Lianne Shinton (00:31)

Hey everybody, I'm

Lianne Shinton from Automation Dogs and welcome to my podcast. I have not done one of these for a while, so I'm a little out of sorts because we have been moving to Florida. And today I have the pleasure of interviewing some folks from Texas who are dog trainers, but also have a background and a business to help us dog trainers with some of the plans for our future, finances, things like that. So Jose and Laura, welcome. How are you guys?

Jose and Laura Sierra (01:01)

Thank you, Lianne. Doing great. Happy to be here.

Lianne Shinton (01:05)

Happy to have you guys. This is the first time I have had someone on that's helping dog trainers with their future plans. So maybe share just quickly like the two businesses that you have, your dog training company and your financial money company.

Jose and Laura Sierra (01:27)

Yeah, absolutely. so I guess it goes all the way back to when I started, you know, working with dogs. in two thousand six. I I became a military working dog handler in the Marine Corps and I served two tours of duty in Iraq with my with my military working dog. when I got out of the military, I continued to

To work with dogs. I started getting into pet dog training. I worked with with TSA for a few years with their explosive detection dogs. I also did some private security work out in Indonesia with working dogs. And around 2016, I attended Star Mark Academy and graduated from their canine training and behavior specialist school course.

And from there just w continued to train dogs until about twenty eighteen. I started to do basically start my own business and we've been in operation Semperamichi K9 training since since about two thousand eighteen and to and and you know until or we're presently going. So

So that's the that's pretty much the history on on our business. You know, we're we're based out of Umble, Texas, which is a northern suburb of of Houston. And couple years ago, we basically were looking for for help with our own private our personal finances. so as we were looking for help with our personal finances, we came across this company and

We spoke with somebody there and they not only s they not only helped us with our personal finances, but they educated us. They told us exactly, you know, what steps to take based off of where we were currently at in our lives and what we you know what we wanted to see in the future, you know, how we wanted to to live, you know, pre and post-retirement. So

That information was very powerful to us. The education alone was was worth meeting with this you know with this man who has become our mentor. And since then we've been able to get out of debt. We we have built an emergency fund for for ourselves, and we have started to put our money into places that will grow for us and allow us

to get to where we want to be in retirement. And so we thought, you know, we we thought, well, this is something that that dog trainers need. This is something that dog trainers don't think about. and and I say trainers because because that that's my industry, right? But but pet professionals in general, do not think about it. You know, I'm gonna be training dogs or I'm gonna be grooming dogs until I'm eighty years old. You know, that was once my way of thinking.

And as I get older, I'm like, yeah, maybe that's maybe that's not something that that I can actually do feasibly. So so this has been something that I feel, you know, or that we felt that we can bring to our pet professional you know industry where

We can help people un understand not only what to do, but why it's important and and how they can live that type of life that they that they want to live in in retirement and and overall. So I wasn't the first one to get into it. you know, Patty was was was the one that kind of spearheaded that for us a as a family, just kind of you know, dove in. I I'm very much still involved with with our dog training business.

so she's you know, she's been running point on it. you know, and I and I help her and I and we do we do education together, you know, we educate people together, whether it's individuals, businesses, nonprofits. Nonprofits, you name it. So I'll let Patty kind of talk about, you know, what kind of got her into it before I kind of say what drew me to it. Well just really

Lianne Shinton (06:04)

Yeah, that would be great. And

l just to clarify, Laura slash Patty, I just wanted to ask before you start,

Jose and Laura Sierra (06:11)

yeah.

Lianne Shinton (06:13)

were you guys together in like 2006? Like or so you guys have been through all of this together. Starting this dog training

Jose and Laura Sierra (06:23)

Well in two thousand six.

Lianne Shinton (06:25)

life and him being deployed.

Jose and Laura Sierra (06:30)

So Jose and I actually got together after he got out of the Marine Corps.

Lianne Shinton (06:36)

Okay.

Jose and Laura Sierra (06:36)

we we reconnect well, we went to high school together and I actually did not like him. I thought he was rude. I had to I I mean that's the truth. I but he was obviously we're in high school and I was a nerd and and he was not. you know but we reconnected right before he got out of the Marine Corps.

and so I was there for the transition back into civilian life with him. I was there for his deployment into Indonesia and just, you know, the journey of transitioning back to civilian life. I was there for all of that. Yeah.

Lianne Shinton (07:14)

Wow.

I I think one of the the big things f that I found in in life and in everybody is money is a big friction point for a lot of couples. And you guys have

you know, face that head on and made a plan and you're aligned in it. And I think that's the piece where sometimes there's a disconnect there and and that can cause a lot of problems. And us being dog trainers, a lot of us are like mom and pop shops. And you know, it's it's a lot of friction trying to run a business together. And but I think money is even a bigger cause for arguments and divorce and things like that. So

It's just so interesting to learn from you guys today. And I just wanted to kind of point that out. And then so he Jose was actually overseas sent to Indonesia. Is that was that stressful?

