 Thank you for joining me on Think Tech Hawaii. I am Sheena Park, your host for many talks. My guest today is Brandon Leverasco and we will be going over part two of what we discussed last episode. Welcome to the show Brandon. Hi, thank you Sheena. It's so awesome to be back to continue our conversation to really kick off the new year. Yes, I'm glad that we can continue our conversation as well but before we do so could you please introduce yourself? My name is Brandon and I've actually been a part of the financial industry for over eight years now. I actually started as a high school student interning and when I went to college I was learning about marketing, finance, and I was still working in the industry at the same time and today you know I am able to get full tuition to school, help other families be able to plan for college but now I'm really proud to be helping other families look at retirement planning, that management, and just making sure that we can really build a strong financial foundation for ourselves. Yes, I know you've been doing some amazing things in your career and this brings out to our topic that we discussed last episode so we had a great conversation about New Year's Star Solution. Could you share with us again what are the most common goals amongst Americans? Yes, the first one is going to be number one, save for a rainy day. I think we all want to build that emergency plan to have that peace of mind and number two is going to be that saving for retirement. You know we want to invest and save for a long run make sure that you can enjoy the lifestyle that we want and not be able to work for the money but not maybe you're going to work just because you love it and you just do what you want to do at your own time. Moving on to number three is child schooling. You want to be able to sit and prepare for that with tuition and looking at the best option, reform, save for a big purchase and to end it off as paying off our credit card debt. And all five of those are very very important. I know for myself and for you as well this is something we constantly work on on a daily base to attain and to make sure we can make happen but what do you mind sharing with us in particular few goals you have in mind for this year? Yes I think about this one goal that really is a I guess really major right now because after one of our sessions doing some public workshops you know I was able to go to my next event and I was driving to Waze out and I couldn't move my car. I was stuck on Ward Avenue so you know my car was there and I was like oh my gosh what I gotta do as I called I called you shaking on your family you guys helped me out. I just started my car and it just wasn't moving and that leads to my first goal which is making a big purchase which is a car and that's me seeing that hey you know that car has been really reliable but also there's times where I need to get a newer car and just be a little bit more updated, safer and you know that car was stuck there for a while I actually just retrieved it this morning 3 a.m. I got yeah so but my first car I actually want to get is a RAV4 hybrid I want to be able to get something that is electric and I'm looking at me you know maybe the hybrid because of a plug-in hybrid because not only you have that option but also you know gas is still pretty priced well enough for Hawaii I would say from the gas station that I'm looking at but this also reminds me of your goal too you had one about purchasing your car could you share I love hearing that story could you share with us that has story again I it just brings me back to the time when it was probably three years ago or so I for those of you who don't know I lived in Oregon for the past five years I just recently moved back to Hawaii but I was walking to my job and it was raining really really hard my glasses are fogging up it was in its 40 40 degree weather and I just remember thinking dang I really need a car I really really need one and Brandon I really love that you know you have in mind what kind of car you want to get you know the purpose of the car why you want it and that's really important in reaching your goals and achieving it because for me I just knew okay I need a reliable car ASAP and I'll do anything to make it happen and that's basically what I did I I went through the business made enough money within the first few months and I just bought my car outright it was definitely not brand new but it was brand new to me and it lasted my whole time in Oregon which I'm very grateful for it was a great reliable RAV4 2006 so it was definitely not electric but it did its job while I was there and yeah cars are very important I know we come from a very very great traffic system I would say like I always use the bus when I was in school but that also brings up in a part of buying a car you know in our financial workshop we talk about hey you don't have to buy the new car you know getting a older car maybe a year or a few older will be just as great because of the cost you know or the cost that appreciates once you buy a new one walk out the lot but you know you can also look at other options that say for even business owners like us I'm also considering maybe leasing a car too yeah so there's different things like that yeah definitely I just I just love how in any person's financial situation it just has to make sense and do what makes sense for you right if if you're in a position to buy a car outright I always suggest to do that it's one last payment to be making and if it's a good car that you find just roll with that I mean I'm currently driving an o9 car that's an upgrade for me because my car in Oregon was at 06 so and it runs great but outbound it I know you have a few other goals that you want to achieve this year so could you please uh share what your other goals are my second goal is to pay off some debt one of the more major ones is even though I had you know full funding for our tuition school is expensive there's other things to consider I was able to travel and study abroad and most of it was covered but I still took out some loans I took out about under $10,000 in loans and that's where I need to take time to make sure I