Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Carter Cofield.
He is the co-founder of Melanin Money, and also a CPA who empowers individuals to achieve financial freedom. He is recognized as one of the top CPS for millennials showing them how to live tax free. Carter's mission is to help the black community become financially independent and build generational wealth.
Company Description *
We help people build wealth so they can live the life they always dreamed of.
We have curriculum, community, and coaching designed to help you level up your wealth. Make More Money, Manage Your Finances, and Maximize Your Money Through Investing.
Our theory is that not having your finances together can literally impact your health. One of the leading causes of death is heart disease. One of the leading causes of heart disease is stress. One of the leading causes of stress is money.
Money can't buy happiness, but it buys you options, freedom, and choices. So it's fair to say that it's a good down payment. We want you to stop stressing about money and be the wealth starter for your family.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you for coming on my listening to my show.
First of all, I am row Shawn McDonald. I host
the weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and
information that this show provides are for everyone. It's time
to start reading other people's success stories and start living
your own. If you want to be a guest on
my show, please visit our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and
(00:21):
click the b a Guest button. Now let's get this
show started. My guest is the co founder of Melanin Money.
Melanon Money, He's gonna correct it if I'm saying is wrong,
and also a CPA who empowers individuals to achieve financial freedom.
He's recognized as one of the top financial planners for
millennials by showing them how to live tax free. His
(00:43):
mission is to help the black community become financially independent
and build generational wealth. Please welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Carter Cofield. How you doing, Carter?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Amazing brother. Thank you so much for having me. I'm
excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Please announciate the name of your company that you co founded.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, melon In Money, you said it correctly, Okay, cool?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Now why did you co found that company.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, so a few reasons. So number one is we
wanted to super serve our community and people that look
like us. Right when I was working in Corporate America,
I was doing taxes for like, well see people in
Fortune five hundred companies, which was cool, but it wasn't fulfilling,
especially as a kid that grew up on the South
Side of Chicago. So I had a friend of mine
(01:32):
who's not my business partner, and he was an amazing
financial advisor and I'm an amazing CPA. And we kept
sending clients back and forth to each other. Like, my
clients save on taxes, they would want to learn how
to invest it. His clients was investing. They want to
learn how to save on taxes. So instead up sending
clients back and forth to each other, we just decided
to come together and come up with a financial services
firm that helps business owner to save on taxes and
(01:54):
invest their money.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Now, now you like, I'm just telling everybody it. He's
like a superstar, y'all. He's like this got He's not
a regular CPA. And I say that in a very complimented,
complimentary manner because I've seen him he's very uh, he's uh,
he's very People gravitate to him. He's very articulate. He's like,
it's a clear understanding of his business model. Why why
(02:17):
why is that happening for you? You know, because your
CPA boring, you know, adding up numbers? How did you
build your brand to become what I see it as
today and promote the success stories of finance of people
who want to make money, because that's what you do.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah. So I had to look myself in the mirror
and have the courage to be authentically myself. Okay, And
it didn't start out that way because I worked in
corporate America and I was told to cut off my
face you of here, I was told to have my tattoos.
I was told to not drive my nice car to
(02:58):
work because it made the other cowork feel uncomfortable because
my car was better than theirs and I was younger
than them. So I dealt with a lot of imposter
syndrome in my early years in my career because I
wasn't allowed to be myself. And I just woke up
one day and said I would rather be hated for
being me than be loved for being someone I'm not,
(03:21):
and I decided to leave my firm and start my
own business and really just be myself. And I am
a really fun, energetic, extroverted extrovert who loves teaching people
about finances and taxes and in a really really boring industry,
I decided to show my personality. And it was scary
(03:42):
at first because you know, people don't really think those
cvah should be funny and cool, and people think the
CVA should be stuffy and wear glasses and look a
certain way. So it was nerve wrecking at first. But
like I said, I would just rather be myself than
have the people who are for me before me, and
they have the people who are not not be You know, I.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Smile when I hear you talk because I know who
you are as an individual. I've seen you, and you're
absolutely correct. I've worked in the corporate space and you
are limited on what you can do. They asked you
to be successful, but you don't want to show your success,
and will you show your success? It gets what the
opportunities for you to be more successful can be stopped,
(04:22):
can be halted. You know, a lot of corporate spaces
don't want you driving a better car than your supervisor.
Supervisor sees that they can stop giving you opportunities or
stop promoting you. That's a difficult space to live in.
But youre courageous enough to look in the mirror without fear,
because fear stops a lot of people. Carter, how did
(04:43):
you make understand that I'm not gonna walk through that fear?
