MoneyProTour Archives - Dimitry Neyshtadt

5 Finance Tips You Can Learn from Spongebob Squarepants & Bikini Bottom!

Dimitry Neyshtadt — Fri, 09 Aug 2019 16:10:23 +0000

“Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!
Could he teach us all how to become financially free? SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!”

The Money Pro Tour has been rolling all around the United States hitting up 25 States in 25 Weeks teaching about making smarter money decisions… in the right order!

Recently, @thefinancefrenchie and I were able to attend an awesome day of celebrating @spongebob turning 20 years old at the @mallofamerica in Bloomington, Minnesota.

The Finance Frenchie and Dimitry Neyshtadt ChFC at The Mall of America

You know that everywhere I go, I’m always thinking about Personal Finances! That’s why I thought it would be both valuable and funny to share the TOP 5 MONEY TIPS from the Bikini Bottom crew!

From one Spongebob fan to another, I hope you enjoy reading this!

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS
If you love what you do then it won’t “feel” like a job! Spongebob loves going to work at The Krusty Krab restaurant. He takes pride in his job and looks forward to each day. We can all learn a thing or two from this example. Putting your heart, soul and energy into your professional development allows you to reap the rewards of living a life with fulfillment. Way to go Spongebob!

PATRICK STAR
Friendship is priceless. This silly starfish is Spongebob’s best buddy and always good for a laugh. He is proof that you can’t buy a good laugh with a great friend. Sometimes, the most valuable things in life are truly priceless. Who do you have in your life that you love sharing a good laugh with? Spend more time with them. That time is very valuable.

SQUIDWARD TENTACLES
Having a musical instrument (or any hobby) to dive into with passion and adoration can make your life feel full. Squidward is infamous for being a grumpy and negative person. One thing in his life, however, that brings him great joy is being able to spend time playing his clarinet. There are tons of episodes that display Squidward enjoying playing music, and it’s easy to see that it plays a big role in his life. Many of us have hobbies or passions that we wish we could spend more time doing. This is time and money well spent.

SANDY CHEEKS
When you have real estate in a good area, it can be very prosperous for both your quality of life, your passions, and your professional development. Just imagine that kind of rental income Sandy could get for that underwater house of hers! She is able to spend her time in her passion of science and studying underwater life, all while staying safe with an underwater home. Location, Location, Location! Without that piece of real estate, Sandy would never have been able to hang out in Bikini Bottom and be friends with the crew!

MR. KRABS
What a character. Mr. Krabs is known for his greed and selfishness, and that he is willing to do just about anything for a dollar. While money is super important and deserves our attention and focus, it cannot be the ONLY thing in our lives. The entrepreneurial spirit is powerful, but you can’t allow it’s negatives to consume you. Eugene Krabs is a great cautionary example to not allow the chase for a dollar to lead us into poor decision making.

What do you think about this list?

Did you find these helpful?

Which one did you like most?

Any other characters I should have included?
PLANKTON? MRS. PUFF? MERMAIDMAN & BARNACLE BOY?
Seriously! Let me know in the comments below!

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The (Re)introduction!

Dimitry Neyshtadt — Mon, 15 Jul 2019 21:50:03 +0000

Let’s Get (Re)acquainted!

I’m Dimitry Neyshtadt and you’ll be challenged to find ANYONE more passionate about Financial Wellness than me! This blogpost is to reintroduce myself to all of you, and share more about my passion, my story, and what I’ve been working on recently! Thanks for reading and welcome to my blog!

After spending the last 10 years as a Financial Consultant in Boston, I’m currently traveling 25 States in 25 Weeks across the USA in an RV with my French Bulldog, Brady The Finance Frenchie.

Yes, really! : )

I’m SO passionate about helping millions with their personal finances! While on this #MoneyProTour I’m doing speaking engagements, live interviews, hosting meet ups, creating tons of video and blog content- enjoying life as a Full Time RVer.

This is much different than the 60+ Hours a week in my firm’s office that I had been doing for the past 10 years!