do those payments because you know the the delay is gone the forbearance and now you know it's time for people to pay back their set of loan loans and it's also comes to the idea of the loan forgiveness that I've been seeing popping up around so I hope everyone can check that out if that works out for you but just seeing that hey if I can attend the workshop uh and learn about debt management you know I was so happy to help friends see how much 10 extra $10 a day could come back their their interest rates um paying off um their loan sooner and you know I found that you know you know actually how much is the average person average student would have into the loans oh I'm not quite sure but going based off of how much I owed in the short amount of time I can imagine it's not it's a pretty decent number well according to the US debt clock is about $40,000 per borrower right now or per person going to school and you know that if you go with a lower number let's say someone had $32,000 in debt if they pay it off in 10 years that's could be about $8,000 in interest but just $100 extra a month you could save yourself a couple thousand an interest paying off and you could also pay out get those loans out of your way a couple years sooner um but before learning about debt too I had no idea really about anything of course but interest rates are crazy and when we talked about from our previous episodes to my student debt it started off around $12,000 and it jumped all the way up to $25,000 because of interest rates that's crazy but yeah it just makes me think too about when he first opened my credit card I did the minimum monthly payment and I was like whoa what is this extra charge and with the workshops that we attend it taught me that you're going to just be a little bit more and it all a little goes a long way and that's right because um there are times where people get the wrong loan for our school you know there are some pretty good loans offered by like federal and state buy out a friend went up getting a loan from the bank and you know personal loan that's going to be of course a really higher interest rate I think I was like 18% versus my student loan was four five six percent so you know that's that was my second goal but my third goal is I actually want to start helping my family more and really working with my sister on how we can replace some of our parents income replace it where you know instead of them working we are going to help them maybe give them a paycheck every month so that you know we can contribute more we can help them with better financial planning as a family so you have peace of mind because you know everything's so expensive it's not just the cost of living but paying for medical preparing for other areas and just making sure that hey together you know finance may be something uncomfortable to talk about amongst families but we want to make sure we try to work on that together so we can feel like we're in a better direction and spot yes definitely and Brandon all of your goals you have for this year are definitely attainable and just really inspiring as well because getting a car is a really big deal paying off debt is a really big deal as well I know that's one of my big financial goals for this year but retiring you know to help retire parents is major and that's something I really want to do this year as well for those of you who don't know I am pregnant and I would love my mom to be a stay-at-home grandma and just you know have fun watching our baby but I know that comes along with me creating an extra income to help retire her so Brandon I think we're on the same page with our goals it's aligning and I definitely feel like with the tools that you have to share it's definitely attainable awesome thank you and congratulations I'm so excited for you know everything that's been happening the past few weeks with you and your family and loved one so so it's great that we could continue talking about this or that you know we all want to be in the right frame of mind because I think a lot of us we have the same common wants and there's people we want to help yes definitely so you know let's transition and let's talk about the environment today and why is it important for people to learn about finances I think it is the lack of trust that people may have in the financial industry you know maybe it's hard for people to really take the time to understand or even you know just we live in a world of digital age where so many people have things to say you have people who want to give you tips you have people who want to give you financial advice maybe it's listening to your not just parents but like relatives neighbors co-workers but who really has that industry experience and that maybe financial professional licenses to help you understand you know the ins and outs of the industry right so I also this this goes along with like when we talk about the financial industry before you would need a minimum asset requirement to work with someone to work with an advisor the advisor is usually older too and you know I think you you made a great point high interest rates and that's the thing where you know a lot of our debt is in high interest rates but where are people saving what percent yeah no I that's very true and going into transition of talking to different people and there are so many advice everywhere I feel a lot of times people get confused with what is the right information right and it can with social media and even our circle of influence when it comes to friends and family that could play a big deal on how we view our finances yeah but I know you know there's who you know want to make a change so yeah I share more about that I think one of the first things we could talk about is people who just want to talk about it more and communicate with family you know I think even even for my mom it could it still could be hard was the transition and making the efforts that we can communicate with each other know what's happening know what needs to get done and plan together because you know rather than you know us feeling that you want to provide the best for our family which is right all of us want to do that but to keep it from