Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Financial Tips: Financial Advisor and Diversity and Inclusive Specialist discuss how Black Entrepreneurship bridges racial wealth gap.
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. I am Rashan McDonald, the host
- 0:08Speaker 1: of Money Making Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to
- 0:11Speaker 1: stop reading other people's success stories and start planning their own.
- 0:16Speaker 1: Listen up as I interview entrepreneurs from around the country,
- 0:19Speaker 1: talk to celebrities and ask them how they are running
- 0:22Speaker 1: their companies, and speak with god profits who are making
- 0:25Speaker 1: a difference in their local communities. Now, sit back and
- 0:28Speaker 1: listen as we unlock the secrets to their success on
- 0:31Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Hi, I am Rashan McDonald. I
- 0:36Speaker 1: host this weekly Money Making Conversation Master Class show. The
- 0:39Speaker 1: interviews and information that this show provides are for everyone.
- 0:42Speaker 1: It's time to start reading other people's success stories and
- 0:45Speaker 1: start living your own. I'm here to help you reach
- 0:48Speaker 1: your American dream. My guests today are discussing how black
- 0:52Speaker 1: entrepreneurship is a solution to bridging the racial wealth gap.
- 0:57Speaker 1: One is a financial advisor and the others are Diversity
- 1:00Speaker 1: an inclusion specialist for Northwestern Mutual. The racial wealth gap
- 1:04Speaker 1: refers to the disparity and assets of typical households across
- 1:08Speaker 1: race and ethnicity. Please welcome to the show from north
- 1:12Speaker 1: Western Mutual. Alel Castro and Travis May Senior. Welcome to
- 1:16Speaker 1: Money Making Conversation Team. Thanks Travis, you are the financial advisor. Yes, sir, okay,
- 1:24Speaker 1: out of the box. I'm gonna tell you explain to
- 1:26Speaker 1: my audience what is the racial gap? I mentioned it
- 1:29Speaker 1: in a defined tone, but I'm sure when you're talking
- 1:32Speaker 1: to everyday people, it's not as a dictionary field.
- 1:37Speaker 2: Yeah. So the racial wealth gap is the difference between
- 1:46Speaker 2: the financial difference between where Black people are today and
- 1:50Speaker 2: where other communities of majority exist and operating today when
- 1:59Speaker 2: it comes to racial disparity or wealth disparity. To be honest, Rashan,
- 2:04Speaker 2: we use that term racial wealth gap. I don't necessarily
- 2:09Speaker 2: think that the racial wealth gap can be closed. That
- 2:14Speaker 2: would mean that those who are in the majority and
- 2:17Speaker 2: who have the wealth are going to stop doing what
- 2:20Speaker 2: they're doing to obtain the wealth. I do think, Rashon,
- 2:25Speaker 2: that in the Black community and African American community, that
- 2:29Speaker 2: we can make strides in closing that racial wealth gap disparity,
- 2:35Speaker 2: and basically what it is is, uh the lack of
- 2:39Speaker 2: resources that are available to us as African Americans. Financial resources,
- 2:45Speaker 2: educational resources, all of these things play a major role
- 2:51Speaker 2: in our ability to move up the ladder and when
- 2:56Speaker 2: it when it comes to finances and you know, pass
- 3:00Speaker 2: generational weve down from one generation to the next, you.
- 3:03Speaker 1: Know, because you know, thank you for that update. Because
- 3:06Speaker 1: there are a lot of bug buzzwords generational wealth. I
- 3:08Speaker 1: hear that a lot on this show, the racial wealth gap.
- 3:11Speaker 1: The head on the show now three words, I hear
- 3:13Speaker 1: a lot on this show, Miss Castro. Diversity Equity and
- 3:17Speaker 1: Inclusion DEI, which has been under a tremendous amount of
- 3:22Speaker 1: political attacks, community attacks. It made it very racial when
- 3:28Speaker 1: it comes to even the vice president has been called
- 3:32Speaker 1: adi placement and her role as vice president? What is
- 3:37Speaker 1: your role? You are specialists? Explain to us. Maybe I'm
- 3:41Speaker 1: not asking you to tell us why it's under attack,
- 3:44Speaker 1: but what are the necessary needs of having your role
- 3:48Speaker 1: or having a specialist at a company for DEI?
