October 18, 2025 • 42 mins
What if your money felt calm, clear, and connected to a future you actually want? Grant sits down with Earl Johnson of Lexis Wealth Management to unpack the mindset, systems, and coaching that turn financial stress into durable wealth—and transform inheritance into a springboard, not a stumble.
We start with the human side: the quiet shame many people carry about past choices and the simple shift that changes everything—separating lifestyle money from future money. Earl explains how trust and confidentiality built his brand in a competitive industry, why he rejects commission incentives, and how he guides clients with straight talk and empathy. From there, we zoom out to the “great wealth transfer,” an estimated $80 trillion moving from Boomers to the next generation, and why estate planning, trusts, and true succession are now non-negotiable for families and businesses that refuse to start over.
You’ll hear practical frameworks that stick: treat money like a game you plan to win, where passing GO isn’t the goal—owning assets is. Earl connects long-term investing to everyday life by owning pieces of companies you already support, keeping emotions steady when markets swing, and using a coach to translate noise into action. We dig into budgeting without deprivation, the discipline behind the “millionaire next door,” and how a clear North Star turns habits into progress. We also explore the changing fintech landscape, the danger of tool-first thinking, and why applied knowledge beats hype every time.
If you’re a professional, student, entrepreneur, or parent who wants to protect what you’ve built and pass a heavy baton to the next runner, this conversation is your playbook. Subscribe, share this with someone building their plan, and leave a review with the one goal driving your money this year—what’s your North Star?
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Follow The Brand! We hope you enjoyed learning about the latest trends and strategies in Personal Branding, Business and Career Development, Financial Empowerment, Technology Innovation, and Executive Presence. To keep up with the latest insights and updates, visit 5starbdm.com
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And don’t miss Grant McGaugh’s new book, First Light — a powerful guide to igniting your purpose and building a BRAVE brand that stands out in a changing world. - https://5starbdm.com/brave-masterclass/
See you next time on Follow The Brand!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Welcome everybody to the Follow Brand Podcast.
This is Grant McGall, your hostfor today's show.
And I am loving the Midwestright now.
I'm telling you, it is October1st where I am right now.
If you're listening to me, andI'm telling you, I'm loving the
Midwest feel.
I have been in South Florida 30,35 years.
I'm used to this being aboutmaybe 50, 60 degrees.
(00:23):
I'm telling you, it is abeautiful 75, maybe close to 80
degrees here.
I am loving some Omar, Nebraska.
I'm also loving some EarlJohnson.
You gotta know this guy.
I've been in Omar maybe sixmonths.
This guy's name keeps cominginto my presence every other
day.
First it was every week.
(00:44):
Now it's every other day.
I go to I go to one of mycousins' uh retirement parties.
There's Earl.
I talked, I talked to one of mymy actually my my aunt, and
she's do you know Earl?
Like, yeah, I do know Earl.
I'm gonna go talk to my otheruncle.
He's like, Do you know Earl?
Like, yes, I know Earl.
I think I need to really, Ithink all of us need to know
Earl because Earl Johnson is theman with the plan.
(01:05):
We're gonna be talking aboutfinance, financial empowerment,
financial literacy, wealthmanagement, the things that make
the world spin.
And I want him to introducehimself.
Let's have a candidconversation.
So, Earl, what you got shaking?
SPEAKER_01 (01:20):
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Thanks for having me.
Uh, you know, uh, I was veryexcited about an opportunity to
get out here and, you know,speak to you and and you know,
uh I guess have that exchange uhof what you do and be able to
get out to the public.
That's probably one of thereasons why you see my name so
much.
Not that I'm the kind of personthat goes out and and is the
(01:41):
loud.
And, you know, I I do I have aquiet presence, I guess, but at
the same time, uh, you know, uh,reputation means everything to
me.
So, you know, I like to uh letmy community know I'm there to
help.
SPEAKER_00 (01:55):
Absolutely.
And I'm saying what you said isexactly right.
You want your reputation, youwant other people to be talking
about you in your zone ofgenius, right?
And a lot of people were saying,like, you know, Earl, you need
to talk to Earl when you talk touh about finance, you're talking
about wealth management.
And always he's a nice guy.
(02:16):
And when I met Earl, I'm tellingyou, now we're sitting here
right now, we're like head tohead right here, but I'm gonna
tell you, Earl is a good 6'5.
I mean, he's a towering figure.
If you walk into a room, youcannot know it's like who is
that guy?
But not only do you want to knowwho he is, is what he does, what
he does and how he helps peopleto grow.
(02:38):
I think when I think think aboutfinance, a lot of times you
think about finance, there'scertain stress that comes along
with it because people are like,oh, money, money.
Yeah, sometimes it's good,sometimes it's bad, sometimes
it's in between.
It's a constant, you know, uh, Iwould call it friction that kind
of occurs in your world, in whatyou've done for over 25 years.
(03:00):
You own your own business,you've been doing this for a
long time.
Tell us how you truly overcomethat type of perception that
most people carry when it comesto wealth management.
SPEAKER_01 (03:12):
Yeah, you know that that feeling is real.
And I learned early on that um,you know, I don't care if a
person has$2,000 or$500,000.
Sometimes people are ashamed ofthe financial decisions that
they've made in their life andthey don't know how they're uh
going to sustain themselves inthe future, you know, and that
(03:33):
always amazes me because, like Isaid, you can meet some pretty
wealthy people and they andthey're still a little uh
embarrassed sometimes abouttheir decisions or how they
manage money and uh whether ornot they're going to be okay.
You know, that's the questionthat people always want to know.
Am I gonna be okay?
(03:53):
Well, my job is to try to helpsort through what you're doing
and and and help you understandthe consequences if you live
your life this way.
I'm not the person to tell youstop watching Netflix, stop
going to Starbucks every day.
That's not me.
You know, we got one life tolive.
You gotta you get to choose, youknow, how the consequences will
(04:14):
eventually affect you, you know.
So if you can set aside a pot ofmoney for life, you set another
pot of money away for thefuture, um, you know, that's the
thing that people don'tunderstand the separation from,
you know, of how am I saving formy future and how it will
connect with my lifestyle today.
(04:35):
You know, my job is to help uhget them, give them a better
understanding of how that'sgonna play out.
So, you know, it's just amazinghow, like I said, you get people
who don't, you know, think theydon't have any money.
You think you get people whothink they have money that, you
know, and I tell them, shoot,you keep at this rate, you ain't
gonna have what you, you know,what you're hoping to have in
(04:58):
the future.
So so it's different foreverybody, you know, and you got
to have empathy around people'ssituations because there's a lot
of backstory that got them tothe point that they are right
now, you know.
And what I'm trying to convincepeople is is that all of that
matters, but today is a new day.
(05:18):
You know, we're trying to planfor your next 20 years of your
life.
So don't let the last 20 affectyou in a negative way.
SPEAKER_00 (05:27):
Hey, that that's a mic draw right there, you know.
Uh just to take live for todayand not make the mistakes of the
past if that is the case.
I think that's so, so important.
Now, before we you you know wegot together and everybody
joined us just now, we weretalking about the brand,
personal brand.
You have a personal brandauthority, you have built Lexus
(05:50):
Wealth Management into a trustedname for over 25 years, which is
I think pretty remarkable.
That says a lot.
I want to know if if you've gotany principles or things that
have guided you in establishingyour brand authority in a very,
very competitive industry likefinancial services.
SPEAKER_01 (06:12):
Yeah, you know, um, in our business, and especially
with a lot of folks we that Iwork with, uh trust, uh,
integrity, and uhconfidentiality means
everything.
You know, uh, you can't be thekind of advisor where you're in
a community where everybodyknows you.
I mean, you said it, Grant, I'myou know, 6'5, 6'6, I'm actually
(06:36):
6'9, so don't take my other fewinches away from me.
So I was known in my community,you know, for sports, for
playing basketball.
So I know an awful lot of peoplefrom that.
So you had to figure out, okay,how do I translate, you know,
this uh, you know, successfulcareer in basketball and
(06:57):
maintain a particular presencewith people as a financial
advisor.
So um I may had to have cleanedup my reputation a little bit
with a couple of referees, youknow, because I probably uh
didn't treat a couple ofreferees right in my lifetime,
but uh but for the most part, uhI've always, you know, had um,
(07:19):
you know, empathy for people'ssituations, you know, because we
come from um, you know, in somecases, tough circumstances, you
know, and every every dimematters, you know, especially if
we're trying to create a legacy.
And so when I go to work everyday, it's about um, you know,
having that kind of empathy andfeeling for people's situations
(07:41):
and knowing that I don't wantthem to go back to where they
came from.
You know, I don't want you to goback to the days when uh, you
know, uh you had one meal a dayor uh you know you didn't eat
the way you know you eat steaknow.
But back in the days it was uh,you know, beans and weanies, you
know.
You was happy to have pork chopsthat night, you know, but uh um,
(08:03):
you know, I don't want you to gothat way.
You know, I want you to be ableto create a trajectory where
your families, you know, don'teven know the pain that you went
through to grow and get them ina position where they can get
educated and not worry so muchabout$100,000 in student loans
and things like that.
You know, so so it haseverything to do with um, you
(08:26):
know, really feeling forpeople's situations and knowing
that, you know, getting give meeverything, give me a good
understanding of where you'vebeen and where you'd like to go,
and I'll and I'll help devise afinancial plan uh that that can
meet that criteria.