I want my listeners to hear that.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yeah, well, I believe that you know, you have really
two choices in life. You can make a living or
you can desig life, right, And if you're going to
take the second route and design a life, you have
to understand that you're going to have to do things
that makes you uncomfortable. And one of my favorite definitions
for fear is finally exiting average reality. Right, So that
(05:17):
always replays in the back of my mind. Anytime I'm
about to do something that's scary, I'm like, oh, I'm
scared because I'm finally exiting this average season in my
life and I'm about to go leave extraordinary and inter extraordinary.
I'm about to lead familiar and into phenomenal. So anytime
something gets scary for me, which still happens today, I
just understand that that's the part of growth. And the
(05:39):
scariest thing for is not. The scariest thing is getting
to the end of your life and waking up and
realizing that you never truly live. That's the scariest thing,
you know.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
It's really interesting when I was reading your story and
the backstory, We're going to turn to some dark moments
in your life emotionally when you will youth and you
lost your parents, but that laid a foundation for you.
How you looked at money, how you looked at your future.
(06:10):
Talk about those moments if you don't mind sharing it
on my show, Because I think that everybody deals with
sadness or death differently. I know I deal with it differently.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I tell everybody, if everybody, if I'm alive, I'm gonna
do the eulogy for everybody in my family. I'm gonna
do it despite that tough assignment. I do it. And
I've been unfortunate able to do it for both my
parents and two of my sisters. So I've had depth
in your life at a young age, much younger than mine.
(06:41):
Talks to that experience and how it impacted you and
your family.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, well, how I look at it now different? How
look at it back then, right, And one thing I,
of course I live by is there is a gift
in all adversity if for a willing to open the package.
So when my parent I all off my parents are
six fourteen and sixteen, it was absolutely devastating, absolutely devastating. However,
(07:10):
because I didn't know how to deal with my emotions,
I buried my self in my students because the only
way that I cannot think about not having my parents
is to put my head in books. So I became
really smart from age sixteen on when I wasn't good
at school before then, but from age sixteen onwards I
(07:31):
became an excellent student because the only way I can
get away from my emotions is to bury myself with
my books. And so what ended up happening for me
as I reflect on it, the gift in that adversity
was I got to grow up at age sixteen. Most
people don't grow up to their twenty one, twenty twenty
three years old. So with the way I look at
it now, I had like a seven or eight year
(07:53):
head start on all of my peers when it came
to being a successful a dough So by the time
I was a co at nineteen, everybody's partying. I'm already like,
I'm focused, you know, right. Yeah, for me, it was
it was like okay, cool, So you know, it really
was tough in the moment, But I always looked for
(08:14):
lessons and that they're like, what was God trying to
teach me? Oh? He was trying to teach me that.
You know, the earlier you start, the better chances you
are being successful. Oh, when you lose your parents at sixteen,
guess what. Guess what, You're not scared to do. You're
not scared to quit your job and start a business
because you already had the worst possible thing happened to
(08:36):
you already, which is losing your parents. Everything else is
table stakes. So my ability to take on risk is
so much higher than most people because I've already lived
the worst case scenario.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
And so when I approached when I approach life, like
things like, oh, that's risky, but like, nothing's risky than
like losing your parents, So I don't have to go
through that again. So whatever whatever failure that could come
from taking this risk, it's not gonna be worse than
what I've already been through. So I just would encourage
people who have been through parental losses or tough childhood experiences,
(09:12):
like you can't change the experience, right, but you can
change the effect of that experience on your future.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
It's really amazing now. When I was reading in the
part about your life and there was this story about
a life insurance and how much it was, I woud
think it was fifteen thousand dollars and it had to
be used. And I don't want to detail out the
story because I want you to share with my autists
from your aunist standpoint, and that's when it really that's
when you first started understanding what a life insurance policy is.
(09:40):
Can you share us with that story?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah. So when my father passed away, he had his
like W two job life insurance, which if you all
don't know the life insurance through it your job is
not a lot of money for it to take care
of your family. So it was a twenty five thousand
dollar life insurance policy. And after his funeral, couse, we
had about fifteen thousand dollars left divide between me, my brother,
(10:03):
and my sister. So that means after our father, who
was the breadwinner of our family is gone, all we
got is five thousand dollars each to figure it out.
And I just remember like that was when my money
learning journey started because I was like, Yo, this five thousand,
This five thousand dollars is my broke, right, Like, I
(10:27):
don't consider broke being at zero. I consider broke being
at this five thousand dollars level because I don't have
a fallback plan. So that was like my first understanding
of what an emergency fund. What emergency fund was. I
didn't know that was a name for it, but I'm like,
this is my last five thousand dollars. I don't like,
if this ever goes to four thousy, eight hundred and something,
I'm beyond broke. So that was kind of my first
(10:49):
financial literacy lesson. And although it wasn't a lot, it's
still was something. And that is just the value of
life insurance because when you're going through a death in
the family, the last thing you wanted, the last thing
you want to have to deal with on top of
that is worrying about paying bills. Death is enough, right,
(11:11):
So the value of life insurance in the way I
see the power of vice assurance now it's so much
more profound because I actually had an experience where the
life insurance proceeds did have a significant effect on my life,
even though it wasn't that much, right.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
You know. But the whole thing about your story is
that each each time you talk is about moving forward,
you know. And I never heard the term you know,
just waddled there, you kept you always talk about moving forward,
moving forward, moving forward. And that's key, isn't it. Because
some people they can to just stay there and remain stuck,
as they say in that moment, and they can't. How
(11:47):
do you keep moving forward?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Card I understood that there was other people's other people's
future was tied into my obedience of doing the things
(12:10):
I was put on this plan to do. Okay, And
I feel like as tough as things get, the worst
thing that you can do is let that situation break you.