- 3:51Speaker 3: Absolutely so, diversity, equity and inclusion is very important for
- 3:58Speaker 3: businesses to match the communities for which they sit in
- 4:02Speaker 3: and which they serve. So that is the core focus
- 4:05Speaker 3: of the work that I do. The great thing about
- 4:08Speaker 3: Northwestern Mutual is we have doubled down on DEI in
- 4:13Speaker 3: a time where a lot of companies are pulling back
- 4:16Speaker 3: out of fear of cancel culture, out of fear of
- 4:21Speaker 3: any sort of negative connotation with doing work that includes
- 4:27Speaker 3: people who may not look like the people who sit
- 4:29Speaker 3: at the tops of these boards or who run these businesses.
- 4:33Speaker 3: So I'm just blessed to be at a company that
- 4:37Speaker 3: has supported DEI efforts and has really doubled down at
- 4:42Speaker 3: a time where we were where we have started going backwards.
- 4:46Speaker 1: We really have And that's why I thought it was
- 4:48Speaker 1: important to have both of you guys, because basically in
- 4:50Speaker 1: this battle, it does involve you know, the Financial Advisor
- 4:55Speaker 1: brand awareness. Because you made an understatement traverse their racial
- 4:59Speaker 1: wealth gain, it's not going to close. Why would I
- 5:01Speaker 1: stop making money? Why would I just okay? And I'm
- 5:03Speaker 1: gonna give you opportunity to catch me. My goal is
- 5:06Speaker 1: to keep making money. I always tell people Bill Gates
- 5:08Speaker 1: is trying to get more billions. You know, Elon Munks
- 5:11Speaker 1: wants to be He wants to retain that title of
- 5:13Speaker 1: being the richest man in the world, which I would
- 5:15Speaker 1: like to have that title too. That means I got
- 5:17Speaker 1: a lot of work to do, and that means I'm
- 5:19Speaker 1: not gonna close that racial gap. Winning the lottery and
- 5:22Speaker 1: with that being said, entrepreneurship is not to me, it's
- 5:27Speaker 1: the laying. It's the lane of trying to change generational lifestyles.
- 5:32Speaker 1: Because you can't pass your job to your son. You
- 5:35Speaker 1: can't pass technically, you can't pass your job to your doctor,
- 5:38Speaker 1: your doctor. You can't just make your daughter be a
- 5:41Speaker 1: doctor or your son be a doctor, or your nephew
- 5:43Speaker 1: be a doctor. That's a learned crap. But if you
- 5:46Speaker 1: have a bakery, if you have a business, you can't
- 5:50Speaker 1: pass that business to someone in your family. Talk to
- 5:53Speaker 1: us about that traffsy, because I think that's very important.
- 5:56Speaker 1: We talking about just wealth building. That's what we want
- 5:59Speaker 1: to talk about in the show well building.
- 6:02Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's important that in our community we
- 6:05Speaker 2: have those those success stories, in those staples to follow
- 6:13Speaker 2: successful black owned businesses service role models. They show the
- 6:17Speaker 2: younger generation that, you know, financial independence is possible, and
- 6:22Speaker 2: so they provide the real examples of wealth creation which
- 6:26Speaker 2: foster that culture of entrepreneurship and empowerment. And so I
- 6:32Speaker 2: think it's really important that first and foremost we got
- 6:37Speaker 2: to read and get educated as a culture. You know
- 6:41Speaker 2: what they say, if you want to hire something from
- 6:42Speaker 2: a black man, you got to put it in a book.
- 6:44Speaker 2: And so the long term wealth building requires a combination
- 6:49Speaker 2: of access to capital. It requires ongoing mentorship and a
- 6:54Speaker 2: prioritization as you say with Sean of financial planning at
- 6:58Speaker 2: every stage in life, not just in one stage or another.