SPEAKER_00 (08:39):
What you said there, and I took that to heart about
getting the plan, meaning let'ssee your current state, where
are you at, and and understandthe mindset.
Like, are you do you realizethat you you alluded to that,
you play basketball, you are ona a uh in a sporting arena, so
to speak.
When you talk about the world welive in, a capitalistic society,
(09:02):
you've got to have money inorder to run your life.
It's like the ball, right?
You've got to be able to managethe ball, clock management, all
of those things in order to playa full four quarters.
Yeah, you might have had a toughhalf.
You know, everybody's had thattough half.
But we've also seen other teamsor players have a fantastic
(09:24):
second half or a fantasticfourth quarter, or they win the
game, but you first you've gotto have the will, you've got to
have an understanding.
And on that sideline, as I justalluded to, you have to have a
coach.
And someone who says, I seewhere you're at, I see your your
talents, I see what you can, youknow, I see what you're not
utilizing, and I see where youcan go.
(09:47):
I know going to school, onething I've talked about this in
the past in some of my shows, isthat I wish I understood, and
maybe I wish my teachers werereally drilled into me that you
are on a game of monopoly.
This is a monopoly board.
All I'm gonna do is be able tohelp you to pass go and collect
(10:08):
$200.
You have enough skill set to getaround the board, collect$200.
But guess what?
That's not the game.
The game is to collect assets,the game is to then get
property, then to get houses,and then to get businesses in
order to run and win the game inMonopoly.
(10:31):
And if you don't, as we know,when you first start out on that
board, you can pay the rent.
You know, you go aroundeverybody at the same time, you
know.
Yeah, land off the pay.
I the rent's fine, but when theystart building up, that rent
gets higher.
And if you're only passing goal,you will not have enough to
sustain yourself, right?
(10:52):
So, my question to you when youunderstand the game, and you
first you have to get acrossthat mindset to your clients,
and we all know that marketsthey rise, they fall, client
emotions can run high in thosesituations.
How have you trained yourselfand your advisors to practice
resilience, especially duringturbulent times, and help people
(11:15):
to focus on the game thatthey're in?
SPEAKER_01 (11:18):
Yeah, that's that's a good one.
You know, um you gotta be goodat understanding people, you
know, and and understanding uh,I guess, people's behaviors and
why they're uh investing anyway,you know.
Um then of course you gotta beyou you gotta be educated about
the markets and the wholeprocess.
You know, a lot of times youmeet people who are in it or
(11:40):
they think that investing is,you know, throw some money in,
you get a crypto investment, youmake a you know,$10,000 turns
into a million, you know, in ayear.
No, it don't work like that.
Because I've seen the little oldladies who've just been
consistent doing the blockingand tackling every day, every
week, every year.
And they get to the point wherethey say, well, you know, I
(12:02):
don't even pay attention tothat.
Because history says, you know,over longer periods of time, if
you select the rightinvestments, you're gonna do
okay, you know, because we havea track record of um, you know,
and then the other thing,people, people have a hard time
correlating the markets to, youknow, what the market is made up
of.
(12:22):
The market is made up of, youknow, some of the best companies
in the world.
So if I'm taking my kids toMcDonald's or if I'm shopping at
Walmart, you know, or if I'm,you know, uh sending a package
to FedEx, FedEx, McDonald's, andWalmart are going to make money.
There's nothing wrong withbecoming a shareholder in those
(12:43):
particular companies, as long asyou are a supporter, why not
benefit?
You know, so handling theemotions, uh in other words, I
try to, you know, I guess forthe lack of a better term, dumb
it down a little bit too, youknow, put it in layman's terms
and say, listen, if you boughtWalmart share, you're a
shareholder.
(13:03):
I mean, during the during COVID,you know, um, was one of the few
places we could actually go andspend money.
So why not invest in them?
You know, so but you know,people choose investments for a
lot of different reasons, andthat's okay, whether for Walmart
or for somebody else.
But at the end of the day, yourmoney can grow when you invest
(13:25):
in companies and watch thosecompanies continue.
As long as we continue toparticipate and put our dollars
in, as long as they're managingthat business appropriately,
you're gonna be okay.
So, but yes, if you do have aportfolio you don't understand,
you have investments you don'tunderstand, yeah, you know,
sometimes it could be a littlenerve-wracking, you know.
So you need somebody like myselfto go through that portfolio and
(13:47):
say, hey, um, there's somethings we need to change,
there's some things we need toadd, or you're going to have to
make it through differentperiods of time.
And that's where, you know, onelayer is stock, the next layer
is the economy.
You know, we have policy thingsthat go on in the economy.
You know, there's things thatchange with regard to health
care, uh, you know, governmentalpolicies in certain areas, they
(14:09):
will affect um investment.
So people got to be aware ofwhat they invest in and you
know, have somebody that cankind of coach them through uh,
you know, some of the situationsthat that I just described.
And you know, the coaching is abig deal.
You know, a lot of a lot ofpeople can you know go running
on their own, but when they getto the end of the race, you
know, uh, I thought I ran a10-6.
(14:32):
No, you were on like like 11-5.
You know, you didn't do as goodas you thought you would did,
you know.
So having a coach that canprepare you and understanding
what the goals are and how tohit the goals, that matters.
SPEAKER_00 (14:46):
I think 100% matters.
Uh tap it in as someone else'sexpertise.
This is not your expertise,unless you went to school,
you've got the uh differentcertifications, you're watching
these things each and every day.
Maybe you can manage things.
I mean, you manage over abillion dollars in assets when
especially when you had officesin Minneapolis and Chicago.
(15:08):
I know there's definitely toughmoments, you know, along the
way.
But if you look at, and I alwayslooked at uh one of our Omaha
natives, Warren Buffett, if youlook at his investment
portfolio, what he normallyinvests in, as you stated
earlier, is tried intocompanies, and he's in it for
the long term, not theshort-term gain.
So at the end of that race,there's a there's a considerable
(15:31):
uh net sum uh that is there andit's less risky, but you've got
to understand where you you wantto do the the crawl, walk, run
uh type approach and that typeof thing, and have your
financial advisor to trulyunderstand it.
I think that's when it gets downto for me, my framework is
around being authentic.
(15:52):
How authentic can you be?
And I know your mission hasemphasize you know value-based
relationships.
You you love to bring value tothose relationships.
My question to you is this howdo you ensure authenticity when
guiding clients, especiallythrough difficult conversations
(16:13):
about money and legacy?
SPEAKER_01 (16:16):
Yeah, yeah, I tell them the truth.
You know, I tell them the truth.
I don't sell them, you know,this this pie in the sky uh
opportunity that uh that may notexist for them, you know.
So uh, and I'll try to projectthis thing out, you know, in
financial planning, you tryingto benchmark this, if it's
annually, annually, you know, ifit's every two, three, four,
(16:39):
five years, whatever it is, Ican offer some predictions on,
you know, where we should be andif and what kind of changes we
need to make.
But um, the authenticity part ofit is to be able to spend time
with people, to show them thatyou're interested.
This is a whole client-centeredapproach to us.
You know, we don't we don't haveany success if our clients don't
(17:00):
have success.
You know, that's the number thatthat is number one to us.
So we want to treat them uh asif uh their goal is ours.
You know, we want to achievejust as well as you do.
Uh so uh that's the approachthat we come to the office with
every day that we're, you know,we're here to help you, you
know, and we're gonna give youtime, you know, to give it all
(17:23):
to us and allow us to uh youknow position you for success,
you know.
So it's not, and and this is thegood part about the nature and
way we do business.
We're not commission-basedadvisors.
I don't have to go chasesomebody to make a living.
You know, I don't gotta hit youover the head, get a commission
out of you, and never see youagain.
That's that's not not how thisworks.
(17:44):
We consider our clients family,you know.
When when a new client comes tous and they walk out of the
door, you know, you know, myadmin, my assistant's gonna say,
Welcome to the family.
You know, it's just thatimportant to us.
You know, I want to be the guythat walks past you at the
grocery store, and I ain'thiding my head down because I
didn't do right by you, youknow.
(18:06):
Um, that's that's important tous.
SPEAKER_00 (18:09):
I think all of those things, because here's the
conversation I know that'shappening now.
We have one of the largestpopulations in the United States
that has gone into going intoretirement, right?
Uh, I think it's the largestpopulation in the history when
it comes down to the age factor.
So there's a lot of people thatare are retiring, they're
getting out of the workforce.
(18:32):
But also, they're looking ateither their their 401k that was
probably managed by someoneelse.
They weren't really looking atthat a lot.
You might make some adjustmentsevery year to it, but that it
wasn't something you focused inon uh a lot.
But now it's your it's in yourballgame.
You know, you've got it, youdon't know what to do with it.
(18:54):
Whether you know, do I take thislump sum of money and cash out?
Do I continue what what I do?
Do I have to like move it toother another brokerage?
Or I I don't know what to donow.
So you find yourself as a almosta now, is this something you're
dealing with a lot in your Ohman, oh man, that's that's the
ball game right now.
SPEAKER_01 (19:13):
And I'll tell you why I say it's the ball game.
Uh years ago, you know, ourparents and parents' parents had
Social Security.
And if they were fortunate, theyhad a pension.
They didn't really have anymoney.
You know, their money was fromworking.
