1555 – Your Long Term Strategy with Empowered Planning’s Shinobu Hindert

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0:58with us right now, Shanabu Hindert. Shanabu, you are the author of the book, Investing is Your Superpower. You are an investing and wealth coach, and you're found on the web at empoweredplanning.com. Shanabu, thank you so much for joining us. Yeah, thank you for having me. You're always so chipper on your podcast. I feel like I'm talking to a friend. Yeah, well, I try to be approachable and I am an acquired taste. So, yeah, but talk about your work today. And I know you have a background in money, which kind of led to the work that you do today. But yeah, share with us your impact in the world.

1:41Yeah, I was a financial planner for a large company for a number of years. And then when I had started a family, the schedule, the timing, the travel, I was like, this is not working. And I didn't want to leave the workforce. But at the time, now it'd be very different. I think if this had happened, and I wanted to work a flexible schedule, or take some time at home, it would have been acceptable. But at the time, it really wasn't. So I was looking for jobs that I could do, you know, not on the side, but just as a more flexible schedule, couldn't find it. And then And as I was talking to friends and family, letting them know I was transitioning out of that world, the questions started flooding in of, okay, well, you know, I have a Roth IRA or my, you know, someone told me to do this.

2:30I want to buy a house in Southern California. What do you think about this? What about interest rates? And I was answering all these questions all the time. And I was looking at a lot of these people, like, I look at you as this really successful person in your career. What resources do you have? And the more I was poking around, it was like, hey, they don't have resources. is a lot of what's available is reserved for people that have already built wealth. And that was really the clientele that I was working with. And started to realize, you know what? I have all these answers. Instead of repeating myself again and again and again, I'm going to make it in a nice little book, give them a step-by-step of what to do, how to do it.

3:05And started teaching more classes that way. And then started taking on a lot of clients who own small businesses, who were interested in my book. And then as I was talking about their personal finances, I'm going, well, wait a minute, what about your business? And they're kind of just winging it, winging it with the finances. So it's kind of evolved into this business consulting arena, which has been really fun. How do you like, what are the general guide, you know, kind of the principles when somebody says, well, look, we've invested very heavily in our business. It's cash positive. It's, you know, it's a great, you know, we've got a great thing going here.

3:43but you know what that means is you know potentially like as a business owner maybe there's been some ups and downs and maybe you know they're looking at their nest egg and and it doesn't look like you know folks that um you know just been faithfully kind of putting money into 401k uh maybe it's a business owner that's been you know kind of really doubling down on on this business um how do you how do you navigate that and and maybe it's assessing the value or identifying their business as an asset? Take us through that. Yeah, I like to open it up and just ask them, what is their long-term strategy?

4:22So when they're looking at potentially leaving the workforce, what does that look like? Are they looking at this business like they want to get it to a specific valuation and they want to sell it at a specific price that will fund their retirement? Or do they want to stay involved in the business? Are they planning to pass it on to a family member? What does that look like? Do they own the real estate that their business is in? Because it starts to get complicated. And the more you work with business brokers that are selling, oftentimes, even if a business is sold at a valuation somebody is looking for, and the payments are spread out for a number of years, it's all too common that the business owner that has left the business actually doesn't get paid that money because the person that's taken over the business is going to go through that contract and say, okay, well, actually I'm not getting the cashflow you said I was going to be getting.

5:14And they're, they kind of nitpick these contracts. So I try to also paint a very realistic picture of if that's the strategy where you're going to take money away from putting money into retirement for yourself or building this lump sum nest egg, what's the alternative? What are the two options? And kind of walk down those paths with them. And you kind of start to see what is their personality, their relationship with money and what is their vision for that? Because I think it's easy to focus on I'm growing this business, I'm in the moment. And even when people say they want to work in the business later, it's like when you're 80 or you want to work in it when you're 60, 65, 70, but then what?

5:54What if you get sick or what if the family doesn't want to take over? You really have to dig into these conversations and they don't all happen in one day. I think people, especially when you're building something on your own, it could be your baby. So it's hard for someone to take that baby and be like, well, this baby isn't going to work out for you in the future. So you want to be really mindful of how you're approaching that. But kind of worst case scenarios, let's say this business isn't sustainable, or they get the valuation they want, but they can't find a seller at the time they want to exit the business.