Jose and Laura Sierra (08:14)

my goodness. It was incredibly stressful. sometimes I wouldn't hear from him for a couple days at a time. Because you know, with with the internet back then, it wasn't the best. So we would have Skype dates and sometimes he wouldn't show up for the Skype dates because the internet was weird. So yeah, we went through a lot. I feel like our our entire

relationship and marriage has constantly been going through trials. and we get through them. And what's beautiful about I know you mentioned a lot of couples go through divorce or there's a lot of friction when they go into business together. For us it's actually been the opposite. It's been such a fun experience to have the dog training business together and also have this business together. I feel like it's brought us

even closer and there's just a stronger alignment on so many different different levels. So I I feel so blessed to be able to say that.

Lianne Shinton (09:19)

And what yeah, Jose mentioned that you kind of started you guys off on this path. Like what was it that pivoted you into this for for wealth wave?

Jose and Laura Sierra (09:31)

Yes, so it's very similar to dog training in that you know how before clients come to us, they're like, Well, you know, I did something on YouTube, I researched this on TikTok, I saw this trainer over here, so they're finding bits and pieces from everywhere. That was me. I was Googling, I was reading books, I was doing all this stuff, but when it came down to actually taking action, it was very difficult to take action.

Because I was so confused. I didn't know what was the first step I needed to take. So when you come to a professional, you're dealing with one person, and the person is able to customize what's in front of them. Just like with dog training, right?

Lianne Shinton (10:13)

Make a dog trainer.

Jose and Laura Sierra (10:14)

Exactly. You wouldn't trait treat this dog the same you would treat another dog. You adapt and you work with whatever works for that dog. It's the same thing with finances. So when we met our now mentor, he was able to do a financial analysis.

saying, hey, this is what you want to do first. This is what the what makes the most sense with your situation. At the time I had a couple of retirement accounts from previous previous employments and so or workplaces. And we were able to roll over my money and it's incredible because I check I check my retirement accounts quite frequently. and to see the massive growth in only a few years is

In it's just a great feeling. It it feels good, you know, it feels good to see it go up. and I know that when I bring this information to clients and they take action, they get to feel that as well. so it's a a very rewarding experience to have.

Lianne Shinton (11:14)

I just wanted to take a deeper dive on what you just said because I think a lot of us we look at Amazon and we make a purchase and we feel really good about that purchase. you know, we we're you know, getting new furniture. Like I just moved and I'm like, I gotta go get new furniture. Like it feels really good at the time, but it also feels damn good not going out for dinner every night and not

shopping on Amazon for some things and then looking at that bank account is just that feels really good too. So how did did you want to maybe comment on a little more on that? Because I feel like that's something people miss is watching their bank account grow.

Jose and Laura Sierra (12:00)

Yeah, well, I mean, it feels good to see the opposite, right? So like you mentioned when you buy something from Amazon, all of a sudden if you check your bank account, it keeps going down. So

Lianne Shinton (12:14)

Yeah.

Jose and Laura Sierra (12:16)

having that sense of of gratification, like wow, I made the right move. it's it feels it just feels really good to to experience that and to know

So something that I kind of want to mention too is when we sit with our with our clients, we go over finding out what your financial independence number is. So the financial independence number is the number that you want to strive for and it lets you know that you can retire. so a lot of times people relate retirement with an age. Like they're like, okay, I'm gonna retire at sixty-five, but can you truly retire at sixty-five?

How much money should you have saved so that you can retire? That's why sadly sometimes when we go grocery shopping, like we'll still see an attendant in their eighties and they're still working. And sometimes you're like, Well, why are they still working? Like they might be getting social security, but that's not enough. They should have saved a little bit more. Maybe if they would have received this information sooner, they wouldn't be working still, you know? Yeah, absolutely.

It's it's one of the things that that drew me to to the business as well, the b to do this, to to be able to to help other people that have been in the same position that I once was, that, you know, I wish I would have received this information before I ever even joined the military. so that's been an that's been another community that I've been that I've been

passionate about helping is is our veteran community and and our military community. the kids that go into the military bef you know should know this before they go in so that they know what they should do. So that twenty years from now, when you're retiring at, you know, most you know, if if they went in when they were eighteen, at thirty eight, forty years old, you're re you're retiring, but can you really retire?

Right. I know I see a lot of veterans that still have to work another twenty years in order to actually retire, in order to be able to to enjoy that retirement. And so have being able to to to to educate them and being able to help them make these things happen and understand

how to how to manage their their finances through life, how to protect their their finances, how to how to grow their wealth and and actually create generational wealth. That is you know, that's very fulfilling for me.

Lianne Shinton (14:57)

I bet. And as you say that, you know, I of course when we were first talking, I'm thinking of Brett and I, but when you say that, like his little brother's in the Navy, and you know, he's probably gonna make all the mistakes and stuff that we all make, but it would be nice to have a path to wealth.

laid out for him so he doesn't make all those mistakes and have to learn the hard way like you know the rest of us because it's it's nice when someone's already kind of been through the pain and can be your guide in this. what would be something you guys do that helps you stick to a budget?

