Matthew Atwood with TimeWise Financial and Trivon Thompson with Thompson Realty Group

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. It’s time for Cherokee Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Stone Payton: [00:00:23] Welcome to another exciting and informative edition of Cherokee Business Radio Stone Payton here with you this morning. And today’s episode is brought to you in part by Elma Coffee, sustainably grown, veteran owned and direct trade, which of course means from seed to cup, there are no middlemen. Please go check them out at my Alma coffee dotcom and go visit their Roastery Cafe at 3448 Holly Springs Parkway in Canton. Ask for Harry or the brains of the outfit Leticia and please tell them that Stone sent you. You guys are in for a real treat this morning and please join me in welcoming to the broadcast. First up on Cherokee Business Radio this morning with TimeWise Financial, Mr. Matthew Atwood. Good morning, sir.

Matthew Atwood: [00:01:12] Good morning, Stone. Thanks so much for having me on.

Stone Payton: [00:01:15] It is a delight to have you in the studio. I think maybe we initially connected at Y Power Woodstock Business Club or both. I don’t know.

Matthew Atwood: [00:01:23] That’s correct, y pal. Yeah.

Stone Payton: [00:01:24] Yeah. All right. So time wise, financial mission, purpose, how would you describe what you’re really out there trying to do for folks?

Matthew Atwood: [00:01:33] Yeah, of course. So time wise, really tries to strip away the jargon. So we’re certified financial planners, but what we found in our time in the industry is a lot of people’s business model in this industry is to show their value to their clients by showing how much they know relative to the client, speaking of their head, if you will. And so we try to strip away the jargon and really align their portfolio with their purpose. And so that’s a core tenant of the plans that we build is first focusing on, you know, what is your ideal day in retirement look like? Because in our experience, a lot of people, you know, when they lack structure, they’ve had structure for 40, 50, 60 years during their working years. And as soon as they quit working, if they’re not careful that all that structure kind of falls away and they can lack a purpose. And so first we want to design a purpose for their retirement. What does that look like, travel domestically or internationally? You know, does that look like some volunteer work in their community? What what does retirement look like? And then we can design a plan that aligns with that purpose. So that’s really what we do at timewise.

Stone Payton: [00:02:47] So I got to ask, why finance, you know, when when our next guest, Siobhan and I were playing cowboys and Indians or cops and robbers. Were you like counting money? And what was the catalyst for you to get into finance, man?

Matthew Atwood: [00:03:02] Yeah. So at 17, I wanted to be a corporate attorney. That was my my goal in life. And so I went to college and did about nine weeks of a pre-law poli sci program. And my roommate, freshman year, both of his parents were successful real estate attorneys in the Atlanta area really looked up to them instantly because, you know, I looked to get into their industry in a way, one way or another. And they kind of gave me a warning at the time, and I wasn’t really enjoying my coursework either. And they said, Hey, if you want to be in a courtroom, just know that for every hour of litigation, there’s about 20 hours of paperwork. And that didn’t really sound like what I wanted to do. And so I was kind of at an impasse and I was like, Well, if I’m going to study something, I want it to at least have some value. And worst case, if it doesn’t work out and I decide to go be a park ranger or something, finance is a degree path that at least serve me. You know, I can learn a little bit about how to manage my own money and put it to work. And I quickly became impassioned by the field. And I’ve always been an educator. And the reason, you know, kind of one I guess point to validate that is when I would study for my test, I would invite people to come in, classmates, that is. And the way I would study for the test was to kind of teach them. That’s how I learned was to teach.

Speaker4: [00:04:23] That’s brilliant.

Matthew Atwood: [00:04:24] And so there was a charge, you know, maybe like a Chick-Fil-A sandwich to come in and.

Stone Payton: [00:04:29] And he’s making money. You hear this?

Trivon Thompson: [00:04:31] I tell you.

Speaker4: [00:04:32] Yeah.

Matthew Atwood: [00:04:33] And so I always enjoyed educating and financial planning and working as an advisor to individuals who maybe their education is focused in engineering or some other field really allowed me to do that. And that’s when people ask, well, what is a financial planner do? At least at our firm, we the core tenant, is education. We like clients to know what they own and truly understand it. And so it really aligned well with my goals.

Stone Payton: [00:04:59] Okay. But that path that path has some academic rigor to it as well. So you went down that path for your formal education and then there’s tests and stuff you got to pass to be able to do what you’re doing. Right. Tell us about that and qualifications, credentials, that kind of stuff, no doubt.

Matthew Atwood: [00:05:15] Yeah. So as soon as you get out, you’ve got some federal exams, you’ve got to take the series seven, series 63 you might have heard about. Those and those tests are no joke. They definitely and I was actually starting my career e-trade and the rules of the engagement were if you fail to seven, you lose your job. So I’m fresh out of school, I got some student loans and the test had a lot more, I guess, meaning to my trajectory at the time because I couldn’t afford to lose that job.

Trivon Thompson: [00:05:44] Yeah, no pressure.

Matthew Atwood: [00:05:45] And so.

Speaker4: [00:05:45] Yeah.

Matthew Atwood: [00:05:48] And then I went on and took the certified financial planning exam, which also includes a rigorous almost 4000 hour course that you are required to knock out first. And so that really I think while it gives me the credentials in the industry, it really also as a young professional in the industry, gave me the confidence that I truly do know what’s going on because the test is proven to be quite rigorous. And, you know, I got through it not necessarily with flying colors. You know, I definitely had some some good days and bad days along the way. But I now can, I guess, back up my knowledge with the coursework that I completed.

Trivon Thompson: [00:06:29] Fantastic.

