Why High Earners Still Struggle With Money: Building True Wealth with Dr. Terri Alford

What are some of the things that you feel like makes a good leader?

Yes and no. So I believe that in order for you to really fulfill your God-given purpose, you must be in alignment with your divine assignment. I do possess leadership qualities, but because I was such a young leader, I had to learn boundaries. I had to learn not to be a people pleaser. I had to learn That in order for me to lead the people, I had to be unapologetically me, and I had to get rid of some people.

Can you break down, uh, some of the core strategies you teach?

Yes.

For building financial freedom? Just give us a few of those.

So the first thing I will say is, in order for you to be financially free, you must know exactly where you are and where you want to be. I understand that many people have different money personality types, which you really need to know.

What are some of the most What are some common financial mistakes that you see?

Mismanagement. Mismanagement of funds and just not being a good steward. But you are actually making sure that you're getting a return on your investment. And so you are investing and you are also ensuring you are protecting your assets. I share with people before, you can consider your portfolio solid, you must have adequate life insurance.

What role do you think that, like, mindset and identity play in financial success?

Mindset is everything. With my Business Women Building Wealth community, our core values are mindset, money, and movement.

Oh, thank you for tuning in to the Amberly Lago Show today. I have a real treat for y'all. Dr. Terri Alford is here. I love this woman. When I first met her, I was speaking at an event and I was like, who is this lady? I love her energy. I need to have her in my life. And I found out we're basically neighbors.

Yes.

And then I was so honored to be honored at one of your events.

Yes.

That was like phenomenal, on fire, the women that you attract. And so I was like, I really need to have you on the show because everybody needs to experience your energy and your wisdom. And I'm also honored that this is the official MC for the Unstoppable Success Summit. I was like, Could you— I begged her, could you please be the emcee for this year's event? Because I just— you can light up a whole room, every room that you walk into. And so thank you for being here.

And you know what? Thank you for having me.

Oh my goodness.

I feel so honored.

Oh, you're— thank you for driving over. And you're just amazing, all the things that you're doing. And we're going to talk about something that's really important that a lot of people don't talk about. I mean, it's an important conversation because We're talking about an area of your lives about money, about wealth, and about legacy, something that you teach. And she, Terri, Dr. Terri's the founder of the TNA Financial Group and passionate advocate for helping women and entrepreneurs build wealth with confidence, clarity, and purpose. And your story is powerful. I think you'll get along well with Cole because he used to be in education, used to be in education. Cole's our videographer, part of the family. But yeah, you guys are going to totally hit it off. And this isn't just, this isn't about fear or scarcity, y'all. This is about empowerment. And that's why I wanted to have you here because I know I need to learn more about wealth and about the legacy, but also that we all have a different relationship with money. And if we can kind of change that, then we can achieve that. Real wealth. So how did you go from being in schools to being where you are and leading a huge team?

Yes, thank you so much for having me. Thank you so much for asking the question. So I am a former educator. I'm a former principal as well. And so in 2019, I decided to take a break. Before I started my break, I was building my business part-time. Well, I haven't had a job since 2019, so I just stayed on break because the pandemic happened. And 3 months into 2020, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. My father was diagnosed with cancer as well in May. And so going to a job, going back into the schools, being around a lot of people was a very risky thing, having 2 parents who were high risk during the pandemic. And so prior to that break that I'm still on, I was working my business, I was building my insurance agency, and I also have my undergraduate degree in finance. And so what many people don't know is that I started in finance I got into a program called Teach for America, which relocated me here to Dallas-Fort Worth. And then after Teach for America, I went back into the finance world.

Oh, wow. Where were you? Where are you from originally?

Memphis. Memphis, Tennessee.

Oh my goodness.

Yes.

Yeah.

This marks my 12th year in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Oh, wow. And you are so connected here. You have such an amazing group of women. So I think that you are just a natural leader, but I want to talk about leadership because of course when you were a principal, you had to be an incredible leader, which probably entailed respect and boundaries. And then was it easy for you to transition into your leadership role now because— Of that, what are some of the things that you feel like makes a good leader?

