Client Journey & Review On The Velocity of Money

Welcome everyone. Denzel Rodriguez here, your personal finance geek of the 21st century. And I am with a wonderful couple here, Corinne and Chris. I'm meeting them for the very first time here in Tennessee. What an honor. What a privilege it is to be here. We've been working together for a few years.

Yeah, about two and a half. Almost three years.

Yeah, two and a half. Almost three years. We've, we've seen a lot in this, in this relationship so far. And this is the first time you're debuting on, on the YouTube channel. So I'd like for you to share with my audience that origin story. Our origin story. How did it all began and then what are you guys working on now at this point?

Well, sure. Well, our origin started with me finding you on YouTube becoming a little bit antsy about our finances, wanting to progress and get to the next level. We had a pretty good foundation, but we wanted to get a little bit further on. And I came across your YouTube channel talking about velocity banking and it drew me in and I thought that this is something that can work. It, it's working for your clients the way you are able to lay it out with numbers, because numbers don't lie. And your approach made it very digestible. The next goal I knew I needed was to get my wife on board because again, we had done good work and it was working, but I wanted to progress a little bit faster and I knew that she also wanted to progress a little faster than we were trying to think of ways of doing that, which again drew me to your channel because it was something that I was searching. So I brought Incorin and it was kind of me introducing you to her also. Right. And that's kind of what it was. So go ahead.

What did your perspective?

From my perspective it was, what does he need me to watch now? And he had me watch these videos and I'm like, I don't have time for this. I've got the kids, I've got work, I've got all these things. And you know, after listening to your videos and seeing how you laid out the information of the couples you were already working with and how you were able to just simplify the financial world for everybody and then go through like a one on one custom plan for everybody, I was like, okay, all right, I'm in, I'm in. He's not just some face on YouTube anymore. He, he knows what he's talking about. So. And then we dove in and I'm glad that we did.

We reached out, had, I guess that first 30 minute consultation call. Mainly it was to get to know you first. Right. To see if we were going to be a good fit.

Yeah, I think you joined a couple of my like zoom calls. Might have been on the live, right?

It might have been on the live at first and then it was the call and then from there with us both on it. That was a big point for me to make sure that we were both on it because if I have buy in with my wife, it just makes the journey that much faster, that much more intentional. And now that we're both on the same path, we can get there faster. So that, that was, that was my whole point. And then once we got off the call, I mean even before the call, it was more of like, you know, are you feeling this?

Like.

Yeah.

Are you feeling the vibe? Are you, are you good with the vibe? Is it a good vibe? And it was. And I think we signed up right after for the, for the, for the coaching.

And this was 23 or two, 22.

No, it was 22. It was, it might have, it might have actually been late 21, 2020.

And then you definitely discovered me before. Yeah. And then.

Yeah, no, I think actually maybe early 2022 because. Okay, yeah, because we had already done everything. We had switched everything over. We had gone and we had done the velocity banking. And it was because of the position of the velocity banking. It put us in that the first scenario had happened where I lost my job and we were put in that financial position a couple of months earlier. That allowed some freedom.

What was the first tool so that they know that we were using for velocity banking before we lost the job?

So what we had done was we had the traditional 30 year mortgage that we were just adding more money to.

Right.

And then what we had switched over was to a first lien heloc. So we, we switched everything over to a first lien heloc. And did you go from a higher.

Rate to a lower rate or a lower rate to Ira?

So in that case we actually were post Covid. So the rates were a little bit higher than what our mortgage was. And we knew that going in it wasn't astronomical, but it was definitely higher. We, I think we were at a 3.3125.125. And then we went, then we went up to a 7, 7 point something. But it was, it was the ability of the HELOC that we were looking at. Right.

We were looking at the flexibility.

Right.

And if I'm not mistaken, were there other debts that we sort of moved in at that point?