When they stopped working, thechecks stopped, the pension
(19:33):
started.
The Social Security started.
But when they left the earth,what did they have to transfer?
If they did well enough, theygave you a house, you got
daddy's car, and you got mama'spots and pans.
With the advent of the 401k, nowwe got money.
So now we're not onlytransferring um, you know, the
(19:56):
property and the assets that weaccumulated, but we're also
gonna transfer an IRA that usedto house my 401k that had
200,000, 500,000, a million,whatever.
And now you're speaking to thenext generation and say, son,
what are you gonna do with thismoney when I'm not here?
So the name of the ballgame iseducation because now we got
(20:17):
assets, not just the house thatwe got to split up and divide,
but now we got money that iseither going to be the
springboard to our family'ssuccess, or it's gonna be a
detriment because we're gonnaspend this thing like the lotto.
So we got an education to be hadover these next several years.
(20:40):
They call it the great wealthtransfer.
$80 trillion will be moving fromthe hands of the baby boomer
generation to the nextgeneration.
So you're talking about over thenext 30 years, when you know,
mom and mama's mom and they passaway, um, they're gonna hand you
a baton.
(21:01):
Now, we hope that baton weigh800 pounds.
We don't want that baton toweigh a pound and it ain't gonna
last long.
You know, so we're talking aboutlegacy building now, where even
in my conversations as afinancial advisor years ago, um,
they're much different than theyare today.
(21:21):
Because these folks over thelast 20 years have accumulated
money.
And now it's okay, we're talkinga lot about estate planning,
we're talking about legacyplanning.
These are things that we'vealways heard.
We didn't know what a state was.
Right.
You know, an estate we thoughtit was just like a big old
property.
We thought it was South ForkRanch.
No, it's not.
(21:42):
It's everything you own.
That's your estate.
How are you going to protect it?
You're gonna go to, you're gonnaget a trust, you're gonna end up
going to probate.
What's gonna happen?
We don't know until you get withsomebody that's gonna educate
you about the process andprepare you so that next, so
that baton that you pass isgonna have everything in it.
You know, and your kids aregonna be prepared to run with
(22:04):
it.
So when that generation comesaround, now we're paying for
education at the best schools,cash.
We ain't going into$250,000,$400,000 in in student loan
debt.
We paying cash for Lil' Johnnyto get his uh master's, to get
his doctorate, you know, becausethat's what happens in in the in
(22:25):
in other cultures.
Right.
You know, we're just finallygetting, you know, our piece of
the pie, and we now need tofigure out, okay, how do we
protect this?
You know, how do we make it workfor us?
First and foremost, let's notlose it because I need it to
last the rest of my life.
And then let's let's transfer.
So uh that's a big deal.
(22:47):
I mean, if we don't, if we don'tget this right, you know, we
can't, we got to get out of thethe way of starting over.
I mean, if you just look at itfrom business standpoint, when
when when Mr.
Tate runs his business and Mr.
Tate is done, he ain't got nosuccession plan.
They closed the doors and it'sover.
How many businesses have we seenin our communities that are
over, but we're competingagainst business that's been
(23:10):
around 120 years?
You know, we have to educateourselves on succession,
preparing people to step intothe roles that we have
decultivated for many years andlet this thing run.
So now we're in a business wherelicensed wealth management has
been around for 80 years.
SPEAKER_00 (23:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (23:28):
You know, it's been around for you know a hundred
years.
I can, I mean, this business isright here on Dodd Street that I
could tell you that's in thesame wealth management business.
And this guy is is like thirdgeneration in the seat as the
owner, and his dad ran it, andhis granddad ran it, you know.
So this is our opportunity.
SPEAKER_00 (23:51):
I I hear what you're saying, Earl, and this is so
important because when you lookat the uh what the experience
has been, especially a lot ofpeople of people of color like
me and yourself, and what it hasthat been.
Like it's been a a workforceenvironment, right?
Blue collar kind of environmentthat you worked and you paid
(24:13):
your bills, and then like yousaid, you retired, you got a
social security, and if you werelucky, you got some kind of
pension, you and you you youknow, savings was like, you
know, we saved for that momentin time when you had to use
money to to save off uh somekind of emergency.
Now the game is changing towhere you're especially uh a lot
(24:35):
more middle income uh uh peopleuh that have more wealth than
they have from the previousgeneration.
And going back to what I saideven earlier about the education
that we got even from school, ifthey only taught you to pass
goal and only taught you to pass200 and cut$200, that mindset
(24:57):
has to shift.
You cannot bring a W-2 mindsetto a entrepreneurial adventure,
a business mindset.
It's a different story from whenyou're working in a business to
owning the business.
So now we're getting intoownership, owning your wealth,
and then knowing these all thesedifferent things that happen,
(25:19):
and there's so many differentthings.
Understanding tax, understandinglaw, understanding, as you said,
uh estate, when people passaway, and then who who is um uh
responsible for these things,and it it changes the game.
And if you do not have, and Iknow this, if you don't have a
(25:40):
person like Earl in your cornerthat you trust and somebody can
truly help you with this, toyour point, if you have a
consumer um mindset that youjust take money and spend it,
that is not now now you're gonnalose all that opportunity,
right?
Instead of like, how do I takethis money and 10xit?
That should be my understanding,and not just 10 exit like
(26:02):
overnight.
That quick, that quick getquick, rich attitude um um you
know has to change.
This is something that buildsover time.
Help us understand the valuesthat you bring to the table, the
values that we need to look at,and I know you have a vision
around it in terms of helpingpeople create multi-generational
(26:24):
wealth.
SPEAKER_01 (26:25):
Right.
Right.
Yeah, um it's very important tome because you know, I got kids,
I got family, you know, I'veseen the challenges uh for
people who uh uh don't haveenough money to accomplish what
they want to.
And what I've learned is itdoesn't mean that you have to go
(26:49):
have a six-figure job to um, youknow, prepare yourself for a
lifestyle that gives you anopportunity to support the
family that the way you want toand to be able to leave a
legacy.
And I say that because, youknow, I'm a big believer in that
whole concept of the millionairenext door.
You'd be very surprised at thepeople you walk past you who
(27:13):
have a million dollars or more.
You know, no a million dollarsis just a figure, you know, who
knows if they will ever spendit, how they're gonna transfer
it, but it's just something thatgets people's attention.
But uh that can be had by beingdisciplined on how you spend
money, uh having some success atinvesting money and starting
(27:34):
early at investing money, youknow.
And uh, I mean, I got clients Ihave to tell them sometimes, I
said, hey, you need to live alittle bit.
You got more than what you need,you know, and that's okay.
And if living a little bitexpands their whole mindset
around, well, maybe I need to bea bigger, be a be a more be more
charitable.
(27:54):
I need to be a better giver, youknow, because at the end of the
day, we want you to feel good,you know, we want you to enjoy
the life that you're given anduh be able to help other people.
Now, I'm not telling you to goout and just give all your money
away, but I'm saying that expandyour mind a little bit and
figure out, you know, if you'renot working anymore or change
(28:17):
jobs, go work for a nonprofit,do something to help support
some other people.
You know, all that's importantto me because I can't take it
all with me.
I can't uh, you know, in otherwords, there's more value to me
being a human being on thisearth than just being able to
help people uh with theirfinancial strategies.
So, um, but you know, like Isaid, it you don't have to be
(28:42):
the business owner mindset iswonderful.
Obviously, it's not foreverybody.
You know, I I talk about my moma lot because my mother was
somebody who worked for MutualOmaha for 30 years and, you
know, she retired.
But, you know, I knew my I knewwhen my mother went to work, I
knew when she went to lunch, Iknew when she came back from
lunch, and I knew when she wasleaving.
(29:03):
And that probably helped me say,I'm not doing that when I get
out of college.
You know, I got to go dosomething else because I can't,
I'm just not that regimen to doit.
But God love her because we needpeople like that.
You know, but at the same time,somebody like her can become
wealthy if they take care ofsome very small concepts.
(29:24):
One, don't live on 100% of whatyou make.
You know, get to a point whereyou can learn to live on 90,
live on 80, you know, live on70.
And if you're a big wage earner,you shouldn't have to you
shouldn't have to live on morethan 50% of what you make.
So what are you gonna do withthe other 50?
Yeah, you know, but it's butit's things like that that get
(29:45):
people's attention when theystart to put the the X's now.
I mean, most people don'tbudget, they talk about budget,
you know, but they don't reallyknow where their money is going.
You know, so that's one thing Itry to get people to do.
Go through what you spend with afine tooth comb and then.
Ask yourself, is that necessary?
And you know, say, well, yeah,okay, maybe it's not.
(30:05):
You know, let them decide.
If it is, it's fine, you know.
Um, but in most cases, peoplelook at how they spend money and
want to get a better grip andlook better handle on it if it
helps them one, alleviate memergencies, two, create
opportunities.
Because you might want to startworking, hey, I want to be a
writer, I want to go writebooks, or I want to go open up a
(30:26):
bakery, you know.
SPEAKER_00 (30:28):
Um, you know, so what you said there, Earl, I
think is what I find is mostimportant, especially in the
work that I do, that a personhas to have a North Star, a
goal, that one goal, somethingthat they really get up in the
morning, or they even they'rethey're up at night thinking
about this is something theywant to accomplish.
(30:48):
And they know now you've got ablueprint and a plan that you're
gonna execute and you're gonnaget there.