Jose and Laura Sierra (15:40)

Yeah, it's a really good question. So I would say like check-ins. So I mentioned that we do the financial analysis with our clients. I try to do a financial analysis for us every quarter just to make sure we're still on track to meet that financial independence number. so that helps. And I have a couple clients that have asked, Hey, can I do that? Can I meet with you every you know, usually we meet up once a year just by default.

But some people have asked me, hey, can I meet up with you every quarter? Or can we meet up maybe every other month and just kind of see where I'm at with everything? Am I closer to meeting that number? What can I do to, you know, figure out my debt? How can I get out of debt? And so just having those check-ins and even as a couple, communicating, hey, this is what came in, this is what's going out. We had an emergency, we had to take one of the dogs to the vet.

You know, we're we're short a couple hundred. what can we do? so it's it's important to kind of check in with each other too if you're in a relationship or if you're married. it's good to check in with your partner as well and having those conversations and kind of getting rid of that stigma where you don't talk about money. it's important to talk about it. especially if you have children, like start teaching them about this stuff. Cause I remember

As a child, my mom, my mom would she would do her, you know, her bookkeeping at the end of every week. My mom was always on top of her finances. My dad not so much, but my mom was. And so sometimes I wonder if if they both communicated better about their finances, if maybe they they would have not gotten a divorce eventually, you know. so

Yeah, I just think it's it's important to talk about money, not just amongst your yourselves, but educate your children as well. And stop using phrases like money doesn't grow on trees and sometimes I think parents put this mindset around money without thinking about it with for their children. They transfer that that idea when really we create we can create our own wealth, you know?

and that's something else that that we educate on and we talk about in the books that we that we go over. you can see here on the screen, all of our clients get a book. we generally give out an ebook after our first meeting, and after our second meeting, once we go over what what you want to put into action, we mail you a physical book.

We have our next generation book for younger people under the age of like 35. we have the How Many Works for Women, which talks about women at different stages in life, women that are 18, 38, 50, all the way up to their 80s. it even talks about domestic violence. All kinds of topics that are very specific to women are in that book. and then we have our our original.

book which is how many works don't be a sucker which is a pretty great book overall so just wanted to plug those books in as well

Lianne Shinton (19:01)

Yeah, and I

I love those tips too. I there was something that stood out to me, and it was when you were talking about the kids and you were talking about remembering your mom and your dad and how they were with money. And it would make me think how impressionable kids must be, because as you were saying that, I'm thinking, I am very frugal, and I my mom was very frugal, and my dad was just a spender, very showy with his money.

But I l definitely didn't go in that direction. I went more where my mom was. You it it's yeah, I think there's definitely something there as a child. So you have to be careful if you're out there being showy and buying all your new cars and stuff. The kids are paying attention and they might not end up making the life choices that you might want for them. So

Jose and Laura Sierra (19:52)

Definitely. Yes. And then also just like the wealth transfer, you know, going back to to like Jose touched on generational wealth. there is a wealth transfer that's that's happening actively right now. as you know, women outlive men and there are

There's a wave of baby boomers that are retiring and as they retire, maybe, you know, they start transitioning and passing. And a lot of times that money is left to their spouses, their wives. And so there's about believe thirty trillion dollars that are about to lay in the hands of women worldwide.

And so it's important for women to be educated in their finances so that they know what to do with that wealth once it lands on their laps. So that's something that I just really wanted to also like educate people on. It's important that everybody learns about money and how it works and how it can work for you versus you working for it.

Lianne Shinton (21:01)

And I think you know, when you you've mentioned women, a lot of times a couple, one of them will handle the finances and then the other one doesn't even know what accounts they have or credit cards and what's going on over there. It could be bad or could be good. I don't know. so maybe if you could share a little bit about and it's it's not specific to women, but just one of the the people in that couple, not.

Be knowing what's going on. And then what if something happened to that other person? You're like, I don't even know how to log into Bank of America over here.

Jose and Laura Sierra (21:36)

Yes.

Yeah, I mean that's very important. some a lot of times and and you'd be surprised. We talk to a lot of families that that the that the the man does handle all the finances. And then we also talk to a lot of families where where the woman handle all handles all the finances. So the the point is like it shouldn't just be one or the other. You should both know exactly what you know what you have and what you don't and

what's coming in, what's going out, and make a plan for what, you know, what happens if one of us is no longer here tomorrow. You know, what happens if one of us is all of a sudden incapacitated? Right. that that stuff you you need to know that stuff so that you can so that you can continue to move freely, you know, about your life and you know, and not have any hangups when it comes to

you know, to money or like if something all of a sudden stops or if this person's suddenly, you know, is hospitalized or or God forbid passes away. And it's so important to have it in writing. so important, not just not just logging into like you mentioned, like logging into Bank of America. It it's also important to figure out your estate plan. You know, if you own a home, if you have children

Where are the kids gonna go if God forbid something happens to you and your spouse or you and your partner? What's gonna happen to your dogs? Who's gonna take care of them? If you have a behavior case for your dog, can your sister that said she'd take truly handle that case? So yeah, I I love that I love what we do because we literally cover it all. We lead with education, we talk about how you can get out of debt.