- 7:04Speaker 2: And so that's that's one thing that entrepreneurship helps helps
- 7:10Speaker 2: us accomplish in our community, right is that transition of assets,
- 7:14Speaker 2: That transition of I mean that that that passing down
- 7:17Speaker 2: of businesses and other assets that can help us thrive
- 7:21Speaker 2: in the future.
- 7:22Speaker 1: Well, you know, it's really interesting because I've been involved
- 7:25Speaker 1: in small business uplift I like to call it with
- 7:28Speaker 1: you know, just to do the Neighborhood Awards was Steve Harrier,
- 7:30Speaker 1: where we will promote local business whether you was uh,
- 7:34Speaker 1: you know, car wash owner, or high schools and churches
- 7:38Speaker 1: because all these feed into motivating change in the community.
- 7:43Speaker 1: And that's important when we see changing the community. And
- 7:45Speaker 1: when I talk to you, Ms. Catastrop, community voices because
- 7:50Speaker 1: you are community voice, like you just you really stood
- 7:53Speaker 1: up to reach out. We're not going anywhere. I love that.
- 7:56Speaker 1: I love you had a fire in your voice that
- 8:00Speaker 1: you are the attack. I'm telling those words that you
- 8:03Speaker 1: represent a one hundred percent been on attack. I've seen
- 8:07Speaker 1: the shift in my business. I am a minority owned business.
- 8:11Speaker 1: I've seen companies that had me at the front of
- 8:14Speaker 1: their plate. During the George Floyd I was eating off
- 8:17Speaker 1: that but I was eating big time girl, And then
- 8:19Speaker 1: all of a sudden, I've seen those portions in that
- 8:22Speaker 1: plate get smaller and smaller and smaller the further we've
- 8:26Speaker 1: gotten away from the George Floyd situation.
- 8:29Speaker 4: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
- 8:33Speaker 4: money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
- 8:45Speaker 4: Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
- 8:51Speaker 4: continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
- 8:56Speaker 4: Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
- 9:01Speaker 1: Now you said what you said, You're company Northwestern Mutual.
- 9:04Speaker 1: We're not going anywhere. How do you get that story
- 9:07Speaker 1: to the community.
- 9:09Speaker 3: Absolutely, I think doing events such as community conversations and
- 9:14Speaker 3: really explaining what Northwestern Mutual does from a brand perspective,
- 9:19Speaker 3: but also how we support our diverse advisors and our
- 9:23Speaker 3: diverse communities helps communicate that story right. So that was
- 9:28Speaker 3: born out of a strategic initiative that we call SARE internally,
- 9:32Speaker 3: which stands for Sustained Action for Racial Equity. This is
- 9:37Speaker 3: something that did begin around twenty twenty where our CEO
- 9:42Speaker 3: did make a statement saying that this is something that
- 9:44Speaker 3: we're going to invest in. The difference with our organization
- 9:48Speaker 3: is that he has continued to invest in it even
- 9:53Speaker 3: past the times of media coverage on social unrests and
- 9:57Speaker 3: social injustices. So this event was born out of that initiative,
- 10:04Speaker 3: as well as many others. We have an accelerator program,
- 10:07Speaker 3: we have mentorship programs, and we have strategic initiatives to
- 10:12Speaker 3: really get more involved in the black community and reinvesting
- 10:18Speaker 3: in the black community.
- 10:19Speaker 1: And you was referencing, and I want to stay on
- 10:22Speaker 1: her for a minute, mister May before I get back
- 10:24Speaker 1: to her, because this is where, you know, if I
- 10:28Speaker 1: get heated in this whole world of trying to make
- 10:31Speaker 1: a change in the Black community, it's in the DEI
- 10:34Speaker 1: because I see it being very racial. I see it
- 10:38Speaker 1: being it demeans us like we're asking for a handout.
- 10:41Speaker 1: And I say us because I'm an African American and
- 10:44Speaker 1: all I want is an equal opportunity to participate. That's
- 10:49Speaker 1: all I want a shot at participating. Now you mentioned
- 10:53Speaker 1: some programs, how does one access those programs at your
- 10:58Speaker 1: company as an individual as well as a corporation or
- 11:02Speaker 1: a small business.
