Find Your Battle Buddy: Helping Veterans Reach Financial Freedom with Dr. Ann James

[00:00:00] Eric Brotman: Welcome to Don’t Retire… Graduate! The podcast that asks you what you want to be when you grow up so you can graduate into retirement with purpose and passion. I’m your host and valedictorian, Eric Brotman, and in honor of Veterans Day. We have a phenomenal guest today, Dr. Ann James, the CEO of Financial Freedom Battle Buddies a, a military veteran and a financial coach who’s gonna talk a lot about military money, financial freedom and all different kinds of freedom. Ann welcome to the show.

[00:00:35] Ann James: Thank you so much for having me. How are you?

[00:00:39] Eric Brotman: I am fantastic and I, I, I want you to know that I’m a fan of your show. I have listened to a number of episodes. I think you’re making a difference in a really tough, tough community where, where there’s you know, you’ve referenced that better than 50% of military families are paycheck to paycheck which is an alarming thing.

 And you have a definition of freedom which I love, which I’m gonna read because I, I want, I want to not mess this up, okay? Your definition of freedom is “when you embrace the mindset of doing what you want, when you want without ever worrying about money.” I love that.

[00:01:19] Ann James: That’s it. Thank you.

[00:01:20] Eric Brotman: Where did that come from?

Where did that come from?

[00:01:23] Ann James: Well, it has definitely evolved over the years, right? You know, when you talk about financial freedom, I’ve come to learn that everybody has their own definition. My definition is gonna be different from your definition. It’s gonna be different from the next person’s definition, but for me, on my journey, it really boiled down to, it starts with the mindset, right? It’s so much more than the numbers. You have to begin in your mind, and that’s why, you know, it came to me: when you embrace that mindset, when you let go of those past limited beliefs that, or myths that you had around money and embrace that. Then that truly is the beginning of your journey to do what you want to do when you wanna do it.

And you don’t have to ever worry about money. Of course there has to be a plan with it. And that’s what I help others do is to create that plan for their definition of financial freedom. But that’s really where it came from. Embracing that mindset to live life to its fullest, like you said, to embrace my purpose.

To embrace my passion, and not have to worry about money.

[00:02:31] Eric Brotman: I think when people are worried about money, it’s a little bit like oxygen. You know, when you have plenty of it, you don’t think about it, and when you don’t have plenty of it, it’s all you think about. And so it’s difficult to concentrate on your job or your family or your health or your own wellbeing or just about anything when you’re saddled with real money fears, real money worries, and some of them, some of ’em I think are in our head. Some of them aren’t legitimate. There’s a, a certain fear because it’s a language not all of us speak, and personal financial literacy and the lack of education there is an issue, but some of it’s very, very real.

It, it really is figuring out which bill you’re paying this month on time or not. Or are we gonna get through all of ’em? Or does this mean I need to take a second job or a third job, or any of those kinds of things. So talk a little bit about your background and, and I know you’re, you’re a retired Air Force and I am half an hour or so from the US Naval Academy.

So we’re all Navy fans here. But we’re all on the same team when it comes to the big game, right? So at, at any rate, tell me a little bit about your history and how, how you, number one, came to be involved with and enlist in the military, and then how you got involved with, with finance.

[00:03:45] Ann James: Yes, Yes, I am definitely a proud Air Force veteran, so I’ll forgive you for supporting the Navy, but one team, one fight.

It’s all good.

[00:03:55] Eric Brotman: Uhhuh. Absolutely.

[00:03:57] Ann James: Yes. Basically where it all began, you know, with me, I’m the youngest of three my mother, I was, I was raised by a single mother for the majority of my life. So as far as the military, my, one of my oldest brothers, he decided to go into the military into the Air Force and I went to visit him one summer and I just liked what I saw.

You know, I just liked the community. You know, the military bases are like their own little cities and I loved that and I knew that the military provided an opportunity for me to go to college. That was ultimately my goal is to go to college and I didn’t want to settle my mother, you know, with debt, you know, she would’ve did whatever she could to provide for me, for me to go, but I didn’t want to settle her, saddle her, I should say, with debt.

So I decided to follow in my brother’s footsteps and join the world greatest Air Force. And as you mentioned, as a E1. And the career field was called personnel. It was kinda like human resources that type stuff. And besides college, I also wanted to travel, right, to get away from my mother, so to speak.

