July 25, 2024 • 27 mins
The Co-Owners of "Melanin Money" stop by the studio to talk Melanin Money Awards, mission to help thousands become millionaires and the power of finanical literacy.
Cater Cofield: @cofield_advisor
George Acheampong Jr: @georgeacheampongjr
Host: @alexandriaikomoni
Cater Cofield: @cofield_advisor
George Acheampong Jr: @georgeacheampongjr
Host: @alexandriaikomoni
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
What's up, guys. He's yourgirl, Alexandria Ikamoni in the studio iHeartRadio
with not one, but two people, the owners of melonin Money. We
have George Achiampong and Carter Cofield.How are you guys doing today? I
don't know, spectacular. If wewere any better, we'd be you.
I Oh, I love it.I love it. I'll take the compliments
there. But you guys are amazingpeople doing amazing things in the financial tax
(00:23):
spaces. So excited for the conversationthat you guys. Would we have for
you guys, But first, tellme more about the organization you guys have.
Melanin Money not just an organization,it's really a movement that you guys
have going on. Yeah, tellme more about it and what's its purpose.
Yeah. So both of us haveover a decade in the financial services
industry, him as a CPA,me as a wealth manager. And I
(00:44):
was seeing these stats years ago thatblack wealth was going to zero by twenty
fifty two. Right, And I'ma watch guy, so I'll say not
on my watch, so right,quite literally, and so wanted to start
this movement to close the wealth gapor decrease the wealth gap. Rather bout
one hundred billion dollars by actively helpingone hundred thousand people achieve their first one
million in net worth. Right.So that started out with believe it or
(01:04):
not merchandise, right because we werealready we already had service based businesses.
So it's just like, how canwe spread the word, how can we
create awareness and conversations around this movement? And then people like quickly had an
affinity for the brand and the namemailand the money's like what is that about?
And so we had to evolve itwell beyond just merchandise, and it
evolved into a media platform and nowfull service hybrid offering where we have services
(01:25):
and we also have education and educationalplatform as well. So yeah, I
love it. I love it.It's a great platform. So tell me
more about that. Helping one hundredthousand people achieve their first million? How
is that going? Where are wewith one hundred thousand? How are people
achieving it? And but on here? Yeah, yeah, So we have
an war show actually this weekend inAtlanta. Yes, And the reason where
(01:48):
that came from was that at theend of the day, we realized that
people would do more for recognition thanthey will for money, right, and
most people exploit that as a tactic. Right, we said, how can
we basically trick people in the oneto build wealth? And that's byl lebrading
them along that journey. And sojust last year alone, we helped our
clients and community improve their network bysixty million dollars. And so I don't
have the number off the top ofmy head in terms of how many individuals
(02:09):
that is we really tracked, likethe macro number. But yeah, we
just have an award show to celebratethose milestones, and then we have classes
and advisors that are actually helping peopleimplement the different recommendations that we have to
help them get there. Yeah,it's been an amazing journey so far.
I mean, we're just gonna startit. But like, sixty million dollars
in a year, that's it's kindof crazy to say out allowed because we're
(02:30):
first generation millionaires, right, I'mthe first millionaire in my family, not
the last that right, and samefor him. So we solved the problem
for ourselves, like, and nowthat we took care of ourselves, how
can we take care of our peopleoutside of our families? And really just
passed down the information that honestly wasn'ttalked to us in school. So yeah,
now I do have a question,how did you guys become millionaires or
was that through the organization of themovement, I should say you guys had
(02:52):
Meloni in money. Well, honestly, it was before, right, because
we're we're firm believer that like,you can't matter fac I'm not even butcher.
Yeah, we had this inside jokeof not butching each other's quote.
You cannot be what you cannot see, right, So I have the person
hang around millionaires. And then Iturned my service based business to a million
dollar company, which made me amillionaire. And then thanks to his investing
advice, I became a millionaire withnet worth right. And so we don't
(03:15):
want to lead. We don't wantto we don't want to try to teach
something we don't know, and wedon't want to lead somewhere we haven't gone
yet. So we want to leadfrom the front. And that's kind of
how our millionaire journey started. Andnow we continue to teach. So we
started by like going through the process, doing the work. Right. I'm
a pretty frugal guy, right,So it's extremely so so it was it
wasn't anything super revolutionary. Right.You make a certain amount of money,
(03:37):
you don't overspend, and you allocatethose money to investments like the stock market
and like real estate, and thenovertime, right, you built well.
So for me it was closer tolike thirty four. For him thirty a
few years older than him, andso yeah, so once once we had
achieved those milestones, right, wewere super convincent. We already knew like
we of course we advised clients inthe past who had way more money than
(03:59):
us, right, But it isdifferent when it's like, oh, shoot,
like I know this from experience,not just because of my expertise.
So now we have the experience andthe expertise, and now we're helping hundreds
of people directly in thousands, hundredsof thousands of people directly indirectly online.
I love it. And you guysmet five if I'm remembering this correctly,
twenty nineteen, right, Yeah,okay, we met at a conference.
(04:21):
The conference super boring people like andwe were the only people that like,
were smart and had swag at thesame time. So we went to lunch
and then he told me about thisidea. I'm like, bro, that's
big, like, and I thinkI can help you take it to the
next level. So we came togetherand just been pushing towards his mission for
the last few years. And it'sbeen amazing what we've been able to do
with more so the people we've beenable to impact because people can relate to
(04:45):
you know, relate to us inthat manner. Yeah, I love it.
And just talking about being business partnersfor so long, it's not easy.
So how have you guys remained likeyou guys seem like you're super cool,
have a great connection with each other. What's the secret to be you
know, successful business partners that obviouslyyou guys haven't split yet. Yeah,
(05:06):
close to a marriage, you canget what's he's married and so he understands
how to like have a economy witha partner. I'm not so I had
no idea what I'll get myself into. So his understanding has been really big
for us. And it's just likewe have the same goal now how to
get there. We might have differentviews, but the mission is bigger than
(05:27):
anything else that we would never letego or anything in between that. But
I think the Yeah, and beingmarried has helped us a lot because I
had, And there's just this ideathat I live by as the unarticulated expectations
lead to premeditated resentments. Right.And so it's like we just have tough
conversations. Right, It's like wego into every situation. If something happens
and it feels like out of alignmentwhat I think should happen, we have
(05:49):
a conversation about like, hey,bro, did you is that your intention?
Was that your plan? And weoh, no, I didn't even
mean that it could be something sosimple. We don't let things compound on
things. Only things. We letcompound our investments, right, talk about
it bankingout, not issues and notthings like that. And we just and
we're also students of the game.Right, So when we see people who
we're inspired by, or we seepeople who have you know, broken up,
like man, what happened either onewe ask or we study it and
(06:11):
say, how can we not letthat happen to us? Right? Absolutely,
I love it. So when youguys do have opposing views, how
do you guys figure out a solutionand common ground? Well, I think
we talk about what's the awesomate goal? Right, because how we get there
is not important as us getting thereright, and so we have opposing views
on how to get there, thenwe will like uh, sit and talk
about it. But like we ownthe business separate ways. Like he has
(06:34):
a specific role in the business,I have a specific role in the business.
So we default to whoever's part ofthe business. That is, so
when it comes to team hiring,company culture, company vision on him.
