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”