Because these situations are situations. You have two choices. You
can let the situation break you, or you can allow
(12:31):
the situation to make you right. So if you can't
change the past, the only thing you can change is
the future. So living in the past will not allow
you to change the future. So for me, it was
like I just didn't want to be as statistic and
(12:51):
I'm a control freak, and I don't believe that anybody
has more control of them. That's that's the reality. I'm
a control for I don't I don't believe anything else
have more control over my life than me. So I'm
going to put myself in position to try to change things,
because if I can't change it, then like, what's the
(13:12):
point of it? All right? So for me, it's just
move forward because you can't change the past, right as
you always have the ability to change your future.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Wow. Talking to car to Kolefil, he's recognized as one
of the top financial planners for millennials.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
(13:50):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
One of his theories is which I enjoyed talking to him,
is that finances, if you don't have it together, can
literally impact your health. How is that, Carter? So I
can make sure my audience don't die because they don't
have their accounts together, or they have bad credit. Help
us out, because this is one of the staples to
(14:16):
how you think and has motivated people to follow you
and invest in your vision to help them out. Talk
to its carter.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah, So I believe that health is wealth and wealth
is health. Right, So if your finances are not in order,
number one, the stress of not having money to do
day to day things obviously can have a huge negative
effect on your day to day health. And they take
it deeper than that, Like a lot of people make
(14:46):
poor health decisions based on poor financial decisions.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
That's true, right.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Some people only eat fast food because that's what they
can afford, because to eat healthier food it's more expensive.
So they're literally deteriorating their only asset that they have,
which is their bodies that would be long lasting. They're
they're the depleting their biggest asset because of financial concerns.
(15:11):
So again, as a kid a groupment in the South
touch Chicago, my parents used to order McDonald's all the
time because that's all we could afford, right, And so
some some people literally make their health decisions based on
their wealth standpoint and functionality, which is which is tough
to see Now.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
It's really interesting when I when I listen to you
talk the motivation now the award show, I want to
go back to the award show because is he coming
back to Atlanta? First of all, I want to ask
that question.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yes, it is coming back to Atlanta July eighteenth through
the twentieth, So yes, it is coming to Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
I would not describe it, but I would tell you
it is fun. They come down the aisle, the music
is blaring him and it's part to George. They'd be
dam answering if people be standing up rocking to them.
They hit that stage, they are the host of the event,
and it's all celebrating success, black success, people of color
(16:11):
success in the financial community. Am I correct when I
say that? Carter?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Absolutely, You're absolutely correct?
Speaker 1 (16:19):
And what caused you two? Now I'm only talking to you,
so I'm gonna just say you to come up with
this idea and to grow this vision, which is a
celebration of what you're trying to get people to see.
Make this money, share your success, and then people see
that success and maybe they're motivated to want to be
(16:39):
successful too by operating through the right tools.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Correct, Absolutely, absolutely so. The thesis of the Award Show
is based on the thesis of black culture. Right. We
love being celebrated for our accomplishments, which is why we
buy nice clothes, which is why we buy nice cars,
because we want to say, hey, show people, Hey, I'm successful. Right,
(17:03):
And so what we decided to do was kind of
flip the narrative on its head. Right, instead of being
rewarded or applauded for buying nice things, why don't you
get awarded or applauded for investing in nice things? Right,
Because the problem with investing is wealth is what you
cannot see. You can't see that somebody has a million
(17:25):
dollar IRA, you can't see that somebody has a multi
million dollars for one K. You can't see that somebody
has a forty million dollar like insurance policy. Those things
you can't wear them on a T shirt. Right. So,
all those people are doing the right thing, they rarely
get celebrated for doing the right thing financially. So with
the Award Show, we said we're going to award and
(17:46):
celebrate those people who are doing the right things financially.