No, because we had, we had eliminated everything. It was just, it was just acceleration on getting the mortgage completed. Yeah, that was what it was. And again we were, we were bringing in good money at both combined. We were around, I think we were at 200, something like that.

Yes.

And the flexibility of your income because it was coming you bonuses. Right. There was different kinds of income.

So at that point. Yeah, there was slightly, some depending on the company, there may have been a like a 10 bonus attached. That wasn't necessarily guaranteed, but it was always the possibility there I was somewhat getting it. I was stable with my regular salary and at that point that was, that was stable. Hers was a little bit more flexible because she was working part time. So whatever hours she was able to get or add on, she always had her stable hours which were part time. But then she could always add on if needed. So if we wanted some, if we wanted extra thing here or throw extra money there, we were able to just give her extra hours somewhere and then we would take advantage of that.

Gotcha. Were you able to lock in a fixed rate on that first one?

Yes.

Right? Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

We went with the fix for a period of time. Yeah, it was three, three years at fix and then it goes to seventh overall.

Right. And then it wasn't too long afterwards where you were like after you lost the job and then you were saying you were going to move, so.

Yeah, so in the in after we had switched everything over, it was that summer, that fall I was able to land another job which provided much more higher of a salary and it allows me to work from home. So it cut down costs, increased salary, which were all great things. And that was in the fall shortly. And that, that, I mean the ability to do that added so much more for us to get the, the excitement of getting the mortgage paid off earlier, like to get to get everything, it was just like, okay, now we have that much more to do.

At this point from your perspective, would you say had we knock out that first lane, do you feel like you guys be in a worse off position even though you have a higher rate or better?

The HELOC definitely helped because we were able to like the way that it worked and funneling everything through the heloc, I felt like everything was coming and going out of one place and it organized everything and we chopped away at that mortgage a lot faster using the HELOC than if we were to just do it our own way.

It didn't necessarily matter that the, that the interest rate was that High because the cash back was knocking it down to where it was essentially the same or slightly below that was the main thing is that you had to leverage it with the cash back. Otherwise then you're just paying extra on the, on the debt, which doesn't make sense. But because of the cash back portion of the velocity banking, which I think is what people kind of miss, it's. You got to look at the value of that. And you were very good at at least explaining that up front. Like, if you don't have this, it may not make sense. So you have to look at what you're fighting. You have to look at what your finances are, what your spending habits are and what you're purchasing and whatnot.

Yeah. So it wasn't just the first lien itself, but it was also the other elements we were adding.

You know, removal of escrow.

No longer having that come out. It was credit cards.

Right.

Leveraging that and just again, with the imbalance of income. And there's a lot of times where people are hesitant to put anything to their mortgage because they're afraid of this, this and this. Whereas with the first lien, you're putting it all together.

Right.

And you're ultimately reducing that.

Correct.

That risk. Correct. Meanwhile keeping yourselves liquid so you get the benefits of saving money simultaneously while knocking the debt down.

Yeah, it's like the best of both worlds, essentially, and all in one combined spot. And that's what I think made it very, very appealing. Instead of having to shop around or go from this person or this place to this place, it just made it a little bit easier at that standpoint.

And then we, you know, fast forward, we get another hurtling heloc. Why is that?

When we moved from New York to Tennessee, we can no longer use that heloc. So we have to take a different heloc. And I think the interest rate on the first one was like five.

Oh, five.

And then we actually had to go up to like seven.

Okay. I was like, wait a second.

On the second heloc because the interest rates were higher. Interest rates are going up now, but helped going from New York to Tennessee and knocking quite a bit off of a mortgage of what we owed, but still attacking it with the HELOC is what allowed us to pay off our mortgage this past December and be free of that and not have to worry, be a little bit more financially free.

You took the proceeds of the house you sold New York to come to Tennessee. Cheaper value price. Right. Of this home than the. Okay, so. Right. So you had that imbalance, you already.

Get into this property and the tax is less.