My Parents and Where I Came From

I was born in Belarus and immigrated to the United States when I was very young. My parents started over from scratch. They didn’t know the language, had just a few thousand dollars saved up, all of their possessions in suitcases – all for the chance at a better for life for future generations. My mother was a doctor overseas, and my father was an engineer. None of those degrees or diplomas meant anything in the United States.

Like the OGs that they are, my mom and dad found a way to make it work. My mother would go back and re-do her medical residency and become a doctor. In the meantime, my father earned as much as he could, usually delivering pizzas and driving a taxi. After challenging tests and obstacles, my amazing mother finished her residency and became a practicing Primary Care Physician!

Problem: My parents still didn’t know their ass from their elbow when it came to personal finances and making smart money decisions. Other than the basic “don’t spend more than you make” mentality, they didn’t know anything about investing, real estate, insurance, savings, cash flow, etc.

They were referred to a Financial Advisor in the neighborhood – a friend of theirs highly recommended him. This advisor helped my parents separate fact from fiction. He helped them understand that it’s not just about not spending more than you make. There are financial strategies, products, planning – that must be understood and implemented!

So there I was. My parents settled into a safe suburb of Boston that had a great public school reputation. I grew up with role models in my community. Little League. Summer Camp. And I know with 100% certainty that this was all possible because of the financial knowledge and guidance that they had received and been empowered with.

My Hustle To Climb The Corporate Ladder

I like to say that I finagled two hustles when I was just 14 years old.

First was that I realized that I could optionally take summer school classes at no cost and have all the requirements to graduate from High School after Junior Year. Instead of Senior Year of High School, I could already be eligible for college.

The second hustle was that I started working at the local grocery store as a bagboy, and I worked as many hours as they would give me. I showed up early, stayed late, volunteered to go above and beyond – I really enjoyed the work environment. I was cashier of the year in 2004, but I was making barely $7 an hour.

Then came college. Ah, sweet college. I started classes 2 months after my 17th birthday. I was eager to learn about business and finance, and then I was let down when my classes consisted of Precalculus, US History, Creative Writing, Computers, and Sociology. It felt like more high school.

Looking back on that time now, I jokingly say “College was great… it was the best 6 months of my life.” I gave my employer full flexibility with my work availability, and dropped out of school by second semester. Work was always my passion. You can read more about my first job on a blogpost I wrote here

Then and to this day, I loved helping people and working with the public. Solving their problems gave me a sense of purpose and satisfaction that I hadn’t felt before. I craved more of it. I found it was also helpful to strengthen bonds with coworkers and the management team. By age 18, I was able to take my work experience, confidence, and skills to transition into a job at Bank of America in retail banking.

Banking just felt…right. I built on my skills from being a cashier and service clerk at the supermarket, and added talents such as learning about foreign currency, different types of bank accounts, and handling even larger sums of money. I was quick. I was accurate.

I was working on my second promotion at Bank of America when an opportunity came to become a Personal Banker with Citizens Bank. This was 2007. I worked at Citizens Bank through The Great Recession of 2008, and witnessed the largest market correction in almost a century unfold.

In all, I spent 18 months as a bank teller and 18 months as a Personal Banker. By early 2009, The Great Recession had hit banks HARD. Hundreds of banks in the US went out of business, and many others merged just to survive. I was lucky enough to keep my job whiles millions across the country did not. Still, I wanted my promotion. I had grown accustomed climbing a step on the corporate ladder pretty much every year since I was 14.

I was planning out my options for my next step in professional development when a friend told me more about his career as an advisor at a local firm, which would sponsor me for my Series 6 & 63 and Life, Accident & Health Licenses.

I jumped at the opportunity. After interviewing half a dozen times and multiple aptitude tests, I studied hard to pass all of my exams. Once that step was completed, it was June 2009, and I was a Financial Advisor at the age of 21. I spent the next 10 years helping other families overcome the same financial challenges that my own parents were helped to overcome. I felt like I was coming full-circle.

You may want to know about some of my accolades. At the age of 25, I won the award for “Top 4 Under 40” Advisor in Massachusetts – yeah, that was pretty young. At the age of 29, I spoke on the Main Platform at the MDRT Annual Meeting in front of 15,000 of the world’s top financial advisors and gave this presentation.

The Little Voice That Kept Getting Louder & Louder (No I’m Not Crazy!)

