From Data to Dollars: Crafting Your Financial Future | OM021
As an opportunity maker, there’s one aspect you can’t afford to overlook – your finances.
Understanding where your money comes from and where it’s going is crucial. It’s a lesson learned through experience because anytime you take your eyes off your financial data, trouble often follows.
In this episode, we are diving deep into the numbers with financial expert, Rondi Lambeth, focusing on those critical figures that can drive your success. The knowledge, shared in this episode, is a gift that can change your financial game.
So make a promise to yourself – find time to watch, listen, and internalize these insights. It will be the best gift you receive all year.
About the Guest:
Rondi Lambeth is an award winning TV & Radio Show Host, a best selling author and has been seen & heard on ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox & NBC. He has spoke in front of tens of thousands of people on stages all across the world including Harvard. Over a decade ago Rondi founded Fortress Credit Pro, America’s first 100% paid on performance credit repair company. Fortress has removed millions of late pays, collections, charge-offs, repo’s, short sales, foreclosures, tax liens, judgments and bankruptcies from credit reports. He has helped tens of thousands non qualifying applicants become mortgage ready in as little as 90 days. Rondi is currently the host of The School of Wealth. Rondi Lambeth Best Selling Author / Speaker / TV Host CEO and Founder of Fortress N/A
Connect With Rondi:
Email: RONDI@FORTRESSCREDITPRO.COM
Facebook: RONDILAMBETH
Instagram: RONDILAMBETH
Twitter: RONDILAMBETH
Website: RONDILAMBETH.COM
About the Host:
Jim Padilla is the founder and CEO of Gain The Edge – a done-for-you provider of industry-leading sales systems and unicorn sales professionals which he co-heads with his wife and entrepreneurial partner-in-crime, Cyndi Padilla.
Through their unique blend of laser-targeted selling systems, inspirational team-building expertise, and 60+ years of combined sales experience – Jim and his wife have generated over 1/4 bn in sales for a long line of high-level, visionary entrepreneurs.
Jim’s mission is to help purpose-driven thought-leaders untangle themselves from the day-to-day minutiae of seeking leads and sales for their business so they’re free to amplify their impact.
When Jim’s not making dollars rain down from the sky, you’ll regularly find him at the driving range – hitting a bucket of balls. Jim credits his time on the driving range as the main source of his best ideas.
Recently relocated back to California, Jim & Cyndi are immersing themselves in family time with their three daughters & four (soon to be five) grandchildren.
Connect with Jim at https://jimp360.com
If you want to see more great content like this, make sure to subscribe and ring the bell so you will get notified whenever we post a new video. And don’t forget to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts.
Transcript
All right. You know I grew up not too far from here. So a lot of people ask, you know, who are they what are they about? They generally will start telling you about their job. And I usually don't do that I start with, you know, my upbringing. I grew up extremely poor. I'm the oldest of 13 kids. When I say poor, tell us 15 I lived in either a tent or a shack, about an hour west of where I live now in Boise, Idaho. And this shack had no running water, no electricity, and we didn't have income. So we use the dumpsters to get our food most of the time, or whatever the government would give us. So tell us 15 years old, you know, we were abused every day if we weren't one of us. 13 kids was beaten every day from our mentally ill stepdad who had spent time in prison for killing someone. But he got away with it because he claimed he was mentally ill, which he was mentally ill. And 15 years old, I just got tired of it. Jam, I figured you know what, I could go out on the streets, I probably eat better, I'd sleep better, I get beaten less. So 15 years old, I left home, I left home, I was up in close to the Canada Idaho border. And what had happened is my brother who's 10 months younger than me, him and I had decided to make a pack that we were done being beaten. And the next time Paul jumped on one of us, the other one would start beating them in the head with the clubs that we are walking around with that. We had told Paul, they're big walking sticks, but really they were clubs. And so one day, he started on my brother and so I started in on him and he got away from us and gave my mom an ultimatum. And that was either you leave, or the boys leave. And so my mom gave me 20 bucks and food stamps, one sleeping bag and a bag of apples and said goodbye. And so my brother, 14 years old, I'm 15 years old, we hitchhiked from essentially Canada, to Boise, where we kind of bounced around in foster care for a little bit. And then I eventually ended up about two and a half, or 250 miles or three hours away from Boise and Oregon, and this little tiny town. And that's where I started learning about entrepreneurship. I got electricity. I turned 16 I bought a car, I got my first job. And then around 16 and a half, I got introduced to a man that was one of the wealthiest men in the county. There's my timer for our podcast interview, but I didn't want to miss. So I got introduced to this guy named Wally Williams.