Yes and no. So I believe that in order for you to really fulfill your God-given purpose, you must be in alignment with your divine assignment. And so I have the spiritual gift of teaching, and I know I am a teacher, but I've also learned that I have the mantle of Joshua on my life. And so many people have the misconception that Moses led the people to the promised land. Moses didn't make it to the promised land. It was Joshua. It was his understudy. And so I do possess leadership qualities, but because I was such a young leader, I had to learn boundaries. I had to learn not to be a people pleaser. I had to learn that in order for me to lead the people, I had to be unapologetically me, and I had to get rid of some people. I had to fire people. I had to start over with my team at times, and I had to really set the standard of what the new standard was going to be for where we were going and not look at where we have been. And so as I continued to grow as an educational leader, I was getting stronger and stronger with leading my team. But when I started my business, which is my agency, I thought I would have a team of people who had enough intrinsic motivation. They would be people of integrity. And again, this is during the pandemic. So I'm bringing self-employed agents into my agency. And I'm thinking that everybody thinks like me. Everybody wants to do well. Everybody wants to move with honesty. No, that was not the case. And so I learned the hard way. How to have stronger boundaries, because in our industry, we're able to be paid pretty well for the work that we do. When we deal with insurance plans and annuities, we can get paid really well, really, really well. And so for people who are not used to receiving tens and thousands of dollars at a time, their eyes get really big. And if they write bad business and you're the leader, of the person that's writing that business and that business charges back, then that business becomes your responsibility. And so there was a time in which I was making quite a bit of money. My agents were bringing in quite a bit of money, but the business that they wrote was not the best business. And so when that business charged back, that chargeback debt rolled up to me.

Oh.

And so I'm thinking like, wait a minute. I have this debt. This is your debt. This is not my debt.

What do you do about it?

What do you do? Well, there are a lot of ways to handle it, but some people actually left the industry. Some people who I considered to be friends, colleagues, people that were close to me, they left me with the debt. And so I decided I don't want to build a team. I don't want to build a team. I don't want to build an agency. I just want to build my business by myself. But again, that's not the mantle that I have on my life. I am a trainer, I am a teacher, I am a speaker, I'm an undercover preacher, I'm all of those things.

Love it.

So I am not to make it be about me. I am truly to live out my God-given purpose. And so over the last 5 years, I've really had to grow as a leader who is building her own agency and her own business and having the same type of boundaries, the same type of systems, the same types of automations, the same types of operations that I had when I had the school. Because when I had the school, it was easy. It was someone else's business. It was someone else's baby. It was someone else's organization. But when I became the leader of my own organization, I didn't initially put all of those things in place.

Yeah.

I learned the hard way that I needed to put those things in place because people are going to take advantage if you allow them to take advantage because they see you much bigger than you see yourself sometimes. And so I'm like, well, I'm a business owner just like the next person. But of course they saw me on a much higher level than I saw myself. And so they're like, Shirley, She can pay that back. She can pay that back. The debt can go to her. And so that's the hard part of building a team and being an entrepreneur and being the first entrepreneur in your family. I work with quite a few Henrys that are high-income earners, not rich yet.

High-income earners.

High-income earners, not rich yet. High earners, not rich yet. And the reason that they're not rich yet is because they make great money, they make great income, but they have not gotten to the point to where they're really able to build true wealth. They're still living sale to sale. They may make multiple 6 figures, but they're still living sale to sale. There's still some dollars that are leaking from their business. They're still making money, but they're not able to save enough money to retire. They're not thinking about the end goal. They're thinking about Well, how do I look on social media? How do I look to my friends? How do I look to my family instead of how does this look on paper?

Yes.

Can I sell this company for millions of dollars? And what happened for me was when I got into the mastermind that I'm in now, I realized, I said, okay, well, I'm a million-dollar producer. I'm doing well. However, comma, I am not able to sell this practice without having Replacements. I have to learn how to replace myself.

That's right.

Because if I want to sell my agency for millions of dollars, I cannot be the main breadwinner. I need a sales force. And so that mindset has shifted how I'm moving in my business now. And so when you ask, was it easy to transition from being a teacher to a business owner or being a principal to having my own agency? Yes and no.

Yeah.

Yes and no. I know that's a long story.