When it comes to like marketing andsales, usually me right, So we
divide the business to where like,if it's just side of the business,
it is my opinion. Right.Literally, just last week we were in
(06:54):
Chicago and we were working on somemarketing plan. I'm not not to be
specific, but I was like,hey, this is my opinion. I
know you got the final say,so I'm just letting you know my stance
on And I'm okay with that,right because at the end of the day,
he gets to own it. Hegets to own and if it works
out well, he gets all thepraise. He also knows if it doesn't
work out well, he has toeat that too, and vice versa.
Right, So we trust each otherenough to know that as long as it's
not going to break the business,let that person lead, Let them person
(07:16):
let that person do what they wantto do. And I was asking those
questions because you're helping so many othersforeign businesses, be entrepreneurs and so forth.
So I just wanted to get anunderstanding of how you guys mankind things
because that's important too. Yeah,well, yeah, I think that I
love about what we do, andI'm sure you can appreciate this as well.
Like, we don't teach something wehaven't done already. And I think
in a world of everybody wanted tobe an expert, and you know,
(07:39):
financial literacy is dope and everybody's puttingtheir stamp on it, but like,
do not teach something you haven't doneyet. And so every time we go
through an experience in business or inour finances, we didn't take that to
our clients say this is what wedid, This one went right, this
is what we're wrong, don't dothis, do this instead, and we're
able to get that. We neverclaim perfection. We invite our clients into
the journey, right, It's like, hey, yes we're steps ahead of
(08:00):
you, right, but we're justinviting you into that journey, versus saying,
hey, we have it all figuredout, we're perfect. We never
make mistakes, and the goal ofmentorship and guidance and leadership and advisory is
to consolidate decades in today's right.So that's what we do for our clients.
I love that. So, speakingof your clients, what industries are
you typically seeing success with your clients? Yeah, so mostly coaches, service
(08:22):
providers, consultants our majority of ourclient base, and they're usually making six
figures or more. Because again,my job is to help you save on
taxes first, because the average personpays fifty percent of their money to the
IRS federal tax, state tax,self employment tax, property tax, sales
tax, back tax, capital gainstax. You're going to get fifty percent
of your money to the IRS ifyou don't do something about it. So
where I step in is I helpthem minimize their tax bill by five or
(08:46):
six figures to give them extra fiftyhundred two hundred thousand dollars back in their
bank account. And he takes thatmoney and teaches them how to invest it
so that their business is not theironly asset. I love that, and
I'm happy you touched on taxes becausethat was a question I did have.
What are some of the best taxsaving strategies you think people should know as
entrepreneurs and as business owners, howmuch time you got. So one of
(09:09):
the most basic strategies I think peopleneed to implement is there's a a tax
Code section one sixty two A thatsimply states, if you have a business,
you are now able if you're ifan expense is both ordinary and necessary
to operate your business, that expenseis now tax deductible. So your cell
phone uses in your business is taxdeductible. Your vehicle using your business is
(09:31):
part of it is tax deductible.So the first step is how do I
turn things I'm already paying for andget the IRS to come pay forms that
IRS can help me pay my bills. And that goes with your cell phone,
your rent, your automobile expenses.That's probably the base level. And
then the next level on top ofthat is how can I find ways to
invest and not pay the IRS?Right, that's investing in real estate because
you can buy a property with realestate and the property appreciation can help wipe
(09:54):
out your tax bill, either inyour business or your W two job.
Yeah, and then for me topoint like, if once you take once
you get that tax savings and thenyou reinvest the money. The other thing
is with my strategies, I alsoshow people how to be able to invest
in avoid capital gains tax as well. Right, because I have this methodology
called the Burger King investment strategy,and everybody's trying to figure out what's the
next hot stock? Should I investin Video? And should I invest in
(10:16):
Apple? Should invest in Google?And I tell people, well, the
first thing you need to do ispick some globally diversified index funds right as
the base of your portfolio. Andthen when you look inside that portfolio,
what you'll find the top companies areusually a north star for individual companies that
you might want to invest in.Right, So I always say, if
you go to how does burg Kingdecide where they want to put their next
location? Where they put it acrossthe street Fromcdonald's, How do I decide
(10:39):
what individual investments I want to pick? Well, I go to see how
much money Vanguard has invested in theirtop ten funds. Right then from there
I own index fund and then Iown individual stocks as well. And that's
how I'm able to outperform the marketevery year. But then on top of
that, I say, okay,well what do I do? What I
want to buy real estate? Whatdo I want to do? What I
want to invest in a business?We always hear buy low, sell high.
So do I sell my investments ordo I use my investments as leverage
(11:01):
and borrow against those investments to gobuy other investments? And by doing so,
I avoid capital gains taxes. Andnow I'm able to use the same
dollar two, three, and fourdifferent ways without ever having to liquidate my
assets. I love that. AndGeorge, you were speaking on these type
of investments, so I did wantto ask you a question. What do
you think is the easiest way forsomebody to start their investments their first investment?
(11:24):
But I also want to know,because I'm nosy like that, and
also in investments, what is yourfavorite way to invest? Yeah, so
the easiest way I kind of alludedto it. So in the stock market,
they have these things called index fundsand ETFs, and it's kind of
like Linux Mall here in Atlanta.Right, there's hundreds of stores in Linux
Mall, but you know, atany given moment, a few of them
might not be popping, some ofthem might even close down. But we
know Linux Mall isn't closing down,right, And ETF and index fund is
(11:46):
going to work the exact same way. At any given time, there's going
to be a handful of those companiesthat aren't performing well, but because you
just decided to own them all,it doesn't matter, right, You're still
getting the least in the rent fromall the other stores. So the easiest
way to invest is choosing an indexfund like VOO or QQQ. Right.
Then from there, what's your secondquestion? My favorite way? Oh?
(12:07):
Yeah, what you got? Whatyou got that? Yeah? Honestly,
my my favorite way is letting blackRock Vanguard all these companies who put hundreds
of millions of dollars in the researchme being able to cherry pick their index
funds that they put together, andthen going in and if there's five hundred
companies in that fund, all fivehundred aren't doing well, let me find
the top five to ten and thenadd those to my portfolio. Right,
(12:31):
So now I'm getting not only theperformance and the security from the index fund,
but now I'm getting the outside returnfrom the individual holdings that I have.
And then outside of that, Ilike to borrow against my portfolio to
invest in other businesses that I ownand do not run and it's also invest
in real estate. I love it. I love it, but I also
want to get your perspective too.What do you like to do? Yeah?
So I love that. So whatI like about his strategy? So
(12:52):
like I can put one hundred thousanddollars in my in my fund versus I
invest in the same thing he's investedin. It's done me very well.
So let's say I put one hundredthousand in there and it grows with three
hundred thousand, I have two hundredthousand thousand gains. I can take a
loan against that, and that loanis not taxable, right, so I
can Now I can get one hundredthousand dollars loan. I can take that
money I just I just used andput it out on a real estate property.
