Hello, my name is Pastor Phillip Davis, the host of Courageous Conversations.

Today on the show, I'm excited to have Dr Constance Craig-Mason.

She's a master registered financial consultant, bestselling author and the CEO of Concierge Financial Group.

Don't go anywhere, we'll be right back with Dr Mason.

Well, I am so excited to welcome you to the show.

I've followed your work and learned a lot about what you're doing, and you're doing tremendous work as it relates to finance and authoring books and inspiring people.

Dr Mason, tell me a little bit about how you have been able to arrive at the place that you're at.

What was the driving force behind who you are as a person?

- Wow, that's a great question!

You jumped right into it.

I will say the driving force behind me pushing forward is my children, my grandchildren.

I have grandchildren at this point.

- You look so young to have grandchildren.

- Oh, yes, I have a six-year-old granddaughter and a two-year-old grandson.

- OK, OK. - And they are everything to me, and I realize that even though my mom didn't go to college and didn't have a lot of resources, she taught us how to be resilient.

And that is something that I always strive foe every day.

I get up because, you know, sometimes you get the wind knocked out of you.

Life happens.

But I just remember seeing my mom get knocked down and get back up.

And so, I push forward and entrepreneurship I push forward in my marriage, I push forward in seeing other people win.

And it's not easy but it is necessary.

- You think about that.

I mean, you talk about your children and your grandchildren and that that really is talking to legacy, right?

Our goal is to make sure that our children do better than us, and the scripture says that a prudent person leaves an inheritance to their children's children.

- Right.

- So we should be working on multi-generational blessing for our kids.

And you're an expert in the field of finance.

It's very unusual, let me just say, to see an African-American woman as a financial adviser.

- Very true.

- Can you talk a little bit about that and why did you choose finance?

What was the drive to get in where the money is?

And I'll use this to lead in - in the African-American community, it is a known fact that we own about one tenth of the wealth of white families, right?

We know that much of it is due to historical, systemic, structural racism from banking, all the way to housing and other things.

But you've chosen to get in this space and inspire and really educate.

So, talk a little bit about that and how you have been able to do your work.

- I will say this - I did not choose entrepreneurship and I did not choose financial services, right?

What I chose to do was to invest in myself.

I chose to do like my mom said and do better than she did, and do better than my grandparents did.

Unfortunately, I don't know a lot about my family, my heritage.

And so, when you talk about legacy and generational wealth building, I believe it starts with me.

- Wow, that's crazy.

- You know, I'm 42, but I have two generations beneath me and they're watching everything that I do.

So, I chose to invest in myself by learning more about money.

And I want to say that Google University was my friend right out of high school.

- Really?

- I started Googling everything about basic life needs, how to open a bank account, how to get a credit card - things of that that typical families already know how to do, I had to google to find it out.

- That's crazy.

- And I don't see that as a disadvantage because before you have money to really invest in yourself, there's free resources right at your hand.

- Yeah.

- And so I used Google to learn about many things, and I continued to do that until my girlfriend introduced me to a financial opportunity where I could learn myself how money works, how to read contracts, insurance policies, mortgages, all of that.

And she said, you're already passionate about growing yourself, you could help other people who are in the same position that you're in.

And unfortunately, at the time that she started asking me about it, I was working and, you know, a lot was going on and I said, it's not the right time.

Well, lo and behold, almost seven years later, I'm now married.

I have help.

I have someone to look after the kids while I go and seek out other opportunities.

And she chased me for almost seven years to do what she had asked me to do, and I jumped right in.

I got licensed in about two weeks.

I was sitting across the kitchen table from families that look just like me, and we were super-excited about discovering things within their own policies, within their own mortgages.

We had them pull out their documents and we would literally translate what it was that they had already.

And sometimes it wasn't the best thing, and we were able to share that with them and provide resources so that they could do better.

Yeah, you said a lot in that in that moment.

You literally talked about the power of having the right people in your in your circle.

- Right.

- So this young lady saw your passion she saw into you and was and was intentional about pulling something out of you that helped to propel you to the next level.

And you mentioned that you didn't go to college.

You literally used Google and those resources that were available, so it's literally taking what you have and making what you need.

There was an old song that said, you know, you can make a dollar out of 15 cents, right?

We learn how to navigate through difficulties and really arrive and accomplish some of the things.

