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Ep:51 - The One About Building Wealth and Wealth Management | Becky Lightman

• Becky Lightman - Lightman Capital • Season 3 • Episode 51

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Becky Lightman founder of Lightman Capital, a wealth management firm based in Boca Raton has worked with multi millionaires and billionaires. Today we chat about what she knows...like,  what are the some of the traits wealthy people have in common, how we as women (and people in general) do to protect our wealth and starting her career during the financial  crisis?

Becky Lightman is the Founder of Lightman Capital, a wealth management firm based in Boca Raton.  She advises clients on all aspects of their wealth management strategy— including investments retirement planning and complex trust and estate services. She helps clients navigate their investment options as they face life decisions, and as a result has a lot of real world experience handling all sorts of situations.

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Speaker 1:

Hey, Hey everyone. It's Michelle Baldessari, your host to civil good stories in conjunction with so boca.com and at so Boca on Instagram. So glad you're here today. This podcast is all about Boca Raton and being local. I love interviewing local business owners, folks that are involved with the nonprofits, things that are happening around town, places to go and things to see. So I'm so happy you're here today. I hope you enjoy this week's episode and if you're so inclined, please make sure to subscribe to the podcast. I so appreciate it. And if you would like to be interviewed for the show, just reach out to me. Everything is in the show notes. Have a great day. This episode of so bogus stories is brought to you by Ms. Chavela, sorry, with real broker LLC, serving your real estate needs and beautiful book for tone and sunny South Florida. If you have a referral for real estate, please think of me, Ms. Shelby.

Speaker 2:

Hey everyone. So I'm so excited about doing this. Um, I'm going to introduce my guest, who I met recently at a fantastic group. And I'll talk about that. So we're just going to do a quick smile. Then we get the thumbnail another quick tip for everybody. Okay guys, I'm Michelle, Balz sorry. I'm hashtags. So Boca, many of you know me, some of you don't, some of you are new to my Instagram via clubhouse. How much fun are we having over there? I met Becky Lightman. Who's the founder of Lightman capital wealth management firm based here in Boca about when I think at the end of January at fem city, which is a fantastic women's group here in Boca. Um, my daughter is doing the photography. I am a member now under, uh, so Boca, but also my new real estate firm that I just joined real broker, LLC, Becky advises clients on all aspects of their wealth management strategy, including investments for retirement planning and complex trust and estate services. I deal with some probate in my real estate world. She helps clients navigate their investment options as they face life decisions. As a result has a lot of real world experience and trust me, she did the most fantastic, uh, talk for our group. And I sit back, you've got to come on because one, I thought, well, I told you I was like, fan girling. You out that day. I was like, this is normal, good information for anyone, um, who is investing. Who's looking at their wealth management strategy and who wants to understand what their options are. So welcome to. So Boca stories, thank you so much for having me. It's great to be here. Yeah, I, um, I love what we're going to talk about today because I'm a mom and millennials. You've obviously met Holly, my daughter, and we talk about these things. I am very transparent, um, about the fact that, uh, we went through that housing market crash, uh, back in the mid two thousands. My husband had an accident in 2010 and our house went into foreclosure and it was a scary, scary time. We were able to get through that and get it out of foreclosure. But when you're financially feeling strapped and unstable and insecure, you make decisions on, I think things that you normally would not make. So I thought we could talk a little bit about that today, and then I have some, some great questions for you. So why don't you tell everybody a little bit about yourself and, um, we're very casual here on this, um, interview. So Becky Lightman,

Speaker 3:

