Hey, hey, hey, we're black. We're back, We're brown.
Hey, Mandy, what's up to a little shaky on the dismount there?
I what's my order? What's my line?
Line?
Are we black? Are we back? Which one comes first?
I know, I don't know, and you know I got it. It's okay. We're We're in here in cheer. Have you been.
I've been great, you know, making making moves per usue trying to wake up from the Super Bowl. I'm still like half asleep because it was the boringest event in all of history.
But you know, it's nice to have snacks.
I didn't even honestly, I spent the day at like my parents' house, helping well superman put all the stuff together.
You know, your parents taken when you come fixes one thing.
Three hours later, the whole house is done.
And this is why I moved States, because this is my brother, is the one that my dad calls.
Yeah.
I just like yeah, I mean, I mean he didn't mind, which is nice, you know, But still I was like I told her, mamm like, just the door, Mommy, just the door.
She looked at me like, girl, bye, I'm not even.
Speaking to you.
You don't even do anything. I'm speaking to your husband. So he said he loved it.
He was his mom passed away when he's twenty, so he's like, you know, your parents are my parents.
So I was like, oh, nice, you're a great one. Like your husband's nicer than you are.
You're like I know, because I was sure, like she'll just get this door done and have to wait.
I look like, if you say so, no, but it was awesome. But I'm super excited if speaking about good men, I'm excited because we've got an awesome guest today.
Correct though, Yeah, I've actually you we both kind of known Ash Cash, the man that met the legend going on a few years now.
When did you first meet Ash? What's your Ash story?
You know, I don't even remember, you know, I feel like I've always known, as you know what I mean, just like I can never not remember, honestly.
I'm like, well, ask if you remember, like I don't. Honestly, I don't know for a fin con I don't know.
Before you don't remember it was? I remember, I remember this. I remember it was, Uh what year was this? It had to be two thousand.
I forget what year it was.
You're both at memory but it was christ Wow, you have a great memory.
A little kid was like last year.
I'm the last you know. I wasn't even that think called last year.
But anyway, if you don't know who we're speaking to and of Ash Cash is a personal finance expert. He's a speaker radio TV. But honestly, he's like really like my brother from another mother. He is super inspiring. He was in the banking industry for about a decade, worked his way up from a teller to a manager and then was the CEO. What is it when you're when you basically run a credit union presidency?
Yeah, I was the CEO of a credit union.
Yeah, that's incredible, you know, incredible And just recently he so just like me. I well, I ended up losing my home during the Great Recession, and Ash was on the verge of that. But there was a program he used that helped him save his home, and recently he sold that home for a huge windfall. So that's what we've been to talk about today. So we're just really happy to have you'll. You'll know, his tagline is mind
right money right or mind right life right. I mean, but mind right is kind of like how it's like my live Richard. So thank you for joining us.
Thank you so much for having me. You know, well we always connect. It's always great energy. And Mandy has been on my radio show and she has great energy set Mandy show.
I didn't know.
First of all, you knew that. I think we were supposed to be on it together. But whatever, we won't go into your bad memory.
And that's I wasn't gonna say anything. But it was Tiff was supposed to be on as well. It was a little bit last minute, so many held it down.
You know, we're we're here to mend fences. We're not trying to dig up. Let's focus on the man himself. So Ash, I mean, I think you have so much going on. I mean, TIF didn't even mention the fact that how many books have you written?
Seven?
Ten? Seven books? Yep, I'm at number seven.
Now, well, forget all that for a second, because beyond your financial expertise, I'm just mostly interested in your personal story and your real estate experience. So take us back to when you and your wife first decided to buy a home. It was in New York, right in the Bronx.
Yeah, New York, in the Bronx the Wakefield area who we were young. So it's funny because my wife and I have been together for fifteen years for eleven and when we first met, uh, you know, we we met at work actually, so so my you know, I work, I worked at Chase. Uh, I was a banker at the time. She was a teller and we and we you know, we met. We dated for about I mean we knew each other for about two years before we
started dating. And so as we started to date, we were thinking about I want to say, we were together like four or five years or four years and then, uh, we had the news that we were gonna have my my daughter. And so at the time, you know, we had planned this big wedding we were gonna go to, uh, We're gonna have a destination wedding.
We would get married in Jamaica and all this stuff.
And my wife, you know, feash out to her, being financially savvy, said you know, why are we gonna spend all.
Of this money to entertain other people? You know?
