360: Learning How to Bank like a Bank – with Scott Schwarz

Meet Scott

Scott is hired by millennial entrepreneurs to build and pass on wealth, because most feel stressed out by debt, confused about what to do with their money and don’t trust banks or Wall Street just like he doesn’t. So he helps millennial entrepreneurs recycle their dollars to either start or supercharge their investments. Bottom line, his clients, reverse engineer banks and the wealthy to do what they do rather than what they tell us to do. And learn how to make bank like a bank.

Why is debt such a huge problem in our society?

While a number of reasons, the system itself is designed to keep us in debt, the way the lending institutions work, the way that government regulators, you know, let them do crazy things that are in their favor, rather than the borrower. And even the get-out-of-debt industry plays a huge part. Because what these financial entertainers do is contribute to people feeling like they are broken like they are the problem. When really, that’s not the case. The whole focus on getting out of debt contributes to people staying in debt. Because when you think about it, Lori, getting out of debt is working your way up to zero. Who wants to be at zero? To truly have a sound financial plan, we need to go way beyond zero. And we need to know not just how am I going to get to zero but how am I going to go above and beyond. What tools am I going to use to supercharge my plan and follow the right path to the right destination?

Lori: Yeah, wow. That’s I mean, that’s important. I agree with the mean, being at zero isn’t exciting. I mean, it’s a win to get dug out of the big hole that you’re in. But I think the bigger picture, the real work comes in after you do that part.

What is the plan after getting to zero?

 The way I like to illustrate that is if you picture the beginning of a marathon, Boston Marathon had 27,000 runners on one street. So you know, picture what a mess that is. If you’re at the back of that pack, you’ve got a long way to run just to get to the starting line. And then you’ve got 26.2 more miles to go to get to the finish line. Well, financially speaking, getting out of debt is just reaching the starting line. That’s not the finish line. You’re already tired by the time you reach the starting line. Well, what is the finish line? Financially speaking, it’s financial freedom, passive income, retirement, however, you think about it, however, you frame it. That’s the finish line. And if we say youths spend all that energy and effort to get to the starting line, you’re already tired. But then a race official sees you and says, Laurie, come over here. I saw how far you had to come just to get to the starting line. And that’s not fair. What I’m going to do is drive you into the course and shorten that race. Wouldn’t you appreciate it? If that’s the opportunity that you had? What I do is help people to take that energy and effort that they expend to just reach the starting line, and then teleport into the course to shorten that race to passive income. Retirement financial freedom.

Lori: Interesting. It’s an interesting analogy. Yeah. Okay, so let’s, let’s talk about that a bit. 

What’s the best way for someone to map out that financial future?

The best way is to reverse engineer what we know works. There are three main problems that people have when it comes to managing their money. The first is trial and error, they just guess. And that is a financial agnostic, they try a little of this, a little of that sample a little over here, and hope they stumble across a solution around something that helps them to feel good. The second is listening to their broke friends, even though they know they’ve got no idea what they’re doing with their money. That’s a financial atheist. They figure there is no such thing as financial truth. Therefore, I’m going to just stick with what I can see touch, and feel around me and focus on that. The third is listening to one of those financial entertainers that yell at you that their way is the only way and everything else is dumb. That’s a financial cult that follow the leader, regardless of what they say, or what is the basis of what they say. The problem with each of those three mistakes Laurie is they violate history and science. History shows us that banks and the wealthy have got it figured out. They have blazed that trail. And they left breadcrumbs along the way so that scientifically, we can reverse engineer that path. So that route takes away the guesswork. The listening to your broke friends, and listening to the financial entertainers yell at you to cut up your credit cards, work three jobs and live on rice and beans. We instead follow the path that is established that we know works because that’s what the experts do. How can we copy what the experts do?

So can you give an example of how this has worked for some of your clients?

Yeah, I’d be glad to. It makes me think of one couple they combined income is about $7,000 a month, not rich people, but by looking holistically at their expenditures. And where can I help them to reallocate money that may not be spent wisely into the right direction using the right tools? Then being able to use those tools to accelerate the get out of debt process and get investing supercharge their investing from that point on. What I was able to do for them is take them to a place where over 30 years, the period that it was going to take for them to pay off their mortgage and their other debts. They took out new mortgage. Accelerate that to were in a little less than eight years, they were going to be completely out of debt. And then using that money to focus on retirement was able to save them over $800,000 over those 30 years. So Now instead of being instead of retirement being a mystery to them, will I ever be able to do it? Will I ever be able, to afford it? It took a lot of that stress off of their shoulders and helped them to see how they are able to retire, how are they going to be able to put their kids through college, and be able to leverage those efforts that they were using to get to the starting line? And have that shortened their race to retirement? Yeah, I’d be glad to. It makes me think of one couple they combined income is about $7,000 a month, not rich people, but by looking holistically at their expenditures. And where can I help them to reallocate money that may not be spent wisely into the right direction using the right tools? Then being able to use those tools to accelerate the get out of debt process and get investing supercharge their investing from that point on. What I was able to do for them is take them to a place where over 30 years, the period that it was going to take for them to pay off their mortgage and their other debts. They took out new mortgage. Accelerate that to were in a little less than eight years, they were going to be completely out of debt. And then using that money to focus on retirement was able to save them over $800,000 over those 30 years. So Now instead of being instead of retirement being a mystery to them, will I ever be able to do it? Will I ever be able, to afford it? It took a lot of that stress off of their shoulders and helped them to see how they are able to retire, how are they going to be able to put their kids through college, and be able to leverage those efforts that they were using to get to the starting line? And have that shortened their race to retirement?

