Latest / Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson / From Army Discipline To Financial Confidence With Elijah Abraham

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From Army Discipline To Financial Confidence With Elijah Abraham · Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is where ideas spark, connections grow, and collaborations fuse success.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Tune in for inspiring stories, expert insights, and game-changing conversations.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Let's build, connect, and thrive together.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, collaboration is the key to success.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to another episode of the Ready Set Collaborate Podcast with Wanda Pearson, where collaboration is the key to success.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_03: I'm honored to introduce a guest who embodies service strategy and stewardship, Elijah Abraham, licensed life insurance agent and founder of Adova Digital in partnership with Global Financial Impact.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_03: Elijah brings his Army, U.S.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_03: Army, National Guard, Discipline, and Mission First mindset to financial education, which is so needed at Elijah.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate you doing that.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_03: He's helping other service members, families, and high performance build wealth through IUL's whole life and annuities integrated with TSP and SGLI.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_03: His approach simplifies complex choices so clients can protect income, reduce risks, and create lasting legacies.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: Get ready to hear practical insights on how to protect your family's future, grow your wealth, and lead with financial confidence.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome Elijah.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_03: Say hello to the audience.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_03: Hello, hello.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate you having me on.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, absolutely, absolutely.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so glad that we actually was on a webinar.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_03: Me and one of my friends, I actually call accountability partners, did and Elijah jumped on, and I appreciate you being there.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_03: But just really about educating, right?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_03: We got to educate people because a lot of people don't know what's going on.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_03: We want to make sure that actually having that financial and Elijah, I grew up in Chicago.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_03: We ain't know nothing about financial, we know nothing about life insurance.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: Nobody told us about that.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: Just like I do legal shield, nobody told us about wills and estate planning.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_03: Because that wasn't in the budget.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_03: Let's put it that say.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_03: We want to make sure that uh that you're covered.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_03: And my sister, who died at 25 years old, died a day after my birthday, November 16th.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_03: She had insurance, but she stopped paying the insurance.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_03: And when she stopped paying it, what happens?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: We got to figure out how we're gonna bury her, right?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: This is so important.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: It's a great conversation that we're gonna have.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: Let's get into some of these interview questions, Elijah.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_03: I'm ready for it.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, wait a minute.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_03: No, I gotta talk about your bio a little bit.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_03: I think I talked about some anyway.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_03: Elijah is Elijah Abraham is a licensed life insurance agent and founder of the Adova Digital partner with Global Financial Impact.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I talked about that.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: But what I want to talk about now is being that life insurance agent, founder of Adova Digital, partner of Global Financial Impact.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_03: Also, he actually is the U.S.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_03: Army National Guard mission, first approach to financial readiness for service members.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_03: I think I talked about that.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_03: So I just want to make sure I got all of that in.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_03: He's an educator, a team builder, turns complex insurance into actionable compliance safe steps.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you once again, Elijah, for being helping our military be in there for us because we definitely need it these days.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_03: Happy to be of service.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_03: So listen, let's talk about some questions.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: What's about your journey?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_03: What inspired you to combine your service background with financial education?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: It was really just God moving me into a place where I could really be what, like they say in the army, be all you can be as on National Guard.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: So straight out of high school, I joined the military.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: I was gone from my family for about a year and a half, doing the whole basic AIT that stint.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: And then after I came back, I literally the first week I was back on the job.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh had a part-time job with Target.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: I went full-time with them for about three weeks, and I really realized that hey, I'm not fulfilled here.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, I'm making a little couple of extra dollars, especially for somebody who's 18, 19.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: You're happy to have that job.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: But I was like, hey, down the line, I need something career-oriented.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: That's when the search for my purpose actually began.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: I did some research, ended up in the electrical industry or the construction industry.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: Same thing, super ambitious.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: I was there for about four years working in the field on my third year of school.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_02: I was literally about to graduate.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: At that time, I had also been in this business for about a year and a half or a year.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: Now it's a year and a half.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I saw the potential of what it could be, and I was just analyzing my different options.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, I want to provide a certain type of lifestyle for my family, especially being first generation.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: My parents are from Jamaica and Trinidad.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, hey, I want to be able to help out.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: And I've always had that mission in the back of my head from a young age.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_02: So ended up quitting my job.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: Probably not the best idea because I probably wasn't in the best financial spot to quit a job.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: And then on top of that, I was traveling all over the place.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: Not only do I not have a steady source of income, I'm spending a thousand, two thousand dollars a month just on travel.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: Fast forward, I got into this business.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: I was helping families, but I sat down with one of my military buddies and I realized that they didn't even know anything about their retirement plan.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: They were just about to get out, and they were just getting out because they didn't like the unit, they didn't like the environment they're in, but they didn't really have an actionable plan.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: They're just getting out because they didn't feel like that was the place they needed to be.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, we have all of these different benefits, and there's no reason why a service member should be separating from the military without some sort of plan, some sort of passive income or protection for their family.