All right, well, uh, I live in Delray beach. Um, so even though I'm joining so Boca, I'm hearing I'm in Del Ray about five miles away. Um, I have been managing money for a little over actually a lot over a decade. Um, and I started in money management back in 2008 during the financial crisis, which was an interesting time to start, but I have been in wealth management specifically. Um, since that time helping wealthy families, um, plan and have, uh, life events that they need decisions, helping them with decisions, helping them, um, navigate turbulent financial times as well as good financial times. So, um, in terms of the types of clients that I've worked with, um, uh, when I started in the business, I worked with people who had over$10 million to invest. That's just to invest so very high net worth people. And in the course of my business, um, I began at JP Morgan private bank. I went on to, uh, work at credit Swiss managing portfolios there with my own clientele. Then I moved to Northern trust and I worked in the global family office group. That group is dedicated toward the ultra ultra high net worth people that have people around them. So we're talking, Senta millionaires billionaires, so that's a whole other ball game. Um, but in the process, I really helped people. People are people. And at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how much money you have. It's are you happy? Are you making good decisions? Are you getting the most, you can out of your money. And so it doesn't matter whether it's someone just starting out or someone who is very wealthy, everyone faces life decisions. And, um, I really view my job as part psychologist in terms of telling people, um, that they're doing okay, that they need to stay according to the plan and not get upset or, uh, super nervous when in the, um, invite in the market climate. Um, but it's also a lot of people wondering, is this normal? Am I doing my kids? How much is too much to give them, um, so that they don't feel like they need to go out and, and do, uh, you know, squander the money, but they, they feel like they need to go out and be productive members of society. And so there's a lot of, um, is what I'm doing normal. And there's been a lot of, um, change in the sense of time that I started in the business, a lot of new regulation. And I also think it's, um, exciting that, you know, when I, I chose to go out on my own in this business, because I believe there's a real need for women who do this and why women. Um, I don't think, um, I, in my experience approaching clients with empathy and trying to put yourself in their shoes, rather than telling them what to do, makes all the difference in the world for my clients. And as an approach, I do think there are a lot of men and women that feel more comfortable having a woman advisor. So it was very important, um, for me to have that ownership of the firm and be able to control the direction of, of the firm. So that's, that's the brief, uh, explanation of that. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And I think that was one of the things that, uh, when Allie and I saw you speak and we were talking about it on the way home. And I said, you know, it's, it's really nice to see, you know, a woman, uh, financial planner. I know there are other ones, but, um, the way that you spoke about what you do, how you assist the empathy that you have, and some of the stories that you shared in particular about women who life circumstances change, because they're not familiar with the financials of their home or someone else's handling it for them. And then there is a life event and all of a sudden that is a major, major deal. Um, that, that was huge. And I think the entire room, which we were social distance went like, Oh my God, could that happen to me? That was, I think, I think you threw such a good aha. Like I need to soft check here. So I appreciate that very, very much you have worked with, um, multimillionaires and billionaires. What do you find are the traits that they all have in common in regard to wealth and wealth strategies?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. So this is one of the funny things, because I've worked with every one from basketball players to go first to, um, lottery winners, which are some of the most fascinating work with. Um, and so people come in to their money, all different kinds of ways. And there are some people that have just inherit money that will always be, you know, for lack of a better term, you know, not productive and just living on that money. Um, some people might use the term trust fund babies by and large. That's not who I've worked with. I have not seen a lot of that. Um, I think it's really interesting. Some of the traits that very wealthy people have, um, we forget that they are people too, and they came a lot of them. They are self-made. And so I thought you would get a kick out of some of the things that I have noticed that a lot of people have in common that wouldn't have won enough thought of. So the biggest thing, when a lot of people who made and created the wealth were told at some point that they weren't good enough that they couldn't make it, that there were some achievement that they didn't attain and they got fixated on proving their worth and proving themselves. And I, I noticed every one who's really been successful has something that was a setback that they were trying to make up for. And a very good example of that would be Warren buffet. He obviously is very, uh, an incredibly, um, skilled, uh, stock picker and investment manager. But in when he was in his teens, he was dead set on going to Harvard. And he figured it was, he was a shoe in, it was going to get in. And, uh, then he got rejected and he was devastated. He even told people, um, he had been telling people, I'll see you at Harvard. Um, he was that certain it was going to get in. And when he got that rejection, he basically will still say that that rejection was a pivot point in his entire life. And I also noticed some of that when people, um, who are don't have educational credentials like others, um, decide, and we're talking people that never graduated high school, um, they want to go out and prove themselves to the world too. They want to go out and prove, okay, I didn't have a college degree and look what I've done. Um, that, um, that encouragement from having something wrong happened is super motivator, super motivator. And so to anyone who has had that happen or been told, no, um, use it to your advantage. You know,

Speaker 2:

It's very interesting scenario. It's like, almost like you want to say, okay, I'll show you, this is what I'm going to do, and this is why I'm going to do it. And it's a self motivational, I guess, trait. And I love hearing those kinds of stories because we do. And, and for those of you that don't live where we live. Um, we have a lot of wealth here in South Florida, tremendous amount of wealth, um, and also like in the Naples area, huge amount of wealth there. And, and we see different levels, I guess is the best way to put it. Um, so it's fascinating when you talk about the self-made, uh, you know, millionaires, billionaires, and I think you mentioned a term that I have never heard S sent, sent

Speaker 3:

A millionaire. People have hundreds of millions of dollars.