The next decade after passing my exams, from age 21 to age 31, honestly flew by. It was filled with building a business from scratch, finding clients to help, establishing and optimizing processes and systems. I established myself in the community as a high-value financial resource who does great work to help people. I worked with over 1,000 families and individuals over this 10 year span – one-on-one focused on helping them optimize all of the parts of their financial world.

What type of clients did I have the honor of working with? Teachers, Hairdressers, Bartenders, Doctors, Realtors, Engineers, Nutritionists, Firefighters, Executives, Social Workers, Athletes, and more – from all different races and backgrounds. I worked with all different types of Income Levels and Current Financial Situations.

I consistently helped 80-100 clients per year overcome obstacles such as Debt Stress, Not Saving Enough, Not Understanding Insurance, Unorganized Cash Flow, and One’s Own Emotional Baggage and “Head-Trash.” And all that was well and good… So why would I ever want to leave that position or change things up?

This little voice continued to get louder and louder in my head. This is what the voice kept saying.

“2 out of 3 Americans don’t have $1,000 in Savings.”
“Half of all parents don’t have a last will and testament.”
“The average American reaches age 65 with less than 1 times their Annual Salary in Retirement Savings”

…”And Dimitry, even if you help 150 people per year, for 30 more years, that’s less than 5,000 families. There are tens of millions of families that need help in this country.”

“The value that the folks you’ve met with so far on your journey deserves to be shared from coast to coast, border to border.”

So here I am. With a ton of experience, knowledge, passion, energy, and desire to help millions fueling this journey, I’m confident that millions of lives can be changed.

The content that I teach folks is life changing. I know this is a fact – because client after client after client has told me so. They constantly are shocked by how much better they are feeling after they get their personal finances optimized. It’s true!

Money doesn’t equal happiness. Rather, it is a tool that can be put to use to allow you to live your best life – with confidence, clarity, and peace of mind.

Cheers,

Dimitry Neyshtadt ChFC
“The Original Money Pro”

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Connecticut State #1: Reflections From The #MoneyProTour – Part 2 of 2

Dimitry Neyshtadt — Fri, 12 Jul 2019 05:55:20 +0000

The Road Less Traveled

Sometimes, the road that you choose to drive down can lead you to meet some incredible people. For me, this proved to be true when I was driving through small towns in Connecticut towards Delaware, and I met Darin.

I went into a small electronics boutique hoping to get a replacement power cord for my laptop and support a local small business at the same time! Darin was working behind the counter, finishing up with a customer when I walked in.

We chatted together for a few minutes and quickly determined that he didn’t have my power cord in stock and that I’d be better off at a Best Buy. We eventually got to talking about the #MoneyProTour I was on.

An Open Conversation About Job-Loss & Divorce

Darin was open and honest with me as we sat down and talked about Personal Finances and Money Decisions. “Good thing I saved when I did because people don’t save enough money – that’s for sure,” he said. “When I ended up losing my job and getting divorced, all in the same year, it was my retirement savings, investment accounts and 529 plans that I had set up for my kids that were there to save me. I needed to tap into those accounts. I hated to do it. But I’m glad I had them in the first place. If I didn’t have them, I don’t know what I would have done.”

Darin told me that he and his ex-wife never “talked” about money together when they were younger. Things were going well. He made a great salary, and his kids had a stay-at-home mom that was there for them during their early years. Everything was going fine. It wasn’t until Darin lost his job that tensions built up and climaxed with splitting up with his now ex-wife.

“She really put me into a tough position,” Darin said. They had gotten accustomed to a certain lifestyle and disagreed about how to sacrifice and adjust during tough times. His ex-wife went so far as to empty out their Joint Bank Accounts, close Credit Cards that had Darin as a co-owner, and leave him with “less than $1 in the bank.” It was only thanks to the fact that Darin was a diligent saver throughout his 20’s and 30’s that he had built up a solid balance in his retirement account at work. He also had saved into his own investment brokerage account as well as 529 plans for his kids. While of course he didn’t want to tap into them, Darin needed to use these funds during a difficult time in order to ensure his bills were getting paid and food was in the fridge.