So we have awards people hitting it at first, one
hundred thousand dollars in net worth half a million dollars
in networth, million dollars in networth. Our highest client got
awarded last year for having a ten million dollar network,
and she said that was her first time being celebrated
since college. You imagine that you've been doing everything right
(18:09):
you're supposed to do financially, you accumulated a ten million
dollar networth and you have it. The last time you
were celebrated was in college. So the thesis of the
award show came about said, we're going to celebrate people
for building wealth and have this is the biggest celebration
of black wealth that the United States has ever seen.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Well, it shows and that's why I want to make
sure I bring up so month of July. How can
they find out information about the event if they want
to attend and see why I'm so excited why I
have you on this show because of the fact that
I'm gonna let them say where it's going to be at,
and then I'm gonna come back and talk about the
fact that you guys are at an age, a millennial age,
(18:46):
where I was nowhere thinking like that, but shares that
information so we can participate at the event if we
have time in the month of July.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yeah, if you go to Meloninmoney Awards dot com melton
in Money Awards dot com, you'll see the website where
tickets are available for purchase, or they can justly see
what to see when the warshow was going to be
and yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Now here's the cool thing about it. You go to
their website. Young people, just young people. Just I'm gonna
tell you something. May I joined the fraternity and makasif
five love. It changed my whole life. But I was
not thinking about investing in the stock market. I wasn't invested.
I wasn't investing in nothing. I may have a savings
account that of trying to pull the money out as
fast as I put it in. What what encourages you
(19:37):
when you see the people surrounding you, card your age
group or maybe a little bit younger, a little bit older,
understanding the value of the stock market and how to
invest money.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
It's very empowering to watch my tears and my colleagues
get excited about investing and doing the right things with
their money. Actually had a call with a friend of mine.
He checked his investment account because he hasn't checked it
since I helped him set it up, and he's like, dude,
(20:12):
like he's I opened my account and it said thirty
three thousand dollars and it was green, and so what
does that mean? I said, that means that your money
made you thirty three thousand dollars. He did, Wait, so
you mean to tell me I did nothing in the
past few months and my money made me thirty three
thousand dollars. Absolutely, that is the power of investing. And
one of my favorite quotes to tell new investors is
(20:34):
that it's okay to sleep in late when your money
woke up early. And I love it. As a T
shirt brother, as a T shirt man, I love it.
It's just amazing to see that, you know, people that
look like us are understanding the value of their money,
(20:58):
and I understand the value of making their money work
harder for them than they work for it.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Well, you know, when we talk about money, we talk
about the word. It's a word that gets thrown around
a lot card. If you could really help my audience
out the word generational wealth. I hear a lot of
this show. Can you explain to me, maybe help me out?
I hear it a lot. Nobody explains to me what
it really is and also help out my audience when
people are throwing out around those two words generational wealth.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Yeah, I just think most people don't have the best
definition for generational wealth. They think that leaving money for
their kids is generational wealth. And my definition is your
generational wealth is having your money last for more than
just one generation, right, Like, I don't want to do
all this work and then my kids get to see it,
(21:47):
but then their kids never get to see it, right, right,
So generational wealth is having the wealth that you've accumulated
during your lifetime set your family up for generations and
generations and generations to come so that your great grandkids
they might not never meet you. They're like, yo, I
have this trust set up that when I turn eighteen
to automatically a half a million dollars from my great
(22:11):
great grandfather. I never met him, but he made sure that,
you know, by the time I turned eighteen, I had
an option of paying for college through that or starting
my own business and not needing anybody else's money. So
I believe the generational wealth is having your money last
for multiple generations based off the work that you did
while you're alive.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Ladion Jenlemen, my guess is a superstar. He's a superstar
in this business, a CPA who empowers individual to achieve
financial freedom. Between now and the award show, what are you?
What are you gonna be doing now? Card? Where are
you going? Where you traveling?
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Man?
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Who are you making rich? Talk to me, bro, talk
to me.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Well, I'm not traveling for a little while, I lived
in other countries. I'm happy to be sitting down. But
one thing that we are doing is we're hosting a
absolutely free class, a money class, everywhere every Wednesday night,
seven o'clive Eastern. Probably write this for the next two months.
And if you simply go to my Instagram page, which
(23:09):
is Cofield Underscore Advisor on all social media platforms, the
link in my bio will take you to the free
class and then you can simply join us. I learn
about money for free on a Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
So, my brother, I really appreciate, appreciate you taking you know.
I've reached out to you in Chicago. Coach Chicago, So
can you come on with show car you said, I'm
there because you're all a special talent. Brother, and thank
you for allowing me to share your honest story and
continue to grow and I will see you in July.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Okay, yes, sir, thank you for having me brother, have
a great day.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
We talked soon again. That's money Making Conversation master Class
and I as we close out another edition of Money
Making Conversation Master Class hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Thank
you to our guess on the show today and thank
you our listening audience now. If you want to listen
to any episode I want to be a guest on
the show, visit our will website Moneymaking Conversations dot com.
