay it once, you're done, that's it. But compound interest, whether it's positive, like in your favor for investments, or a negative, like the interest on something you purchased over time, compound interest is a whole nother animal. And compound interest is the type of interest that is factored into, for example, mortgage, amortization. And those amortization tables are set up such that again, okay, here's an example. You probably wouldn't find a $200,000 house, but I can do the math a little easier this way. But if say you want to buy a $200,000 house at 4%, so your payments are going to be $1,300 and some change every month. And you think, 4%, that's great, because you're thinking 4% of $200,000. What you're probably not thinking is that it's 4% every single month on the balance for the life of the loan. But they've front-loaded that, so you're going to pay the heaviest portion up front. And by the time you get on the back end, there's not much interest. But you've already paid them. So therein lies the problem with and the and this is where people get trapped into the Buying or excuse me, refinancing every five to seven years. The first five to seven years of your amortization loan, your home loan, is the most expensive because that's when your percentage of interest in your payment is about 75 to 78% every payment. And so in in five years, John Verrico: What you're paying. Yeah. Yeah. You're only paying that interest. Jennie James: if you're going to refinance, you start to ground zero again, and there's no equity from that. But people people aren't John Verrico: So how does that go ahead. Jennie James: thinking about that, and the banks know that. So about every three to five years, we can get you a better interest rate. we can knock off a half a percent on that interest rate. We could really help you. So let's do that, let's refinance and get you a lower payment. great, let's get you a lower payment so that your that your principal payment is still tiny, your interest payment is still huge. But let's start from ground zero again, day one, and pay all that interest. So it's If you do it enough times over fifteen, twenty years, you've refinanced enough times that you still owe almost exactly what you borrowed, but you've paid the bank a big tip. John Verrico: You know, and and you're right, people don't look at it that way. So how does it does is Jennie James: They don't think about it that way. John Verrico: it the same with student loans? Jennie James: yes and no. It's not exactly the same because they don't amortize it quite the same way. They have their own little formulas and they are not forthcoming in exactly how that works. And the way they get around it is they have these loan servicing agencies, and the loan servicing agent decides how your loans get paid when you make your payment. Yeah. It's very, it's very tricky. You might take out a student loan, so you go to, I don't know, whatever. You it's say you go to engineering school and you take out loans for your four-year degree and you get a four-year engineering degree. Chances are pretty good, although all the money came to you in one pot, chances are pretty good you've probably got multiple loans. Because when you applied for loans, They went out to all of the lenders that they have in their pool. Now, this is if you go through them. If you do it yourself separately, that's a different animal. But if you go through them, then the the loan servicing agents with the FAFSA, your financial aid financial statement, they will set it up so that they will take out maybe 50,000 from here and 20,000 from there and 10,000 from there, and they they might have. sort of similar interest rates, but they might not. But then what they do is they collapse all those loans into one total amount, but you still have maybe a half a dozen loans at different interest rates. John Verrico: well. Jennie James: Yeah. So when you make your payment to the loan servicing agent, they decide how that gets apportioned out. And they're going to pay the John Verrico: What a scam. Jennie James: lowest interest loans first. Of course they John Verrico: First, of course they will. Yeah. Jennie James: are. John Verrico: Yeah. That is just insane. Jennie James: And then you have people who have they want to do a pause. Maybe they have some problem and they have to pause on their loans. And the loan servicing agent generally is, no problem. We can pause it. Let's pause it for, you know, six months or how long do you need? So okay, maybe it's a year. John Verrico: And I had that happen with me, with with my student loan, Jennie James: Right. John Verrico: because I was recalled for active duty. Jennie James: Correct. John Verrico: I I had a deferment. Jennie James: A deferment. Yeah always want to make sure you understand in that deferment, does the interest still accrue? Because in most of them John Verrico: Still accumulate. Jennie James: it does. And so while that deferment is an awesome thing, you didn't have to make your payment, the interest is still building up. So by the time you come back to make the payment, now your loan is bigger than it was. John Verrico: Right. You still you owe more than what you started with. Yeah. Jennie James: Correct. And then these these clever programs they've come up with. Now I now there's a lot of change going on right now. So I'm talking about what it has been. I don't know exactly what's coming because we don't know what this administration is