Video transcript: "With the Bag to Match" Episode 1: Taking Financial Action with Egypt Sherrod

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THE DISCUSSION TODAY IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, THE SPEAKERS' OPINIONS BELONG TO THEM AND MAY DIFFER FROM OPINIONS OF J.P. MORGAN SECURITIES, LLC AND ITS AFFILIATES, VIEWS PRESENTED ON THIS WEBCAST ARE THOSE OF THE SPEAKERS; THEY ARE AS OF 10/18/2023 DATE AND THEY MAY NOT MATERIALIZE. THIS IS NOT AN INVESTMENT RESEARCH CALL AND IS NOT PERSONAL INVESTMENT ADVICE OR A SOLICITATION OR RECOMMENDATION, INVESTING INVOLVES MARKET RISK, INCLUDING POSSIBLE LOSS OF PRINCIPAL, AND THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES WILL BE ACHIEVED.

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INVESTMENT AND INSURANCE PRODUCTS:

Lauren Simmons:

In my financial career, I've taken over the New York Stock Exchange and I know how to make money move.

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Lauren Simmons:

Now, I'm inviting you to get all the way in your bag and never look back.

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Lauren Simmons:

Hey, everyone. Welcome to "With the Bag to Match," brought to you by SpringHill and J.P. Morgan Wealth Management.

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Host’s title and Career explanation appears in pale pink with a multi-colored line between the two titles and says: Lauren Simmons, Former NYSE Trader

Lauren Simmons:

My name is Lauren Simmons. This show is all about hearing from Black and brown women as we defrost the one topic we don't seem to talk about enough as women of color: financial wellness. Historically, we've shied away from openly discussing money, but not today. Today, we're talking to successful women about the infamous bag, how they claimed it, how they make it grow, and even how they treat themselves when their solid financial decisions pay off. While also setting the stage for timeless financial insights from our J.P. Morgan Wealth Management advisor, later in the show.

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Lauren Simmons:

Today, we have a powerhouse in the world of real estate and television, with a thriving career on HGTV's "Property Virgins" and "Married to Real Estate." Please welcome Egypt Sherrod.

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How I Got The Bag

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Egypt Sherrod

TV Host & Entrepreneur

Egypt Sherrod:

I've just been many things in my life, truly, and in my career. I mean, I was the rat at Chuck E. Cheese. Hold the laughter, please. I was working as a maid putting myself through school. I used to scrub those floors, listening to my music to get some inspiration, with big dreams of being a radio personality. So, once I became a radio personality in the number one media market in the world, hosting mornings nonetheless, I was like, I did it! Okay. I want more. What's the next goal? And that was to 'on my own.' No longer did I want to work for anybody else, I wanted to create legacy. And that's exactly what I do today and how I got the bag.

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The two women shown previously sit in velvet chairs, one chair is greenish yellow and one chair is purple. They are in a loft setting with a large pink and orange stained glass window and potted plants behind them.

Lauren Simmons:

Thank you so much, Egypt, for being here.

Egypt Sherrod:

I appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Lauren Simmons:

It's amazing to see how you navigated the path to success. But I want you to dive deeper into some of the wisdom you've gained along the way. You've posted a lot of intimate family moments. What are the most important lessons you're teaching your daughters when it comes to wealth management?

Egypt Sherrod:

To pick their clothes up and.

Lauren Simmons:

You're my mom -- and I'm 29 and she's still telling me that.

Egypt Sherrod:

I mean, here's honestly what I try to do, and I have a list that I created years ago. It's my legacy list, all the things that I want to make sure if I'm not here tomorrow that my kids learn and know. And so every day I kind of look at it like, okay, that taught her how credit works. Okay, Kendall can actually explain the underwriting process. Oh, okay. I told her she's going to have a heartbreak one day.

Lauren Simmons:

The underwriting process at 12?

Egypt Sherrod:

Well, my daughter owns -- well, I shouldn't say she owns because you can't convey title until you're 18.

