Hello, and welcome to the Borealis experience. I'm so

happy to be spending some time with you today. And today we'll

be talking about

your financial health.

Enjoy this interview.

I announced it on Facebook the other day that I want to talk

about financial health, I feel financial health is something

that gets neglected, all too often when it comes to mental

health and our overall well being. So I met David a couple

weeks ago, and he shared with me that he just became a financial

coach. So I don't believe in coincidences. I think the

universe brought him to us. Today, he will share with us a

little bit what inspired him to become a financial coach, and

maybe a little bit of his experiences with his own

finances without going too much into detail. What I learned when

I moved to North America here is that people are inclined to

spend way more money than they own. It's always the huge truck,

the huge mortgage, the holidays, everything paid with credit

card. And yeah, not really thought of how are we going to

pay it off. So maybe you're not the kind of person who easily

spends money, but if you know somebody, or if you are that

person, then this is for you. So welcome, David Lee today, thank

you so much for taking some time to be with us. And can you

explain a little bit what a financial coach

is

learning to

become a financial coach? And what do you offer to your

clients?

How does it look like?

For sure, I really appreciate you having me on Aurora. And so

what adventure coach does is basically I would be creating a

budget a customized budget for my clients, and figuring out

where they are financially, and helping them to see how they can

pay off any debts that they have. And start to build wealth.

Hmm. Okay, so

from minus from the right numbers into the green numbers.

Exactly. Yeah. And so a lot of the problem is a lot of people

have debt from just from everything. I mean, starting

from student loans, which is where I came from, and then just

mounds of consumer debt, because our whole society tells us that

we need debt and we need we need stuff is what their job is, is

to sell us stuff, whether it's, you know, trucks or vacations,

experiences or just things a bigger house, bigger car. And,

and I think they've done a very good job at selling all that to

us.

Mm hmm.

And I remember last time, we talked on the phone, you

mentioned someone, it was some celebrity who had lost, like, a

significant amount of money, but it still didn't make him a poor

fella. He was still one of the richest people ever, but to lose

money is so tightly. How do you say, affecting our well being

like people can really go through depression, when they

feel they can't get out of debt? Would you agree with that?

Absolutely. I think a lot of times our identity is wrapped up

in that. Yeah. And whether, you know, see who we are by the

things that we own, or just a specific status that we hold. A

lot of times if that gets shaken, you know, what are what

are we left to define who we are? Mm hmm.

Yeah, it's very scary. And I mean, a whole society, like you

said, is built on money, like you have to have that job to pay

the bills. And also, if you lose your job, and you're left with

bills, and you were always good with not having debt, and all of

a sudden, you're struggling with paying your bills. It's like a

huge stress factor.

So you came from a very different job. You came from

engineering, right? And I did that. To do these studies. It

costs a lot of money. How was it for you as a student to I mean,

I guess you American You know, from the get go that you have to

pay a significant amount to get a degree. Are you being taught

how to deal with the debt after you graduate though?

Well, it's funny, because that's the big problem. Yeah. are never

really taught how to handle money. I mean, when I was a kid,

I came from a pretty good family, middle class family.

And, but they never taught me how to money. Yeah. I mean, how

to balance a checkbook. But that was in. So when I was 18. And

going off to college, I signed for these giant student loans.

And it was just like, all of a sudden, I had, you know, $1,000

in my checking account, and what are you going to do that

semester? Yeah. And so I graduated school, I had been in

and out of school, because at first I went through engineering

school, found out I was hard and dropped out for a couple years,

ended up going back to school and finishing with a different

degree, actually finished with a recreation degree. And went back

a couple years after that to finish up a engineering

associates. And so 2004, I had my associates and my bachelor's,

and also had about $32,000 in debt. Oh, my God. Yeah. And so I

never really took my loans student seriously until about

2009 when I was working with a food ministry, and I told her, I

had student loans, you know, at this point, and she asked me how

much I had. And I told her, and then she asked me how much I was

paying per month. And I told her, and she said, you're gonna

have those loans for the rest of your life. And she was right.