(13:13):
And let's say the real estate propertycosts five hundred thousand. Now it's
got a half a million dollar propertyfor money that I borrowed against. And
then with the real estate is youprobably know the ir resk aginst you depreciation
on your real estate property, sothat with the cost set study, you
might be able to save one hundredtwenty five thousand thousand taxes. So I
just my money grew for me.I borrowed it for free you and no
(13:35):
taxes, and I use it tobuy an asset that's will save me another
one hundred thousand thousand taxes. Likethis is what the wealthy and the top
one percent are doing every single year. And if you want to be like
the one percent, you need tothink like the one percent and the one
percent they use debt to buy assetsand use the money from the assets to
pay off the debt. If youkeep doing that, like, it's impossible
not to get wealthy. It justwas. It's one to us in schools.
(13:58):
It wants us talk to us incollege, so we stop asking the
question of why wasn't the talk andstart asking the question of well, how
am I gonna learn? And that'swhere you know, we come in to
teaster strategies and I'm assuming the waythey really need to get with you guys
to learn those strategies, it's throughmelonin Money, correct. Absolutely, yeah,
absolutely So we have a podcast thatairs every single Wednesday, is of
course absolutely free. We both haveindividual shows that we post a couple of
(14:20):
times a month on that channel aswell. That's what we call public school,
right. It's like anybody can learnfor free. We also have a
ton of content we post on onsocial media and if people are if they're
an entrepreneur and they're making at leastyou know, six figures and they want
to work with an advisor, thenthey can tap in with us and learn
a little bit more about how towork with us. Sure, I want
to believe. And we also can'ttalk about oh yeah coming up in Atlanta,
yeah right days yeah yeah yeah,yeah yeah yeah. So Wealth Weekend
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is our only like public facing eventbecause some people like, hey, you
know, I see y'all. Lambare y'all real, I want to meet
y'all. So this weekend in Atlanta, July twenty sixth through the twenty eighth,
we're having Wealth Weekend where we havea full day education. Phenomenal speakers
Georgia and myself will also be speaking. But we really want to educate the
masses on learning everything they need tolearn from a financial literacy standpoint. So
(15:05):
we learn on day one and thenwe take those strategies, have them implement
its that they can earn on daytwo, and then we turn on day
two and a half. Yeah yeah, yeah, I love it. So
how can people get their tickets,get it more information. Yeah, they
just go to melaninmoney dot com.Our banner header there will take you right
right to the ticket sales. Itis this week, and our team is
(15:26):
like letting us know, like,hey, we're basically sold out. Y'all
telling the world about this event,but everybody tickets already sold out, but
we do have a few spots left. But just go to millioni money dot
com. It'll be the first thingyou see on the website and we have
the general emission and be happy option. I love and I feel like a
lot of people in their twenties shouldbe popping up to this event. So
I did have a question for youguys about that. What is the best
financial advice you guys can both giveto someone in their twenties really starting to
(15:48):
I guess make a different instead oflike, you know, partying, wasting
money, doing whatever. Don't dothat right there, But what can you
tell them for them to really elevatethemselves to honestly become millionaires. The biggest
leverage that you have within investing isnot the returns, it's the time,
right, And so what I wouldtell them is like start investing as early
(16:10):
as possible, because at the endof the day, if you don't figure
out how to make your money workfor you, right, you have to
work until you die. And sowhen you're twenty, your greatest asset is
how can I start this process earlybecause I have the time to be able
to build that well faster versus like, if you delay it by just ten
years, you can invest the sameamount as somebody who invested in their twenties
and it takes and you have almostfifty percent less of the value. Right,
(16:30):
So start investing as early as possible, and not just investing in the
stock market, but most importantly investingin skills. Right, how can I
become the most valuable person to themarketplace because that is what's going to make
you the most money, which isgoing to give you the most discretionary income
to be able to build well.So just become as valuable as possible and
start investing as early as possible.Yeah, And to add on to that,
(16:52):
my advice would be, whatever yourjob is paying you to do from
nine to five, somebody else whopaid it to do that same thing from
five to nine. And what Imean by that is stop than your job
trick you into thinking that they're theonly person that can pay you. Right,
if you're an assistant at work,you're not. Many small business owners
need a part time assistant. Onceyou start making money outside of your job,
you unlock the tax deductions, rightbecause now you have a business and
now I arrested, Donna let youwrite off all expenses related to your business.
(17:15):
So starting a side business will helpyou make more money and help you
pay less taxes. Do both thethings. Do both of these things.
Now you have the money to startinvesting, because people are like, I
don't got money to start investing.Go make more money, start paying less
taxes. Then you get some moneythat start investing, and then do what
you're said, invest bit by bit, and then the money is going to
like time is going to pass regardless, is your money you going to make
(17:37):
you money while that's happening? Isthe question? All the things you see
your friends doing, the party andor whatever, like, all that's going
to be there when you make it, right, Like, it's going to
be there. So focus on youintil the focus is on you. I
love it. Great advice. Youguys been dropping gems. So let me
ask one more question. JK isthat one one financial secrets to help someone
(17:57):
become successful. What would you saythat would be one secret? I want
a secret, A secret. No, that just doesn't know you know what
I mean, sauces and refrigerators turnedaround, you can't see. I won't
tell you the recipe. Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, And I don't know
if it's a secret, but Igotta say it like mentorship is the biggest
scam. And what I mean bythat is this, if you can pay
(18:21):
somebody X amount of dollars to gettheir entire life experience, to get their
success without the scars, that isthe quickest way, like George said,
to turn decades in the day.So my secrets to success. If I
want to do something like getting thereal estate, I'm going to find the
best person I know in real estate. I'm going to pay that person to
teach me what they know because I'mgoing to make more money and mistakes.
(18:44):
Then I will charge paying them whateverit costs me. So people like they
think like online education is a scam, mean that somebody might take your money.
The opposite way is of scam.You get to pay somebody to get
thirty years of their experience in thirtydays and you get to build your skill
set. So for me, that'sthat's been my secret. Whenever I want
to do something, if I'm theexpert, I pay them. I write
it off because that type of educationis tax deductible and not tradition to education.
(19:07):
That's a conversation for another day.I'm going to pay them right off
the cost, and I'm able toget their skills in a matter of months
and not just keep renting and repeating. And it buils me up as a
person of value because one of thethings I always say is that if you
want to make an above average income, you must first become an above average
person. So how do you becomean above average person by getting the skills?
Yeah? My secret is definitely amental framework of understanding that the value
(19:32):
of anything is the amount of lifeyou will in the trade for it.
Right. If a person makes fiftythousand dollars a year, that's going to
be roughly twenty five dollars an hour. Right, And if I ask them
how much their car costs, includingthe car payment of the gas, whatever,
they might say it cost me eighthundred dollars a month. No,
really, it's costing you thirty twohours of your life. And what people
don't realize is every time you swipeyour car for something, if you don't
(19:52):
have your investments, if you're notinvesting in money that can cover your lifestyle,
you're trading your life to prop upa lifestyle that most people don't even
care about. And so understanding howto take a step back from societal norms
and make sure that you are spendingmost of your time becoming a personal value
so that you're not trading your lifefor stuff. It has been a mental
framework and a mental hack for methat's really taken me to the next levels.
I feel like so many people arecaught up in the jones spending money
(20:15):
thinking that, oh, it's justcost me two hundred dollars, here,
three hundred dollars. They're not realizingthat you're trading hours of your life that
you can never get back for somethingthat doesn't even matter, right, And
so just really understanding that has beentransformative for me. No, those are
good secrets in a sense, SoI'll take that, okay, speak we
can't we can't get, but surfacegiving the good ones definitely good one.
