Own Your Finances, with Sharon Lechter

You're either in control of your money or it's in control of you. There's not much in between. And too many people are controlled by their money. They lose their health because they're scared to death about money.

If you want to live like you matter, ditch the pills, look great, and feel freaking amazing. You're in the right place. I'm Dr. Wendy Trubo. And I'm Dr. Ed Levitan. Welcome to the Five Journeys podcast, where we empower you to live a vibrant and healthy life by optimizing your structural, chemical, emotional, social, social, and spiritual lives. Hang on to your hats. Hello, and welcome to this episode of the Five Journeys podcast. Live like you matter. I am delighted today to have Sharon Lecter on the podcast. Ed can't join us today. He's. He's a kid schlepper, so it's just me and Sharon, so we'll have some girl bonding. Sharon Lecter is a author of 27 books, five times New York Times bestseller, and she's my personal mentor. And it was one of those magical moments where I heard her speak and Ed asked me a question. As she was speaking, I was like, be quiet. She's talking. I need to listen to this woman. And that was the moment where I fell in love. And I said, I need to work with this woman. And that was last year. So we've been working together for about eight months. And I'm just delighted to have you here because it is such a privilege to work with you and be with you, and you are expert on financial wellbeing and health. And so welcome to the show. First off, so we can kick off. So. So let's drill into the Sharon. So when you talk about investing for your future, you're into assets. What do you consider to be an asset? I've heard you say assets are sexy. I have the T shirt Assets. I'm not wearing it today. I should have worn it for the podcast. The Assets are Sexy shirt. So what do you consider to be an asset?

Well, assets are several categories. First, businesses. If you own a business, that's an asset you want to make sure you have. It's a true business where other people work for you and systems work for you so that you're not just owning a job. Real estate. If you have investment real estate. So it's. You have a tenant that's renting from you. Let's say it's a house, they're paying you $1,000 a month in rent, and your expenses are 500. You're getting $500 positive cash flow every month, that's an asset. Paper assets, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, IRAs for one case, they're all basically paper assets that hopefully a positive cash flow to you. This last year, not so much. But we continue in over time the stock market has been a good investment and then intellectual property, which is a huge one and something that I, I really help people understand how to take what you know, your expertise and turn it into an income producing asset. For instance, the Dirty Girl book is a perfect way of you expanding your intellectual property into an asset so people around the world can access your brilliance 247 and not disturb you. So it's interesting, you know, that's how you can truly leverage your expertise and exponentially increase your impact. So all of those categories, and now we have to kind of add digital currency there any given day is an asset or a liability, depending on where it is. So all of those things are assets. And so most financial planners tell you to diversify your assets, but they're talking about different types of paper assets and that's only a piece of the picture. I teach diversification across asset categories. So have a business, have paper assets, have investment real estate, and now you can invest in real estate through a reit. So you, it's not the big giant house you own, but you own a piece of a large apartment complex. So those kinds of things allow you to diversify. So when there is a crash in one market, the other ones stay, keep you afloat.

So what do you say to people who are either it's the bookends of someone's financial world are very similar because the early starting out and the coming to the end of one's career kind of mirror each other in terms of extra cash often. What do you tell people who say, well, I don't know that I have money to invest or I'm living paycheck to paycheck. Where does the freedom come in and the ability to diversify?

Well, I want to change that story so the ending bookend is much bigger, right? So that you, when you start investing in assets, those assets start working for you and they pile up and all of a sudden your income is being replaced by income from your assets. And so you, when you retire, you don't have a drop in living. You have the ability to maintain your style of living because those assets continue to work and generate income for you. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people do chase the money as a salary. They work hard and they get to the end of their career and they say Is this all there is? You know, they haven't been able. The old defined pensions are no longer a thing available to people. And so if you don't put the money aside for yourself, you don't have it. And many people are having to work, not choosing to work, having to work way into their 60s, 70s because they can't afford to retire. And let's reverse that by starting to invest in assets that grow and maintain. And it's like they become your employees working for you, but you don't have personality problems to deal with. That's the message that I teach. Let's build your assets so that when you decide to stop working, your quality of life doesn't change because those assets are there generating income for you.