Right, right. So, so, so overall, just to throw numbers at it, we were able to sell our house. We'll throw it out there. 7, 880,000 is what we sold our house in New York for. We purchased this house for 670. We had just.

What was the credit line? We had access to like 5, 500. We had access to 588%. LT. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, yeah. I think it was about 80%.

Right. And then what we did was. So that allowed us, I think we had less than 200 on the mortgage leftover. Right. I think we had. Yeah.

About 130 we had left.

Okay.

So that, that, that offset everything. I think all said and done prior to any renovations or additions done to the house, we were exactly this new one, we were left with an overall balance outstanding of 30 grand, 40 grand, somewhere in that range.

So this is a beautiful house, by the way. Thank you.

It was, it was quite an upgrade, I'll say that. Quite an upgrade.

Space, space, what's that space?

We had no idea what that was. Living on Long island in New York. But yes, it all said and done. I think we only had again, about 30, maybe 40 grand outstanding on the HELOC and we were able to knock that out.

So now it's 20, 25 as we're recording this. We're in June. This house has paid off. It smells different when it's paid off.

Oh, it does.

The grass feels different between your toes.

Every soil is ours.

I don't know. You know, there's a lot to be said about not paying off your mortgage. I've heard all the arguments toward not paying out it valid 100 like every.

Every season for a person.

Right. Yeah. But man, there's something about, I don't know how you measure these other emotional feelings. Yeah. And you could make an argument that the person that does accelerate their home at least once in their lifetime for the first time, do they show up more powerfully, Are there, are they operating more intentionally in their life? Are they closer to their spouse?

Right.

Like there's just these other things. Yeah, sure. Even me, like I'm in the process now. I'm accelerating my home. I have a first lien. I've. I started at 560 something. I've got it down to the mid threes at this point. I'm on track to have it done in about 2ish years. And there's something about like, once it's done, I personally, the all the math tells me not to pay off my home. Right.

There's.

And there.

And that's. I would say that's math. That's world generated. Because the world entices you with percentages and, you know, really. Percentages, right, because it's like you can not spend it here and then put it in here and you'll get more of a greater return. Right.

So now the difference if you can get that greater return minus taxes, fees, and losses.

Exactly right. So the world is telling you to do that. And again, math is math. And that. That method does work, but there are certain. There are certain certainties that you're taking into account that you're hoping come through, come to fruition. And if those don't come to fruition, then the math may not work because there's a lot of assumptions that go into that.

What happens when life happens?

Right.

Case in point. Case in point. Life happened twice.

I got. I got. Yeah, we got laid off. You know, one was a layoff for a bogus reason. Another one was because of restructuring within a company. You know, essentially having the rug pulled out from underneath me twice. And as the breadwinner, it's very, very emotional. Very, very emotional. Now, again, my wife was. You know, Corinne was working still the first time around, the second time around. Right. She's not like she's home. She's a home mom now.

However, the way that I feel now that it happened, me not working, not bringing in any income versus the way that I felt then when I had control of getting more income and keeping us afloat and helping while he found his job, not having the mortgage and not owing anybody anything and being that financially free, where trusting God to open the next door. And I don't have to panic. I don't have to worry about feeding the family. We have it under control. Having our finances in order and doing the things that we've done have set us up. Where the panic doesn't take over, the worry doesn't take over. We're at peace.

And that's something math, Denzel, that math cannot fix. You can't put that into an equation.

There's a stability here that we didn't have.

As someone that loves to run the numbers, I also recognize there's these emotional factors that can throw the numbers off completely. So for those of you that are really processing, whether it's velocity, banking or any financial strategy, run the numbers, as I always say, you know, have some sort of basis to look at, no doubt. And then re. Inject the emotion. Okay? How am I going to feel if I go this, this route? What am I giving up? Because there's a give and take in every strategy. There's still risk in velocity banking. Oh, yeah. But the rewards, the other benefits you get outweigh that little bit of risk. You're willing to take that. And here we are still where there hasn't been an issue, you know, it wasn't called. There's two instances where you're not working, not producing income. And at first link, heloc, I would argue, is even better in that scenario because you're not responsible to make a full mortgage escrow payment every single month. You're only required to cover interest if you owe anything on it. Correct.