Rondi Lambeth:years of being there.:Jim Padilla:in, you know, the hundreds of:Rondi Lambeth:know it's in the hundreds of:Jim Padilla:Yeah, and I don't necessarily, you know, it's not a vanity metric. I just, I think too many times, especially as we start ascending to different levels of success. It's easy to forget all the lives that were actually touching, and the responsibility that we have that comes with that. And so as people are listening here right now, I mean, we you know, we're here to inspire hope and not just to give them well wishes, but give them some practical applications, either in mindset or skill sets that can help them embrace, stepping into opportunities instead of running in fear, and especially around money. I think right now money is probably the most sensitive issue out there. And the people that are no clue how to spend it, no clue how to acquire no clue how to keep it, or just doing their best to hang on. You know what words of encouragement and what and what words of wisdom you have for this piece? Well, I
Rondi Lambeth:think most people know how to spend it. That's not the problem. It's knowing how to keep it and what to do with it to make it grow into something more. And that's really what we teach them at fortress University is is how to keep more of it and then how to invest it so you can make a difference. I personally I really believe that financial problems, which relate to credit problems are the number one cause for divorce. Because the average person that says they got divorces, it started with money issues. I think it's the number one cause of death in America through stress, which causes inflammation, which causes cancer, and causes heart disease. But if you took away all of the financial problems from people, they'd be less stressed out, they'd be less overweight, they'd be happier. And I think their relationships would last longer, they'd be happier at work, their children would be happier, it'd be a much better place. And that's really the I believe that is the way to true world peace is through financial education. Because if they're financially educated, and they apply what they learn, people say knowledge is power. That's not true. Knowledge is not power. Knowledge is not money. Because if it was, the richest people in the world would be our professors from universities, right? It's knowledge applied, and leveraged is the power in the money. So I think finances are the most important thing for people to understand and manage. Unfortunately, most people aren't that interested in they, they know the stats of Tom Brady and Mike Tyson. And, you know, Michael Jordan, they could tell you everything about sports. But if I asked him about tax codes that allow them to legally not pay income tax on their first 100 grand they earn every year. It's deer in the headlights, and then when I start telling them, they don't want to know. And so I've learned something over 17 years, Jim, and that is, I don't tell people things, unless they asked me how to do it. Because I just got tired of talking to myself, You know what I mean?
Jim Padilla:I knew, man I do. You know, I talk about that a lot. I mean, you know, been blessed to run in some pretty affluent circles and work with a lot of the top, you know, one, one to 5% of people out there. And something that's so common is everybody that I know in the circle is extremely generous, give time, give information, give help. But if you do not apply, the resources that have been given and the knowledge has been shared, you won't get any more.
Rondi Lambeth:Yeah, I have a I have a term for that. Yeah. And I call them ask holes. Because they ask and they never do anything with it. And I just I hate dealing with assholes. And I have a whole bunch of family members that qualify for that term. And I finally I just, I just tell them now, look, here's my login and password to fortress University. I'm done telling you things, you got to actually do something about it now.
Jim Padilla:Well, let me ask on behalf of the listeners right now. What what things should they be looking for right now in an economy that's uncertain and inflationary, whatever we want to call this market that we're in? What's good wisdom to be navigating decisions by?
Rondi Lambeth:Well, I don't know the answer to that, with the way you're asking it. If you're if you're asking me what people should be doing to prepare for the market that we're in? Is that what you're asking?