And so I figured out how to do something. So I started

searching around and had one buddy that had some kind of

computer program that was going to help you pay off my loans.

And I wasn't quite sure about it, because it costs like 1000

or 15 $100, another buddy of mine introduced me to Dave

Ramsey, and his Financial Peace university course. And it

sounded, it was 100 $100. I think for the course, I ended up

taking that and that's the first time I really learned about how

money works. Everything is just a bunch of ideas and

philosophies, right? The same thing that they tell us every

time safe your future, get out of debt. You know, we know all

this stuff. But the thing is, a lot of people just don't do it,

or they don't know how to do it. Exactly. That's

I found that close to being cruel to to throw a young human

being right into death, after hustling through college or a

university, like, what kind of start into the work? Like the

mindset that you have when you start the work life your work?

How do you say routine? Is Oh, um, I have to pay off these

debts first, because they're going to cripple me for the rest

of my life. Otherwise, and it's not all I'm working towards

having a business or growing it's, it's first No, I'm a slave

to the system. And I find that so mean that? Yeah, there's no

course nothing provided for the students to help them to get out

of it as fast as possible. You found something but it was

because you woke up and you were interested in it. There might be

people with a different mindset with the mindset, oh, I'm

avoiding stuff that scares me. And that I don't know how to

deal with and those people. Like I was taught, right when I got

to Canada, you cannot run away from taxes and from student

loans, ever, taxes I knew from Germany, but student loans. I

didn't know that. It was such a huge part of young people's that

I've here. So very intense.

Yeah, that's totally true. I mean, what you said about being

a slave to your debt. And that's one of the main verses that that

they talked about in Financial Peace is proverbs 22. Seven, the

debtor is slave to the lender. Mm hmm. And so and so you're

just really a slave to those loans that you've taken out?

Yeah. And

ever. Everybody always says that it makes sense to take out

loans, because you're going to make more money in your career.

But the fact is, a lot of people don't even graduate college,

which I didn't the first time. I believe it's 40 people who

attend college don't graduate. Yeah. So they might have

3040 $50,000 in student loans and no degree. But just like you

were saying, yes, you start off on the negative side of things.

Just go Going into your first career? Yeah, six months loan

payments that are gonna come due.

Yeah. When to start a business, you have to loan money, right?

It's not? Yeah, it's, it's not logic at all to me. So you just

started taking on clients? How How was it? Like your first

encounter? Is that like you expected your job to be or or

this experience to be? Or is it a little more trickier? Or can

you see that people are very different minded and to to reach

them sometimes can be tricky, or was it pretty easy going so far?

Well, it's definitely a challenge. And I've coached

people just kind of on my own. I've talked to people before

about saving for the future and betting for retirement. But as

far as when you start talking to somebody about their personal

finances, it's a taboo subject in America. I'm not sure how it

ended up. But people just don't talk about money, or how much

and so to initiate the conversation can be a bit of

troublesome.

Yeah, yeah.

But I mean, there's a lot to finances. And to guide somebody,

when they really don't have any kind of background, it's just

like, I have so much to tell them, You can't do it all in

just a one hour session. So normally, I tell people, it's

gonna be a three or a six month session, session time period, an

hour every month. But there's just so much wrapped up in it.

You know, when you talk about finances, it's not just debt.

It's insurance, life insurance, health insurance, retirement

investments, it's all kinds of stuff.

Yeah, it's a lot to cover. But it is so important to start

addressing. And in order for people to be you say, literate,

like to to know their stuff, and to not turn a blind eye to

something that might be challenging your ego? Because

you don't know nothing about it is not the solution. What would

be your dream? client, maybe so to say? Or do you have an age

group that you're targeting? Or is it people from all kinds of

backgrounds that that you would like to work with? Because

you're just starting out, like, maybe you have dreams or ideas

there, or where you see a need more than, like, maybe for young

people more than for older people?