I wanted my freedom, right? Years ago I wanted my freedom. So that’s where it really started. So I joined the Air Force and my very first duty station leaving south California was in South Dakota. I didn’t even know where South Dakota was to tell the truth. I was like, What in the world? So to get out of South Dakota, I end up volunteering to go anywhere in the world.

I didn’t care because, you know, at that time it was just me. I was single. I can do whatever I want. And I was lucky to get stationed in Italy.

[00:05:40] Eric Brotman: Wow.

[00:05:41] Ann James: So yes, you talking about young and free going overseas, leaving the United States for the first time. And that’s where my life really began. I found myself I fell in lust.

 I got pregnant and I ended up being a single mother. So that’s where it all kind of began for me and my love from finances in that once I became a single mother, and on top of all of that when my daughter was about, hm, three or four years old, I took her to the doctor. She was kind of delayed in some of the things like walking and speaking, but really her speaking and the doctor told me that my daughter was developmentally delayed, what is now referred to as autism.

 But at the time I didn’t know what does that mean, right? Like, what does developmentally delayed mean? Does that means she’ll be quote unquote normal? Will she always live with me? You know those type things. And it was right then and there I had an epiphany that I remember, like, I was driving home and I felt like my mother was in my ear.

Telling me that, okay, you always have to be in a position to take care of yourself, not just yourself, but your child. And I knew that I wasn’t in a position to take care of myself because I had debt. I had a car I couldn’t drive, not a loan, but I couldn’t drive it because it was a stick shift, right? Who buys a car they can’t freaking drive, but I did, because my boyfriend at the time, you know, he drove it type of thing.

But it was at that point that I had to get my life in order, right? My financial house had to be in order. I did not want my past financial mistakes to hinder my daughter’s future. So that’s where the, the road to financial freedom, or my financial journey you know, began for me is based off of my daughter.

But to fast forward, you know after doing 21 years of service, in between that time I commissioned and became an officer. Cause I figured, hey, if I’m gonna stay in for the long run, I might as well get paid, right?

[00:08:03] Eric Brotman: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:08:05] Ann James: Yeah. So I decided to commission and earn my commission from the University of Southern Mississippi ROTC and I became a finance officer. And I deployed to Iraq and did all of those things. But after 21 years of service, I was fortunate to graduate or retire, like you say….

[00:08:27] Eric Brotman: Mm-hmm.

[00:08:27] Ann James: …from the world’s greatest Air Force. So yeah.

[00:08:31] Eric Brotman: That’s….

[00:08:31] Ann James: That’s me in a nutshell.

[00:08:32] Eric Brotman: That’s, that’s a, that’s a lot. First, first I have to ask, I have to ask you, did you ever learn to drive manual transmission?

[00:08:40] Ann James: I did.

[00:08:41] Eric Brotman: Oh, good. All right. Well, that’s, that’s good.

[00:08:43] Ann James: I had to.

[00:08:43] Eric Brotman: And, and your daughter is in her twenties now?

[00:08:49] Ann James: Yes. Kayla’s almost 30 years old. I know,

[00:08:52] Eric Brotman: 30, okay.

[00:08:52] Ann James: I know, I don’t look old enough to have a 30 year old.

[00:08:55] Eric Brotman: No, no, your sister for sure.

[00:08:57] Ann James: She she’s almost 30 and yes, she still lives with me.

[00:09:02] Eric Brotman: Okay. Is she, is she, is she able to work?

Is she healthy? Is she able to do….

[00:09:07] Ann James: She’s healthy. She’s but not able to where she’s incapable of self care, but you know, it could definitely be worse. You know, with autism, there’s a wide spectrum, right?

[00:09:19] Eric Brotman: Yeah.

[00:09:19] Ann James: And you go from one end to the other. So Kayla’s about in the I would say the middle range, not truly high functioning, but she can do basic life skills, you know, on her own. But she, you know, can’t handle her own finances. She can’t cook for herself and those type things. So she’s still with me.

[00:09:38] Eric Brotman: Well, that’s that’s obviously difficult as a, as a, a parent. But it’s also, it also creates different financial considerations. I mean…

[00:09:50] Ann James: Absolutely.