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: That's when the mission changed from, okay, I have this business where I'm able to make a couple of extra dollars on the side part-time to, hey, I want to fully commit to being not only the subject matter expert when it comes to finances, but helping veterans get connected with people who can take them A to Z, not just in, you know, what I do, the life insurance side, but real estate, even disability benefits, education benefits, the whole nine yards.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: So that's the network I've been building out.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, that's awesome.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_03: I am proud of you, the young man that do all of that.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_03: And the thing about to put your family up front to say, what can I do to help to be better?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_03: That is awesome.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: Kudos to you.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_03: And it's just something that a lot of young adults don't think about.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_03: How can they help other people and educating them?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_03: But the best thing about it is that you're educating your military buddies.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: What is your retirement like?
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: What do you do?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_03: Because we don't think about that.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just blessed to be able to work in for 36 years and had the old retirement.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of people don't have that.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_03: And that's how I was able to retire early in my life.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_03: For me to have that 401k, to have that pension plan, the lump sum plus the monthly pension plan.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_03: So that blessed me that I didn't have to say, Oh, I got to go back to corporate because I didn't have the age.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_03: But it's a blessing that you are educating, and that's really what it's about educating and empowering people and doing what you're doing, Elijah.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so proud of you.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate it.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_03: Adova Digital and your partnership with Global Financial Impact come to your life.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I think you're talking about that a little bit, but let's dive into that a little bit more.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so like anything, I was super ambitious.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: In between that period of me like getting into the electrical industry and then getting started with global financial impact, I was at a point where I was trying anything.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: People online, there are a bunch of gurus talking about, oh, you could learn how to trade crypto, you could learn how to trade stocks.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: I was one of those guys.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_02: There were some months where I was making a lot of money and it was like unbelievable.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: And then there were some months where I wasn't making any money and I'm chasing trades the whole nine yards.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: My buddies in the military knew this about me.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: They knew I was like mission focused when it came to building my finances and helping my family.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: But I had to transition from doing something that's a little bit more risky and requires a lot more time to something that's sustainable where I can actually build a foundation for my family.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: So one of my buddies introduced me.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: He said, Hey, I know you're interested in finances, you day trade and all that.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: Have you ever considered getting licensed or learning about how to help other people inside of the industry?
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: I said, Nah, but my parents they came over here, they gave me an opportunity just to be inside of the United States.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: Any opportunity that I get, I'll take it for granted.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I sat down with them fast forward about a year and a half.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm still inside of the business.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: I'm actually full-time.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, that's how I got started.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_03: I am, and you listen.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_03: The thing about it, and the opportunity that you get when you did come over here to be able to take advantage of that opportunity.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_03: Us here in the US don't realize the opportunities that they have just to take it.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_03: No, that is great.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_03: What core mission drives the work you do every day with your clients?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: Really helping educate them because initially, when I started Adova Digital, it was meant to be like uh pass-through for tax purposes.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: Now, recently, when I went full-time, I changed it to a financial education business.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: And again, the main reason that is is there's a crisis right now when it comes to people retiring.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of people only have a 401k, it's about 185,000 inside of their account by the time they retire.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: So that if you think about people who are working at Walmart or Publix, no knock on them.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_02: But the reason why you see older people still working these jobs is because they didn't have enough for retirement.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: Nobody told them.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: Now, if it was my family, I would be distraught and I'd probably want to pick up a slack for them, even though it's not my responsibility.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_02: They live their life, but at the same time, like the love that you have for them, I want to be able to provide that same thing for everybody else.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: And it's one of the things we talk about at global financial impact with our fulfillment formula.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, let's make sure we're growing inside of our faith, we're growing with our family, our finances, inside of our fitness, and then we're having fun while we're doing it.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_03: That is really, I love it.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_03: I love how you put all that into a nutshell because I tell you, I got I didn't know about uh we're from and of course we moved here from New Jersey to Atlanta.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_03: And 2008, we still had a house in New Jersey that we hadn't sold, and that's when the market went down.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_03: I tell you, 2008, I lost, and I didn't know about how to do that finding.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_03: I was it was in the IBM system, but I needed a financial advisor to help me with this.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_03: I lost$55,000,$55,000 in my form account.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, oh my God.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_03: I said, okay, I gotta stay here a little bit longer.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_03: And of course it built back up, thank God.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_03: But when I that happened to me, I even though IBM was tracking all that, but I needed some an independent financial advisor.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_03: And he was able to help me with that and take it and put it into an annuity.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_03: When I retired, I was gonna retire.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_03: He took my 401k, put it into annuity, and that way I can get my monthly check from that.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: And the annuity that I have actually, even if it runs out of money, I still get paid.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_03: What you're doing, the education, because I'm not educated.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: That's not my that's not what I do.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: I wanted somebody that had that experience in doing that.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: So what you're doing, it's awesome.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: Many families struggle to understand financial products.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_03: What's your education first approach all about that?