Speaker 2:

Oh my God. I had no idea. There was even a term good to know. So

Speaker 3:

Leads me into the next part of our conversation, which we talked about it, the fem city, um, which is that a lot of wealthy people. I mean, we think by all measures, you know, you have 25 million, you're doing extremely well. They don't view it that way. A lot of the time are on the hamster wheel. They're trying to prove to other people that they can do more. So when you're 20, you're worth 25 million, you're hanging out with people that are worth a hundred million when you're where the a hundred or 200 million are hanging out with people that are worth 500 million. And you feel poor like a lot, unless you're, um, bill and Melinda Gates, uh, or Jeff Bezos and his ex wife, you're feeling poor because you're surrounding yourself with people who have done it better. I particularly see this with the people of hundreds of millions, of millions, of dollars, wanting to prove that they can become a billionaire and they can be 400 list. Um, so that's, again, it's, it's, you know, for all of us, we would say you're winning the game of life, right? They don't feel that way. And that's still chugging and it's, it's a motivator. Um, another thing that I noticed with wealthy people is that a lot of them got lucky. They look, you know, part of it was being in the right place at the right time and being able to, um, take advantage of an opportunity that came my way, they, the most humble ones and the ones that I love to work with are the ones that readily admit that. But there's more to it than that. It's more than getting lucky. It's the ability to see an and prosecuted on it quickly to make snap decisions and say, I'm going for this. I'm not going to have another time to do this. And so a lot of what we call liquidity events, where people come into a lot of money and they're self-made are people looking in the eye of opportunity, realizing it quickly, not getting to analysis paralysis, Rory, and to get more money for that opportunity. You see people able to just take, look the gift horse in the mouth and, and go for it.

Speaker 2:

You know, it's so interesting. I just, I have another Instagram account that I use for my training and coaching and speaking more so for real estate is at the Michelle B. And I did a post last night about when opportunity knocks open. The, and I literally like changed it because I want it to be a little more discreet, but I said open the, you know, open the door. Um, and I, I posted that because I, I, myself made a change recently in real estate firms and I'm 58. And I wanted to make a point that it doesn't matter how old you are, opportunities still come by. And if you, if you think too long or you don't act on it, you could really lose an opportunity that could be fun, fabulous, and profitable. And so I love that you are sharing this information. And I think women in particular sometimes are a little more afraid to, um, act quickly because we, we have family obligations. We want to run it by somebody. Sometimes you just have to act. And so that leads me into my next question, which is what can we, as women and people in general do to start building our wealth, if we're right, you know, starting over, perhaps maybe we have a little nest egg, and then what do we do about protecting it? Because I work with probate properties in real estate. I work with seniors downsize and I work with some divorce situations. And a lot of times there are issues with money, um, that is either not there or somebody's got their hands in your pocket or whatever it is. So share some thoughts on that. Becky, if you don't mind.

Speaker 3:

First thing that I think of is you're in real estate and you see people in times of life transition, see all the time, and they're having babies when they're getting married and starting a new home together when people are getting divorced and they have to sell the house, or when someone dies, this is the same stuff that as a wealth manager deals with. So advice to women is really similar to advice to men. Um, but sometimes there's feeling that, um, I can't do this or I'm not certain. So everybody is the same. And I'm, I've always loved that when someone doesn't speak to me differently, because I'm a woman, this is the advice for everybody, and you should do it. Um, siphoned off maps out your 401ks. If you are lucky enough to work with an employer that will match just max it out, just take it off the top, get that done, because that is that's money that you, you won't see and just don't raid the 401k. Either try to make that out of your mind, something that you never, um, touch. Um, and there's ways if you're not with a company anymore, that you can roll those over and treat them as IRAs. Um, they're called rollover IRAs, but that's how you get the 401ks out. So I would say maxing that out retirement planning is a big thing that a lot of people just aren't focused on because they're spending, spending, spending one of the difficulties about being in South Florida is the keeping up with the Joneses. And that is men as much as women guys, you know,

Speaker 2:

It's a, it's pretty obnoxious. Let's just call it what it is. It's pretty bad. And the stress that it causes people is huge and they don't talk about it, but the right school, the right car, your diamond bring isn't big enough. I mean, there's so many things we could talk about in regard to that

Speaker 3:

And advice to anyone, don't be the credit card millionaire. Um, I call a lot of South Florida. A lot of people have been recommended to me and I have account minimums and their friends say there, there were so much money that travel all over the world. Um, they drive very fancy cars and really there's no savings there. There's no nasty. So I would say build a nest egg, put money aside with every paycheck. If you can get it taken out before it hits your bank account and get an invested and get it invested. And don't worry about the timing. Um, if you are, if you're in your mid sixties and your seventies, and you feel like you're going to be drawing on that money, then you might have some more short term investments. But my advice to everyone is just regularly do what's called dollar cost averaging, get into the market and don't leave it don't sell when the market's low. Um, um, the best thing to do is stay in the seat and that's, it's the job of a good planner, get a position in place, get a plan in place, and then execute on that planet, stay in the seat. That's the best thing you can do. Um, so that's,