- 11:05Speaker 3: I would highly suggest reaching out to your local Northwestern
- 11:09Speaker 3: Mutual office. So we operate off of network offices here
- 11:13Speaker 3: in Atlanta. We have two of them. I represent one
- 11:17Speaker 3: of them, called the Callaway Black Group. We sit in Finding, Georgia,
- 11:22Speaker 3: but our reach expands over all of Metro Atlanta. Reaching
- 11:27Speaker 3: out to us, letting us know what your career goals are,
- 11:31Speaker 3: whether you are looking to become an advisor, or you
- 11:35Speaker 3: are an entrepreneur and you're looking to pair with an
- 11:37Speaker 3: advisor to help you create a financial plan for your business.
- 11:41Speaker 3: Reaching out to us and seeing how we can partner
- 11:45Speaker 3: together to help you achieve your financial goals. It's really
- 11:48Speaker 3: that simple. I have had people reach out to me
- 11:51Speaker 3: on social media. I've had people reach out to me
- 11:54Speaker 3: out at events, you know, different client events and networking
- 12:00Speaker 3: events and asking me more about what we do. A
- 12:02Speaker 3: lot of times in the black community, when they hear
- 12:04Speaker 3: of Northwestern Mutual, they just think life insurance. They don't
- 12:08Speaker 3: understand that we do holistic financial planning. So we're so
- 12:13Speaker 3: much more than life insurance. We do planning, We do
- 12:17Speaker 3: community engagement and investment right back to the communities that
- 12:21Speaker 3: we sit in. So really just getting in contact with us,
- 12:25Speaker 3: your or your local network office to learn more about
- 12:29Speaker 3: how you can be a part of that.
- 12:31Speaker 1: Now, Travis, she said a key word that you brought
- 12:34Speaker 1: up earlier financial planning, because there's two words that really
- 12:38Speaker 1: in the small business community we forget is financial planning
- 12:43Speaker 1: and budget. We want to start a business, we got
- 12:46Speaker 1: a great idea, We're going to open the doors and
- 12:48Speaker 1: we automatically think the customer is going to come in,
- 12:51Speaker 1: or you go to the flee market and all your
- 12:53Speaker 1: products is going to be sold. There's no budget of
- 12:56Speaker 1: financial planning. Now, going back to you, that's what I'm
- 12:59Speaker 1: about between the two of y'all in this interview, because
- 13:02Speaker 1: each one of you kind of like explains why the
- 13:04Speaker 1: other one exists or the need for the other person.
- 13:07Speaker 1: Because I've contacted her, she's mentioned financial planning. I'm a
- 13:11Speaker 1: small business. Now I'm talking to you, Travis. You're going
- 13:14Speaker 1: to be at the event meeting people personally, but what
- 13:17Speaker 1: exactly is your role and explain in detail from the
- 13:20Speaker 1: financial side what Northwestern Mutual does.
- 13:25Speaker 2: Yeah, So I'll start by saying, when we're first introduced
- 13:30Speaker 2: to people, they tell us that they've done some great
- 13:34Speaker 2: planning already, all right, they have saved in retirement accounts,
- 13:38Speaker 2: they've invested money, they might even purchase some insurance at
- 13:42Speaker 2: some point. But even having done all of these things,
- 13:46Speaker 2: they will still look me in my eye and tell me, Travis,
- 13:49Speaker 2: I'm not really sure how these things are supposed to
- 13:52Speaker 2: tie together within a plan, or I'm not sure if
- 13:56Speaker 2: what I'm doing is enough. And what we find ra Sean,
- 13:59Speaker 2: is that it's most often because of time. Okay, most
- 14:02Speaker 2: people are working full time in their careers or their businesses.