Okay, so can we drill into this? Because if you're. Obviously it makes sense to. If your company provides a 401k or some type of investment vehicle for you to participate in, especially if they match, you take advantage of that. So it sounds like you would say sure, max it out if you can. However, it almost sounds like there's benefit to maxing whatever they are matching. And then if you have extra money putting that into some other vehicle, either real estate or intellectual property, or starting your own business, that, that you're not putting everything into just your retirement account necessarily.

Well, and there are people who choose to do that. And the issue there is, you know, your financial future, your money is, needs to always be moving in momentum. And if you put everything into your 401k, you're tied to one, one manager's decision making ability. And that's what I, you know, I don't like that. I'm a control freak, I admit it. But for me to put all my money into one basket and rely on one person sitting behind a desk who may not be there next year, might be replaced by somebody new, makes me nervous. So yes, max out your 401k, particularly if your company matches it. And because that gives you the tax deduction of the, of what you're Putting into the 401k gives you free money from your employer, but don't rely on that for your financial future. All right, Have a side business, have your addition of your bonuses, your additional raises, turn that into an investment portfolio outside your 401k. That gives you an additional depth of assets to support you.

What do you recommend for people who aren't at the level of being able to put 20% down for some type of physical asset? What do you say to them? Do you say band up with your Friends or put, put less down. How do you get from 0 to 2010 to 20%? Or is it even that you do that? Or how do you, what do you recommend for people?

Well, if you're talking about investing in real estate, if you don't have the money to go on a down payment, you, there are several things you can do. You can find a partner who knows about real estate that they don't have the time and energy to to do the hands on work. So they put down the money and you do the hands on work to manage the property. But that takes a lot of work and if you don't have any know knowledge about it, you might learn a few hard lessons along the way. There are syndications available to invest in. Many of them are high dollar amounts, but there now are many that are more crowdfunding based so that you can get involved with a very small amount of money to the point of also investing in REITs. R E I T real estate investment trust, which is kind of like buying a stock, but you're buying into a real estate investment trust that may be centralized in industrial buildings or it might be focused family housing. And so you're looking and tracking an industry and you're putting your money into a large pool but you still have the advantage of the fact that you're now investing in real estate and a small amount of money. So there's so many more ways to invest in real estate today than there were even 10 years ago. And so there is no excuse for people to say I don't have the money to invest in real estate. Right. You may not have the money to buy a building on your own, but you still have some money you can invest in real estate.

Okay, so when you're investing in a reit, it sounds like you could say, okay, I'm interested in evolving technologies, I'm interested in real estate that is as clean as possible. So I'm going to put my money into something that resonates for my philosophy. Is that accurate? I think you can find those.

There are real estate investment trusts that are focused on what's the certification for buildings?

Oh, it's the lead certification.

Yes, LEED certifications. There are for companies that are committed to the smallest footprint in energy. So yes, you just have to look for those if that's, if that's your passion. And I recommend do that because then you know you've got your investing in what you believe in. You know, there are people that invest in farmland because they want to ensure the future of our Farming in America, there are people that invest in technology based companies because they want to be part of the future. That, okay, that's not necessarily reit because there may not be real estate involved, but real estate investment trusts. Do most of them focus in a particular type of real estate? Not all of them. Some are focused on storage units. All right. Others are focused on industrial buildings, but some are mixed use. So again, do your homework. And one of the things I really encourage people is find a real estate investment group around you. There's a group here as ria, Arizona Real Estate Association. They have monthly meetings and you can learn so much by just going and attending. And learn about potential investments in your area. Learn about things that are going on. Get yourself educated. You won't get educated if you don't spend the time. And so I think it's really important for people to think about what's your future like. And certainly in today's world, we may not be able to control the international economy or the state economy or even our city, but we can control what's in our wallets. And so we've become a society of victim mentality. Everything's everybody else's fault. I want you to be a victor, stand in your own power and take control of your finances. Because it's pretty simple. You're either in control of your money or, or it's in control of you. There's not much in between. And too many people are controlled by their money. They lose their health. Let's get back to what you do. They lose their health because they're scared to death about money. A recent survey showed millennials and Gen Z's 80 to 85% of them are worried about money. That's their number one concern. That wasn't that way 10 years ago. The younger generations had this, you know, fairy tale vision of their future. And yet today these younger kids are scared to death. Plus we have increase of mental health issues. And so I'm really worried about them because we need to teach them the tools they need to succeed or they will have even more health problems.