So if you know, if you're gonnago, uh, you know what, I want to
go to Europe.
I'm gonna go to Europe, I'mgonna spend two weeks in Europe.
I know it costs X amount ofdollars.
Now you say, okay, in order forme to do that, I've got to do X
(31:10):
to get to Y.
So you like you said, you said,I gotta discipline myself, I've
got to serve much amount, youcan either manage the money you
have, or you try to grow themoney uh exponentially so you
have more money than ordered tomeet your goals.
However, it comes out, you stillneed to have a goal.
Whatever that goal is going tobe, and then execute toward
(31:32):
achieving that realistically.
Like you said, you've got totalk to people.
Like you told me if you wantedto go to France, that's what you
told me.
In five years, I want to go toFrance.
But you're what you're doing andhow you're spending your money,
you're not gonna be able to goto Consul Blas.
So we've got to look at this,you know.
That's right, they talk aboutstrategy, you can talk about
(31:55):
execution, but this is where Ithink success either will live
or success or evil or or willdie.
It's the habits and the systemsthat we've developed.
And if we understand ourselvesand take a really good look,
say, you know what?
I have a consumer mindset.
I like to consume and spend.
And if we really listen to a lotof the messaging that's out
(32:16):
there in the ethers, whetherit's on you know advertisements,
social media, other things, it'sreally about spending, it's not
about saving.
How do you take this and create?
I want to be an owner of mylife, you know, not renting your
life, right?
I want to need to own my life.
So here's my question if you hadto give one piece of actionable
advice to either they can beprofessionals, students,
(32:40):
educators, entrepreneurs, tryingto secure their financial future
right now, what would that be?
SPEAKER_01 (32:48):
Well, um, you know, I think that's a tough question
because I I, you know, it'severything that helped me came
from mentors, you know, beingable to listen to somebody that
can feed you the rightinformation.
And we're at a point where weneed to be more comfortable
(33:10):
talking about money, you know,and making financial decisions,
you know, and our in in ourculture um is something that we
didn't do a whole heck of a lotof, and we haven't.
And it's okay.
I mean, even from mom to child,the conversation isn't even
happening, you know.
So let alone other outsidegeneration generations or other
(33:33):
family members, but we got toget more comfortable.
Uh, you know, and I thought, youknow, part of your question was
going to this place of how Ihelp people do it.
And it all takes me back to thebeginning, and it's it's trust.
SPEAKER_00 (33:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (33:46):
Because if they understand I care about you
before I even don't even show mehow much money you got.
Tell me why you're here and whatit is that you want to
accomplish.
And why does all of this matterto you?
You know, then we'll be able tofigure out if we can establish a
relationship, you know, becauseI'm gonna offer some strategies
(34:08):
that, you know, might, you know,shake you a little bit because
you know, things are a littlebit different for you.
But that's what success is allabout.
Success sometimes you gotta beuncomfortable at one point in
your life.
So in the beginning, you mighthave to be a little
uncomfortable to be comfortablelater.
You know, a lot of people playclose to the vest and want to be
(34:28):
comfortable right now, but findout they're insecure in the
future.
You know, we're not trying toput people in that position, but
I'm gonna at least be able to uhhave a real in-depth
conversation with you about umwhere you need to go and and
what needs to happen.
You know, so if if you'rewilling to trust me enough to
(34:51):
give you the advice that and andit's the funny thing about
relationships like this becauseyou know, you don't know if they
see you as an advisor or usedcar salesman sometimes.
Yeah, true.
I don't try and sell younothing, but they meet a lot of
people who have that mentality.
People think sometimes businessis all about, you know, uh bell
(35:12):
bottom pants and white shoes,you know, walking around a lot
trying to sell you a car that hegot.
And I know this is what I wantto buy.
Yeah.
I don't want to, you know, Idon't want to buy that.
Learn about me first.
You know, so there's things thatI learned a lot in coming into
this career, you know, that helpme be successful, that I take in
(35:33):
the business every day.
And it starts from beingtrusted, being able to build
better relationships withpeople.
And then once they see thatyou're all about their success,
um, then they start talking alittle bit more about what they
want to accomplish, and you canstart figuring out how you can
help them do it.
So um, you know, being able tograsp their attention, have a
(35:56):
good conversation with them uhis everything.
SPEAKER_00 (35:59):
I think what you said is so important.
You've got to get theinformation from a trusted
source, yeah, and and understandhow then to apply that
knowledge.
Apply knowledge is so big rightnow.
The financial world is changing.
Everybody knows about thetechnology world changing with
artificial intelligence, but uhthe fintech world, the financial
world is changing rapidly uh inso many different ways.
(36:24):
And so your traditional bankingworld is changing a lot of
things.
So if you're not on top of thesethings, and again, if you're not
a technologist, you wouldn't goto someone like, hey, build me a
data system and you, you know,and you try to do it yourself,
you know, you're not gonna besuccessful.
I believe that you need to talkto a financial expert around
these things.
(36:44):
These so many tools are outthere now.
People are familiar with RobinHood, but just like any other
platform, if you don't know howto drive the car, you're gonna
wreck it.
SPEAKER_01 (36:55):
So, so so I've seen a lot of beat up cars, too.
SPEAKER_00 (36:59):
Right?
SPEAKER_01 (37:00):
Yeah, I said I've seen a lot of beat up cars too.
SPEAKER_00 (37:03):
So or like you said, though, you didn't, and no one
can anticipate, like obviouslywe had the COVID, and then wow,
you know, that changed the wholefinancial markets.
You had, like you said, thechanges, the political system
changes, like wow, it changes alot of different things,
different wars break out, orthere's there's other other
things that that affect yourportfolio.
(37:24):
But if you really watch it overtime, which I've watched, is
that it comes back.
People get resilient, and thecorporations get resilient.
This is what buoys the economy.
Governments are really thebenefactors of good people like
ourselves that go to work everyday.
Taxes only occur when you makemoney and then they get a
percentage of it.
(37:44):
It's us that does these types ofthings.
But knowing how to work smarter,I think is very important.
Understanding money management,like right now, and I still need
to learn it even today.
Understanding how to applyprinciples around finance,
around money, and how to make itgrow successfully over time, is
(38:08):
something I definitely haven'tmastered, but I would talk to
someone like yourself, and wewould have candid conversations
about these things.
I think it's important.
So before I let you go, I wantto ask you this because I've
been asking this for a lot of mypeople that come on the show.
How did you feel?
First time you've been on theFollow Brad podcast, first
you've got uh wherever youprobably listened to a couple
(38:29):
shows.
Now you've gone through thewhole experience.
How'd you like your interview?
SPEAKER_01 (38:34):
I love it.
I love it.
It's very engaging.
You know, uh, it's good whenyou're talking to somebody who
has um uh, you know, anunderstanding of what it is that
you do and it's being and ableto direct, I guess, the
questioning to get out what Iwant to get out.
I mean, this this message is uh,I mean, for us, it is is
(38:58):
paramount.
We better, we better get a graspon understanding money.
We got to have resources.
I mean, it's nice to have avoice, you know, it's nice to
have a vote, uh, but you know,resources are a big driver in in
our success.
And if we learn more aboutmanaging those resources, uh,
(39:21):
you know, our situation will bemuch better uh at at light
speed, you know.
So I appreciate you for beingable to extract what it is that
you want to hear and what I'mable to provide to people.
I mean, that was, I mean, Ididn't have to talk about the
stock market or, you know, howwhat percent did this, that, and
the other.
I mean, that's just so many moreimportant things, but those are
(39:43):
certainly the components inwhich, you know, I help people.
And it it doesn't show on dayone, but you ask me, ask my
clients that have been with mefive, 10, 15 years.
Some of them they see somechanges right away, you know.
But ask ask the people I workwith that have been around a
long time.
You know, um, they'll tell you.
SPEAKER_00 (40:01):
Your name is synonymous with success.
Everybody I've talked to, andthey talk about it, Earl
Johnson, they're sitting there,they're smiling.
That that that's good.
That says a lot about you andyour company.
Tell us how to contact you.
SPEAKER_01 (40:17):
Um, the easiest way is lexiswealth.com.
You know, our our website ispretty robust, has all our
information there.
So if you go to lexiswealth.com,you'll be able to find us in the
about us section or or thecontact us section.
We do a lot of events around thecity.
You know, again, our our bigdeal is not only uh helping, you
(40:38):
know, our clients withstrategies, but educating people
about what we do.
So we're gonna get out in thecommunity and do a lot of events
to uh you know to help folks.
SPEAKER_00 (40:46):
I like it.
And how big is how big is yourteam?
SPEAKER_01 (40:50):
Uh I have uh four people in my office here, but I
also have advisors in Chicagoand Atlanta as well, too.
So the the folks in uh Chicagoand Atlanta have been with me
over well, they've been with me.
They're both 20 years plus inthe business.
One of them's been 27 years inthe business, and he's the
youngest of the group.
unknown (41:07):
Nice.
SPEAKER_01 (41:08):
You know, so I'm I got I got a brain trust of
experience to work with.
So don't think that, you know,I'm the only one, you know,
printing out the strategieshere.
I got people that we talk to ona daily basis uh about you know
how we're gonna help people.
But uh, you know, we got like Isaid, we have people on the
ground in Atlanta and Chicago,in addition to my four folks
here.
