 Thank you for joining me. I'm Sheena Park, your host for Money Talks. My guest today is a very familiar face, Mr. Brandon Loresco. Welcome to the show, Brandon. Hi, thank you. Happy New Year. Hope you're having a great 2024. It's great to be back. I love just starting the year with you and being able to share what we have today. Yes, I'm so excited. Thank you for being on the show again. For those who don't know you, Kitty, please share more about yourself and, you know, what you do. Yeah, so I am a financial professional. I like to focus on, you know, meeting other people, families, organizations, and I just want to be able to provide education. You know, make sure that we can understand our finances. Anything from managing our debt, budgeting, all the way to retirement planning and strategies. So I just want to make sure we can help people guide them to their financial dreams and guide them with the proper strategies and a foundation so that we can all together rise. Yes, and I know today we're going to be having a very important conversation because we're going to be discussing the top 2024 financial goals in America. I know everyone's New Year's resolution. Number one, I think came in of exercising more or something to do with losing weight and something that came in second was working on finances. So I know we're going to be discussing the top five, which is safe for rainy days, safe for retirement, safe for your children schooling, safe for a big purchase and pay off credit card debt. Yeah, so I just want to maybe just give a background of who we are. So just like we can start off 2024, you know, we are World System Builder and I'm proud to be here to share with you the counter that we have the amount of people that we have educated. Just as of yesterday, January 7, we had educated surpassing 2 million people and families. And with that, we have 700 financial centers growing in size since the pandemic. We have more than doubled. And we are proud to offer these workshops at no charge, just because we want to offer this education so that we believe that knowledge is power. And no one is more interested in your financial picture than you are. So being here for the last eight, 10 years actually has been amazing. And I know that it has helped myself and I, and I've been great to see you also use, you know, girl with us too, and how we educate other people. Thank you. Yeah, I, I love our campaign. I love what we do. But most importantly, the financial workshops that we offer. And I say this time and time again, but one thing that no one can take from you is knowledge and the fact that this is right at our fingertips and we can learn on our own. I think is really fantastic. So please, Brandon, can you enlighten us about one of the first or the top financial goals people have set for this year? Yes, so I we found this article online. And, you know, the most common goal that we have right here is safer any day. So I have a next slide actually talk about strategies of how we can build our rainy day fun, or what we like to call it is the emergency fun. So, you know, the first question I want to ask people is, I'll say, hey, Jenna, do you have $1,000 saved on the side? Yes, so that's good. Then we start to work our way up. Once you do $1,000 however long it takes, then we focused on three months of our income, then six months of our income. But I think we should challenge ourselves, because, you know, I think we all understand how pandemic has affected us. I had family who, you know, worked in the hotel industry and they were out for a long time. You know, it took a while for us to get back afloat. So I would say hey, instead of six months of income, if you are at that point, let's try for 12 months. 12 months just because we see that, you know, if you have an emergency, but your money's tied up somewhere in an investment, how will we be able to deal with this unexpected expense? We go back to debt. And that's why I think this is why people have rainy day saving for rainy day as their most popular and their biggest priority in terms of financial goals. I like how you just, you know, listed it by first, second, third because the great base point and starting point is saving $1,000. I know when I first got a job, I didn't know what paying myself first meant. It just sounds so, it sounded so foreign to me. Like why would I set aside my money when I can spend it? And my auntie, she had this great analogy of how money has wings. If you don't put it away somewhere, then somehow it flies away or goes missing. And it can be like, okay, what did I send it on? I don't know. It could be food or maybe clothing, but we tend to forget where our money goes. And I really believe that saving $1,000 is a great first step to getting you to a place where you'll be comfortable when, you know, rainy day happens. Yeah, I think it reminds me of last year when we had the New Year come, I think we had like a broken dryer, then a broken fridge. And, you know, what if your tire breaks or you need to replace all four tires? That's easily $1,000. So that's why we know a lot of people are living paycheck to paycheck. Let's just have that first goal. And once that's settled, then at least you're in the right path. And we're not, you know, not, we're not blindly shooting for a certain number. We just got to look at this rule of thumb, because each of our own life is different. We may all not need the same amount of money, voluntarily and number wise, but if we can have the same concept of three months, six months, then I think we can have a piece of mind for ourselves. Yes. And going back to paying yourself first, I believe we should set aside at least five to 10% of our income from each paycheck. And if you're able to save more, of