Speaker 2:

So one of the questions that I had asked you because I am a realtor and, um, real estate investment is part of my world. Um, and I get asked this, which you probably do too all the time, which is how's the market. Should I be investing? Should I be wholesaling flipping? What kind of real estate should I be doing? Obviously right now we have so many people coming from the Northeast due to high taxes, high property taxes. And then of course we're a no state income tax state here in Florida. So it's a very desirable from that perspective place to come along with, we have amazing weather and our lifestyle here is bar none. Fantastic. I mean, I don't know. I mean really, maybe California, but that's a whole other issue over there. They're coming here now. Right. Um, so talk a little bit about real estate and, and your thoughts on that. And I know that you started your career during the housing crash, which presented opportunities just like COVID did, as horrible as this has been. And I had COVID mid-summer it was horrible. So I really do not take anything that's gone on, uh, during this time lightly. Um, but there were some moments of clarity for me, and also some positives during this entire time. Surprisingly, one of which was the real estate market did not crash. We literally, I think every realtor in South Florida exactly one year ago, basically, right. Went, Oh, what are we going to do? I mean, that really was it like, Oh my God, here we go. Again, many of us had gone through that. Hasn't crashed and you literally are like, Oh my God. And here we are, and this is the craziest market. It's busy, multiple offers on properties and who would have thought, so I'd love for you to share your insight with our audience today.

Speaker 3:

Um, all of those things are so true. Um, we're in a total housing and building boom. I was actually worried about doing this Instagram cause there's four houses that are by my driveway being constructed on it. Boom. Yeah,

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Don't worry about it. My dogs will bark any minute.

Speaker 3:

I know I'm always thought as a wealth manager that you need real estate and marketable investments and liquid investments that are invested in the stock markets. Um, I've always think thought that they're complimentary and you really need to have both. And to the extent that, um, you can get into a home that you own or condominium that is really important now in a situation like this, where there's offers multi and cash offers in sight unseen. I don't know what to tell people. I know you can't time. The investment markets. I, I think there's a lot of cyclicality to the building markets and, but I just don't know how to time it. I, I think this wave of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, uh, Vermont, it's all coming down, it's continuing and it could just be, Hey, get in participate, stretch. I will tell you that every first-time home buyer, it feels like a stretch. I know horrible in the first year, especially because you're not sure if you overpaid, you're not sure you may not be able to furnish the house. Um, and you feel just very cash poor, but it's almost stretch. Um, and right now the stretch for the way that these, um, houses are priced. I mean, you know, things that were 400 or 500,000 year and a half ago are closer to 800 or 900,000, but you've got to pay to play. And hopefully the market values just continue to go up.

Speaker 2:

One of the things that I am seeing too, is our friends from up North are having sticker shock. They are coming here and they're looking online and they're saying, this is a million dollars, that's it? And I'm like, I know you're going to have to make the decision that you're going to get what you need to get to get out because that's what they want to do. And look at all the other positives. And you may not have the biggest house on the block. You may not have the same size house that you have up North. Um, but you've got to look at the other reasons that you're here. And then maybe in a couple years, you upsize, if that is your jam, you know, um, and it's a shock when I talk to people and I looked at houses with some clients recently and they're surprised. So

Speaker 3:

What would be your advice to people looking at purchasing homes right now? What are you telling them?

Speaker 2:

First thing is, um, if you love something and it hits most of your, you know, boxes, make the offer and make it your highest and best offer because you're, you know, we have multiple offers on everything don't waive your inspections, do not waive your inspections. If you need to do a two day inspection, then do a two day inspection. I would feel very uncomfortable agreeing with a buyer to do that because you just never know. So, you know, at some point though, when it's happening is they're having to remove the contingency just to be competitive. And that's how this market is. That's a little scary. Um, but it is what it is,

Speaker 3:

No inspections. And our people get then going on the other side and getting mortgages like cash out refinances.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Some of the people are doing that. Also a lot of cash right now, like cash purchases. And of course, sellers love cash purchases because there's no appraisal contingency typically. So lender, lenders not requesting it. So that's a little reminiscent of the housing boom that we experienced before. And that is a risk that you're going to take that could you end up being upside down at some point, maybe who knows? It's hard to say nobody has a crystal ball. Um, but I'm, I'm a firm believer that, um, if you can get some sort of inspection, get one, like one onesy twosy, like just get in there, make sure there's nothing serious, like mold, it's the big stuff, mold, roof AC. You want to know.