Well, no, no, it's so good and it's so important because yeah, I've done the same thing where I expected for, you know, people, well, of course they're going to be honest, or of course they would do that. That's what I would do. And I'm like, and I used to have my best friend tell me all the time, she'd say, Amberly, not everybody is like you. And I'm like, yeah, it's so true. But I want to ask you about, and I love, That, especially because I just have been looking, we were just about done with our taxes, which is not fun to actually look at. Like, yeah, look, yeah, you made some money, but how did you spend it all? But to look at where it's leaking in your business, like how much money I spent on certain things. And also I like that you shared that, you know, people saw me, oh, well, She's this business owner. She can handle the debt. I've had people before that have pitched me even for like you know a media event where they wanted to charge $30,000 to record one of my events, and I'm like, $30,000 like that? I don't even make that in the ticket sales. Like I don't know who you think I am. Or I've had people that you know I buy a first class ticket to fly a. speaker out and they've leased a private jet. And I'm like, who do they think I am?

I'm like, the second richest woman in America.

So I'm like, I need to get a— I need to be smarter about things. That's so— I'm glad you're here to kind of teach me. But before you make me smarter about things, I want to know, tell people what exactly is your agency? There might be somebody listening that's like, well, What is her agency? I want to be a part of that agency. I like her. What— tell people about the agency.

Excellent. So I own TNA Financial Group. My name is Dr. Terri Alford. I'm known as the Women's Wealth Strategist, and I specialize in helping business owners and professionals build wealth and financial freedom so that we can live, lead, and leave multimillion-dollar legacies. Again, I say live, a multimillion-dollar legacy, lead a multimillion-dollar legacy, and leave a multimillion-dollar legacy. I do that through my Attract Abundance framework, but I also teach you how to retire wealthy. So in layman's terms, I am an insurance producer and I also specialize in retirement planning. The reason that I love working with women and business owners who are in transition is because sometimes My clients are leaving their job to go full-time in their business, and so they're looking for an opportunity to reinvest those funds. And so they're questioning, should I put some of this into an IRA, a SEP IRA, so that I can get some tax benefits? Should I reinvest this into my business? What should I do? So I love helping clients in that way. And I also work with several different carriers as an investment-grade life insurance producer. So whether you are looking to get life insurance to pay off your estate and your, um, your debts that you do not want to leave to your beneficiaries, or if you're looking for your life insurance to be able to provide college or first investment funds for your baby, then I want you to reach out to me if you're interested. Now, if you're like, Terry, you do a lot of amazing things. How do I get the opportunity to work with your agency? Right now we are looking for insurance agents. So if you have an insurance license, if you are a man or woman of integrity and you are interested in learning how to use your life insurance license to live the life that you want and to help other people with their legacy, then I encourage you to reach out and check us out because again, we are an award-winning million-dollar producing agency.

Oh my gosh, is she fire?

Am I? Yes!

I'm like, yes, yes, undercover preacher.

I love it.

I love it. Well, can you break down, uh, some of the core strategies you teach?

Yes.

For building financial freedom? Just give us a few of those.

Yes, absolutely.

Because we all want some financial freedom.

Absolutely. Absolutely. So the first thing I will say is in order for you to be financially free, you must know exactly where you are and where you want to be. I understand that many Many people have different money personality types, which you really need to know. What is your money personality so that you can work with someone who can help you become strong in the areas that you're stronger in? And then the areas that you're weaker in, they want to help you become stronger in those areas too.

Yeah.

And so it is okay for you to be, let's say for example, a giver. So I have an assessment. I can actually give that to you so you can take it. But I have an assessment that will help you discover your money personality type.

Right.

And when I took the assessment or another version of the assessment, the first time I was an overgenerous orange. You will know a tree by the fruit that it bears, right? So I was an orange and I would overgive. I would overgive money Time, resources. I was not charging my worth. I was not— I didn't have boundaries in place. I just gave too much. So I was an orange.

I feel like you're—

that might be what you may be, an orange. I think you're an orange and a dragon fruit. Wait till I tell you about the dragon fruit. So you have the overgenerous orange and then you have the delusional dragon fruit.

Well, I'm a little delusional. I know.

Me too. So the delusional dragonfruit is the business owner or professional who have these big pie-in-the-sky goals, and they're like, you know what, I can always make more money. So they are willing to accept risk that others may not accept because they're always going to bet on themselves, which is good, right? Which is good. But they can be a little delusional in making decisions that most people wouldn't make.

Oh, that's me too.