Right.

In a position now where it's completely paid off.

We don't owe anybody anything. Which is.

And yet you still have access to all that 100 if you need to tap into it, which is huge.

And as of right now, it's access to, I think over. It may be over, yeah, 550.

So it's like.

So all that line of credit we have access to if we need it, if we need it almost acts as.

Our emergency fund in a situation like.

This where like a backup, it's a.

Backup to backup through emergency fund. But if we still need more time, it's there. It's like that's the stability that as a mom and a wife, I feel more comfortable with that and having that mortgage payment.

And so. And so with that, at this point, what are we working on?

At this point, we want to help other people. We want to get people who are in the same position we're in with young kids working to pay the bills, working to put the kids in every activity you could possibly put them in. And we know how it feels to make decent salary, household income and still feel like you're just kind of getting by. And until we became financially free, just felt like it felt like there was always something we had to owe. There was always something that we had responsibility for. And I know that, and Chris feels the same way. Helping people is just so rewarding. And getting someone from a position of worry and fear and anxiety to a place of peace is like our goal. We want to help people who are in the same position as we were get to where we are. And so when something happens like this, that's just a surprise, something that you don't anticipate, that you're ready for it and that you could focus on what's important instead of focusing on, who do I owe? When does it. When is it due? And then that causes marital tension, and it causes tension with the family, and it's just. It takes away from what really matters.

And with that, what are. How are you helping folks?

We're launching our own financial coaching business.

I love it.

We are taking principles that we have learned, we have taken. We are taking coaching insights that we have been taught, and we are paying it forward. We're going to be launching our own YouTube channel, our own coaching service to do exactly what Corinne said, and that is help individuals, couples that were in or are in the same situation we are or were, and to get them to the same point that we are and even more, because this isn't the last of it. Right?

This isn't.

This isn't the final part of the journey. There's so much more to go, and there's so much more to grow, but we have to get to a certain spot. And I think this spot, a lot of people desire just to be. Just to be free of having to owe anything to anyone. Some people are good with owing a little, and that's fine.

Yeah.

But again, the grass feels different underneath.

No, it smells different. I've been in houses, like, where there's money owed and you can. There's a presence, there's. There's the energy. Just the. Just the flow, whoever the homeowner is.

And it.

You're more loose. You guys are like, this guy gave me a bear hug when I came to the house.

I'm just like, I swear, I told her, I said, the moment I'm gonna give him a giant hug, I'm like, I'm in.

This is. This is what it's about. This is awesome.

Yeah.

To. To see that. And again, even for myself, I tell people at least once, you want to experience being debt free. And the vast majority of Americans watching have never actually been debt free for a period of time in their adulthood.

Yeah.

And then they want to go invest and multiply money, and then when they get smacked, they get punched. Life hits them real hard. Right. What do you do? They sell everything.

Right.

Panic. Sell to handle life.

Yeah.

And then you're restarting. Yeah.

Yeah, people, that's the biggest trap. It's the restarts.

Right. It's.

It's the what ifs, the setbacks, and they can trip people up 100%. And one thing that we were diligent with, but it wasn't something that was natural, but the one thing that we were diligent with was planning for those what ifs. But you can't do that unless you have a plan.

Right?

You have to, you have to have a plan. You have to be disciplined. And once those what ifs happen, those, you know, life situations happen, if you got a plan, or at least half of even sometimes half a plan, it'll be fun, you can handle it. And it won't throw you off the track. It may slow you down a little bit, but it doesn't throw you.