- 14:05Speaker 2: I'm sure you can attest to that. And then they
- 14:07Speaker 2: also have families to grow and spend time with, and
- 14:11Speaker 2: so it's easy to understand how financial planning falls to
- 14:15Speaker 2: the bottom of the to do list and so and
- 14:18Speaker 2: seeing that so frequently, it's become the mission of my
- 14:21Speaker 2: practice to help people take a step off that treadmill
- 14:24Speaker 2: of life and to help them make active and conscious
- 14:28Speaker 2: and meaningful decisions around whatever they tell me is important
- 14:33Speaker 2: to them. And I like to use sports analogies with
- 14:35Speaker 2: Shaun when I'm describing how we do that, and so
- 14:40Speaker 2: we help people with their offensive and their defensive financial
- 14:44Speaker 2: planning strategies. The offensive planning Rashan is saving for whatever
- 14:50Speaker 2: people say is important to them. A lot of people
- 14:52Speaker 2: say retirement, or their children's education, or to pass along
- 14:57Speaker 2: future wealth to generations, whatever the case may be. I personally,
- 15:02Speaker 2: I can't speak for anyone else, but I personally take
- 15:04Speaker 2: an educational approach. I make sure that my clients are
- 15:08Speaker 2: educated about how things work and ultimately what the opportunities
- 15:13Speaker 2: and possibilities are, because I think in any aspect, when
- 15:17Speaker 2: we're more educated, or the better educated we are, the
- 15:20Speaker 2: better decisions will make. When you know better, you'll do better.
- 15:23Speaker 2: The second focus re Shaun is on tax efficiency. I
- 15:27Speaker 2: have clients cutting five, six, seven figure checks to the
- 15:30Speaker 2: IRS every year, and the way that they describe that
- 15:32Speaker 2: is painful. So we help with strategies to minimize taxes,
- 15:38Speaker 2: not just on today's dollars like your CPA would do,
- 15:41Speaker 2: but on dollars that they may not see or touch
- 15:44Speaker 2: for the next twenty, thirty or forty years. And then
- 15:47Speaker 2: on the defensive side of the ball, that involves talking
- 15:51Speaker 2: about things that we don't necessarily like to talk about,
- 15:54Speaker 2: or that aren't as fun to talk about, but it's
- 15:57Speaker 2: crucial to discuss and address plan for if we're talking
- 16:01Speaker 2: about doing true financial planning. And so this is evaluating
- 16:04Speaker 2: the what ifs of our client's lives. What if someone
- 16:08Speaker 2: passes away unexpectedly? Right, what if I get sick or
- 16:13Speaker 2: you get sick and can't work and earn an income,
- 16:17Speaker 2: or what if someone close to you needs some type
- 16:20Speaker 2: of extended care for an extended period of time. And
- 16:23Speaker 2: so those are the areas that we try to wrap
- 16:27Speaker 2: people's minds around and get them thinking deeper about when
- 16:30Speaker 2: it comes to financial planning and just crossing all the
- 16:33Speaker 2: t's and dotting all the o's.
- 16:35Speaker 1: You know, a really interesting thing about this, how do
- 16:37Speaker 1: we get in touch with your side of the table?
- 16:40Speaker 1: You know you not saying you know, I'm putting you
- 16:44Speaker 1: on the spot. She said, the local Northwestern Mutual. You
- 16:47Speaker 1: know that seems so that seems so unattainable. I'm trying
- 16:51Speaker 1: to personalize this conversation because I think that that's what
- 16:54Speaker 1: goes wrong because I do a lot of these interviews
- 16:57Speaker 1: on my show Money Making Conversation master Class, and I
- 17:01Speaker 1: know there are a lot of opportunities, from the SBA
- 17:04Speaker 1: to the National Minority Supply to Development Council, But it
- 17:07Speaker 1: still seems like it's unattainable, It's unreachable, and it always
- 17:10Speaker 1: feels like it should be a line out the door
- 17:13Speaker 1: at the door for this conversational event, it's the third
- 17:16Speaker 1: one that you're having. But then I go there, It'll
- 17:19Speaker 1: be well attended, but I should be like more people
- 17:22Speaker 1: should know. How do we How do we get there? Travis?
- 17:27Speaker 1: How do we get there? You know? I know this helps,
- 17:30Speaker 1: but this is only one small stage of helping. How
- 17:34Speaker 1: do we get there? Brother?
- 17:36Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, we can only do so much from our seat. Right,
- 17:39Speaker 2: we put on events like community conversations, an individual advisor.