And see she jokingly said, you know what, how about we just take all this money that we were gonna pay for this wedding. Let's buy a house and if we last ten years, then we'll have the wedding after the ten years. And you know, I said, oh, that sounds like a great idea. And so we like literally, uh we were we were.
She was twenty four, I was twenty five.
We bought our first home and we you know, we bought the house in the Bronx, uh Wakefield area.
Uh you know again I was I was already a banker.
I was already in banking and so financially, that just made sense for me. And instead of buying a home that was just a single parent a single family home, we we bought a two family home, you know, thinking that we can either you know, rent it out or you know, have you know, maybe you know, you know, at the time, her mother lived in the Bronx, so we were thinking about maybe you know having you know, my uh my mother in law lived with us so that she could help take care of the baby. And
so that's what that's what we wind up doing. And so we bought the home, I want to say, two thousand and seven and.
Good timing, good time.
Yet a way to spend money then.
Yeah, yeah, exactly and at the height though, right, so this is right when you know, you know, the real estate bubble, you know, you know, everything was pricey, and so you know, we bought the house.
Then how much was it?
It was four to twenty five at the time. Okay, so four hundred and twenty five thousand dollars for two family home in the Bronx and Man two thousand and eight hit two thousand to die, and we lost a lot of you know, we lost a lot of value in the home. Like literally, you know, the house was worth you know, for twenty five and we bought it. By two thousand and nine, two years later, the house was worth about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
And you had taken out a mortgage. So how much mortgage did you have at the time.
So at the time, so we we took out we used the fah loan, and so we had put down you know, the I want to say, like ten percent or maybe less than that. We I want to say, we put put down about twenty thousand, which is less than ten percent, right, So we put it. We put down a lot about like twenty twenty thousand. So you know, our mortgage was was around like four hundred you know, four hundred thousand for four oh seven some somewhere along
those lines. I don't remember exactly the numbers, but it was it was four hundred and some changes what our mortgage was, and you know, and so so each you know, each month.
We were we were paying a hefty penny.
You know, I want to say, close to twenty five hundred dollars if I if I'm not mistaken, was was our mortgage?
And yet your house is worth like one hundred and fifty k less than that.
Then what we yep, then what we were paying?
Yeah, do you remember what your interest rate was back then that you locked in?
So luckily? I want to say that I had. I was working at the bank, so I was at the time that we bought the house.
I was a private.
Banker working at a Bank of America, And so I want to say it was it might have been like five six percent something like that, somewhere on those lines, like five six percent.
Yeah, So what happened? I mean, what was the worst? What was like the bottom for you guys when you realized what in what terrible shape you were? And then and how did you bounce back?
What did you meant?
So so so right around? I want to say, two thousand and nine, so I'm still working at the bank. You know, we lose all this value in the home, but you know, everything is all good. You know, we still sort of like budget you know, budgeted for to make the monthly payments, so we were still making the payments. Everything was all good. Right Around two thousand and nine, I wrote my first book, Mind Right, Money Right, Tellos
of Financial Freedom. And at the time I just kind of had this bug for entrepreneurship and to just kind of take it back a little bit. You know, I grew up in a single parent home. You know, I grew up into projects in Harlem, Saint Nicholas projects, and so I didn't really have any role models, anybody in business that could teach me and know mentors anything like that.
And so when I had I knew how to passion to teach, to teach money, and so you know, I you know, I wrote this book, I started doing speaking engagements, was traveling, was making some money, and so I decided to take a leap of faith and just leave my my my bank position. And I was making six figures at the time managing a branch, and I, you know, decided to jump out the window. I said, you know, I'm passionate about I jumped out the window.
I was, uh, you know, I just.
Not literally no no, no, no, no, no, that.
Was that's a figuratively speaking, you know, because.
That was happening. I mean it was it was troubling time.
Yeah, it was troubling time.
Right.
But but think about this though, Even during that troubling time, I I quit my job, right, I like, I said, you know what, I have this passion for financial education, and so you know, I want a tour. You know, I was getting a good publicity. I was on you know, Black Amprist seven. I was doing a lot of interviews, and so at the time, I thought fame equals money. I said, whoa, you know, people know me now, and so you know I'm gonna make money now, right, And so I just prematurely.
Decided to quit my job.
And once I did that, I was making some money as an entrepreneur, but I wasn't making enough to manage everything. It wasn't making enough to manage my bills, none of that stuff. And so you know, things started to catch up, and you know, we couldn't afford the mortgage anymore.