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_03: Basically, like my process of educating people?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 10:50
  unknown: Yeah.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: By them for the families are struggling.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of us, just like I was telling you before, they don't understand the financial different products that you may have.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_03: So, what's your education first approach all about?
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_03: How do you educate?
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: Well, first I realize that people aren't really compelled to move or change their situation until you highlight the I call them pain points or areas where there's like holes in their financial boat.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: Typically, the first thing I'm gonna do is try and get them on a call, and I do that by leveraging those holes in their boat.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_02: And it's really it really comes down to listening because everybody's financial situation is different.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: And yes, I can recommend all these different products, but first you have to basically be approved for it, and then at the same time, it has to be a right fit.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_02: In order for me to play matchmaker with that, I need a better idea of what the financial situation is.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: That's the first call.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: The discovery, I'm showing them all the different ways we can help, and I pitch it as hey, you may see value in some of these things, but who do you know who also sees value inside of these things?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_02: Say we move forward.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: I may only be able to help with one or two things right now, and it's more of a long-term plan, but I'm pretty sure coworkers and friends who could benefit from the same information I gave you.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I tell my military buddies all the time, I'm like, hey, I'm educating you guys, but the same thing I'm educating you on is the same thing people who are outside of the service can still use.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: And that is so true.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_03: Like for service members and veterans, like what you said, what makes their financial planning needs unique by them being in the military?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_03: What makes that unique by you helping them?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_02: Them, it's mainly using their benefits.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: Most veterans don't even use their benefits, know that they have them.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: I believe last time I checked the number, it was like 13% of veterans actually use their VA home loans, stuff like that.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: The main thing is getting in front of them, especially before they separate from the military, and some of those benefits drop off to say, hey, what's the game plan?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I know you probably joined the military, want to serve the country, to be a part of something bigger than yourself, but ultimately there's some personal interest inside of it too.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: You like you're if it's somebody like me, like I wanted to put my family ahead, set that foundation, and that the military was something for me to stand on in order to start building my fan foundation.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: So, whatever that motivation is, we start there, and then we make sure that they're also connected with resources that are going to help them get to their goals.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_03: You often mention integrating IULs, whole life annuities with TSP and SGLI.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_03: Can you explain how that works in simple terms?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_03: Because a lot of people say, okay, what is this IUL?
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_03: What is it?
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_03: Can you explain a little bit about that?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: Breaking down the IUL first, it's actually a form of whole life or permanent life insurance.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's tied to a stock index.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_02: It's not directly invested into the actual index, but they're using it as a metric to basically track how much they should credit your account year over year.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: Because these insurance companies, they're the ones backing up the bank.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_02: I'm pretty sure you heard of the FDIC.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's also an insurance company.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_02: Everything runs through insurance.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: Your car, you insure that.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: Most people they get a brand new phone, they insure that.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: Their home, they insure that, but nobody teaches us how to actually insure our money.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: So, with the IULs, that's one of the ways that we're able to do that.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: Also, through terms, we can use that to collateralize assets and then through annuities as well.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: To, like you said, make sure that there's a guaranteed income source month over month when people are retired, regardless of what the market does.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: But IULs is the big flashy word right now.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'm breaking it down simply.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: It stands for index universal life.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: Like I said, it's tied to an index.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: It allows you to get, I wouldn't say stock market gains, but something similar.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: And it also protects you from the downside of the market when, say, there's a 2008 market, a 2008 housing market crash, or there's something like COVID that kind of plummets the markets.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_03: Everything that's going on in this world today, we don't know what we're going to be going.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: Just protecting yourself.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_03: That's great.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_03: And educate, continue to educate people in that.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_03: IULs versus traditional plans, upside participating with downside protecting.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_03: Who is it for and who it isn't for?