- 17:45Speaker 2: I know for myself, we do speaking engagements, right. We
- 17:48Speaker 2: partner with organizations like the Urban League. We're out in
- 17:53Speaker 2: the community, We're out at events that are being hosted
- 17:57Speaker 2: around the city and national and the lead for that matter.
- 18:01Speaker 2: But when you talk about how to connect with a
- 18:04Speaker 2: specific or given advisor, you first have to take A
- 18:07Speaker 2: person has to take an initiative. Most of the people
- 18:11Speaker 2: that I connect with are introductions that are made right,
- 18:17Speaker 2: So very seldom are people wanting or desiring to do
- 18:22Speaker 2: financial planning because they met me at an event. That's
- 18:27Speaker 2: just been my experience. Most of the people that I
- 18:30Speaker 2: connect with are introductions, very warm introductions. I work with
- 18:35Speaker 2: their mom, their dad, their coworker, their colleague, their brother,
- 18:38Speaker 2: their sister, and they say, Hey, this is the advisor
- 18:42Speaker 2: I'm working with. We've been having some great conversations doing
- 18:44Speaker 2: some great work. I think you should have a conversation
- 18:46Speaker 2: with them. And what we find is that when we're
- 18:50Speaker 2: introduced to people that way, it's a bit more sticky.
- 18:55Speaker 2: Those people tend to value the work that we do
- 18:58Speaker 2: and the time that we spend together a lot more
- 19:00Speaker 2: than someone coming across me at a at an event
- 19:04Speaker 2: where it might seem quite generic at an event.
- 19:07Speaker 1: To be honest, we're talking to Part three Community Conversation,
- 19:10Speaker 1: how black entrepreneurship is bridging the racial gap. I'm speaking
- 19:14Speaker 1: to Lay Castro and Travis may Senor. Travis May Senior
- 19:18Speaker 1: is a financial advisor, a little Castro is a diversity
- 19:21Speaker 1: inclusion specialist. A Layer ms Castro. Help me so I
- 19:29Speaker 1: can just start telling people to start kicking rocks when
- 19:32Speaker 1: they start bringing up anti DEI conversations. Help me out
- 19:37Speaker 1: give me give me some marching, or to give me
- 19:38Speaker 1: some statements, says an individual, because I am so tired,
- 19:44Speaker 1: turned on the read the newspaper. Get a little notification
- 19:48Speaker 1: it's a movie right now, that's that's anti DEI. I
- 19:53Speaker 1: want to tell them how to kick rocks. The floor
- 19:55Speaker 1: is yours.
- 19:56Speaker 3: I mean, this is not anything that's new. Right, Everything
- 20:00Speaker 3: history repeats itself. You know, some of this was happening
- 20:04Speaker 3: after the civil rights movements in the sixties. Right, it's
- 20:09Speaker 3: just backlash to progression. But what I always refer back to,
- 20:14Speaker 3: which is one of my core beliefs, is the work
- 20:17Speaker 3: that I do in diversity, equity and inclusion is about
- 20:22Speaker 3: human rights. Right. It's about respect for humans, love for
- 20:25Speaker 3: human beings, caring about people who are not able to
- 20:30Speaker 3: live their lives and thrive in a healthy or safe way. Period.
- 20:35Speaker 3: I think if you can kind of refer back to
- 20:38Speaker 3: that as a core value, then what it looks like
- 20:42Speaker 3: or what acronyms are associated with it kind of fall
- 20:45Speaker 3: to the wayside and you just get involved and do
- 20:47Speaker 3: the work. That's actually something that I find myself having
- 20:52Speaker 3: conversations about in the corporate environment often is well, what
- 20:56Speaker 3: are we going to call it to make it digestible
- 20:58Speaker 3: for people. I am someone who doesn't care too much
- 21:02Speaker 3: about what names are or what the branding is. I
- 21:05Speaker 3: care about the work that's getting done and the people
- 21:08Speaker 3: that are being helped. So just referring back to the
- 21:11Speaker 3: core value of caring about human beings and human rights,
- 21:16Speaker 3: then you can't go wrong.