SPEAKER_00 (41:27):
I love that.
I love that, man.
This this is so good.
We've got to get this right, andwe will get this right because
it's all about starting whereyou are right now.
How can we move the needleforward?
God bless a child that has theirown, and I'm telling you, you
have shown us uh the way, and Ireally appreciate you.
I want to encourage your Atariaudience to check out all the
(41:49):
different episodes on followbrand at five star BDM.
That is the number five.
That is Star, that's BDM B forbrand, D for Development
Informasters.com.
You'll see a section there onfinancial empowerment while I
feature people just like EarlJohnson, who's talking about how
we can move that needle forward.
We need to educate yourself.
This is free information.
(42:10):
There's no reason for you tosay, Oh, I didn't know.
Yes, the information is there.
You just have to apply it.
So I want to thank you again forbeing on the show.
SPEAKER_01 (42:18):
Yes, sir.
Thanks for having me.
Appreciate it, Grant.
SPEAKER_00 (42:21):
Bye bye.
Welcome everybody to the Follow Brand Podcast.
This is Grant McGall, your hostfor today's show.
And I am loving the Midwestright now.
I'm telling you, it is October1st where I am right now.
If you're listening to me, andI'm telling you, I'm loving the
Midwest feel.
I have been in South Florida 30,35 years.
I'm used to this being aboutmaybe 50, 60 degrees.
(00:23):
I'm telling you, it is abeautiful 75, maybe close to 80
degrees here.
I am loving some Omar, Nebraska.
I'm also loving some EarlJohnson.
You gotta know this guy.
I've been in Omar maybe sixmonths.
This guy's name keeps cominginto my presence every other
day.
First it was every week.
(00:44):
Now it's every other day.
I go to I go to one of mycousins' uh retirement parties.
There's Earl.
I talked, I talked to one of mymy actually my my aunt, and
she's do you know Earl?
Like, yeah, I do know Earl.
I'm gonna go talk to my otheruncle.
He's like, Do you know Earl?
Like, yes, I know Earl.
I think I need to really, Ithink all of us need to know
Earl because Earl Johnson is theman with the plan.
(01:05):
We're gonna be talking aboutfinance, financial empowerment,
financial literacy, wealthmanagement, the things that make
the world spin.
And I want him to introducehimself.
Let's have a candidconversation.
So, Earl, what you got shaking?
SPEAKER_01 (01:20):
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Thanks for having me.
Uh, you know, uh, I was veryexcited about an opportunity to
get out here and, you know,speak to you and and you know,
uh I guess have that exchange uhof what you do and be able to
get out to the public.
That's probably one of thereasons why you see my name so
much.
Not that I'm the kind of personthat goes out and and is the
(01:41):
loud.
And, you know, I I do I have aquiet presence, I guess, but at
the same time, uh, you know, uh,reputation means everything to
me.
So, you know, I like to uh letmy community know I'm there to
help.
SPEAKER_00 (01:55):
Absolutely.
And I'm saying what you said isexactly right.
You want your reputation, youwant other people to be talking
about you in your zone ofgenius, right?
And a lot of people were saying,like, you know, Earl, you need
to talk to Earl when you talk touh about finance, you're talking
about wealth management.
And always he's a nice guy.
(02:16):
And when I met Earl, I'm tellingyou, now we're sitting here
right now, we're like head tohead right here, but I'm gonna
tell you, Earl is a good 6'5.
I mean, he's a towering figure.
If you walk into a room, youcannot know it's like who is
that guy?
But not only do you want to knowwho he is, is what he does, what
he does and how he helps peopleto grow.
(02:38):
I think when I think think aboutfinance, a lot of times you
think about finance, there'scertain stress that comes along
with it because people are like,oh, money, money.
Yeah, sometimes it's good,sometimes it's bad, sometimes
it's in between.
It's a constant, you know, uh, Iwould call it friction that kind
of occurs in your world, in whatyou've done for over 25 years.
(03:00):
You own your own business,you've been doing this for a
long time.
Tell us how you truly overcomethat type of perception that
most people carry when it comesto wealth management.
SPEAKER_01 (03:12):
Yeah, you know that that feeling is real.
And I learned early on that um,you know, I don't care if a
person has$2,000 or$500,000.
Sometimes people are ashamed ofthe financial decisions that
they've made in their life andthey don't know how they're uh
going to sustain themselves inthe future, you know, and that
(03:33):
always amazes me because, like Isaid, you can meet some pretty
wealthy people and they andthey're still a little uh
embarrassed sometimes abouttheir decisions or how they
manage money and uh whether ornot they're going to be okay.
You know, that's the questionthat people always want to know.
Am I gonna be okay?
(03:53):
Well, my job is to try to helpsort through what you're doing
and and and help you understandthe consequences if you live
your life this way.
I'm not the person to tell youstop watching Netflix, stop
going to Starbucks every day.
That's not me.
You know, we got one life tolive.
You gotta you get to choose, youknow, how the consequences will
(04:14):
eventually affect you, you know.
So if you can set aside a pot ofmoney for life, you set another
pot of money away for thefuture, um, you know, that's the
thing that people don'tunderstand the separation from,
you know, of how am I saving formy future and how it will
connect with my lifestyle today.
(04:35):
You know, my job is to help uhget them, give them a better
understanding of how that'sgonna play out.
So, you know, it's just amazinghow, like I said, you get people
who don't, you know, think theydon't have any money.
You think you get people whothink they have money that, you
know, and I tell them, shoot,you keep at this rate, you ain't
gonna have what you, you know,what you're hoping to have in
(04:58):
the future.
So so it's different foreverybody, you know, and you got
to have empathy around people'ssituations because there's a lot
of backstory that got them tothe point that they are right
now, you know.
And what I'm trying to convincepeople is is that all of that
matters, but today is a new day.
(05:18):
You know, we're trying to planfor your next 20 years of your
life.
So don't let the last 20 affectyou in a negative way.
SPEAKER_00 (05:27):
Hey, that that's a mic draw right there, you know.
Uh just to take live for todayand not make the mistakes of the
past if that is the case.
I think that's so, so important.
Now, before we you you know wegot together and everybody
joined us just now, we weretalking about the brand,
personal brand.
You have a personal brandauthority, you have built Lexus
(05:50):
Wealth Management into a trustedname for over 25 years, which is
I think pretty remarkable.
That says a lot.
I want to know if if you've gotany principles or things that
have guided you in establishingyour brand authority in a very,
very competitive industry likefinancial services.
SPEAKER_01 (06:12):
Yeah, you know, um, in our business, and especially
with a lot of folks we that Iwork with, uh trust, uh,
integrity, and uhconfidentiality means
everything.
You know, uh, you can't be thekind of advisor where you're in
a community where everybodyknows you.
I mean, you said it, Grant, I'myou know, 6'5, 6'6, I'm actually
(06:36):
6'9, so don't take my other fewinches away from me.
So I was known in my community,you know, for sports, for
playing basketball.
So I know an awful lot of peoplefrom that.
So you had to figure out, okay,how do I translate, you know,
this uh, you know, successfulcareer in basketball and
(06:57):
maintain a particular presencewith people as a financial
advisor.
So um I may had to have cleanedup my reputation a little bit
with a couple of referees, youknow, because I probably uh
didn't treat a couple ofreferees right in my lifetime,
but uh but for the most part, uhI've always, you know, had um,
(07:19):
you know, empathy for people'ssituations, you know, because we
come from um, you know, in somecases, tough circumstances, you
know, and every every dimematters, you know, especially if
we're trying to create a legacy.
And so when I go to work everyday, it's about um, you know,
having that kind of empathy andfeeling for people's situations
(07:41):
and knowing that I don't wantthem to go back to where they
came from.
You know, I don't want you to goback to the days when uh, you
know, uh you had one meal a dayor uh you know you didn't eat
the way you know you eat steaknow.
But back in the days it was uh,you know, beans and weanies, you
know.
You was happy to have pork chopsthat night, you know, but uh um,
(08:03):
you know, I don't want you to gothat way.
You know, I want you to be ableto create a trajectory where
your families, you know, don'teven know the pain that you went
through to grow and get them ina position where they can get
educated and not worry so muchabout$100,000 in student loans
and things like that.
You know, so so it haseverything to do with um, you
(08:26):
know, really feeling forpeople's situations and knowing
that, you know, getting give meeverything, give me a good
understanding of where you'vebeen and where you'd like to go,
and I'll and I'll help devise afinancial plan uh that that can
meet that criteria.
SPEAKER_00 (08:39):
What you said there, and I took that to heart about
getting the plan, meaning let'ssee your current state, where
are you at, and and understandthe mindset.
Like, are you do you realizethat you you alluded to that,
you play basketball, you are ona a uh in a sporting arena, so
to speak.
When you talk about the world welive in, a capitalistic society,
(09:02):
you've got to have money inorder to run your life.
It's like the ball, right?
You've got to be able to managethe ball, clock management, all
of those things in order to playa full four quarters.
Yeah, you might have had a toughhalf.
You know, everybody's had thattough half.
But we've also seen other teamsor players have a fantastic
(09:24):
second half or a fantasticfourth quarter, or they win the
game, but you first you've gotto have the will, you've got to
have an understanding.
And on that sideline, as I justalluded to, you have to have a
coach.
And someone who says, I seewhere you're at, I see your your
talents, I see what you can, youknow, I see what you're not
utilizing, and I see where youcan go.
