Twanda Black: Good morning and thank you for joining us. I’m Twanda Black, and joining me this morning our Chief Wealth Strategist, Steven LaBroi, CEO of the LaBroi Insurance Group, and now new author. He’s just finished his book, Build Your Human Equity Line of Credit: the secrets to creating a lifetime of assets in any economy. Congratulations, Steven.

Steven LaBroi: Man, I so much appreciate it. It’s been a long time coming, and I am super excited.

Twanda Black: I know.

Steven LaBroi: Super excited.

Twanda Black: I know, and just probably the world off your shoulders to have it finished, you know?

Steven LaBroi: Yes.

Twanda Black: Just finished, yay. And they can get a copy tomorrow, starting tomorrow, right?

Steven LaBroi: Yes. Yes. Amazon is ready to ship the 22nd. And we’ll have it on other platforms as well. So, if you don’t find it in your area, in your library or your bookstore, ask for it or send us an email and we will make sure that that happens.

Twanda Black: Okay. All right. So, we decided to talk about the book, Build Your Human Equity Line of Credit. And we’ve been talking about this, the HELOC for a minute, probably over a year here and there we’ve hit it. But we’re going to talk about what that is. What is a human equity line of credit? Let’s start right there.

Steven LaBroi: Okay. You know, this is a trademarked term. You know, I ironically came up with this one day just, you know how ideas hit you real hard, and I thought about it. I said, “We’re human, and we want to have a line of credit for the rest of our lives. So, what I consider it is is a focus, a strategy, a plan to create a safe source of funds operating as a foundation, financial foundation for you throughout your life that can be part of the nucleus of how you live, invest, and win. We use some base tools that benefit you the most. So, we create something for you in terms of a strategy that will provide assets and net worth. So, our human equity line of credit, versus what some people think of, home equity line.

Twanda Black: And you start by saying we ourselves are actually the collateral. Talk about that. Some of us may think we don’t have anything. How are we going to be the collateral?

Steven LaBroi: Interesting enough, it all began thinking about assets. And I found a quote that I thought fit very appropriately. Tom Hopkins, who I followed in my sales career, an international sales and management trainer said, “You are your greatest asset. Put your time effort and money into training, grooming, and encouraging your greatest asset.” I just love that because it just tells me that I can focus on me without being concerned about the world around. So, as collateral, you’re your biggest asset. You go out every day to turn your time into income based on what you know or what you learn. And that can create an asset for you, but you’re the asset that does that. So, your health, your energy, the older you get the wiser you are, sometimes the younger you are the more you know. And with specific tools you can just continue to grow it. And we will help you try and figure out this whole human equity line of credit process to make it very, very important for your.

Twanda Black: Building guaranteed savings towards current and future spending. You talk about savings, you’re talking about … Wow, a lot of people are like, “I can’t save anything.” And then some folks say, “Hey, you’re supposed to have three to six months of everything, all of your wealth in case something happens. In case you lose your job or you have a medical issue, all of that.” And it’s so hard to save.

Steven LaBroi: My god. This is something that a lot of people cringe on because inflation. I mean, seriously, you know? Inflation and the prices go up and you hear on TV about interest rates going up. And a lot of that is macro economics, but at the end of the day, we have to control our own personal position. So, when they say three to six months or some people even say 12 months, you know? These are theories, but very few people show you how to do it. I used to hear that from my grandmother all the time, “Put a little back.” Put a little back every check. You know? But she never really told me how to do it, but you just had to have discipline.

Twanda Black: Yes.

Steven LaBroi: You know?

Twanda Black: Yes.

Steven LaBroi: So, it is really a strategy to help you save comfortably towards current and future spending because, Twanda, spending is a foregone conclusion. We’re going to spend.

Twanda Black: Absolutely.

Steven LaBroi: That’s why we have income. Yes. You know? Definitely.

Twanda Black: Yeah, yeah. I think that’s one of the toughest things to do. Thank god for direct deposit and that things go in before you get to touch it or see it.

Steven LaBroi: Right.

Twanda Black: You know, thank god for those things. Yeah. Now, this whole HELOC thing, human equity line of credit, is about building income for ourselves for whatever our needs are. And you talk about that in the book.

Steven LaBroi: Yeah. You know, the idea is, again, you can think of things that you plan on buying. You can think of things that you’re going to need in the future. You can think of people put together vision boards on things that they want. And everything on that vision board in most instances costs money. So, the idea is to be able to build assets that can support it for future needs. I mean, there’s … you can always decide, “I’m going to make more income.” But in most instances, someone else is in charge of that decision. The idea is if you build enough assets, those assets will help yield the income for the things that you’re thinking about, dreaming about, knowing that you’re going to need, even if it’s planning for college for your children, planning for a new home, knowing you’re going to need another car some time in the future. I mean, those are practical things. But at the end of the day, if we can plan for it using the money that we currently have by creating some assets that are available to us that we may not know about and strategy, then those kinds of things would be materialized pretty easily. So, I’m excited about sharing this information and it’s important.

