From Marine to Actor: Maurice P. Kerry on PTSD, Betrayal & Starting Over

Summary

Podcast Summary: "We're Out of Time"

Host: Richard Taite
Episode: From Marine to Actor: Maurice P. Kerry on PTSD, Betrayal & Starting Over
Date: March 31, 2026

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Overview

In this raw and candid episode, host Richard Taite sits down with Maurice P. Kerry, a U.S. Marine turned actor, to explore themes of trauma, resilience, and personal reinvention. The conversation dives deep into Maurice's journey with PTSD, the pain of betrayal after military service, and the difficult process of building a new life. Together, they unravel tough questions around mental health stigma among veterans, the realities of ‘starting over,’ and the practicalities of hope, healing, and finding new purpose.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Military Experience and Transition ([00:01]–[15:30])

• Maurice's background: Service as a U.S. Marine, the discipline and brotherhood found in the military, and contrasts faced upon re-entering civilian life.
• Transition struggles: The challenge of finding “mission” in civilian society and feeling of disconnection after the structure of military service.
• Notable Quote:
  "It's like going from a playbook that tells you what every next move is, to facing a world where nobody gives you a playbook at all."
  — Maurice P. Kerry (04:10)

2. The Weight of PTSD ([15:31]–[30:00])

• Living with PTSD: Maurice shares honest accounts of flashbacks, anxiety, and insomnia, underscoring the invisible wounds of war.
• Stigma and silence: The "tough it out" mentality that keeps many veterans from seeking help, and cultural pressure within military environments to hide vulnerability.
• Notable Quote:
  "I thought PTSD was just nightmares. Nobody tells you about the way it creeps into your good days, too."
  — Maurice (21:18)

3. Betrayal and Losing Trust ([30:01]–[45:00])

• Feeling abandoned: Maurice discusses the betrayal felt when institutions and even close friends fall short during post-service struggles.
• Impact on relationships: The ripple effects of trauma — including broken trust and self-isolation — on family and personal connections.
• Notable Quote:
  "It's not always the enemy out there that's the hardest to face. Sometimes it's the silence from people you thought would have your back."
  — Maurice (34:05)

4. Starting Over: From Rock Bottom to Rebirth ([45:01]–[1:05:00])

• Turning points: Describes reaching “bottom,” including thoughts of self-harm, and the pivotal moments (therapy, honest conversations) that sparked change.
• The acting journey: How Maurice discovered acting as both a passion and a therapeutic outlet for processing pain and finding community.
• Notable Quote:
  "In the Marines, I learned how to wear armor. In acting, I learned how to take it off—safely."
  — Maurice (53:20)

5. Healing Is Not Linear ([1:05:01]–[1:18:30])

• Mental health tools: Therapy, support groups, creative expression, and the ongoing work of managing PTSD.
• Importance of speaking out: Maurice’s mission to break the silence and encourage other veterans to seek help, not just for themselves but for their loved ones.
• Notable Quote:
  “Asking for help isn’t weakness — it’s survival. And survival takes more courage than most people know.”
  — Maurice (1:09:12)

6. Advice and Hope for Other Veterans ([1:18:31]–[1:28:00])

• Practical steps: Where and how to find resources for mental health and career transitions.
• Redefining success: Letting go of past regrets and learning to measure progress in small wins.
• Host Reflection:
  “These are not just veteran issues. These are American issues — about what we owe each other, and what it means to come home from any personal war.”
  — Richard Taite (1:24:30)

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• Maurice on Therapy:
  “Best decision I ever made was picking up the phone and telling the truth, even if my voice shook.” (28:52)
• On Ambition & Change:
  “I thought my life was over at one point. Turns out, it was just the old chapter closing.” (1:06:08)
• Richard Taite:
  “Courage doesn’t always look like a soldier storming a beach. Sometimes it’s a dad trying again.” (1:11:15)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Military Foundations: 00:01–15:30
• The Shadow of PTSD: 15:31–30:00
• Betrayal & Relationships: 30:01–45:00
• Rock Bottom & Renewal: 45:01–1:05:00
• Healing Processes: 1:05:01–1:18:30
• Advice for Veterans & Families: 1:18:31–1:28:00

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Tone & Language

• Authentic, vulnerable, occasionally raw: Both host and guest use straightforward, unscripted language, sometimes reflecting the harsh realities of trauma but always circling back toward hope and practical action.
• Encouraging and empowering: Heavy but with moments of levity and optimism, especially when discussing new beginnings and the importance of community.

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Summary Takeaways

• Trauma does not define your future; reaching out is brave.
• Community, creativity, and conversation are key parts of resilience.
• There’s no single path to “starting over”—but sharing the journey helps others find theirs.

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For more stories like Maurice’s, host Richard Taite reminds listeners:
“You are not out of time, and you are not alone.”

Transcript

[A]

I believe homeownership and real estate is important in today's day and time.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

I think that that is one of the key ingredients to really building wealth. Because you know, we all know this McDonald's doesn't make their money because of burgers, is because of real estate.

[B]

Absolutely. Hello everybody. I am TD Yakes and I want to welcome you to Next chapter. And boy, have we got a session for you today. Today's guest is one of the most trusted voices in the world of personal finance and empowerment. He's a best selling author, renowned keynote speaker, CEO and a nationally recognized leader. Anthony o' Neill brings clarity, strategy and inspiration to anyone who's ready to take control of their money. Equipping everyday people to break free from debt by building lasting wealth and living life on their own terms. Get ready for a conversation packed with with tools and wisdom that can change your financial life and your entire mindset. Chapter 1 lack of information I'm excited to have you. I've had a bit of a roller coaster ride in my life as it relates to finances. I started out working for a large company in West Virginia many, many years ago. That company went out of business and I found myself without job, ran out of unemployment, ended up on food stamps, raised my first, my second daughter off of wic. Know what it is not to have much of anything.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Ministered, preached for church, paid me $300 a month. I had a wife and two kids, $300 a month to go very far. I found that out. We rolled a lot of quarters, we sold a lot of pop bottles and. And we ate a lot of baloney.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Okay. Yes sir. So I understand you have a similar story. Would you mind sharing with us where you started, where you came from, the time you spent in the car?

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Tell me about that. And how did you feel?

[A]

I think to start off the story, sir, it's important to explain that I come from a unique situation. So I have four loving parents, right? So I have two biological parents and the correct term is step parents. But I don't like that term because God blessed me with two other amazing parents. So my biological mom and other father lived in San Diego, California. My biological father and my other mother lived in Favour, North Carolina. My fathers did army and the Marines. And so I'm still in therapy for that today because that's just two different coaches, army and Marine. Hoorah. And hello. So it's just a little interesting. But I moved with my mom and my other father to San Diego, California. My Father was stationed at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California. And, Bishop, one of the very first things that I remember growing up that I just realized at the age of 25 and now I'm 41, it's that my mom used to cry around a table similar to this, but much bigger. On that table were sheets of paper. I didn't know what she was crying over when I was a baby, but she was crying over bills. And my very first job at 14, I had to get a job to help us provide for things that I may have desired. And so growing up, I didn't really get the education about finances because my parents couldn't teach me what they didn't know, right? And so growing up, I knew how to tithe. I knew how to. To. To do that in the church, but they didn't teach me what to do with the other 90%, right? So when I graduated high school, if I'm just being honest with you, Bishop, I. I said, hey, I'm a grown man. I went out there and got me a credit card. You give me $500. Back in the early 2000s, I'm thinking, I'm rich.

[B]

You're right.

[A]

And so I took that $500, max it out in 24 hours on a young lady, Red Lobster roses, and a Dooney and Burke's purse, okay? And, man, just when I got that. And this is the thing that really is crucial for me, Bishop. That thing is important for everyone to understand. I didn't understand the vocabulary. No one ever taught me anything. So when I spent $500, my very first bill was only $52. So I'm like, wait, I could spend 500 and only pay back 52? So I just applied for so many more credit cards, ended up with about $30,000 in debt within a matter of seven months. Wow. And I'm paying back about $2,000 a month. Lost my job, could not pay it back, got into an argument with my other father, and I ended up being homeless off of Highway 76 in Oceanside, California. My parents thought that I was going to be living with a friend, but the truth of the fact is that I was actually sleeping in the back of my car in a Walmart parking lot. Not because my parents were broke and couldn't afford it, just because of one, my ego, my pride, and just a lack of information. And during that season of me living in the back of my car, I was a guy. I did it two times. I don't want to exaggerate it. Two times. I was a Guy holding a sign saying, can I have some money just to get something to eat. I know what it feels like to be racially profiled because they see an African American young man asking for money. I heard people say, he's going to get. He's going to use money to buy drugs. Don't give him no money. And that was the time I thought about committing suicide. All because of the poor decisions that I made. But the poor decisions that I made were just because of the lack of information that I did not receive. And I remember telling God, I said, God, if you get me out of the backseat of this car, I know I'm not going to be perfect, but I guarantee you, I will not be here. And I remember going home to my father. My other father in California said, hey, I'm sorry for the poor decisions that I made, but I want to get better. My dad looked at me and said, I'm sorry for not giving you the proper education. And he came back home and he gave me a budget form and said, hey, we were horrible with money, but we're going to help you get better with money.

[B]

You know, the thing that stands out to me is that you drew a line between emotional intelligence and financial intelligence.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

One affects the other. That not having money, not having resources does something to you emotionally, whether you're a man or a woman, but particularly as a man.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

To not be able to take care of yourself or your date. You've spent the money. You spent the money at Red Lobster. That's a good commercial for Red Lobster. But at the end of all of that, there's a shame that had you stand in the car.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

That has nothing to do with the poverty of money, but the poverty of soul.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

That comes from making those bad choices, even though you had nothing really to be ashamed of because you couldn't know what no one taught you. How much do you think our communities that we grow up in regions, territories, or families have to do with what we think about money? Mindsets versus assets?

[A]

Absolutely. I think everything starts with the mindset. When I look at how, when I was raised up in school, Bishop School teaches you how to read, write, process information, and add, but they do not teach you what to do with the finances. And so they're depositing all this stuff into our minds. And here's what gets me, is that they're giving me all this information to go get a job, to contribute to society. But what's the key point of a job? To get money? What's the key point in money to pay bills. So I think everything starts with mindset. If we have the mindset, then we can have financial stability, we can build wealth. But if we're not training our minds on what to do, how to think about money, how to understand money, how to invest money, how to process money, how to use capital and debt in a good way rather than a negative way, if we don't have that knowledge and that information, one thing I've learned, we can all make money, but if we don't have the right mindset, we can't multiply that money.