Yes, yes, yes. I, I see. I see. So the thing about it is most people are going to attract the type of fruit that you are. So I tend to attract the overgenerous oranges as well as the delusional dragon fruits. But some people may be an avoider apple. And an avoider apple is a person who looks— actually, they refuse to look at their account. They don't want to know where the money is going. They don't want to look at the numbers. They're blind to it. They know that there's money there, but they don't want to look at it. So they constantly avoid looking at the numbers. They don't want to have a financial date night with their partner. They don't want to meet with the bookkeeper. They don't want to meet with the fractional CFO. They are avoiding it. And so in order for you to truly get your finances right and set that foundation where it needs to be. You need to know your money personality type. You need to see where you are and where you want to be. I also have a calculator that I use with my clients. And with this calculator, I ask, how much would you like to have when you retire? And let's say a client says, I want $2.5 million in my retirement nest egg. Okay, excellent. Well, I'll ask the client, how old are you now? How old would you like to be when you retire? So let's say they give me 55 as the age that they want to retire. Let's say—

Oh man, I don't want to retire till I'm like 95.

Well, I'm going to give you an example of what happens sometimes because I meet people who are of different generations. So when I meet with millennials, I'm a millennial, most millennials are like, I want to retire at 40 or I want to retire at 45. And I'm like, okay, well, what if you live to be 95? Yes. That happens sometimes. So what if you live to be 95 or 99 like Miss Betty White, right? You have 50 years, 50 years that that $2.5 million has to last you. Oh, that's not gonna last. Thank you.

That is not gonna last.

Thank you.

You're lucky if that lasts you 10.

Thank you. Which is why we have the calculator, because it gives people that aha moment instead of saying, I, want $2.5 million and I want to retire in the next 5 years, they're able to look and see, well, maybe that's not going to be enough, or maybe I need to work a little longer. Instead of, instead of retiring in 5 years or 10 years or 15 years, they may need to retire in 20 years, or they may need to, need to save more money for their retirement.

Yeah.

So that's one of the things that I would say people need to actually— this too, Actually, 3. So the first thing is know exactly where you are and where you want to be. Second thing is understand your money personality type. And if you are married, understand your spouse's money personality type. And if you don't have the same money personality type, you need to have some date nights, some money date nights.

Yeah, it's so true. Uh, Johnny and I had to have a conversation about, and he finally asked me a question that really helped. He said, how much do you need to have in the bank to make you feel safe? Ooh, that's beautiful. Yeah, because I was constantly like, no, I do not want to touch that money. I was at a point in my life where I didn't know how I was going to pay my rent to keep a roof over my daughter and my, our heads, our heads. I didn't know, should I buy toilet paper or a can of soup? Like it was, Scary. And I thought, I will never be in that position again. And so for me, I think from that, I was like, I need to have a certain amount in the bank in case something happened and I was out of work or whatever. I know I'd be good. So I think having that conversation, but I love the idea of having a date where you talk about it. You know, that's really good.

Yes. You can have a date, you can play games, you can do Monopoly. You can have different type of cards. Have you ever— now, okay, let me just say this. I'm single, okay? I'm totally single. I work with married couples as well as singles, widows. But have you ever played games with your husband where they are like those flirtatious card games and you'll ask him questions? Or maybe—

Yeah, I know what you're talking about. I think I bought one of those card games. When we first started dating or something. It's been a long time. Maybe I should try to find some again.

Yes, find some and find some that are related to money and see what happens.

Okay. Yes, maybe we'll do it. We actually have a date night tomorrow night, so it's very exciting. It's— maybe I'll get on Amazon and try to find some cards.

Yes, find some cards.

You know what, do you sell cards like that?

I don't. I should create some too.

I was just thinking next idea for you is to create your own cards because you already have a calculator. You've already got a way to figure out what kind of fruit that you are.

Absolutely.

You and I are both orange dragon fruits.

We are.

Right? Yeah. Um, yeah.

So the other one is cheap cherry and we're not, we're not cheap cherries.

No, no. Just the sound of that. You can't even describe it. I'd be like, no. What is the most important first steps for someone who feels overwhelmed by their finances?

Giving themselves grace. That is the first step. So financial trauma is real. Money trauma is real. I know a few moments ago you spoke about living during a season in which you didn't know where your next dollar was coming from. You didn't know if you had to choose between food or gas. or tissue. Going through those experiences are real, and sometimes we have to do what we have to do to get to the next season. And so what happens when people meet with me and I ask them about their finances, they're like, well, I had, or I used to have, and they like to apologize. And I'm like, no, don't, don't apologize for doing what you had to do to survive. Give yourself grace. And understand that I'm like your financial doctor, okay? I want to tell you just like— I don't know, you have men watch your podcast too, right? Oh, okay. I was about to say the OB-GYN, you know how she said, don't worry about it, I've seen everything, right? You can't tell me anything that I haven't heard of before.