Stone Payton: [00:06:30] So you briefly mentioned E-Trade and it’s I’m under the impression that there are a lot of online opportunities to go and do and do your investing on online. Is that what is the differentiator? How do you how do you operate in a world that also makes that available to the layperson like me?

Matthew Atwood: [00:06:53] Yes. So at the end of the day, time is money. And if you spend enough time, anyone can do exactly what I’m doing. You could manage your own portfolio, you could manage your own investments, but it’s going to take an input, which is time. And so you can take the online route or use a robo advisor. And finance, at least investing, in my opinion, is, you know, 80% emotions, while only about 20% head knowledge. And so managing your emotions along the way is the real challenge of being a disciplined investor. And so having an independent third party like us who isn’t necessarily as emotionally attached to the dollars and cents in your portfolio, we’re vested because we’re a fiduciary and fee based, so we have a vested interest in having your portfolio appreciate, but we can take help. You take a step back and say we’re focusing on three months of market performance right now, but your portfolio we can show you historically over the long run has never lost money over a ten year period or 20 year period. There’s never been a single market cycle. Even if we start in 2001 and include, you know, 911, the Great Recession, the, you know, the war over in Iraq, all those things. That was one of the worst market cycles that we’ve seen in a long time. Your portfolio still made money over the long run. And that long term perspective, that independent third party perspective is, I think, where we can really add value to any investor’s portfolio.

Stone Payton: [00:08:28] So I resemble that remark because I can envision me getting, you know, a tip at the club. Right.

Speaker4: [00:08:34] Right.

Stone Payton: [00:08:35] And wanting to jump on it, because I’m excited about the industry or, you know, I just I just want to play. So I got to ask, do you ever find yourself almost being a therapist because you’re working with couples a lot, families and stuff? Right. You got to have that.

Matthew Atwood: [00:08:51] No doubt. No doubt. Yeah. And it’s crazy what kind of you know, I guess you could say minor conflicts can come up in the meetings because to two people in a couple may have discussed, we want to travel when we retire, but the whole time one may have been envisioned, you know, travel up in Gatlinburg in the mountains and other down in Fort Lauderdale, you know, and so when we get close to the end, they may realize, hey, we aren’t necessarily aligned in our purpose or our goals. And additionally, you know, during those market downturns when people are really panicking and the news nowadays, I tell people, you know, back when a lot of my clients were my age, Walter Cronkite was on for 30 minutes a day. You know, that was the only news coverage you got to see. Nowadays. We have 24 seven hysteria filled news just flooded the marketplace. And so it’s much more challenging to keep your emotions in check as an investor. And so that is where we can really step in and add value for our clients.

Stone Payton: [00:09:50] So I know in my business with digital media, digital radio, there’s a podcasting aspect to the work that we do. There are a lot of misconceptions. And so there’s a there’s a great deal of education that we might do with a prospective client or sometimes even a guest, so that they get the most out of hanging out with us and interacting with us. I got to believe that you run into a number of misconceptions and maybe see some patterns and maybe to the point that you. We already are pretty well equipped to get some of those out of the way pretty early in your conversations. Can you speak to that a little bit?

Matthew Atwood: [00:10:28] Yes, I would say people, I guess, have a misconception of they just need to buy stocks index and forget. They think that they don’t necessarily need a custom tailored suit. And so. But what it comes down to is as you start to build wealth, they start to be some real tax implications. You have to keep in mind, they start to be some estate planning strategies you want you might want to keep in mind. And the real question comes, you know, once you turn 65 or 60 or when you reach that retirement, everybody might know how much they want to pull from their retirement. But we can help build a plan that, you know, designed to strategically source those assets throughout your retirement and minimize your taxes. So I think one misconception of at least our firm is our industry, rather that it’s quite simple at face value. And you can just listen to Clark Howard and do a few tips and you’ll be set. But I really think much like, you know, I don’t do my own C.T. scans, I don’t do my own surgeries. There comes a point where you need to involve a professional.

Stone Payton: [00:11:39] Well said. So let’s talk about mentors a little bit and I’ll ask on both sides of the equation, have you had the opportunity to be mentored at points in your career and have you yet taken advantage of the opportunity to try to to try to be mentor to others?

Matthew Atwood: [00:11:57] Of course, yes. So in college I started a student investment club at our university where it was for all majors. We had biology, physical therapists, some business professionals as well. And the whole purpose of the club was to, you know, educate people about investing. But the real value that we had was we would bring in industry professionals from banking, you know, investing and other industries and have them really speak to what they do, how they got there. And it was an opportunity for the club members to connect with that person, you know, and in one case, Layne Steinberger, he’s a, you know, an investment professional in the Alpharetta area who was a valuable mentor to me and helped me navigate my job selection as I was getting ready to enter the industry. And it was a very valuable experience. Now on the flip, now that I’m, you know, in the industry and started to get set up, the opportunities to serve as a mentor have been to club members now you know, members that are still, you know, you an alumnus or still at the school will reach out and oftentimes I’ll meet them for lunch. And they’re just, I guess, overwhelmed with the decisions that are facing them. And I’ll help them kind of navigate it and ask some of those questions that maybe they haven’t really thought about their their problem in a certain light and help them find a solution or direction as to where they should go. And additionally, we started up an internship program at our firm time wise where we’ve, you know, with KSU and UGA are looking to bring on interns each summer to, you know, give them an idea of what this industry is like. Is it a good fit for them and maybe even an opportunity to join our firm?

Stone Payton: [00:13:46] I think that’s fantastic. And my instinct is and maybe you’ll agree with me that when he mentors, they buy lunch.

Speaker4: [00:13:53] Yeah.