Twanda Black: Yeah. Sidebar here, yesterday I read that insurance companies bank on people not knowing that they’re beneficiaries, and that they really don’t look for you if they can’t find you right there, if you moved or whatever, and they hold onto that money. I read that story, and I was like, “You know what?” And so, there are a lot of people out there who have money who have been beneficiaries and have no idea that they have money. But I say it to say that we talk about legacy there, you’ve got to let folks know that you’re leaving them something so that they will know in your passing to look for something or to go wherever they need to go, you know? You need to let folks know.

Steven LaBroi: Yes. Yes. I mean, this has become a very big topic. I actually saw it on a Sunday show about that as well. I mean, it’s almost scary. But at the end of the day, I’m going to give brass facts, an insurance policy is a contract. There’s always two people on a contract. And so, we have to, as you say it, put as much information on that contract of the beneficiary that we can. So, security, birth date, address, phone number, so that it is available. And the courts are also starting to pay attention to that because insurance companies do have some level of responsibility. But the responsibility is on us.

Twanda Black: Right.

Steven LaBroi: You know? It is on us. And so, we really have to pay attention to that because those types of dollars are life changing in a lot of instances if we do this right.

Twanda Black: Okay, so I just had to put that in there. Go back to the book, becoming your own bank. This is very important in the human equity line of credit.

Steven LaBroi: You know, when you think about it, a bank in and of itself is a place that we’ve been known to just sit money, reside money, before it goes in and then it goes out, then it goes in, then it goes out, they give you few benefits based on the products that they have. But they charge you more based on the products that you want or that you need, like loans. If we can reproduce that process for ourselves.

Twanda Black: Ourselves yeah.

Steven LaBroi: I mean, think about it. We can actually create a benefit for ourselves and our families. And it’s all about process. It’s not about getting a charter from the state or from the Federal Government and becoming a bank. I’m not saying that. It’s about duplicating the process so that you become the winner in terms of earning interest on the money that you put away, and being able to loan money or borrow money and use it to make more money. So, it’s a unique little process, the strategies are out there and have been out there for 50 years.

Twanda Black: A long time, yeah.

Steven LaBroi: I’m just trying to bring this to a whole new set of populations.

Twanda Black: Right. You think about how many times … and this happened to me, easy to take your money in. But when you want to get it out, it’s a little interesting, especially if it’s over a certain amount of money. And you’re like, “Wait a minute now. Y’all took my money so easy, so quickly when I brought it here.” And, “Oh, we’ve got to put your thumb on here. And who are your first born?” And you know? It’s just like, “Wait a minute.” And I understand-

Steven LaBroi: You know … I mean-

Twanda Black: It’s a process.

Steven LaBroi: It blows my mind. You know, banks won’t even let you deposit cash on behalf of another bank holder. You have to have an account.

Twanda Black: Oh yeah.

Steven LaBroi: There’s just so many different rules. The rules change all the time and normally they’re not in our favor.

Twanda Black: Right. So, while they’re using your money to loan out and do other things with it, you should be able to have your own money and do what you want to do with your money. So, I’m really interested in that, becoming your own bank. I can’t wait to read about that part. Also in the book, you talk about eliminating debt. That’s something that we would all like to do. And again, it’s kind of like saving, very difficult. Sometimes we can’t wrap our brain around, “How do I eliminate that debt?” But it takes such sacrifice on both parts on saving and eliminating debt.

Steven LaBroi: Yes. I mean, I always say that there are a lot of people out there talking about debt elimination and financial literacy because we know that debt as we’ve talked about in the past is a choice. We’ve been kind of put in a position in our country where financing everything we do is one of the preferred options. But if we learn a couple of other strategies, we can eliminate debt, build wealth, those assets that we talked about earlier, and do it simultaneously and control the debt that we use making better choice. You know, cleaning the debt off is a very important step. But I don’t want us to get to a point where … I know this is where I used to be. I’d pay off all my credit cards, and then I figured I had more money to spend.

Twanda Black: You’d go right back.

Steven LaBroi: I’d just fan them right back up.

Twanda Black: I think that’s the American story. That’s what we all do.

Steven LaBroi: Right.

Twanda Black: That’s what we all do.

Steven LaBroi: You know?

Twanda Black: Yeah.

Steven LaBroi: But with a plan that we talk about in the book, we do it simultaneously. You start building an asset that you see money growing for you, and you’re paying off the debt based on the creditor’s requirement. And we’re taking the focus so much off the debt as we are putting it on building an asset, creating that term that I use called being positively selfish and focusing on ourselves a little more.

Twanda Black: Absolutely.

Steven LaBroi: So, I’m excited about getting rid of debt and controlling it.

Twanda Black: Oh yeah, for sure. It’s like you can breathe, you know? When you have a lot of debt, you can’t breathe because you’re trying to figure that thing out, but you’ve got to live. And it’s a vicious cycle, like you said, of, “I owe.” And the more credit I have, the more I owe. And it’s a vicious cycle. And one of the biggest things that you talk about is retirement. We have more baby boomers than ever, than any population in the world right now. So, everybody’s moving toward retirement and even if you’re not a baby boomer you’re still going to be moving toward retirement. And you need to figure that out, how do you want to live in your retirement? And think about the important things that go along with that. There could be medical issues, you may not have the same lifestyle. How do you want to live in your retirement?