Okay.

Right?

Yeah.

I'm the same way. When people come to me, I'm not going to judge you based on what you think you should have. And so you should give yourself grace. And even if you do not work with me, find someone that you can work with But understand, we are all on a journey. You're not going to figure it all out in day one, on day one. Rome was not built in a day. And if you have made some financial mistakes, learn from those mistakes and start again. Start afresh. I meet with women who have been divorced. I've met with people who've lost their businesses. They had million-dollar businesses, million-dollar companies, and have Mm-hmm. And figure out what they're going to do next. So give yourself grace. I think that's the most important first step because you shouldn't try to be someone you're not. You shouldn't beat yourself up. This is one of the reasons why we see a lot of highly successful people succumb to addictions because they're trying to numb the feelings that they have because they didn't forgive themselves. So before I give you any other step, The first step is giving yourself grace. Yeah.

What are some of the most common financial mistakes that you see?

Mismanagement. Mismanagement of funds and just not being a good steward. Not being a good steward. And being a good steward doesn't just mean, oh, you're budgeting and you're being tight because of course if you're being tight, you can be considered a cheap cherry. But you are actually making sure that you're getting a return on your investment. And so you are investing and you are also ensuring you are protecting your assets. I share with people before you can consider your portfolio solid, you must have adequate life insurance. If you do not have adequate life insurance and you become ill with a critical chronic or terminal illness, you're going to have to tap into those other investments.

Mm-hmm.

As someone else who has the accelerated living benefits life insurance, they can pull money from their life insurance policy and keep their other investments going and growing. You don't have to go into debt if you become ill, if you have adequate life insurance. So that is the foundation. You should have life insurance on yourself, on your children, for your spouse. If you are a business owner, You need it on your key employee. If you have your own organization, if you are a spiritual leader, if you're a pastor, your church should have life insurance.

Oh yeah.

If you're a first lady, you need life insurance. Because if you are no longer the first lady and there's a new pastor or church leader, then guess what? The church may not take care of you the same way that they took care of you when you were the First Lady, right? So we must make sure that we're not just managing the money and multiplying the money, but we also want to make sure that we are getting a great return on our money and we're expecting, we're planning for the unexpected.

Yeah, that's, you know, I learned the hard way with that because it was after my motorcycle accident where, you know, I was in a coma and my husband couldn't access my, we have separate bank accounts and he couldn't Now we don't. Now we have the same, but when we were married before my accident, we, we didn't, and he couldn't access my account to pay some bills. And so I got life insurance. We got a living trust. We got set up completely. It was a wake-up call. So let this be your wake-up call to reach out to Dr. Terri and have her help you with the finances because It is so important. I mean, even with having, you know, your pool guy come over to the house, what if he gets injured on the job? You're— it's so important to— we are like big on being overly insured for everything. My husband is like Mr. Safety and wants to always have that, you know, make sure we're insured for all of that.

I love that. It sounds like he wants to have an emergency fund or the emergency fund.

Yeah, for sure. What role do you think that, like, mindset and identity play in financial success?

Oh, a big part. Mindset is everything. With my Business Women Building Wealth community, our core values are mindset, money, and movement. And before women are truly able to make the moves that they need to make in their personal life, business life, spiritual life, it all starts with the mindset.

Mm-hmm.

I'll start with the mindset. I mentioned before that I'm in a mastermind, and that's not the first mastermind that I'm in, but I believe in development. I believe in personal development, business development. I believe in being around people who are light years ahead of where I may be in an area. One, because that fuels my fire, but also because I know I always have a mindset shift.

Mm-hmm.