(09:47):
I know going to school, onething I've talked about this in
the past in some of my shows, isthat I wish I understood, and
maybe I wish my teachers werereally drilled into me that you
are on a game of monopoly.
This is a monopoly board.
All I'm gonna do is be able tohelp you to pass go and collect
(10:08):
$200.
You have enough skill set to getaround the board, collect$200.
But guess what?
That's not the game.
The game is to collect assets,the game is to then get
property, then to get houses,and then to get businesses in
order to run and win the game inMonopoly.
(10:31):
And if you don't, as we know,when you first start out on that
board, you can pay the rent.
You know, you go aroundeverybody at the same time, you
know.
Yeah, land off the pay.
I the rent's fine, but when theystart building up, that rent
gets higher.
And if you're only passing goal,you will not have enough to
sustain yourself, right?
(10:52):
So, my question to you when youunderstand the game, and you
first you have to get acrossthat mindset to your clients,
and we all know that marketsthey rise, they fall, client
emotions can run high in thosesituations.
How have you trained yourselfand your advisors to practice
resilience, especially duringturbulent times, and help people
(11:15):
to focus on the game thatthey're in?
SPEAKER_01 (11:18):
Yeah, that's that's a good one.
You know, um you gotta be goodat understanding people, you
know, and and understanding uh,I guess, people's behaviors and
why they're uh investing anyway,you know.
Um then of course you gotta beyou you gotta be educated about
the markets and the wholeprocess.
You know, a lot of times youmeet people who are in it or
(11:40):
they think that investing is,you know, throw some money in,
you get a crypto investment, youmake a you know,$10,000 turns
into a million, you know, in ayear.
No, it don't work like that.
Because I've seen the little oldladies who've just been
consistent doing the blockingand tackling every day, every
week, every year.
And they get to the point wherethey say, well, you know, I
(12:02):
don't even pay attention tothat.
Because history says, you know,over longer periods of time, if
you select the rightinvestments, you're gonna do
okay, you know, because we havea track record of um, you know,
and then the other thing,people, people have a hard time
correlating the markets to, youknow, what the market is made up
of.
(12:22):
The market is made up of, youknow, some of the best companies
in the world.
So if I'm taking my kids toMcDonald's or if I'm shopping at
Walmart, you know, or if I'm,you know, uh sending a package
to FedEx, FedEx, McDonald's, andWalmart are going to make money.
There's nothing wrong withbecoming a shareholder in those
(12:43):
particular companies, as long asyou are a supporter, why not
benefit?
You know, so handling theemotions, uh in other words, I
try to, you know, I guess forthe lack of a better term, dumb
it down a little bit too, youknow, put it in layman's terms
and say, listen, if you boughtWalmart share, you're a
shareholder.
(13:03):
I mean, during the during COVID,you know, um, was one of the few
places we could actually go andspend money.
So why not invest in them?
You know, so but you know,people choose investments for a
lot of different reasons, andthat's okay, whether for Walmart
or for somebody else.
But at the end of the day, yourmoney can grow when you invest
(13:25):
in companies and watch thosecompanies continue.
As long as we continue toparticipate and put our dollars
in, as long as they're managingthat business appropriately,
you're gonna be okay.
So, but yes, if you do have aportfolio you don't understand,
you have investments you don'tunderstand, yeah, you know,
sometimes it could be a littlenerve-wracking, you know.
So you need somebody like myselfto go through that portfolio and
(13:47):
say, hey, um, there's somethings we need to change,
there's some things we need toadd, or you're going to have to
make it through differentperiods of time.
And that's where, you know, onelayer is stock, the next layer
is the economy.
You know, we have policy thingsthat go on in the economy.
You know, there's things thatchange with regard to health
care, uh, you know, governmentalpolicies in certain areas, they
(14:09):
will affect um investment.
So people got to be aware ofwhat they invest in and you
know, have somebody that cankind of coach them through uh,
you know, some of the situationsthat that I just described.
And you know, the coaching is abig deal.
You know, a lot of a lot ofpeople can you know go running
on their own, but when they getto the end of the race, you
know, uh, I thought I ran a10-6.
(14:32):
No, you were on like like 11-5.
You know, you didn't do as goodas you thought you would did,
you know.
So having a coach that canprepare you and understanding
what the goals are and how tohit the goals, that matters.
SPEAKER_00 (14:46):
I think 100% matters.
Uh tap it in as someone else'sexpertise.
This is not your expertise,unless you went to school,
you've got the uh differentcertifications, you're watching
these things each and every day.
Maybe you can manage things.
I mean, you manage over abillion dollars in assets when
especially when you had officesin Minneapolis and Chicago.
(15:08):
I know there's definitely toughmoments, you know, along the
way.
But if you look at, and I alwayslooked at uh one of our Omaha
natives, Warren Buffett, if youlook at his investment
portfolio, what he normallyinvests in, as you stated
earlier, is tried intocompanies, and he's in it for
the long term, not theshort-term gain.
So at the end of that race,there's a there's a considerable
(15:31):
uh net sum uh that is there andit's less risky, but you've got
to understand where you you wantto do the the crawl, walk, run
uh type approach and that typeof thing, and have your
financial advisor to trulyunderstand it.
I think that's when it gets downto for me, my framework is
around being authentic.
(15:52):
How authentic can you be?
And I know your mission hasemphasize you know value-based
relationships.
You you love to bring value tothose relationships.
My question to you is this howdo you ensure authenticity when
guiding clients, especiallythrough difficult conversations
(16:13):
about money and legacy?
SPEAKER_01 (16:16):
Yeah, yeah, I tell them the truth.
You know, I tell them the truth.
I don't sell them, you know,this this pie in the sky uh
opportunity that uh that may notexist for them, you know.
So uh, and I'll try to projectthis thing out, you know, in
financial planning, you tryingto benchmark this, if it's
annually, annually, you know, ifit's every two, three, four,
(16:39):
five years, whatever it is, Ican offer some predictions on,
you know, where we should be andif and what kind of changes we
need to make.
But um, the authenticity part ofit is to be able to spend time
with people, to show them thatyou're interested.
This is a whole client-centeredapproach to us.
You know, we don't we don't haveany success if our clients don't
(17:00):
have success.
You know, that's the number thatthat is number one to us.
So we want to treat them uh asif uh their goal is ours.
You know, we want to achievejust as well as you do.
Uh so uh that's the approachthat we come to the office with
every day that we're, you know,we're here to help you, you
know, and we're gonna give youtime, you know, to give it all
(17:23):
to us and allow us to uh youknow position you for success,
you know.
So it's not, and and this is thegood part about the nature and
way we do business.
We're not commission-basedadvisors.
I don't have to go chasesomebody to make a living.
You know, I don't gotta hit youover the head, get a commission
out of you, and never see youagain.
That's that's not not how thisworks.
(17:44):
We consider our clients family,you know.
When when a new client comes tous and they walk out of the
door, you know, you know, myadmin, my assistant's gonna say,
Welcome to the family.
You know, it's just thatimportant to us.
You know, I want to be the guythat walks past you at the
grocery store, and I ain'thiding my head down because I
didn't do right by you, youknow.
(18:06):
Um, that's that's important tous.
SPEAKER_00 (18:09):
I think all of those things, because here's the
conversation I know that'shappening now.
We have one of the largestpopulations in the United States
that has gone into going intoretirement, right?
Uh, I think it's the largestpopulation in the history when
it comes down to the age factor.
So there's a lot of people thatare are retiring, they're
getting out of the workforce.
(18:32):
But also, they're looking ateither their their 401k that was
probably managed by someoneelse.
They weren't really looking atthat a lot.
You might make some adjustmentsevery year to it, but that it
wasn't something you focused inon uh a lot.
But now it's your it's in yourballgame.
You know, you've got it, youdon't know what to do with it.
(18:54):
Whether you know, do I take thislump sum of money and cash out?
Do I continue what what I do?
Do I have to like move it toother another brokerage?
Or I I don't know what to donow.
So you find yourself as a almosta now, is this something you're
dealing with a lot in your Ohman, oh man, that's that's the
ball game right now.
SPEAKER_01 (19:13):
And I'll tell you why I say it's the ball game.
Uh years ago, you know, ourparents and parents' parents had
Social Security.
And if they were fortunate, theyhad a pension.
They didn't really have anymoney.
You know, their money was fromworking.
When they stopped working, thechecks stopped, the pension
(19:33):
started.
The Social Security started.
But when they left the earth,what did they have to transfer?
If they did well enough, theygave you a house, you got
daddy's car, and you got mama'spots and pans.
With the advent of the 401k, nowwe got money.
So now we're not onlytransferring um, you know, the
(19:56):
property and the assets that weaccumulated, but we're also
gonna transfer an IRA that usedto house my 401k that had
200,000, 500,000, a million,whatever.
And now you're speaking to thenext generation and say, son,
what are you gonna do with thismoney when I'm not here?
So the name of the ballgame iseducation because now we got
(20:17):
assets, not just the house thatwe got to split up and divide,
but now we got money that iseither going to be the
springboard to our family'ssuccess, or it's gonna be a
detriment because we're gonnaspend this thing like the lotto.
So we got an education to be hadover these next several years.
(20:40):
They call it the great wealthtransfer.
$80 trillion will be moving fromthe hands of the baby boomer
generation to the nextgeneration.