[00:09:50] Eric Brotman: Any type of, any type of special needs or any type of, of situation where, where care is gonna be needed means you have to plan for the event there if she outlives you.

Because if you’re her, if you’re her safety net and support network making sure that there’s planning done for her, and there are lots of families, of course, around the world who are facing those kinds of, those kinds of challenges. But it puts a different financial burden on you than just parenthood, which as a proud dad myself, I can tell you even when, when not saddled with those kinds of, of challenges, parenting’s expensive. Parenting’s expensive under the best circumstances. So you, you, you mentioned that you fell in lust, and I’m not gonna get, ask for any details cuz this is a family show, but, but have, have, have you have you started you know, have you expanded your family at all over this period of time? Or have you just said, I’m, I’m doing this myself and, and you and Kayla are a, a two person, an army of two.

[00:10:58] Ann James: A great, great question. No, I have not expanded my family, but you know, I would be remiss to not mention my daughter’s father is still in her life. You know, we didn’t work out as a couple, but she’s a daddies girl. So I’m not doing it alone, you know? Yeah, every day to day, but he’s a strong figure in her life. So I am definitely blessed with that. So besides other family members, but yeah, he’s there. He’s still here, so, yeah.

[00:11:27] Eric Brotman: Very good. So, so let’s talk about your, your professional life, your, your passion to help people with finance and financial freedom, which I think is very different than just financial literacy or even, you know, we use the word financial independence. We use financially set. I mean, we have all kinds of euphemisms for, for, “we’re okay, and we can, we can cover our nut”, right? What… you, you define freedom. How do you help people see what their version of that’s gonna be? Because as you mentioned in the open, your version of that is different than mine and different than anyone you coach.

[00:12:03] Ann James: Right, right. Well, basically how I help, you know individuals to see that is with this framework that I use for myself, you know, or journey on my journal journey, it’s what’s called a battle plan, right? B a t t l e and the battle as you… Anything about the military we love acronyms.

[00:12:25] Eric Brotman: Okay.

[00:12:26] Ann James: Right? So it’s really, you know, a set of steps or strategies that if you follow those steps or strategies that at the end of the day, you know, you will reach your definition of financial freedom because it worked for me.

It’s not rocket science. It’s just you know, something that I came up with as I was going through my journey and be like, okay, how can I capture what I went through to help other individuals specifically, you know, more so those that are that have served in the military or those that are currently serving, how can, because I don’t believe that the military does a good job for preparing us for when we transition out or while we’re still in, in regards to our finances, right? Because we’re used to the security of being paid on the 1st and the 15th type of thing. So if you’re not fortunate like me to retire and have a, still have a paycheck every month, you know, that’s a big thing that you have to get used to. You lose that sense of security. So in order to help, you know, you know, military family members, like I say, give their money their marching, marching orders. You know, I came up with the battle plan.

[00:13:39] Eric Brotman: All right. Will, will you sh will you share it with us?

[00:13:42] Ann James: Absolutely.

[00:13:43] Eric Brotman: What’s the, what’s the B? Let’s get, let’s get rolling.

I, I’m taking notes here because I’m, I might come away with a different definition for myself in the next 15 minutes.

[00:13:51] Ann James: Awesome, awesome. Okay. So the B like I said, it goes, it surrounds that mindset, but you really, truly have to believe in yourself. You have to believe that you can do this thing, right? You have to believe that, oh, no matter how you grew up, or you didn’t talk about money in your household, or you see your friends doing this, or you see your friends doing that, you have to believe that financial freedom, debt freedom, whatever it is, can be yours.

And if I and I, that’s what I like to say. If I can do it, like you said, as a mother or someone with special needs, surely anybody can do it. So you have to truly believe in yourself that you can do it. So that’s the B in battle. The A is assess, assess your priorities.

[00:14:38] Eric Brotman: Okay.

[00:14:39] Ann James: What’s important to you? What, what is driving you to want to start this journey to financial freedom? My number one priority was my daughter. Like I told you, I didn’t want my past mistakes to hinder her future. So whatever I did, I kept that in front of me to give me the motivation that I need on this journey because it’s not gonna happen over, right?

[00:15:05] Eric Brotman: Sure.

[00:15:05] Ann James: You can get into debt quickly, but it takes a while sometimes to get out of debt.