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: Perfect.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: I love that question.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate you asking that too.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: IULs are great for somebody who's got a little bit more time for their money to grow.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_02: I would say whole life policies, the cash accumulation inside of those are still great.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_02: And if somebody's looking for something more steady, more consistent, I definitely put them in a traditional whole life policy over the IUL.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: But what the IUL allows you to do is have a pool of money, say you want to start a college fund for your kid.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: You can use it for that.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's super versatile, super flexible on how you can structure it.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_02: Say you wanted to provide a large death benefit.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_02: You're trying to basically provide cash for your camp, your family, or a cash injection into your family trust when you pass away, you're able to do that with it, but you're also able to structure it to where it's like another retirement or savings account.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_03: That's good.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_03: And that's good that you explained that because now we talk about debt, income, and legacy.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_03: Using life insurance to protect families and past assets cleanly.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_03: How about that?
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_03: Can you give us a little bit of insight about that?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: Debt, I want to overcome a common misconception when it comes to debt.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_02: Debt can be an asset.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: We hear debt and everybody automatically thinks, hey, it's a bad thing.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: But Juana, can I ask you this?
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: If you have the ability to go to the bank, take out$10,000, go buy a car, put the car on the road, and say you're making like five, six hundred dollars next net profit a month from that car, would you look at that as a liability or an asset?
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_03: No, it's an asset because that's exactly what I did.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_03: I took part of my my my retirement.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_03: I took part of that money and went and bought a car.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_03: When I bought that car, it was an asset to me because now I paid it in full.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_03: That's what I think of as an asset.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I know a lot of times, and then the liability that that actually helps you with your credit to see what how you're credit worthy, but how you sustain and how you handle your credit.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you got to pay your bills, and that's what helped you as an asset.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_03: Am I right?
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely wrong.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_02: You're absolutely right.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_02: Leveraging other people's money is actually not a bad idea, but usually when we're leveraging other people's money, there's interest rates involved with that.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_02: We have to factor that into our calculations.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, one of the things that we teach is basically the infinite banking and family banking concept.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_02: We have our own family trusts, and if we buy assets inside of our family trusts, we're earning interest.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_02: So instead of going and borrowing from the bank, we can borrow from our family trust.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: Typically, it's at a way lower interest rate than going to the bank.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and we can still do those things like buy assets, put a down payment on a house, a multifamily, rent it out.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_02: We can go buy cars, we can go invest in our education, get an additional license or certification.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and this is how we start really building legacy because it's not necessarily about the money.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_02: One person can come in the family, change the family game or the family name, create a bunch of money.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: But in the course of two to three generations, if you're not passing on that knowledge on how to maintain that money, that's typically where we see families go from super wealthy to super poor.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and that is so true.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_03: How can high performance a business owner start building that legacy mindset today?