each other you know that's where we want to be able to know what do we have um but you know we're to talk about the people who want to change I think we are in a real thing for people like us people who would love to educate who want to share with everyone especially those who are a good people right they have a desire to win positive and they just simply want change they simply want something better yeah so let's talk about or about what people want and what what would people want other than change and all of that what is the big why so the wise would be you know there could be a few things like this just being significant you want to feel significant you want to be able to maybe change a lifestyle you know we're living in a age where it's not just digital but we're living in a lot of career changes people are shifting people are looking at different opportunities and that's where people want to set our own hours we want to be able to make money that we get to keep and you know be able again what we talk about is giving the best for our family and I think this totally relates to like you know talking with you before about how you just want to set your own hours and feel that you had control over your schedule right and you know so what is it that we may be lacking or more so what are we missing in order to achieve these goals so this would be a couple things first is I think it's just the vision and direction it's not to say that we are not goal setters and we don't aim for something but we may be wanting more but do we know exactly what do we want not knowing that not just knowing yeah I want a good retirement this reminds me of like a study I did with a company a local company and I I asked them hey let's just do a quick survey you know I want to make sure I can provide you guys an education that's valuable to you so I asked them a questions and one of the questions is okay do you guys know what what you need for retirement how much do you need for retirement and the common answers was maybe a million dollars I think a million dollars or just enough to live comfortably and I was okay but how do you do you guys go on track and I'll show you the statistic right that report and do you remember what that number was how what percent felt they're on track there was 100 percent were felt that they weren't on track they were unsure or they just did not feel they're on track and you know that's where you know we want to give people an ideal okay what number is good for our lifestyle what kind of direction that we can give to others to be an environment where they want they could change together they could see more they could be that whole moment they want to be but you know there's a couple other things self-confidence time money you know I come from a time I come from growing in this industry where I had lack of confidence you know I'm a type of person who even though I like talking to people I really did not like crowds I don't know do you like crowds she you know do you like speaking in front of people before I think it just depends um I I don't hate it I don't love it but it's not the end of the world for me I'm surprised you're saying that though Rhonda because I feel like you're a great public speaker and I thank you I I think it's because of the willingness to always go out and that's and trying to do something that I may not be comfortable with um some funny stories is like you know when I would we have this um every year we would have a Christmas talent show and each family would perform something I mean I was a kid you know kids they they have the best confidence in the world and I would sing whatever it is even if it's not the language that I speak but I got older I got so shy I got nervous even in class presentations I was like sweating I was like oh okay I gotta I get so nervous everyone's looking and then it just gets just gets more hard I'm right where where does uh lack of confidence come from and it's very interesting that you're sharing all of this because I feel with all the tools that you have given right now confidence is a big key to help attain the goals we want in life right if if we believe it then we could definitely achieve it so it yeah it's very interesting with what you're sharing right now yeah I think you know confidence is could relate to how do you feel just in everyday life do you have that peace of mind sometimes confidence could come from or nervousness could come from just the lack or the amount on your shoulder maybe it's like financial stress for example um we have a scene in our in one of our financial workshops where you know don't you want to have a peace of mind have enough money on the side so that you're not darting through every opportunity that comes your way that you're not that you're not looking for something maybe desperately but now you could have crazy opportunities it could be a more respectful you could give yourself time and you're not worried every day or every night right we don't want to have those sleepless nights yeah I I know how that feels too I just remember before I found the financial literacy campaign that we're in how stressful money can be and I just remember when I was in that place thinking I just want to get out of this situation and I didn't know how and what I could do but it's great that we're starting off in the years because what really helped me get to where I was at or to where I'm at now is goal setting and that brings me to my next question you know what should we do and how should we stay committed because when you set a goal I know we had a trading a few weeks ago that I believe it was like January 12th for January 13th it's actually called national quitters day because everyone who set up a new year's resolution or a goal or plan they quit by the 12th day of January somewhere around that line but how do we stay committed because I know financial goals especially this is something that it takes time and you see more results the longer you put your head in the game right so what should we do so I have two things that people could do the first one is of course it's writing your goals but the the reasoning the why and that would be having an emotional reason emotional