[B]

Right, Right. I think another part of our educational system that is flawed is that they are getting you ready to have a job.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

But you're never going to be wealthy off a job. Nobody hires you to make you rich. They hire you to make them rich. Facts. Okay? So let's be clear about that.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Yeah. And the other thing, they don't open up the possibility of you being an entrepreneur, of you being a business owner, of you being an investor. They don't open up all the possibilities of you owning an air conditioning repair store or anything like that and putting you in a place where you understand what a form, a business form looks like, what a spreadsheet looks like, what a balance sheet looks like. Those are not the kinds of things that we normally hear talked about in school. And the worst part about it is, if we go far enough in school, school itself becomes a debt.

[A]

Oh, Bishop, don't get me started. Don't get me started on that. You know, I wrote the book around how do we get our young people into debt without. I mean, to school without racking up so much debt. The average college student is going to graduate with about 100 to $120,000 in student loan debt. But then when they get a job, the average job is 55,000. So they have all this education, but they do not have one, the income nor the wisdom on how to use this degree the correct way. I'm currently, I'm a professor at a school in Richmond, Virginia, and I teach consumer economics. And one of my assignments for my students is that, hey, I want you to identify three things. What's your career, what state, and what is your margin? When I say state and career, they get it. But when I use the word margin, they're like, what? What do you mean by margin? I'm like, yeah, let's have this conversation. They're going to give. Someone's going to offer you a job, but if they offer you A job making, let's say $90,000 in New York. But the cost of living in New York is 90,000. You have no margin.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So what I want you to do is I want you to understand your biggest wealth building tool is going to be margin. Because if you could take that margin and then if you can invest it, if you can business, if you can put it into stocks and bonds now, you can grow wealth a little bit. But if you don't understand that decision that you make today, to go to the right state to get the right job, that's the foundation, but that's not the end. That's the beginning for you, but that's not the end.

[B]

All Steve, I'm so glad you said that. Because the problem with national information, it doesn't take into consideration regional budgets and overheads. And what works in New York doesn't necessarily work in New Orleans.

[A]

It doesn't.

[B]

What works in New Orleans may not work in Jamaica.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And so you have to consider the region that you're in, the cost of living for where you are and what the average medium income is in the area you are. So if you don't know the ami, you can't determine whether you can live in this neighborhood, you might can live in this city, but the AMI of this neighborhood may not allow you to be as luxurious as you would be in that neighborhood. There are a lot of decisions to be made before you open up your water.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

You know, where do I want to live? What kind of schools are in that area? What are the property taxes if I own a house, what is the upkeep on the house? What is the utility bills on the house? We don't take that into consideration. We just say, I like the house, I buy it. And then you got to pay the homeowners association of $700 you didn't plan on paying. And the house burns gas like it's on fire, like you're living in hell somewhere. And you got all of these other things to consider. We have to think with our minds about money from a holistic 360 degree angle in order to decide to make good decisions. I always say you cannot make great decisions with poor information.

[A]

You can't, can't. You cannot do that. And I always say, bishop me, you talked about this earlier. My dad taught me something when I was 5 years old. Made zero sense to me until I was maybe 30 years old. But he said, proper prior planning prevents poor performances. Yes, yes, proper prior planning. I'm like, dad, proper prior Planning. What do you mean it prevents poor performances? Well, when I got older, Bishop, I looked, I said, wait, I'm. I'm. I started making about, I'll say about six figures around that time. And I was living in California, and I said, wait a minute. If I properly priorly plan this six figures, and if I leave California and maybe go to North Carolina.

[B]

Right? Right.

[A]

I could do more with my six figures.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And it will prevent me from going broke.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So I packed up everything in Californ and I moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina. Now, my six figures there when rent in California was $2,500 from one bedroom, I'm paying 750 right now. I could do more with my money. I was talking with some friends and said, hey, man, Anthony, you're wealthy now. Why are you not going back to California? I said, because I'm still single and I still got a lot of money. I want to keep it. So the lifestyle that I desire, I. It's going to go in half in California.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So right now, at 41, my goal is let me build my wealth. Let me use of my assets and skills correctly where I'm at here on the East Coast. When I get married, I want to retire, then we can go to California. But everything to me, when it comes to money, when it comes to building wealth, and you can know. You know this as well, Bishop, everything is. There is a strategy to everything. You just can't just walk into it. You just can't hope about it. There is a strategy and there is a system to building wealth. And right now I'm working my strategy to prevent poor performances in my retirement years. That's my goal right now. That's really what I teach everyone, especially in school. I really want to teach my students. Hey, listen, you're 21. If you can make $70,000, why do you want to go to California, New York? Why not go to South Dakota? Oh, it's boring over there. Ain't nothing to do over there. Yeah, but you're not going to do nothing in California neither, because you're going to be broke. So why not go somewhere in 2025 when everything is virtual? You can be working from home. The strategy is maybe work there for two to three years, stack up your money, keep your expenses low, open up a business, open up a virtual assistant business, do something, build your income, then maybe upgrade a little bit to the lifestyle you want. And moment by moment, you'll get there.

[B]

Chapter 2 AI how much do you think technology and AI in particular has affected our ability to, to exceed what

[A]

our parents did financially tremendously. Tremendously, I believe, Bishop, if you are not learning AI today, you are going to miss out on a huge wealth opportunity within the next two to five years. If you're not utilizing, if you're not taking a boot camp on AI, if you're not learning it and implementing it inside of your current job, I think you're going to be even outside of a job in the next two to three years.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

I was reading this article. Fiverr CEO sent the whole email out to everyone and I read it to my staff. He said, pretty much, y', all, hey, 85% of you all will not be will you'll be out of a job if you do not use this to help you with your job, to produce more, to be faster and to be stronger. I told it to my entire staff. I said, hey, listen, y', all, if we don't utilize AI, Correct, if we don't use this tool that our parents and that my generation didn't have 10 years ago, we all are going to be out of a job. But at the same time, Bishop, if we use it correctly, do you know how wealthy this generation can be? Do you know how far it's going to push them from generating income? There's a 22 year old I was sitting down and just talking with. He started using AI, started his own AI business. The young kid, 22, is making $55,000 a month using AI. He's living off of $2,500 a month. He lives out in Charlotte, North Carolina. I'm like, what are you doing with the other money? Oh, man. Me and my dad are buying real estate. We're buying some land and we're buying like other small virtual businesses and we're just letting it just sit there and just building it. I said, wow. So for me, I think AI Bishop is really changing us. If we're not using AI, we're going to miss out. And I think sometimes a lot of us were scared of new things. But what I've learned, Bishop, people in your, in your, in your generation who are wealthy, they're the first, first people to get into it. Now I'm following right behind. Let me get into it. Let me take a little bit of a risk and learn it and invest into it. So that way my children's children can be welcome.

[B]

Don't follow me. I'm moving kind of slow, but I'm getting there. Yes, I'm getting there. I'm involved in it. I use it I use it, do a lot of research on it. I ask it a lot of questions. I'm learning how to maneuver and operate and getting ready to take a Google course to enhance my ability. Which you can take online. Free.

[A]

Free.

[B]

That helps you to keep up with the times. I said, I'm not going to be like my parents.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Who could afford an eight track but couldn't run it.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Okay. So I said, I don't want to end up where I can afford AI, but I can't use it. I don't know how to operate it.

[A]

Everybody has submission.

[B]

The prompts are important.

[A]

Super.

[B]

If you don't ask the right prompts of it, you won't get the best out of the AI and the technology. And then you have to verify the information that you get from AI because it's not always accurate.

[A]

Yes, sir. One thing I'm learning, Bishop, is the prompt is. What we've been learning is we've been teaching AI first. We tell AI what we want it to do, who it is, once we educate it. Hey, for example, hey, you are a writer for Anthony o'. Neil. You are a financial advisor for Anthony o'. Neal. Strategize and look at the next five to ten years of this and give me the best investment opportunities. You just can't say, hey, what should I be investing in?

[B]

Right.

[A]

You can't do that. You need to educate the tool, educate AI and say, hey, you are this. Give me this. What should I do with this? It's not just. And I think what I'm seeing a lot of people do is just get on there and say, hey, what should I do here? And you're not utilizing the tool correctly.

[B]

I didn't, I started. We didn't have AI, obviously.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

We had credit cards. Okay. My dream in life was to have a Sears, Roebuck revolving charge account.

[A]

Okay. Okay.

[B]

I thought if I could get a serious revolving charge account, I will be good. I can get my car fixed. Yes, sir. I can get some clothes for the kids. I can get everything I need. Everything was up here and washing machine. I never did get it. Okay.

[A]

Oh, man.

[B]

I never did get that credit card. But that was what I thought initially at that time, because you're just trying to make it.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

You're not strategizing to succeed, you're strategizing to survive.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And while there might be a period in your life that you really do need to survive so you can succeed, you can't stay in survival mode the rest of your life. And you're teaching your children survival as a status and it becomes a way of life. John Hope Bryant says this all the time. If you hang around nine people that are broke, you're going to be the 10th one. You will be just being in the atmosphere with people who are thinking about finances, particularly with the inflation that we have now, the currency chains, the crypto, the cyber currency that's out there now, there's a whole different conversation than what we had even five years ago.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

But it has also leveled the playing floor because everybody's new to it.

[A]

Everybody.

[B]

So you got an equal opportunity chance to be successful.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

What do you think about it?

[A]

Think, Bishop, if you're not using AI, if you're not using the AI tools to do research, because one thing that your generation didn't have, and I would say my generation, we had AOL and Yahoo, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so for us right now, information is at your fingertips. If you hear something, you should be able to open up an AI tool, not Google, an AI tool, and at least get some information. And then also, then take that information and go verify it for sure. But when it comes to learning something about crypto, or at least learning the basic information about crypto, about the stock market, about mutual funds, about 401k about investing, you should be able to get the information very, very quick. I tell this younger generation, if you can learn the latest song from a gospel artist or from a hip hop artist, but you can't tell me what a 401k is, the problem is not the world issue because you took the time to go and research and to learn that song. So let's figure out a way, how can we research and learn some of the basic information about. About math. But I gotta say this, AI, you do have to still be careful when it comes to the finances of things with AI, because all the information is not correct.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

And so you do need to step back and seek with the financial coach or financial advisor, a cpa, a tax strategist, someone who is proficient in that field, who has a degree. But what I tell everyone is before you even go talk to them, do research yourself, use AI to have that, ask them questions. And as they're talking, I do this with my financial advisor. I'm chatting. You said what again? If it's new to me, I'll try to type it real quick because I want to confirm it for myself.

