Join me in discussing four key pillars of personal and financial success.

Hello. Hello. Welcome back.

I am so glad that you're here and I am pumped to talk to you about

today's topic.

I totally geek out over this and I am weirdly passionate

about it. So just get ready.

We are rocking and rolling today.

We're going to talk about what I like to call and have come to kind of coin

as your four pillars of protection. And don't worry.

We are going to walk through each one of them.

I'm going to explain to you their importance and we're really just going to

get into it. I'm so excited. Okay.

Four pillars of protection. These,

the thing that all of these have in common is that they serve to

protect you in some fashion. Obviously, hence the name we got it, Sam.

Okay, cool. Glad we're on the same page.

So they serve to protect you in some shape or form. Also,

what's very funny is that three of these are things

that you should have if you ever win the lottery.

So really we're just covering all the bases.

And if you do hit like the power ball or something,

this is for you. All right. We're just,

we're manifesting the out of hitting the Powerball.

That's what we're doing here today. Okay.

But really the first pillar of protection is an accountant.

I know, I know super anticlimactic,

but we're going to talk about this one first because it's probably the one

you're most comfortable with most familiar with.

You might already even have one,

but I wanted to go through some stuff that you need to be thinking about.

If you don't have an accountant or kind of auditing the one that you have,

which it's a great accountant joke, we're auditing our accountant. I love it.

All the things that you need to be looking for in an accountant,

obviously that they're a CPA. Okay.

Let's just like cross that off the board and make sure we're all on the same

page. An accountant is somebody who is certified in public accounting.

Okay. That's literally what it's called.

But beyond that, everybody's accounting needs are going to be unique.

So if you're an individual,

they're going to be different than if you're an individual who also owns a

business or however you're claiming your taxes.

So maybe you're filing as an S-Corp.

Maybe you make your income as a 10 99 independent contractor.

You're maybe you're strictly W2. All of those things kind of come into play.

But as long as you have an accountant in general,

they're going to be able to handle that kind of stuff and walk you through the

right processes.

But what I personally love is a CPA is kind of a dime a dozen, which,

and I don't mean that in a way. There's no shade. Um,

you just have a million options when it comes to an accountant.

The stuff that I like to look for is somebody who's not just going to

file my taxes for me, but it's also going to help me with strategy.

That's that's the key for me is the strategy piece and finding somebody

who is proactively participating in

strategy. That's a little bit harder to find. And I,

and that's not to say that it's impossible. It's definitely possible.

It just takes a little bit of hunting. Sometimes,

sometimes they just fall into your lap or, you know,

somebody who has an accountant that checks all the boxes and you're like, yeah,

let's do this. I know you cover the whole gamut. That being said.

So some things that you need to consider when you're looking for an accountant

or auditing the accountant that you have currently,

what is their position on strategy?

Do they typically just do filings and that's all you can really

expect from them?

Are they actively going to participate in strategy?

And to what extent are they really going to take a deep dive and give you a lot

of creative ways that you can reduce your tax burden?

Or are they just going to give you kind of the basics that you could probably

find out yourself from a quick Google?

How much in contact do you want to be with your accountant?

I've had experiences with accountants who I don't hear from all year long until

they need copies of statements for some reason.

And until my tax return is about done, they have a couple of questions for me,

and then they send me a bill, not a fan of that.

Don't love that. But for some people that might be exactly what you want.

You're like, please don't bug me during the year.

Call me when you have specific tax related questions. And otherwise, like,

I don't need an update on the work that you're doing behind the scenes.

Leave me out of it. Especially as a business owner,

you need to really have that understood about what your expectations are and

what kind of relationship you need.

Another thing to consider is are you somebody who is

drawn towards a larger firm,

a place that's going to have a million resources available to you.

They have people,

a bunch of different pay grades who can help you with whatever aspects of your

business or your personal tax return that you need.

Or do you like a more personalized boutique firms

setting?

Do you want somebody who is going to get to know you a little bit more on a

personal level and have an ongoing relationship with you?

Which to that point,

I will say I am naturally drawn to the idea of a more boutique

environment. I want the personalized experience.

I want you to know who I am and about my life. Um,

because I think it helps with the strategy.

They get to know like what you would likely be inclined to do already,

and then can do some deeper searches on, okay,

now how can we find something tax-related to help them? Okay.

But that being said, I personally use a very large firm,

which is like,

I get it totally contradicting to what I just said four seconds ago,

but here's why they have the power.