Stone Payton: [00:13:54] Just based on what we’ve learned so far.

Trivon Thompson: [00:13:56] Right? Right. All right. Chick-fil-a.

Stone Payton: [00:13:58] I think you’ve probably already touched on at least part of this answer with your comments about education being such an important part of your work. But but I’ll ask. I’m kind of wired. I came from the training consulting world, but I gravitated much more toward the sales and marketing side. I did a little design and delivery work, but that’s but but I’m a sales guy, right? So I’m always interested. How does the whole sales and marketing thing work for a business like yours? Because I’ve got to believe it’s it’s I mean, it would be tough. You can’t just pick up the phone and say, hey, Trayvon, you know, would you like to explore some ideas for investing your hard earned money? Like, what is the process?

Matthew Atwood: [00:14:42] It’s very tough because our industry is so trust based. So it’s you don’t just hand over your life savings and have someone management to the, you know, a guy you meet off the street, you want to build some trust first. And so you look, you know, nowadays for a lot of industries, web based or social media based marketing is a huge influx of their business. But even the big firms like ETRADE or TD that are huge behemoth companies in our industry don’t get much engagement on their social media, you know, and they have they’re investing many more dollars than we are into those posts and those marketing efforts. And so the way we really. Are able to grow. Our business is through referrals. So by treating our existing clients to the with the best level of service that we can, they get a level of confidence to where when one of their friends out on the golf course or at a dinner is talking about, you know, they’re getting ready to retire, they we come to mind and they say, you need to give Matt a call. You know, you need to reach out to him. Additionally, we can partner up with other businesses in the community. We call them centers of influence that are maybe in a related field. Maybe they are a CPA in the in the in the local area who they manage taxes, but they might have clients who have financial planning needs and we can kind of scratch each other’s back know.

Matthew Atwood: [00:16:01] And so those are the really the ways and it’s a slow burn, you know, a car salesman when they go and try to create a sale, it’s a very quick sales cycle. You know, you just a prospect walks in, they enjoy the car, they don’t and you close the deal. Yeah. Whereas our process is because we have to build that trust is a multi month process where we’re getting to know the client and ensure, hey, they are a good fit for us because it’s a fool’s errand to assume that every person that walks in the door is going to be the best fit for our firm when there’s hundreds of thousands of advisors across the country. But also, are they a good fit for, you know, are we a good fit for them? Rather? And so there’s a little bit of a dance that happens in the first phase to make sure, hey, we align with one another, we’re a good fit because otherwise we don’t want to waste their time or, you know, and put them out by maybe they don’t really align. They don’t care about their purpose. They don’t care about the core competencies that we offer. So we want to make sure there’s a really good alignment there first before we even pursue a business relationship.

Stone Payton: [00:17:08] That’s good. So that makes me want to ask about as a layperson, seeing all these people out there, particularly at this point in my career, I don’t we’re on some lists somewhere. We we get invited to the state dinners and all this stuff. And I got tickled the other day. I told Holly, I said, if something happened to our financial picture that I don’t know about because I’m used to getting an invitation to go to like Prime 120 or one of these things. And this one came and it was at Golden Corral or something. I don’t know about our standards, but no, the question is, are there some red flags that people and I should be looking for? Like, if you see this, you know, run, do not walk, run away?

Matthew Atwood: [00:17:50] Yeah. And some of this is based on my experience in the industry, but there’s some firms that operate entirely on commission. And so those firms, it’s easy for not all the advisors in those roles do this, but it’s easy for them to sell you a product, collect the commission and never talk to you again, and not have that meaningful relationship with their clients. So I always encourage people to ask their financial advisor to ensure that they’re bound to be a fiduciary. A CFP is always bound to be a fiduciary. So if you’ve got a professional who’s a CFP, that’s a good start and make sure they’re fee based because the way it works is with a commission that that professional collects all their payment on the front end, where as we as a fee based firm, we charge a fee each year. But because our firm’s revenue is dependent upon the size of your portfolio, if your portfolio appreciates, our fee appreciates as well. So we have an extremely vested interest in minimizing your participation on the downside while maximizing your participation on the up side and ensuring we all win together.

Stone Payton: [00:18:59] All right. So let’s walk it through. Let’s well, let’s talk about me for a minute. It’s one of my favorite topics. So my wife, Holly, she has a real job with a little company some of you may have heard of called IBM. And and she’s I don’t know when she’s going to hang up her cleats, but, you know, it’s it’s on it’s on the horizon. And, you know, we’re very blessed. We’ve done pretty well. And I own a pretty good chunk of the network. And I have this separate business here. So if we made it through all the all the muck and we found you or you found us, what does that look like? Walk us through, like the the early steps of the relationship or the engagement. What cycle, what could we expect as we get to know you and your firm?

Matthew Atwood: [00:19:45] Yeah, of course. So the first goal is we’re going to have a get to know you call. And that’s where we’re just going to learn a little bit about why you’re seeking the services of a financial planner and give you a little bit of information about us. It’s where we first start to determine, hey, is this going to be a good fit because we do financial planning. You know, if you’re looking for someone to open a bank account, like that’s not necessarily what we do. And so first, we want to make sure you are looking for the right services. Then we’re going to set up an initial consultation. And this is more getting into the details of. Your financial picture. And we’re going to learn more about your cash flow situation. What are you making now? What would you like to make in retirement? You know, what type of estate plan you have in place already? Is it sufficient for your goals? We’re going to learn all these details. And at the end of that meeting where you’re going to decide to pursue a financial plan or not.