6:27And they don't have a lump sum saved, now they're in a situation that they could have prevented or prepared for. So it's just kind of walking through scenarios that I've seen, where do they feel like they fall, kind of rating their priorities as well. And then just having really open dialogue and playing devil's advocate with them. Your book, Shinabu, is investing is your superpower. Yes. Why is a superpower a good metaphor for investing? Because I think there is a theme that we tell ourselves is I'll do it when I have more money. So if that's investing or if that's, you know, anything, it could be anything people say to themselves, oh, when I have more money.

7:12So we kind of discount the value, the time value that money has. And when you look at charts, they'll show you, okay, someone who invested for 25 years was able to get exponentially more growth than someone who invested for a five-year time period. But nobody really makes emotional decisions on a chart, right? It's like, okay, great, that looks good. And, oh, that's impressive. Oh, I wish I would have started earlier. And we kind of leave it at that. when we're living in this day-to-day, especially if you have a business and you own a home and you probably need a new car at some point and you have all these expenses, you wanna travel, you kind of look at it like later on, I'll do that.

7:50So I really picked that name because if you can start, even if it's not as much as you'd ideally want to just start investing, have a system set up that it's automated. So you're doing it, you're kind of, it's a form of self-care of like, I'm gonna focus on these things I wanna focus on, But there is a part of me that's taking care of my future self because I care about it. And using this superpower of the time value of money, I'm going to get a lot of growth out of this in the future. And one, obviously, one particular audience that you're very sensitive to or you're kind of focused on would be females or women.

8:30And what are your observations of like where we've been and where we are today and maybe your hopes for where we're going to continue to go regarding, you know, the intersection of women and investing? And I'll let you tell the story. Well, I think that's really interesting because even if I look at what's happened in the workforce since I've become a mom or since I started in the financial industry, you know, 17 years ago, it is completely different. And when I go back one, two generations, when my mom was working in the 80s, it was not uncommon for her to be making significantly less than her male counterpart.

9:10And it wasn't a secret. It wasn't this like hush, hush, don't tell anybody. it was very clear, like she knew she was making less and she was often brought on to train other people. And it was like, we're not going to get any more. Oh, and he's going to now be your boss. And it was just kind of the way things were. So I think when we look at those conversations of kind of telling women, maybe not to ask for more, or you're not worth as much because of X, Y, Z, there's obviously a time where we kind of clash and confront that and ask for more. But behind the scenes, there's all these conversations that go on at home that maybe aren't so open about investing, that aren't so open about money.

9:48When I was growing up, it was really considered kind of ugly for me to talk about money as a child, as a girl. And my mom was just like, oh, she grew up in Japan. And for her, she was like, oh, you cannot be talking about money. No, no, no, no, this is not appropriate conversation. So I think where we are now, what I'm seeing is there is just this thirst for knowledge. I think a lot of women are raising their hands. They feel more comfortable saying, I don't know. And it's hard when you become an expert in your field and you're looked at in high regard in your career and they're turning around going, well, I don't really know anything about investing.

10:27And I don't know that I'm managing my money correctly. That's difficult for people to admit, man or woman. But I think now women are raising their hands saying, I need more information? How do I get more information? I'm interested in this. What is this stuff? And how do I learn more about it?

10:46Shinobu, for your book, Investing is Your Superpower, what is the transformation? So someone right now, again, it's a bestseller. You got tons of positive reviews. You've gotten some really good buzz and press. What is the transformation that you would expect that would take place when someone reads and applies what you teach in the book? That whatever they want out of their life is actually possible. I think it just goes back to if you don't know the numbers, someone could sit there and be like, well, I could never own a home here or I can't do it all at the same time. So I can't own this home and go on vacations and have this car that I want.

11:29And you can, but you're going to have to give up a few other things. And are you comfortable giving those things up? When I was working as a financial planner, I had plenty of clients that had enough money to retire, but they were going to have to make some cuts in their lifestyle. Maybe not huge, but some cuts. And I'd have people just say, well, I'm not ready to. I like buying the stuff that I buy. I like traveling and eating the way that I want to eat. I don't care if I have to work another five years. I'd rather do that than stop working and have to make these cuts. So it's really just about having transparency on what your situation looks like.

12:03But if you don't put pen to paper and look at that and put those numbers down, then you can tell yourself, well, I can't really do that. But if you were to take those and essentially say, OK, well, what is the down payment that you need? What is the affordable housing payment that you're looking for? What is the capital you need to start your business? Well, maybe if we start your business on the side while you have a full-time job and you're putting X amount of dollars per month into this separate account for the next six years, you're going to have that lump sum. And in the meantime, you've built this huge network of resources.