Speaker 3:

Now, one of the things we talked about privately and aside when I spoke was how, um, real estate is the great equalizer in a lot of ways for women. I mean, we've all heard of the corporate world being paid less than men. Goodness knows it's happened to me. It's happened to me. I know you can't get away from that. What a spirit you can own. Anything privately. No one has to know you run it best men or you flip it. Is there any bit of that inequality in real estate or do you think that's a great play for people who are, who have the neck for it?

Speaker 2:

I think it's a play. I love it. It's something that I, um, want to do more of this year and continue because I do like it and I do feel, um, it is a great equalizer and you're right. You know, not everybody needs to shout to the world how rich they are, you know, and I think it's all about being comfortable. What makes, so, you know, you see realtors, you know, putting out there that they sell things and this is what they've done. And at the same time, um, is that it's an it's important to them. Of course. And it's important to me, like if I have a really significant sale, I do want to share that. I think people want to see that you're successful and you're active in it. But at some point, when does it stop really being that important and you know, you know what you need to live the life that you want, like that if$150,000, you know, is cool for you and that makes you happy and that lets you do what all the things you want to do fine. If 60,000 does, that's fine. You know, like there's no rhyme or reason, right. It's really, I think what makes you happy? And you talked about these high high-end clients that you've worked with and you know, and the happiness piece of it.

Speaker 3:

Right. Right. And I will say a lot of, um, what I've seen and this is, you know, a lot of people, the wealth is not their sense of purpose. It's what they're doing. It's what they enjoy doing. And they get a charge out of that. And, and, and if you, you know, at some point you have enough money, have enough money, uh, it makes your life more comfortable, happier. Um, and there's actually been studies that over a certain amount of wealth, people are no happier. And actually that, that wealth number is around$270,000 to give you an idea.

Speaker 2:

Well, there you go. And you know, we have a lot of realtors that are watching right now, and I can tell you that to do six figures in real estate is really not that difficult, but ironically, the average income of realtors under 40,000 a year, I've heard, it's a shock. It's a shock when you really hear that. Um, and of course price point comes into play. So you may have to do more transactions if you're in an area with the lower price point, but if you're in an area like this and you study your career and you know, you've been mentored and you know what you're doing, you should be able to hit at least a low six figure, a hundred thousand, you know, with what you're doing. Um, but that's a really interesting number 270,000. I, I really had no idea and I'm sure people watching and listening wouldn't even think that most people think, well, you know, if I have a million I'm happy, but you're right. That's fantastic. I love hearing that kind of stat.

Speaker 3:

Um, you know, one of the things that we talked about and I spoke about it, the lunches, um, being careful who you give money to, um, and how you can easily part with your money, if you're not being careful. And I thought it would be very good to talk about a couple of cases, cases are always more interesting cases or give you a sense of the real people behind it. So, uh, first example, um, when I started in this, um, in this business a very first week, I met with some people who had won the lottery. Um, they were up in New York. Uh, gosh, I forget how much they won. Probably at least 150 million after taxes. And they, um, they didn't even go home to their neighborhood that night when they got the winning ticket. And they saw that they had won. They didn't go back. That's how bad their neighborhood was in New York. And, uh, they were just fantastic people, very, uh, generous. And they gave a lot of money too. So that 150 million in about five years' time was down to 30 million. Oh my gosh. And what did they do? They did a lot of things. They gave a lot of money to family members and they built a lot of, they got a lot of houses. They got the cars, they did all of that. I didn't really invest the money. They just spent it down. Um, one of the biggest things that they ran into trouble with us, they wanted to give back to their church and they gave their pastor, um,$8 million to go to the church. And that pastor left a country. He absconded, he was, um, and here these people were trying to do something good. And I'm not saying by any means that you shouldn't give money to your church or your temple. I'm saying this was an example of giving money to a bad person that meant ill. That was not, and, and really tripped them because they had trust. So you have to be really thoughtful about you giving money. Another, a very good example of giving a lot of money, um, and not having it go your way is when Mark Zuckerberg made a huge donation to the New Jersey school system, but he didn't really have a plan. It wasn't a foundation, it was a bit of a mess and it didn't achieve what he wanted it to. And that is, you know, so he he's been vocal about, he, you need a plan. If you're being philanthropic, you need to make sure the money goes to the right place. Talk about family members for a minute. Family members are wonderful and we love them and we want to help them. But everybody has had a family member that just no matter what they get, it's gone. And they, they really can't save urgency after the next. And there's not much you can do. So I was working with, um, a basketball player and a very large family, and they were always asking for, for money. And he didn't know initially what to do. And an aunt that asked him for money to, um, replace her roof was$29,000. And of course he said, sure, he to replace your roof. Um, and he gave her the money directly. So the next time you went to her house, there was no new roof. There was nothing. And he felt so low in that moment. He felt so betrayed. Um, it hadn't been used, he didn't know how it had been used. Um, so, you know, giving loans to those family members that are not responsible, you may as well say goodbye to the money, if you're okay with that. So be it, but don't expect to get that money back. It's really a gift. Um, and there's gifting strategies. You can give up to$15,000 every year, um, to, to people, um, and not have any kind of gift taps or, you know, there's, there's ways to do this. But what he did was pretty interesting. He set up his own, uh, family foundation, not really foundation in that he required was required to spend anything and it wasn't charitable, but he basically set up the structure for the whole family and said, I'm only giving$10,000 a year to you guys. And what you want to do with that, it's gotta be toward education or some sort of, you know, causes that he had laid out in advance when he put up that gate, that was when things normalized for him. And he felt he was able to give money. So instead of giving to the aunt, pay the roofer, he paid directly instead of giving to an uncle to pay for their children's education, they cut checks to the school directly, or he bought the backpacks or the school supplies directly. Was it an extra hassle? Yes, but it made sure the money went to the right place. And there are so many people knocking on your door when you're a professional athlete. And one of the things that we deal with as wealth managers, when we're working with them is the posse. The posse could be like 10 people that are trusted advisors that are surrounding the person. And it can get overwhelming when you're talking to people about their money, because all of those people, a lot of them anyway, have their hands out for that money. So when you're dealing with professional athletes, um, it's so much about trusting the right people. And LeBron, James is a terrific example of someone who's done this very well. His, um, his family office manager, who's like one of his best friends from high school and he's kept it really tight. He trusts him and they surrounded himself with good advisors with lottery winners that I was talking about earlier, got into trouble, is they, their brother was an accountant. He was a CPA. So they gave the money to do the tax returns. And he did on a tax software, which you really can't do for such a large, um, family. And there was an IRS tax penalty of$4 million as a result. So surrounding yourself with good advisers is so important. If you have someone like you for real estate, like me, for wealth management, we're going to help you get that team to help you get the right CPAs. We're going to make sure you don't invest in things like Madoff. We're going to make sure that you are covered and that your, everything is on the up and up in quite frankly, in South Florida, you know, people are easily parted with their money by hearing about stock picks or, you know, sort of investment funds on the golf course. And there's very little vetting of those investments. It's you really need good advisors in place. And, um,