(20:36):
So I know you guys help.Of course, people of all races anybody
can come to you for that assistance, but I do want to talk because
it is called melanin money. Sopeople of color for just a quick second,
So tell me more about how doyou think our country, or honestly,
just the people in our country,what can they do to really help
fix the wealth gap between you know, people of color versus you know,
white counter parts. Yeah, Imean, I think there's a lot of
(20:59):
this on our control, right,Like we know about the history of systemic
oppression and things of that nature,but there is a lot that's in our
control. So I think the firstthing you gotta do is you got to
close your wealth gap. Right.So the reason why are one hundred billion
sounds like a big number, butit's because if we're helping one hundred thousand
people solve their own wealth gap,help one hundred thousand people become a millionaire,
that collective impact is what creates thebroader impact. So I think instead
(21:22):
of focusing on things that we don'thave control over, we got to focus
on what things can I do asan individual? How can I look at
I'll break it down into money macros. Three main things make, manage and
maximize. How can I increase thelevel of what I make, which is
gonna give me more resources to manage, which ultimately is gonna give me more
money to maximize. If you canfocus on those three things, that's gonna
solve your wealth gap. And ifwe can help more and more people do
(21:42):
that, that's gonna solve the collective. Because I mean, I'm not against
politics. I'm not super entrenched inthis, so I don't know when or
how fast the policies or reparations aregonna come. So I'm just gonna equip
the people. We're gonna equip thepeople with information and strategy and techniques to
solve your own problem. Because Ialways say, I'm a lighthouse, not
(22:02):
a rescue boat. I'm not hereto save you. I'm here to show
you that you can save yourself.And that's the only thing that we're here
to do. We don't we're notperfect. We figured out some stuff,
he figured out some stuff, andultimately we just share our experience and that
has been impactful. So that's that's, you know, our stance on it.
Yeah, And I agree, likeI said earlier, you cannot teach
what you do not know when youcannot leave where you do not go So
(22:23):
you need to fix your situation firstand then you can go back. People
are trying to like give people advice. You still in the hood with me,
bro, how I'm gonna listen toyou. So I think we gotta
get we gotta find ways to takeourselves to a new level and then reach
back and grab other people. AndI think that, you know, I
tell people all the time, like, just because you got it out the
mud, that me and your childrenshould have too as well. Right,
we want to make sure that oncewe build ourselves up, we build in
(22:45):
a state plan to pass down assetsto our kids so they don't have to
start from ground zero. My mentorsaid, he said, you might have
not came from a good family,but let a good family come from you.
Right, So it's like, howdo we put ourselves in a position
and once we win to make liketrust fun babies, that should be something
we like. That's that should besomething we like, despise something like yeah,
(23:06):
maybe would be trust. That's finebecause I set them up like that.
So I think it starts with us, but then we build on it
from generation to generation. So powerfulfor the future to also have those keys
and those tools that have for sure, So thank you guys so much for
all your jams. I was reallyI'm trying to get it was a few
asking for a front questions in theremyself as a real estate investor, as
(23:27):
a real estate agent. You know, I'm consumed with this knowledge. I
really just love getting people's perspectives onit. So thank you for that.
But I know one is frugal.One maybe not so frugal. I don't
know your life. Tell me oneor something you guys like to do where
it's like, you know, I'mokay spending that money on it. I
gotta treat myself. I looked atthe frugal, but let me know.
(23:56):
Yeah, yeah, I'm big onexperiences. So I don't even live in
this country. So I've been toforty countries in the last four years,
four or five years. Yeah,and I'm a travel so like there is
no limit on how much I spenton traveling because for me, that's an
experience and that's wealth for me.The experiences that I can I can pass
down. But yeah, I'm bigon experiences as well. But like I
(24:17):
love watches. I've been a watchguy since like oh seven, I got
my first, Like I feels likea little nautical watch or something, and
I got hooked and it evolved.Let's just say that, right. I
did not want a watch to becomehis business partner, and now I got
a few that I've spent more moneythan I thought I did. But I
can't stand next to him like,you know what I'm saying with his watch
watches. I'm trying to call youguys out. What do we have on
(24:37):
our wrist today? Just a littlefrosty ap nothing too crazy, you know,
I thought, I thought I wantedit to touch the price. Can
you connect with me? With you, Drew? I want to get that
one, I said, Okay,you ready? But these are also investments
too, right. They do theirvalue really really well, Not that I
have any intention of selling them,hope to pass me down to my son.
But if I ever did, Icouldn't and I would make more than
(25:00):
when I originally bought it. Yeah, I'm not gonna call you out,
but yeah, I mean, Ijust got a basic rolex on the diamonds,
the diamonds on the face and aroundthe best you know, something like
but but no, it's it's it'sbut I love it because like it shows
you environment is everything right, right, like us hanging around each other.
(25:21):
We've been able to help each otherout in ways financially, I help them
with taxes, helping with investments.But it's also like, collectively, you
are the five people hang around themost, right, and you you adopt
their habits, Your adopt their theiroutlooks. So it is so vital for
us to shift our environment to bearound people that are going to help us
grow, right, Because it wasthat plant story you always hell yeah,
(25:42):
So I'll leave with this quote first. So if you have a rich brother
and a tall brother, you're morelikely to be rich than you are tall,
right, So that means that environmentis more important than genetics. But
what the story he's referring to isin the pandemic. You know, we're
all in the house right in theearly pandemic days, but nobody knew what
was going on except for Atlanta likey' But so we became me and my
(26:03):
wife tried to become plant people,right. We got all these plants.
We had this majestic palm that wasjust dying. The leaves are falling off,
like yo, like what is arewe this bad at uh at managing
plants? And then we googled itand it said, oh, this plant
needs to be outside. So thatsame tree that was dying, the leaves
were falling off, we just changedthe environment, picked it up from inside
and put it outside, and itstarted blooming and started thriving, and it
(26:25):
just it's just a proof that inlife, right, your environment is everything.
So the reason why people in ourcommunity, our client base are winning
at such a high level is becausethey got in the right environment. The
reason why we're able to grow andthrive is because we went to a conference.
We got in the right environment,and Melon and Money as it is
today probably wouldn't exist if we didn'tplan ourselves in that environment, which is
another reason why everybody needs to beat Wealth Weekend. Yeah, preamous plug.
(26:47):
You know melm dot com. Youmight meet your business party, might
meet you as investor, you know. So yeah, a lot of it.
So definitely give the people the informationon how they can follow you guys,
and also melan in Money's information aswell. Yeah. So as far
as Melon Money is concerned, areone of our biggest focus right now is
our YouTube channels. So you cango go to Melon and Money, subscribe
to that on Instagram, you canfollow me George Atchmpong Junior. If y'all
(27:10):
have show notes, you definitely mightwant to put that into show notes because
of my last name. You'll bethere. Yeah. My Instagram is co
Field, Underscore Advisor, same YouTubechannel Mellen and Money. We're just happy
to be here. We're happy toreally give to the people the information that
they deserve because I believe we againwith this. The quicker you get to
your dream life, the longer youget to enjoy it. I love it.