Lori: Yeah, no, I love that. I mean, that’s basically what the trend is nowadays, right? Retire as early as possible. It seems like a lot of people are focusing on that.

Can you share your most successful or favorite networking experience that you’ve had?

Well, first of all, I love networking, it’s one of its, for me, it’s the most productive use of time because it’s a multiplier. Instead of spending my time, you know, talking to one person at a time, if I can get in front of someone else’s audience. Now I’m talking to many, this podcast being an example of that, you’re kind enough to give me time to speak to many. And when we network with other people, that’s, in effect, what we’re doing. What I have learned over time, is you’ve got to network with an eye towards how can I help. Not how can I get help? How can I give rather than how can I receive because that, again, is a force multiplier? I remember going to Chamber of Commerce mixers and things like that many years ago and walking away thinking Oh, that wasn’t a very good group. Because you know, maybe I collected a few business cards but didn’t connect with anyone. So therefore the group is bad. But in time, and with some help in networking from people that knew what they were doing. I came to realize that was my problem, my fault. Because when you go to make connections rather than to solicit business when you go to make connections, you’re playing the long game. But you’re playing a productive game because then you make connections. And you’re able to, again, I’m overusing this word, but you’re able to multiply your efforts. Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And especially since COVID, has changed the world, and so much networking has gone online. It’s, it’s great, that aspect of it, of course, wasn’t a positive thing. But now, you know, I’ve got friends in other parts of the country and other parts of the world that I have shared audiences with. And it becomes even more of a multiplier. Just the other day, I was speaking with someone with a prospect. This was someone that scheduled a scheduled conversation with me, that I hadn’t talked with before. And so of course, when that happens, you never know what you’re gonna get. But it’s like, Oh, I was referred to you by so and so by someone I didn’t know. And, and basically, it was like, he was pre-sold from, from that he went to my YouTube content, and determined that, that I was someone he wanted to work with. And so basically, the conversation was, okay, how can we get started it? And so it served to accelerate the process because the getting to know you process basically didn’t exist, you know, so and so told me that you were good and that I should talk to you. So, therefore, I went on social media and saw your videos. So then I drew my conclusion that I should talk to you. And so now, here I am. And so that it’s a great use of time. It’s a great use of resources, because now that acquaintance, the third party in that triangle, he brought value to me. So of course, my knee-jerk reaction is I want to bring value to him. And how can I help him to get in front of others that I know? And that just gains momentum? And it happens over and over again?

How do you stay in front of and best nurture your network or community?

I think you’ve got to be consistent. One, you’ve got to recognize you can’t be everywhere. And that’s a challenge for me. And it’s become a challenge in the COVID world, where there are now so many opportunities online, to network with different groups of people. I’ve had to come to realize, okay, I can’t go into every networking group. I can’t form close relationships with all the people I meet. Rather than going a mile wide and an inch deep. I had to make the determination. Okay, let me focus on a core group of people so that I can drill down deeper. And that has helped me, it’s helped me to have a better plan. You’ve got to plan your networking. What groups Am I truly going to become a valuable part of meaning I’m going to show up consistently? And I’m going to be determined to bring value consistently. In so in social media, also, if I’m going to join a group, am I going to spend some time there, post, comment on people’s posts, or make posts myself, I’m not going to commit to the time to do so. Then that’s outside that narrowed range of groups that I want to commit to. So I would say that networking is something where you want to commit. You want to truly give of yourself by being there regularly and adding value. And then as you drill down deeper and deeper in that group, that’s really where the payoff is because then you’ve built relationships, not just made surface level acquaintances, but drill down to build relationships.

What advice would you offer the business professionals looking to grow their network?

Be open-minded, and have a plan. And in that plan at the top of that plan is to give first, be confident that you will get benefit from doing that, and be sincere with it, truly do give of yourself to the group. And that can mean just adding to the conversation. Or it can mean you know, rolling up your sleeves and doing a favor for somebody. But be open-minded to that. Trust that trust that process. And when you have that at the top of your plan, and you plan out your networking, please don’t ever go to a networking event unprepared to concisely. Tell me what you do and what you’re about. Get to that point quickly. And understand that the people you’re connecting with there, you’re not soliciting them as customers, you’re looking to partner with them and collaborate with them to get in front of audiences.

If you could go back to your 20-year-old self, what would you tell yourself to do more or less or differently with regard to your professional career?

Regarding my professional career, first of all, at that young age, I would have, I would have changed my academic path. I was a stats major through college, something that I don’t use, I would have been a business major instead. And I would have been determined to do most of my education, most of my learning after graduation. When, when you stop learning at graduation, then you only know what all of those other graduates know. What distinguishes you is what you do after that. So I would have gone from the entrepreneurial world into the business world, much, much sooner. I was a corporate guy for about 30 years, out of school. And, yeah, I learned some things from that some valuable things, but professionally, it didn’t feed me. And it didn’t, you know, it didn’t turn out to be the the path where my passion lies.

Connect with Scott

https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-schwarz-2dollarbill/

https://www.nevertoomuchmoney.com