goals so I know when we with our our colleagues we spend a great amount of time working on emotional goals and that's not just the classic smart goals but you have our writing down what do you want specifically when you want it but the reasoning why it will it will impact you and some examples would be let's say I want to have an I want to save for rainy day right that's the most common going that people have saving for rainy day but why how much I want to say three months of my income so that I don't have to take out debt ever again I don't have to go back to credit cards that I don't have to worry about food on my table and something that matters to you what relates to you so that hey you know I don't want this to ever happen again and this is a reminder that hey I'm gonna make sure I do this so I don't feel like this and I'm gonna maintain that lifestyle and that's the same thing for you know I want to um for me I want to be able to give my parents some money help them with the retirement so that they don't work again and they don't work again you know they're not going back you know working when they're we're in a time that they already did enough you know we I need AC they did a lot and I want them to take some time for them so and I think a goal that we could all have um you know even though we talk about saving money and being efficient through money I think it's also good to travel the world together too right you know I want to travel the world but you know I want to make sure for me I want to travel together as a family make sure I can bring everyone so that we don't leave someone behind and that's something that's really important to me so that you know we want to experience world together um even though you can go out by yourself and maybe one of your other family members but together you know we we can see how much things change and feel happier you start to also appreciate what you have too and just having that better quality of life so that's the first the first one I would say people should do is writing down an emotional goal yeah and emotional goals are very it gives you that big why right I know for me um and going back to our goals our personal goals for this year my biggest why is the baby on the way and you know providing for my family and making sure that I won't be put in a position where emotionally I don't want to feel and that was before I sent all those goals for myself and that was before when I was walking in the rain to go to my job and yeah I really love what you're sharing because it's as simple as that but a lot of times we don't do that I mean it's very hard to follow if we don't write something down so what what else what else can we so it's one thing to write it down but you should also read it and this also goes in the the part where you want to find a community that's going to be able to help you help you not only remind you of your goals but help you understand why you want them help you find actionable ways to achieve them and that's why you know I'm so proud to be a world system builder campaigner where we not only educate families and going for that 30 million families educated by 2030 but we have seen so much growth in the financial industry you know especially over COVID where people saw businesses closing you know our business we grew from 300 financial centers to 600 and since COVID has kind of died down we also grow another 100 centers so we can offer not just resources online but in person right have that connection with people and you know I think it's so awesome that we could be part of such a larger purpose finding a way that we can work with someone and also maybe finding that accountability partner where I say you know Shayna I know you're one of my true accountability partners and you help me come to the office and we be able to help each other to stay on track on okay this is what we're gonna do we'll make sure we read our goals every day take the time to feel your emotional goal but you know what are you doing hey Shayna what are you doing today have you been able to do these things that you're on track for everything and you know I love that we have that community together and that partnership so we could help each other grow and I agree I love our campaign and I love the business that we're in because not only do we educate people on what to do but we're educating ourselves on the daily base and we are creating that dream life that people want for ourselves in the smartest way possible so going back to our financial goals for this year Brandon I know that you'll definitely achieve it and where are you at right now do you feel like you're making those little changes to help reach your big goals for this year yes so of course I think at the end of the day you want to make you need to make more money so that you could also accomplish your goal was not just budgeting so I it's been good in that aspect but also I see that you know I'm really doing what I can to start help my parents transition to that retirement so you know contributing giving some money and we're actually just rest and I just finalizing our plans that we can make sure this keeps going through and my dad could officially transition this year start making those small steps to start feeling healthier feeling happier so I already see some great steps in my through my goals and I'm so proud how to be a part of a place where you know we promote that and you want to see each other achieve and little steps equal big changes so I'm really proud of you Brandon and thank you so much for having this very transparent conversation with me today I know finances and goal setting sometimes sometimes can be a very tricky topic but I'm glad that you shared your own wise and how everyone else can help reach their financial goals so thank you again so much for being on the show thank you Shayna thank you for having me it's so great to kick off the new year together yes I'm sure we're going to be seeing a lot more of you but if you guys enjoyed this conversation hit that like button and subscribe to our youtube channel hope to see you all at the next episode of money talks I'm Shayna Park a Genesee inspiring lives of liberties thank you