I don't even need to ask forlast words. I feel like you
(27:32):
guys gave it all. Unless there'sanything else you want to say to the
people real quick, see your wealth. We again. I love it.
I love it once again. AlexandriKamoni and the studio with George and Carter.
Thank you guys so much for comingin. Thank you for having me.
What's up, guys. He's yourgirl, Alexandria Ikamoni in the studio iHeartRadio
with not one, but two people, the owners of melonin Money. We
have George Achiampong and Carter Cofield.How are you guys doing today? I
don't know, spectacular. If wewere any better, we'd be you.
I Oh, I love it.I love it. I'll take the compliments
there. But you guys are amazingpeople doing amazing things in the financial tax
(00:23):
spaces. So excited for the conversationthat you guys. Would we have for
you guys, But first, tellme more about the organization you guys have.
Melanin Money not just an organization,it's really a movement that you guys
have going on. Yeah, tellme more about it and what's its purpose.
Yeah. So both of us haveover a decade in the financial services
industry, him as a CPA,me as a wealth manager. And I
(00:44):
was seeing these stats years ago thatblack wealth was going to zero by twenty
fifty two. Right, And I'ma watch guy, so I'll say not
on my watch, so right,quite literally, and so wanted to start
this movement to close the wealth gapor decrease the wealth gap. Rather bout
one hundred billion dollars by actively helpingone hundred thousand people achieve their first one
million in net worth. Right.So that started out with believe it or
(01:04):
not merchandise, right because we werealready we already had service based businesses.
So it's just like, how canwe spread the word, how can we
create awareness and conversations around this movement? And then people like quickly had an
affinity for the brand and the namemailand the money's like what is that about?
And so we had to evolve itwell beyond just merchandise, and it
evolved into a media platform and nowfull service hybrid offering where we have services
(01:25):
and we also have education and educationalplatform as well. So yeah, I
love it. I love it.It's a great platform. So tell me
more about that. Helping one hundredthousand people achieve their first million? How
is that going? Where are wewith one hundred thousand? How are people
achieving it? And but on here? Yeah, yeah, So we have
an war show actually this weekend inAtlanta. Yes, And the reason where
(01:48):
that came from was that at theend of the day, we realized that
people would do more for recognition thanthey will for money, right, and
most people exploit that as a tactic. Right, we said, how can
we basically trick people in the oneto build wealth? And that's byl lebrading
them along that journey. And sojust last year alone, we helped our
clients and community improve their network bysixty million dollars. And so I don't
have the number off the top ofmy head in terms of how many individuals
(02:09):
that is we really tracked, likethe macro number. But yeah, we
just have an award show to celebratethose milestones, and then we have classes
and advisors that are actually helping peopleimplement the different recommendations that we have to
help them get there. Yeah,it's been an amazing journey so far.
I mean, we're just gonna startit. But like, sixty million dollars
in a year, that's it's kindof crazy to say out allowed because we're
(02:30):
first generation millionaires, right, I'mthe first millionaire in my family, not
the last that right, and samefor him. So we solved the problem
for ourselves, like, and nowthat we took care of ourselves, how
can we take care of our peopleoutside of our families? And really just
passed down the information that honestly wasn'ttalked to us in school. So yeah,
now I do have a question,how did you guys become millionaires or
was that through the organization of themovement, I should say you guys had
(02:52):
Meloni in money. Well, honestly, it was before, right, because
we're we're firm believer that like,you can't matter fac I'm not even butcher.
Yeah, we had this inside jokeof not butching each other's quote.
You cannot be what you cannot see, right, So I have the person
hang around millionaires. And then Iturned my service based business to a million
dollar company, which made me amillionaire. And then thanks to his investing
advice, I became a millionaire withnet worth right. And so we don't
(03:15):
want to lead. We don't wantto we don't want to try to teach
something we don't know, and wedon't want to lead somewhere we haven't gone
yet. So we want to leadfrom the front. And that's kind of
how our millionaire journey started. Andnow we continue to teach. So we
started by like going through the process, doing the work. Right. I'm
a pretty frugal guy, right,So it's extremely so so it was it
wasn't anything super revolutionary. Right.You make a certain amount of money,
(03:37):
you don't overspend, and you allocatethose money to investments like the stock market
and like real estate, and thenovertime, right, you built well.
So for me it was closer tolike thirty four. For him thirty a
few years older than him, andso yeah, so once once we had
achieved those milestones, right, wewere super convincent. We already knew like
we of course we advised clients inthe past who had way more money than
(03:59):
us, right, But it isdifferent when it's like, oh, shoot,
like I know this from experience,not just because of my expertise.
So now we have the experience andthe expertise, and now we're helping hundreds
of people directly in thousands, hundredsof thousands of people directly indirectly online.
I love it. And you guysmet five if I'm remembering this correctly,
twenty nineteen, right, Yeah,okay, we met at a conference.
(04:21):
The conference super boring people like andwe were the only people that like,
were smart and had swag at thesame time. So we went to lunch
and then he told me about thisidea. I'm like, bro, that's
big, like, and I thinkI can help you take it to the
next level. So we came togetherand just been pushing towards his mission for
the last few years. And it'sbeen amazing what we've been able to do
with more so the people we've beenable to impact because people can relate to
(04:45):
you know, relate to us inthat manner. Yeah, I love it.
And just talking about being business partnersfor so long, it's not easy.
So how have you guys remained likeyou guys seem like you're super cool,
have a great connection with each other. What's the secret to be you
know, successful business partners that obviouslyyou guys haven't split yet. Yeah,
(05:06):
close to a marriage, you canget what's he's married and so he understands
how to like have a economy witha partner. I'm not so I had
no idea what I'll get myself into. So his understanding has been really big
for us. And it's just likewe have the same goal now how to
get there. We might have differentviews, but the mission is bigger than
(05:27):
anything else that we would never letego or anything in between that. But
I think the Yeah, and beingmarried has helped us a lot because I
had, And there's just this ideathat I live by as the unarticulated expectations
lead to premeditated resentments. Right.And so it's like we just have tough
conversations. Right, It's like wego into every situation. If something happens
and it feels like out of alignmentwhat I think should happen, we have
(05:49):
a conversation about like, hey,bro, did you is that your intention?
Was that your plan? And weoh, no, I didn't even
mean that it could be something sosimple. We don't let things compound on
things. Only things. We letcompound our investments, right, talk about
it bankingout, not issues and notthings like that. And we just and
we're also students of the game.Right, So when we see people who
we're inspired by, or we seepeople who have you know, broken up,
like man, what happened either onewe ask or we study it and
(06:11):
say, how can we not letthat happen to us? Right? Absolutely,
I love it. So when youguys do have opposing views, how
do you guys figure out a solutionand common ground? Well, I think
we talk about what's the awesomate goal? Right, because how we get there
is not important as us getting thereright, and so we have opposing views
on how to get there, thenwe will like uh, sit and talk
about it. But like we ownthe business separate ways. Like he has
(06:34):
a specific role in the business,I have a specific role in the business.
So we default to whoever's part ofthe business. That is, so
when it comes to team hiring,company culture, company vision on him.