Right. It becomes this rat wheel that you start to run on. So you have concern about money, that makes you anxious, that makes you perform poorer. Then you may not get the opportunities because you're not performing at your peak. And then you're more worried about money. So you've just now danced on the rat wheel and the faster you run, the faster you run and that's it. So I have a lot of questions, but let me think about what do you recommend people do when the. You know, I'm looking for access to power at the moment when you don't have any power. That's what I'm trying to drill into. What's that moment where people can say, okay, I'm on the rat wheel. It's not working for me. I need to get off the rat wheel. How do people get off the rat wheel? Or how do they become from go from victim to victor? Where is that?

Well, the first book I wrote with the Napoleon Hill foundation after leaving Rich dad was called Three Feet from Gold. And in it I discussed the personal success equation. And I share this in every speech, every interview because it really helps people focus on their personal life. And the equation is P +T, your passion and your talent. So my passion actually came from anger. I was mad we weren't teaching kids about money. My talent was years as a cpa, years in publishing. And most of us stop there because we think we have to do it on our own. Hence the rat race being on the wheel. We have to do it all by ourselves because that's what school taught us. But true success comes from taking your passion and your talent and finding the right associations, times a the power of association. Who are you working with? Who's your mentor? Who do you align yourself with? Who do you bring on to your team? Bringing people in who are strong, where you are weak. That's how you have exponential success. And then times a taking action. How many times do we know what we're supposed to do? We just don't do it right. I feel busted every time I share that. So you have your passion and your talent, the right associations, taking action, and then there's a plus F with all of it. And that's faith. Having faith in yourself, having faith in what you're doing that is needed and necessary, and having faith that you will succeed. And usually people are lacking in their associations and their self confidence and they kind of go hand in hand. When you have the right people around you and you have a bad day, we all have bad days. They won't let you stay there. They pull you right back up. And that's the essence of success, is knowing that you are in the right environment, you have the right people around you helping challenge you. All right? Opening doors for you. Don't be the smartest person in the room. And then have that confidence that what you're doing is needed and necessary and realizing that you have a gift. You're everybody watching and listening right now. You were brought here to be the perfect rendition of you, not someone else. And in today's world, we were way too interested in trying to be like someone else. Be yourself. You have a gift. And whatever you have gone through, whatever has stopped you on your tracks along the way, you're still here for a reason. You know, I took me a long time to find that, because I lost a son 10 years ago and took me several years to get out of that level of grief. But I heard him in my ear saying, get over it, mom. There's more for you to do. And that's when I started having this message for people, that whatever we've been through, we survived it, whether it was a death, a divorce, a financial setback, an illness. And so you. You have a story to tell. And you can help other people that are going through the same thing. But the first step when you are in that hole is stop digging. Start asking for help. Find somebody that can help educate you. Find somebody that can help mentor you. Find some, but get a book. Start reading. Filling your brain with possibility, not fear. Because when you bring in that hope and possibility, the fear is. Gets pushed out. And that's what I want people to do.

You know, I always say to my patients, I talk to women all day, right? And they say to me, what if? Blah, blah. And one of my patients said to me, she is. She had four kids, she still has four kids, and two were on the autism spectrum. So they weren't as independent as she would hope. So now they're grown, they're 20 years old, and she and her husband decide they're going to take a vacation. And she says to me, she's like, leaving in a week. She says, wendy, what if. What if they burn the house down? I said, you are asking the wrong question. If you ask a bad question, you're going to get a bad answer. So the question isn't what if they burn the house down? Because all what if questions send your brain into victimhood and panic. What you need to ask is, have I given them the tools they need to be safe while I'm away? And what would they do if the house set on fire? Have I trained them to react properly in an emergency? And what do I need to train them in so that that doesn't happen? Those are the questions to ask. Because what if questions are not answerable? But how to. And how would I. And what would I do if Gives your brain the opportunity to chew and give you answers?