Speaker 2:

And you know, I will tell you, and this was back in 2011, I think it was. And, um, I had a referral for a buyer whose family members lost money through Maydoff. And so, you know, you kind of six degrees of separation. And then I saw on, I think it was the today show, uh, Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas are doing this podcast about married couples. And a lot of people don't know that Kevin bacon and Kyra Sedgwick lost everything because it made off, they lost a huge amount of their life savings because they, if there was probably more like a handshake thing. Oh yeah, yeah. Wink, wink, you know, Oh, well we're friends with this person. Oh yeah. He's a great guy. And you know, when you watch this series, um, there's a couple of movies about it, and that was pretty much how he did that, you know? And, and I think that you bring up some good points with the athletes and some of the things that they're doing or could be doing, um, when it comes to starting out, for example, you met my daughter, um, she's 25 and my other daughter's 30. Um, my other daughter works for an airline is she is getting matching for her four Oh one. Um, they have done them just extremely well under the circumstances of, you know, she was furloughed, but let me tell you something, they spirit, uh, has done a phenomenal job, uh, with their employees, like phenomenal. And she's going back in April, um, and I've always liked the airline. So, you know, there you go. But that piece is really good for them, but my other daughter is an independent contractor. So for, you know, people that are starting out independent contractors, um, who would you recommend that they reach out to? I know, uh, you know, people like yourself sometimes have a certain, um, criteria in regard to how much money somebody has before you work with them, because you've been doing things for a long time. So, you know, what your criteria is, but what kind of thoughts do you have on people who are wanting to get started?

Speaker 3:

I think, um, you know, I, I have to, the gig economy is the direction everything is heading. So you're, you're, um, independent contractor that that's what's happening. That is the new, um, that's the new economy. And that's how a lot of people have gotten by, especially in the pandemic. Um, I think for, for them, it's, you know, your daughter is a photographer, right? So I think it's a matter of getting my AirPods connected. Hold on, am I unconnected on the airplane? You sound fine. Okay, go ahead. Um, so I think for them get, try to get big clients. Then it's all about connections because if you have one or two big clients, then you are golden, but if you have a million small clients, you're going to get very distracted. It's going to be hard. There's only so many ways you can get stretched. Um, so I think for your daughter, who's the photographer. She's got to get into corporate photography. Probably it may not be her passion, but she's going to be great clients that are going to need her for every event. This puts things in a regular capacity and for the independent contractors, but even for a lot of real estate folks, the pay is so lumpy. So you've got even an out prepare for the bad times, trying to get those big clients in for, for a lot of people where you've got to be able to have, um, one or two people in your back pocket that are going to refer you. They're your champions. They're the people that say, you know, if you need to talk to a realtor, I know the woman it's Michelle. And you know, if she's, uh, an independent contractor, she's got to get that the only way to really do that is your network people, the people they know. And I will tell you that even in even my case, I work with a lot of accountants and estate planning attorneys, and I'll go to lunch back in normal times and I'll see them with other financial advisors and all of the financial advisors are buying them lunch and trying to get their referrals. Um, I think it's sometimes good, um, to figure out your five people.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I say your handful of baby, your handful. So does he