And so you know, like I.
Literally remember it was like two ten, twenty eleven ish. In fact, if you look at my Facebook page, you will see that I threw myself a retirement party in twenty ten because I retired from banking. I was like, I'm retiring from banking. I'm gonna start this new career.
I was. I was just about to turn thirty.
So twenty ten, November twenty ten, it was my thirtieth birthday, and so I threw myself a retirement party, a thirtieth birthday retirement party.
That's how full of myself.
The universe was just like, we're about.
To show yeah, like we finished, you know what the state. I didn't realize that, but go ahead, yeah, yeah.
You know.
Universe was like, wait, hold on, hold on, watch watch let me show Let me show this guy, right, and so yeah, shortly after, I want to say, you know, uh uh not sure, but maybe like six, six or seven months afterwards, I started to realize that I wasn't making as much money as an entrepreneur as as I was in my nine to five. I didn't plan, you know, I didn't plan accordingly. My mother in law was staying with us at the time, and so, you know, when everything was going on, you know, we had to make
a decision. Right we we had this mortgage that we couldn't afford. The home was wasn't worth what we were paying,
and so we we were missing out on payments. They were gonna, you know, put the house on foreclosure, and so we we did, uh, you know, we contacted the bank and we did what's called a deed in lieu of foreclosure where we put the home up for a short sale and so that that way, if someone buys a home, then we went and you know, we wouldn't have to have you know, anybody knocking on our door and you know, come come in and take the house.
And the most embarrassing part of it was that I was still the hottest I ever was though, right My book was still.
Selling, I was still on radio, I was still a television I was still doing all this stuff.
But you know, you know, in real life, you know, I'm struggling about to lose my home.
My neighbors are coming up to me like, Ash, what's going on? Why are you selling the house?
And you know, and so it was like not only the worst time that I had, but also the most embarrassing, but the most humbling, you know, and I'm happy it happened because if you fast forward during that time, you know, I kind of like I ate humble pie. I said, you know what, I need to go back to work. And so, you know, good thing. I had a great resume still, and so you know, I decided that, you know, why struggle, right, why struggle unnecessarily decided to go back
to work. And so I, you know, got a got a branch manager position at City Bank, managing one of their branches in Harlem. Was making good money again, and so you know, now I'm I'm living right like now, we could afford the mortgage. But at the time, uh, you know, fash out the President Obama had the Making Home Affordable program and so we you know, we're in a short short sell we qualify, and so we applied
for it. And what what what essentially what it did was anybody who had a mortgage that was underwater, Uh, they would they would if you qualify, they would recalibrate the loan so that you would now, uh they would
forgive you for the excess amount. Right, And so you know, at the time, let's say, you know, my mortgage was four hundred and seven thousand, got rid of the excess, you know, one fifty and so now you know, my mortgage is now two hundred and fifty thousand, and so you know, you know, now I have a job, you know, you know, making making money again. And so my mortgage payment went went from close to three thousand dollars to now like twelve hundred dollars or eleven hundred something somewhere
along those lines. And the great thing that happened with that was we had a two family house, and you know, my mother in law was staying with us, and so now once we went through the whole short cell process, she decided to move out. And so we also you know, now when the when the home was was was refinance or or when they when they redid the loan. We're now paying a two hundred and fifty thousand dollars loan. Plus we have an apartment downstairs that we could rent out.
And so it was a double blessing, right, so now we were able to save the home.
We could afford the mortgage.
But now we found a tenant, someone to live in the home, and they were they were paying us eleven hundred dollars in rent, and so you know, this, this curse, right, this thing that was almost the worst thing that could have ever happened to us, wound up being a blessing because our you know, out of pocket expense for the mortgage was less than one hundred dollars one hundred and
two hundred dollars and I was it. And so the money that we would have spent on uh or we would have used on the mortgage, we're now able to save and start to rebuild our our account.
I mean, that's the key difference. The fact that you guys had invested in a two family homes so you had the ability to rent it. Because like, at the same time home values were dropping, demand for rent was going up.
So shout out, let's pour.
One out for the home Affordable Modification Plan, which was the program you guys took advantage of.
It's no longer offered, but let's pour one out for it.
Thank god, you guys took advantage of it when you did, because that was, you know, a huge game changer.
Yeah, no, absolutely, and it was.