doing. But in the past, you would have some loan agencies that would you'd put a pause on it, and that was fine, or They would say, All right, you're gonna come back and you're gonna excuse me, they have these income-based reimbursements. So, based on your income, maybe you come out of school and you've got your your income isn't quite enough to make the loan payment. So they'll they'll say, no problem, we can help you out there. Here, what what's what can you pay? All right, so you pay 150 bucks on your $250,000 loan. So you're paying $150 a month. That Barely. That doesn't even cover the interest. But you're making a payment and they record that and they don't, you know, they don't take take you into default. But the interest is still building on the back end. So even though and and this is why a lot of people will have be on these income based reimbursement programs and they don't understand, you know, ten years down the road they realize, wow, my loan is it's grown. Yeah, no kidding, it's grown. John Verrico: Yeah. Yeah. I owe more than when I started. Jennie James: Correct. Mm. John Verrico: Oof. So how did you well how so how do we fix this, right? How do what what did you discover that enabled you to to to clear your own debt and then and then how did you help people with their, you know, get turn this thing around for themselves? Without giving away your secret sauce necessarily. Jennie James: Well, as I was saying it I'm hey, I'm I'm happy to share. I was in my like I was telling you, I'm in my mid fifties and I realized I had pardon me, I'd had to move, so I had to sell my home. So I didn't have a mortgage right at that time, but I still had about a hundred and eighty thousand dollars in debt for various other things that had come up with medical and a bunch of things. And I was thinking, my lord, how am I Ever going to get this paid off before I want to retire, if I ever get to retire. And I was just freaking out because I thought, well, because that's going to really put a pinch on what I can put away for retirement. I ran across somebody who we were just talking, and this guy said, You know, let me show you something. And I said, fire away, I want to hear what you got to say. So he John Verrico: Ha ha ha. Jennie James: showed me this program, and it's actually a software program. And he did what I now do for he he took my all of my debt and asked me a lot of questions and plugged it all in and ran this analysis and showed me, hey, you could have this debt paid off in three years, actually two and a half, and save yourself fifty thousand dollars in interest. And I was like, come on. He says, Well, here, let me show you. John Verrico: Yeah, how's that possible? Jennie James: Go ahead. And I thought. Okay, it's worth the investment. All right. I'm up for it. So I got the program. I started using it. And I actually I I because I got so excited about it when I started paying it off, I was it shows you where you are in the in the process so that you know exactly how much you have left, how much you've paid, and how much you've saved in interest in the process to every John Verrico: nice. Yeah. Jennie James: every day, because it's it's immediately responsive. It's right up to date. So I was paying off the debt and I actually would have had it paid off in less than two years, but I had I took a little detour because I needed to do something else and I had to stop doing a a couple of the payments that I wanted to make, so I just reduced them, had to take a loan for something else. It was a small one, but anyway, it was a detour. John Verrico: Stuff always happens. Yeah. Jennie James: Absolutely. But it works like a GPS, exactly like a GPS. John Verrico: Recalculating. Jennie James: You you know where you are, you know where you want to go, and it gives you the route. If you take a wrong turn, it just recalculates and brings you back on track. That's what it did, and it got me out in just under three years, and I saved over fifty thousand dollars in interest that I never had to pay. It was incredible. And at that point I thought, wow, I I I really gotta figure out a way to share this with somebody else. Because this is amazing. John Verrico: And so I know you primarily targeted people in the nursing industry because you had that that heart connection to to that career field. but really? okay. Jennie James: I didn't actually start out doing that. No, I I started, I would at that point, this was probably not quite 10 years ago. And I so I started out just talking to anybody, but but you know how people are, if you're just talking to anybody, they're kind of like, yeah, sure. So then I started talking to business owners, small business owners. And I I eventually niched it down to nurses simply because I do have a nursing background. And I understand what nursing school is all about, and I also understand how expensive nursing school has become. So I can relate to the process they go through. I understand all of the things that they're concerned about, but I also have a an understanding of what's happening in healthcare in general and how. healthcare organizations are changing, they're not as independent anymore, even the physicians are becoming employees. And so it makes a difference in how they take out this huge loan. I mean some nursing loans are over 250 grand just for four-year nursing degree. I mean not just, but I mean that's a lot of money. And so they come out of school with this huge debt and then they start