Learning and Moving On

In an ideal world, would it have been great to have his own Emergency Fund savings account in his own name separate from his wife? Darin says “Yes.” He made it clear that even after these challenging times, he still believes in marriage and love “and all that other stuff” he says with a chuckle, “…but having some money set aside in just your own name is a smart idea nonetheless.” I agree completely.

Darin has been working in electronics for the past 2 plus years since his divorce and job loss, and he is now a manager and earning a solid income. He’s rebuilding his financial life and focuses a bunch of his time and energy on spending time with his kids and being there for them.

Americans all over the country must learn from this conversation. While it is not fun to think about, the truth is that preparing for things like losing a job must be done ahead of time. We’ve gotta be real about it.

Having conversations with your partner (yes those tough and not-fun conversations) can be “preventative medicine” for a happy marriage. Being on the same page with your partner about how you’ll react financially if things go wrong in your life is super important. It’s not just about what your goals and dreams are for the future if everything goes well. It’s also important to have a conversation about how you’ll handle tough situations as well, such as aging parents, children’s health, education expenses, and more.

Start by hearing what Darin had to say.

Watch the full video below – and SUBSCRIBE to “The Money Pro Method” YouTube Channel if you haven’t already!

Dimitry Neyshtadt ChFC has helped Americans optimize their Personal Finances since 2006 and is currently traveling 25 States in 25 Weeks across the USA. Follow along at @90DayMoneyPro for more.

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Connecticut State #1: Reflections From The #MoneyProTour – Part 1

Dimitry Neyshtadt — Thu, 13 Jun 2019 23:06:41 +0000

The first state on the #MoneyProTour was Connecticut. I took off from Boston, where I’ve lived since I was 3 years old, in my 32 foot Class C RV, knowing that I would not only be “crossing” the country, but that I will actually be doing a big loop “around” the country. #25StatesIn25Weeks

The Northeast United States, in many ways, is a bubble. There are very highly educated communities, progressive liberals, tons of colleges and hospitals that attract students and doctors, and much more. The bubble I grew up in included high-quality public schools, safe neighborhoods, and opportunities available to me.

As I embarked on this tour, I expected a “culture shock” of sorts to occur – as I headed out of my comfort zone that I’ve gotten used to. Connecticut, however, was still New England, but I was able to get my eyes opened nonetheless.

My main stop in Connecticut was at Mohegan Sun Casino & Hotel. I reached this location in less than a couple of hours. This casino, in addition to Foxwoods Casino, are two very popular casinos that attract tens of millions of visitors annually, who gamble hundreds of millions of dollars. Massachusetts, as of the time of this post, had yet to open any casinos due to the state laws, so many Mass residents traveled down to CT for the chance to hit a jackpot.

On the floor of the casino, one of the people who caught my attention the most was a waitress on the casino floor. She saw that I was chatting with a few visitors to the casino, and she came by and chatted with me a bit.

What was so special about what she said? Well, as a full-time waitress of more than 10 years, she told me “I save everyday. Everyday I put money away faithfully.” When I asked her where she learned that from, she replied, “I struggled so bad for so long, I just said to myself ‘I’m not going to deal with this anymore.’ Whether it’s $10 or $20 or $30, I set money aside everyday.”

This is so important. Setting aside money from your earned income is critical! This is known as your “Gross Savings Rate” which means the Percentage Put Into Assets divided by Gross Income Earned.

“And I work 6 days a week, not 5 days. I’m not afraid to work, and I’m not afraid to save.” What a powerful sentiment. She even told me “I’ve saved $20,000 in 4 years.”s

You could feel a sense of pride from her. She was smiling. She was glowing. She was in control of her cash flow, paying all of her bills, and planning ahead for the future that she wanted to create.

How many of you reading this article can say that you are as diligent of a saver as this waitress on the floor of a casino?

Comment below – what do you think about a Waitress saving $20,000 in just a few years? Do you save diligently from each paycheck? Do you think anyone can save? Tell me below!

Follow along @90DayMoneyPro and subscribe to My YouTube Channel for more content about my travels around the USA discussing and teaching about Personal Finance and Smart Money Decisions… In The Right Order!

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