It was it was like a you know, at first, we were like, man, this is too good to be true, but no, we accepted the blessing you know, you know, I ate my humble pie learned from it and it really made me appreciate or that's what opened my eyes to you know, residual income and have your money work for you because you know, again you know having that. I mean, it wasn't really foresight, but you know, for us,
it was more about you know, babysitting. We were like, all right, let's get this two family house so you know, mother in law can stay with us, could help us out when we need, you know, when we need babysitting. But it actually wound up you know, helping us because that extra that extra apartment, you know, allowed us to
create a source of a source of income. And so now we weren't only relying on our physical labor, but we were actually relying on you know, you know, uh, residual income through through rental payments.
That's awesome.
It's a way to turn something that could have been like the worst possible thing into something that end up being like a positive change for you and your family.
Absolutely, absolutely, I was gonna say, you've dodged this bullet, You've saved your home. You guys are in good shape. You have rent you have rental income coming in your mortgage, Like you know, your share of the mortgage is shrinking. You're back to launching your own business. Can you talk about sort of the the years following the loan modification when you were getting back on your feet?
Yeah, absolutely so, so you know through you know, after that happened again. You know, I you know, a couple of things happened. Right first, I realized that the reason why I needed the humble myself was because I was making it about me. Uh when when when I when I came, when I started to my journey of personal finance and teaching about financial education, it felt good helping people, helping people manage their money, helping people learn how to uh you know, be better stewards of.
Their money and change their mindset.
And but but the moment where I started getting a little notoriety, getting a little fame, I started making it about me. And that's when, you know, the rug got pulled over from under my legs. But now I realized my second go round, it was like, you know what, this is not about you.
Uh, you know now that you have this new added you.
Know, humbleness, but this this story, this uh, this this obstacle that you overcame. Now now you're able to use that to help people even further and full disclosure. Tiffany you know this already, but I'll but I'll say it again. You know, it was actually Tiffany who gave me the courage to even have a conversation about about this because for a long time when I was you know, you know, I never spoke about it.
You know, we're still doing my speak speaking engagements.
I was still going out there, you know, not pretending that everything was okay. But I just was omitting the fact that I, you know, that I understood where people were coming from from a foreclosure perspective. And I remember one time, just you know, listening to Tiffany you know, on on a on a on a video chat, and she started, you know, talking about how she was going through foreclosure and you know, lost her home.
And I was like, way, I'm like, I remember you hit me out.
You're like, I was like, yo, you the budget niea like how you how you.
Stilling all the tea? You know.
But but I but I realized, you know, that transparency was what uh Ma is what made people and continues to make people fall in love with her and her message and so from that point on, I was like, you know what, I'm actually gonna be more transparent.
Uh and and and the.
Honest truth was the moment I started to add that as part of my story. It now sort of like, you know, broke down a wall, right, because before I was going in there as you know, the guy who you know grew up in the hood and you know, started worked in banking and became a successful banker. And that was the end of the story. And now I'm teaching you how to change, you know, how to get
out of your circumstance. But you know, now a story she shifted from this guy who grew up in the hood became a successful banker and then you know, ruined his credit, ruined his uh you know, ruined his almost ruined his life financial life by you know, by by not making the right decisions.
And so started sharing that story.
You know, now that you know, we have the extra income, uh, you know, from not having to pay a mortgage, you know, we're saving more, we're investing more, we're you know, we're buying other properties, right and so now we are realizing the power of real estate, and so we you know, we're buying you know, you know, income producing properties. You know, my businesses is flourishing. I'm writing books and so by that time, so two thousand and nine, I wrote my
first book. By twenty thirteen, I want to say, I had three books, which is uh, you know, I had Tailors a Way, which is a book I wrote with my daughter, life lessons Learned through the eyes of a three year old. But then I wrote What the Fico, which was one of my which is still one of my best selling books.
What the FIGHTO. Twelve steps are repairing your credit.
And so from there my business just started to take off in such a way where you know, I have income coming from our primary residents because we're renting that out. We had one more, you know, one other property I was a co op that we're getting income from we have you know, my wife and I you know have that We had our you know, my books were making money.
I was traveling from a speaking you know, making steady income from speaking, and so I decided to take another leap and decided, you know, after the credit union.
You know, it was a great opportunity.
I was, I want to say, one of the youngest CEOs of a federally charted bank at the time, I was thirty two. Yeah, thirty two at the time. But after that decided to jump out the window again, not literally, but you know, take a leap of faith and started to started my business. And then you know, now was it was uh, it was it was, it worked, it was more steady.