And so even with the people who are watching your podcast or who have been exposed to you, I highly encourage people to get into masterminds. Every year I will encourage someone, even if they're not working with me, get into a mastermind. Because when you're in those masterminds, you're able to be exposed to things that you have not been exposed to. You're able to learn different ways to invest. Maybe you've only heard about conservative invested investments. But then you get into a mastermind and you hear about this project that they're building where they're building, uh, several apartment complexes and everybody in the mastermind is investing into the apartment complex together. Well, you would not have known about that opportunity had you not been in that mastermind. Maybe you're in a, a space where they're telling you, about the next thing that's going to be big with cryptocurrency. Well, if you weren't in the room, if you weren't at the event, if you were not in the mastermind, you would not know that. You would not have been exposed to that. So I believe that mindset is important. But what comes with mindset is exposure. Because if you are only working on your mindset by staying in your own little corner, in your own little chair, Do you know where that's from? Cinderella?

Okay.

Oh, was that what— Yes, Cinderella. Have you ever seen it?

Yes, but I don't remember that part.

You don't? In my own little corner, in my own little chair, I can be whatever I want.

Okay.

Okay, Amberly, I, I have a song for everything, but I love it. As long as you stay in your own little corner, in your own little chair, isolated, you are going to miss out on how you can really grow. You have to get outside. You have to make sure that you're connecting with other people and never be afraid to network up. Sometimes we're too confident or overconfident and we only want to network across.

Well, I want to be networking up. And I remember the very— I'm so glad that you brought up masterminds because I can't tell you how masterminds have changed my life. Having a coach, having a mentor, and the very first mastermind I was ever This is years ago. I learned about cryptocurrency. I never would've known what that was, but also from that mastermind led me to go, well, I want to do my own mastermind. And that's when I got certified to be in the Mastermind Association. Go on out, Nugget, or just sit here. We have Nugget is actually the mascot of the Unstoppable Success Summit. And I guess she is now of the podcast too. But yeah, but I'm so glad that you brought up masterminds because it is powerful just getting around like-minded people. And I'm sorry you have a dog tail on you.

Okay. It's okay. It's all good. Look, it's all good.

At least she doesn't shed though. She doesn't shed.

You know, that's true.

Yeah, she doesn't shed. So that drives me crazy. I'm sorry. I can't have that. So that's why we have Nugget.

Right. Well, you know, they say babies and dogs know good people. So that's my indication that I'm a good person. She will not leave me alone.

She won't leave you alone. She loves you. That's right. Yeah. So thank you for all that you've been sharing. And I love that you talk about mindset because I do think it all starts with mindset, self-development. And if you've got somebody who thinks That they won't ever make enough money, they will always be poor, they will always struggle, then you will probably always struggle if that's what you think. Your beliefs. I knew from a young kid, I was like, I am getting out of this small town. I am going to make something of my life. And if I work hard and get around the right people, it's going to happen. And I think that's so important. So I'm so glad that you— You— I mean, well, I always thought we, we think alike. That's true. Um, how has your own relationship with money evolved over the years?

Great. My relationship with money has evolved because now I understand that money really is an energy, and I believe that I attract money. And it's not a matter of, oh, I have to work a certain number of hours to make a paycheck that's going to be the same every week, every month. I truly understand I have the power to call in money any day I want to.

Mm-hmm.

I can wake up and say, okay, I want to make some money today, make a few phone calls, send a few text messages, follow up on a few leads, and it's done. And so I have more control over my life and the money that comes into my life because of my mindset. When previously I would think, oh my goodness, I don't want to run out of money. I never want to run out of money. But now I understand I'm not going to run out of money if I operate like I'm not going to run out of money. Money is an energy. I can always make additional money, additional income. And then I also make sure I'm positioning myself to know that money is coming in, where it's coming in from. So I have my money that I make based on what I do. And then money that comes in based on what I've done, right?

That's good.

And so I don't fear running out of money like I used to.

How important is it for someone to have residual money?

It's very important because we want to be able to enjoy life. I've been considered a workaholic. However, comma, this year I will be taking quite a few trips, quite a few vacations. I'm excited about going to Bora Bora. I'm excited about going to Portugal and Spain and a lot of other places where I can really unplug. But again, I used to be tied to my laptop, tied to my business, tied to my work because I was afraid of running out of money. And so now I know, again, money is always going to come. And I am preparing for the legacy that I want to leave and the legacy that I want to build. So I am 35 years young. I don't have— You're so young. I am 35 years young.

You know, 35 was like the best years of my life.

I'm back.

It really was.

I know you were a rock star. Yeah.

Oh yeah. Oh, best year. I think 35 was like probably my favorite year. 35, 36. Yeah.