(24:03):
Our social media handle is money Making Conversations. Join us
next week and remember to always lead with your gifts,
Keep winning. This has been another edition of Money Making
Conversation Masterclass posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to
our guests on the show today and thank you for
listening to audience now.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
If you want to listen to any episode I want
to be a guest on the show, visit Moneymaking Conversations
dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversation.
Join us next week and remember to always lead with
your gifts.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Keep winning.
Thank you for coming on my listening to my show.
First of all, I am row Shawn McDonald. I host
the weekly Money Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and
information that this show provides are for everyone. It's time
to start reading other people's success stories and start living
your own. If you want to be a guest on
my show, please visit our website, Moneymakingconversations dot com and
(00:21):
click the b a Guest button. Now let's get this
show started. My guest is the co founder of Melanin Money.
Melanon Money, He's gonna correct it if I'm saying is wrong,
and also a CPA who empowers individuals to achieve financial freedom.
He's recognized as one of the top financial planners for
millennials by showing them how to live tax free. His
(00:43):
mission is to help the black community become financially independent
and build generational wealth. Please welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
Carter Cofield. How you doing, Carter?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Amazing brother. Thank you so much for having me. I'm
excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Please announciate the name of your company that you co founded.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, melon In Money, you said it correctly, Okay, cool?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Now why did you co found that company.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, so a few reasons. So number one is we
wanted to super serve our community and people that look
like us. Right when I was working in Corporate America,
I was doing taxes for like, well see people in
Fortune five hundred companies, which was cool, but it wasn't fulfilling,
especially as a kid that grew up on the South
Side of Chicago. So I had a friend of mine
(01:32):
who's not my business partner, and he was an amazing
financial advisor and I'm an amazing CPA. And we kept
sending clients back and forth to each other. Like, my
clients save on taxes, they would want to learn how
to invest it. His clients was investing. They want to
learn how to save on taxes. So instead up sending
clients back and forth to each other, we just decided
to come together and come up with a financial services
firm that helps business owner to save on taxes and
(01:54):
invest their money.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Now, now you like, I'm just telling everybody it. He's
like a superstar, y'all. He's like this got He's not
a regular CPA. And I say that in a very complimented,
complimentary manner because I've seen him he's very uh, he's uh,
he's very People gravitate to him. He's very articulate. He's like,
it's a clear understanding of his business model. Why why
(02:17):
why is that happening for you? You know, because your
CPA boring, you know, adding up numbers? How did you
build your brand to become what I see it as
today and promote the success stories of finance of people
who want to make money, because that's what you do.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah. So I had to look myself in the mirror
and have the courage to be authentically myself. Okay, And
it didn't start out that way because I worked in
corporate America and I was told to cut off my
face you of here, I was told to have my tattoos.
I was told to not drive my nice car to
(02:58):
work because it made the other cowork feel uncomfortable because
my car was better than theirs and I was younger
than them. So I dealt with a lot of imposter
syndrome in my early years in my career because I
wasn't allowed to be myself. And I just woke up
one day and said I would rather be hated for
being me than be loved for being someone I'm not,
(03:21):
and I decided to leave my firm and start my
own business and really just be myself. And I am
a really fun, energetic, extroverted extrovert who loves teaching people
about finances and taxes and in a really really boring industry,
I decided to show my personality. And it was scary
(03:42):
at first because you know, people don't really think those
cvah should be funny and cool, and people think the
CVA should be stuffy and wear glasses and look a
certain way. So it was nerve wrecking at first. But
like I said, I would just rather be myself than
have the people who are for me before me, and
they have the people who are not not be You know, I.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Smile when I hear you talk because I know who
you are as an individual. I've seen you, and you're
absolutely correct. I've worked in the corporate space and you
are limited on what you can do. They asked you
to be successful, but you don't want to show your success,
and will you show your success? It gets what the
opportunities for you to be more successful can be stopped,
(04:22):
can be halted. You know, a lot of corporate spaces
don't want you driving a better car than your supervisor.
Supervisor sees that they can stop giving you opportunities or
stop promoting you. That's a difficult space to live in.
But youre courageous enough to look in the mirror without fear,
because fear stops a lot of people. Carter, how did
(04:43):
you make understand that I'm not gonna walk through that fear?
I want my listeners to hear that.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yeah, well, I believe that you know, you have really
two choices in life. You can make a living or
you can desig life, right, And if you're going to
take the second route and design a life, you have
to understand that you're going to have to do things
that makes you uncomfortable. And one of my favorite definitions
for fear is finally exiting average reality. Right, So that
(05:17):
always replays in the back of my mind. Anytime I'm
about to do something that's scary, I'm like, oh, I'm
scared because I'm finally exiting this average season in my
life and I'm about to go leave extraordinary and inter extraordinary.