So tell us, what are you certified in?

Because I know there's a couple of them.

- So, of course, I am life and health licensed, in order to help people with insurance coverage.

I'm also series 65 licensed, which calls me a financial adviser.

And I am what they call a master registered financial consultant.

- So, you're not just a financial consultant, you're a master financial consultant.

- Board certified.

-C'mon, sis!

Board certified, get that right.

Yeah, that's amazing.

That's amazing.

- So, yeah, you know, I am a lifetime learner.

I am that type of person that will be up at night watching videos, reading documentaries, all kinds of things.

- That's amazing.

And so, the financial field, the work that you're doing there is really all-inclusive, right?

I mean, you help people at every level of their life.

What are you finding, let's say, in the minority, the African-American community, that is so challenging as it relates to resources and knowing how money works?

- Well, I feel like we're behind, you know, there are a lot of basic financial things that we don't understand because maybe there was not someone before us that taught us or modeled it.

So, modeling is very important.

So, we can read things and get that kind of thing, but when we see people in our midst - family members, neighbors, whomever, co-workers that are living it out - it makes it easier.

And so, I find that financial literacy is one of the key elements to shifting our behaviors and propelling us into growth.

And so I had to seek out these basic financial matters.

And it is important to me, and it has been for the last 13 years, to do workshops and seminars free to the public, where they can come, ask questions, they can get informed and now they have a face and a name to put with it so when they're ready to make the step to become a homeowner and maybe their credit isn't where they want it to be or need it to be, they have people they can go to when they're ready to say, OK, I have a year, what do I need to do, or how do I get started?

And so I've been doing these workshops for several years now, making them free to the public, on Saturdays, where other professionals come along with me - bankers, real estate agents, mortgage loan officers, investment bankers, you know - and they all come on a Saturday and share knowledge with the public.

- You're talking my language.

So, March 30th, which will be passed, we're literally doing a home buying seminar at our church.

We're partnered with some banking institutions, so forth and so on.

Because so often, it is not what happens in our community.

We'll go to basketball games, football games, you know, wasting, spending our money on stuff that we don't need, but when it comes to investing in ourselves and creating spaces that are empowering and uplifting for our people, we don't do it enough.

What are some of the challenges that you find in our community?

Is it access to information, is it access to resources or is it just really taking the time to learn how money works and how money moves?

- There is a wealth of information out there.

I feel like it is us taking the initiative.

- OK. - Because, you know, I've kind of pulled myself up by the bootstraps, right?

But there are highly educated people who still don't know how money works, right?

We make it, we earn the money, we throw it in the bank account and then we just let it sit there or we pay our bills and we don't know how to grow those monies.

And so I feel like, you know, sometimes you get in a rut, you feel like, well, this is how we've always done it.

- Yes, yes.

- Or you might be the first who is in your family line who's seeking out opportunities, and it's hard being the first.

- It is, it is.

- I would say that.

It is hard being the first, but once you get into it and once you start seeing progress, it's almost contagious because you want to continue to grow.

So I find that, you know, when you find that people are willing to invest in themselves - and when I say that, it could be just taking extra courses online, it doesn't have to be university per se, but if it is, great.

There are a lot of courses that people can take and especially during the pandemic, I found that people were really trying to figure out, do they want to go back to work?

Do they want to pursue other opportunities?

- The great resignation.

People are finding other opportunities to become entrepreneurs, yeah.

- I've read that four million people had resigned from their jobs in April of 2021.

- And they're out there doing the entrepreneurial thing.

So, here's a question - how does one start?

You want to get your savings started, you want to start building wealth, you want to start creating a nest egg or something.

How do you get started?

-Find the money.

-Hmm.

- So, we are used to trading dollars for hours, right?

We're used to doing that, but we're not tracking the money properly.

So, the money goes in, we know roughly what we have to pay out, but I challenge people to literally track every dollar.

Give every dollar a job or a purpose.

And when I sit down from people and they say, well, I'd like to invest more or I'd like to save for my kid's college, and I say, well, how much can you put toward that, and they have no idea.

- So, they're not tracking, they're not budgeting, they're not following their resources, their money.

- Cash flow is important.

Cash flow is what gives you opportunity to do other things.

The cash flow is king.