I'm sure. Sure. So I am 35 years young. I don't have any children. I'm not married. You want to have kids?

I would love to.

Yeah. After I'm married to the right person. So in this season right now, the way I see it is I have more time to build and I want to build residual income. So when the next season comes, when I am married, when I do have children, I don't have to work my business the same way. I don't have to work as much. Because I have built the residual income.

35 years young. Yes. But you know what? I'm having real fun in my 50s too.

I can believe that too. I, I, you are a fun person, period. You are a fun person, period. But one thing that I've noticed too, and this deals with mindset, I used to think that my age in this industry was my disadvantage. And so I was like, people are not going to listen to me speak about retirement plans and IRAs and annuities and insurance.

Now I don't even think of that. I've really honestly just go off of your energy.

I know now. I know now. I, I've evolved and my mindset has shifted, and I've realized, one, it's not my age that's attracting or distracting, but I've also realized that my age is actually giving me a competitive— the competitive advantage, because I do have friends that are 20, 30 years my senior. I have clients that are 20, 30 years my senior. And so if they're thinking about their children and their grandchildren, if the Lord says the same, I'm still going to be here. So I can say, your grandmother set up this million-dollar baby plan for you. Your grandfather wanted you to have X, Y, and Z. I was there. Look at us then.

Mm-hmm.

So I realized too, that a lot of times the things that we think are our disadvantage is the actual thing that is our advantage.

Yeah. And, you know, I used to think like, oh, because I do all these speaking events and a lot of times I'm the oldest one, like the speakers are in their 20s, 30s, and I'm like, oh, my daughter's your age, you know? And now I look at it as, oh, but I have so much wisdom from life experience. Not saying I'm smarter or anything like that. Wisdom is just from the life experience that I've had with so many years. And so that gave me a little bit of— it allowed me to give myself a little bit of grace.

Absolutely.

In that. And so, wow, you're doing amazing things. But I also think, do you think that, you know, you being younger, having clients that are older or even people in the industry that are older, You can kind of think out of the box and think of these new improved ways of doing things.

Absolutely. That's also what gives my agency a competitive advantage because most people in our industry, they buy leads. We don't buy leads. We don't buy leads. We don't door knock. Everything is through organic marketing.

Wow. You don't door knock?

We don't door knock. We don't do mailers.

Wow.

Everything is through organic marketing. We attract abundance.

Yeah. Yeah. How often are you holding events?

Ooh, that's a trick question.

Because your keynote was fire.

Thank you.

So can I just tell you something?

Yes.

Because I didn't get to tell you this.

Yes.

So, um, I had done a keynote in an event earlier that day and I was not feeling Great with the complex regional pain syndrome. Sometimes if it's really painful, it just kind of drains me. Wasn't feeling great. I was just getting over, um, what's it called when your inner ear's off and you get dizzy?

Vertigo.

Vertigo. Thank you, Cole. Vertigo. I had, so I was like kind of out of sorts and the group of people I was talking to, the energy was just So low. I could feel the pain in the room. Like, so I left there and my friend was with me. She goes, we need to just get you home. Like, and so I went home, laid down. As soon as I walked in the door at your event, I was like, I feel like myself. Like I'm in the right place. Like the energy of your event, the women at your event were incredible. They're calling you now.

They are. Yes. That's—

yeah. And so, yeah, the energy at your events, the women are just incredible.

Thank you. So when you mention the event and you tell us about your experience, it really does warm my heart because that's one of the things we've really wanted. We wanted people to come in and feel loved on, feel appreciated.

Oh, it feels like it just— everybody's so welcoming and loving.

Yes. Yes. And you've been so incredible. I've watched you from afar and up close, and you have inspired me so much, and you've inspired women in my organization as well. And so I just wanted you to feel special that night. So I'm so glad I was able to honor you that night.

Aw.

And we are having our next gala and conference in October. So we do the Attract Abundance Conference and the gala. Every October. So those events are our signature events, but I also do some private events as well. If I am in different cities, sometimes I'll do private meetups for women who are part of the Business Women Building Wealth community who are in other cities. And then I also host private Retire Wealthy events, and those are invitation only. So I typically have some type of event happening every month. But my large-scale event is October. October.

How many people are you expecting in October?

About 100. About 100. And then the other events, the private intimate events, we have about 12 to 14. So those are really intimate.