I'm about to lead familiar and into phenomenal. So anytime
something gets scary for me, which still happens today, I
just understand that that's the part of growth. And the
(05:39):
scariest thing for is not. The scariest thing is getting
to the end of your life and waking up and
realizing that you never truly live. That's the scariest thing,
you know.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
It's really interesting when I was reading your story and
the backstory, We're going to turn to some dark moments
in your life emotionally when you will youth and you
lost your parents, but that laid a foundation for you.
How you looked at money, how you looked at your future.
(06:10):
Talk about those moments if you don't mind sharing it
on my show, Because I think that everybody deals with
sadness or death differently. I know I deal with it differently.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I tell everybody, if everybody, if I'm alive, I'm gonna
do the eulogy for everybody in my family. I'm gonna
do it despite that tough assignment. I do it. And
I've been unfortunate able to do it for both my
parents and two of my sisters. So I've had depth
in your life at a young age, much younger than mine.
(06:41):
Talks to that experience and how it impacted you and
your family.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, well, how I look at it now different? How
look at it back then, right, And one thing I,
of course I live by is there is a gift
in all adversity if for a willing to open the package.
So when my parent I all off my parents are
six fourteen and sixteen, it was absolutely devastating, absolutely devastating. However,
(07:10):
because I didn't know how to deal with my emotions,
I buried my self in my students because the only
way that I cannot think about not having my parents
is to put my head in books. So I became
really smart from age sixteen on when I wasn't good
at school before then, but from age sixteen onwards I
(07:31):
became an excellent student because the only way I can
get away from my emotions is to bury myself with
my books. And so what ended up happening for me
as I reflect on it, the gift in that adversity
was I got to grow up at age sixteen. Most
people don't grow up to their twenty one, twenty twenty
three years old. So with the way I look at
it now, I had like a seven or eight year
(07:53):
head start on all of my peers when it came
to being a successful a dough So by the time
I was a co at nineteen, everybody's partying. I'm already like,
I'm focused, you know, right. Yeah, for me, it was
it was like okay, cool, So you know, it really
was tough in the moment, But I always looked for
(08:14):
lessons and that they're like, what was God trying to
teach me? Oh? He was trying to teach me that.
You know, the earlier you start, the better chances you
are being successful. Oh, when you lose your parents at sixteen,
guess what. Guess what, You're not scared to do. You're
not scared to quit your job and start a business
because you already had the worst possible thing happened to
(08:36):
you already, which is losing your parents. Everything else is
table stakes. So my ability to take on risk is
so much higher than most people because I've already lived
the worst case scenario.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
And so when I approached when I approach life, like
things like, oh, that's risky, but like, nothing's risky than
like losing your parents, So I don't have to go
through that again. So whatever whatever failure that could come
from taking this risk, it's not gonna be worse than
what I've already been through. So I just would encourage
people who have been through parental losses or tough childhood experiences,
(09:12):
like you can't change the experience, right, but you can
change the effect of that experience on your future.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
It's really amazing now. When I was reading in the
part about your life and there was this story about
a life insurance and how much it was, I woud
think it was fifteen thousand dollars and it had to
be used. And I don't want to detail out the
story because I want you to share with my autists
from your aunist standpoint, and that's when it really that's
when you first started understanding what a life insurance policy is.
(09:40):
Can you share us with that story?
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah. So when my father passed away, he had his
like W two job life insurance, which if you all
don't know the life insurance through it your job is
not a lot of money for it to take care
of your family. So it was a twenty five thousand
dollar life insurance policy. And after his funeral, couse, we
had about fifteen thousand dollars left divide between me, my brother,
(10:03):
and my sister. So that means after our father, who
was the breadwinner of our family is gone, all we
got is five thousand dollars each to figure it out.
And I just remember like that was when my money
learning journey started because I was like, Yo, this five thousand,
This five thousand dollars is my broke, right, Like, I
(10:27):
don't consider broke being at zero. I consider broke being
at this five thousand dollars level because I don't have
a fallback plan. So that was like my first understanding
of what an emergency fund. What emergency fund was. I
didn't know that was a name for it, but I'm like,
this is my last five thousand dollars. I don't like,
if this ever goes to four thousy, eight hundred and something,
I'm beyond broke. So that was kind of my first
(10:49):
financial literacy lesson. And although it wasn't a lot, it's
still was something. And that is just the value of
life insurance because when you're going through a death in
the family, the last thing you wanted, the last thing
you want to have to deal with on top of
that is worrying about paying bills. Death is enough, right,
(11:11):
So the value of life insurance in the way I
see the power of vice assurance now it's so much
more profound because I actually had an experience where the
life insurance proceeds did have a significant effect on my life,
even though it wasn't that much, right.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
You know. But the whole thing about your story is
that each each time you talk is about moving forward,
you know. And I never heard the term you know,
just waddled there, you kept you always talk about moving forward,
moving forward, moving forward. And that's key, isn't it. Because
some people they can to just stay there and remain stuck,
as they say in that moment, and they can't. How
(11:47):
do you keep moving forward?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Card I understood that there was other people's other people's
future was tied into my obedience of doing the things
(12:10):
I was put on this plan to do. Okay, And
I feel like as tough as things get, the worst
thing that you can do is let that situation break you.