It's where you can take that extra money that you have left over after you pay your bills and your expenses and you can seek out opportunities to invest, or you can seek out opportunities to invest in yourself, whatever the coursework is that you need to do.

And so, if you don't know what the cash flow is, you can't move forward.

- Wow.

So you've got to track your money, right?

Somebody said, if your money is not working for you, you're working for your money, right?

You become a slave to the work.

Now, you've written some books, can you talk a little bit about being a bestselling author along with, you know, on your journey?

- Yeah, so, I have written - or co-written - ten books in two years.

- Wow!

- They've all been collaborative books, and I thank God that my mentor, Dr Cheryl Wood, I've done a few books with her.

All of them are inspirational by nature.

And the last two books that we put out, my husband and I together were the visionaries of those books, and those books are called Money Talk$: Uncut Convos With Power Couples About Love, Money And Entrepreneurship.

And in those two books, we have 34 black, married, entrepreneur couples.

- I love that.

- And they have shared how they have overcome challenges with balancing life, and a lot of them are dual-preneurs, they work a job and they also have businesses on the side or a full-time business.

And so we were interested in finding out, how do you do this, especially during a pandemic?

How were you thriving?

And both of those books went number one bestseller on Amazon.

- That's amazing!

- So, super-proud of all the co-authors.

- Yeah, you should be.

That's very powerful.

So, you were able to tap into those who have already done it.

They're successful, they're entrepreneurs.

And they managed to stay married in the process of getting it done!

Because a lot of times, when folks work together, that doesn't work out so well.

So, those were the last two that you put out.

What are some of the other titles of the books that you did?

- Oh...

Girl, Get Up And Win.

That was the first book that I did.

Emerge, which is a Christian book.

- Yes.

- Let's see... Courageous Enough To Launch is another.

- I like that!

What's that one about?

Because it's got the whole courageous thing in there.

- Courageous Enough To Launch was spearheaded by Dr Cheryl Wood, she's my mentor, and she wanted us to share our stories about the fear or whatever the challenges are that come along with you deciding to start a business and the fact that you did it anyway.

So, all of the co-authors in that particular book talked about how fear, lack of funding, no support from their community - whatever the challenges were, but they still launched.

- That's amazing.

Do you find that breaking the paradigm is hard as it relates to... You talked about our community and sometimes in the black and other minority communities, this crab in a bucket mentality.

When you want to break out, there are those who are so stuck in their normalcy that they want to pull you down.

- Very true.

- How do you inspire people to get beyond that?

- Well, I will say my husband and I created a village, a safe space for black families and entrepreneurs to come, and the book project was like the spearhead of that initiative.

From that, we ended up doing virtual conferences.

Again, during the pandemic, we wanted to inspire, enlighten, equip our people to move forward in 2021 and 2022.

And with that, we created a village where people can come and get resources, they could collaborate together.

And of course, this is all virtually.

We had 111 black subject matter experts at our 2021 virtual conference across the world.

And the one that we recently wrapped on President's Day, we had over 60 black subject matter experts and we met all of these people on social media.

So, sometimes when you don't have people that you can look up to in your immediate circle, your family, that kind of thing, search online.

You know, whatever you're interested in, I'm sure there's somebody around you who's doing it already, who's thriving in it and doesn't mind sharing those nuggets.

And so, we have a Facebook group and we share all the wins - marriages, launches, birthdays, anniversaries, everything.

So, that modeling is critically important and creating that village and safe space, my dad used to tell me, he said, you're going to be the sum total of your five closest friends, so check your circle.

And it was very important for him to encourage me to make sure I was around the right people because if I did not, he used to say - and I'm sure this wasn't original to him - people are like elevators, right?

Either they'll take you up or take you down and cause you to be stagnant on the floor that you're on.

And it's so true.

And so you all have really worked to create a space that is empowering.

What would be some of your encouragement to individuals who want to get started and get moving in the financial space?

- As pertaining to building up their finances?

- Yes, yes, yes.

- Start somewhere.

And I always tell people that even if you feel like you're not in a good place financially, maybe you have more month than money, as they say, you have to know your positioning.

And when I say your positioning, you have to know what your credit scores are, even if they're low.

You have to know how much cash flow you have coming in each and every month, because that is where you get options from, is that cash flow.

You have to know what your net worth is, right?

And I say this because it can be negative, it can be in the red.