Jim Padilla:I don't want you to have to give specific financial advice. I'm thinking more just like, what's the philosophy? What should they be? How should they be approaching the decisions that they're making, as they're moving through these here?
Rondi Lambeth:ight now. I think in the next:Jim Padilla:I wholeheartedly agree. And that's, you know, that's the essence, the the the thesis of this whole podcast and its mission here is literally all the problems that are surrounding us are just a sea of opportunities waiting to be taken advantage of. And, you know, you you've got on both sides, right, you grew up having to overcome, and you've lived with plenty. What's, what's the mindset and perspective to being able to choose to live into these opportunities without fear? And without, you know, with managing risk? Like, how do you approach that mentality?
Rondi Lambeth:ife. And he's met hundreds of:Jim Padilla:Amen. What a great story. I'm a huge MMA fan myself, I listened to his podcast, to pretty much every episode and read his book. But that's a great story. And so, so real. It's so we'll I personally, I dare I would, I would challenge you, listener to put that to the test. Put that to test. And let us know if that if you find any try to be miserable, and stressed out and unhappy. While you're serving and giving to people who need it coming from the heart. It will change you. Sure. But yeah, thanks for sharing that. That's great. What? What about the people who aren't where you know, where you are financially, where I mean, I've been blessed to be around people who are maxed out credit cards maxed out limits right now. And they're heading into this environment where you're saying, hey, best thing you can do is have high credit score cash on hand, and they're the direct opposite of that right now.
Rondi Lambeth:ed this question to literally:Jim Padilla:And there you go, guys, that's a whole book right there. That's a quality quality lesson and a strategy. And so super simple, super easy to understand. And everybody here should be pausing and writing this down. If you're listening on the treadmill, or while you're driving in traffic, earmark this book market, come back and listen to this dilemma the soundest simplest wisdom that you can possibly get your hands on.
Rondi Lambeth:Money's not money's not complicated. That's the thing is everybody wants to complicate it. You know, I own a blockchain company as well. And the unfortunate thing about blockchain is people want to make it so freakin complicated. It's not complicated. Blockchain is a secure internet platform. Essentially, it's the internet that's very secure, that lots of people can use. But they want to talk about nodes and cryptos, and gas fees and all of these other stuff. And I think it's so they can make it seem more important than it is. And that's what a lot of financial planners do. And money managers is they make it so complicated that people think it is and then they really rely on them to invest. I'll give you a good example, Jim. Most people do not know how much it costs to have a 401k. Because it does have a cost. And on average, it's one to 5% of how much money is in your 401 K. So if you have $100,000 in your 401 K at work, the money manager is taking one to 5% out of that 100 grand regardless if the market goes up and down. And by law, they don't have to tell you how much they take out. Legally, they do not have to tell you that they took 5% out and you went from 100 grand to $95,000. They don't have to tell you what I'm doing five grand. So they made it so complicated that people just their sheet, they just go along with it because well my coworker said open a 401k and he's got this mutual fund. So that's the mutual fund I'm in not knowing that that mutual fund is costing them 5% of the principal every single year, and that 5% goes to pay for private parties, private jets, caviar, and if you follow Jordan Belfort also pays for hookers, prostitutes, drugs and all kinds of craziness. And that's how most of those Wall Street guys aren't anyway, it wasn't like Jordan Belfort was like this freak of Wall Street. That's normal up there. So educate yourself. Yeah, it's just like, a little bit though.
Jim Padilla:It's good stuff, man. Ronnie, you're on it, man. I love it. I totally appreciate it. And it's just like the phone bill, how many times we get the phone bill and look at it. And there's all these line items. We don't even know what they mean. Is what half a percent of this? It's 20 cents. There it is $3 there and we pay it without question.