Matthew Atwood: [00:20:36] And if you guys like the the vibe of the meeting and like the direction things are going and want to pursue a financial plan, at the end of that meeting, we will spend about 8 to 10 hours between our team developing a financial plan for you, and then we’ll have a recommendations meeting maybe a month or so after where we present all of our findings to you, whether your portfolio was aligned with your goals, did you have any shortfalls in your insurance coverages? Did your taxes were you overpaying in taxes last year? And and then you guys can take that plan and do with as you please. You know, you may just want a second opinion. You’ve already working with a professional. You want to see if you’re on the right track. You may enjoy managing it yourself. You can take that plan and implement it yourself, or you can decide to move forward with us and implement and engage us as investment managers where we actually implement and monitor your plan going forward. And so that would be the initial process.

Stone Payton: [00:21:32] So you mentioned estate planning. So when there’s something like that, an additional service that that that serves the entire mission and purpose of what we’re trying to accomplish. And let me know if this is accurate. I can almost see you or somebody on your team being the quarterback like and you’ve got like best in class people. Like if we need an accountant or an estate planner, you’ve I get the idea that you’ve built this this this cadre of people that you know and you trust and you can trust with your clients. Is that is that accurate?

Matthew Atwood: [00:22:09] No doubt. Yeah. We work with a few people in the community. One, for example, is Mike Wooten with Cornerstone Estate Planning, who is just an all star estate planner.

Stone Payton: [00:22:19] Well, thank you for that. I’ll send him an invoice.

Speaker4: [00:22:21] Yeah.

Matthew Atwood: [00:22:24] And so we we we first review their clients estate plan, but we’re not lawyers. You know, we can tell you if there’s a shortfall or maybe a blind spot in our estate plan that needs rectify. But we can actually draw up the paperwork. But we have partnerships with local firms that offer our clients discounted rates for their services to make sure that we get that in check for them.

Stone Payton: [00:22:48] Yeah, so we’ll switch gears on a little bit. It’s a question I often like to ask because so many of the people who tap into to our work, they are entrepreneurs or they might work for a firm, but you know, they’re really like CEO of MI Inc.. I mean, they’re, you know, they’re they’re running their own show. I’m interested to know where you go. And I don’t really mean necessarily a geographic location, but but where do you go for for inspiration to get recharged and, you know, kind of kind of get the enthusiasm back and get ready for the for for the next wave. Is there an activity?

Matthew Atwood: [00:23:31] Yeah, yeah, yeah. So for me, I really find energy in the outdoors. So areas like Lake Fontana up in North Carolina, near Robbinsville and one addition to that area, there are some really fun roads to drive. And for me, I’m a motorsport enthusiast. You know, I really love a nice a nice backcountry drive through the mountains. And I also love watching motorsport, whether it be, you know, Formula One or Moto GP. And so these are some of the activities that I engage in, you know, on the weekends or during my time off that I guess allow me to recharge and really spiritually, emotionally, all those things, nature and being out on whether it be the Appalachian Trail or just out on the lake is just a really great way to get away from all the noise that, you know, you can hear here in the cities and and reset.

Stone Payton: [00:24:28] Yeah, it sounds marvelous. So we were talking a little bit before we went on air about Formula One and it sounds like such a really cool ecosystem. I have a little bit of familiarity with NASCAR, but I’ve never been to a Formula One race, so maybe I’ll start watching someone on television.

Matthew Atwood: [00:24:46] Yeah, I would encourage anybody who’s maybe interested in just scratching the itch of checking out Formula One to check out. There’s a series on Netflix called Drive to Survive and it it gives a great glimpse into the world of Formula One is what got me into it when it released back in 20 2019. And it’s really, I guess, sparked the enthusiasm for the sport. But it’s an amazing sport, the peak engineering of motorsport. And it’s amazing what innovations, you know, that we use in our cars today have trickled down from the sport, whether it be, you know, your abs. Braking system or your traction control. These were all things that were invented by, you know, technical directors in Formula One, first for those race cars, and then trickled down to the manufacturers. And now in the cars that we drive every day.

Stone Payton: [00:25:32] Pretty cool. Who knew?

Stone Payton: [00:25:35] All right. So before we wrap, let’s make sure that our listeners know how to get in touch with you, speak with you or someone on your team if they’d like to learn more about some of these topics, maybe set up one of those calls that you mentioned or or get together with you or go hang out at a Formula One race or whatever, whatever you feel like is appropriate, whether it’s email, phone, website. But let’s leave them with some coordinates.

Matthew Atwood: [00:25:58] Yeah, of course. So I would encourage you guys to check out our website, Time Wise Financial SI.com. Also check us out on LinkedIn. We have some great videos we put out for our clients and people who follow us about what’s going on in the market. So it’s a great way to get a taste of the flavor that our business offers. And then you can engage us via phone at 7704202954 or shoot me an email at Matt at t w f that’s Tom whiskey foxtrot wealth dot com.

Stone Payton: [00:26:29] I love it. Well, thank so much for coming in and sharing your story, man. This is this has been every bit as much fun as I thought it might.

Matthew Atwood: [00:26:37] Be, no doubt. And I really appreciate you having me on Stone.

Stone Payton: [00:26:40] Yeah, glad to do it. Hey, how about hanging out with us while we visit with our next guest?

Matthew Atwood: [00:26:45] I’d love to.

Stone Payton: [00:26:46] All right, gang. Y’all ready for the headliner? He’s. He’s been very patient. He’s been nodding his head. He’s been. He’s been taking notes. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with Thompson Realty Group, the man himself, Trivon Thompson. How are you, man?

Trivon Thompson: [00:27:01] Doing fantastic. Stone Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Stone Payton: [00:27:03] Yes, sir. So what did you learn in that last segment?