course. However, sometimes if you're not able to, that's totally fine. But what Brandon just said or what you just said to is that the credit card is not necessarily an emergency fund, but having something set aside, which is really important. I know we have a second topic, which is save for retirement. That's the other financial bill that people have. Could you talk more about this? Yes, it's about knowing what you need. I think it is great that we want to save for retirement. It is through paying yourself first, like a bill, treating it as a bill. But it's like the concept of how, how much, because I actually surveyed a small business before and I would say, how much do you need? People just have a general idea just from listening and hearing from other people. But the actual rule of thumb that we go by is through form of 1020. So to very briefly talk about it, the 10 represents the number of years of income to use as a guide for protection needs. And the 20 represents a number of years of income to last for retirement. So let me ask you, you know, how long does someone usually live through retirement? How many years are they going to be in retirement? It just really depends. But I think average, sometimes it could be 15, 20, even more. That's right. I think because of medicine, technology, we are living longer. So this is why it's a concept and rule of thumb, not exact number. But research has shown, you know, let's do 22 times of your income for retirement. And that is saying that, hey, if you have, or if you make 50,000 a year, let's shoot for $1.1 million. Now we wanted to make it easier to remember. That's why it's simplified from 22 to 20. And that's how we see this rule of thumb is great. It may not be justified for each state like Hawaii, but it's a good starting point to know, hey, if I've been living with this income for how many years working, can I make sure I sustain that lifestyle and keep it if I can have that 20, 22, 25 times of income saved on the side? I feel one thing I notice as time goes on and as we get older is that I mean, time flies. And I feel that there's no better time to start saving for a time and then now, especially when you're young. I know a few years ago, it's not something I ever thought about. It was just not even in the front of my mind. But I realized how important it is because if you don't start now, then when are you going to start or you're always going to be playing a game of catch up. So I really like that formula that you just shared because it's just a great rule of thumb that we can follow. And it's kind of scary to realize how much we may need in the future too because of inflation rising. Yes, that's a great point too. So that's why this is just a good idea to start knowing where to go. And, you know, we are proud to have that workshop outside so that we could be able to talk about, you know, understanding different retirement plans, and then also understanding different investment strategies and just the general concepts of saving and growing money. So, you know, that's why today it's very simplified. You know, how do I save for retirement? That is my goal. Well, now you know how much, but now let's consider where to do it and what fits your strategy and your personality and what fits to meet your goals. And that's that's a whole other topic. Yeah, no, definitely. I know I was just about to ask, you know, what are some different retirement accounts? But I know there's so many, we could have a whole conversation for 30 minutes of about that just alone. But could you just touch a little bit on taxes for retirement too, because I think that's really important when people decide where to save for retirement. And that is something we've talked about in past series and episodes where we look at, you know, tax categories, knowing tax now tax later tax advantage and seeing how, you know, when we plan for retirement, whether it's company sponsored plans or plans that you get individually. You got to know when are you paying taxes is going to be you have it deferred like a 401k or traditional 401k so that when you retire, now you got to pay taxes on that money. You got to pay tax on the growth and you use it for retirement. And, you know, your tax bracket can be totally different from when you're working to when you're retired. And that's why, you know, it's so it's important to understand the different ways taxes work, and then understand, you know, the plans that you do have, how is it affected. Thank you for touching on that for a little bit. And one thing about retirement to you can retire at any age you want as long as you have it to sustain your lifestyle. So, if you want to follow that 1020 rule and just save and save and save, maybe you could retire early who knows with that formula right. So moving on to the next goal for everyone it's saving for so much children schooling. So, could you elaborate more on that. I think we had many great sessions talk about scholarships FAFSA, but I think it's about knowing the four ways to pay for school for ways is that I how I look at it is scholarships, grants, loans and your money. So, Shayna which one do you think you want to use which ways to pay for your schooling or child schooling. I can tell you one way I don't it's my money scholarships would be great France. I think free money is the best money at times. And I think we have great workshops and understanding scholarships and different. I even talked about different organizations that offer them. So that's always awesome. But if you go back to the actual strategy itself it's, you know, the three C's career college Cox. You go through that order because I think a lot of people work backwards. We think what college can I afford. Then, you know, you're diminished