ORLANDO, Fla. – This week on “Black Men Sundays,” host Corie Murray interviews Dre Griggs, an author, speaker and investment adviser who founded a retirement planning company.
The desire to “live life on your own terms” is a common saying at Obsidian Wisdom, Griggs’ LLC, but Corie mentioned how it seems more common that the people he speaks with confide some inability to make that happen. All that enthusiasm to become an entrepreneur and work for yourself can take a hit once that Duke bill comes in the mail, for example.
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“About 76% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. 64% of Americans retire ‘everyday broke,’ which is about less than $5,000 in the bank account, and the majority of Americans have less than $1,000 saved at any given time just sitting in an account. So, the way I would describe it is, there’s a game being played and some are winning, and some are losing. So we have to figure out what the winners are doing so we can do that,” Griggs said.
So, how do we avoid ending up “everyday broke,” as Griggs puts it?
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Griggs said his way of doing things isn’t some kind of slam dunk that allows his clients to just up and quit their jobs. If the future really is what you care about, you must appropriately think about it in terms of years, and in happiness.
“Maybe we have to have a five-year plan. Maybe we have a 10-year plan. Can we put a plan together that will have you a millionaire in five to 10 years? I think that that’s very probable, very likely, from the conversation we’ll have today. Can I put a plan together that’ll have you a millionaire one year? I would say, well, we could put a plan together, but it’s going to be a very difficult plan. So for most of us, I tell people, start where you’re at in the sense that how you spend your time defines your happiness,” Griggs said. “...For us, it has to be like, ‘Well, I’m not going to put off everything. Oh, I would take more visits to my mom’s house if I had my money right. I would volunteer if I had my money right. I would do all these things.’ I would say, flip it. I would say visit your mom, I would say volunteer, and then you’ll feel happy along the journey where you can commit five years toward achieving this goal.”
Hear the full interview in Season 4, Episode 18 of “Black Men Sundays.”
Black Men Sundays talks about building generational wealth. Check out every episode in the media player below.