So you have to assess your priorities to help you determine what is going, what is driving you, your why, Because like I mentioned, it’s so much more than the numbers. It’s so much more than the numbers. So what’s important to you? Assess your priorities.

[00:15:27] Eric Brotman: Okay.

[00:15:27] Ann James: So the first T in battle is to track your numbers, right?

So you have to know your starting points. So whether you’re talking about your income, your expenses, how much is going out the door, your credit, what type of credit score do you have? Do you even know your net worth? Is it negative or positive? You know, yes, you can have a negative net worth, believe it or not.

 So it’s just important to track your numbers as your starting point, okay? Get your head out of the sand and determine, this is where I’m at, this is where I’m starting from. And then that by knowing where you’re starting from, it helps you to determine where you want to go. So that’s the first T- track your numbers. The second tee is a big one, is tackle your debt, right?

[00:16:17] Eric Brotman: Okay.

[00:16:17] Ann James: I believe that, you know, some debt is necessary and other debt is unnecessary. Right? When I consider necessary debt, you know, a mortgage or you know, student loans, some those things that makes your life better in the long run.

But credit cards, even a car payment, you know vacations– those things are necessary, but it don’t necessarily have to be on a credit card. You don’t have to carry that around with you. That’s what I deem unnecessary debt. So tackle that. Pick a strategy. I help them to pick a strategy that works for them.

There’s so many different strategies with tackling debt, whether it’s the debt snowball, whether it’s the avalanche, whether it is, you know, whatever it is. But you have to pick a strategy that works for you. The snowball method work for me, but I know that that’s not the case. And you know, finances are personal , right?

So everybody is different. That’s why I emphasize your debt. Pick a strategy that works for YOU not Ann,

[00:17:24] Eric Brotman: Mm-hmm.

[00:17:24] Ann James: but what works for you. So to tackle your debt, because really debt, you can’t be free if you’re a slave to somebody else, you owe other people.

[00:17:34] Eric Brotman: Okay.

[00:17:35] Ann James: And as I mentioned, when I began my journey, I went, you know, I had a car I couldn’t afford.

I had credit cards. Eventually I had a house. I got so focused on my debt, I was able to pay off over $300,000 in debt in three years.

[00:17:51] Eric Brotman: Wow.

[00:17:52] Ann James: By focus, by doing this program, by following these, these steps.

[00:17:56] Eric Brotman: Wow. That’s significant. Absolutely.

[00:17:59] Ann James: Yeah.

[00:17:59] Eric Brotman: That’s a lot of, that’s a lot of money to pay off over 10 years, but over three, that’s no joke.

[00:18:04] Ann James: It is, right? And it’s a matter of focus. And I don’t want individuals to think when they hear that, “Well, you’re a doctor, of course you can.” No, that’s not the case. I’m a doctor of education, not a medical doctor, right? So let’s put that out there. I started out in the military as a E1. Yes, I may have graduated as an officer, but I started as an E1 and spent most of my time in the military in enlisted ranks.

So the enlisted ranks makes less money than officers. So you can’t use that as an excuse. Well, oh, Dr. Ann, you this, you that. No. Uhuh. And I’m a single mother. I have one income. I don’t have a spouse. You know that another income or whatever have you. Now I’m a business owner and that type stuff, but it can be done.

But once again, that tackling your debt goes back to believing yourself, that B, right? So that’s the second to your battle. The L is once you tackle your debt, it’s to level up your savings and your giving, right?

[00:19:05] Eric Brotman: Okay.

[00:19:05] Ann James: You have to, you know, pay yourself and to save for those things that you want in life.

You can travel. If you wanna travel, you can travel. If you wanna start a business, you can start a business. If you want to give, you know, to a charity of your choice, that’s up to you. If you want to, if tithing is important to you like it is me, you can do that. Not to say you can’t do tithing all along, don’t get me wrong, you definitely should tithe, but that’s my personal opinion.

[00:19:35] Eric Brotman: Mm-hmm.

[00:19:36] Ann James: But to level up your savings and your giving. Cause once you free up the money for debt, you have all this extra money and you should once again still have a plan for it. Everything revolves around a plan, you know? And so that’s the L level up your saving and level up your giving.

[00:19:54] Eric Brotman: Do I get to guess what… Do I get to guess what the E is?