Speaker 3:

And those five people are in your corner and they're going to be referring you. So anyone who's starting a business, I would say that now I will tell you that what is hard for me to watch is how little opportunity there is for the millennial generation. I feel they have gotten the, the raw end of the stick.

Speaker 2:

They screwed.

Speaker 3:

I was too, there were pathways, there were training programs. Now it's, it's sort of the lost generation. And I have to, um, since my parents are on this call, I can't wait to talk about them. Um, they, they view sometimes that generation is not working hard. I have people work very hard, but they don't have a track. And so they're going to have to make their own way. They're going to have to be more to resourceful. And it's just unfortunate. I can't imagine coming out of college right now in the economy that we have. I mean, everybody is just taking a year off, taking a gap year, taking a Mulligan. This is the time. Okay. It's it's if I, and I really feel for the, for the millennials, um,

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I've said that consistently, um, in, in regard to, because my girls are that age, right. Um, that what I experienced and you nailed it, we had a track. So when I got out of USF, I came home, I put a bunch of resumes out there. I was either going to work for one of the big cosmetic companies like L'Oreal or Maybelline or something. And I ended up with working for men and speed stick and baby magic and all that stuff. And within the year I have a good friend of mine worked for Warner-Lambert, which is now Pfizer. And when I tell you, I had like nine months of experience with men and then boom, I segwayed over to Warner Lambert. And let me tell you, the interview process was, we're going to be at a hotel. Connie says, you're great. You have at least almost a year under your belt. When are you going to graduate? I said, well, I'm four hours short. I'm going to in Spanish. I got to take that. And they're like, we don't care. Just tell us that, you know, you're going to graduate. Okay, fine. Do you want the job like seriously, but the training and I'll never forget this. The training that I had, I had just started dating my husband, Andy, who we went to Boca high together. And he was taking me to the airport. I was on Eastern airlines. Did I just date the hell out of myself? Eastern walked into the airport and guess what happened? Eastern went belly up that day, that moment. And that's a fly on continental. I got on the flight and went up for a week, a week, full week of training and Morris Plains, New Jersey, and literally did video presentations because I was calling on Publix and Ecker drives and things like that. And they would not let you go into the field without that training. I don't think anybody gets that kind of training anymore. I mean, this was, uh, incredible. And then the other thing is the millennials are having to rely on purchasing courses, which that's why that's boomed like these online courses, online influencers who are teaching you how to use canvas, how to build light rooms, how to have a sales funnel so that they can, you know, learn how to have this secondary income, the gig economy, because there's nothing out there for them to learn this. So you're spot on with that Becky spot on

Speaker 3:

Flip side, uh, being on a track, I felt like I had to graduate college. I was going into finance to get to the next level. I had to get an MBA. And I am seeing people go right into Google. I'm seeing people go right into all of the tech companies without that background, without having to do that slog. And I'm sort of jealous,

Speaker 2:

I'm so jealous.

Speaker 3:

I was able to use the MBA and at that time I needed it. Um, but that that's the flip side is he can really just go straight into something. Um, you know, the sky's the limit. Um, and my advice in people who, for young people that do get into corporate jobs is, you know, stick with it for a couple of years. Don't be out of there in a year, you know, try and learn what you can. But I w I will say, just from my experience, if you, um, have a boss that's holding you back, or that's limiting you, um, and sometimes unfortunately, it's women will limit other women. And for sure, there's a Harvard business school, uh, paper on that called the queen bee effect and will feel threatened. Um, and I, you know, by younger women who were pretty and, you know, we're in the, in the workforce and, and, uh, they keep them down. If you're working for a queen bee, you got to try and get out of that situation. Maneuver. If you're in a corporate world, you've got to maneuver to get the good boss. That's going to advocate for you, just like in the independent contractor world, you've got champions. Um, if you cannot maneuver in some places you can't, um, then it's time to look at, um, moving on and the right recognizes your value and uses your skillset properly is going to profit from you. And we're going to want to keep you happy. And there's no sense in being unhappy at a place because the corporations do lay people off. Now they're not a set deal. Okay. I'll go through a couple of years where I'm unhappy, but I'm just using them as an example, but Procter and gamble, they're going to take care of me. I'm going to have a pension and I'm going to have great health insurance, and it's okay. And we're all a family. And that really, that loyalty is just not there anymore. So, you know,