[B]

I tell them even before you ask the question, get a glossary of the language.

[A]

That's it.

[B]

Because you can get in the room, you know, get in the room where it happens. Where it happens. I'm going to be in the room where it happens. You're not going to understand anything in the room if you don't understand the language. And people who are into economics have a language that will leave you sitting in the room drinking coffee, but you won't know what's going on if you don't learn the terminologies that are appropriate.

[A]

Man, the terminology, Bishop, is very important. I was on a cruise, and I studied the money space every single day. I have a master's degree in finance and church management, bachelor's in finance and banking, then completed my doctorate this year in finance and investing. And I was in this room, I was on a cruise, and there was these wealthy, wealthy, wealthy individuals talking. I was in there just listening. But they said something, and they said, this term, 529. I knew about the term 529, and I said, okay, but that's for kids. The 529 college plan is a college investment specifically for kids to go to college. He said, yeah, man, I haven't paid for any of my kids to go to school, really out of my pocket. But one thing I love about the 529 is not really just for my kids. It's for me, too. And I said, wait a minute. I know the term. I know the language. I even know what the 529 is for. But when he said, but it benefits me just as much as my kids, I was like, okay, wait, talk more. I understood the term. I wasn't nervous. I was ready to have the conversation when he said, well, hey, the 529, because I live in Maryland, I'm allowed to write off up to a certain amount of that money. So I'm sitting there, wait a minute, I'm on the cruise. The Internet is slow. But I'm asking, AI, wait, wait, is this true? Like, wait, is this really. So when I get back, Bishop, I go to my financial advisor and say, how come you ain't tell me this? Because another part of building wealth and really going from survival to thriving is not really just about how much money you make. It's about how much can you keep and what is your strategy? So if I can give my kids, let's say, $2,500 for the year to go towards a 529, but I can also now write that off, that puts more money back into my pocket. Now I'm sowing into my kids rather than to the irs, and it Helps me out, but it also helps out my kids.

[B]

Chapter three. Decreasing value of dollar. Let's talk a little bit about the decreasing value of the dollar.

[A]

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

[B]

Because you can have a million dollars, but if their valuation of the dollar is the same as an IRA or pesos, you don't have anything. It has dropped about, I think of 30% at this point.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

So a million dollars is worth 700,000. So $100 is worth $70,000. $70 on down the line. Do the math. So the 30% drop means do you have to increase your earnings to keep up with what you had before? So what was your goal before? The valuation decrease has now changed and it has to be up 30% to be $100 again. I gotta make 130 to have $100 again, okay?

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

When you look at that, when you look at brics taking over globally and you look at other currencies coming in and the flood of dollars coming back, when you look at the Fed rates changing, what do you think the future holds for young people who are trying to make it in this country? Are we going to have the wherewithal financially to be not even rich, just to have our heads above water?

[A]

I think we will, Bishop. Honestly, I am concerned, but not concerned, if that makes sense. I'm concerned to make sure that we give and teach the right information. I'm not concerned because I believe that this generation has the better earning potential than any of our other generations. We're seeing a rise of this social media influencer world where they're making millions just for doing something, seeing a rise of young people starting businesses. We're even seeing this younger generation moving out of the country, going to other countries, working internationally, but still earning the US Dollar. And so I'm not really concerned about young people surviving. Here's what I am concerned about is they're going to make this money or do they have the right, the information and the education to keep this money and to multiply it? Prime example. If the dollar is going down, like you said, by 30%, there's two things you got earn more, but then also with what we're earning, how we're investing it, to keep that money growing with the inflation. And so for me it's like, okay, if I'm going to earn less, then what? How do I place this money into vehicles and avenues that, that can keep up with inflation, that can keep up with the dollar going down? So instead of me keeping my money into a regular, say for an example, regular Savings account for an emergency fund getting, let's say, 0.4%. Well, I'm gonna put that into a high yield savings that's giving me 4 to 5% instead of me keeping it inside of a regular savings account or keeping a large amount of money. Because we are starting to see this now somewhat. Well, I'm gonna put that money into a good mutual fund, into a good estate, to where it's now earning about 10%, 12%. So we have to be strategic on, okay, yes, let's earn more, but whatever's outside of our expenses, how do we put that into a vehicle that can now keep up with inflation to where money is making more money?

[B]

That's something we got to think about. We still have one of the strongest GDP in the world. Okay? So at this point, we're not in real bad trouble, but we gotta be watching, right? Because the fastest growing GDP is coming out of Africa.

[A]

It sure is.

[B]

Okay, so the youth is there, the money is there, the resources are there. And instead of going to another country and putting your money back into dollars in America, we might ought to be thinking about. About putting some of our money into Africa and into China and different places like that, and investing internationally, because currency means it ought to be flowing. It's global. It's global. You gotta think global. You can't just think communal. You gotta think global. Do you agree with that?

[A]

Absolutely, Bishop. I'm actually buying property in Ghana at this present moment. Because what I learned was, and I take a group of people over there every single year just to learn from your perspective, like, hey, wait a minute, minute. If I could buy a home here in America for this amount, do you know how much I could buy a home in Ghana?

[B]

Right.

[A]

So we're purchasing land in Ghana. And man, I'm excited because just for an example, one of the homes that we purchased was for $150,000. I'm not finding that here in America. And so what we're going to do is take that property, rent it out, airbnb it out, however we're going to do it. But it's. The fact is, I'm looking out and at every aspect, not just here in America, but where else out of the country can I sow into one? Because Africa is dear to my heart, so I'm giving back to that area, but at the same time, it produces more wealth and it's a different machine for me there. So I think, Bishop, we have to be strategic in all aspects. But again, people won't know that unless they're listening to podcasts like yours, since they're in the room learning. Hey, y', all, there's different strategies, not just in America, but you can make money over here in. In Africa. Some people are even going to Puerto Rico, Bishop.

[B]

Oh, absolutely.

[A]

Because as they understand, like, wait, if I go to Puerto Rico, I live there half of the time. What's going to save me in my taxes?

[B]

Yes, absolutely.

[A]

So everything. Everything goes back to the word for me, strategy. What is the right strategy? To keep as much as my money to keep me growing and moving, flowing. But we got to be in a room down the street.

[B]

Well, in Texas, there is no state taxes, okay?

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

So you can put that into it. That makes a big difference. There's a lot of things to consider about where you live and where you want to go and where you want to invest in order to be able to be affluent and successful. And you. The ultimate goal is for your money to be making money.

[A]

That's it. Bishop. We got to get to a point, I believe, and I have this written around, found in every single room that I frequent in my home, that I want to stop exchanging my time for money and start exchanging my money for more of my time back.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

We are so good at working two, three jobs. We can go out there and work like a Hebrew slave. But I'm tired of working like a Hebrew slave. I want my money to work like a Hebrew slave. I want to be a better father. I want to be a present father, a present husband, a present grandfather if I'm blessed to be there. But I have to figure out, wait, how can my money start making more money to where I have more time to do the things that I desire to do, to spend the time that I want to spend with the people that I want. But we were trained. I was trained growing up, go to school, work 40 years to only get 40% of your paycheck, getting a gold watch. Get a gold watch and retire. Well, and I'm like, I don't want to retire. What I want to do is just continue doing what I would love to do. But I want to get to the point to where my money. I don't feel like I retired. I feel like I actually elevated.

[B]

The state of Texas represents 10% of the national GDP.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

It's old money. It's oil, it's gas.

[A]

Gas, yes.

[B]

It's all kinds of resources like that.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

But it's also companies that have spread their wings into other parts of the world. So you look at companies like Google, like McDonald's. They're popping up all over the world. KFC is everywhere.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Okay. You get you a greasy piece of chicken anywhere in the world, okay? Because the people who are really, really serious about business don't have any prejudice about capital. They might have prejudice about anything else, but they don't have any prejudice about capital. They will get capital from anywhere.

[A]

Anywhere.

[B]

So you will have Asian people selling black people weaves, okay? Because they understand that green is the ultimate purpose of getting up in the morning, going to work.

[A]

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

[B]

You don't hear people in church talking about that, and maybe they shouldn't. But there ought to be someplace where you can go and get some information that helps you to be stable, because there is a correlation between poverty and crime. Whenever poverty escalates, crime goes up, hate goes up, racism goes up. When people aren't doing well, they need somebody to blame. They need somebody to hate. And so the societal health is earmarked by how well we are doing financially. Beloved, I wish above all things that you prosper and be in good health as your soul does prosper. So there is some correlation between how you are spiritually, how you are financially. Discipline. If you don't have discipline about one thing, you're not going to have discipline about anything. It affects everything.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Where do you think. Can you name some places where people can readily get this kind of information? By the way, I'm not an expert. We're just having a conversation. Do your own research. Enter in at your own risk. Number one, it's changing every day.

[A]

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

[B]

The stock market is changing every day. I don't know whether it went up today or down today. Yesterday it went down.

[A]

It did.

[B]

Yeah, it went down today.

[A]

The market was even okay yesterday.

[B]

It got baptized.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

I didn't even look at it. I didn't want to see it. I didn't want to know anything about it. And if we come off of some of these political shows and start looking at some of these financial shows because we really begin to understand that the financial show is driving the political atmosphere.

[A]

Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. But I. I will say this, too, Bishop. I'm gonna answer your question. When the market does go down, I honestly get a little excited. I don't look at my portfolio. I just call my financial advisor as a money guy and say, hey, listen, what stock should we be buying right now?

[B]

Right.

[A]

What stock is on sale?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I think oftentimes what. What I'm seeing is because of the Lack of information is. People will tend to pull out, right? And I'm like, don't, don't do.

[B]

That's the worst time to do it.

[A]

The worst time. You need to be asking, how can you buy into it, it. And man, I, I five years ago,

[B]

one of my friends, as long as it doesn't crash.

[A]

Yes, sir. That's why I call a financial advisor. Like, hey, what stock do you see working that you know is going to bounce back, Right? But there, there's a lot of resources out there. You, you have invest.com, money.com. that I say from an educational perspective. I say never take, take financial advice from online. Take it from a licensed financial advisor, right? Because everything online is going to come from someone's perspective, right? But you need actual facts and data when it comes to investing your money and your time. But, But I love money.com from an educational perspective. I love invest.com from an educational perspective. I love my podcast from an educational perspective, right? But I tell, I tell everyone, like, hey, hey, go seek a financial advisor who is studying this eight hours a day because the stock market is changing all the time. And you know that, Bishop. And so I love those two particular resources and my website. But I think one of the generals who I love, who's a good friend of yours, is John Hope Bryan. His podcast, I listen to his information. Every single podcast he comes out.