- 21:18Speaker 1: Awesome, Awesome, we know when I've been educated on the show,
- 21:22Speaker 1: Northwestern Mutual is more than just a life insurance company.
- 21:27Speaker 1: Financial advice is being given there when I say that, Travis,
- 21:31Speaker 1: being that you are a financial institution such as you
- 21:34Speaker 1: are with north Western Mutual, supporting black entrepreneurship, accessing the
- 21:38Speaker 1: funds and resources they need to grow. Like you said,
- 21:42Speaker 1: people who usually come see you or organized, but they
- 21:45Speaker 1: still are. Some are paying taxes they shouldn't be paying.
- 21:49Speaker 1: Walk us through some steps and establishing a relationship with
- 21:53Speaker 1: Northwestern Mutual.
- 21:55Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I can't speak for establishing a relationship with
- 21:57Speaker 2: Northwestern Mutual, but I could definitely speak on establishing a
- 22:00Speaker 2: relationship with myself as a as.
- 22:01Speaker 1: A financial advisor and mutual.
- 22:07Speaker 2: I am. But I guess if I could add some
- 22:09Speaker 2: context to that, we operate similar to like how realtors operate.
- 22:12Speaker 1: Okay, So a realtor will.
- 22:14Speaker 2: Hang their license with a brokerage, so, so to speak,
- 22:18Speaker 2: to simplify it, I chose to partner with a Fortune
- 22:21Speaker 2: one hundred company to build my financial planning practice, become
- 22:26Speaker 2: part of the solution, and give the people that I serve,
- 22:29Speaker 2: which happen to be majority of people who look like me,
- 22:31Speaker 2: access to some of the best resources that are out there.
- 22:35Speaker 2: So from that, that's the perspective on that. But what
- 22:39Speaker 2: does it look like in establishing a relationship generally, what
- 22:44Speaker 2: it looks like for me? I'm just walk you through
- 22:45Speaker 2: what that looks like. I'm on a call with somebody
- 22:47Speaker 2: and at the end of the call, they say, Travis,
- 22:50Speaker 2: you got to meet so and so, you got to
- 22:51Speaker 2: meet x y Z. They give me x y Z
- 22:54Speaker 2: and so and so's contact information, and I reach out
- 22:57Speaker 2: and I simply reach out to introduce myself, share with
- 23:01Speaker 2: them that we have a familiar relationship with X, Y
- 23:06Speaker 2: and Z and that they thought you would find value
- 23:09Speaker 2: in having a conversation. And so I'm simply calling to
- 23:12Speaker 2: introduce myself and see if we could carve out some
- 23:14Speaker 2: time sometime in the next week or two to have
- 23:17Speaker 2: a conversation, and in that first conversation, Rashan, that is
- 23:21Speaker 2: the relationship establishing conversation. I firmly believe that I'm not
- 23:26Speaker 2: in a position to tell anybody about what they should
- 23:29Speaker 2: be doing with their finances, with their money if I
- 23:32Speaker 2: don't know them personally, if I don't know what their
- 23:35Speaker 2: goals are, if I don't know what they're trying to achieve.
- 23:38Speaker 2: And so that first meeting, that first conversation is simply
- 23:42Speaker 2: about understanding what that person is looking to accomplish, understanding
- 23:47Speaker 2: where they are financially, and then where do we align.
- 23:51Speaker 2: Because I be honest, I sit down and have those
- 23:53Speaker 2: conversations with people, and I can't help everybody, right, but
- 23:57Speaker 2: then there are people who I can, And so the
- 24:00Speaker 2: goal of that initial conversation is just to find where
- 24:02Speaker 2: the synergy is, where the opportunity is, and how we
- 24:05Speaker 2: can fill avoid.
- 24:07Speaker 1: Well, it was really important that we're having this conversation,
- 24:10Speaker 1: you know from h you know, people of color, African Americans,
- 24:14Speaker 1: UH dealing with a situation called the racial wealth gap,
- 24:17Speaker 1: which I think is one of those terms it's overused,
- 24:20Speaker 1: you know, like branding, like terminology you hear so much.