- Can you talk to folks about what net worth is?

Can you share?

- Absolutely.

So, it is the value of your assets - your homes, your vehicles, your bank accounts, your retirement accounts - minus any debt that's associated with those things.

And the difference between those two is your net worth.

You know, we want our net worth to grow year by year because that means that our debt is getting less and our assets are getting more value, right?

So we want to see that number change year by year.

- If I can, I read a statistic or seen an article that said, like, within 20 years in the African-American community, the average net worth of the black families will be zero.

- Yeah.

- This is this is.... - It's serious.

- It's real.

And the conversations that you're having and inspiring are critically important because if that doesn't change, we're going to zero, which is worse than we were, you know, at the end of the Civil War, during reconstruction.

What is the...?

I won't say the problem, because there's a number of... What is the issue as it relates to African-Americans and the growth of value and assets within our community, would you say?

- Initially, I will start with mind-set.

You know, they talk about money mind-set, prosperity thinking, you know.

I know you're a man of faith.

You know, oftentimes, we're not able to see ourselves in a better place than where we are right now.

And so, when you're not able to visualize, then you don't do any work, you stay stagnant.

Oftentimes, And I credit my mom for the resources that she did have when we were younger - and it was tight, you know - but what I what I learned from her was how to budget.

She did, and I know a lot of moms... - They know how to stretch it.

- Stretch the dollars, right!

Make sure that the babies eat.

And I watched her literally make miracles out of small amounts of money.

And that was great because I learned how to do that once I became a mom and once I got out on my own.

However, it also gave me a penny-pinching, poverty mind-set.

And I had to learn how to come out of that place to the place of more than enough, the overflow.

And its work behind overflow, right?

There's some things you have to pay down, there's some things that you have to invest in, but at the end, you will create that legacy that you keep talking about.

You have to put the work behind what you're speaking about.

- So, we're doing this home-buying seminar and one of the critical parts of buying a home is getting your credit together, right?

And how do you begin?

How do you start to work on your credit?

What would be step one?

- I love, love, love helping people to improve their credit.

So, first off, they have to look at it, right?

I ask people, what's your score?

"I don't know."

There's plenty of free resources where you can go and pull it up.

Once you pull it up, especially, I would say, like Credit Karma, right?

They actually give you tips and tools right there on the screen.

It'll show you whether you're in the green or red or yellow, and if you're in a place of red, meaning it's not the most optimal, such as, let me say, your credit utilization, how you're using your credit cards - you want to be at 30% or less when your statement hits each month.

So, if I have $1,000 limit on my credit card, if I go over $300, that will be 30%, right?

- Right.

- I am now overutilizing my card and it's going to impact my score.

- Absolutely.

- OK. - Literally, if it's 31%, your score will drop.

- Wow.

- If it's 30% or less, your score goes up.

- Mmm-hmm.

- So, with the utilization, our credit cards are revolving accounts, which means they expect for the balances to shift month to month.

If you're someone who has a low credit score and you are overutilizing these credit accounts, then it would be useful to take that cash flow that we talked about and see how many of those cards that you can get down to 30%.

You don't have to pay it to zero because you're going to get the same score for zero to 30%.

You have some leeway there.

And that would be an immediate way.

You got to look at your statement dates because those are the dates that reflect on the credit bureaus.

So that's one way.

The other way, of course, is to always pay as agreed.

Those are the two massive amounts - 65% of your score is paying as agreed - and your credit utilization.

So, even if you're falling on tough times and you have maybe unemployment income that's a percentage of what you're used to bringing in, make sure that you always pay as agreed.

- That's good.

- Your minimal payments and - never being 30 days late.

That will be 65% of your overall score.

- 65%!

Somebody told me having a .750 credit score is like having 200,000 because they're going to extend credit to you because you're a good credit card.

And you know, the crazy thing is, this stuff is not taught in schools and in many of our families, because of the dysfunction and the lack of financial literacy, this becomes normative, right?

And it goes from generation to generation.

The other part, we had the privilege of having Marcia Fudge, the director of HUD, at our church last week, and she talked about homeownership in the black community, in the minority community, really, and how HUD is really working to build that space up and taking initiatives to help people, because the number one way that people gain generational wealth in America is through homeownership.

But for many people, it is just too far of a stretch.