[00:19:57] Ann James: You can try. Go ahead.

[00:19:58] Eric Brotman: I’ve done no homework. Is it Execute the plan?

[00:20:03] Ann James: It is not execute the plan.

[00:20:05] Eric Brotman: It is not. Okay. So what’s the E?

[00:20:07] Ann James: It’s enjoy your job.

[00:20:10] Eric Brotman: Oh, that my second guess. Well, that was going to be my….

[00:20:14] Ann James: Maybe I should say execute and enjoy. You can do both.

[00:20:17] Eric Brotman: Well, no, no, I like enjoy better. I prefer to enjoy than to execute anyway.

[00:20:21] Ann James: Yeah, it’s enjoy the journey because, you know, when people think about getting their finances together, they think of deprivation: what they can’t do. Oh, I’m not gonna be able to do this. I’m not gonna be able to go out.

[00:20:35] Eric Brotman: Mm-hmm.

[00:20:36] Ann James: I’m not gonna be able to go on vacation.

That type stuff. No, I’m not saying that. I still went on vacation when I was paying off debt. I have to, because I love to travel, but I planned for it, right? I planned for it so that I had the money to pay for it. I didn’t have to charge it on a credit card, right? You want to enjoy your life in the process of this journey.

And one of the great ways to do that is, you know, track your progress. I like looking at milestone making visuals right to help you remember or keep those priorities that I mentioned in the beginning in front of you to just keep you motivated, but you have to enjoy the journey. And not just the outcome we get so focused on the alco, the outcome, Oh, once I become debt free, I’ll do this.

Or once I’ll become debt free, I’ll do that. No. Life is meant to be lived today. So you have to find ways to enjoy your life as you’re on this journey to financial freedom. So there you have it with the B A T T L E Money Battle Plan to help you start your journey to financial freedom.

[00:21:52] Eric Brotman: I love it. I love everything about it, especially especially the book ends.

The believe is to me none of this works without that. And having the confidence that you can do this and sometimes we get lulled into a false sense of security or a false sense of confidence. So clearly having belief in yourself without a plan is not going to work, but it is the most important… it’s the most important step.

And then enjoy is my favorite. Mostly because I like to enjoy everything if I can. I’m having fun with you today. Awesome.

this is, this is great. You, you talk about, you talk about the self-talk, you talk about your “why”, which ultimately, you know, prioritization matters because we can do financially, most people can do almost anything that’s most important to them.

They just can’t do everything they feel like.

[00:22:46] Ann James: That, that’s true.

[00:22:47] Eric Brotman: So, so, so having this this, this singular goal or this singular priority or, or several of them, but knowing the order in which they arrive does help with decision making, I would think. Now…

[00:23:01] Ann James: It absolutely does.

[00:23:03] Eric Brotman: When you, when you work with specifically military families military families have some, some different nuances financially than others.

Starting with that security that’s often there, that then disappears, which you mentioned. But also the transient nature of the work means that, that sometimes you’re, you’re living in different places. Maybe you don’t have the same support network that you would if you were in your hometown, where you grew up.

 There are, there are certainly sometimes limitations on how long you can be in a specific career, because depending on your role, I would imagine there could be some significant physical constraints and, and other things to consider when you’re in a, an active role like that. What are the, what are the things that make working with military families I think I know what makes it rewarding, but what makes it challenging?

[00:23:56] Ann James: Wow. What makes it challenging? I think it goes back to, like you said, that all of those different moving pieces that you have to deal with, right? Whether it is the, the moving, what we call PCS, your permanent change of station every two to three years, you never really are able to put down roots, so to speak, to make sure that you have that sense of belonging. That can be really challenging. Also, a difficult thing is that, that mindset, right, you have the security of the paycheck. That’s a good and a bad thing, right? The bad thing is they think that, well, I get paid, you know, twice a month, so I can afford it. You know, I, I want it now so I can, afford… The paycheck is always gonna be there. So they don’t worry about planning ahead a lot of times because they rely so much on the security of the paychecks that they’re currently given. They tend to not live or see their stuff outside of the military. That’s a big, you know, their identity is so tied to the military that they don’t plan for the life outside of the military. So with that, I just try to remind them if you’re still serving, mind you, right? So if I’m talking about those clients that are still serving, hey, you’re gonna have to transition at some point, you can’t stay in the military forever. So you need to plan for that transition. There is life outside of the military and the transition doesn’t have to be a difficult transition.

