Invest in yourself "With the Bag to Match" Episode 1: Taking Financial Action with Egypt Sherrod

Money is the key that opens many pathways in life. It shapes how you build your career, navigate relationships and plan the legacy you want to leave for the next generation. But just having money typically isn’t enough – it’s important to build a lifestyle that centers financial success by learning what that means for you.

Former New York Stock Exchange trader Lauren Simmons sat down with TV host and entrepreneur Egypt Sherrod and J.P. Morgan Wealth Management Regional Director-Wealth Lanän Clark for the first episode of “With the Bag to Match,” presented by SpringHill and J.P. Morgan Wealth Management. The series features candid financial conversations from Black and other diverse women. Sherrod, Simmons and Clark discussed Sherrod’s path to success, practical financial tips from Clark and much more.

Sherrod, a real estate investor, business owner and host of HGTV’s “Property Virgins,” “Flipping Virgins” and “Married to Real Estate,” didn’t start her career with the goal of building a real estate empire or running multiple businesses. Originally, she wanted to be a radio show host.

“Once I became a radio personality, […] I was like, ‘I did it! OK. I want more. What's the next goal?’ And that was to 'own my own,’” she said. “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.”

Building financial success for yourself

Entrepreneurs and investors can be inspired by Sherrod’s story. Building wealth is a long-term process with many contributing factors, but a critical moment is when you start to envision what success means for you.

J.P. Morgan Wealth Management Advisor Regional Director-Wealth Lanän Clark discussed how you can jump into that process of wealth building, even if you’re starting from ground zero. Her first tip? Start asking questions and consider working with an advisor to help answer the questions.

“There are people in the community who won't even go inside a bank, much less talk about. I think part of what we have to do is make it accessible. We owe it to ourselves to just ask the questions,” she said.

Clark added that while vulnerability can be scary, admitting when you don’t know something is the first step in finding an answer – which an advisor can help you do.

As for what it looks like to be financially successful, Clark said that it’s different for everyone. “Abundance is a customized thought process. I might think abundance –  if I'm first generation of homebuying – is just saying that I've got my name on a deed. 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 as a financial advisor. Tell me what we ought to do. And then tell me what your dreams are.”

Teaching your children about wealth management

A big motivator behind financial success for many is sharing it with their family. This holds true for Sherrod, too, and she’s very intentional about how she shares her wealth with her children. She wants to not only set them up for success down the line, but right now, when they’re still forming their first ideas around money and personal finance.

This is why she and her husband set up a real estate trust for their children. Although her children can’t legally control it until they’re adults, they have the option to help manage the properties and learn more about the real estate business now.

“I want my daughter to understand ownership on a bigger level – not just ‘you own property or you own land,’ but you own your destiny,” Sherrod said. “Like – having your own business but still having a job if you still want to. Choices: that's real freedom.”

Having money conversations with your partner

Building a successful financial foundation for your family starts by talking about it with your partner. And people can underestimate how much their partners’ attitude toward money can influence their relationship. Sherrod has been with her husband Mike for almost 20 years, and the pair began having money conversations very early on.

“On one of our earlier dates he had to come clean to me – or at least he called it coming clean,” Sherrod recalled. “And he's like, ‘All right. I really like you, but if we're going to go anywhere, I've got to put this out on the table. My credit is in the 500s.’

Sherrod appreciated his honesty and immediately jumped into problem solving mode. Together, they were able to leverage her credit until his score reached the 800s. At one point his scored even reached higher than hers.

“That is how we approach everything – with honesty. It may be uncomfortable to have those conversations, but how do you get the help you need unless you speak up?”

Shifting to a mindset of abundance

If Sherrod could go back in time and give her younger self advice, she would tell her to “believe bigger.”

“You can have a mindset of lack or you can have a mindset of abundance, which goes beyond money,” she said. “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.’”

A good example of this is the LLC Sherrod started when she was 22 years old. “I said, ‘You know what? I don't want to have just a little family business. I want to create a legacy business.’ I didn’t say, ‘I want to create it,’ but rather – I will. I am. I'm creating, speaking that sort of life over myself in business and believing it to be. And the minute I started doing that, everything changed!”

Sherrod shifted her business structure from an LLC to an S-corp to an enterprise, and currently runs nine different businesses. She’s experienced firsthand the positive results of not setting self-limiting goals. Overall, the conversation drove the message home: If you want to reach a point of financial comfort, you can, but if you want to reach a point of true financial freedom and success, you need to stretch your mindset to accommodate that kind of growth.