Not an emergency, it's just a hiccup, it's just a road bump, it's just a speed bump. Just get through it, it's done. And it doesn't. Our marriage has strengthened in this process since this whole. The start of everything. And good marriage to begin with, very blessed. But the teamwork that goes into working on it together, not having one person handle the finances, doing it together as a team is the way it should be. And it's strengthened our marriage, which has made us better parents and just relationship.

Wise, it's another added value that math can't put in.

Right? We're just stacking the benefits at this point. For, for those of you that are watching, I have an ask. I'd love for you guys to support their new YouTube channel that will be launching their social media divine stewardship. I'll have links in the chat below in the description so you guys can check them out. I'll have stuff pop up on the screen as well. Please give them a like, please give them a follow, follow their story. I think hearing it from someone that may look like you, right, that may have a similar, you know, age range, marriage, kids. You guys have three kids, all under the age of 10. Yeah, they're, they're beautiful and it's, it's awesome to see that, actually witness it now as the coach that gets to, you know, see that progress. And those of you that are ready to say, you know what, I'm gonna get in front of the camera and I'm gonna start telling my story. I'm gonna start sharing just like they are here. They're super nervous, by the way, but notice how light and they're flowing. I love it. You gotta start. I've been preaching this. Social media is a phenomena. It can be a phenomenal place. A lot of people say, you know, 99 of the stuff you see out there is bogus and trash. And it's like, well, why is that? Maybe because you're the 1% that's not on here, not on social media, producing, creating good content. So please join me being that 1% that's putting out great material and improving that that gap. So instead of it being 99, my hope is in the next 40 years it's 75% good and 25 of it is bad. Like just flip the script completely. And I think it's very possible if we can get more people like this wonderful couple here and you all that are watching that have a story to tell. You paid off your home. There are a lot of you watching here that paid off your home. People need to hear that. They're not hearing that enough. So they're hearing all the other stuff. And again I'm not against that that content. I actually have clients that are not intentionally paying off their home because they locked in a two point something rate back then early Covid and they paid everything else off except for the mortgage. They have a second lien. Maybe they're you know, funding their policy. They're investing because they're able to maintain that low mortgage payment. Great. Right. That's because they have the debt capacity. They have the ability to. To steward that.

Exactly.

Huge burden on it. 100 but there are some watching where 40% of your income is your mortgage and if we could get rid of that and then you free up 30, 40% of your living expense that we could plow toward investments or just be more intentional about taking that vacation with your wife hanging out with oh man. Value being more available now. The value and maybe a small percentage goes to her investment because you have.

The time right to do so.

So being able to have those conversations with qualified professional people and even just people that have experienced it. There's a couple here that they've gone through certain things that I haven't that you may relate to more. Which is why I wanted to bring them on my channel and have them share their story in a sense give you a sneak peek because you might. They might be the reason why you get your mortgage paid off or become fully debt free. And I'm just sitting here. I'm just was able to be a part of that process. Like hey, check them out. I'm that connector passing. Let's see. Let's. Let's make this a wonderful experience for you. Is there anything you'd like to share as we get ready to close?

We got anything?

No, no.

Shared it all.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I just want to say thank you. Very appreciative of this opportunity here. I think we're gonna have a really, really good partnership moving forward. Even closer than we are now because now we're getting into more fun stuff. The hard stuff is done and now the fun stuff of helping people and getting other people into our position.

Oh yeah.

And then moving forward and I think it's really, really fun. It's exciting. It really is. It's really exciting.

God bless everyone. Enjoy the rest of your day. Again my ask is that you check out their social medias, give them a follow comment, reach out to them, have them tell their story to you. You tell the story to them and if there's a partnership that can occur, telling you coaching is the season that we're in right now. A lot of people are discovering the concept of coaching. We only think of it in sports but in life having a coach to walk you through life experiences at the finances as well. When you pair that together powerful things occur, breakthrough occurs and ultimately living an intentional life worth living. So with that again have a wonderful day.

God bless.