Lauren Simmons:

Yeah. Yeah.

Egypt Sherrod:

But my kids own properties in our trust. I, obviously as a real estate broker and as an investor, I'm always on the phone doing a deal.

Egypt Sherrod:

And I didn't realize how much my daughter Kendall picked up on it. And she would ask questions like, what? Now explain a mortgage, Mommy. And tell me this and that. But I never understood she was being a sponge and digesting things. So one day she came to me and said, Mommy, when am I going to own a property? And instead of explaining it to her, I actually had a hard pause and said, you know what? Hey, Mike! Ask Daddy what you just asked me. She said when is she going to own a property. And we looked at each other and said, why not now? If she's asking and she's understanding, then this is the perfect time. We can teach and lead by actually doing. I want my daughter to understand ownership on a bigger level, not just you own property or you own land, you own your destiny. You can be the co-creator of your own destiny. So yes, build grit but, you know, when you turn 14 and you want to work a job, you know, you'll have the option. Do you want to go work and get the experience of working a drive-through window? I think that's okay because it builds grit. And Mommy, Mommy was a maid. Mommy worked the drive-through window. I was a rat in a costume in the arcade -- I did all of that.

Egypt Sherrod:

But you can also say, you know what? Instead of my property manager managing my properties, I want to learn that and I'll take over that. At 14, that'll be my job. She has her own business but she could also work a job if she still wants to. Choices, that's real freedom.

Lauren Simmons:

Yeah, is financial literacy enough?

Egypt Sherrod:

I think it is -- it's the seed, okay? It is the seed that we have to continue to water. It is the seed that can sprout a beautiful tree. But if you don't pour into it, meaning you yourself continue to, like I said, be that sponge and get the information, us, as the elders, pouring in to make sure that they're actually putting it into action, you can't do anything with the knowledge itself if you don't know how to put it into action.

Lauren Simmons:

I definitely agree with that. Along those lines, you've talked a lot about the concept of 'leave legacy, not debt.' How much of what you do is motivated by leaving a legacy for your family?

Egypt Sherrod:

Almost everything that I do now. Once you become a mother, everything changes, okay. After I had my daughter Kendall, she's now 11, she's about to be 12. And I remember just thinking nothing else matters but her. All moms can relate to that moment of where you're like what was I doing in my life before? I was so selfish. I was a narcissist. Why was I spending money on frivolous things? Everything has to be about her now. My goal for my children is to leave them a legacy, not debt. So many families, you know, so many people in general work their entire lives, save, you know, maybe only have three months' worth of savings in their bank account.

Lauren Simmons:

If that, yeah.

Egypt Sherrod:

Or earn a lot but don't keep a lot because they don't know how to make their money work for them. And so I'm on a constant journey of learning to figure out what else I can pass on informationally, you know, to prepare my kids for whatever comes next.

Lauren Simmons:

I can relate. I don't have kids but I have a twin brother with cerebral palsy and ectodermal dysplasia. And I know that he's never going to be in the capacity to work and to build.

Egypt Sherrod:

I get it.

Lauren Simmons:

And so whatever I can do to have a trust or to make sure that he's going to be fine, that gives me a peace of mind.

Egypt Sherrod:

Like 80% of my family, they're over 60.

Lauren Simmons:

Yeah.

Egypt Sherrod:

And so I know, in about a decade, they're all going to need me.

Lauren Simmons:

That's a lot of pressure. But yeah, but it's true.

Egypt Sherrod:

So my dream is to have a family compound.

Lauren Simmons:

That's my dream too!

Egypt Sherrod:

I shouldn't say dream -- vision.

Lauren Simmons:

No. Yeah. Because we're going to manifest it. We're definitely beginning to -- and it's going to happen.

Egypt Sherrod:

That's what we're doing. We're putting it into action. I've been buying acres, just buying acres.

Lauren Simmons:

I love it.