If you plan for it, you can have a successful transition. I know I did, but I planned for it. I knew I was ready to get out, you know, ready to retire type of things where some individuals aren’t like that. And for those that have already made that transition, it’s difficult because they’ve lost that security, right? And in regards to the income, maybe instead of twice a month is, you know, once a month and they’ve lost a lot of the other benefits, that we may have taken for granted while we still serve. For instance, while we were still serving the military, they provide you money for your housing, right?

What’s called housing allowance. They provide you allowance for food, allowance for your uniform. You don’t get all that stuff in a civilian sector, right? Your income is what it is. And also remember a lot of times when we’re shopping on base it’s tax free, right? It’s those little things that we may have taken for granted while we were still in where it is no longer there.

And let’s not mention medical.

[00:26:52] Eric Brotman: Mm-hmm. .

[00:26:54] Ann James: Right?

[00:26:54] Eric Brotman: I was waiting. I was waiting. Cuz that’s a big deal.

[00:26:57] Ann James: That’s a big one. It’s huge!

[00:26:59] Eric Brotman: Big deal.

[00:26:59] Ann James: We can be seen at the VA, the Department of Veteran Affairs, yeah, but if you’re not retired like myself or have, you know, a medical or service disabled rating where you know it’s covered by the VA, that medical is priceless that the military provides, and now that’s gone for us that have already transitioned out.

So that’s why it’s just so…. those are, to answer your question, some of the diff- difficulties, but that why it’s so important to just have a plan, you know, to deal with those things. Not to say that they’re insurmountable. You just gotta plan for it. You gotta plan for it.

[00:27:42] Eric Brotman: It’s, it’s, it’s interesting, I, I’ve, I’ve been talking with, with people for many, many years about this, but I, I think it’s important not to look at whether it’s military or an athletic career or any career as who you are.

It’s what you do. And it’s a very, it’s a very difficult thing because so many people, if, if someone walks up to you in the street or they’re in an elevator with you, and they’re like, “So, so tell me about you.” The first thing we come up with is what we do for a living. I don’t know why that is, and I think it’s an intensely American thing.

I don’t think that happens everywhere. But in this country we, we spend a lot of time thinking about who we are as what we do, so that when we’re not doing it anymore, we lose part of our identity. And so that

[00:28:27] Ann James: Very true.

[00:28:27] Eric Brotman: transition you’re talking about is, it’s not only challenging financially for all the reasons that, that you, you just laid out.

 It’s also challenging intellectually, emotionally, socially, because that was part of who you are or who you thought you were. And so you, you know, it’s really important to, to graduate as we like to say, to graduate to something rather than purely retiring from something, it’s having that next, that that next place to go.

And that gets me excited every day. And it sounds like you’re helping people with that transition and that it’s, it’s really a two part conversation and it’s, it’s how do we help you get out of what you’re in? And I don’t mean debt, I mean of, of a career move. How do you, how do you exit the military, but also how do you enter whatever the next chapter of your life is gonna be. And that of course brings me to one of my favorite questions and I, I’m gonna put you on the spot a little bit and just say, What do you wanna be when you grow up? And I’ll, I’ll preface this by saying I tell my 12 year old daughter all the time not to grow up because it’s a trap.

So in so much as we’re already up, what’s the next, what’s the next chapter of your life look like? What do you wanna be when you grow up?

[00:29:39] Ann James: Wow, that is such a good and difficult question. Like you said, we’re so tied to certain things, what we do. I want to be the best who God made me to, to fulfill my purpose by using my gifts to help others.

I just want to be the best person who I was made to be, so that on the final day, I’m looked at as a good and faithful servant. So…

[00:30:22] Eric Brotman: That is a high bar to set for yourself, and why not?

[00:30:28] Ann James: That’s why we’re all here. We all have a purpose.

[00:30:31] Eric Brotman: It’s true. It’s,

[00:30:32] Ann James: It’s just a matter of why, just like you said, walking in my purpose. You know, no matter of the outcome, it’s not the income, it’s the impact, right? And I’m learning that in my life because of, you know, up to a certain point, you know, you’re a business owner and just a mom and all these things. And it’s all the income. The income. But no it’s when you get to a point in your life where it’s no longer, you’re no longer worrying about money.