Trivon Thompson: [00:27:07] That we have a similarity in our love for Formula One? Oh, wow. That’s pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, yeah, financial. The financial world is pretty, pretty crazy. Pretty cool. Yeah. There’s a lot to learn there.

Stone Payton: [00:27:22] You never know what kind of connections get made in the studio when we do this one. Things that I love about if you want to be the guy in town that is known for connecting people, get yourself a radio show, right? No, seriously. I mean, because it’s fun whether you’re doing it like out on site or in the studio or even if when you’re doing virtual interviews. All right. So Thompson Realty Group, first question that comes to mind for me, probably for many of our listeners, incidentally, guys, if you’re listening to this six months from now on demand on the site, we’re in late July of 2022. So I know this is a little bit of a time specific question, but let’s get like an update like state of the market, what’s going on out there, man?

Trivon Thompson: [00:28:06] So it’s still pretty fun. It’s still pretty active. We are still in an extreme seller’s market, for instance, you know, a balanced market is anything from 6 to 7 months of inventory. And what that means is if we stopped listing homes today, it would take 6 to 7 months to sell off everything that was that’s currently on market nationwide. We’re at 2.2 months of inventory. Oh, right. In Georgia, however, we’re fluctuating between 1.6 and 1.8 months of inventory. So Metro Atlanta, if you, you know, whittle it down even further, it’s even tighter. So, you know, we’re we’re pretty hot spot. It’s still still happening around here. So, you know, even though the market is, you know, quote unquote, slowing down, the slowing down is a factor of price deceleration. So what that means is price prices were accelerating at an extreme pace over the last two years, some some upwards of 30%, 24%, 18% in some markets. Now, it’s really more like 10%, 8%, 9%. It all depends. So just price deceleration still going up, but not at a crazy rate.

Stone Payton: [00:29:17] Well, that’s an interesting perspective. It reminds me of when I finally discovered that a federal budget cut wasn’t like a budget cut at the House. Like, you know, we did spend this on groceries and now we’re going to spend this. It’s like the increase is not as much. Right?

Trivon Thompson: [00:29:32] Right. Yeah, it’s all about the wording. Right.

Stone Payton: [00:29:35] I’ll tell you, Holly and I, we feel so blessed. We moved here a little over a year ago and we put the we have a little home right here on the on the edge of town. We kind of downsize. And we bought what my my dad would call a patio home. And my first lily pad is IPS on the on the wall at the town. Right. So I mean, I’m right there on the edge, on the edge of town. And we just love everything about this community. And we feel so blessed because we went ahead and nailed this thing down without a contingency offer, you know, because we felt confident that we could sell the house and we were able to to work that bit, but we were able to get into it just a little bit before things went nuts. And then we’ve always been the Christmas house. So the big house in Marietta. She didn’t want to sell it till after Christmas. So so we got into that. When we got we got that nailed down before Christmas and then we listed this thing and we never had to show it. We were asked to leave one time just when they first were getting the word out and the first family came in, made a full price offer.

Stone Payton: [00:30:39] And I don’t know, maybe we left some money on the table. But I thought, man, the headache of showing it and all that, the money worked, you know? And I just, you know, I just dusted my hands off. I said, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we’ll we’ll take it. So we feel so blessed. And from my understanding already, at least on paper, the value of our little place has really appreciated remarkably. And then the other reason we feel so blessed is whenever family comes to visit us, even here in town, but out-of-town family, they’re like, Oh, we want to live here, you know? So and we actually I have a sister in law, one of Holly’s one of five. She’s very seriously considering it, right. She I mean, she wants to to she’s already retired. She wants to come here and live. So it’s a wonderful community. It’s a great place to live. But all that to say, everything you just described must be true in spades for this whole Woodstock, Cherokee County area. Right.

Trivon Thompson: [00:31:37] I mean, so Woodstock is is very unique. So, you know, the appreciation in Woodstock was immense. Yeah. You know, that’s that’s just one word to describe it. You know, nowhere else have you had prices almost double in a couple of years here. I mean, you’ve probably seen estimates on your equity, right?

Speaker4: [00:32:02] Right.

Trivon Thompson: [00:32:02] And you go, you know, you rub your eyes and you go, is that correct?

Stone Payton: [00:32:06] The only problem is I don’t want to go anywhere. So I’m never going to my kid. My kids are going to get that right because I know I’m not going anywhere.

Trivon Thompson: [00:32:13] Absolutely. And you know, you’re here and you’re you’re and that’s just a small bit of the story, too, because a lot of people, they they want to know, hey, where am I going to go next if I want to move from here or if I want to get out of downtown Woodstock or wherever I’m at? Like we moved from East Cobb back in 2019, you know, just before this thing took off. Right, right. We bought in summer of 2019 and we didn’t know what was going to happen, you know, and that was I was actually a year later, I left my corporate job, you know, and in the middle of COVID.

Stone Payton: [00:32:46] Oh, wow. Did you really?

Trivon Thompson: [00:32:48] I did. And so, you know, there goes that. But I had already been investing in real estate, so I figured, hey, why don’t we move up to Canton, buy our place, make some roots, get the kids in some good schools. Yeah. And call it a day. And we did. And our equity, let’s just say we’ve added a couple of hundred thousand to our.

Speaker4: [00:33:09] Equity as well Pete.

Trivon Thompson: [00:33:10] Since then. So it’s, it’s been wild to see that. I mean that’s an almost, what, 40% increase for us. Yeah, almost 50%. So it’s it’s crazy.

Stone Payton: [00:33:21] All right. So that’s the residential primary residence kind of kind of thing. But let’s talk about real estate investing, because you personally are a real estate investor and you help people along these lines.