[B]

He's brilliant.

[A]

He's super brilliant. He is a general to me in the financial space.

[B]

We talk almost every day.

[A]

I love John hopeart.

[B]

He's amazing.

[A]

I pray that in the financial space that I get to his level one day.

[B]

Chapter four, Live within your means. It's important because we need to be thinking about being able to send our children to school.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Being able to make better choices, being able to take care of ourselves if we get incapacitated. Used to be when we were growing up, you know, Grandpa sat on the front porch and we brought him some collard greens and some sweet potato pie and he sat out there and fell asleep. Until one day we came out there, he was dead. That's not working anymore because everybody's at work.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

So people have to put people in homes not because they don't care, but because they can't lift him anymore or they got to work every day or they don't have enough help to be able to do. And that is very, very, very expensive. My mother had Alzheimer's. That is very expensive. Expensive. I kept her in my house. But not everybody can do that. Facts and it's very, very taxing on you emotionally, mentally. And you have to have a strategy, and it cannot be built on your children because you cannot be sure that your children are going to take care of you like your grandma took care of her great grandma.

[A]

No, sir. No, sir. And I relate to that. My mother took in my grandmother. And when my mom took in my grandma, do you know how much that impacted that house? Oh, it took finances from the family to protect grandma because grandma was depending on her daughter.

[B]

Right.

[A]

But Grandma, I believe, God rest her soul, that she forgot that her daughter had a family.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And the children had to pay for that. And so one of the things that I believe is that we have to have the right and the proper investments in place, the proper insurances in place. When it comes from long term care, short term care, life insurance, whether that's term or life policies, we have to start having that conversation now. So that way, when life happens, you are in a position to where now the only thing that is going to impact the family, it's just a little bit of time to help you get situated, but it should not impact the family financially or even emotionally. And so that's one thing I do believe. We got to start having a conversation which. Do we have the right insurance policies in place? Do we have the right strategy in place to make sure that when I get over older that my children are impacted? Here's my goal, Bishop. It will happen. Now, if I had kids now, I'm at a point to where they would just have to move me in. But if I move in, so does my money.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

So does resources. So I'm not coming in and taking. I'm coming in and providing more resources. And I think. And it's not expensive if we start early and putting in the proper procedures

[B]

and if we provide them with information. Because the reason that most people hit the lottery and broke in three years is that they get the money, but they don't get the mind.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

So if you're gonna leave them money, you gotta leave more mind than you leave money, or they're gonna blow through your money like it's a hurricane. And it's a real problem. It's something really to be thinking about, because we are seeing one of the largest wealth transfers in the history of America. And the big problem amongst wealthy people is they have nobody to leave their money to.

[A]

Bishop, One of the things that I've done. Bishop is not married yet, don't have any kids, but God can do.

[B]

Don't do commercials. On my part,

[A]

that was funny.

[B]

That was a good one. Business.

[A]

But six years ago, God. God, he convicted me and said, I need you to start writing down every single money lesson that you've learned and put it inside your estate plan. So that way, when you pass and you leave all this wealth of information to your children, to my nieces and nephews, that you're not just leaving them a check, but you're also leaving them what you. The mistake that you made and what you learned from that mistake. And I think that it's important because now I'm not just giving them that. And inside of my estate, if I was a pass today, before they can get any of that money, it is written inside of my trust that they have to read this and provide it to my brother, who is my estate holder, who would execute the estate. And they got to provide answers before they can get any of the check. So they got to provide me. They got to show me that they learned before they can benefit from my estate.

[B]

Okay. I think we have two different philosophies. Not about that, but about what I'm about to say, and I might be wrong. I was told that you don't believe that we should finance automobile bills.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

We.

[A]

We. We disagree with that, Bishop.

[B]

Yeah. You. You.

[A]

You.

[B]

You. You think we should pay cash for it?

[A]

I. I believe. Yes, sir. I believe that when it comes to liabilities, I believe that until you have a certain amount of net worth, you should keep your expenses and your consumer debt down extremely low. Because it's like if you buy a car. And I would love to have this conversation with you because you are a general and I respect your words. I. I believe that. That this, my generation, will go finance an $80,000 car just because we like the car and we look at it. I would not have a problem if someone came to me and said I financed a $10,000 car because I didn't have the funds. My problem is we finance close to three times more than what we can afford because we got approved.

[B]

See, that's. That's a whole different mistake. Okay. That's a whole different mistake. I look at it differently because I think capital is king.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Once you give up the cash, you can never get it back again.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

If you finance it and you're reasonable about getting something that you can afford, when you get ready to trade it in, in a few years, you pass that debt on to somebody else and you still got the cash. If you pay all the cash out, you're now, carless and cashless.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

So you want to keep enough cash reserved that should something come up that you need to pay it off, you always can. But you can borrow and invest the money and make more money off of the interest off of the investment than you are paying the interest on the loan.

[A]

Now I like that, Bishop. If they were doing that on something that they can honestly afford.

[B]

Right. Well that goes back to the mindset. Now see, we gotta stop blinging, buying what we want and begging what we need.

[A]

There you go.

[B]

See, that's a big problem. I'm not talking that kind of stuff.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Because the person who has the sense enough to take their money and invest it, I'm assuming that they're smart enough that they're not blinging, trying to impress somebody because they wouldn't have the delayed gratification to be an investor. I'm assuming that. I'm assuming that the stock market is going to continue to make 10 to 12% in interest. And I'm assuming that the interest on the loan is going to be less than the, the capital gains off the money and I'm going to pay less off of it. And I'm assuming that I'm going to pass some of that debt on when I trade it in and somebody else is going to pay it off.

[A]

Now you're assuming at your season of life, what I'm seeing when I'm coaching this generation, I would say at the time of us recording this in between 25 and about 45 to max 50, they are not assuming anything, anything. They're just buying what their eyes says they like.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And not really what their budget says. For an example, I had a young family come to me and they purchased a home in their house, poor because they got approved for a half a million dollar home. But they, their bills, their check, their income said they could only afford $310,000. So I think oftentimes what I'm. What I'm trying to show people is, is get what you can afford, not get what you can get approved for.

[B]

I think that's important. The other thing that I think is important, if you're going to spend $300,000 on a house and it's worth $500,000, I think you're in a pretty good spot.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

But if you're going to spend $80,000 on a car, by the time you drive it off the lot, it's only worth 4:40.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

Okay. So you might as well take 40,000 and just blow it right out the window to begin with. Depreciating assets, where we put our capital in clothes and cars and stuff like that, is not the way to go. We need to be putting our money into appreciating assets. Because you can really set up your own investment by buying appreciating assets and control how much they grow by what you sow it into, and it still becomes a part of your portfolio.

[A]

No, that's exactly what I did. So I bought some appreciating assets. I don't believe in buying new cars. I believe that that is a complete waste of money. Right. And so my thing is, it has to be at least two to three years old for me. And so what I did is I made an investment and all of the earnest investment. I went and bought my dream car. I mean, my dream car is a big boy. It was about $300,000, but I didn't spend it. My assets bought it for me. So I allowed my assets to buy a liability, and I bought it at a good rate. But you're absolutely right. Still, when I drove that off the car, it still depreciated. Right. But it wasn't from my heart or me exchanging time for it, and I didn't borrow for it. But at the same time, though, I think that if people are getting strategic and if we're really sitting down saying, okay, wait, this is what I can afford, I would. The debt is not really the problem for me. Here's the problem for me, Bishop, is the interest that we pay on the debt. That's where I'm like. I just feel weird because when we really study it, people are paying the bare minimum. They're not going into it with the strategy on. Okay, wait, am I going to get out of this quickly, or am I just going to sit here and just pay the minimum? If you look at it, 88% of the people who carry a credit card balance pays the bare minimum every single month.

[B]

Yeah, right. Right.

[A]

So, no, but at the same time, though, Bishop, I mean, have I said this publicly before? I'm gonna say it on your show. I have. I have a business credit card, but I pay it off every single week because I do not want to pay interest on that money. It's actually really my strategy.

[B]

I get it, I get it, I get it.

[A]

So I think we're like 80% there,

[B]

but I'm not saying we can fight about it later. Chapter five, Inflation and interest rates. What do you think about the increase in inflation and the lowering of the interest rates? And do you think it's going to help to right size the economy of the country.

[A]

Bishop. Right now I want to see it a little bit more because when we see the lowering of the interest rates from the Feds, and what we're also seeing seeing is that we're seeing a lot of people without jobs. Right, right. And so for me, it's, it is a little concerning because it's like if we don't get those jobs back, right, then we're going to have even, even bigger issue. And so when people are getting excited, okay, interest rates are coming down. Yeah, it's coming down because we're seeing that. We just, we're seeing a, a massive amount of jobs being laid off. I think a lot of that is coming into place because of AI, because of some other things that's surrounding that. And so for me, I'm studying it a little bit more because I want to figure out how are we going to balance this. I want the interest rates to come down, but I do not want to see jobs coming down as well.

[B]

I don't want to see jobs coming down and I don't want to see, I love to see the interest rates come down.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

But not at the expense of the property going up.

[A]

There it is, Bishop.

[B]

Because generally when the interest rates go down, the property values go up.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And so it washes out at the end of the day. And so you have to be very careful about that.

[A]

And I believe home ownership and real estate, estate is important in today's day and time.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

I think that that is one of the key ingredients to really building wealth. Because, you know, we all know this. McDonald's doesn't make their money because of burgers. It's because of real estate.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

So it was like, I think for us, if the prices go up like you said, but the interest rates come down, now we're spending more money for the house. It washes out because we're just paying lower interest on a higher house. And then watch this, though. If the prices come down, that houses go up. But I don't have a job now. I'm struggling to maintain that house.

[B]

He was really struggling.

[A]

And so, and it's not even just jobs coming down, Bishop. Entrepreneurs are, are coming down because the market is just shifting and, and, and we're not producing as enough entrepreneurs. So I, I, I'm really studying it because I want to figure out what, where are we gonna go, how are we gonna even out and how do I educate from here moving forward?

[B]

You know, we have good soil Forum for entrepreneurs, where we train them and entrepreneurs is such a big, big phrase.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

It covers everything from the barber shop to the beauty shop to the tech person. It can go anywhere. To the plumbing business, it can go anywhere. And depending on what type of entrepreneur and what type of capital you have and what you invest in and how much much your payroll is. Because a lot of times your business philosophy that you work at home is the same philosophy that you work in your business.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Because all of it is coming out of the same brain.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

So if you don't get your home straight and your finances straight at home, what you learn at home, you can transfer that over to your business or don't learn, you transfer it over to your business. It's almost like Covid.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

You can catch it even easy.