you're you're diminishing your choices for your kids schooling. What we really want is you want your kid to know what do they want to do. Do they like being maybe an entrepreneur they're like being engineer do like that way of living you know working at an office maybe being hands on. And once you figure out the career choices. Then we look at colleges because I think, you know, if college is their route, you want to go to school to have the best program for that career. Correct. Yeah, and I reminds me of a friend who, you know, we had college planning classes and high school. And one day I see her on the bus and I was like what are you doing here. You know, I said I go to school here now. Okay, what are you studying like oh I did they don't have my major. And that's something that it can really go over a lot of people's heads that even though you're planning right for schooling or you're doing the right things for scholarships applying for schools you may miss the chance of knowing that hey does your school even have a great program to help you become a nurse to help you become an engineer. And Brandon I feel that your scholarship wizard. I know you have a great story personal story with your own experience so can you just touch on that a little bit how you're able to afford schooling just briefly. So I think public school I came from public school system and they have great programs. I just thought that, you know, we needed some extra help and you know finding real system builder and with their nonprofits. I was able to get a personal coach, and it was being able to help me guide through career choices guide through the scholarship programs and being having that mindset hey I gotta apply. I gotta apply for scholarships there's so much unclaimed money. How do I get it. Yes. And I, one thing I learned from you to is that sometimes the big scholarships is what seems attractive and that that's what a lot of people go towards. But one thing I learned from you is to go after the small scholarships as well because those are the ones that a lot of people don't apply for or overlook. So my goal is that hey I got $100,000 in scholarships to use for school. If I can help someone get the same amount or more you know I'm proud. I just want to make sure that we can be able to have you use less of your own money and be able to get those unclaimed scholarships out there. Yes, and there's so much out there too. Thank you for sharing that I know we should move into our next topic which is saving for a big purchase. And I feel that kind of ties into safer rainy day but I love this concept the rule of 72. Could you please explain more about this. So the rule of 72 is an awesome way to understand compound interest is talking about a for accounts that grow with compound interest. You take the number 72 divide by the interest rate and that will show you how many years to take your money to double. So if you have an account that can give you 4% 72 by 4 equals 18 years. So if you put down $10,000 today 18 years later you're going to have 20,000. And that's how we can be able to understand. I'm able to reach my golden time. And even though we should be saving for our retirement Parasol first and our emergency plan. You know, you should consider maybe I want to have a separate plan just for that house that down payment. Maybe that car. We also know weddings can be expensive too. So that's why we want to consider, hey, you have multiple ideas that you want to save for an event and milestones. Let's make sure that we can plan accordingly. And saving in general there's many different areas where you can save and kind of like retirement right how we just had that conversation about that. And the rule of 72 is a great rule of thumb of where you can put your money and how you can make your money work for you. If you have a lot of time on your hands to grow your money, that's great. And the rule of 72 is something very important to look at, but also at any age. Because a lot of times people will save in the bank, which is a fantastic place to save your money. It's like when you can put money in, take it out. However, a lot of the interest rates are no more than 1%. So if we take the rule of 72 and we do 72 divided by 1% rate of return, it'll take you 70 years to double your money in the bank. So this is just a great strategy to understand if you want to save your money, maybe save somewhere where your money will work for you and double for you where you can get that big purchase faster than you want it. And it's great that we have high yield savings plans and all those other great options that banks and financial institutions are trying to come up with was also looking at, hey, what about debt? Debt also grows with the rule of 72. And if our debt like our credit card, that is about like whopping 20%, even high 20s, depending on your credit score and your credit card that you get. You know, why is it that we're spending and using money that has high interest rates and that will harm us in debt, but our savings is so little. And that's what I think there's the general observation that we should take a back and look at. Yes, no credit card debt interest is is insane or debt debt interest is insane in general. I've no I shared this before on the shows but I was in $25,000 in student debt loan. And I believe my initial amount started off around 12,000, but the remaining balance was interest rates and me not paying it on time. So, just from 2018 I believe I paid off all my debt in 2021. 