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: When it comes to business owners, one of the major things that I see with them is being able to retain their employees.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: If they're making seven figures, they're paying six figures in taxes.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: And then also having a pool of money to scale their business through the products that we're able to offer in our business owner plans, we're able to help combat all three of those.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_02: I'm pretty sure your employees would love if they got like a five, ten thousand dollar bonus at the end of the year.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm not sure if you've heard of companies like GE.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: They've leveraged these same strategies when they were trying to bring CEOs over from other companies to be number one on the stock exchange.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, no, I've been in IBM for 36 years, we get our bonuses as well, which I'm so happy I was in there at the right time because I made it at the right time to get that old pension plan where somebody that that was hired two months after me, they did not get what I got.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_03: So it makes a big difference, though.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_03: But no, yeah, thank you for explaining that.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_03: How what are a few smart steps families can take to protect and grow their income long term?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_02: I'd say it's actually a six-step process.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: First is diversifying your income, having that cash flow because typically people in I know, especially with my brothers and sisters in the military who are active duty, government shutdown.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_02: That's a perfect example.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: We think that even working for the government, that you would have the stability inside of your income.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_02: But the reality of the situation is the most stable thing that you can do is bet on yourself.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: Step one, I would say, is diversify your cash flow.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: Next, I would say have an emergency fund.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: About three to six months of income in case there's any type of emergency, you lose your job.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's basically time for you to pivot instead of panic when it comes to your finances.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: And then we also have debt management and consolidation.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: We're not talking about using debt for assets.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: I'm talking about going to this the mall and going on the shopping spree and trying to buy all your Gucci and Louis and Prada and all the stuff that's not really it's not gonna grow over time.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_02: After that, making sure that we're protecting the family.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_02: So this is where like the trust, the wills, the legacy planning comes in, having those retirement funds, the whole nine yards.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: And then I'd say the last two is making sure that you're building wealth, but you're also preserving wealth.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I say these two go hand in hand because in order to build wealth, you got to have a baseline, there's something that you're preserving.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_02: And in order to preserve wealth, you got to make sure that you're constantly adding on to it.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_03: So exactly.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_03: No, great sharing there.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_03: That does make sense.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_03: So, how does collaboration with trusted partners like Legal Shield, which is what I do, or financial educators enhance your client's overall protection strategy?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: One major thing that I think it adds is just having a network of people who communicate with each other because finances and organizing trust and wills, if you're not somebody who deals with this every day, it can be confusing and a headache and make you not want to deal with that at all to begin with.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_02: So having a team of professionals who are like, hey, I specialize in trust and wills or like legal shield and anything on the lawyer side, and then having somebody who's like a CPA, they specialize in taxes, having a life insurance agent, having a real estate agent, and they're all communicating together, that's gonna make your life way easier.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: Because now everybody's tracking the same thing, we're all moving towards the same goal, and that's creating welfare.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_02: If it's the Pearsons family, if it's the Abraham family, that's how we do that.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, I love it, I love it, and that's that made it makes a lot of sense.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_03: So listen, walk us through a simple framework of a young E4, E5 can use to pick coverage this week.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_03: 100%.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: There are multiple different carriers on there or out there, and to be honest, most of those carriers are gonna be able to help you.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like you can call them with their 1-800 number and get coverage right away today.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, one of the things I always ask people is if something were to happen to you, would you want your family to be calling a 1-800 number, or would you want somebody who personally knows your beneficiaries to basically walk them through the process of accessing their funds and everything?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: So that's where we come into play as brokers.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: We're basically the middleman between the companies and the families.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: And through having that personal relationship with the families, we're able to kind of guide them in what's best for them.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: Say, in terms of getting covered, though, we have online um like a website, Ethos, for example, one of our technology policies or technology companies.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: You can go on there, literally get a quote, apply at the same time.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: That's a link that I could provide.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: I also have my website with my educational course.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: They can get some more information there.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_02: But I really encourage people not to just go out and get covered because you may not know how much coverage you need based off of your debt, your income, your expenses, how many kids you have.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_02: There's a calculation for that.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: I always say, hey, schedule a call, go to the website, get connected with the professional who's going to actually listen to what it is that you need, what your family needs, and then move from there rather than just putting you in a product.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_03: And really, like it's about connecting with you to know what you're doing.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_03: You can go in and pick this and this, but if you don't really know the process, it's best to connect with Elijah to let him know.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_03: Another few more questions.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_03: What's one financial lesson from your military service that influences your business and your leadership style today?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_02: 100%.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: One financial lesson.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: I would say a lot of military members, when they get that bonus, that enlistment bonus, if you're army, I know some branches don't do it, but uh, they take that money and they go and buy a car.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: That was a big thing.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, I'm gonna go get a Hellcat, oh, I'm gonna go get a Camaro, I'm gonna go get a Mustang.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_02: So that's probably the biggest thing that impacted me is like service members, especially if you're younger, or E1, E2, E3, even E4.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_02: We make some questionable financial decisions.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um go ahead, sir.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_03: No, I was gonna say, because actually I do mentoring, and we actually did this program in the in the middle schools where we gave the students, we were actually in the gym and they had different sections set up here.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_03: Just like you said, you get this lump sum of money, what are you gonna do with it?