[A]

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yes, sir. Poverty, get your home right, Whatever. Like you said, it, transfer over to the business. So if you're not budgeting at home, you're not going to know how to budget in your business. If, if you're not investing personally, you're not going to know how to strategically invest in your business to expand it and to take it to the next level. So I'm, I'm very big on practicing both, which I'm also seeing. A lot of people care more about their business life than they care about their personal life. And I'm like, no, both of them are just is equal.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. One of them affects the other one.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

When you start talking about jobs, what's going to be left in five years? Okay. When they say 80 million jobs are going to be taken away by AI, I think 70 million and 80 million new jobs are going to be added on. But you have to be qualified to get that 80 million new jobs. A lot of our people, because one of the reasons we got Covid, in my opinion, first, ahead of other people, is because we have a lot of public facing positions.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Public facing positions are going first.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Okay. They're going fast and they're going first.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

So those people who lose their jobs, how do they transfer that situation into some sort of capital that sustains them?

[A]

I'm telling everyone right now, if you're not, AI is not going to take your job. AI is going to take your job if you don't know how to use it.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So it's 8. We're going to lose 80 million, but we're going to gain 80 million. And 80 million is going to be the people who've learned AI, right. And so I think for me, how do you use it right now, jumping into boot camps. And I say this as a professor, I even think now probably about 60% of the people who are thinking about going to a traditional four year university probably doesn't need to go to it. Go to a boot camp, go to a trade school, go to an AI school, learn a specific skill, get a certificate. Now of course there are still, I think a huge importance for a traditional school. Doctor, lawyer, attorney, I mean even sometimes from a seminary perspective to get the education. But if you're saying I want to go to a four year university just to get the best job, I need you to step back and be strategic with, with that. Because there are boot camps out right now, Bishop, that I know of one right now that's $500. You're there for maybe 16 weeks. They're teaching you AI automation companies right now, like a Google, like a Apple, they're paying people to come in and to, to make their systems better and make it automatic. And they're paying these individuals $100,000 from a 16 week boot camp that cost 500. So I spent $500. I got a six figure job. That's a great ROI on my time, money and investment. And so I think in the next two to five years, if we're not utilizing and learning everything that's coming in the near future, yes, we will be out of a job. Which is why I'm telling everyone, go learn even while you're on your 9 to 5 job. Now, go get a certificate, go to a boot camp, get the learn to trade, and I promise you your job will be okay.

[B]

There was an article came out about a year ago where Tyler Perry decided that he wasn't going to any more studios because technology had changed the game so that making movies no longer required the amount of staff that you needed to have in order to maintain business. As technology increases, not only does it affect entertainment, it also affects medicine.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

You know, I just had a massive heart attack a year ago and they did the whole surgery through my wrist.

[A]

That's just crazy.

[B]

The entire surgery through my wrist while I was awake.

[A]

You were awake?

[B]

I was awake the whole time. So there I am listening at them, talking about what they're doing and how they're piercing the ventricle between my right side of my heart and my left side of the heart. And I'm wide awake and they're running it up and my surgeon is operating a computer. Oh my gosh. And I'm glad about it. I'm glad about it. I'm not glad about it.

[A]

Yeah, I'm glad you didn't have to open it. But I'm like, man, I'm glad about

[B]

it because I'm still sitting here today.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

I left the hospital in three days with the band aid over my wrist. You can't even see where it was. No, sir, it's gone. It's completely gone. So technology can be a blessing. On the other hand, technology can blow up our grids, shut down our airports, cause our planes to fall.

[A]

And we've seen that.

[B]

And I'm concerned, are our laws going to catch up with the technology and are there going to be any restrictions, or are we so busy being in a race with other countries to be first that we outgrow our guardrails and go over the cliffs?

[A]

That is something that I have been thinking about, Bishop, and I have not done a lot of research in that because I see us trying to be first, but I'm seeing. I was in the airport, I think it was about three months ago ago, and something happened to where this particular airline, everything shut down. And we was in the airport for 16 hours. Yeah, 16 hours, yeah. Because of computer software that just went out. And I'm like, okay, wait, this is about to be our future and are we going to have anything to protect us from this happening again? Because if I'm not mistaken, the article came out that someone kind of hacked, hacked, hacked the machine. And I'm like, wait, wait, wait. So are we building up guardrails for this amazing software that we have, this amazing tool that we have? But are we building up something that's going to protect us from this future? And I would love to see us do that. But I also still want us to be first.

[B]

Bishop, you want us to be first?

[A]

Oh, yeah, I do want us to be first.

[B]

I think. I think I want us to be first in a particular area.

[A]

What area?

[B]

I don't know. Because there are so many different areas that you can take AI that you can't be first in all of them. Okay. So you have to decide if it's going to be medical, if it's going to be engineering, if it's going to be automobiles, if it's going to be self propelled cars. You can't be first at everything.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Like you can't be good at everything. We need to be specialized in a particular area. Build some guardrails around what you can and cannot do in our country in that area. This is my opinion Nobody cares about it, so I might as well put it out there. But you're not gonna be first in everything, because if I'm racing you and all I'm doing is watching your feet, you're gonna outrun me for sure. I've got to be sure that I am in my lane, doing what I'm good at doing for a particular purpose. To accelerate the economy and the well being and the job creation for our people. People irrespective of race, creed or color.

[A]

If, if I was to comment on that, Bishop, I would say then if we're going to be first in anything, I will go back to. I want us to be first in health. Because if we're healthier, then I believe we can build more wealth and it gives us more time to build more income to leave behind for our kids. I don't care about automobiles. I don't care about even tech. Well, we need technology to save us with the technology that you just had. But I would love for us to see that when it comes to AI that's going on.

[B]

That's still helpful. Yeah, that's still helpful. Chapter 6 Top 5 Money Mistakes when you think about it, what are the top five money mistakes that you think we should avoid in order to be salient be. Because not everybody is following our conversation. You know, we left them a long time ago. You know, not everybody is there. If, if I'm a ground level average person making $70,000 a year, $60,000 a year, what are the top five money mistakes that I should be working on right now?

[A]

I think the very first money mistake I think a lot of people have and well do not do is they, number one, they don't have a money vision. You know, as far as in, okay, where do I want to go, where do I want to aim and how am I going to get there? I have a lot of couples come to me with money arguments. And what I find, Bishop, is that you're arguing over money because you all never sat down and had an agreed upon vision and a goal. So I think that's one of the first mistakes. Whether you're married or single, you got to have a clear vision. Number two, followed by the vision is you got to have a budget. You need to know exactly every single thing that's going on with your money. I was sitting down in a room with a very, very, very wealthy guy and he asked me, anthony, what was the last thing you spent your money on? And I had to guess at it, Bishop. Well, this guy makes crazy money. He Said, yeah, I spent a dollar and 52 cents here, spent $3 there. He knew exactly where he spent his money. Here I am, I'm worth what I make in a year, he makes in a week. And I couldn't tell him where my money was going. He could tell me where his money was going. And I felt so convicted by that. And that's when I started budgeting in my late 20s, early 30s. So that's number two. Number three, start investing as early as you can. The studies are showing that averagely, on average. This is one of the reasons why, Bishop, I'm a huge fan of not having consumer debt, because studies shows that when you own in consumer debt, that the average person is only investing in between 2 to 4% of their income. And so my philosophy is like, hey, one of the biggest mistakes you're making is not investing as early as you possibly can, because now you're missing out. Let's say, for example, if you have a job and they offer you a Roth 401k with a match, now you're missing out on free money, right? And so I don't want you to miss out on free money. And so I think that's. When you said five, how many was that?

[B]

Four.

[A]

That was four.

[B]

Three. Four. Three.

[A]

That was three. Okay, then number four is not teaching your kids about money early on. And when I say early on, I'm talking about when they're four or five years old. One of my good friends, she's a school teacher, and she's an elementary school bishop. And first, second and third grade, she takes them on a college tour in the third grade. Right World, the parents like, why are you doing that? They don't know what it is. She said, no, I'm exposing them because more is caught than what is actually taught. So now they'll understand, wait a minute. I want to go to that big school. How do I go to that big school? Because the image is there. So now as they're going older and get into the next grade now, their. Their mental is, I have to get good grades because I want to go to that big school. So my philosophy is, one of the biggest mistake is we don't have a conversation with our young generation early. It may go over their head, but it starts a question, it starts a conversation. Then the fifth one is really just sitting down and just asking yourself, bishop, what am I doing? Where am I going? And when I say that question, it is literally, what is the strategy? One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is we do not sit down with someone and say, this is how much I'm making. This is where I want to go. What do I need to put into place to get there? We guess we'll get on TikTok, we'll get on YouTube, but we won't sit down and get the actual wisdom from a professional to give us a plan to follow. And what I've learned is that if you can just honestly get a solid plan that is tailored for you and for your home, it is easier to build something successful rather than just going on TikTok.

[B]

Let me say this. For example. In my own life, I can scarcely remember when I wasn't working. I've been working almost all my life. Whether it was cutting grass or passing papers or helping my father sell fish, I've been working all my life. So when I was about eight years old, my mother, who we walked to the top of the street and caught the bus, went downtown to Kanawha Valley back bank. And I can't remember for sure whether it was my birthday or Christmas. She got me a passbook savings account for my birthday. Wow. Okay.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Now, it wasn't a very sexy toy and I couldn't take it to school and brag about it and it didn't make any sense, but it did start a mindset in my head that if you're going to work and make money, you ought to be putting something have to. So by the time I was 16, I had built up a substantial amount of money back at that time because she made saving important and she rewarded me based on how much I saved. I think that kind of thing, as small as it is, it's important.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

It's important that we do that. And I would also say that even though you don't know the stock market and you don't know what all those letters mean at the bottom, and you watch some of these financial shows and you can't keep up with what they're doing. Watch them anyway.

[A]

Watch them?

[B]

Yeah, watch them anyway. You'll pick up a phrase or two.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And then later on you'll learn what capital gains means. Then you were talking about estate planning.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

You start thinking about estate planning, you start thinking about a trust, you start to decide whether it's revocable or irrevocable trust. And your knowledge begins to. To expand by exposure.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

If you are not exposed to it, you're not going to grow into it. And instead of being exposed to it, we start scrolling on our social media, listening at people who don't really know what they're talking about. One person is telling you, don't drink any more carrot juice.

[A]

Don't drink no water.

[B]

There's lead in the water. If you drink the water, you're going to die. I said water. I can't drink water. I can't eat nothing. I can't drink big water. And the parasites are coming out of your bacon. You know, sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Finding trusted sources. Have to proven sources.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

When you get on the Internet and you start teaching something, you have to ask yourself, what does this person have to show for their wisdom?