Rondi Lambeth:a month, and I have:Jim Padilla:You know, this is I've got 200 episodes in the to my other podcast, this is where like six episodes and on this one. I have to say this is the most practical sound wisdom that I have ever heard anybody share in a simple conversation in 30 minutes, I'm gonna say this for the first time that I've ever said as well. Take this episode, bookmark it, go home, and grab your husband, or your wife and your kids. And watch this again, listen to this with notepads out taking notes, and have plans in place. Because this just this alone will change the game for you financially. And then I'm gonna say go into show notes and go to get take advantage of the opportunity to be able to get into the fortress for credit Pro. And if you want to tell us a little bit about what's in credit, pro what opportunities exist there.
Rondi Lambeth:money's really tight, you pay:Jim Padilla:Well yeah, we'll have those all those links in the show notes as well as to Rondilambeth.com and And to Fortress University where we want you to get to get the support and the guidance that you need. And I'll be honest, I, you know, I've gotten to know, Ronnie over the last year in a mastermind that we're a part of. And, you know, we've shared some knowledge and some content with each other. I didn't realize to what depth and what level that into simplicity, it's not just about, I think the excellence is in being able to share things that are complicated or make can be complicated in a simple way, easy to understand. And that's why I really, I can't endorse this. Enough, you guys, please take advantage of these opportunities, start getting yourself educated. If you haven't, up to this point, it doesn't matter. Like you know, 20 years ago was the best time to plant a tree 20 years ago was best time to start figuring out how to master your credit and your financial education and literacy. The next best time is today, no matter what, how old you are, get this thing started.
Rondi Lambeth:ot in the fire department. In:Jim Padilla:unless you're a salesperson in conditions that don't have exactly.
Rondi Lambeth:But because if you're on a 30% tax bracket with your state and your federal, which most people are that's a 30% Raise. And that's how you can massively make a difference. And the other thing is this. Not only can we fix your credit quickly, but we can rebuild it faster. And so we teach you how to do that to where in a year you can go from a 400 credit score to an 800 credit score in just a year. So if you're struggling right now, it's going to be okay you can fix it very quickly. You just need to reach out and ask for some help.
Jim Padilla:Amen and then we know that's a challenge. As guys, I've been in the sales game. And you know, we've been helping people make money for about 30 years now. And the two areas that never seem to change where people just don't want to talk publicly about the failings are financially in intimacy. Nobody wants to talk about their failings in the bedroom, and nobody wants to talk about their failings in the wallet. And you just gotta, you gotta overcome it, the ego isn't gonna help you, you just got to let put it aside and say, I need help reach out and ask. And there's a great opportunity right here to take advantage of that.
Rondi Lambeth:Yeah, and even if you call our office, we give free consultations, you don't have to hire us for anything. Generally, you got to pay at least $1, though, for the credit report, so we can look to see what is on your credit, because otherwise, it's a bunch of what ifs and what may be. So as long as you can invest at least $1 to see the credit report, then we're gonna be able to help you with it. And the reason is dollars, because that's what the credit bureaus chart actually cost me $25 pulled a credit report is just, I pay for the $25 report, and we charge $1 for it. So but you know, we're here to help you. So just reach out if you need some help with your finances, your credit or your debt.
Jim Padilla:So let's let's end this on. We're getting serious here. Let's end this on a good high note, then what do you see as the greatest opportunities for people out there right now for the in the coming season? Like what are the things to be looking for?
Rondi Lambeth::Jim Padilla:Hey, man, so many wide open perspectives, things to think about guys. We're always talking about things to do in the business space. But there's so much more out there besides just entrepreneurship in the business line. There's a lot of ways to make money, a lot of ways to be smart and minimize your risk. That's for sure. All right. So I think this is a good spot to end this on, guys will definitely want to have you back and continue the conversation and talk about some more sophisticated ways to take some bigger financial opportunities on. But right now I think this is just a huge amount of value. I totally appreciate what you're sharing. And guys, as always, thanks for trusting us to be part of your success team. You know that you could be anyplace else and you chose to be here and we don't take that for granted. Make sure that you go in rate review and subscribe. Let us know what's going on. Go find around Randy and let them know that we sent you came from the opportunity makers podcast and and let us know what you taken advantage of and what changes are happening in your life. So thanks for being here. Go out and create opportunities, make some money and change some lives. We'll see you on the next one.