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_03: And you know where most of the guys went to the car dealership to buy a car.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_03: To buy a car, and then they all of a sudden we say, Oh, well, wait a minute, you have two children.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: How are you gonna take care of your children?
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_03: This is how much it costs to take care of children.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_03: It made them think about it.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_03: They said, Oh, I'm not gonna have any children because it costs too much money.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_03: But you think about the diapers, the milk, all of those other things that you got to support.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_03: It's funny because when you said that, you take that lump sum and go buy a car, yeah, just like I did my my pension, bought a car.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_03: But I had that lump sum, but I still had something else on top of it to invest in.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_03: You're not taking the whole thing out, it's the investment that actually I did an IRA with the main remaining of my uh you know, my money.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_03: No, thank you for sharing that.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_03: That makes that's exactly what's what you do.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I got twenty thousand dollars.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_03: Let me go buy a car.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_03: And now, I don't know how much cars are today.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_03: It's crazy.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_03: If you could leave our listeners with one key takeaway about protecting what matters most, what would it be?
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_02: I would say it's not about learning the information because you could sit there and research all day.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_02: Applied knowledge is what actually changes situations.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_02: I would say don't just take in the information and don't just put it to the side, put it in your notebook, and be like, all right, I did some work today.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: The work actually comes in when you sit down with somebody and say, Hey, I need more help with my financial plan.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_02: What are the steps to actually get this started?
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_02: I need to sit down with my family members, and this is another big thing, having those family conversations.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_02: Because if you buy a life insurance policy and nobody knows about it, then it goes unclaimed.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we need to be having these conversations.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_02: I said those are the two main things.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_03: No, exactly.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_03: So we did our we have two daughters.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_03: We both of them are included in the will.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_03: What we did, we got it notarized.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_03: Make sure when you do get a will, the trust, whatever, get it notarized that it's legal.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_03: But we gave a copy to each one of them.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_03: They know what's going on, what's happening.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_03: It just uh just really the communication that you need with your family to go over that.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_03: But I am excited to have had you on our podcast here.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_03: Elijah, tell us how people can get in touch with you.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_03: It is gonna be in the show notes, but just tell us how they can get in touch with you and get a consult with you as well.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_02: First, I appreciate you having me on.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_02: I'm honored.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: But they can get in contact with me on any of the social media platforms.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be Sgt.EMoney, so S G T and then E Money.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_02: That will have all of my social links.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_02: I also have the website still in the process of basically being put together.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_02: But you can go to AdovaDigital.com.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's A-D-O-V-A-D-I-G-I-T-A-L, and it has an integrated calendar where you can book a meeting from there.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, those are the two best ways to get in contact with me.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: And then I also have my phone number, the 404-593-8663.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: They can reach me there as well.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_02: Shoot me a quick text.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm gonna get all that for you from you to put in the show notes as well so they can get in touch with you.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_03: But thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_03: We it took us a while to try to get around here, but we finally did it here.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_03: What a powerful and practical conversation.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_03: Elijah, thank you for sharing your insights and mission-driven approach to helping families and service members secure their financial futures.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_03: This episode of ReadySet Collaborate with Wanda Pearson is probably sponsored by Dennis and Wanda Pearson of Legal Shield, protecting families, small businesses, and entrepreneurs with affordable legal and identity theft services.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_03: To learn more about how Legal Shield can help you protect what you built, and we call that legal insurance, Elijah.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_03: He said legal insurance, get legal insurance, visit our website at Dennis Pearson.com.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_03: That will be in the show notes as well.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_03: Until next time, remember collaborating is the key to success.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Wanda Pearson.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_03: Stay inspired, stay protected, and keep walking in purpose.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_03: And please make sure you share and follow and go on our YouTube channel, WD Pearson Associates or we're ready to collaborate, to subscribe.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_03: I really ask people to subscribe.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_03: I keep forgetting to tell them that, Elijah.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_03: Subscribe to our YouTube channel because we have so many episodes on there.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks again, Elijah.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_03: It was a joy just talking with you and finally getting this education about what you do.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_02: Not a problem.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: I hope you have a blessed rest of your day and to the audience as well.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: That wraps up another episode of Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you found inspiration and valuable insights to help you build meaningful connections and successful collaborations.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed today's conversation, be sure to subscribe, share, and stay tuned for more great discussions.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, keep collaborating and making an impact.