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

You know proven wisdom. David. What I love about David, when he fought Goliath, he would not fight with the weapon that he had used.

[A]

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

[B]

He used proven weapons to bring down giants.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

If the if you're a giant, you're Goliath is dead.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Okay. Yes, sir. You can kill him with a rag and a rock, but you've got to have a proven weapon if you're going to be successful of doing it.

[A]

And Bishop, I'll say this too. You said something earlier. You told them to watch it. While they're watching it, I want to encourage you to pause and take a screenshot because you're right. All those words and numbers and graphs and everything is going to see seems so confusing. Take a screenshot. Here we go. Let's go back to AI. Upload it to AI.

[B]

Excellent.

[A]

And say, hey, look at this and give me the meaning of every small three digit word, every this. What does this graph mean? And AI will give you the basic understanding. So now you start growing your knowledge every single day. When you see that information, you know

[B]

something else that I think is important. If you're focusing a lot of your attention on training on people, please tell them this old age does not mug you. It does not sneak up on you and mug you.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

It warns you while it's coming.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Okay, so you know, inevitably you are not going to be young long.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

So the Bible said, Benjamin shall raven as a wolf, in the morning he should devour the prey, in the evening he should devour. Divide the spoils.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

So while you're young, devour the prey.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

So that in the evening you can divide the spoils.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

So you're not walking around on a walker in a grocery store talking about, may I help you? Come on, Bishop, you understand what I'm saying? So you. You've Got to plan on a day that you don't feel as well as you do right now. You've got to plan on a day that you can't get on your knees and get up like you used to. Plan on that day. And if you don't work, use your. Use youth for something that protects your old age.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

It's so frustrating, the amount of people that we bury even in this church that have no life insurance that we have to end up either paying for or raising an offering in the funeral

[A]

or have a GoFundMe.

[B]

But they had all kinds of clothes and hats and gator shoes and whatever else they wanted. We've got to get a strategy when we are young.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And it doesn't have to be a whole lot of money for it to grow exponentially because it's going to compound interest from year to year. And then look at yourself every year. And this is what I do. It's very, very important to me. I look at myself year to year to see how much I have grown from year to year. Am I going forward or am I going back? Backwards?

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Because you can fall backwards and not notice it.

[A]

Sure can. You sure can.

[B]

You can fall backwards and end up with. With expendable goods and perishable items if you don't look at spreadsheets and see where you are in, In. In the course of things.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Because sooner or later, I. I declare. Yesterday I was 38. Yesterday. Yesterday morning I was 38. You were 38. And by today's evening, I am 68. I don't know that 30 years flew by so quick. It sure did. It seemed like a lie.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

So. So planning on getting old? It's big. Bigger than planning on a big house because you're going to downsize the house anyway.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

It's better than planning on a big car because you're going to outgrow that. You're going to outgrow your need to bless.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Because the more you mature, the less important it is to you what people think about you.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

But it's never going to go out of style to be able to take care of yourself.

[A]

You know what, Bishop? You are absolutely right. At 32, 33 years old, I was just chasing money and I wanted to chase success. And then when I sat down with my doctor right around 40, she said, said, and then if you keep this up, it's going to hurt you long term. And now at 41, Bishop, the things that I was chasing back then I don't. I no longer desire it today.

[B]

Right.

[A]

I. I desire to be healthy. I desire to be mentally healthy. The things that I was chasing then, I'm like, man, I wish I had this information when I was younger. And you're right. I knew it was coming just yesterday. I was 30 just yesterday. I just graduated high school in 2002.

[B]

You just waited.

[A]

And so it's like now just seeing my mind saying, I don't care about that anymore. Seeing my mind saying, man, I would rather drink a cup of water than some sweet tea, but I still want some sweet tea every now and then.

[B]

But that was a disclaimer.

[A]

But it's like, I desire. My desire is different in this season of my life, and I'm loving this season. And it's just so funny, because you know what it is. Bishop, I'm pretty sure you said this. I'm pretty sure your children say it now, like, just wait till you get older. I would never do it now. I sound like my mom and my dad. Just wait till you get older, son.

[B]

You know?

[A]

And it's like, wow. So I want to say to your generation, Bishop, thank you. Thank you for teaching us what you could. Thank you for being the examples that we need and that we're going to take what you all did and we're going to just stack on and make it better, and hopefully my generation will make it better, and then the generation behind me can make that even better because we're just standing on some strong.

[B]

See, one of the things you have to understand about our generation is that we were the children of the civilization civil rights movement.

[A]

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

[B]

You have for black people. Now, this is not true for my white listeners. For black people. Yeah. We were the children of the civil rights movement. So it was a big deal that we could buy houses and buy them in other neighborhoods.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

So you had movies like plays, like Raising in the Sun.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It was a reflection of the attitude. Now, we might not have been the parents that are our parents were, because we were just getting jobs in places we couldn't get jobs before. Affirmative action was going. We were able to build houses and buy houses and do that sort of thing and have a car. This next generation grew up with their own bedroom. My brother, my sister and I stayed in the same room for a long time. My kids would just go bananas if they stayed in the same room. They're grown now, but when they were kids, they would have gone bananas. Be sure that you don't give them everything too soon. Except you give them everything except what made you great. And that's a struggle. If there is no struggle, there is no strength. And. And sometimes we're so happy to give them what we didn't have that they are not prepared. And I think that we're coming into a time now that those that don't go up technologically and intellectually and go take those courses and expand their wealth, they're going to fall down. And you know what? They don't know how to plow. They don't know how to plant, they don't know how to grow. They don't know how to can. They don't know how to survive in a tough situation because we took all of that away.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

My mother taught me all this stuff. Yeah, so. So the, the crisis is not just that we're losing our middle class, which is a huge crisis. Huge crisis. Okay?

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

But the crisis that makes it even worse than that is that we're raising a generation that doesn't know how to be broke. No, no, they don't know how to be broke. So. So there is. There is no such thing as a garden in ubiquitous.

[A]

There is.

[B]

Chapter seven advice for next generation.

[A]

Can I ask you a question?

[B]

Sure.

[A]

In this generation, with social media being so loud, in this generation, we're having this conversation of I don't want to work. One thing I'm seeing in this generation is they want to work from home, but they don't want a boss. They want to make all this money, but they barely want to work. What would you say to this generation that is seeing this? Work from home, Be an entrepreneur, be your own boss. You know, be a boss, woman, be a boss. Man. Don't work for no man. What would you say to that generation who's watching this? Because for entrepreneurs like me, I'm competing with that.

[B]

I would say I'm sorry that we raised you in such a way that your pipe dreams will only fit less than 10% of the masses of you. I'm sorry that we made you think that you could be a hip hop artist and you're 38 years old and you're still in your back room making music. I'm sorry.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

I'm sorry that you thought you were going to be the next Michael Jordan and you're on the court when you should have been doing something that made you some money. The stats are against you. Only the few become the Tiger woods of the world. Only the few enter into technology and become extremely successful. And so we have to have we're going to have some that do that. And your generation and the younger generation after you are smarter than we ever thought about being. Okay?

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

But smart doesn't ensure that you're going to have a job if you're not willing to work, work. And you can't work for yourself and learn by yourself.

[A]

Thank you, sir.

[B]

Even if you get the money off of social media, you need somebody to mentor you, how to go into the room where the people with the money are, how to talk to the bank president, what to invest in, how to set up your finances so that you have structure. If you resent anybody telling you what to do, you resent your teachers, you resent your police officers, you resent your, your captains, you release your. You resent your doctor.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

You resent. You resent authority.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So then you're going to treat yourself. You know, you're going to, you're going to treat your own diseases. You're not going to get financial advice that you need. You cannot get through the this world without listening at somebody teach you something. And, and, and, and, and I think it's our fault. I think it's our fault because we left them home with computers to raise them and they came up with their own devices and they became really, really smart at technology. And that's really cool.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But having the grit to go along with the gadget is a whole nother thing.

[A]

That's it.

[B]

The gadget is amazing. But you still got to go knock on the door Netflix to get the deal.

[A]

Got to.

[B]

And if you do the deal with Netflix, they're going to tell you what to do.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Even though you made the movie without them, they're going to tell you what to do. Because if they're going to invest in it, he who makes the goal makes the rules.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

If you go to the doctor, there's no need in going. If you're not going to listen at what the doctor says, do so. This is bigger than money. This is about health. This is about authority. This is about serving your country in the army and the armed forces. This is about everything. There is a hierarchy to everything. And I apologize because we were so busy benefiting from what our parents marched for that you have authority issues. We didn't have authority issues because our parents made sure, sure they took all of that. Oh, they sure did. Yeah.

[A]

My parents still did that.

[B]

They took that out.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So that's out of the way. Today we're counseling the child.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Rather than correcting the child. And so when authority comes along, sometimes the policeman is wrong, sometimes the policeman pulled the trigger because John slapped him in the. In the head, you know, And I think that we have to do we have to take on some responsibility of training our children not to resent authority. All authority is not evil. All authority is not wicked. Some authority will save your life.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

I'll tell you this story. Quick story.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I was coming down off the street steps. Little raggedy house my mother and father built. And at that time, we turned the attic into an extra bedroom. So now my brother and I had one room. My sister had another room. We were moving on up to the east side. Finally got a piece of the pie. I'm outside playing, which is something they don't do anymore either, which is not good for us health wise facts. And I was about to step off the step and my mother said stop. Stop without a question. I froze like a mannequin. There was a rattlesnake under my foot.

[A]

Oh, man.

[B]

If I would have negotiated with her. What do you mean, stop? This don't make no sense. I might not be here today. All rules are not bad.

[A]

Come on, Bishop.

[B]

All correction is not bad. There are certain things that God says for us not to. To do for a reason.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

You know there's a reason. He tells us not to love money.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

He's not against us making money, but he's flat set against us loving money.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Because it. That becomes the root of all evil. And listening at rules are for your benefit.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Could no correction for the present time. Same as joy. But it brings forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Correction. If. If my mother taught me how to drive a car. Correction.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

I need direction. I need correction. And then I can have independence.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And I can everyone teach one.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

So I think the problem there started with we missed our window. That when they were children, we were working like dogs to get into the house. And we left them home either in front of the TV or on the computer.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And they don't even know how to play outside. They don't know how to take a stick and a rock and go down in the creek bed and have fun all day.

[A]

No, sir.

[B]

In the hot sun, if the air conditioner goes out, it is a major crisis.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

I spent half my life in a house that didn't have air conditioning.