2022. That was a lot of money that accumulated. Yeah, and it's great because it's just the focus, you know, how about you do we want something are we manifesting it right in the, in the year and we know the strategies to it and I think that's great way to segue to our last resolution which is pay off credit card debt, or in general debt management. So, you know, control control your debt, or debt will control you, you know, we have many different tips that we could provide. Don't get more debt. So you can freeze credit lines maybe don't carry credit cards, spend man necessities and clear smart debt first. Well, that's where we talk about cash is king. You know, if we see something physically see that $200 in our wallet, we're going to spend or try to make it last compared to our credit card or even just a debit card. I easily swipe that thing. Oh, that was the easy swipe or click. So that's so easy. But now it's time to transition to necessities and necessities of also paying yourself first. Because a lot of people we spend a lot of our money per month, not just paying taxes but our debt, you know, servicing that. That's why we did do a session called debt management for student loans. And that also works well for mortgages credit card personal lines of credit. And that is through clear smaller debt first. It is a debt management strategy that we shared and it's because I think we're emotional people. Do you agree? Yes, very emotional. Also manage manage our money with emotion if we can clear that small debt first and say, hey, wow, in six months I paid off my first credit card and announced it's been two years I did three. You're so energized are going to keep going and that's why we do the snowball effect or we like to call it is the debt roll up. It is a great strategy to work with most people. But if you're very disciplined, you can totally do high interest first. If you clear that first that is going to save you more money than the last tip that I gave you, but most people may not be able to see yourself clear that that high interest first loan or credit card. General rules of thumb. I do have a scenario I want to maybe mention. So if we consider this, let's say you have a credit card balance of $5,000 with 18% insurance. And if you pay $200 per month at 4% minimum, it will take 133 months or 11 years to pay it off. So if we can be able to add like $100 if you offer that, how much months can you save yourself in getting off that right. So it's just being able to see that, hey, $100 could go a long way. If you are able to save more money, you have more money to clear off that then you can not only spend less time paying on your debt and your credit card, but you can also save money on interest. Yes, and I feel that we had a really great conversation about this a few episodes ago about debt and how time is money. Also a debt right and interest rates are crazy. So if you can use any of the strategies that we had shared. It's a great way to pay off your debt a lot more faster and not only save you a lot of time, but also money. Brandon, before we close off, I really wanted to ask you, you know, since we're on this topic, what are your financial goals for this year? Oh, my first financial goal is I just want to grow my income. So I have an idea of, you know, how much I want to make in the next year and also make it a monthly base. I'm planning to just make sure I can grow myself because in reality I have bills to pay too, but I also want to make sure I can put some back for my family. It's time for me that, you know, since they're in the age of retirement, I want to be able to place their share of income that they had just so that they can transition out. And I think that also goes with the financial foundation. So maybe that's our last slide I want to show. So, you know, I never go a time where I don't want to not share this. I always want to share a financial foundation. It's the mindset, the mindset of knowing, okay, can I cover the short term stuff? Can I cover the protection? Knowing if I can cover my, you know, protect our biggest asset, make sure I can close the holes in my pocket through debt management and save so that now you can save for a long run investment. And, you know, I think we should all cater our goals and financial solutions to this. So we have a priority and we know how to make sure we go through this journey together, whether it's through our workshop series or just speaking to a professional. You know, I want to make sure people can take their time set aside so that we can have a great 2024 together and, you know, make it an awesome year. Yes, I love that you always share about the financial foundation as well, because I believe that's what got me to some sense of financial freedom for myself. And it's definitely doable to work on all tiers of your financial foundation. And with everything that you have shared, this is a great way to catapult us to have a great 2024 financial year. I know for me, this year is a really big year. I also want to be saving a lot for my future. I am expecting so, you know, bringing welcoming a new life is a great joy, but also a great responsibility, especially financially. So thank you for sharing all of these resolutions that everyone has in place Brandon and taking the time to be on the show again. Do you have any last thoughts or advice for anyone who's watching right now? Yeah, I think, you know, just like people go to the gym and maybe get a trainer, just find someone who you trust and you who has a good financial background to help you lead through this year. So, you know, I think we all just want to help each other out, make this a better place for Hawaii and our family. And I think you again, Gina, for having me happy new year and I'm so excited for all the things coming for you. Thank you so much, Brandon, for being on the show. It's always a joy having a great conversation with you. 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 Gen Z inspiring lives of liberties. Thank you.