Right.
One of the things I want to point out for for for everybody, for the listeners, is that I believe that the second time around, uh, the reason why it was more successful, I was more successful as an entrepreneur was because I took care of the basics.
You know.
The first time around, I was you know, I jumped with a leap in a prayer, right, I didn't I didn't really properly plan. I didn't have enough money saved up, uh to take care of my you know, my my my, my basic necessities. And so not being able to take care of the basic necessities had me uh, you know, had me worrying. And and that space in my mind too. Uh, I didn't have enough space to flourish. I didn't have
enough space to be an entrepreneur. Uh and and and and fully developed my business the way I want to because I was worrying about the basics. Uh, this time around, you know, I had the basics covered right, my my shelter, food, you know, I knew how my daughter was going to go to school.
You know, all the basics were covered.
And so now when I when I decided to become an entrepreneur, it freed up so much space in my mind right. And that's why I always talk about mind right, money right, mind right, life right. If your mind is right, it allows you to do other things. And so yeah, I you know it was was was able to become a full time entrepreneur, and you know, have been been on that journey ever since.
Well, let's take a quick break and then I want to come back and hear a about how one day you had a fateful knock on the door of the house that you saved from foreclosure and decided to sell. We'll take a quick break and come back with ashcashow Ash.
This is the part that's really fascinating because it sounds.
Very Oprah esque. I don't know if you know, but my auntie Oprah, when she bought her ranch in mont Pecito, it's a California she that house was not for sale. Oprah was like, yeah, cute, but I want it. And so she knocked on the family's door, or I'm sure her representatives did, and said, Oprah wants to buy your house. And they were.
Of course like yes, because you know, she made them an offer that they could not refuse. And that happened to you.
It was Oprah, but it was someone who was willing to pay you a good amount of money.
Tell us about that day, man, So you know, the the house continues to be continue to be a blessing.
Uh.
You know, one day, you know, I'm getting my daughter, you know, ready for school, and we're on our way out and there's this guy, you know, going daughter door, knocking on people's door, and he's, you know, just introducing himself. And so as I'm about to leave the house, I see him. He's walking up to me and.
So now you know, I you know, we we we make eye contact.
And the first thing, It's funny, the first thing I saw was his suit, right, He had a nice suit on. It was you know, nice and polish. And I was like, hey, that's a nice suit, brother, and he was like, you know, thank you. And I automatically thought that he was a politician, right, because you know, in my neighborhood. It's a you know, it was a middle class neighborhood.
A lot of you know a.
Lot of politicians come over around election times to introduce themselves and you know, ask us, you know, how things are going, and you know, want in our votes and stuff, and so, you know, the gentleman said to me, he said, hey, if I can get you top dollar for your home,
would you sell? And you know, I looked and I was like, nah, you know, we had no intention of selling, no intentions of moving, and so we you know, I you know, I politely declined, was like, nah, you know, we're not thinking about you know, selling anything like that.
He gave me his card.
He said, if you ever, you know, if you know anybody who's selling or anything like that, you know, definitely give me a call.
I was like, perfect, we'll do.
Drop my daughter off the school, came back home, bump, you know, saw my wife and I said, hey, baby, let me you.
Know, this guy just walked up. He gave us this card.
He asked, you know, if we were interested in selling at home. And so we both looked at each other and we were like, you know what the house next door was on you know, was was on sale i want to say, nine ten months and it never sold. Like people would go in there, people would look at the house, but it never sold, never sold.
And we were like, man, this house is just too high.
I'm like, there's no way you know that they're going to sell the house for what they wanted because it was you know, it was also a two family but they didn't have an attic like we had an attic, right, and so they only had you know, like two bedrooms downstairs. We had just put a you know, put some money into the house. We had an attic, and because my son was just born. My son is three now, but he was you know, he was when he was like one years old, we were like, you know what we
need to start, you know, making more room. And so we took the attic and we redid the whole attict. We put about thirty thousand dollars into the home. We created two new bedrooms upstairs, we created you know, we created it into a duplex.
Right.
So it went from being a two family home with a two bedroom, one bath upstairs and a one bedroom, one bath downstairs, and now we upgraded it to a four bedroom, one bath, and so my wife and I said, you know what, we should just put this house on the market to see what happens, to see how much, you know, we'll get offered for it, especially with this new addition that we made.
So we put the house uh.