Trivon Thompson: [00:33:34] Absolutely. And that’s one of the things I’m most passionate about. So back in, say, 2018, I reread the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I had read it maybe eight years earlier, right before I got into my my corporate job. And I read that book and I also read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. And my.

Speaker4: [00:33:54] Mind. Yes.

Trivon Thompson: [00:33:57] Talk about, you know, you melt one brain away and grow a whole new one.

Speaker4: [00:34:02] Yeah.

Trivon Thompson: [00:34:02] So that and Rand’s book changed my mind reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad again, like reignited a fire in me. And I kept asking myself, why don’t more people do this? Like, this is this is the American dream, literally, to work, you know, save your money, invest and then live a care free life. Right. I mean, most people only dream of that in other countries. My my parents, for instance, they came from Jamaica, brought us here to have a better life. And I had no clue my dad was the poor dad in that book. So it was really inspiring to read that and see that there is a way out instead of working till you’re 97, you know, just just to afford the place where you live. But yeah, that’s how I got started. I, you know, 2019 found my house and then we, we got two more investment properties in January 2020 and then July of 2020. And then I left my corporate job with that August. I took a six week sabbatical or whatever you want to call it, because, you know, my mind was just changing constantly. I kept reading, reading, reading and reading. Like one of the books I read was Never Split The Difference by Chris Voss. And yeah, that was another mind meld, right? So it was my my whole. Psyche. My whole mindset was changing and I didn’t want to work for somebody else creating their dream and on leaving mine on the table, right? So I left that job and I was, you know, chilling for a little bit because, you know, you’re in corporate for ten years and you’re just chilling and, you know, relaxing. And the fiance was like, so when are you going to get a real job?

Speaker4: [00:35:44] I was like.

Trivon Thompson: [00:35:45] Well, you know, I’m taking my time, I’m relaxing, I’m decompressing, you know, you know, I’ve got to get my mind right. She’s like, No, no, no, you need a job. So I was already doing real estate investing. I was already deep into it reading books like, you know, The BR Method and the Rich Dad, Poor Dad’s Guide to Investing and all this other stuff. So I figured if I really want to teach people how to do this and if I really want to get the most out of this, I’m going to be a realtor and I’m going to help people learn how to invest, not just buy and sell or help you build your dream home. But why don’t I help set you up for the for the future, show you how it can be done and help you get educated. And that’s where all of this was born.

Stone Payton: [00:36:29] Okay, let’s talk about me some more. Oh, no. So. So Holly and I. So the big speculative stock in our portfolio is Business RadioX, right? Because Lee and I are trying to grow the network, you know, and I’ve got I’m one of the 19 folks that have a studio like this, and we’re in 37 markets. We’re trying to grow this thing. And then we do have like the the the 401. K stuff invested from the real job that Holly has. And we’ve been blessed. We’ve done pretty well, by my standards. Anyway, we don’t have any real estate investments other than a property that Holly owns a fourth of because her sisters are fifth or whatever it is of a place. So let’s say Holly and I knew we sit down and we have a cup of coffee and we say, okay, Trevon, we we want to take a look at this real estate investing thing. What does that look like? What does that conversation like?

Trivon Thompson: [00:37:25] So I like an in-person conversation. I’m kind of old school when it comes to that. So if we if you are okay with that, we’ll sit down, have some coffee, maybe, you know.

Speaker4: [00:37:37] Maybe a beer or beer. Let’s talk your market.

Stone Payton: [00:37:40] You got to know your customer tomorrow.

Trivon Thompson: [00:37:42] Exactly. So, you know, I’m flexible. I’ll go wherever.

Stone Payton: [00:37:45] All right.

Trivon Thompson: [00:37:46] So we’ll sit down and we’ll have what kind of like a discovery meeting. So what are your goals? What does real estate investing look like to you? And once you’re finished talking about that, I’ll show you how your goals can fit into either a buy and hold situation where you purchase a property, you put some renters in it, you do a fix and flip where you purchase a property, you renovate it and then you resell it, right? That’s a part of the BR method or whether a real estate investment trust is better for you. So that’s called a right and there are quite a few of those around. And you know, Matt shaking his head here so he knows.

Speaker4: [00:38:20] He knows.

Trivon Thompson: [00:38:21] Right. Right. So, you know, Cardone capital is one of the more famous ones of late. Right. You know, by Grant Cardone. And then you have Opendoor Capital by Brandon Turner. And he was one of the founders of Bigger Pockets, which is a great resource for anybody looking to self learn about real estate investing. Right. So Brandon Turner, he generally deals with mobile homes and mobile home parks, which a lot of people really don’t think. There’s a lot of money there, but there’s a tremendous amount of.

Stone Payton: [00:38:52] Money that mobile home.

Trivon Thompson: [00:38:53] Parks. Yeah, I mean, people pay on time for the most part. There’s little to no maintenance, you know, because for the most part, they’re taking care of the stuff themselves, right? You hire a property management company to come in and take care of most things for you and you’re living a hands off, carefree life. So, you know, it’s all about whatever route you want to go down. And then depending on, let’s say you do a buy and hold, we’ll talk about how you separate your your cash flow, your cash on cash return, your property management fees or capital expenditures, or whether you want to put the extra money back on the principal of the loan to pay the property off faster, you know, to appreciate your value more quickly. You know, it all depends on what your strategy is, how close you are to retirement or how close you are to your goals. You know, we even punt it over to a financial advisor, right? Financial planner, right, to see how those will fit into your goals. And then we’d be off to the races, purchase the property and, you know, learn from there, go from there.