We talk about how you can build wealth, how you can protect wealth, and how you can leave a legacy for your family. We cover it all. I love it.

Lianne Shinton (23:38)

Tell me a little bit more about pet trust.

Jose and Laura Sierra (23:42)

Yes. So we're actually gonna be having a webinar next Thursday, September third, for dog owners, dog trainers, anybody who owns a dog is welcome to come. We're going to have Jerry Kane, the founder and owner of what is inherit guard and plans USA. And so he's going to be going in depth on pet trusts and what it all entails.

how you can either just have a pet trust or add it to your estate plan. and Jose, I think you have some some statistics to share. yeah, I mean it it's kind of crazy because only about 26% of people that are dog or pet owners, should I say, only about 26% of pet owners actually have their pets in an estate plan. Right. And

That that's pretty low considering, you know, that's one of the things that people, you know, what what's gonna happen to my pet if something happens to me, right? Like I was talking about before, you know, with the with married couples, it's not just married couples, you know, it's it's your kids, it's your pets, you know, and and nowadays pets are pets are more family than they've ever been, right? we want we want to do everything for our pets. So what happens to, you know

to my pet if something happens to me.

Right. You so you have to have that, you have to have that plan, you have to have that in writing, you have to figure all that out because it's not just, it's gonna be, you know, my pet's gonna go to this person. Well, what level of care is your pet gonna receive? Do you want to leave money to your pets? Do you wanna designate do you wanna designate somebody to take take care of your pets, a caretaker, a trustee, to to oversee that caretaker? do you want

do you want someone to oversee the or a board to oversee the trustee and the caretaker and make sure that everything is going well, that the money that you left for your for your pet or your pets is going to be distributed the way that you you know that you want it to. And then what happens after that last pet passes away? If you have extra money, where's that money gonna go to? Right? So it's more than just who who do they go to?

You know, it's it's

Lianne Shinton (26:12)

Yeah.

Jose and Laura Sierra (26:13)

making sure that they have the proper level of care that they had with you when when you were alive or

Lianne Shinton (26:20)

Yes, and I can speak from first hand experience. I have I am part of someone's estate planning. So I know that I get their dog if something ever happens to both of them and a big chunk of money comes along with that dog so that I can make sure that he is taken care of and it's a lot of money. So I could see making sure that there's somebody available to make sure that that gets spent on.

It's funny, but

Jose and Laura Sierra (26:52)

Yeah.

Lianne Shinton (26:53)

it's it's a serious frickin' Malinois. Like it's no joke. So you you've

Jose and Laura Sierra (26:57)

Yeah. Yes.

Lianne Shinton (26:59)

gotta make sure that he doesn't get put out into the world and do something naughty or something happens. So you yeah, it's a lot of

Jose and Laura Sierra (27:05)

Absolutely. Yeah.

Yes. And in most states, I believe it's forty-three states now, they consider pets property. So that's why it's very important to have it all in writing.

Lianne Shinton (27:18)

Yeah.

Jose and Laura Sierra (27:19)

Yes. Because if you know, like like you said, a malinoir, right? pr they're they're they're intense, right? So what's gonna happen if nobody can handle that that malinois, right?

So if something happens, right, they could end up in a shelter or they could end up being euthanized. Right. so so it's like,

Lianne Shinton (27:41)

Yeah, absolutely.

Jose and Laura Sierra (27:42)

hey, no, you know, my my trainer knows exactly what to you know exactly what to do. Or, you know, whoever you designate. But instead of it them going, Okay, well, next of kin, here you go. Next of kin is like, I don't know how to handle this dog.

Lianne Shinton (27:55)

Yeah.

Jose and Laura Sierra (27:56)

And, you know, and then what happens from there happens. So And it's interesting,

Going on talking about pet trusts, while we were at IC IACP last week, I had a trainer come up and she was like, my god, I need to share this with all of my clients because I already have two dogs that were left to me with no trust. I just couldn't help but but feel bad and I had to take them in. And how sustainable is that when you have your own business, your own dogs, your own family.

Like how truly sustainable is that if you just start taking every single client's dog? you know, it's it's a conversation that

Lianne Shinton (28:36)

Yeah.

Jose and Laura Sierra (28:36)

needs to be had.

Lianne Shinton (28:38)

Yes, absolutely. Now you mentioned the IACP. How was it? Were you guys did you get to talk to a lot of people and find that they were like, We need this? I bet.

Jose and Laura Sierra (28:48)

yes, it was great. It was

amazing. It was an awesome experience. I would highly recommend that if you've been kind of wondering, should I go to this, absolutely go check it out at least once and get to meet other trainers, hear different perspectives, hear what other other dog trainers are offering for their clients and just make new friends. It's it's a really awesome experience.