Egypt Sherrod:

So that my family, their family, their kids, their kids, their kids will always have -- land is the one thing they're never making any more of.

Lauren Simmons:

No. No.

Egypt Sherrod:

The earth -- go get you some.

Lauren Simmons:

That's so important.

Egypt Sherrod:

So that is -- my plan in the next decade is to just kind of move everyone on our land so that I know that they're taken care of and generations to come will be able to take care of each other.

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The Confessional

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Woman in black shirt and yellow skirt shakes hand with man in producer’s headset and sits in a chair in front of a multicolored square paned stained glass window as the man waves for another man to check the woman’s mic. There are two tropical potted plants in the background on either side of the window.

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What leads me to spend is…

Egypt Sherrod:

Usually what leads me to spend is a stressful situation. It's my catharsis. I used to be a stress eater and I really got a hold of that, and I don't know if this is better, but now I'm a bit of a stress spender.

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A Spend I can’t resist is…

Egypt Sherrod:

I cannot resist buying pocketbooks and shoes. I have a lot of them. Now, I don't necessarily buy the most expensive, it's just when I see something, I want it, I've got to have it. And if it's on sale, it makes it worse because I know it will not be here after today.

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My version of free is

Egypt Sherrod:

My version of free is when it ends with a.99, for some reason -- 3.99. When I go to the sale rack and it's something.99, it signals in my head, you know what? You've got to get it today because it's just not going to be here tomorrow.

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Pink and orange graphics slide in and reveal the two women shown previously sitting in velvet chairs, one chair is greenish yellow and one chair is purple. They are in a loft setting with a large pink and orange stained glass window and potted plants behind them.

Lauren Simmons:

Let's dive deeper into our next discussion. There's a lot of conversation about the fact that money issues are typically the greatest reason cited for divorce.

Egypt Sherrod:

True.

Lauren Simmons:

Tell me about how money conversations go with your partner, Mike. How did the two of you get to a comfortable space in talking about money?

Egypt Sherrod:

First and foremost, we've been together almost 20 years.

Lauren Simmons:

Oh, wow! Congratulations!

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Photo of Egypt and her husband Mike in front of a grassy lawn and a stone wall of a building. Photo is overlaid on a background of various shades of pink and orange.

Egypt Sherrod:

Thank you. I remember, it was one of our earlier dates, and he had to come clean to me -- or at least he called it coming clean. And he's like, all right. I really like you, but, you know, if we're going to go anywhere, I've got to put this out on the table. And he says, my credit is in the 500s. He goes I'm rebuilding. And you know, I'm.

Lauren Simmons:

Oh, goodness!

Egypt Sherrod:

Are you allergic to the 500s? And he was rebuilding. At the time, he had left his previous career and he went to go work in construction. But you have to actually, you know, you get those hours under your belt before you can get licensed.

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Photo of Egypt and her husband Mike in pink hard hats with tools standing by a staircase. Photo is overlaid on a background of various shades of pink and orange. Photo credit given to HGTV.

Egypt Sherrod:

And that's when I met him. He was in his rebuilding phase. So, number one, what I appreciated was that he was able to be honest. Because I think the foundation of every relationship is just honesty.

Lauren Simmons:

Dedication and honesty, yeah.

Egypt Sherrod:

So you can do that? Okay. So let me deal with this like a big girl. I said, what are the issues? Pull out your credit report. That was my response to him.

Lauren Simmons:

I love that.

Egypt Sherrod:

And he was like what?

Lauren Simmons:

So you were a 'I'm going to find solutions to the problem' kind of girl.

Egypt Sherrod:

And we basically leveraged mine as we continued to build, leveraged my credit until his got to a point of where he was over 800. There was a point where his credit score got higher than mine. I was so proud of him. But that is how we approach everything, just with honesty. It may be uncomfortable to have those conversations, but how do you get the help you need unless you speak up?