When it comes to like marketing andsales, usually me right, So we
divide the business to where like,if it's just side of the business,
it is my opinion. Right.Literally, just last week we were in
(06:54):
Chicago and we were working on somemarketing plan. I'm not not to be
specific, but I was like,hey, this is my opinion. I
know you got the final say,so I'm just letting you know my stance
on And I'm okay with that,right because at the end of the day,
he gets to own it. Hegets to own and if it works
out well, he gets all thepraise. He also knows if it doesn't
work out well, he has toeat that too, and vice versa.
Right, So we trust each otherenough to know that as long as it's
not going to break the business,let that person lead, Let them person
(07:16):
let that person do what they wantto do. And I was asking those
questions because you're helping so many othersforeign businesses, be entrepreneurs and so forth.
So I just wanted to get anunderstanding of how you guys mankind things
because that's important too. Yeah,well, yeah, I think that I
love about what we do, andI'm sure you can appreciate this as well.
Like, we don't teach something wehaven't done already. And I think
in a world of everybody wanted tobe an expert, and you know,
(07:39):
financial literacy is dope and everybody's puttingtheir stamp on it, but like,
do not teach something you haven't doneyet. And so every time we go
through an experience in business or inour finances, we didn't take that to
our clients say this is what wedid, This one went right, this
is what we're wrong, don't dothis, do this instead, and we're
able to get that. We neverclaim perfection. We invite our clients into
the journey, right, It's like, hey, yes we're steps ahead of
(08:00):
you, right, but we're justinviting you into that journey, versus saying,
hey, we have it all figuredout, we're perfect. We never
make mistakes, and the goal ofmentorship and guidance and leadership and advisory is
to consolidate decades in today's right.So that's what we do for our clients.
I love that. So, speakingof your clients, what industries are
you typically seeing success with your clients? Yeah, so mostly coaches, service
(08:22):
providers, consultants our majority of ourclient base, and they're usually making six
figures or more. Because again,my job is to help you save on
taxes first, because the average personpays fifty percent of their money to the
IRS federal tax, state tax,self employment tax, property tax, sales
tax, back tax, capital gainstax. You're going to get fifty percent
of your money to the IRS ifyou don't do something about it. So
where I step in is I helpthem minimize their tax bill by five or
(08:46):
six figures to give them extra fiftyhundred two hundred thousand dollars back in their
bank account. And he takes thatmoney and teaches them how to invest it
so that their business is not theironly asset. I love that, and
I'm happy you touched on taxes becausethat was a question I did have.
What are some of the best taxsaving strategies you think people should know as
entrepreneurs and as business owners, howmuch time you got. So one of
(09:09):
the most basic strategies I think peopleneed to implement is there's a a tax
Code section one sixty two A thatsimply states, if you have a business,
you are now able if you're ifan expense is both ordinary and necessary
to operate your business, that expenseis now tax deductible. So your cell
phone uses in your business is taxdeductible. Your vehicle using your business is
(09:31):
part of it is tax deductible.So the first step is how do I
turn things I'm already paying for andget the IRS to come pay forms that
IRS can help me pay my bills. And that goes with your cell phone,
your rent, your automobile expenses.That's probably the base level. And
then the next level on top ofthat is how can I find ways to
invest and not pay the IRS?Right, that's investing in real estate because
you can buy a property with realestate and the property appreciation can help wipe
(09:54):
out your tax bill, either inyour business or your W two job.
Yeah, and then for me topoint like, if once you take once
you get that tax savings and thenyou reinvest the money. The other thing
is with my strategies, I alsoshow people how to be able to invest
in avoid capital gains tax as well. Right, because I have this methodology
called the Burger King investment strategy,and everybody's trying to figure out what's the
next hot stock? Should I investin Video? And should I invest in
(10:16):
Apple? Should invest in Google?And I tell people, well, the
first thing you need to do ispick some globally diversified index funds right as
the base of your portfolio. Andthen when you look inside that portfolio,
what you'll find the top companies areusually a north star for individual companies that
you might want to invest in.Right, So I always say, if
you go to how does burg Kingdecide where they want to put their next
location? Where they put it acrossthe street Fromcdonald's, How do I decide
(10:39):
what individual investments I want to pick? Well, I go to see how
much money Vanguard has invested in theirtop ten funds. Right then from there
I own index fund and then Iown individual stocks as well. And that's
how I'm able to outperform the marketevery year. But then on top of
that, I say, okay,well what do I do? What I
want to buy real estate? Whatdo I want to do? What I
want to invest in a business?We always hear buy low, sell high.
So do I sell my investments ordo I use my investments as leverage
(11:01):
and borrow against those investments to gobuy other investments? And by doing so,
I avoid capital gains taxes. Andnow I'm able to use the same
dollar two, three, and fourdifferent ways without ever having to liquidate my
assets. I love that. AndGeorge, you were speaking on these type
of investments, so I did wantto ask you a question. What do
you think is the easiest way forsomebody to start their investments their first investment?
(11:24):
But I also want to know,because I'm nosy like that, and
also in investments, what is yourfavorite way to invest? Yeah, so
the easiest way I kind of alludedto it. So in the stock market,
they have these things called index fundsand ETFs, and it's kind of
like Linux Mall here in Atlanta.Right, there's hundreds of stores in Linux
Mall, but you know, atany given moment, a few of them
might not be popping, some ofthem might even close down. But we
know Linux Mall isn't closing down,right, And ETF and index fund is
(11:46):
going to work the exact same way. At any given time, there's going
to be a handful of those companiesthat aren't performing well, but because you
just decided to own them all,it doesn't matter, right, You're still
getting the least in the rent fromall the other stores. So the easiest
way to invest is choosing an indexfund like VOO or QQQ. Right.
Then from there, what's your secondquestion? My favorite way? Oh?
(12:07):
Yeah, what you got? Whatyou got that? Yeah? Honestly,
my my favorite way is letting blackRock Vanguard all these companies who put hundreds
of millions of dollars in the researchme being able to cherry pick their index
funds that they put together, andthen going in and if there's five hundred
companies in that fund, all fivehundred aren't doing well, let me find
the top five to ten and thenadd those to my portfolio. Right,
(12:31):
So now I'm getting not only theperformance and the security from the index fund,
but now I'm getting the outside returnfrom the individual holdings that I have.
And then outside of that, Ilike to borrow against my portfolio to
invest in other businesses that I ownand do not run and it's also invest
in real estate. I love it. I love it, but I also
want to get your perspective too.What do you like to do? Yeah?
So I love that. So whatI like about his strategy? So
(12:52):
like I can put one hundred thousanddollars in my in my fund versus I
invest in the same thing he's investedin. It's done me very well.
So let's say I put one hundredthousand in there and it grows with three
hundred thousand, I have two hundredthousand thousand gains. I can take a
loan against that, and that loanis not taxable, right, so I
can Now I can get one hundredthousand dollars loan. I can take that
money I just I just used andput it out on a real estate property.
(13:13):
And let's say the real estate propertycosts five hundred thousand. Now it's
got a half a million dollar propertyfor money that I borrowed against. And
then with the real estate is youprobably know the ir resk aginst you depreciation
on your real estate property, sothat with the cost set study, you
might be able to save one hundredtwenty five thousand thousand taxes. So I
just my money grew for me.I borrowed it for free you and no
(13:35):
taxes, and I use it tobuy an asset that's will save me another
one hundred thousand thousand taxes. Likethis is what the wealthy and the top
one percent are doing every single year. And if you want to be like
the one percent, you need tothink like the one percent and the one
percent they use debt to buy assetsand use the money from the assets to
pay off the debt. If youkeep doing that, like, it's impossible
not to get wealthy. It justwas. It's one to us in schools.