Because these situations are situations. You have two choices. You
can let the situation break you, or you can allow
(12:31):
the situation to make you right. So if you can't
change the past, the only thing you can change is
the future. So living in the past will not allow
you to change the future. So for me, it was
like I just didn't want to be as statistic and
(12:51):
I'm a control freak, and I don't believe that anybody
has more control of them. That's that's the reality. I'm
a control for I don't I don't believe anything else
have more control over my life than me. So I'm
going to put myself in position to try to change things,
because if I can't change it, then like, what's the
(13:12):
point of it? All right? So for me, it's just
move forward because you can't change the past, right as
you always have the ability to change your future.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Wow. Talking to car to Kolefil, he's recognized as one
of the top financial planners for millennials.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
(13:50):
Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
One of his theories is which I enjoyed talking to him,
is that finances, if you don't have it together, can
literally impact your health. How is that, Carter? So I
can make sure my audience don't die because they don't
have their accounts together, or they have bad credit. Help
us out, because this is one of the staples to
(14:16):
how you think and has motivated people to follow you
and invest in your vision to help them out. Talk
to its carter.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah, So I believe that health is wealth and wealth
is health. Right, So if your finances are not in order,
number one, the stress of not having money to do
day to day things obviously can have a huge negative
effect on your day to day health. And they take
it deeper than that, Like a lot of people make
(14:46):
poor health decisions based on poor financial decisions.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
That's true, right.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Some people only eat fast food because that's what they
can afford, because to eat healthier food it's more expensive.
So they're literally deteriorating their only asset that they have,
which is their bodies that would be long lasting. They're
they're the depleting their biggest asset because of financial concerns.
(15:11):
So again, as a kid a groupment in the South
touch Chicago, my parents used to order McDonald's all the
time because that's all we could afford, right, And so
some some people literally make their health decisions based on
their wealth standpoint and functionality, which is which is tough
to see Now.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
It's really interesting when I when I listen to you
talk the motivation now the award show, I want to
go back to the award show because is he coming
back to Atlanta? First of all, I want to ask
that question.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yes, it is coming back to Atlanta July eighteenth through
the twentieth, So yes, it is coming to Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
I would not describe it, but I would tell you
it is fun. They come down the aisle, the music
is blaring him and it's part to George. They'd be
dam answering if people be standing up rocking to them.
They hit that stage, they are the host of the event,
and it's all celebrating success, black success, people of color
(16:11):
success in the financial community. Am I correct when I
say that? Carter?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Absolutely, You're absolutely correct?
Speaker 1 (16:19):
And what caused you two? Now I'm only talking to you,
so I'm gonna just say you to come up with
this idea and to grow this vision, which is a
celebration of what you're trying to get people to see.
Make this money, share your success, and then people see
that success and maybe they're motivated to want to be
(16:39):
successful too by operating through the right tools.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Correct, Absolutely, absolutely so. The thesis of the Award Show
is based on the thesis of black culture. Right. We
love being celebrated for our accomplishments, which is why we
buy nice clothes, which is why we buy nice cars,
because we want to say, hey, show people, Hey, I'm successful. Right,
(17:03):
And so what we decided to do was kind of
flip the narrative on its head. Right, instead of being
rewarded or applauded for buying nice things, why don't you
get awarded or applauded for investing in nice things? Right,
Because the problem with investing is wealth is what you
cannot see. You can't see that somebody has a million
(17:25):
dollar IRA, you can't see that somebody has a multi
million dollars for one K. You can't see that somebody
has a forty million dollar like insurance policy. Those things
you can't wear them on a T shirt. Right. So,
all those people are doing the right thing, they rarely
get celebrated for doing the right thing financially. So with
the Award Show, we said we're going to award and
(17:46):
celebrate those people who are doing the right things financially.
So we have awards people hitting it at first, one
hundred thousand dollars in net worth half a million dollars
in networth, million dollars in networth. Our highest client got
awarded last year for having a ten million dollar network,
and she said that was her first time being celebrated
since college. You imagine that you've been doing everything right
(18:09):
you're supposed to do financially, you accumulated a ten million
dollar networth and you have it. The last time you
were celebrated was in college. So the thesis of the
award show came about said, we're going to celebrate people
for building wealth and have this is the biggest celebration
of black wealth that the United States has ever seen.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Well, it shows and that's why I want to make
sure I bring up so month of July. How can
they find out information about the event if they want
to attend and see why I'm so excited why I
have you on this show because of the fact that
I'm gonna let them say where it's going to be at,
and then I'm gonna come back and talk about the
fact that you guys are at an age, a millennial age,
(18:46):
where I was nowhere thinking like that, but shares that
information so we can participate at the event if we
have time in the month of July.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yeah, if you go to Meloninmoney Awards dot com melton
in Money Awards dot com, you'll see the website where
tickets are available for purchase, or they can justly see
what to see when the warshow was going to be
and yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Now here's the cool thing about it. You go to
their website. Young people, just young people. Just I'm gonna
tell you something. May I joined the fraternity and makasif
five love. It changed my whole life. But I was
not thinking about investing in the stock market. I wasn't invested.