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Video footage of Egypt and her husband Mike in their Podcast studio with logos of “The Marriage and Money Podcast”. Footage is overlaid on a background of various shades of pink and orange.

Egypt Sherrod:

And so we have a podcast, my husband and I, it's called "The Marriage and Money Podcast."

Lauren Simmons:

I love that.

Egypt Sherrod:

And we deal with exactly that. From the rooter to the tutor, the best way that you can approach money conversations is, especially if you're the one who has to fess up. If you're the one who's in the hole is, number one, come with humility and a willingness to learn, you know? And then if you're the one who someone is fessing up and saying, I need help, you show grace, right? Show humility because I too, when I graduated college, I thought those credit cards were free? You know, when you're in college and they tell you get a pen and a keychain and you get a credit card! And I was shopping. And so I graduated in debt too and remember what that felt like.

Lauren Simmons:

Do you and Mike have different investment strategies?

Egypt Sherrod:

We do. He's very conservative and I'm moderately aggressive.

Lauren Simmons:

Oh!

Egypt Sherrod:

So I crash, I burn, I redefine, and I rise again stronger. So, for me to be able to do that, I have to stretch myself and take risks or else I'm a caged bird. So that is my truth and he recognizes that about me as well. So we just talk about everything first. Like I will not disrespect him and his feelings and what he's made of by just going out willy-nilly. I'll show him, here's the why. Here's the how. Here's the A, B, and C plan. And then he can get on board with me.

Lauren Simmons:

If you could go back in time, what would you tell yourself?

Egypt Sherrod:

To believe bigger. To think bigger. To stretch myself even bigger.

Lauren Simmons:

Is it a mindset?

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Stay tuned for more with our J.P. Morgan Wealth Management Advisor

Egypt Sherrod:

You can have a mindset of lack or you can have a mindset of abundance, which goes beyond money alone. But yes, there is a shift. There has to be a mental shift from money is what I work for to money works for me. I am in my 40s right now and I feel like right now everything is just opening up for me. It hasn't been that I wasn't working, I wasn't believing as big as I believe right now in my capabilities. For instance, I created a little LLC when I was 22 years old and, you know, I've been fooling in that LLC for years versus saying, you know what? I don't want to have to just like a little family business. I want to create a legacy business. Not I want to create it, I will.

Lauren Simmons:

I am.

Egypt Sherrod:

I am. I'm creating, you know, speaking that sort of life over myself in business and believing it to be. And the minute I started doing that, everything changed!

Lauren Simmons:

The door starts to open.

Egypt Sherrod:

But I also shifted my business structure to welcome growth. I used to be an LLC. Then I was an S-corp. And then I said, you know what? I'm going to -- I have an enterprise, Egypt Sherrod Enterprises, a C-corp. I can accept foreign investors. I can get all of the funding that I need and filter it down to all my different businesses. And who's to say I have to have one? I've got nine! And guess what? My family stays employed now, right? So, way back when, had I thought bigger and challenged myself to stretch the picture, to stretch the vision board even larger and not play small, I could've accomplished this -- I have a furniture line now, by the way. So Indigo Road Home Furnishings is my furniture line because I dared to dream.

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Lauren Simmons:

Well, now it's time for one of my favorite segments.

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Lanän Clark

J.P. Morgan Wealth Management Advisor

Lauren Simmons:

This is where I sit down with one of our J.P. Morgan Wealth Management advisors to break down those financial terms and popular conversation topics that can sometimes feel like a maze. Step inside as we 'Make It Make Sense.'

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Woman in green jumpsuit sitting in a chair and a Pink bubble graphic expands to say “Make It Make Sense”. The graphic disappears to reveal the woman in the green jumpsuit, Lauren, but she is now wearing a red silk blouse and blue jeans. She is sitting across from the woman in the gray denim blazer, Lanan in two velvety chairs agains a white brick background.