Lianne Shinton (29:14)

Next year I think it's in Washington D C. Are you guys gonna plan to go to that one?

Jose and Laura Sierra (29:18)

Yes. Yes.

Yes, we will definitely be out there. Yeah.

Lianne Shinton (29:24)

We're definitely going to that one. I've I've

kind of been on the outskirts, but I've never been able to like tour DC. And is it happening during the week? Was it like a Tuesday to Thursday or something I saw?

Jose and Laura Sierra (29:38)

Yes, it was a Tuesday to Thursday.

Lianne Shinton (29:41)

So that way you could do the weekend before or after as like tourist time. I love it. Okay. I'm excited about that

Jose and Laura Sierra (29:46)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it was it was great.

Lianne Shinton (29:49)

one. And so you have the IACP that you just did, and then you've got the the webinar that's coming up on you said September 9th.

Jose and Laura Sierra (29:59)

So we have we actually have two webinars. We have how many works for pet professionals on September second. And on September third is when we're going to have the the pet trust. So it's called train for train for today, plan for tomorrow, learn everything about pet trusts.

Lianne Shinton (30:18)

Okay, and then how can people get signed up for the webinars?

Jose and Laura Sierra (30:24)

Sure. So they can click on the the flyer that we're going to provide to you. there's a a link on there that they can click and they can sign up that way through Zoom and they'll receive a link and they'll be able to to join us.

Lianne Shinton (30:45)

Okay, perfect. And then your website is beautiful. What's the website URL? Just so folks can look it up.

Jose and Laura Sierra (30:52)

Sure, so it's

it's wealthwave.com slash the Sierras.

Lianne Shinton (30:57)

Okay, excellent. And I guess back to when you were talking about got out of debt. I've followed like Dave Ramsey, I've read a book or two there. and that is definitely something that he preaches is to pay off your credit cards and stop using your credit cards. would you guys agree?

Jose and Laura Sierra (31:19)

Absolutely. Absolutely. To a degree. not to a certain extent. Yeah, not necessarily that you have to stop using them, but you have to be more conscious of the way that you use them. so I'll give you a little tidbit you know, here, but there's there's something called the the rule of seventy-two. All right. Have you ever heard of the rule of seventy-two?

Lianne Shinton (31:40)

No.

Jose and Laura Sierra (31:41)

So

The rule of 72 is basically a mathematical equation that will tell you how long it takes for your money to double with compound interest. So that can either work for you or against you. Right? Credit cards work against you. Right. you're you got anything in your like like savings accounts that give you maybe like point zero.

15 you know percent back on on your money. rule of 72 basically is 72 divided by the interest rate. If you do that, you it'll show you how much time it'll take for your money to double. Again, with credit cards, loans, and things like that, it's gonna work against you. you know, with your retirement accounts and and different savings accounts, high-yield savings accounts, that's gonna work for you.

I always like to say

Lianne Shinton (32:41)

I see.

Jose and Laura Sierra (32:42)

you also you also wanna take things like inflation into consideration. And that's usually steady around a two point eight to three percent. so you also wanna take that into consideration when growing your money. but typically those credit cards are gonna hit you a lot harder than than any, you know, than a lot of things that can grow your money. so you definitely wanna be careful with those with those credit cards, especially the way the interest rates are nowadays. yeah.

Lianne Shinton (33:11)

Yeah, and you mentioned growing your money and having like an investment account and that the you know the interest is working for you. I think it was literally like yesterday that Brett said to me, like, you gotta look at our finale day account. Like it's amazing how fast the money is growing in there. So is that something that you would recommend? Is that people are paying into like it's is it an IRA? Is that what it's called?

Jose and Laura Sierra (33:37)

Absolutely. There's so many there's so many things out there nowadays. there's accounts out there that will even give you up to 20% in interest. It's just people don't know about them. I'm glad that you

Lianne Shinton (33:50)

Answers.

Jose and Laura Sierra (33:51)

mentioned Fidelity. Fidelity is also on our platform. So we have over a hundred and forty different companies that we work with. and we we make sure that we customize a plan for the client in front of us. So if it makes sense that

maybe Fidelity is the best company to go with, we'll pair you up with them. If, you know, a different company like Franklin Templeton is better, then we'll pair you up with them. It really just depends on what we see is going to help you the most wherever you are. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's it's definitely a colleague of ours said this recently and it really hit it was like it's it's like a tailored suit, right? You

You can say, yeah, I'm a large or I'm a medium, but is that suit really going to fit you? Right. No, and the sleeves might be a little bit short. You might kind of feel a little bit weird in them, right? But if you go to a tailor who can take all the measurements that they need to take to know exactly what kind of suit you need, exactly the different sizes, you're gonna get you're gonna get that suit that you that you always wanted. Right. So so it's definitely it's very

It's very customized to where you're at. A lot of people will say, I don't need that because I don't have money. Well, that's why you need this. Right. It's it's it let's

Lianne Shinton (35:12)

Yes.