So you're talking about over thenext 30 years, when you know,
mom and mama's mom and they passaway, um, they're gonna hand you
a baton.
(21:01):
Now, we hope that baton weigh800 pounds.
We don't want that baton toweigh a pound and it ain't gonna
last long.
You know, so we're talking aboutlegacy building now, where even
in my conversations as afinancial advisor years ago, um,
they're much different than theyare today.
(21:21):
Because these folks over thelast 20 years have accumulated
money.
And now it's okay, we're talkinga lot about estate planning,
we're talking about legacyplanning.
These are things that we'vealways heard.
We didn't know what a state was.
Right.
You know, an estate we thoughtit was just like a big old
property.
We thought it was South ForkRanch.
No, it's not.
(21:42):
It's everything you own.
That's your estate.
How are you going to protect it?
You're gonna go to, you're gonnaget a trust, you're gonna end up
going to probate.
What's gonna happen?
We don't know until you get withsomebody that's gonna educate
you about the process andprepare you so that next, so
that baton that you pass isgonna have everything in it.
You know, and your kids aregonna be prepared to run with
(22:04):
it.
So when that generation comesaround, now we're paying for
education at the best schools,cash.
We ain't going into$250,000,$400,000 in in student loan
debt.
We paying cash for Lil' Johnnyto get his uh master's, to get
his doctorate, you know, becausethat's what happens in in the in
(22:25):
in other cultures.
Right.
You know, we're just finallygetting, you know, our piece of
the pie, and we now need tofigure out, okay, how do we
protect this?
You know, how do we make it workfor us?
First and foremost, let's notlose it because I need it to
last the rest of my life.
And then let's let's transfer.
So uh that's a big deal.
(22:47):
I mean, if we don't, if we don'tget this right, you know, we
can't, we got to get out of thethe way of starting over.
I mean, if you just look at itfrom business standpoint, when
when when Mr.
Tate runs his business and Mr.
Tate is done, he ain't got nosuccession plan.
They closed the doors and it'sover.
How many businesses have we seenin our communities that are
over, but we're competingagainst business that's been
(23:10):
around 120 years?
You know, we have to educateourselves on succession,
preparing people to step intothe roles that we have
decultivated for many years andlet this thing run.
So now we're in a business wherelicensed wealth management has
been around for 80 years.
SPEAKER_00 (23:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (23:28):
You know, it's been around for you know a hundred
years.
I can, I mean, this business isright here on Dodd Street that I
could tell you that's in thesame wealth management business.
And this guy is is like thirdgeneration in the seat as the
owner, and his dad ran it, andhis granddad ran it, you know.
So this is our opportunity.
SPEAKER_00 (23:51):
I I hear what you're saying, Earl, and this is so
important because when you lookat the uh what the experience
has been, especially a lot ofpeople of people of color like
me and yourself, and what it hasthat been.
Like it's been a a workforceenvironment, right?
Blue collar kind of environmentthat you worked and you paid
(24:13):
your bills, and then like yousaid, you retired, you got a
social security, and if you werelucky, you got some kind of
pension, you and you you youknow, savings was like, you
know, we saved for that momentin time when you had to use
money to to save off uh somekind of emergency.
Now the game is changing towhere you're especially uh a lot
(24:35):
more middle income uh uh peopleuh that have more wealth than
they have from the previousgeneration.
And going back to what I saideven earlier about the education
that we got even from school, ifthey only taught you to pass
goal and only taught you to pass200 and cut$200, that mindset
(24:57):
has to shift.
You cannot bring a W-2 mindsetto a entrepreneurial adventure,
a business mindset.
It's a different story from whenyou're working in a business to
owning the business.
So now we're getting intoownership, owning your wealth,
and then knowing these all thesedifferent things that happen,
(25:19):
and there's so many differentthings.
Understanding tax, understandinglaw, understanding, as you said,
uh estate, when people passaway, and then who who is um uh
responsible for these things,and it it changes the game.
And if you do not have, and Iknow this, if you don't have a
(25:40):
person like Earl in your cornerthat you trust and somebody can
truly help you with this, toyour point, if you have a
consumer um mindset that youjust take money and spend it,
that is not now now you're gonnalose all that opportunity,
right?
Instead of like, how do I takethis money and 10xit?
That should be my understanding,and not just 10 exit like
(26:02):
overnight.
That quick, that quick getquick, rich attitude um um you
know has to change.
This is something that buildsover time.
Help us understand the valuesthat you bring to the table, the
values that we need to look at,and I know you have a vision
around it in terms of helpingpeople create multi-generational
(26:24):
wealth.
SPEAKER_01 (26:25):
Right.
Right.
Yeah, um it's very important tome because you know, I got kids,
I got family, you know, I'veseen the challenges uh for
people who uh uh don't haveenough money to accomplish what
they want to.
And what I've learned is itdoesn't mean that you have to go
(26:49):
have a six-figure job to um, youknow, prepare yourself for a
lifestyle that gives you anopportunity to support the
family that the way you want toand to be able to leave a
legacy.
And I say that because, youknow, I'm a big believer in that
whole concept of the millionairenext door.
You'd be very surprised at thepeople you walk past you who
(27:13):
have a million dollars or more.
You know, no a million dollarsis just a figure, you know, who
knows if they will ever spendit, how they're gonna transfer
it, but it's just something thatgets people's attention.
But uh that can be had by beingdisciplined on how you spend
money, uh having some success atinvesting money and starting
(27:34):
early at investing money, youknow.
And uh, I mean, I got clients Ihave to tell them sometimes, I
said, hey, you need to live alittle bit.
You got more than what you need,you know, and that's okay.
And if living a little bitexpands their whole mindset
around, well, maybe I need to bea bigger, be a be a more be more
charitable.
(27:54):
I need to be a better giver, youknow, because at the end of the
day, we want you to feel good,you know, we want you to enjoy
the life that you're given anduh be able to help other people.
Now, I'm not telling you to goout and just give all your money
away, but I'm saying that expandyour mind a little bit and
figure out, you know, if you'renot working anymore or change
(28:17):
jobs, go work for a nonprofit,do something to help support
some other people.
You know, all that's importantto me because I can't take it
all with me.
I can't uh, you know, in otherwords, there's more value to me
being a human being on thisearth than just being able to
help people uh with theirfinancial strategies.
So, um, but you know, like Isaid, it you don't have to be
(28:42):
the business owner mindset iswonderful.
Obviously, it's not foreverybody.
You know, I I talk about my moma lot because my mother was
somebody who worked for MutualOmaha for 30 years and, you
know, she retired.
But, you know, I knew my I knewwhen my mother went to work, I
knew when she went to lunch, Iknew when she came back from
lunch, and I knew when she wasleaving.
(29:03):
And that probably helped me say,I'm not doing that when I get
out of college.
You know, I got to go dosomething else because I can't,
I'm just not that regimen to doit.
But God love her because we needpeople like that.
You know, but at the same time,somebody like her can become
wealthy if they take care ofsome very small concepts.
(29:24):
One, don't live on 100% of whatyou make.
You know, get to a point whereyou can learn to live on 90,
live on 80, you know, live on70.
And if you're a big wage earner,you shouldn't have to you
shouldn't have to live on morethan 50% of what you make.
So what are you gonna do withthe other 50?
Yeah, you know, but it's butit's things like that that get
(29:45):
people's attention when theystart to put the the X's now.
I mean, most people don'tbudget, they talk about budget,
you know, but they don't reallyknow where their money is going.
You know, so that's one thing Itry to get people to do.
Go through what you spend with afine tooth comb and then.
Ask yourself, is that necessary?
And you know, say, well, yeah,okay, maybe it's not.
(30:05):
You know, let them decide.
If it is, it's fine, you know.
Um, but in most cases, peoplelook at how they spend money and
want to get a better grip andlook better handle on it if it
helps them one, alleviate memergencies, two, create
opportunities.
Because you might want to startworking, hey, I want to be a
writer, I want to go writebooks, or I want to go open up a
(30:26):
bakery, you know.
SPEAKER_00 (30:28):
Um, you know, so what you said there, Earl, I
think is what I find is mostimportant, especially in the
work that I do, that a personhas to have a North Star, a
goal, that one goal, somethingthat they really get up in the
morning, or they even they'rethey're up at night thinking
about this is something theywant to accomplish.
(30:48):
And they know now you've got ablueprint and a plan that you're
gonna execute and you're gonnaget there.
So if you know, if you're gonnago, uh, you know what, I want to
go to Europe.
I'm gonna go to Europe, I'mgonna spend two weeks in Europe.
I know it costs X amount ofdollars.
Now you say, okay, in order forme to do that, I've got to do X
(31:10):
to get to Y.
So you like you said, you said,I gotta discipline myself, I've
got to serve much amount, youcan either manage the money you
have, or you try to grow themoney uh exponentially so you
have more money than ordered tomeet your goals.
However, it comes out, you stillneed to have a goal.
Whatever that goal is going tobe, and then execute toward
(31:32):
achieving that realistically.
Like you said, you've got totalk to people.
Like you told me if you wantedto go to France, that's what you
told me.
In five years, I want to go toFrance.
But you're what you're doing andhow you're spending your money,
you're not gonna be able to goto Consul Blas.
So we've got to look at this,you know.
That's right, they talk aboutstrategy, you can talk about
(31:55):
execution, but this is where Ithink success either will live
or success or evil or or willdie.