So it's so true. Yeah, so true. I teach people. How many times have you said, I can't afford it. Right? Everybody's busted by that. And so I can't afford it. It's negative. It closes your mind. You want to turn off the lights and get under the covers. And I go, let's retool our brain. Because you can control three things. Your thoughts, your words, your actions. And so let's change your thoughts from I can't afford it to how can I afford it? And do you feel the difference when you say, how can I afford it? You are activating your subconscious mind, and all of a sudden it goes to work, finding a way for you to afford it. And that's the same thing with our children. We tell them, no, we can't afford it. Then they get all sad and depressed instead, say, johnny, Mary, how can you afford this? And let them set a goal. Let them find. They get very creative, by the way, on how they can afford it. But let them find a way to earn the money. Let them buy what they want, and then celebrate. Because the fringe benefit, the most important part of that process is the self confidence, you see, they develop in that process. Setting a goal, achieving it, and celebrating.

I always say to my kids, you're not allowed to say you can't do something unless you put yet at the end of it, because yet leaves that door open so that you know there's possibility and hope and future. Okay, I think we're on the same page, which is why I come to you for mentorship. Okay, so this has been amazing. Is there anything else you want to tell the listeners that we haven't talked about?

Well, I think it's important. You know, when Covid hit, there's such negativity. And I realized that people needed an injection of positivity. So I started something called ATMs as a daily. It stands for abundance, Tips and Mentorship. Kind of a play on an ATM deposit at a bank. And I wanted people to really focus on tuning out the negative, getting out of negative environments and focusing on the positive, because your subconscious picks up those negative things, even if you're not paying attention to it. I realized years ago I had pretty much always had the news running in the background, and I was agitated all the time. And it was because all the news was negative and made me angry. And I said, this is crazy. So I haven't watched the news in years. I check in on a daily basis to find out what's happening in the world, but it allows me to focus on being productive, allows me to surround myself with people who are positive. With initiatives that I feel can add value. And I feel so much better. I feel like I'm being of contribution because when we allow ourselves to be bombarded by negativity, we stop moving. It's like we get paralyzed because fear either paralyzes us or motivates us. Most of us are paralyzed by fear. And so when you recognize that, say, okay, the fear is here. We're all going to have fear. I recognize it and I go, I want to turn this into focus and turn that fear into energy to go in the direction that's more positive.

Okay, this is. I mean, that's a fantastic place to stop. Like, don't let your brain send you down the rabbit hole, basically.

Okay. And remember, you can control your thoughts, your words and your actions. And you can't blame anybody else for those three things. And so if you need to work on it, and they can. The Personal Success Equation. If you go to personal success. Equ equation.com I have a free ebook that helps you walk through your own personal success equation. And I challenge you on a few things for you to find your passion, recognize your talent. So many times you have tremendous talent, but you don't recognize it because you're. You're always talking down on yourself. You know, people need that self confidence. So let's raise your self confidence and find those one or two things that you can do. What new association do you need? Do you need a mentor? What do you need to do to elevate your faith in yourself, therefore, faith in the future?

This is great. Where can people find you, Sharon?

Well, my website is Sharonlecter.com and I'm Sharon Lecter. On, on social media, Facebook is author Sharon Lecter. And then I also. You reach out to me by email. Infoheronlector.com I'd love to hear from you. My mentoring programs are on my website, so please reach out. We'd love to hear from you.

Awesome. Sharon. Thank you for being here. Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of the Five Journeys podcast. Live like youe Matter. Can't wait to talk to you again. And for all the listeners, you should follow Sharon because she's wicked smart, as we say in Boston. Thank you for being here, Sharon.

Thank you, sweetheart. I'm so happy to be here and I'm so proud of you and the impact that you're making.

Thank you. Don't go it alone. It's not a social journey until others join. Share this with your friends. Sam.