Stone Payton: [00:39:59] So are there some differences in funding this kind of thing, borrowing money for this kind of thing from what it is like when you’re doing a primary residence?

Trivon Thompson: [00:40:10] Absolutely. There’s a myriad. So, you know, let’s start with the one with the most stigma, you know, hard money loans. Right? Let’s start there. Okay. So. Hard mean loans get a bad rap because it’s like dealing with a loan shark. But I mean, they’ve grown into a wonderful industry that treats you just as well or even better than you’re a traditional mortgage lender. I’ve got a relationship with one guy right now, Matt Leinberger. I mean, they they are charging now this is with excellent credit, 7 to 8% on a hard money interest. And that’s unheard of. You saw it.

Speaker4: [00:40:45] You saw that. Right.

Trivon Thompson: [00:40:46] Right. So but you don’t ever see a hard money loan with interest in the single digits. Like, nobody sees that.

Stone Payton: [00:40:53] Gotcha.

Trivon Thompson: [00:40:53] But the guys at Lehman one, they can they can offer that. So, you know, hard money is for people that don’t know 3 to 6 to 9 to 12 month loan that you it’s a short term loan, obviously. And by the end of the term, all of the money is owed. So this would be a good fit for fix and flip. So got it. You know, you buy a property for 161 50, it takes 60 K to to fix it up to flip it. You know, you have an RV or after repair value of 275, you know, you’re going to walk away with a good chunk of change there. But that’s a dream scenario, though, right now. So, you know, nobody go looking for that.

Stone Payton: [00:41:29] But but if you have a good credit rating, this is. Well well, I was going to say something to go explore. No, don’t go explore. Have a beer with Trayvon, because these different paths are going to fit different personalities, different sets of objectives. There may be a little couples therapy involved for you, too, because, Holly, you know, I thought we wanted to do this. Well, no, obviously, we do that.

Trivon Thompson: [00:41:52] And that’s when I tell you, well, let’s lay all the options on the table. You guys go home and talk and then call me later.

Stone Payton: [00:41:59] So I asked Matt a similar question, but I’m interested in where the business comes from. Again, I don’t know that that a billboard. I don’t know that that’s really necessarily the ideal path for for a guy like you. Right?

Trivon Thompson: [00:42:15] No, no, no, no. You do have realtors that are on billboards and big teams that are on billboards. But I find it personally more gratifying to network with people or meet new people and go out and talk to people and just, you know, if what I do comes up or if I bring it up and you’re interested, we’ll talk. It’s not a a thing to where I’m just going to go throw it in your face 24/7. Right. This is an organic conversation. And you can’t force somebody to invest in real estate. I mean, yeah, it’s it’s one of the best returns on investment over the last 30 plus years. I mean, it’s beaten stocks and bonds and so forth and so on for forever. So it speaks for itself. But you can’t just tell people that, you know, most of the one of the sales tactics you’re a sales guy, you know, is asking people towards the issue or towards the solution. Yeah, ask them the questions and then they’ll turn around and they go, Oh, and that’s when they’ll go. All right. Let’s talk about investing in real estate. So you never force it on anyone. You just show them, show them what it can do, ask them what their goals are, that kind of deal. But I like meeting people. I like going out and meeting people and sitting down for a beer and having a conversation. And then if it comes up, it comes up. If not, hey, let’s, you know, let’s just be friends.

Stone Payton: [00:43:38] Cool. Yeah. And when you invest, genuinely invest in a relationship like that, even if for whatever reason, you know, Holly shuts me down or we, you know, we decide to get a golf cart this this summer instead or what? Let’s see there. That’s the other thing, right? You’re the guy who knows the guy because you invest in those relationships. Still, when I’m when I’m down in Florida hunting with Rusty and he says, you know, I really I got to tell you, this conversation happened. Russ really enjoys the mountain biking. And, of course, we’re like apparently, you know, nirvana for for the mountain biking. And he’s got this idea of getting a place that that would that he would rent out and rent to bikers. Right. So, you know, and I’d say, well, you know, if this something you seriously considering a if it’s going to work, let me in and I’ll pay you back later.

Trivon Thompson: [00:44:31] My partnership.

Stone Payton: [00:44:32] My my brother is younger, better looking and makes more money than me. I don’t like him at all.

Speaker4: [00:44:38] You don’t have no use for it.

Stone Payton: [00:44:39] But no, I’m much quicker to mention you to him. You just. You never know where things are going to go when you just establish that that genuine relationship. Right?

Trivon Thompson: [00:44:51] Absolutely. And that’s why I love it so much. It’s part of why I love meeting people. I like serving people. And if I if I can’t help you in my profession and in you, you need something else. I’ve got a guy. I know somebody that can. So that’s I’m the connector. So that’s that’s it.

Stone Payton: [00:45:08] So you mentioned several books as we were talking. I’m curious, what’s on what’s on your nightstand right now? What do you what are you reading now?

Trivon Thompson: [00:45:16] So I just reached the end of. Profit first by Mike. Mike?

Stone Payton: [00:45:21] Yes, we interviewed him. Yeah. Oh, man. We run our business on those principles. Yeah. We being me and Lee and here in my shop.

Trivon Thompson: [00:45:28] Yeah. It’s so fascinating. Like, to to understand that you take your profit first. And at the end, I don’t know, he says in the book. It’s so it’s mind blowing to everyone because nobody does it, and it’s never been done like that before. So that’s wonderful. And then what what do I what am I rereading right now? I’m rereading the Burr strategy, right. And I just started listening to Ed Mylett and I have one of his books in my Audible library right now, but I can’t remember the name but the Ed Mylett show, the podcast and his books. Great guy. Yeah. So that’s that’s what’s on my nightstand right now.