Steven LaBroi: My god. I mean, here’s the thing. And I’ve always said this. Everybody is changing the definition of retirement. I hear people tell me they’ll never retire. I get people telling me retirement’s not an option for them. The idea is that, to me, there’s three things. There’s either health, there’s age, or there’s an employer who actually has a hand in your minimizing or even eliminating the opportunity to go and get income. So, retirement is not an absolute. It’s a factor of one of these particular things. What we want to do is try to create an opportunity for you to have in mind where and how and what do you plan on doing for cashflow in retirement, or at that time in which income is not coming to you. It’s what they call distribution years.

Steven LaBroi: So, we have accumulation years all the way through to that particular timeframe, and then we’re distribution years so that we’re using the money we’ve accumulated at the time in which we decide or someone decides for us or our health, that income is not going to be coming in at the same rate that it had in the past. So, we use these tools to try to help you create some guarantees and some absolutes to know exactly what you’re going to have coming in so you can make the proper adjustments, whether it be upsize, downsize, whatever it is you need. Yep.

Twanda Black: And you’ve got to think, look how people are living so much longer in their 90s.

Steven LaBroi: Let me tell you something, the insurance companies are recognizing that. The actuaries, those smart people that the insurance companies hired, they are looking at even lowering rates up to what I’ve heard about 30% on life insurance because people are living longer. I mean, I saw a lady on TV, African American woman 103 years old doing pushups.

Twanda Black: My god.

Steven LaBroi: You know, yeah. I mean, it’s a fact of life and we have to roll with it. And we have to understand that even a lot of the insurance policies now are carrying some type of long term care component that they’re including on the newer policies, so people who have old policies that say, “I’m straight. I’m straight,” need to re-look at this before they-

Twanda Black: You need to re-look. Yeah. Right.

Steven LaBroi: Yeah, you know?

Twanda Black: Definitely.

Steven LaBroi: It’s important, you know? It’s like [crosstalk 00:18:26]-

Twanda Black: Because your children might not take care of you. You know?

Steven LaBroi: Right.

Twanda Black: And that’s the reality. That’s a reality. And you know, they may not be able to. They may not be able to.

Steven LaBroi: Yeah, well think about this, this simple fact is that we live apart from each other. Back in the day, we all lived in the same neighborhood.

Twanda Black: Lived together, right. Right.

Steven LaBroi: Yeah. Now children live in another state from grandma, and mom still lives back in the house, and children may not be able to move back, or they may not be able to move mom across country.

Twanda Black: Right.

Steven LaBroi: So, it’s an active process that I hope that I’m able to share with as many people as possible how a new strategy can enhance or even help what they’re currently doing.

Twanda Black: That is so true.

Steven LaBroi: I’m excited.

Twanda Black: Yeah, I love the book. I love that you put affirmations for building a human equity line of credit. And one in here, “I believe in generational intelligence and moving information forward to my network and to my family.” Now, a lot of times people in your family are smart. I’ve got an uncle that worked for the FDIC, and he’s just this vast lock of information. He has so much information. And sometimes I’m like, “Well, why don’t you tell me about this?” “Nobody wants to hear about that.” Yes, we do. We want to hear about money. We want to hear about wealth, you know?

Steven LaBroi: Right.

Twanda Black: So, don’t be afraid to pass on that information generationally because our children need to know. We need to know. We need to know.

Steven LaBroi: Yes. A buddy of mine gathered his kids and nieces and nephews who are in their 20s. And he calls them an all star team. And he has a conference call with them once a quarter to talk to them about things that he knows. And these young adults, I should say, I apologize. They’re in their 20s and approaching 30. And he’s downloading things that he’s been exposed to. We have to go back to sharing information. We have to.

Twanda Black: Yes. Everybody doesn’t know everything. We know the kids think they know it all. But when you start talking to them about lifestyle and how they want to live, and how they want to live in the future, how they’re going to take care of those kids and college, they listen. So, we need to begin to do that. If we’re not already doing it, we really need to begin to talk with them. Don’t worry about the ones that don’t want to listen yet. When they see the other ones doing well, they’re going to start. They’ll get on the bandwagon.

Steven LaBroi: That’s right.

Twanda Black: They will get on the bandwagon. LaBroi, tell everybody how they can get the book out tomorrow. I’m so excited.

Steven LaBroi: Yeah, amazon.com. Just search my name, Steven E LaBroi, L-A-B-R-O-I, or the title of the book, Build Your Human Equity Line of Credit. You’ll be able to find it there. The Kindle, the Nook. You can also reach out to me on my website.

Twanda Black: At-

Steven LaBroi: At LaBroi Insurance Group.

Twanda Black: LaBroi Insurance Group. Awesome. Awesome. Can’t wait to hear what some of the responses are, y’all. It’s time for us to get ours. It’s time for us to have the information we need so that we can move forward and we can be the legacy that we’re looking for for our kids. So, Steven, thank you so much for joining us. We’ll talk to you next month on another great strategy. Chief Wealth Strategist, Steven LaBroi joins us today.

Steven LaBroi: Thank you.