in some organization and they may or may not make enough to make those average loan payments and be able to f to live. So that's how I ended up talking specifically to nurses over the last two or three years. John Verrico: That's just i i it it's staggering how quickly we can wind up in debt and and also just the the the prices of stuff now, and the expenses Jennie James: So just the the the prices of stuff, right? Right. John Verrico: for for college. And I can understand now why there's been kind of a wave Jennie James: Yeah. John Verrico: in society, even looking at well, you know what? You don't need a degree. But there's still career Jennie James: Absolutely. John Verrico: fields that you do. But Jennie James: But there are lots of them where you know the trades, my goodness. Have you ever tried to find a plumber or an electrician lately? Or a handyman? Handy person? I I mean those those things are those careers now are paying really good money because they can't find anybody. And those those training programs are a fraction of an of a college education. And unless you really know what you're gonna do with a college degree. Why would you want to spend that much money? John Verrico: Yeah. and so many of us, I mean, you know, I know I changed majors. C a couple of times, yes. Yes. Jennie James: So did I. Twice. John Verrico: Especially I mean, you know, when you're you're eighteen, you're coming out of high school, yeah, you think you've got a plan, you know. You you know it all at eighteen anyway, you know. And so you've Jennie James: Yeah, what do you know? Right, right. John Verrico: got this plan and you go into this career field that you think you're gonna gonna love. So, like for me, I started out in electrical engineering. Jennie James: Mm-hmm. John Verrico: And I was an electronics technician. I I went to a a two year program to start off Jennie James: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. John Verrico: with, but I was you know, too busy partying and stuff to attend all of the classes I needed to attend. And so I didn't get my associate's degree, but I had enough credits to get kind of a minimal job to start off in the field, and I started working, and I was a a frontline technician. Jennie James: Uh-huh. John Verrico: All right, so I'm working And I was the problem solver guy Jennie James: yeah. John Verrico: at at a factory where they're create where they're making circuit boards. And they they you know the circuit boards are coming off the assembly line. So people are just like plugging in the the resistors Jennie James: Right. John Verrico: and the capacitors on the board and it goes through a soldering machine and then it doesn't work, so it goes to the tech. And then we've got to find out in the tech shop, you know, what's what's wrong with it. they put the wrong part in at this point, and we go back and fix the system. Yet all Jennie James: Cross the wires. John Verrico: the right, you know, the Or or something happened in the soldering machine and it it it Jennie James: Yep. Yep. John Verrico: joined these pieces together. So all those kinds of things. And I actually enjoyed the work. I love the problem solving. I love puzzles. Jennie James: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. John Verrico: And what I also loved doing was, you know, that Eureka moment once I found the problem, then training everyone else on how to find that problem. Took Jennie James: Huh. John Verrico: me a while to realize where my brain was going. And so I wound up writing a training manual or how to recognize some of the most common types of problems and all that stuff. And I enjoyed that process. And I realized I enjoyed the tech work, but I really needed to be with people more. I'm more of a people guy. Jennie James: Uh-huh. John Verrico: And so I liked doing the training. I liked writing the training manual, but I started getting bored with the day-to-day stuff. And so I changed career fields. I went back to school. I said, I like writing, I'm gonna go back to school for journalism. And I went back to school for journalism. And I still didn't take that damn history class. Jennie James: Ha ha John Verrico: I did another two year program. So now I've got two college debts. And I did get I did get a little bit of a grant at one point, you know, to help pay for some of that. But I still had, you know, two now college loans that I'm working off of. I've completely changed career fields. And I wasn't getting I was getting a job as like a freelance guy, you know, cover I wasn't getting on staff for newspapers and things. I'm like, Well, what the heck? And finally I just joined the Navy. Jennie James: yeah that's a solution. John Verrico: Yeah, there we go. I'm I'm gonna go in the military. I need I need some discipline, you know? Because I realized that I couldn't get up in the morning. I got fired from one of my tech jobs because I Jennie James: Vamos lá. John Verrico: was always late to work. I was always Jennie James: Yep. John Verrico: a night owl. And I was always doing other stuff too. You know, so Jennie James: Refused? John Verrico: and I wouldn't even go into all the other career fields, you know, that I had tried. You know, I was a short order cook, Jennie James: Yeah. John Verrico: I was a disco dance instructor. I tried a I, you know, I sold men's clothes, security guard, kind of doing doing all of that stuff. But we really don't know where we want to land when we're that young. When