Stone Payton: [00:46:05] Well, I got to say, I love the advent of audio books. I love the advent of, like the podcasting community. There’s so much content out there and you can wait through that and get a hold of what you want. But something that you said really kind of created a twinkle in my eye. And I think it is so powerful to reread, you know, especially these classics that are just chockfull. It’s like you’ll learn something new and different every time you do, don’t you?

Trivon Thompson: [00:46:34] Yes, absolutely. And it’s like, how did I miss that the last time? Or why was not paying attention on this page the last time? So much so that you want to take notes and you write stuff down and you’re like, All right, cool, I have to use this. I have to use this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Every time I reread a book, that’s that’s the way it is.

Stone Payton: [00:46:52] So you’ve been at it a while now. Clearly, it’s working. It’s going to continue to to work. What what are you finding the most rewarding? What are you enjoying the most about this work, maybe versus corporate or just by itself? What are you finding the most rewarding?

Trivon Thompson: [00:47:08] Well, let’s just you know, I can choose who I want to work with. No.

Stone Payton: [00:47:13] No, that’s important.

Speaker4: [00:47:14] Right?

Trivon Thompson: [00:47:15] It is important. It is important, you know, for sanity, for happiness, all that good stuff. But the most rewarding part, especially on the residential side, is the finality of emotions that come across the table. When you’re sitting at that final closing table and you see the relief or the happiness or the relaxation in your client’s face, like I finally sold my place, or I’m finally buying a house for the first time or the 10th time, or whatever it may be. You know, that is satisfying to me. And to know that I had a hand in helping them get their. You know, it brings joy to me every time.

Stone Payton: [00:47:52] Oh, bad. So you are such an enthusiastic person. Your authenticity, your your your your vigor for this work, just I mean, it comes I’m sure it comes through over the airwaves. I guarantee you guys it comes through here in the studio. And, you know, you’re human. You got to from time to time, your batteries got to be running running low. So I’ll ask you the question. The same one I asked Matt, where do you go, man, to to kind of get recharged and get inspired? Is it the books or is it beyond that?

Trivon Thompson: [00:48:24] So the books, yes. Like I like to sit down with a good book and, you know, relax, but I don’t podcasts as well, going outside, taking a run and CrossFit. I mean, I call myself the CrossFit and realtor for a reason. So, you know, he’s a.

Stone Payton: [00:48:40] Very fit guy. I don’t know if you can tell from his headshot on the published piece, but Toronto is very fitting. He reminds me of the Old Spice. You ever watch the Old Spice curry? Yeah. No, I’m on a boat. No, I’m on a horse.

Speaker4: [00:48:53] Yeah, exactly.

Trivon Thompson: [00:48:53] Like that as a.

Speaker4: [00:48:54] Compliment.

Trivon Thompson: [00:48:56] But, yeah, I’m throwing some weights around really, really relieve some stress. I mean, yeah, I like doing it first thing in the morning, you know, because if I don’t do it first thing in the morning, I’m not going to do it. I’m going to get too busy. So, yeah, you know, it’s another book I read, Eat the Frog, you know, do the thing that’s going to take the most time or that or that you hate doing the most in the morning.

Stone Payton: [00:49:17] Who is that author? We interviewed her years ago. Oh, my gracious, I. But I I’m going to dig that up for you. And I’m going to it’s funny, I don’t remember the author’s name, but I remember that that title has marketing legs.

Matthew Atwood: [00:49:30] No doubt.

Trivon Thompson: [00:49:30] Yes, it does.

Stone Payton: [00:49:31] But it’s such great advice, right? Yes. Eat the frog. So explain to him what that what that means, eating the frog.

Trivon Thompson: [00:49:38] So yeah, yeah. The concept is I mean, nobody wants to, you know, most people really don’t want to get up and work out at 530 in the morning. Right. Right. Who wants to go do that? Right. But are you going to do it later after you get off work? What’s the likelihood of doing that? You know. Exactly. So wake up, wake your behind up. Go to the gym, get get going and you’ll be re-energized. And you know, after doing that, everything else seems easier.

Speaker4: [00:50:03] Yes.

Trivon Thompson: [00:50:03] Everything else is downhill after that. Do the thing you hate the most if if your job includes making cold calls. An administrative work, make the coal calls first, you know, get that out of the way and then you’re done. After a couple of hours and you go, Huh? I don’t have to do that for the rest of the day. So, you know, eat the frog. Do the thing that you dread doing the most in the morning. And the rest of the day will serve itself.

Stone Payton: [00:50:31] Yeah. And side note, how impressed are we all that I’ve interviewed two authors that you mentioned.

Speaker4: [00:50:37] Very impressed personally.

Stone Payton: [00:50:41] All right, let’s let’s leave our listeners with a way to touch base with you, man. How can they get in touch with you and sit down and have that cup of coffee or beer or beer?

Speaker4: [00:50:49] Yes.

Trivon Thompson: [00:50:49] So you know Trayvon at Qualcomm. 4049671314. You can catch me on Instagram at CrossFit and Dot Realtor or Facebook, LinkedIn, all of the above. I’m there or go to my website. Contacts sold by Trayvon.

Stone Payton: [00:51:07] Fantastic. Well, thanks for coming in and hanging out with us today. Man, this has been a great deal of fun.

Trivon Thompson: [00:51:11] Yeah, this was an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for having us. And man, this is great.

Stone Payton: [00:51:18] All right. This is Stone Payton for our guest today and everyone here at the Business RadioX family say and we’ll see you next time on Cherokee Business Radio.