Jose and Laura Sierra (35:12)

figure out what's going on. Let's let's talk about it. Let's see how we can you know, how we can help you. you know, because what no matter what stage you're at, that's where we start. Right. And we and we build a roadmap for you to understand how to get from where you're at to where you want to be.

Lianne Shinton (35:34)

That that is amazing. And I think that it's it's something you want to get excited about. Money is something you, you know, you want to get excited about this plan for your future and lean into it. Because I was looking at some statistics that like Dave Ramsey was talking about, probably, and it was the wealthiest people are not who you would think are the wealthiest people, it's the accountants.

teachers and when I heard teachers it made me think of my mom. So she's a teacher and her husband was a firefighter that my stepfather was a firefighter. And she is just like, you don't have to worry about me. I'm good. Like she's traveling all the time. Like she's so brilliant about her money and she helped my my her mother and you know just a teacher mentality. I think that she the way she, you know, just ran her life and her finances, it

it paid off. Whereas, you know, my father who is very like entrepreneurial and like showy and everything, like nothing, nothing over there, but the teacher mentality. So lean into it 'cause then you can be like my mom who's like, I went to Africa last week and it's like, my gosh.

Jose and Laura Sierra (36:50)

Yeah. Yes, absolutely. And I'm so happy that you mentioned your mom being an educator because a lot of people on our team are educators. They ended up leaving the profession entirely entirely because they're like, I can just teach people over here and help them at the same time help myself and you know, go from there. And that's why we have this golden apple is because we're truly educating people about money. Yeah. Yeah.

And and this is

Lianne Shinton (37:20)

Yeah, and you guys are educators

for dogs and their owners too.

Jose and Laura Sierra (37:24)

Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's it's in our blood. it it's

Lianne Shinton (37:28)

Yeah.

Jose and Laura Sierra (37:30)

like you know, when when we do this it's it's such a fulfillment because yes, we are educators, we want to teach, we want to we want to help not only not only our own families and our own friends, but we this is ed education, this is information that you don't get in schools.

They don't teach this in schools.

Lianne Shinton (37:53)

Yes.

Jose and Laura Sierra (37:54)

I I I the most the most that I received in school was this is how you balance a checkbook. That was it. And and it didn't teach you about, you know, saving and about borrowing. It didn't teach you where you should put your money, where you know, retirement accounts. They don't teach you any of that. Taxes. Taxes, taxes.

Right. So

Lianne Shinton (38:21)

And it's so weird

because like the teachers are like, you know, rolling in the money, like but they're not teaching it. Sorry, mom, sorry. Hope you're not listening.

Jose and Laura Sierra (38:26)

Yeah. Yeah, and yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

And it's it's it's it it's education that really it's available if you have enough money. Right? It's available to the to the one percent that can that can afford these these you know you know these these hot shot, you know, financial gurus and advisors. but what about

the people, you know, that actually need this. What about the 99%? Right. So so that's that's who we're trying to reach with this, right? Everybody deserves this education. Everybody deserves to be financially literate. Right. it's very dangerous to not be financially literate. So, you know, that's that's the passion right there. That's the that is that that's what what is driving us in this business right

Lianne Shinton (39:25)

Yeah, I it's a clear picture of the negative and the positive. Like you mentioned, the shopping Amazon, it feels good, but you watch that bank account go down. You budget, you watch that bank account go up. Like it's it's a balancing act, but seeing it go up and and having investments going up, it's it that's the good feeling to lean into, not that good feeling you get for a few minutes when you purchase on Amazon or go out to a restaurant and eat, have a really fun dinner.

But yeah, leaning into just relax a little bit and watch that money grow.

Jose and Laura Sierra (39:59)

Yes. Exactly. And and nowadays there's there's these there's all sorts of apps that can help you understand what's going in, what's going out. for for me I use the Rocket Money app. you know, I'm not

Lianne Shinton (40:12)

Okay.

Jose and Laura Sierra (40:13)

I'm not affiliated, I'm not trying to plug anything. But but that's what I use for myself because I can see what's going in, what's going out. I can see how many subscriptions I've signed up for than I don't use anymore.

that I need to get rid of, you know, we we try to cut down on like our subscriptions and if we're and if we want to get another one, we cancel one. So that we're not always paying for so many things. so so that definitely helps us to keep track of you know, of what we got going on and and maybe we spent a little bit more money this month than we did last month and you know, yeah, that's so that's something that I would definitely recommend if if somebody's kind of

w either worried about, I don't know what's going on. Well that that will let easy that that's easy to to let you know, hey, you know what's going on. you know, connect it to your bank account and it tells you everything. And I will say

Lianne Shinton (41:10)

Yeah.