It’s a matter of what the impact that I can have on somebody else and I just wanna be walking in my purpose, whatever that is.

[00:31:18] Eric Brotman: I love that you mentioned, I love that, that your L mentioned not just your own savings, but, but your giving and giving back, whether it’s community, whether it’s philanthropy, whether it’s charity.

And there’s lots of ways to give, and I, I, you know, we’ve, we’ve certainly had guests on and done shows about philanthropy. And by that I don’t mean, you know, naming buildings, I mean, at whatever level you are donating time, talent, and treasury to make a difference to other people, I think is is clearly part of your calling, part of your “why”.

And now it’s also not only what you want to be when you grow up, but, and I suspect it’s what you are already.

[00:31:59] Ann James: I’m in the process,

[00:32:01] Eric Brotman: Okay.

[00:32:02] Ann James: of becoming, you know, we all are, we’re not there. I think it’s, it’s the journey, right?

[00:32:07] Eric Brotman: Okay.

[00:32:08] Ann James: You know, yes, I am, you know, I’m in the process and yeah.

[00:32:11] Eric Brotman: So, so I need an extra credit assignment for our audience, and, you know, and creating a battle plan is, is a darn good one.

So I’m not letting you get off that easy. What, what, what is a good extra credit assignment, that one first step that folks can take right now for having spent half an hour with the two of us today. What’s that one extra credit “go do this right now” moment –that that thing,

[00:32:43] Ann James: Wow. I would say go look in in the mirror or wherever you’re at, or you can write it down or whatever, and just say it out loud or tell yourself “I can do this”.

[00:33:00] Eric Brotman: Love it. I love it.

[00:33:02] Ann James: You can do this.

Just make up your mind.

[00:33:07] Eric Brotman: You, you have you’ve been an inspiring guest. I knew you would be. If I ever get a chance to be on your show, I’ll, I’ll try and do you as, as as solidly as you’ve done us today, cuz this has been great.

 How can people get in touch with you? How can people who wanna know more about what you do and your business and how can folks find you?

[00:33:26] Ann James: Yeah, they can reach out to me, visit my website www.drannjames.com. I’m on LinkedIn, Dr. Ann James. That’s Instagram. Dr. Ann James or Facebook Dr. Ann James.

[00:33:48] Eric Brotman: I, I’m noticing, I’m noticing a theme. I’m noticing a theme. Dr. Ann James is everywhere.

[00:33:55] Ann James: Yeah.

But that’s really how, you know, you can reach out more so on Facebook than anywhere else. But yeah, I, I have presences everywhere, but if you wanna reach out and, you know, sign up for free 15 minute money, what I call my money chat.

You can do that via my you know, my website, you know, no obligation just to see if, you know, we’re a good fit, right? What I like to say, to see if we can be battle buddies, financial freedom battle buddies because I don’t work with just any and everybody, you know, and everybody’s not ready, you know, type of thing.

So if you, you believe in you, if you’re ready, if you feel like you have a made up mind, definitely, you know, reach out to me and we can take it from there.

[00:34:38] Eric Brotman: I love it and I hope people watching will do just that. Ann, thank you. You’ve been a tremendous guest. I have enjoyed this and I have no doubt you’re gonna continue to make a big, big difference to families, to individuals, and to to the world.

So thank you. Thank you for being a guest today.

[00:34:54] Ann James: Thank you so much for the opportunity.

[00:34:57] Eric Brotman: And I’d like to thank all of you for watching today. We’d love to hear from you, so please send us a message or leave us comments at dontretiregraduate.com or on social media or leave ratings and reviews on your favorite podcast platform.

If you enjoy our show, share it with your friends and family so they can join you on your journey to financial freedom. We’ll be back next week with another installment of Office Hours and in two weeks with another engaging guest. For now, this is your host, Eric Brotman reminding you: Don’t retire, graduate.

Don’t Retire, Graduate is part of the Evergreen Podcast Network

[00:35:34] Narrator: Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, llc. Kestra IS, member FINRA, SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, llc. Kestra AS an affiliate of Kestra IS. Kestra IS or Kestra AS are not affiliated with Brotman Financial or any other entity discussed.