With all the commotion and everything going on and our mascot Nugget, I just have a few more questions. Just a few more fun questions. What's something people would be surprised to learn about you?

Ooh. Okay, fun fact. I'm going to spoil it for you all. Most people who see me online who've never met me in person, they think I'm taller. I'm only 4'11.

Are you 4'11?

I'm 4'11.

Oh, wow. But you know what?

I think it's your personality. Exactly.

Energy.

Yes.

Yeah. And do you have a personal motto that you live by?

Just, just have an attitude of gratitude.

Yeah.

Just have an attitude of gratitude. I'm living far beyond my prayers. I live an abundant life. I've been my own boss for 6 years. I'm free. So I, I'm too blessed to complain, right? Just live it, have an attitude and live a life of gratitude.

I love that. I love that. Me too. I practice gratitude every day. Yes. What book or resource has influenced your financial thinking the most? Ooh.

So I read a book called The Retirement Miracle, and it— by Patrick Kelly. And it first really helped me understand indexed universal life insurance policies and the structure of those policies and how those policies came about and how they can be a tax-advantaged vehicle for retirement. So I love that book. I also read The Psychology of Money.

Okay.

That book—

I have that book. I've heard it's really good.

It really is. And what I love about it is every chapter is different and the chapters are not connected to each other.

Oh, so it's like a mini book inside of a book.

Yes, yes. It's one of my favorite books to read and reread because when I read it, I'm in a different headspace every time I read it. So I may read it now and pick up something that I didn't pick up 2 or 3 years from now. So I like those 2 books.

Oh, I like that. I'm— I like books like that. And in fact, actually, um, the 12-step, the Big Book, and the 12 Steps of Recovery. Okay. Every chapter is like its That's what it makes me think of. Every chapter is like, you could just take that and it could be like a small book and it's different. I've read it over and over and over and over. And every time I read it, I always get something different out of it or it, I'll read something. Oh, this is like, I'm reading this for the first time because I'm in a different area of my life.

Yes.

Yes.

And when you said big book, I thought you were about to say the Bible. Well, the Bible has another one too.

Yeah. The Bible.

Yes. It's about money more than most people know. I think it's 2,200 times. Money, possessions, and wealth is mentioned in the Bible.

Wow. Why do you think it is that so many, so often— well, I kind of grew up that, oh, you don't talk about money, and money's the root of all evil, all those things. And I don't know if that's more of a Southern thing. Why do you think that is? Do you feel that that's changing to where people aren't I think it's miseducation, um, and just misunderstandings.

That's not how the, the verse was actually written. It didn't say that money is evil. Money is not evil. Money is the energy. Money is a spirit, but it's not evil. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil is what the verse says. But the Bible also says that God gives us the power to build wealth. The Bible also says That a wise— the wise have, um, luxury, right? But the fool spends whatever he gets. And so there are many scriptures in the Bible that support the idea it is okay and it is decent and in order for us to live an abundant life and retire wealthy. And so I think it's just miseducation. And I think it's changing a little bit because of social media, but we still have a long way to go, especially men and women of faith.

Yeah. Well, you are changing the world.

Am I?

Yeah. You're a world changer.

Well, thank you.

And I can't wait for you to just rock the stage at the Unstoppable Success Summit.

I can't wait either.

Oh my goodness. Tell people where they can find you if they wanna work with you, if they wanna find out when your next gathering or your next annual event is in October and how they can be a part of it. What's the best Yes, absolutely.

So you can actually send me a message directly at 903-224-6151. You can send me a message there. You can also go to jointerry.com. Jointerry, T-E-R-R-I dot com. You will be able to see information about our Business Women Building Wealth community and any local events that we host, as well as the conference. You will also see any opportunities to hear me speak at another event. Your event is on that page as well. And so if you are looking for me on social media, you can find me at Dr. Terri, T-E-R-R-I-A-L-F-O-R-D.

Thank you. And thank you so much for tuning into the show today. Appreciate you being here. It's because of you, you've made this a top 1% podcast. Thanks for tuning in. And if you found some value in this, make sure to screenshot it, whether you're listening to Apple, Spotify, or watching here on YouTube and can see our little mascot Nugget, who is finally asleep. Um, take a screenshot and tag us. I always love when I see that and I will share it again on my story. So thank you. Keep choosing courage, keep building with purpose, and keep finding joy through the journey. And we'll see you next week.