Jose and Laura Sierra (41:11)

the first time we did our financial analysis, as as my my now mentor was asking, Hey, how much do you spend on these subscriptions? We were watching it go up to like I think it got to like a hundred and fifty dollars on like

Apple music, Apple T V, Netflix, Netflix, Crunchyroll. Everything you can think of. We were like, my gosh, we didn't realize it was in the hundreds just to watch some streaming service. So, that was a big one. And even with the clients that I meet with today, it's the same thing. The subscriptions get everybody. And everybody thinks that they have less subscriptions than they actually do.

Lianne Shinton (41:53)

Okay, and you said that app was Rocket What? I've heard of it.

Jose and Laura Sierra (41:57)

Rocket money. Rocket money, yeah.

Lianne Shinton (41:59)

Rocket Money. Okay. Yeah, I've heard

of it. Very familiar, but I I'm definitely gonna be looking at that one. And I've heard this that subscriptions can really eat away silently. So that is a good

Jose and Laura Sierra (42:09)

Definitely.

Lianne Shinton (42:10)

tip. do you guys do like a a date night that's kind of budget friendly and are smart about it?

Jose and Laura Sierra (42:18)

Yeah. Yeah. So we so we kinda we kinda double dip sometimes on our on our pl on our date nights. so we enjoy pro wrestling. so we go to like local pro wrestling events and everything like that. And we also, you know, we we are also spons we'll we'll oftentimes be sponsors for them and we'll go out, we'll have a good time, we'll you know, we'll watch the local wrestling and and

You know, and at the same time, you know, prov you know, let everybody know what we do and and and try and try and help people along the way. And it's a write off. And it's so you write it off at the end. Yeah.

Lianne Shinton (43:00)

but I like

that though because I think it's important to have a date night and to have hobbies. Like for us, it's a bad investment, but we have an RV.

Jose and Laura Sierra (43:11)

It's

an awesome thing.

Lianne Shinton (43:11)

So

yeah, yeah, that's that's troublesome, but it's also given us so much freedom. You know, we've been to Yellowstone, we got to be on the road for two and a half years and create all these memories and things like that. And, you know, like well, other people like they drink or gamble or, you know, travel and and golf or whatever it may be, but we have our R V and that is, you know, our fun thing. It's healthy. So I I think it's it's good to to budget for a date night and

maybe to budget for dog sports, which can eat into our finances a lot.

Jose and Laura Sierra (43:46)

Yeah, yeah,

yeah. Yeah, but you do you do need to to treat yourself, right? Yeah, fill your cup. Yeah. Yeah. It's not about it's not about I guess

It's not about keeping you from having fun or, you know, making your life boring. No, you can you can do the things that you want and budget for it, right? Everything in moderation. And, you know, and and yes, it's very important to have those those date nights and and budget for for these things. We always say pay yourself first. Right. you you have to pay yourself first. You're you because you're paying all these bills, you're doing all these things, and at the end of the month, you're like, well, I'll use whatever I have left.

No, pay yourself first and then pay all your all all your other things. you know, whether whether you're saving ten dollars, you know, a paycheck or you're saving, you know, however much you can, right? but give yourself something and and s put that away and and budget for the things that you that you're looking to do and that the things that you're looking to have and and all that. I'm so glad you touched on that 'cause a lot of times people see it the opposite way.

And when you when we educate, hey, you you should be paying yourself first, their mind is blown. 'Cause a lot of times we're the last one. So we pay everything off, we go on a date night, we have all the fun and there and then you're like, snap, I gotta I gotta put something into savings when really you need to pay yourself first. You're you're the important one here. You're the one running the ship. So you gotta make sure you take care

Lianne Shinton (45:23)

Yeah.

Jose and Laura Sierra (45:23)

of yourself.

Lianne Shinton (45:25)

Yeah, you've got to have like goals a a like a goal to reach maybe at the end of the week or or whatnot. Yeah. Okay, some some fun questions. if Jurassic Park were a real park where there was real dinosaurs, would you guys go?

Jose and Laura Sierra (45:44)

Where there was no dinosaurs? No real dinosaurs. where there were real dinosaurs.

Lianne Shinton (45:46)

Real. Like it was real.

Jose and Laura Sierra (45:49)

Okay. I know she would. I'm into dinosaurs, aliens, all of that stuff. I love that stuff. So I probably would go. And I would go because she would want me to go and wouldn't go around me. but me by myself, no. I know how to read danger.

Lianne Shinton (46:11)

Okay, okay. Yeah, you've seen the movies, so you know how it ends.

if you could travel to any place in time, when and where would you go?

Jose and Laura Sierra (46:23)

that's a good question. That's a good question. I would want Yeah,

Lianne Shinton (46:24)

I know that one's kinda deep. Don't overthink it though.

Jose and Laura Sierra (46:29)

no, for me it's easy to answer that. I would I would go to like the peak of Mayan civilization. I would want to see exactly how they you know, study the stars and astronomy and how they created their aquifers and see the civilization at its peak. that's where I would want to go to.