And gaining those assets, then you pass it down to your children, to your children's children.

So, when you think about African-Americans and minorities building assets, do you have to have a lot of money to get started saving money?

- No.

- No.

So, that's a big myth out there.

"I don't have $1,000 extra to put away."

Can you talk a little bit about that and how important it is?

- You start where you are.

I always tell people, if you can find that $25 a month, just be consistent at it, because that is what helps us win in everything that we do, right?

With our dieting, with investing, with improving our lives, you have to be consistent.

Of course, when you invest in yourself in ways where you can earn more salary or make more commissions or start a business, then you can grow from that $25 per month to more.

But getting started, and it's like anything else, it's addicting.

Once you see that you have that $500 in the bank account.

you're like, oh, yes!

And you want to do more.

And so now you're trying to find money to throw in there.

You're like, oh, what can I sell so I could put $200 in my savings account?

And so, just start where you are.

Don't feel pressured to keep up with anyone else.

Only you know what your financial resources are.

And be consistent at it and you will win.

- Wow, that's great.

I think you said something very important - consistency.

Because life happens, right?

Those emergency funds become emergency funds and then you utilize them so you buy what you want, not what you need, right?

And keeping up with society.

And you know, there's this this this idea that specifically in the African-American community, you know, dollars don't stay in our community very long, right?

16 seconds or something like that, or 16 minutes, and we haven't learned how to reinvest in our communities.

And so, you're leading charges as it relates to entrepreneurship.

Talk a little bit about how important entrepreneurship is, in your mind.

- Oh, my goodness.

- As a first-generation entrepreneur yourself.

- We talked about firsts, right?

So, my sister and I both are first-generation entrepreneurs in our family, and we take it very seriously.

Our children are entrepreneurs.

- That's wonderful.

- I will say that it is a way for us to take what we're passionate about - there's a term called passion-preneurs as well.

- Passion-preneurs?

- Passion-preneurs.

I didn't coin that.

But it is what is driving you on the inside that you can turn into a profitable business.

- That's good.

- And it usually is surrounding impacting others in a positive way.

And so, when you're winning and you're helping other people to win, now you have a community of people who are thriving together.

- I like that.

- And so you've got to find what it is that you're passionate about, and it's usually something related to a challenge in your life.

- Yes, solving a problem in some way.

- Solving a problem.

And once you've overcome that thing, now you know who to go to, where to go, what the numbers are, what the resources are.

And if you're anything like me, you can't keep that to yourself.

You have to tell someone.

- You got to share it, yeah.

- Absolutely.

- Well, we're coming to a close and I feel like we could go on forever, you have just such a wealth of information.

How can folks actually reach you, get in touch with you?

I need to join your organization, I need to be a part of that.

I need to get into the circle, I need to come to your to your seminars and participate.

So, how can folks get in touch with you?

Well, I am all over social media as CCraigMason, which is my name, @CCraigMason.

I also have a website, It's www.ConciergeFG.com - OK, so, Concierge FG, what do you do there?

- So, that is my financial services business.

It is where I provide financial coaching, consulting, as well as insurance protection for families and business owners.

- We didn't even get a chance to talk about insurance.

OK, so we got a minute and a half left.

Just in this last 90 seconds, if you could talk about how important insurance is to families.

- It is one of the ways that you can pass that generational wealth on to others in your passing.

You literally bypass probate when you put your beneficiaries on your policies, and now they have an estate that they can use to continue the legacy that you started.

- Is it affordable?

Is it something that I can afford?

- Absolutely.

I mean, there's plans from term, whole-life, universal, and primarily your insurance agent will work with you, because they're looking at your cash flow, they're trying to figure out where the money is.

And it's all about asset protection.

And so, if you don't have a lot of assets built up but you want to protect your income - which is an asset - life insurance is set to be able to do that in an affordable way.

- That's amazing.

Well, I know, listen, my folks need to be able to reach out to you, anybody who's watching, please reach out to Dr Mason.

I'd like to thank you for taking the time to come hang out in the living room on Courageous Conversations.

I'm grateful and to all of our viewing audience, thank you for taking the time to view and to participate.

The work, of course, that Dr Mason is doing is inspirational and transformational.

Make sure you reach out to her and find out how she can be a blessing to you.

God bless you, thanks for watching, keep being courageous and we'll see you next week.