Well, my ideal client is somebody who has debt, consumer

debt or student loan debt. I would imagine the age ranges

anywhere from 20s to 30s, to 40s. could be any age range,

really, though. But somebody who has been in debt for a long time

and is just tired of it, you know, that saying is you're sick

and tired of being sick and tired? somebody doesn't exactly

have any investments, or if they do, you know, it'd be something

that I don't know, they're just not celebrate. But my job would

be to just take all their finances and basically

streamline the process. So it could be most any person just

just trying to figure out what their budget is and how to make

it work best for him.

Mm hmm. Very good. And do you only work with us citizens? Or

can you work internationally?

I could certainly work internationally. Because I mean,

after all this stuff with the COVID. A lot of stuff is going

virtual. All I need to communicate with with either

video or over the phone, and then some form of payment. And

using Venmo. And PayPal would be just an easy way to do that.

Mm hmm. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, cuz we have listeners from

all over the world here in case they want to reach out and get

some advice from you. That's wonderful. No, I think what like

the path you're choosing is so critical, so important, and like

very, very timely. Because maybe you have been affected by COVID.

I don't know how your life looked like before, but mine was

certainly affected deeply and my work. And I know I'm not the

only person like a lot of people lost their jobs and don't have

any income but still bills to pay. How was it around where you

live, where people heavily affected by COVID or not so

much?

Well, I think it's all about the same You know, there's a lot of

people out of work. And a lot of people struggling with debt

still. And you can encounter the same thing all over the world.

Yeah, and it's still like very restricted right now.

It's getting less. So I think the thing is, a lot of people

are just kind of getting tired of it, you know, I there is,

obviously, a pandemic out there. But I don't think it's as

drastic as people say it is I got sick December 23. And for

four days, it was really bad. After the fourth, though, is

pretty much just had a nagging cough, and that was about it.

And so our state, Virginia has actually had a whole lot of

restrictions placed on it. There's a lot of other states in

the US that aren't as restrictive. But are has limited

the groups that can get together. And a lot of events

have been cancelled because of it. And so we're starting to see

some signs of it getting better now and those regulations

loosening up. But it's just going to take some more time.

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Here, too. If you had one or two, that

start with one advice for his student, who didn't have the

chance to win the lottery, or a scholarship was coming out of

university with that huge bag of debt, what would you recommend

them to do? First thing, second thing third? Well,

if they've already been through school, and they have debt, the

most important thing is to is to get out of debt. There was a

study done of 10,000 millionaires. It's in the book,

everyday millionaire by Chris Hogan. They study millionaires

and ask them, how they made their millions how they got

rich. And the biggest thing was to get out of debt instead of

debt. And so if they're coming out of school, I'd encourage

them to take on a second and a third job and work as quickly as

they can to pay off that debt. As soon as they get rid of that,

hopefully, in the end a year or two, then they can actually

start building well.

Okay. Yeah. And that job would be in their field that they

studied, or just any kind of job

where they're going to be looking for anything, whether

it's in their study, or out of study, you know, go buy a lawn

mower and start cutting lawns, pick up a rake, start raking

leaves, work at the start, or anywhere just to make extra

money. It's what I've discovered, too, is, I mean,

I've done all kinds of crazy jobs in the past. And it's not

that you don't make a ton of money is that you need to make

money consistently. And all of those little amounts are going

to add up. It's just a matter of time. I mean, I've been working

with Uber Eats doing food delivery, and it doesn't make

money. But if I'm working extra 20 hours a week, I can get 1500

to $2,000 a month.

Yeah. So yeah, what you're saying is that don't

underestimate the small jobs that you can do in between jobs.

And those numbers will add up. And also be aware of how you

spend your money, marry, like, keep it to groceries and

housing. And don't be too extravagant.