I would choose I would choose some sometime in the future. I'd like to see, you know, where civilization gets to, what kind of inventions you know, have come out, what you know what people live how people live in you know in the future. Yeah, it's 'cause I'm sure it's not the Jets it's

Lianne Shinton (47:17)

and then if you guys weren't training dogs and you weren't wealth wave, you could be anything tomorrow and just have all the skill set, everything, what do you think you would do?

Jose and Laura Sierra (47:34)

That's good question. I think I'd wanna be an archaeologist. I think I going back to you know my

Lianne Shinton (47:43)

the Mayans too.

Jose and Laura Sierra (47:44)

civilization, dinosaurs, aliens, I'd wanna be an archaeologist and be beyond ancient aliens sometimes.

Man, I gotta go with Pro Wrestler. Yeah. I'd

Lianne Shinton (47:59)

Yeah.

Jose and Laura Sierra (48:01)

go with Pro Wrestler.

Lianne Shinton (48:05)

That's funny. That makes sense. That makes sense. Awesome.

Jose and Laura Sierra (48:08)

Okay.

Lianne Shinton (48:09)

Is there anything else that you would like to share about Wealth Wave or something to speak to our listeners, which are generally jo dog training entrepreneurs?

Jose and Laura Sierra (48:23)

Yeah. Yeah. I would say just know you're not you're not alone. And we were lost at one point with our personal finances. We got the help well partnering up with a financial professional.

And we're here to help you too. And it's all complimentary. We don't charge. We don't have a minimum. I know a lot of banks and places have a minimum. I saw I'm not gonna say the name of it, but they recently just said that they will not service anybody below five million dollars. And this is a company that used to service people that at least had a hundred thousand dollars in their retirement, now they're upping the game.

we're not like that. It doesn't matter if you have negative dollars in your account, doesn't matter if you have a million dollars in your account, anywhere in between. we want to educate you first and if you want us to help, we can service as well. So that's that's what I'd like to share with our people in the dog training industry. Yeah. For for me it's it's you know, it it can be scary to look at your at your numbers, at your

accounts, especially if you've been neglecting them for a while. we've been

Lianne Shinton (49:39)

Yeah.

Jose and Laura Sierra (49:39)

there, you know, and we we know you know, that that it can be a little stressful to to dive into that stuff and and start to kind of shake out the cobwebs and all that. But you don't know what you don't know until you know. Right. And so we're here to help you through every step of the way. All right. We

You know, we're not just it's not just one you know, if we help you, it's not one time we're gonna keep in touch with you and we're gonna make sure that that we that we help you through each stage of the process. like I said, you don't know what you don't know until you know. So that's for me that's that's one of the things that I wanted to to make sure that, you know, we kinda gave you is is, you know, we can help and we've been there and

you know, we'll help you every step of the way so that you know exactly what you have and exactly what you need to do to live the type of life that you want to live, not just in retirement, but everywhere leading up to it.

Lianne Shinton (50:44)

Yeah, I like that you identified, yes, it is stressful and it is scary. but like you said, Patty, that you're not alone. And I know for me, even if I have money in the bank, I don't even want to see a bill. Like I don't nobody wants to see a bill. So I have like this aversion to it, and I'm like, okay, well, I'm gonna have to like open this up one day.

Jose and Laura Sierra (51:05)

Yeah.

Lianne Shinton (51:06)

it it's even I just don't want to spend money. I want to save money, and I'm I'm kind of that side of things.

but so when you said e it's stressful and it's scary to look at that stuff, to learn it, it's it's so important and you're not alone. So I love that message.

Jose and Laura Sierra (51:24)

Yeah, you you you take the power back when you learn about it, right? And learn how to take control.

Lianne Shinton (51:31)

It's like dog training.

Jose and Laura Sierra (51:34)

You know. There you go. Yeah.

Lianne Shinton (51:36)

Awesome. Okay, well we will see you on your webinars September second and September ninth, correct?

Jose and Laura Sierra (51:44)

Yes. September second and September third. They're back to back webinars.

Lianne Shinton (51:48)

back to back.

Okay. And one is on making your money work for you. Was that it?

Jose and Laura Sierra (51:55)

Correct. We're just gonna touch on some basic foundations that can help your money grow and then it should have been taught in schools. And then the set the

Lianne Shinton (52:04)

Mm, Mom.

Jose and Laura Sierra (52:05)

the third, September third, we'll be talking to Jerry Kane from

Lianne Shinton (52:09)

Pinterest.

Jose and Laura Sierra (52:10)

Inherit Guard to talk about pet trusts.

Lianne Shinton (52:13)

Perfect. Great two topics. Awesome, guys. Well, thank you so much, Patty and Jose, for joining me today. Everybody, thank you for listening. I'm Lianne Shinton and thank you for listening to my podcast. I hope you got some great takeaways and I hope we'll see you on Jose and Patty's webinar.

Jose and Laura Sierra (52:34)

Thank you, Lianne. Thank you so much, Lianne

Lianne Shinton (52:37)

Thanks.