They just simply have the manpower that a boutique firm cannot match.

And that's something that I find a lot of peace in.

I know they're going to get my done.

I know that they're going to handle it in the most efficient manner.

And while maybe not everybody who touches my tax return or who does tax

related things throughout the year or processes payroll,

maybe they don't know who the I am, but at the end of the day,

I don't care if they know I care.

If my primary accountant knows who I am, knows my situation.

That's what I care about.

So really I'm kind of looking for the middle of the road, happy medium,

but you got to figure out what fits you best and will the

accountant be able to grow with you?

Do you have expectations for what your tax bills and your filings are

going to look like five years from now?

Cause that's very helpful to be, to have one.

I kind of looking further down the road.

Cause the last thing you want is to really get in deep with an accountant,

develop this amazing relationship.

And then later they can't meet your needs anymore. And you're like, great.

Now I have to start completely over where if you consider that from the

beginning,

you're in a much better position because even if you do end up outgrowing an

accountant,

you knew that that was going to happen one day and you've prepared accordingly.

Or you pick an accountant that can grow with you and your relationship gets to

just build and build and build.

And the history gets to last and have more of an impact.

So just things to consider as

somebody who knows a lot of people who have yet to hire

an accountant in here who are doing like the H and R block route or

some kind of do it yourself filing,

there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with that. Um,

and it definitely suits certain stages and, and um,

places where people are at in their life.

And obviously it's a very cost-effective way to do it.

The only problem is you're not going to get any of those extras.

You're not going to get somebody on the other end who can create strategy

with you,

who can talk you through the way you're currently filing your taxes and the way

you're currently doing your expenditures and that sort of thing.

So you're very much on your own,

even though those services have evolved in a lot of ways and they there's a lot

of resources out there,

there is just a time and a place for that method of

filing your taxes and a time and a place for when it's time to move on.

So just be cognizant of that. If you are currently using a service like that,

don't let yourself hit tax time and be like, oh,

there is so much going on here that I really should just have a relationship

with an accountant who can do this for me.

And I can have the confidence and sleep peacefully at night,

knowing that it's being done correctly because you know,

the IRS really is not a dog you want to play with and they

don't have a sense of humor.

Uncle Sam doesn't find your mishaps funny.

So it's very important to do your things right from the jump.

The last thing I'm going to say about this is you especially

need to be looking for an accountant.

If you have some kind of special circumstance,

that being anything that has tax implications.

So if you are gifted a bunch of money or

inherit something or you're buying and selling property,

or you own a business,

these are all reasons to seek out an accounting firm.

If you do not have one and you're not sure where to start,

my first recommendation would be Google, Google, Google, Google,

look at reviews, get an idea, go to their website, get an idea of their firm.

You should have already considered the questions that we just talked about.

And so you kind of know what you're looking for. You go to their website,

and this looks huge. They have, you know,

this many employees and multiple locations and blah, blah, blah.

I'm not interested in that. Or you go to another one that has great reviews.

And you're like, oh, they have two accountants. And

That's not gonna work for me. That's not what I'm looking for.

So Google is a great place to start. If you really don't have any direction.

Another thing that I would recommend is asking around you don't need details

about people's anything about their relationship with their accountant,

other than do they like their accountant and would they recommend them and

why that's all you need to know. And I would broach it as,

Hey, I wanted to ask you about this, but you know,

if you don't feel comfortable talking about this, that's perfectly fine.

I just wondered if you have an accountant that you like and would recommend

because I'm currently in the market for one and most people are not going to

give two about that conversation.

But I do think when you're asking people about anything

financially related,

you should be doing it with respect and giving them the opportunity to not

have that conversation with you if they don't want to, because sure.

As heck don't have to. Okay. Moving on.

This is the one that if I had to guess,

most listeners probably don't have an attorney. Now,

before you have any resistance to that, let me expand.

There will likely be a time in your life where you don't have an attorney

because you don't need one. And that's perfectly fine.

Obviously.

Why would you have any kind of professional if you

However, again,

if you have any type of special circumstances,

I am a firm believer in hiring a professional and an expert in

the field.

I would much rather do things right from the beginning and pay for

that guidance. Then risk it up,

being penalized for having done it incorrectly and then having to go back and

pay someone anyways, to fix the problem.

There's a few things to consider than an attorney can help you with.

Oh well,

and I know that sounds pretty excessive.

And you're like SIS, I'm 24 years old. The do I need a will for,

you know, agreed. You probably don't have that many things, um,

where it wouldn't be very messy. If something were to happen, happen to you.