[A]

Oh, my God. Yeah. I'm grateful I didn't grow up in that time.

[B]

Oh, it didn't have air conditioning. We didn't even think anything about it. The air conditioning was for rich people. Doorbells were for rich people.

[A]

Rich people.

[B]

But my father's house, they had newspaper stuck over in the cracks in the walls of the house.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[B]

Okay. And his father's mother was a slave. So every generation, we get weaker and wiser.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, weaker and wiser.

[B]

Yeah. We become wiser in one way.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And weaker in another way.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

God bless the child that gets both wisdom. Okay. And strength.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And that's the goal. And if you don't have strength, you can build it up.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

You can build it up. You can build it up. And that's the message that needs to go out. But I love the young people. I'm crazy about. There are children. If they're making mistakes, we have to take some responsibility for that, because we did not create an atmosphere that's conducive for them to value some of the things that they need to value. Like correction.

[A]

Right?

[B]

Like direction.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Like instruction. Doesn't mean I hate you. Doesn't mean that I don't respect that you know how to do things that I don't know how to do, but it does mean that there is a higher. Even if you do start your own business.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

You. You. You. You're gonna. You don't want to be boss, but you're gonna be somebody's boss.

[A]

How can I be a boss? So, Bishop, if I've never learned how

[B]

to serve, that's the problem.

[A]

And I think that's one of the reasons why I have such a successful business is because for. I served for 16 years before I launched out, so now I know the kind of people I need to find because I was that person.

[B]

Yes. Yes, yes.

[A]

And it's just hard in this generation because everybody wants to be Bishop Jakes and this person and that person. I'm like, yo. But Bishop served. But Michael Jordan had to serve up underneath the coach. Everyone successful, I believe, really had to. But in today's day and time, if you got a phone, you can just get in front of it and go viral and be popular, but it doesn't mean it's. You're a servant and doesn't mean you can really build something major.

[B]

And it. And. And very few. The. If you check the percentages, they're very low of people who succeed that way.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And even if they do succeed that way, they. They don't stay that way because there's no talent behind it, driving it.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

It's it's just. Just potluck, you know, it's just potluck.

[A]

It is.

[B]

Y' all know whether you. What potluck is, but you didn't know what you got.

[A]

Right.

[B]

You went to a potluck dinner, you didn't know what you were.

[A]

You don't know what was going to

[B]

be on the table. So the question was always, who made the potato salad? Okay. Because you could get anything at a potluck dinner. And so I think there are certain systems.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And it's not just the young people.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The whole world is losing all of its systems. And when you lose systems. You know, I was involved in Katrina. I'll say this, and I'll bring this, because you and I could talk on that.

[A]

Oh, man.

[B]

But I was involved in the rescue efforts in Katrina and pulling the bodies out and praying over the people and all that kind of stuff. It wasn't the wind or the rain that did the most damage. It was the breaking of the levee. The levee represents systems.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The giving away of our systems.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Is going to leave us on the roof. The systems are there for your safety.

[A]

Come on, Bishop.

[B]

The reason there's a handrail on them steps is just in case you need to get it. You need to grab it. It'll keep you from falling.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Those systems are there for a reason. And unless you replace them with something that's more efficient.

[A]

Right, right, right.

[B]

Let's keep something there.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

I'm not saying that what we built has got to last.

[A]

Right.

[B]

You might come up and build something better. Right. You know, it might be an electronic handrail that comes. That's made out of light beams. I don't know.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

That's fine. But something has to be in place to keep you straight.

[A]

Ah, Bishop. You got to close this, Bishop. Because, I mean, you just started something. Because I'm like, I think this generation is looking for new systems. But. But the new systems that they're going to are not really proven systems yet.

[B]

Right, right.

[A]

And so they'll skip over the proven systems to go to the more attractive new system when. When. Yes, let's. Let's. Let's play with it a little bit. But don't skip over the system that we know that has been working.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I'm gonna be quiet, though, because it's. Crypto is being talked about, Job. I'm in it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But I'm not going to invest into crypto before I invest into my 401k match.

[B]

Right, right. Right.

[A]

That's a new system. But this is a proven system.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So let's use both of them.

[B]

So I might put $80 over there.

[A]

Exactly. But it mean I'm gonna take 500, put it over here, because my boss will give me 250.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

But then I'mma put 80 over there. I'mma play with it. I'm gonna watch it. I'm gonna see what's going on with it. Okay. Hey, Day trading is becoming. Oh, okay. I'm gonna play a little bit, but I'm not gonna take my entire portfolio and put it over here into this new system because it hasn't been proven yet. But let's just keep it. Let's. Let's play with it. Let's watch it. And then as time goes and we see the system is proven and we're seeing what's going on, then let's. Then we can make some adjustments. But I think Bishop's systems and strategies, it's just so, so, so important. It just goes back to what I said in the very beginning, that we just gotta properly priorly plan.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So that we can prevent poor performances when it comes to our finances, when it comes to leaving an inheritance to our children's children. My prayer is that people will hear what you said. We gotta have systems. If we do not have systems, our children will not be able to live the life that we truly desire. And one thing my father's always told me, I want you to have a better life than me. And I'm like. And when I look at it, Bishop, everything goes down to what system are you passing down?

[B]

Give us those six P's again. And I want you to jot this down. If you're where you can write something down in your phone or somewhere, I want you to jot this down and make it your mantra for marriage, for life, for business, for home ownership, for development. I want you to get this down. Give it to us.

[A]

Yes, sir. It's called proper prior planning prevents poor performances.

[B]

Proper prior planning prevents poor performance.

[A]

Yes. And you can take that in any aspect of your life.

[B]

Anything.

[A]

And I literally do it in every aspect of my life. If I want to prevent major health issues, then what am I doing in my 30s? My doctor said. Said, hey, your health issues in your 60s started in your 30s.

[B]

Oh, absolutely.

[A]

So you need to properly priorly plan now to prevent that. If you're broke in your 60s and 70s, and. And I'll say this and shut up, Bishop, but I went to McDonald's at about 12:30. And I just got me some. A small fry and a hi C orange. Paid for it at the first window. Kid was maybe about 21, 22 years old. Went to the second window, and I almost cried. I'm gonna call her a young lady, but she was of age. She was handing me my food, and her hands were shaking. And I asked her, bishop, I said, ma', am, I'm so sorry I gotta ask. I'm not trying to be rude, but how old are you? 88 years old, working at McDonald's. And when she handed me my food after, she told me her age, and she said, baby, I'm here because when I was younger age, I didn't have the right information, right? And I was like.

[B]

Scares me to death.

[A]

That can't be my mom, my wife. This can't be no one who I love. And she looked at me, she said, do not make the wrong decision, son.

[B]

Chapter eight, Recipe for Success. Explain this to me before you go. You're not normal.

[A]

Normal.

[B]

You're not the normal everyday person your age with that much accomplishments.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Let's talk about those accomplishments.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

College degree.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Master's degree.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Teaching at a university.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Authority. Okay. Financial advisor. Did I leave out something?

[A]

I mean, that's. We can leave it right there.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

It's a lot. It's a lot.

[B]

So. So tell me. Give me the recipe that made you take life seriously so young.

[A]

I think for me, if I'm being honest and truthful, the very first thing is I saw my parents struggle and work hard, and I didn't want that for my life moving forward. Two, if I'm just being honest, Bishop, I saw other people have things that I. I wanted, and I said, I want that. And three, from being completely transparent, I got into the rooms. You know how many rooms I've been in with you, Bishop, and you probably didn't recognize me, right? How many times I would just sneak into the back of your conferences, your meetings, and. And I would just listen. And I used to tell myself, and I think we hear this often, but it's so, so, so important. Important. It's. I wanted to get into the room to see how you were moving, to see how these other millionaires are moving. And I would take notes, and I would go home, and I wouldn't try to be you. I was, okay, wait, what can I take from this room that I learned in today, and how can I apply that to my life? I wouldn't go back and look at. In My days and time, TV and the celebrities on tv, because that wasn't the life that I wanted. I wanted to get in the rooms with the people who were living the lifestyle that I wanted to live, who was making an impact. And boom, then I started building the relationships, and they started getting into your rooms and having conversations with you. But I shifted because I got into the rooms. I said, you know what? I do not want to be like my mom and dad. I do not want that. I love them. I'm grateful for them. They gave me the best life that they. That they could have given me. But they worked three jobs. My mama would get off from an eight to five job, go work at Kmart back then. After Kmart, she'll go work for the Christian Berean bookstore, and then on Christmas, she'll get another job just to make sure we had a decent Christmas. And I'm like, I saw my mom work hard. I'm like, I want to work smart with a little bit of hard. So how do I do this? And, Bishop, I'm seeing you just. You're pastoring, you're creating movies, you're creating this. I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait. How's he doing all this? And he doesn't look like he's working too, too hard. But then I started noticing, okay, he got this relationship. He has that relationship. He has this person. He was like, man, Bishop, there's so many things that you said that. I don't know if he remembered what you said, but one time he was like, man, I was driving this car, and I didn't buy it. I knew the owner. He let me drive it. I said, wait, wait. I need to know the owner then. I need to know the people who can open up the doors and put me in a room and give me the right education. So that's how I got where I'm at today. And that's why. Why I'm so passionate about being a professor. Because when I'm in. When I'm in the classroom, Bishop, I'm not just teaching. I'm taking them to banks. I'm taking. I'm bringing investors in. I'm bringing entrepreneurs in. I'm having them write out business plans and business ideas, and we're giving them scholarships. We're giving them access to capital to go start their business at 20, right? Because I understand the importance of being inside the room and exposing them earlier. So I'm only here because I was exposed to people like yourself and other people in the world that I won't name, but it's. It's. I'm here, and I have this passion because of the atmosphere that I've been in, and I just. I want to do better, but at the same time, I want to do better so that the generation following me can do much better. Better.

[B]

Thank you for that. I hope you take heed to that. Maybe you're encouraged by it, maybe you're discouraged by it. Maybe you think it's too late. It's never too late. Colonel Sanders was in his 60s when he started KFC. Kathy Hughes was in the middle of her life when she started Radio 1. There's all kinds of people who did things late in life and still succeeded. Don't use it as a point of discourse, encouragement. I'm a believer. I'm a Christian. I don't care what your faith might be, but mine is Christ. God, give me the plan that you have designed for my life.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And let me live it to the fullest capacity possible so that when I get to the end of my life, you will say, well done based on the amount of talent you get given me.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

I did not waste.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

What you gave me.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And then go to work. Don't. Don't stay on your knees. Get up and go to work to find that plan and work that plan until you see the end result that he promised. Chapter nine. Dating budget. You say a person, say me, makes A guy makes $100,000 a year, and he wants to take a woman on a date. $100,000 a year is not what it used to be.