Yeah, totally. And that's another big thing, too, is the

budget. Yeah. household has to have a budget. And some people

say, Well, I don't make enough money to have a budget. But the

truth is that the household has money in it. And there's two

arrows into the budget when that goes out of the budget. So you

have to figure out where that money is to go and work with it

and do it on purpose. On paper every month, every month,

budget, write it out, and then stick to the budget. Yeah, and

the great thing is doesn't really limit you. You can put

whatever you want to in the budget. But the thing is, you

have to stick to it.

No, very, very good. No, I think that's great advice. And and

with those Yeah, little jobs that add up to a good month. A

good amount monthly. That's something Yeah, maybe you have

to cramp your style a little bit. Your ego, you know your ego

who is saying no, I'm not going to deliver food. I'm not going

to mow the lawn. But if there is a need and if You have the

willingness, then you will always find people who want to

pay for your services, and then you pay off your debt with that

little bit of money that adds up. That makes total sense.

Wonderful. Very, very good. Is there anything you would like to

add? At the end here, any advice or anything that you've learned

about money that maybe surprised you that you were absolutely not

aware of when you went through your coaching program?

I think the most important thing is to pay attention to it. Man,

my whole adult life, I never really took my student loans

seriously. And you were talking about earlier is when people

just kind of ignore their their debt. And I've been there I've

done that at hand, a lot of times, it can be shame, or

embarrassment, lack of knowledge, or just

procrastination. But the truth is, it's not going to go away

unless you actually face it, or writing it for is the first

realization to this is an issue that I haven't any dissolving.

So I guess most importantly, don't ignore it and attack it as

fast as you can and get it out of your life. Because you're

gonna have to be here sooner or later, like you were saying,

student loans, student loans aren't being profitable. So even

if somebody gets double, and they try to get rid of their

debts that way, that's the one kind of loan that you can't get

rid of. However, you have it for life. And so my recommendation

is just to take care of it. As soon as you can here. That'd be

life and start getting on the positive end of earning interest

instead of having to pay.

Yeah, beautiful. Very, very good. How can people find you?

Do you have a Facebook page? Or is it just word by mouth?

Ask my wife,

my own personal Facebook page right now, I'm kind of hard to

find, but I am going to put up a business page. Yeah, still

working. I believe I'm going to make it debt free forever. with

Facebook business page, get that up and running.

Yeah, that's very, very cool. So we'll keep in touch. And you

will let me know as soon as that page is up and running. Because

I know I'd be interesting, interested to find out what you

can maybe give for advice and tips. And people could just get

a message to you and ask you questions or make appointments

to make it like I feel you are like a flashlight, shining onto

a space, a shadow that most of us all are trying to never shine

any light. Because it's so uncomfortable. If you sit there

and suddenly see those numbers, it is scary. It freaks some

people out. And if they can contact you and talk to a person

who is very calming and soothing, then it makes the

stress less and then yeah, people can feel more confident

in attacking that. That little beast called money, or debt. Is

there anything you would like to add before I wrap up? Or do you

feel we covered everything? Regarding fine?

touch the surface and all this stuff? What I've gotten into

lately is is retirement, you know, and you can't start

contributing to your retirement until you get that debt out of

the way. But the sooner you get to that, you know, the better

off it's going to be. If anyone has any questions for me, I'm

more than welcome to just talk with them. And given a couple

minutes, see if they make a good client, see if we're a good fit.

Now they can find you through your page or once they get that

business page up and running. They can go through that to

Wonderful,

thank you so much, David. And I'm sure we'll keep in touch and

maybe do a second episode here soon. Yeah, thank you so much

for listening to the Borealis experience and David Lee on my

show today. I really hope you enjoyed this episode. I feel

it's very crucial to take money, your financial health into

account when it comes to your well being. Alright, take good

care of yourself. And I'll be out there very soon again for