However,

I no longer subscribe to the concept of it'll never happen to me.

Cause you just don't know. And that's, that's the fact of it.

We just don't know what's going to happen. So if there's any part of you,

that's like, I really need some clarity.

And I want to make sure that my loved ones know exactly what I want done with X,

Y, Z, or anything like that.

That's where an attorney can come in.

It's not a hundred percent necessary before you have very many things

that will be left behind very many possessions.

But if you are in a place where there's cash

or property or vehicles that

need to be dealt with, if something were to happen to you,

it's just so much better for everyone else involved to know exactly what you

wanted and to have the clarity and honestly, lack of burden

because now they can just execute your will.

And there's no questions and anybody who wants to debate it can right off

because it's written. And to that point,

if you do have a well currently or are going to put one together soon

or later on down the road, when you do have a we'll update, that,

okay,

you would not believe how much crazy stuff happens because

people let a decade go by and their will is no longer up to date.

Their life has changed dramatically, but their paper has not.

And that's just super unfortunate.

And all it requires is like once every year or two

years just think about it. Think has anything in my life changed.

That should probably be changed in that document. If not then, okay.

Leave it alone. But maybe just, you know,

thumb through it every year or two and make sure that everything's

okay.

Same thing goes with beneficiaries on anything that any money

stocks, that sort of thing. Okay.

We're rolling right through our three A's.

I can remain a kid and my mom, she always liked, um,

getting, I honestly, I don't even really know gambling,

but like at a convenience store, lottery tickets. That's thank you. Okay.

Thank you brain. That's what I was looking for.

She always thought lottery tickets were fun and she'd like,

let me do the scratch ones and that sort of thing.

It was like once in a blue moon, she'd surprise me with one and we'd play him.

Well, I can remember, um,

multiple times throughout my life where she would talk about like, what,

what if we won the lottery? Like what would you do with the money? And like,

we'd talk about each of our own ideas and that sort of thing. Um,

but I can remember her telling me if you win the lottery,

do not tell a soul, no one, not a soul, not your spouse. Now, your children,

no one, you and God and the person who hands you, the check they are,

who knows.

And the first thing you do is you go out and you get your three A's and

accountant and attorney and a financial advisor.

I'm like 10 years old in the back of a car. And my mom's telling me,

remember the three A's Samantha. That's not what my mom sounded like,

but you get the point. Hey,

so as you may have guessed from that little anecdote,

the third "A" is a financial advisor. Again, you might be like,

why the are we talking about this? I am not at that point in my life.

Maybe you're not, but maybe you are.

And haven't realized it,

are you investing money in any way, shape or form? And if not,

why not every statistic ever

supports that it's not necessarily about how much money you

invest.

Like the dollars time wins every

single time. Always.

It just is what it is.

Even if you invest a significantly larger amount later in life,

if you had started small, but young,

you end up with more money every single time.

Don't ask me about the math. I'm not a financial advisor.

I am not an accountant.

I just know that that is the general advice.

Start young start today.

If you haven't invested in anything start today, but that's,

that's where I'm getting at is if you,

regardless of if you've started or not,

guidance is so valuable,

so valuable, they will be able to help you make your money,

work for you in ways that you could

probably figure out for yourself,

but how much time and energy would that take and how much competence would you

have that you really know your? Cause I'm not saying that's,

that's not an option, but for me personally,

I would much rather again,

trust an expert to do it right from the beginning and help me save for

my future and for my family and for my children's children.

That's, that's what we're trying to get out of this.

And while a lot of these roles have overlaps with each other,

they cannot be replaced by one another.

They are very much serve an individual very

important role. So yes,

there is some overlap and they will know some of the same things,

but they cannot serve you in the same way.

So just to be clear in a financial advisor,

just like the other two becomes extremely

important. If you are in a special circumstance, if you inherit money,

if you have a bunch of money saved,

if you have a business that has that's flush and you need to put that cash

somewhere, other than a savings account,

that's going to earn you a 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1%.

Then you need a financial advisor. And with all three, honestly,

all four of these pillars that we're going to talk about.

The key to successfully finding someone that meshes well with you and

meets all of your individual needs is being patient and

being willing to meet with multiple people. Okay? You're car shopping,

baby. You're going to go to every dealership,

drive seven different types of vehicles and make sure that the one you pick is

the one you love.

The one that feels the best and offers you all the things that

you need to suit your life circumstances.