I wasn't investing in nothing. I may have a savings
account that of trying to pull the money out as
fast as I put it in. What what encourages you
(19:37):
when you see the people surrounding you, card your age
group or maybe a little bit younger, a little bit older,
understanding the value of the stock market and how to
invest money.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
It's very empowering to watch my tears and my colleagues
get excited about investing and doing the right things with
their money. Actually had a call with a friend of mine.
He checked his investment account because he hasn't checked it
since I helped him set it up, and he's like, dude,
(20:12):
like he's I opened my account and it said thirty
three thousand dollars and it was green, and so what
does that mean? I said, that means that your money
made you thirty three thousand dollars. He did, Wait, so
you mean to tell me I did nothing in the
past few months and my money made me thirty three
thousand dollars. Absolutely, that is the power of investing. And
one of my favorite quotes to tell new investors is
(20:34):
that it's okay to sleep in late when your money
woke up early. And I love it. As a T
shirt brother, as a T shirt man, I love it.
It's just amazing to see that, you know, people that
look like us are understanding the value of their money,
(20:58):
and I understand the value of making their money work
harder for them than they work for it.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Well, you know, when we talk about money, we talk
about the word. It's a word that gets thrown around
a lot card. If you could really help my audience
out the word generational wealth. I hear a lot of
this show. Can you explain to me, maybe help me out?
I hear it a lot. Nobody explains to me what
it really is and also help out my audience when
people are throwing out around those two words generational wealth.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Yeah, I just think most people don't have the best
definition for generational wealth. They think that leaving money for
their kids is generational wealth. And my definition is your
generational wealth is having your money last for more than
just one generation, right, Like, I don't want to do
all this work and then my kids get to see it,
(21:47):
but then their kids never get to see it, right, right,
So generational wealth is having the wealth that you've accumulated
during your lifetime set your family up for generations and
generations and generations to come so that your great grandkids
they might not never meet you. They're like, yo, I
have this trust set up that when I turn eighteen
to automatically a half a million dollars from my great
(22:11):
great grandfather. I never met him, but he made sure that,
you know, by the time I turned eighteen, I had
an option of paying for college through that or starting
my own business and not needing anybody else's money. So
I believe the generational wealth is having your money last
for multiple generations based off the work that you did
while you're alive.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Ladion Jenlemen, my guess is a superstar. He's a superstar
in this business, a CPA who empowers individual to achieve
financial freedom. Between now and the award show, what are you?
What are you gonna be doing now? Card? Where are
you going? Where you traveling?
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Man?
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Who are you making rich? Talk to me, bro, talk
to me.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Well, I'm not traveling for a little while, I lived
in other countries. I'm happy to be sitting down. But
one thing that we are doing is we're hosting a
absolutely free class, a money class, everywhere every Wednesday night,
seven o'clive Eastern. Probably write this for the next two months.
And if you simply go to my Instagram page, which
(23:09):
is Cofield Underscore Advisor on all social media platforms, the
link in my bio will take you to the free
class and then you can simply join us. I learn
about money for free on a Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
So, my brother, I really appreciate, appreciate you taking you know.
I've reached out to you in Chicago. Coach Chicago, So
can you come on with show car you said, I'm
there because you're all a special talent. Brother, and thank
you for allowing me to share your honest story and
continue to grow and I will see you in July.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Okay, yes, sir, thank you for having me brother, have
a great day.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
We talked soon again. That's money Making Conversation master Class
and I as we close out another edition of Money
Making Conversation Master Class hosted by me Rashaan McDonald. Thank
you to our guess on the show today and thank
you our listening audience now. If you want to listen
to any episode I want to be a guest on
the show, visit our will website Moneymaking Conversations dot com.
(24:03):
Our social media handle is money Making Conversations. Join us
next week and remember to always lead with your gifts,
Keep winning. This has been another edition of Money Making
Conversation Masterclass posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to
our guests on the show today and thank you for
listening to audience now.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
If you want to listen to any episode I want
to be a guest on the show, visit Moneymaking Conversations
dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversation.
Join us next week and remember to always lead with
your gifts.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Keep winning.
Host
Rushion McDonald
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