Speaker 2:

Really not there at almost any of the companies. I mean, I think it's great to be loyal to a company until it's not great. And that's kind of how I make decisions now. It's like, I just made a decision to change companies, subs with a fairly large company, great run, um, great company. But sometimes you just go when it's not working, it's not working and you can only make something work for so long. And then you gotta, you gotta, you gotta move on, you know, and, and back to your point about queen bee, Oh, that happens at my age still. And, and, you know, you just get to a point where you're like, are you kidding me? Get over it? You know? I mean, I like to think I'm a pretty nice person, but I have absolutely dealt with the queen bees throughout my entire career. And, um, even in the nonprofit space, you know, there's this new ring. Okay. You can run the show. I don't care.

Speaker 3:

I've heard, I have friends in the nonprofit space and between that and academics.

Speaker 2:

Oh, for God's sake, it's ridic. It's ridiculous. And speaking of you brought up Jeff basis, cause we're going to wrap up here. Um, I read, and I think I posted it that his ex-wife and I can't remember her first name. It's Mackenzie, Scott it's McKenzie. Scott has donated more with what she received in her settlement than he has. So I'm like, there you go. That's the way to do it.

Speaker 3:

One of the things that I wanted to talk about is women are having a lot more wealth or heiresses to fortunes and running the companies. And so women have wealth now and the game, the balance has shifted. And even if you look in the list of billionaires, the amount of billionaires that come up that are women are astounding. They're really almost there. They're at least a third of the billionaire's list and they're running companies and they are doing,

Speaker 2:

But I just, I love like I'm looking forward to the Oprah interview on Sunday of dating this, this, uh, interview with Megan and Harry. It's going to be very fascinating because obviously I'd love to know what he's leaving behind, but, you know, it's, it's like, you don't know what you don't know, and nobody knows what's going on behind the scenes with anybody, with your money, with what's going on behind the scenes. And like you said, the credit card millionaires. I mean, that's been going on down here for forever. And, um, you know, you just kind of have to laugh. I, I mentioned this, I was doing an interview with ENS, um, Garcia who has ism.com. And she's a, she's a fantastic realtor, but she specializes in these unique architectural properties, uh, down there that are significant, like the old deco properties and things like that. But, um, so I've been watching Miami vice and, uh, I saw an old Don Johnson interview, uh, from probably a couple of years ago. And, you know, he did very well with Miami vice. Um, wouldn't say he's like, you know, uh, crazy billionaire person, but the interviewer was very funny about what she said to him, which is like, you don't seem like you've changed that much from that person that didn't have the fame and the wealth to the personnel. He was like, yeah, I don't understand people like that. And I thought, that's that's I love that. Like that to me was like the perfect thing to say. And I thought, wow, I wish more people were like that because you do see how that changes. And, um, it's interesting how a little bit of money can really change somebody. And so, um, I've really appreciate everything that you've shared today. I'm sure my audience is going to have questions. They can certainly DM you here. Um, this will be on the podcast, so focus stories, and it will be, um, on YouTube at some point. And, um, tell everybody where they can reach out to you and connect with you.

Speaker 3:

Sure. If you, so my name is Becky Lightman and my company is Lightman capital, and you can go onto Lightman capital.com. And, uh, it's L I G H T M a N. And you'll see all of my contact information there. You can DM me here at Beck light, and, uh, it's just been a pleasure to be asked to be on your program, but also I enjoyed the conversation. It's always fun to hear about different industries. It's very interesting to hear about real estate in Florida right now. So very topical,

Speaker 2:

Well, your perspective is fresh. And I think it's something that a lot of people have been wanting to hear. They don't know who to talk to. And I think you've given some oversight that will hopefully allow some of the people watching and listening to say, okay, it's time for me to make some changes. Um, this is, this is what I need to do. And maybe they'll reach out to you and you'll be able to guide them. And I certainly am happy to refer anybody to you as well. This has been so much fun and I appreciate your time today. Happy, happy, happy, happy times for all coming soon. All right, guys, thanks for joining us today. And thanks Becky for coming on the show. We will see you soon. Great bye. Hi, thanks again for joining me today with this week's episode of stove, focus

Speaker 1:

Stories, if you would like to be considered for an interview or would like to sponsor the show and blog, please feel free to reach out to me. The link is in the show notes. I hope you have an amazing week.