12:35So I think people aren't typically trained to think about everything as a trickle down to what is the starting point of my money. So the transformation that people will get from this is clearly laying out what their life goals are and then having the finances to back it up, to say, well, I can do this. Maybe I wanted to achieve that goal in eight years. well, based on all these numbers of what I want to do, it's looking more like that'll happen in 12 years, but I have to do these steps. And then they're okay with that because we could never go anywhere, never go out to eat, never spend any money.

13:13And we'd save a ton of money, but nobody wants to live like that. So that's not a solution. It's kind of pulling and tugging on what your investments should look like based on the goals that you have. So it clearly lays out, how do you start from the beginning to get to the end that you're fully invested. It's automated, you're clear understanding of your goals. And how do you work, Shinobu, with clients? Do you work with clients today? And what does that look like? So I have courses that I do. I have a live course. It's probably my favorite because there's so much people open up around other people, especially that they don't know.

13:52So it's like, we don't know these people. I have some, you know, questions about my financial situation, they're way more open to do that. So I have that live course that I do. I have other evergreen courses, but I do work with business owners one-on-one depending on how complex their situation is. It might be something that I work with them for a year. It could be six months, but just really digging through their P &Ls. Is their retirement plan set up? What does the cashflow look like? Do they have reserves for themselves? Do they have reserves for the business? What kind of business is it? Because they're going to need different cash reserves, depending on the type of business that it is.

14:31So depending on how much someone wants to get involved with their financial picture, personal life, business life, they tend to intertwine when it's a small business. So I will go deeper with clients one-on-one that way. Yeah. And just to confirm, so if you're a business owner, you've really been investing heavily in the B quadrant. And maybe you've been afraid or you've sat down with a CFP. And I got done that where like we were in the bank or talking about some other stuff. And, you know, then we started talking about investing. And I'm like, I don't feel like they're, I don't feel like they know me like as an entrepreneur.

15:13I think sometimes as entrepreneurs, we we've rightfully so recognize that not everybody gets us. And so I just want to reiterate, like you understand entrepreneurs. Yeah, because you're creative and you want to do all these different things and they require capital and you're also a risk taker. So I think a lot of financial planners are going to go every time, you know, and there's these risk conversations involved. So I do understand. And I think understanding the type of business is really important and kind of future cash flow. OK, well, what does that look like for your personal life? Because it's so easy as an entrepreneur as well to get excited about a new business venture and kind of throw your own personal resources, whether it be time or money at it without, again, building this other nest egg, even for your business and for yourself and your personal life.

16:09and your website is empoweredplanning.com and for someone that's come across our podcast um listen I ain't no Jenna Kutcher uh you're a guest and that looks like that's a very popular episode um but um you know for someone that's come across our episode here and they're living listening to our conversation and they're looking for that next step um what would you recommend like where do they go from here obviously the book the book seems like a really great place to kind of dig into what you teach? Yeah, I would just start there. And if someone's already been investing and they want to dig a little bit deeper, there's a form they can fill out to contact me to set up just a quick consult to see.

16:51And I'm completely honest. When I take on a client, we are working very closely together. We're digging into so many things that if it's not a good fit or if there's certain things in there that I'm like, I just can't do that. That's not my level of expertise. I am very transparent. And I'm not going to get into a relationship with someone. And then it's like, oh, sorry, I don't do that. Or sometimes, too, I can act as a sort of advisor as they're building their kind of influential team around them. So whether it's vetting different business attorneys or CPAs, bookkeeping, I feel like that I dig in a lot with that because I think a lot of business owners don't know what questions to ask those partners.

17:33So a lot of times they're like, oh, they have it figured out. And then I'm looking at it, you know, and I'm going, well, wait a minute. Why don't we look at this a little bit deeper? And then I can have those conversations with those people. And it just gives a little bit more clarity. Yeah. Again, your website, empoweredplanning.com. The book is Investing is Your Superpower. Shinobu Hindert, again, it's been a great pleasure. The author and, of course, the founder of Empowered Planning and a wealth strategist, wealth coach, investing in wealth coach. Shinobu, it's been great having you. Thank you so much.

18:06Yes. Oh yeah, please. Thank you. Oh yes, you bet. Have a wonderful day. Thanks, Shinobu. You too. Bye-bye.

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