Lauren Simmons:

So Lanan, I'm so excited to get more insight into some of these terms and topics that we've covered with Egypt. In my conversation with her, she touched on how she and her husband have different investment strategies and levels of risk tolerance. How can couples with varying financial approaches find common ground and make informed decisions together?

Lanan Clark:

So I love that we're starting here. My husband and I, we're both in this industry but we approach what we want to do long-term differently. What we don't approach differently.

Lauren Simmons:

Is that common?

Lanan Clark:

Completely normal. Where I find that you find commonality is what the money is for, the legacy they want to leave. What do you want the money to do? You don't have to do anything sexy.

Lauren Simmons:

But what if I don't know? What if I don't even know how to articulate what it is that I -- and I'm sure a lot of clients that come to you don't know how to articulate that.

Lanan Clark:

There are people in the community who won't even go inside a bank, much less talk about, okay, how do I invest? Because they feel completely like just not in their bag at all, right? And so I think part of what we have to do is make it accessible. We owe it to ourselves to just ask the questions. Like the moment you ask the question and say, okay, the truth is I have no idea. That's going to take me admitting some vulnerability. That can be scary.

Lauren Simmons:

And that's why you hire professionals that walk you through it. Like they're not here to shame you, make you feel guilt, to make you have any like fear-based emotions. And if they do, then you need to be getting another advisor and working with a different team.

Lanan Clark:

Can we just say -- let me just stop right there and just say that.

Lauren Simmons:

It was interesting hearing Egypt talked about the mindset shift from viewing money as the ultimate goal to seeing it as a tool to achieve one's dreams and goals. Can you share some practical tips to our viewers how to strategically cultivate this abundance mindset?

Lanan Clark:

It's defined very differently for everybody. Abundance is a customized thought process.

Lauren Simmons:

Okay.

Lanan Clark:

I might think abundance, if I'm first generation of home-buying, just to even say that I've got my name on a deed, I mean, I'm over the moon. I never saw my family at X place. Versus someone who owns tons of properties but they've never been able to grab that one in Madrid. I can't define for you abundance because I don't know exactly where you're coming from and what you're trying to get to. That is my sole purpose in your world. Tell me what it's for. Tell me what we ought to do. And then tell me what your dreams are.

Lauren Simmons:

We also talked about the significance of diversification and investment strategies. Could you provide some examples for specific steps for our viewers to diversify their investments effectively, especially for those who are just starting out?

Lanan Clark:

So you might have money, for instance, in all equities -- we'll say equities, but stocks.

Lauren Simmons:

Yeah.

Lanan Clark:

You might have some cash that you decide to put in fixed income or bonds, treasuries, those kinds of things. Sometimes you might have things that are a mixture of the two in mutual funds, things that might be called that. Maybe you need a stream of income and you're making sure that you're in an annuity kind of a product, something like that because you're planning for long term. Many people have jobs where they offer some kind of a 401(k). So there are all of these different what we call asset classes where you can put your money. So, because at any given time, and even historically, not everything is working all at the same time.

Lauren Simmons:

The economy is cycles. So there could be an asset class that's performing better than one today, and then it can completely flip. Which is the reason why we diversify, right?

Lanan Clark:

A hundred percent. Nailed it! Perfect.

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Lauren Simmons:

Okay. Pop quiz for me. Thank you so much, Lanan.

Lanan Clark:

Thank you. This was wonderful!

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Lauren Simmons:

Well, that wraps up another insightful episode of "With the Bag to Match." A huge thank you to our incredible guest Egypt for sharing her journey and her wisdom with us. And of course, thank you to our viewers for tuning in. And a special shout-out to J.P. Morgan Wealth Management advisor Lanan for breaking down those financial terms and popular conversation topics in a way that truly makes it all makes sense. Remember, the bag isn't just a fashion statement. It's a symbol of financial empowerment.

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Lauren Simmons:

Don't forget to join us again for our next episode, where we'll be delving into more inspiring stories and valuable insights. Until then, keep securing the bag.

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SpringHill x J.P. Morgan Wealth Management

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