- 24:24Speaker 1: You kind of like go what is that? You know,
- 24:26Speaker 1: just we just realized it was announced the other day
- 24:29Speaker 1: that the gender pay gap has widened, you know, over
- 24:33Speaker 1: the years. So that means that there's always going to
- 24:36Speaker 1: be a challenge. There's alway going to be a challenge.
- 24:37Speaker 1: When I walk in the door ms Castro and people
- 24:40Speaker 1: are automatically know I'm a person of color. I can't
- 24:42Speaker 1: hide that fact, which means that I'm always being stereotyped immediately,
- 24:48Speaker 1: whether I want to or not. Whether I got a
- 24:50Speaker 1: suit on, somebody might question where I get this suit,
- 24:53Speaker 1: whether whether I walk or laugh out loud, they might
- 24:57Speaker 1: make it. Does he does? He does? He does? He
- 25:00Speaker 1: know where he's at laughing at loud. So I've been
- 25:04Speaker 1: dealing with that all my life and I've been successful.
- 25:07Speaker 1: But I've been successful with a caveat the color of
- 25:11Speaker 1: my skin. Your role in diversity, in conclusion and inclusion,
- 25:17Speaker 1: being a specialist, what's the end results, what's the ultimate
- 25:20Speaker 1: game for you?
- 25:22Speaker 3: The ultimate game for me is to give voice to
- 25:27Speaker 3: those that are disadvantage, to reinvest in the communities of
- 25:32Speaker 3: people that are disadvantaged, To create an internal culture that
- 25:36Speaker 3: makes diverse people feel like they can bring their whole
- 25:40Speaker 3: selves to work. A lot of times when we come
- 25:42Speaker 3: to work, we bring part of ourselves, right, You don't
- 25:45Speaker 3: want to expose too much of your self for fear
- 25:48Speaker 3: that you might be retaliated against in your employment. I
- 25:53Speaker 3: want to create a culture that allows you and I
- 25:55Speaker 3: have been able to create a culture that allows you
- 25:57Speaker 3: to fully be yourself at work every day and discuss
- 26:02Speaker 3: things that you may not be able to discuss anywhere else,
- 26:06Speaker 3: such as experiencing microaggressions like you mentioned. But at the
- 26:11Speaker 3: end of the day, it's about the impact on these
- 26:14Speaker 3: communities that we sit in that mean the most to me,
- 26:19Speaker 3: especially within the Black and African American community, which is
- 26:23Speaker 3: why doing community events like Community Conversations is so important,
- 26:28Speaker 3: really supporting black entrepreneurs locally. But also to what Travis
- 26:34Speaker 3: mentioned earlier, our advisors operate as entrepreneurs themselves, so it's
- 26:39Speaker 3: layered and it's an honor to be able to support
- 26:44Speaker 3: and invest in black entrepreneurs here in Atlanta, and I
- 26:47Speaker 3: hope to do so for the foreseeable future.
- 26:51Speaker 1: I love it. I love it. I want to thank
- 26:52Speaker 1: you guys for coming on my show talking about Part three,
- 26:56Speaker 1: Community Conversations, How Black entrepreneurship is bridging the wealth gap.
- 27:01Speaker 1: This is part three Community conversation, how Black entrepreneurship is
- 27:04Speaker 1: bridget a racial wealth gap. Thank you both for coming
- 27:07Speaker 1: on Money Making Conversation, massacret It was enjoyment, enjoyable to
- 27:11Speaker 1: have it on this conversation with two people who are
- 27:13Speaker 1: trying to make a difference in our community.
- 27:15Speaker 3: Thank you so much for the opportunity.
- 27:18Speaker 2: Absolutely man likewise, Thank you for Sean.
- 27:21Speaker 1: This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
- 27:24Speaker 1: hosted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
- 27:27Speaker 1: on the show today and thank you listening to audience now.
- 27:31Speaker 1: If you want to listen to any episode I want
- 27:33Speaker 1: to be a guest on the show, visit Moneymakingconversations dot com.
- 27:36Speaker 1: Our social media handle is money Making Conversation. Join us
- 27:40Speaker 1: next week and remember to always leave with your gifts.
- 27:43Speaker 1: Keep winning.