and we try different things, and we, Jennie James: It's true, it's true. John Verrico: you know, we'll we'll We'll take sometimes just any job that comes along, you know. So, you know, I think we Jennie James: yeah, I've done that. John Verrico: all did the kitchen of a of a fast food joint at some place, some point in our careers. Jennie James: Right. John Verrico: But we do all of these different things while we're kind of finding ourselves. And it wasn't until, you know, I'm in my mid-20s and I'm joining the Navy and I'm I'm I'm still a journalist, but then doing the journalism work was also public affairs work, and I realized that I kind of liked that even more. and built on all the communication skills. And so again I changed career fields. Now I finally got my bachelor's degree when I was thirty. And that was Jennie James: Yeah. John Verrico: it it wound up being a liberal arts degree because it had pieces of electrical engineering, pieces of journalism, pieces of this. So it's technically a a a liberal arts degree with a concentration in communication. And I have a minor in sociology, and I never took a sociology class in my life. I did that by testing out. Jennie James: Wow. John Verrico: So still had no clue where I was going. And then when I turned fifty, I went into another panic mode. Jennie James: Yeah. John Verrico: And took a bunch well, so so when I was when I was hitting thirty, I had a panic mode, right? I'm like, my god, I still don't have a degree. And I'm gonna be thirty in less than a year. And I went into like major take tests and credits and all this. I did forty two credits. And then also took GRE exams for undergrad credit. And that's how I wound up with a s with a minor in SOSH. But you know, we yeah, yeah, more debt. And so, but fortunately, I had the military to help pay for that. But still, we change our minds and we wind up doing different things. So making this decision at 18 years old, absorbing a hundred, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in debt. To go into a career field that we may hate in two or three years. Jennie James: Or just simply in twenty years just you'd like to alter it a little or just kind of go in a new path, maybe off of that. But yeah, it's it's hard to say at eighteen what you're gonna do for the rest of your life. John Verrico: Yeah, yeah. And here I am fifty years later, and and I'm Jennie James: Yeah. John Verrico: on a whole new path. On a whole new path. Jennie James: Well, you know, I mean, I I I get that. I I started out in healthcare, nursing, medical records, all that stuff, then insurance, paying health claims. But I ended up moving into tech because medical records became all electronic, so that kind of got me into IT and that's how I got into that. And now here I am in financial services. I've never taken a financial, a formal financial class. in college in my life. But here I am. But no I get it. I John Verrico: Right, right. And so now you've been helping people with this debt thing for Jennie James: Mm-hmm. John Verrico: a while and now you've evolved into providing some other solutions now as well. Jennie James: I have. I've been about maybe a year ago I had this, I don't know, epiphany that While what I do is I think important for a lot of people, and I think it it it could make such a huge difference in the world. I I was l let me back up just John Verrico: And it's rewarding. Jennie James: a little bit. I was inspired by a quote from from Sally Krotchek, and that was what led me down that original debt path to begin with. And what she said, this was a few years ago, she said, about the best thing you can do for an economy and for the world is to get more money in the hands of women. And I thought, yeah, absolutely. So that was my original focus on doing this. Now I certainly can work with men and I do, but in general, men tend to not want to talk about their financial stuff with a woman. So I mean some do, but Mostly they don't, so that's fine. But I have male colleagues, I just John Verrico: Interesting. I never t I never thought of it that way. Jennie James: Well, yeah, I mean probably you wouldn't, but a lot of men are that way. And so I have male colleagues, I'll just send them to them. But but that was how I got started. And now at this point, having done just focused on the debt stuff for probably at least the last the better part of the last seven plus years. And it's been satisfying, but I keep feeling like there's something else because people are so personally, they feel like it's such a personal failure. It's like I don't want to just focus on that because it's just a part of the picture. And that's what I try to help them see. So what I'm starting to incorporate now in in my business practice, if you will, are some fintech. or financial technology solutions. I'm just kind of getting it underway, but I've got some some ways to provide small businesses because I do end up working with small businesses and their debt. but helping small businesses to find ways to provide healthcare options for 1099 people, part-time people. Gig workers, all the people who don't get benefits when they get a part-time or gig job. other things to help the business itself on things like their little FICA, the the FICA payment they make for all their employees. And so there are ways to help use that to give them some leverage. there are so many other great fintech solutions that I can offer, but But I think the one that kinda goes