It's the habits and the systemsthat we've developed.
And if we understand ourselvesand take a really good look,
say, you know what?
I have a consumer mindset.
I like to consume and spend.
And if we really listen to a lotof the messaging that's out
(32:16):
there in the ethers, whetherit's on you know advertisements,
social media, other things, it'sreally about spending, it's not
about saving.
How do you take this and create?
I want to be an owner of mylife, you know, not renting your
life, right?
I want to need to own my life.
So here's my question if you hadto give one piece of actionable
advice to either they can beprofessionals, students,
(32:40):
educators, entrepreneurs, tryingto secure their financial future
right now, what would that be?
SPEAKER_01 (32:48):
Well, um, you know, I think that's a tough question
because I I, you know, it'severything that helped me came
from mentors, you know, beingable to listen to somebody that
can feed you the rightinformation.
And we're at a point where weneed to be more comfortable
(33:10):
talking about money, you know,and making financial decisions,
you know, and our in in ourculture um is something that we
didn't do a whole heck of a lotof, and we haven't.
And it's okay.
I mean, even from mom to child,the conversation isn't even
happening, you know.
So let alone other outsidegeneration generations or other
(33:33):
family members, but we got toget more comfortable.
Uh, you know, and I thought, youknow, part of your question was
going to this place of how Ihelp people do it.
And it all takes me back to thebeginning, and it's it's trust.
SPEAKER_00 (33:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (33:46):
Because if they understand I care about you
before I even don't even show mehow much money you got.
Tell me why you're here and whatit is that you want to
accomplish.
And why does all of this matterto you?
You know, then we'll be able tofigure out if we can establish a
relationship, you know, becauseI'm gonna offer some strategies
(34:08):
that, you know, might, you know,shake you a little bit because
you know, things are a littlebit different for you.
But that's what success is allabout.
Success sometimes you gotta beuncomfortable at one point in
your life.
So in the beginning, you mighthave to be a little
uncomfortable to be comfortablelater.
You know, a lot of people playclose to the vest and want to be
(34:28):
comfortable right now, but findout they're insecure in the
future.
You know, we're not trying toput people in that position, but
I'm gonna at least be able to uhhave a real in-depth
conversation with you about umwhere you need to go and and
what needs to happen.
You know, so if if you'rewilling to trust me enough to
(34:51):
give you the advice that and andit's the funny thing about
relationships like this becauseyou know, you don't know if they
see you as an advisor or usedcar salesman sometimes.
Yeah, true.
I don't try and sell younothing, but they meet a lot of
people who have that mentality.
People think sometimes businessis all about, you know, uh bell
(35:12):
bottom pants and white shoes,you know, walking around a lot
trying to sell you a car that hegot.
And I know this is what I wantto buy.
Yeah.
I don't want to, you know, Idon't want to buy that.
Learn about me first.
You know, so there's things thatI learned a lot in coming into
this career, you know, that helpme be successful, that I take in
(35:33):
the business every day.
And it starts from beingtrusted, being able to build
better relationships withpeople.
And then once they see thatyou're all about their success,
um, then they start talking alittle bit more about what they
want to accomplish, and you canstart figuring out how you can
help them do it.
So um, you know, being able tograsp their attention, have a
(35:56):
good conversation with them uhis everything.
SPEAKER_00 (35:59):
I think what you said is so important.
You've got to get theinformation from a trusted
source, yeah, and and understandhow then to apply that
knowledge.
Apply knowledge is so big rightnow.
The financial world is changing.
Everybody knows about thetechnology world changing with
artificial intelligence, but uhthe fintech world, the financial
world is changing rapidly uh inso many different ways.
(36:24):
And so your traditional bankingworld is changing a lot of
things.
So if you're not on top of thesethings, and again, if you're not
a technologist, you wouldn't goto someone like, hey, build me a
data system and you, you know,and you try to do it yourself,
you know, you're not gonna besuccessful.
I believe that you need to talkto a financial expert around
these things.
(36:44):
These so many tools are outthere now.
People are familiar with RobinHood, but just like any other
platform, if you don't know howto drive the car, you're gonna
wreck it.
SPEAKER_01 (36:55):
So, so so I've seen a lot of beat up cars, too.
SPEAKER_00 (36:59):
Right?
SPEAKER_01 (37:00):
Yeah, I said I've seen a lot of beat up cars too.
SPEAKER_00 (37:03):
So or like you said, though, you didn't, and no one
can anticipate, like obviouslywe had the COVID, and then wow,
you know, that changed the wholefinancial markets.
You had, like you said, thechanges, the political system
changes, like wow, it changes alot of different things,
different wars break out, orthere's there's other other
things that that affect yourportfolio.
(37:24):
But if you really watch it overtime, which I've watched, is
that it comes back.
People get resilient, and thecorporations get resilient.
This is what buoys the economy.
Governments are really thebenefactors of good people like
ourselves that go to work everyday.
Taxes only occur when you makemoney and then they get a
percentage of it.
(37:44):
It's us that does these types ofthings.
But knowing how to work smarter,I think is very important.
Understanding money management,like right now, and I still need
to learn it even today.
Understanding how to applyprinciples around finance,
around money, and how to make itgrow successfully over time, is
(38:08):
something I definitely haven'tmastered, but I would talk to
someone like yourself, and wewould have candid conversations
about these things.
I think it's important.
So before I let you go, I wantto ask you this because I've
been asking this for a lot of mypeople that come on the show.
How did you feel?
First time you've been on theFollow Brad podcast, first
you've got uh wherever youprobably listened to a couple
(38:29):
shows.
Now you've gone through thewhole experience.
How'd you like your interview?
SPEAKER_01 (38:34):
I love it.
I love it.
It's very engaging.
You know, uh, it's good whenyou're talking to somebody who
has um uh, you know, anunderstanding of what it is that
you do and it's being and ableto direct, I guess, the
questioning to get out what Iwant to get out.
I mean, this this message is uh,I mean, for us, it is is
(38:58):
paramount.
We better, we better get a graspon understanding money.
We got to have resources.
I mean, it's nice to have avoice, you know, it's nice to
have a vote, uh, but you know,resources are a big driver in in
our success.
And if we learn more aboutmanaging those resources, uh,
(39:21):
you know, our situation will bemuch better uh at at light
speed, you know.
So I appreciate you for beingable to extract what it is that
you want to hear and what I'mable to provide to people.
I mean, that was, I mean, Ididn't have to talk about the
stock market or, you know, howwhat percent did this, that, and
the other.
I mean, that's just so many moreimportant things, but those are
(39:43):
certainly the components inwhich, you know, I help people.
And it it doesn't show on dayone, but you ask me, ask my
clients that have been with mefive, 10, 15 years.
Some of them they see somechanges right away, you know.
But ask ask the people I workwith that have been around a
long time.
You know, um, they'll tell you.
SPEAKER_00 (40:01):
Your name is synonymous with success.
Everybody I've talked to, andthey talk about it, Earl
Johnson, they're sitting there,they're smiling.
That that that's good.
That says a lot about you andyour company.
Tell us how to contact you.
SPEAKER_01 (40:17):
Um, the easiest way is lexiswealth.com.
You know, our our website ispretty robust, has all our
information there.
So if you go to lexiswealth.com,you'll be able to find us in the
about us section or or thecontact us section.
We do a lot of events around thecity.
You know, again, our our bigdeal is not only uh helping, you
(40:38):
know, our clients withstrategies, but educating people
about what we do.
So we're gonna get out in thecommunity and do a lot of events
to uh you know to help folks.
SPEAKER_00 (40:46):
I like it.
And how big is how big is yourteam?
SPEAKER_01 (40:50):
Uh I have uh four people in my office here, but I
also have advisors in Chicagoand Atlanta as well, too.
So the the folks in uh Chicagoand Atlanta have been with me
over well, they've been with me.
They're both 20 years plus inthe business.
One of them's been 27 years inthe business, and he's the
youngest of the group.
unknown (41:07):
Nice.
SPEAKER_01 (41:08):
You know, so I'm I got I got a brain trust of
experience to work with.
So don't think that, you know,I'm the only one, you know,
printing out the strategieshere.
I got people that we talk to ona daily basis uh about you know
how we're gonna help people.
But uh, you know, we got like Isaid, we have people on the
ground in Atlanta and Chicago,in addition to my four folks
here.
SPEAKER_00 (41:27):
I love that.
I love that, man.
This this is so good.
We've got to get this right, andwe will get this right because
it's all about starting whereyou are right now.
How can we move the needleforward?
God bless a child that has theirown, and I'm telling you, you
have shown us uh the way, and Ireally appreciate you.
I want to encourage your Atariaudience to check out all the
(41:49):
different episodes on followbrand at five star BDM.
That is the number five.
That is Star, that's BDM B forbrand, D for Development
Informasters.com.
You'll see a section there onfinancial empowerment while I
feature people just like EarlJohnson, who's talking about how
we can move that needle forward.
We need to educate yourself.
This is free information.
(42:10):
There's no reason for you tosay, Oh, I didn't know.
Yes, the information is there.
You just have to apply it.
So I want to thank you again forbeing on the show.
SPEAKER_01 (42:18):
Yes, sir.
Thanks for having me.
Appreciate it, Grant.
SPEAKER_00 (42:21):
Bye bye.
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