So don't feel like, okay,

I have this appointment set up with this financial advisor.

I'm going to have to like sign up with them at the end of it. And like,

I really hope I like him because he's going to be in charge of my money going

forward. No, that's, that's not it. That's not the,

not how we should be operating. Okay.

Have some patients have some confidence.

This is a very much a two-way conversation.

They are not interviewing you like hi,

do you have enough things for me to find you important enough to serve?

Absolutely not.

It's let me hear what you offer.

Let me tell you what I need and let's figure out if we're a good fit and then

simmer on it. You do not have to make any decisions right away about anything.

Never feel like there's a rush because there is not, and there's a billion,

more people out there who can help you. If for some reason,

this person just isn't quite what you're looking for.

You're going to find them. You're going to find them.

You just have to be willing to. All right,

fourth and final pillar of protection: a therapist.

I'm a firm believer the world would be such a better

place. If every single person, not a therapist,

I can't even imagine a world like that.

Like it's just rainbows and butterflies and everybody's cool to each

other and not throwing around their damage and just like spewing it onto other

people recklessly. Oh,

I would like to, um, sign up for that reality, please.

If somebody could just let me know where the list is, um, and put my name on it.

That would be phenomenal in all seriousness.

I am so grateful that the stigma around mental health therapy,

depression,

all these things that so many people deal with every single day,

that they're becoming more and more normalized with each passing day.

And that's phenomenal. The part that I,

the part of the conversation that I want to reiterate is a therapist is

not just for when times are hard.

That's absolutely no incorrect.

I find that a therapist is just as important when you're on cloud

nine, as it is when you're in the thick of it,

the same rule applies.

Be patient meet with multiple ask around,

ask people that you think would be safe to have that conversation with.

If they have a therapist that they would recommend or an office,

maybe it's not an individual. Um,

my only caution would be intentionally decide

who you are willing to have that conversation with.

And if they will likely be a safe place for that conversation,

your aunt who thinks mental health is a load of.

That's probably not the person you're going to want to say, Hey,

I'm thinking about getting a therapist. Do you know anyone you'd recommend?

Maybe don't start there.

And if you don't have so many in your life that you feel comfortable talking to

about that again, Google is your best friend, best friend.

There is no dollar that gets me a return like a

therapist. I just,

I would invest in my own success

all day long. And that's what therapy is.

It's investing in yourself. It's, to me,

it's like the ultimate form of self-care because you can see your therapist

and know that the person on the other end of the conversation has no agenda.

None whatsoever.

They couldn't give a less about what decisions you make in your life or,

or which route you take.

They just care that it's the right route for you.

And even though all of our loved ones mean so well. And,

and maybe you have, you know,

maybe you're blessed enough to have multiple people in your life that you can

talk to about things. And that will listen and have patience and grace and,

and just shower you in the love that you need.

They are not an unbiased party.

They may not be biased in a negative way,

but they might be biased in a positive way. And really,

I just think the best responses we can get come from a

completely neutral party. And that's the therapist. And to that point,

they are experts. They are experts in their field.

We don't change our own oil or, you know, most of us,

we don't do our own flipping nails unless you're that crazy like whipping

out tips and super glue at home. Like you're actually on another level. Okay.

You're a superhuman if you're doing that.

So why do we think that we can manage our mental health by ourself?

It doesn't make sense. If you get a gash in your leg or you like, Hey,

go get the stitch stuff. Like, no, that's not.

That's not how it works. Also. Did you love that stitch stuff? I really,

I love that. That just came out of my mouth. Again,

find someone that suits your needs best.

Do you need somebody who specializes in something?

Do you need more of a general practitioner? What,

what are you looking for? What would meet your needs? And if you aren't sure,

pick somebody general and ask them, ask them what they would recommend,

because they're going to have resources.

They're going to have other people in the therapy community that they can

recommend to you. If they're not the right person for you,

based on what you've shared with them.

If you can protect yourself on all fronts,

accounting tax shelter, and correct filings,

attorney financial advisor, and a therapist, oh.

The world better.

Watch out because this girl has her together.

Okay. Ain't nobody throwing her off her game.

Cause she got the fo pillars of success.

And that's not what I was calling them earlier... so...

Four pillars of protection. There.

It is just food for thought as always.

These are all resources that if I was sitting in a coffee shop,

talking to my best friend, this is the stuff I would tell her.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening. If you have any thoughts,

feedback, you want to talk about something that was mentioned today? DM me,

we will chat our little hearts out. I will see in the next one.