hand in hand with the debt stuff because people are worried about credit scores such a big deal. And it's unfortunate. John Verrico: Yeah. Jennie James: I I really personally my my personal opinion is I despise it. John Verrico: The whole credit score thing. Yeah. Jennie James: But yes, but it's not anything we can avoid, especially in our personal lives and certainly in our business lives. so have a a a a program that we're that w I'm working on getting up to speed on in exactly how it works, but a way to help both a business build their business credit or an individual to build their personal credit in a way that has never been possible for them before, and that is as long as you're making your regular utility payments, your rent payments, all of the normal everyday payments that you would make. You don't have to take out a separate loan just to prove that you can pay a loan. You just make your regular payments and you start building your credit such that then you can actually realistically consider, gee, buying a new car or a house. John Verrico: And you can do that just by showing that you have the responsibility and the ability to to pay regular bills. Jennie James: Correct. Right. Right. Which which has never been possible before on on a personal level. John Verrico: Right. Yeah. No, because the the credit system is the credit rating system is based on how many loans you have, you know, credit cards and all that stuff, and your ability to keep those papers. Jennie James: How much interest can we make from you and then we'll help your Yeah. Right. John Verrico: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. Jennie James: So yeah, these are the things that I want to add so that, you know, because I think I think that it just irritates me unbelievably how much the system is just so rigged against the average person. And this just kind of gives them a little leg up. John Verrico: I I love it. And I and I love what you're what you're doing. And as somebody who's, you know, as a speaker and thing, I'm a gig worker. You know, I'm a ten ninety nine guy. Jennie James: No. John Verrico: You know, I c I'll come into an organization as a consultant or or or whatever, or just to do a a keynote or a workshop or things like that. And so those kinds of things are really, really important to me, Jennie James: Mm-hmm. John Verrico: to be able to make sure that that I do have some sort of coverage and or that the company has got the coverage that they need for that as well. This is brilliant. Jennie James: Right, right. John Verrico: I you know, this is y you have a you have a big heart, Jennie, and and and a Jennie James: Yeah. John Verrico: and and a a very intuitive brain that really can can see what people are facing and help them find a solution. And that's what I love about you. Jennie James: Well, my spirit guys tell me that that's my superpower. I used John Verrico: Ha ha ha. Jennie James: to laugh. But thank you. John Verrico: No, it's it it is so true. And so now your company is called A Different Answer, which is I think is brilliant. I love that title. Jennie James: Different answer. Yep. John Verrico: I love that title. And and I know that your website is going as of this recording, your website is going through some renovation as you start adding these services Jennie James: It is. John Verrico: and and all of that stuff and adding the new direction. But that website is a different answer dot com. Jennie James: Not a different, just different answer.com. Yep. But I still have my email, Jennie at different answer. John Verrico: sorry, different answer dot com. Thank you. I'm glad we clarified that. Yeah. And it'll all be in the show notes for people as well. Yeah. Jennie James: Yes, yes. John Verrico: And so people can reach out to you on LinkedIn. Was that be a good place to catch up with you? Jennie James: Yep, LinkedIn, email, phone, text, whatever. Yes. John Verrico: Well, we're gonna put I'm not gonna put your phone number out there to the world. Yeah, Jennie James: Well, okay, maybe not, but yeah. John Verrico: yeah. You're you're gonna get you're gonna get all kinds of dating services once they get a look at you. Jennie, Jennie James: Yeah. God, no, please no. John Verrico: you're a sweetheart. and and you've got great personality and fantastic heart. And that was that yeah, when we first met, that was one of the things that that just drew me to you and I wanted to learn more. And once I did learn more and I started to think about this putting this show together, I knew that you were one of the people I wanted to have on here so that you can share your fire and your passion with others. Jennie James: Well thank you. And and it's been more than a pleasure getting to know you two as well. You are just you are just a a a big personality in a room. You just come in and just bring warmth and and fire and light up the room. John Verrico: Well, thank you. I'll send you a check for that. This has been a wonderful conversation. Folks, listen to what Jennie has to say. There's some really golden nugget advice throughout this this whole discussion. check it out, play it back. always listen for the next episode on Share Your Fire. It is my absolute delight to do this show and to bring people like Jennie, who've got a great huge motivational fire burning inside of them that they can share with others. Jennie James: Thank you so much. John Verrico: It's been great. Thanks, Jennie. Take care. Jennie James: All right.