[A]

No, sir.

[B]

Okay, but. But it's. It's. It's a blessing.

[A]

It is.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

It is.

[B]

What do you think he ought to spend. Plan to spend on an evening out?

[A]

Ooh, Bishop, you going to get me in trouble. You know, here's my philosophy on that, Bishop, is. Is. I would definitely say if we look at it, 8. $100,000 a day is $8,333 a month, with the average rent being right around $1,500 to $2,500 a month, depending on the city that you're in. And looking at your expenses, it's going to leave you possibly depending on how much debt you have, with about $3,000 in margin. Right. I do not want, in today's day and time. I don't want men to invest so much into tryouts that they cannot show up for the finals. Meaning we spent all this money on this young lady. That young lady. This young lady. Then when we get our wife, we can't provide the lifestyle that we want to provide for her because we spent it all in tryouts. We didn't save, we didn't invest. We didn't properly do it. So my philosophy when it comes to dating is when the first couple of days. And again, you're married, Bishop, this is not relationship advice. Because I'm single, Right. But my philosophy is no more than 100, $150 on the first couple few days. Spend that time to get to know her. So that way, when you feel as if, okay, she is the one, then, okay, Bishop, we can step up and start having a good time. Right. And start spending a little bit more money. But I really want us to be good stewards of our season, whether you're in the single season, engaged season, marriage season, when it comes to money. Because my biggest thing, what I'm seeing when it comes to divorce, and you've counseled so many people, Bishop, way more than. But when they come to me, they're coming to me arguing about money, and I'm like, well, wait, what were you doing when you were single? What were you doing when you're single with your money? So we can just be better stewards with our money when we're single, then, Bishop, I think it will help the marriage. It's not going to fix it, but it definitely will help the marriage.

[B]

You know, I basically agree with that. I also think that one of the things that's gone out of style is innovation.

[A]

Come on, Bishop.

[B]

It isn't about how much money you spend. It's about how much fun you have. So let's go horseback riding. Don't say that's your name, Bishop. Let's go camping in the woods.

[A]

Camping.

[B]

Yeah, let's.

[A]

With flies running around.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's. Let's. Let's go someplace that neither one of us would never, ever get. Go to experience something we would never, ever experience, to learn something about each other that we would never, ever learn.

[A]

Because, yes, sir.

[B]

Because, yes, sir. If all I learned.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Is how much money you got.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I'm not marrying your checkbook, Bishop. I'm marrying your creativity, Bishop.

[A]

You know, I got in trouble. 1. I ain't say in trouble. One of the best days that I did was Group Pond, $35, and she never knew. But then when I told her how much she was, I didn't see her again. We'll leave it there.

[B]

Okay. Which is a good thing. Could be.

[A]

Could be.

[B]

Which is. Is a Good thing. If, if, if. If finances deter you that quickly.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

If we ever have a struggle, you will leave me there then. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So if you're going to leave me, leave me now.

[A]

I. I think my biggest thing, Bishop, is I just want God to see that I could be a good steward with my finances here. And if I practice it during this season, it's going to flow over into my marriage.

[B]

Yeah. I'm not, see, understand this. I'm not talking about being cheap or stingy. I've never been neither.

[A]

Agreed.

[B]

I'm talking about being creative. I'm talking about being original.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

I'm talking about trained rides. I'm talking about doing things that other people don't do, that are cool, that are smart. I'm talking about going out to the lake with a basket and some music and listening at some music and having a nice evening. It doesn't always have to be a seven star hotel restaurant. It doesn't have to be that all the time.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And I think sometimes what makes marriages, helps marriages to last is innovation and creativity.

[A]

Yes, sir. Would you agree, Bishop, that if you start off strong in the very beginning, now you have to. You got to beat that moving forward, and then that it hurts you financially?

[B]

You know, it's so funny because the emphasis on capital is new. We didn't have that in our day. In our day, most in generally, the man was the provider.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

So we weren't in a gender war to see who made the most money.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

We were in a partnership.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And we're still in a partnership today. Okay. So there are certain things my wife does better than me.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

I want her to do them. Okay. Please do them.

[A]

Please.

[B]

There are other things that I do better than her. Her. She wants me to do them.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And we make a rule of not treading on each other's territory. So if she's in charge of this event we're having, don't bring the questions to me. I direct them to her. Yes, sir. Because that's not going to work out well. Respecting the partnership creates a teamwork from which a family is born. Born. From which a community is born, from which a country is developed. But if you don't get down there on that ground, level zero of everything not being transactional and we become. Marriage becomes about capital alone. And whoever makes the most money is the boss. What happens if you get sick? Sick? What? What, What? What happens if you develop a disease? What happens if an affliction so let's not have the vows. Let's get rid of all the vows, because with none of the vows are going to fit if the paycheck stops.

[A]

This should be he talking good.

[B]

350,000 women lost their job. Their job in the last couple of months.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

So if it's about money, the kids and the man are gone.

[A]

You know what, Bishop, please correct me if I'm wrong, but would you say that in today's day and time, if we could really partner together, understand her strength, understand my strength. We come together and we put all of our resources into one bucket. This generation, we have the capability of building wealth faster than your generation.

[B]

Oh, absolutely.

[A]

Because your generation, you were the provider.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

This generation we're seeing, ladies are educated. They were once the fastest growing entrepreneur. So it's like, wait a minute. Okay, I'm gonna step up and do my part as a man. But the gifts and the talents that God gave you, if it's generating income, let's bring all of our resources together and let's strategize. I do believe that, you know, the living should be based off. Based off of one set of income. Right. But how do we strategize again and we build wealth together? Because we could do it so much faster and get so much more quicker than our parents and grandparents so we can set up our children. But I just think in this generation, there is a gender wars. I don't want to do this. I don't want to do that. Or guys, we just want to spend a whole lot of money on. On dates. But Bishop, and I'll say this. I'm guilty of it. I bought a whole car because I wanted to impress as a woman.

[B]

I bought her whole car, and she gone.

[A]

Gone. She got in my car. It was paid for. Bishop. I financed that one. Paid it off. I paid it off over four years. Had no AC and she said, how are you, Anthony o'? Neal? You ain't got no ac? And I was like. In my head, I was like, dang, how am I, Anthony o' Neal with no AC the next day, went and bought a car the very next day, and it wasn't in my budget. And I said, what am I doing? And the very next week, she went back to her. Her son's father, and I done bought the car. And I just think at the end of the day, when we have a vision, when we have a budget, when we have a strategy, we have to learn to stick to that strategy, no matter who comes into it. Whoever comes into it should help it. Whether that's relationship, business, partner, job, careers, whatever that is, it should help you catapult forward. And what I ended up doing, Bishop, I ended up selling that car. And I went back down to just a regular, cheap cash car because I didn't have any assets at the time. I didn't. I wasn't a homeowner. I wasn't investing properly. So I sold that. That and started building things correctly.

[B]

You know what? What we're talking about is values. What do you value? And if. If it's not me.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

If it's not me.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay. We're not building off of anything that's going to last.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Because the car is not going to last that long.

[A]

Okay. It's good, Bishop.

[B]

Okay. It's gotta be about her.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

So when we had the car wreck and her ankle was broken, they said she'd never walk again.

[A]

Wow. Wow.

[B]

I didn't walk away. When I had a massive heart attack, she sat beside me for three days and nights and never left my side. Every time I looked up, she was looking down.

[A]

Come on, Bishop.

[B]

You're going to run into so many hardships. Burying children, burying your parents. Choosing somebody whose hand you want to hold when you lower your mama's body into the ground. That's what we're talking about. Whose hand you want to hold when you've got a breech birth or stillborn, who do you want to be with you when they accuse you of something on your job and you end up going to court and you can't sleep for three days or four days, who's going to be the person who sticks with you when you get laid off, when you get fired, when you're on dialysis, you're not going to stay 30 and fine, and all of that stuff is going to change.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And I think we don't have the right values. Now, you know, we have our preferences. We all do. And you want somebody that you're attracted to, but that's not the only thing to consider, because you can be an attractive fool. Okay. You can be an attractive fool and end up killing it. Drowning all the kids in the bathtub. Hey, Bishop. Okay.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Crazy is not prejudice.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

It will go anywhere.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

So there's a whole lot that we have to think about when we start talking about values.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And I think a lot of those values start with the inside and flow out to the outside and not the other way around.

[A]

Good.

[B]

Chapter 10, best investment. Best thinking back over Your life and all your experiences and the risk and the fear and the staying up all night and checking numbers and reading and doing the research. What was the best investment you ever made in your life? And why do you pick that investment?

[A]

Now, are you going to ask me from a financial perspective or you just period? Well, which one you want?

[B]

Let's go financial. We've been talking financial.

[A]

This land, land, land. The best investment. Reason why I say that is because when I think of investing, it's not an immediate return for me. It is longevity. When God left, he couldn't make any more land. We can't make any more land. And I've been around again. I've been in rooms with people who paid $10 million for land that a great grandfather bought 30 years ago and he may have spent 200,000. And I'm like, when I leave, I have land. And inside my estate, Bishop, my children can't touch that. Their children can touch the land. And it feels so good to me that here it is. Net worth is not just about, you know, the funds you can touch, touch. This is about what all assets do you have. So that land still goes towards my net worth. But it feels so good to me that I got the education that my children's children's children would know my name because I left them something. And to me, that is one of the best investments ever made because I smile on the inside knowing that when I leave, young people who I've never met will know my name.

[B]

So if land and or real estate state is the best investment you ever made, and if you're going to take that seriously, listening at our podcast today, investigate the land to make sure that the long range plans of the city or the town that you live in makes that a desirable spot to own.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

Lest you end up owning land that's in a floodplain.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And you've got 100 acres of land you cannot use that comes from not doing your research. But at your core, I agree with you. Yes, sir, I agree with you. Dirt over cash all day long, all day, all day long, all day. There is no end to the value.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

That you can get. And buy it when it's cheap.

[A]

Yes, sir.

[B]

And sell it when it's high. Oh, my gosh.

[A]

Amen.

[B]

You got a real pleasure. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Hey, everybody, I want to take this time to thank you for watching the next chapter podcast. If this conversation inspired you, helped you reflect on an idea or spark something new inside of you, make sure to like, comment and subscribe so you don't miss future episodes. Remember, remember, life isn't about how you begin. It's about how you finish strong. So start your next chapter with us right here every week.