(13:58):
It wants us talk to us incollege, so we stop asking the
question of why wasn't the talk andstart asking the question of well, how
am I gonna learn? And that'swhere you know, we come in to
teaster strategies and I'm assuming the waythey really need to get with you guys
to learn those strategies, it's throughmelonin Money, correct. Absolutely, yeah,
absolutely So we have a podcast thatairs every single Wednesday, is of
course absolutely free. We both haveindividual shows that we post a couple of
(14:20):
times a month on that channel aswell. That's what we call public school,
right. It's like anybody can learnfor free. We also have a
ton of content we post on onsocial media and if people are if they're
an entrepreneur and they're making at leastyou know, six figures and they want
to work with an advisor, thenthey can tap in with us and learn
a little bit more about how towork with us. Sure, I want
to believe. And we also can'ttalk about oh yeah coming up in Atlanta,
yeah right days yeah yeah yeah,yeah yeah yeah. So Wealth Weekend
(14:43):
is our only like public facing eventbecause some people like, hey, you
know, I see y'all. Lambare y'all real, I want to meet
y'all. So this weekend in Atlanta, July twenty sixth through the twenty eighth,
we're having Wealth Weekend where we havea full day education. Phenomenal speakers
Georgia and myself will also be speaking. But we really want to educate the
masses on learning everything they need tolearn from a financial literacy standpoint. So
(15:05):
we learn on day one and thenwe take those strategies, have them implement
its that they can earn on daytwo, and then we turn on day
two and a half. Yeah yeah, yeah, I love it. So
how can people get their tickets,get it more information. Yeah, they
just go to melaninmoney dot com.Our banner header there will take you right
right to the ticket sales. Itis this week, and our team is
(15:26):
like letting us know, like,hey, we're basically sold out. Y'all
telling the world about this event,but everybody tickets already sold out, but
we do have a few spots left. But just go to millioni money dot
com. It'll be the first thingyou see on the website and we have
the general emission and be happy option. I love and I feel like a
lot of people in their twenties shouldbe popping up to this event. So
I did have a question for youguys about that. What is the best
financial advice you guys can both giveto someone in their twenties really starting to
(15:48):
I guess make a different instead oflike, you know, partying, wasting
money, doing whatever. Don't dothat right there, But what can you
tell them for them to really elevatethemselves to honestly become millionaires. The biggest
leverage that you have within investing isnot the returns, it's the time,
right, And so what I wouldtell them is like start investing as early
(16:10):
as possible, because at the endof the day, if you don't figure
out how to make your money workfor you, right, you have to
work until you die. And sowhen you're twenty, your greatest asset is
how can I start this process earlybecause I have the time to be able
to build that well faster versus like, if you delay it by just ten
years, you can invest the sameamount as somebody who invested in their twenties
and it takes and you have almostfifty percent less of the value. Right,
(16:30):
So start investing as early as possible, and not just investing in the
stock market, but most importantly investingin skills. Right, how can I
become the most valuable person to themarketplace because that is what's going to make
you the most money, which isgoing to give you the most discretionary income
to be able to build well.So just become as valuable as possible and
start investing as early as possible.Yeah, And to add on to that,
(16:52):
my advice would be, whatever yourjob is paying you to do from
nine to five, somebody else whopaid it to do that same thing from
five to nine. And what Imean by that is stop than your job
trick you into thinking that they're theonly person that can pay you. Right,
if you're an assistant at work,you're not. Many small business owners
need a part time assistant. Onceyou start making money outside of your job,
you unlock the tax deductions, rightbecause now you have a business and
now I arrested, Donna let youwrite off all expenses related to your business.
(17:15):
So starting a side business will helpyou make more money and help you
pay less taxes. Do both thethings. Do both of these things.
Now you have the money to startinvesting, because people are like, I
don't got money to start investing.Go make more money, start paying less
taxes. Then you get some moneythat start investing, and then do what
you're said, invest bit by bit, and then the money is going to
like time is going to pass regardless, is your money you going to make
(17:37):
you money while that's happening? Isthe question? All the things you see
your friends doing, the party andor whatever, like, all that's going
to be there when you make it, right, Like, it's going to
be there. So focus on youintil the focus is on you. I
love it. Great advice. Youguys been dropping gems. So let me
ask one more question. JK isthat one one financial secrets to help someone
(17:57):
become successful. What would you saythat would be one secret? I want
a secret, A secret. No, that just doesn't know you know what
I mean, sauces and refrigerators turnedaround, you can't see. I won't
tell you the recipe. Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, And I don't know
if it's a secret, but Igotta say it like mentorship is the biggest
scam. And what I mean bythat is this, if you can pay
(18:21):
somebody X amount of dollars to gettheir entire life experience, to get their
success without the scars, that isthe quickest way, like George said,
to turn decades in the day.So my secrets to success. If I
want to do something like getting thereal estate, I'm going to find the
best person I know in real estate. I'm going to pay that person to
teach me what they know because I'mgoing to make more money and mistakes.
(18:44):
Then I will charge paying them whateverit costs me. So people like they
think like online education is a scam, mean that somebody might take your money.
The opposite way is of scam.You get to pay somebody to get
thirty years of their experience in thirtydays and you get to build your skill
set. So for me, that'sthat's been my secret. Whenever I want
to do something, if I'm theexpert, I pay them. I write
it off because that type of educationis tax deductible and not tradition to education.
(19:07):
That's a conversation for another day.I'm going to pay them right off
the cost, and I'm able toget their skills in a matter of months
and not just keep renting and repeating. And it buils me up as a
person of value because one of thethings I always say is that if you
want to make an above average income, you must first become an above average
person. So how do you becomean above average person by getting the skills?
Yeah? My secret is definitely amental framework of understanding that the value
(19:32):
of anything is the amount of lifeyou will in the trade for it.
Right. If a person makes fiftythousand dollars a year, that's going to
be roughly twenty five dollars an hour. Right, And if I ask them
how much their car costs, includingthe car payment of the gas, whatever,
they might say it cost me eighthundred dollars a month. No,
really, it's costing you thirty twohours of your life. And what people
don't realize is every time you swipeyour car for something, if you don't
(19:52):
have your investments, if you're notinvesting in money that can cover your lifestyle,
you're trading your life to prop upa lifestyle that most people don't even
care about. And so understanding howto take a step back from societal norms
and make sure that you are spendingmost of your time becoming a personal value
so that you're not trading your lifefor stuff. It has been a mental
framework and a mental hack for methat's really taken me to the next levels.
I feel like so many people arecaught up in the jones spending money
(20:15):
thinking that, oh, it's justcost me two hundred dollars, here,
three hundred dollars. They're not realizingthat you're trading hours of your life that
you can never get back for somethingthat doesn't even matter, right, And
so just really understanding that has beentransformative for me. No, those are
good secrets in a sense, SoI'll take that, okay, speak we
can't we can't get, but surfacegiving the good ones definitely good one.
(20:36):
So I know you guys help.Of course, people of all races anybody
can come to you for that assistance, but I do want to talk because
it is called melanin money. Sopeople of color for just a quick second,
So tell me more about how doyou think our country, or honestly,
just the people in our country,what can they do to really help
fix the wealth gap between you know, people of color versus you know,
white counter parts. Yeah, Imean, I think there's a lot of
(20:59):
this on our control, right,Like we know about the history of systemic
oppression and things of that nature,but there is a lot that's in our
control. So I think the firstthing you gotta do is you got to
close your wealth gap. Right.So the reason why are one hundred billion
sounds like a big number, butit's because if we're helping one hundred thousand
people solve their own wealth gap,help one hundred thousand people become a millionaire,
that collective impact is what creates thebroader impact. So I think instead
(21:22):
of focusing on things that we don'thave control over, we got to focus
on what things can I do asan individual? How can I look at
I'll break it down into money macros. Three main things make, manage and
maximize. How can I increase thelevel of what I make, which is
gonna give me more resources to manage, which ultimately is gonna give me more
money to maximize. If you canfocus on those three things, that's gonna
solve your wealth gap. And ifwe can help more and more people do
(21:42):
that, that's gonna solve the collective. Because I mean, I'm not against
politics. I'm not super entrenched inthis, so I don't know when or
how fast the policies or reparations aregonna come. So I'm just gonna equip
the people. We're gonna equip thepeople with information and strategy and techniques to
solve your own problem. Because Ialways say, I'm a lighthouse, not
(22:02):
a rescue boat. I'm not hereto save you. I'm here to show
you that you can save yourself.And that's the only thing that we're here
to do. We don't we're notperfect. We figured out some stuff,
he figured out some stuff, andultimately we just share our experience and that
has been impactful. So that's that's, you know, our stance on it.
Yeah, And I agree, likeI said earlier, you cannot teach
what you do not know when youcannot leave where you do not go So
(22:23):
you need to fix your situation firstand then you can go back. People
are trying to like give people advice. You still in the hood with me,
bro, how I'm gonna listen toyou. So I think we gotta
get we gotta find ways to takeourselves to a new level and then reach
back and grab other people. AndI think that, you know, I
tell people all the time, like, just because you got it out the
mud, that me and your childrenshould have too as well. Right,
we want to make sure that oncewe build ourselves up, we build in
(22:45):
a state plan to pass down assetsto our kids so they don't have to
start from ground zero. My mentorsaid, he said, you might have
not came from a good family,but let a good family come from you.
Right, So it's like, howdo we put ourselves in a position
and once we win to make liketrust fun babies, that should be something
we like. That's that should besomething we like, despise something like yeah,
(23:06):
maybe would be trust. That's finebecause I set them up like that.
So I think it starts with us, but then we build on it
from generation to generation. So powerfulfor the future to also have those keys
and those tools that have for sure, So thank you guys so much for
all your jams. I was reallyI'm trying to get it was a few
asking for a front questions in theremyself as a real estate investor, as
(23:27):
a real estate agent. You know, I'm consumed with this knowledge. I
really just love getting people's perspectives onit. So thank you for that.
But I know one is frugal.One maybe not so frugal. I don't
know your life. Tell me oneor something you guys like to do where
it's like, you know, I'mokay spending that money on it. I
gotta treat myself. I looked atthe frugal, but let me know.
(23:56):
Yeah, yeah, I'm big onexperiences. So I don't even live in
this country. So I've been toforty countries in the last four years,
four or five years. Yeah,and I'm a travel so like there is
no limit on how much I spenton traveling because for me, that's an
experience and that's wealth for me.The experiences that I can I can pass
down. But yeah, I'm bigon experiences as well. But like I
(24:17):
love watches. I've been a watchguy since like oh seven, I got
my first, Like I feels likea little nautical watch or something, and
I got hooked and it evolved.Let's just say that, right. I
did not want a watch to becomehis business partner, and now I got
a few that I've spent more moneythan I thought I did. But I
can't stand next to him like,you know what I'm saying with his watch
watches. I'm trying to call youguys out. What do we have on
(24:37):
our wrist today? Just a littlefrosty ap nothing too crazy, you know,
I thought, I thought I wantedit to touch the price. Can
you connect with me? With you, Drew? I want to get that
one, I said, Okay,you ready? But these are also investments
too, right. They do theirvalue really really well, Not that I
have any intention of selling them,hope to pass me down to my son.
But if I ever did, Icouldn't and I would make more than
(25:00):
when I originally bought it. Yeah, I'm not gonna call you out,
but yeah, I mean, Ijust got a basic rolex on the diamonds,
the diamonds on the face and aroundthe best you know, something like
but but no, it's it's it'sbut I love it because like it shows
you environment is everything right, right, like us hanging around each other.
(25:21):
We've been able to help each otherout in ways financially, I help them
with taxes, helping with investments.But it's also like, collectively, you
are the five people hang around themost, right, and you you adopt
their habits, Your adopt their theiroutlooks. So it is so vital for
us to shift our environment to bearound people that are going to help us
grow, right, Because it wasthat plant story you always hell yeah,
(25:42):
So I'll leave with this quote first. So if you have a rich brother
and a tall brother, you're morelikely to be rich than you are tall,
right, So that means that environmentis more important than genetics. But
what the story he's referring to isin the pandemic. You know, we're
all in the house right in theearly pandemic days, but nobody knew what
was going on except for Atlanta likey' But so we became me and my
(26:03):
wife tried to become plant people,right. We got all these plants.
We had this majestic palm that wasjust dying. The leaves are falling off,
like yo, like what is arewe this bad at uh at managing
plants? And then we googled itand it said, oh, this plant
needs to be outside. So thatsame tree that was dying, the leaves
were falling off, we just changedthe environment, picked it up from inside
and put it outside, and itstarted blooming and started thriving, and it
(26:25):
just it's just a proof that inlife, right, your environment is everything.
So the reason why people in ourcommunity, our client base are winning
at such a high level is becausethey got in the right environment. The
reason why we're able to grow andthrive is because we went to a conference.
We got in the right environment,and Melon and Money as it is
today probably wouldn't exist if we didn'tplan ourselves in that environment, which is
another reason why everybody needs to beat Wealth Weekend. Yeah, preamous plug.
(26:47):
You know melm dot com. Youmight meet your business party, might
meet you as investor, you know. So yeah, a lot of it.
So definitely give the people the informationon how they can follow you guys,
and also melan in Money's information aswell. Yeah. So as far
as Melon Money is concerned, areone of our biggest focus right now is
our YouTube channels. So you cango go to Melon and Money, subscribe
to that on Instagram, you canfollow me George Atchmpong Junior. If y'all
(27:10):
have show notes, you definitely mightwant to put that into show notes because
of my last name. You'll bethere. Yeah. My Instagram is co
Field, Underscore Advisor, same YouTubechannel Mellen and Money. We're just happy
to be here. We're happy toreally give to the people the information that
they deserve because I believe we againwith this. The quicker you get to
your dream life, the longer youget to enjoy it. I love it.
I don't even need to ask forlast words. I feel like you
(27:32):
guys gave it all. Unless there'sanything else you want to say to the
people real quick, see your wealth. We again. I love it.
I love it once again. AlexandriKamoni and the studio with George and Carter.
Thank you guys so much for comingin. Thank you for having me.
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