You know, you know, on on on on the market and didn't really think anything was gonna happen. Within six days we got to offer for exactly what we were looking looking for. And just to kind of you know, uh, you know, give you give your perspective was that we uh you know, the house was was was was uh you know, uh modified for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. But throughout the years our equity started to increase. Now and so now the house was worth you know, in
the four hundred range. And then now because we added that addition, we said, you know what, we're gonna sell the house of four forty and six days later we got to offer for for four hundred and.
Forty thousand, exactly you know what we asked for.
And it was a blessing, right because when you think about it, you know, we had the low modification and so now the house was underwater and then now we were we were made right. But now you know, we're at a space where we're looking at, you know, coming up with with you know, a six figure check to sell, to sell this home, pay off our mortgage, and you know, figure out what we want to do if we decided
to move. And my wife, you know, my wife has family in the South, has always talked about you know, you know, moving down south, and so we said, you know what, maybe we should we should kind of take a look at this, maybe we should take this seriously. And we decided to take a trip down to you know, it was two options. We were either gonna you know,
go to Atlanta or Charlotte. And you know, you know, one of the great things about being an entrepreneur and being at this space of my life was that, you know, it didn't really matter, you know, where I live, because majority of my income was either from you know, working remotely doing you know, writing articles, things of that nature. But then also I travel a lot, you know, going
you know, traveling throughout the country. You know, I mainly speak at colleges teaching financial education, and so it didn't really matter, you know, where I lived. And my wife is an HR consultant, so she was working from home as well, and so we were like, why are we paying all this money in New York when we don't
have to be here? Long story short, we went to Atlanta, you know, spent the week there, was looking at the amount of square footage we can get for lessing with the house, you know what we were paying in New York, and it was sort of like a no brainer, and so we decided to make the move. Not nothing planned. We literally we sold the house in so let me tell you the timeline. We sold the house September twelfth, Right, so, September twelfth, we sold the house. September thirteenth, we're on
the road down to Atlanta. It was a thirteen hour trip. We stopped one time. So we got down there September fourteenth. We stayed in the airbnb as we were looking for different homes. We closed on a new home in October. So a month later were closing a new home. And now we're living, Uh, we're living. We're living a good life.
I was gonna say that, but he's still very humble.
Universe don't don't Yeah, yeah, yes.
Universe, yes, Universe, you know, you know, please write the work. You know I do put the people first, you know, I still put the people first. Uh but yeah, but but yeah, no, definitely living living a great, a great life in the in in the South.
Had you like, did you you didn't have any family down there?
No, no family, you know, I had, you know, some connections, you know from the work I've done, you know, you know, you can see your stats. And so Atlanta was my second So New York, you know, obviously was my biggest market, but but Atlanta was the second biggest market as far as like followers and people who purchased, you know, who support my business. And so that was one of the reasons why I wasn't reluctant. I was like, you know what,
I'll you know, I'll figure it out, you know. And and I and I knew, you know, uh, you know, Atlanta is the real, the real Wakanda of the United States.
Right.
So like a lot of people, you know, a lot of black and brown people are are you know, are thriving in Atlanta. Uh, they work together and you know, they work together. It's it's it's a lot of love. And so that was one of the reasons I said, you know what, let you know, it's I'm willing to make that move.
And and and so far it's been working out.
We'll say hey to my hometown for me.
Hey, yeah, when I when I found out that you were from the South man and and and and you're in New York. And I'm not gonna rub it in. You know, I'm not not gonna do that, right right, man, Dae, I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna rub it in. But but you know what it's like, you know, like you know that here is man, the cost of living is awesome.
Whatever. Who needs in a two car garage?
Who needs that garage?
Like?
You know?
Like my like my my bathroom is the size of of my old apartment.
You know what I'm saying. You know, it's like the backyard. I mean right, I'm me can't in the backyard, do they? I really think that's the overrated?
Who cares that your house is half as much as mine and three times as big?
I don't.
I made my choices, and I'm so happy with them.
But whenever, and if you and if you want me to have to talk, you know, you know I could, I could talk to your husband and we could, you know, we could kind of figure something out.
I'm saying because I've been saying, I'm married to a New York or he's not gonna move.
But look at you. You're as New York as they come.
I mean as or as they come.
All I'm born and raised one hundred twenty nine Street, eighth Avenue. Oh I say, I say all that. You know what I'm saying, like like, yeah, I'm New York as they come. But I think that you know, and I'm I'm gonna tell you the secret.
What what what you?
What you have to do is y'all gotta just come down here. Just sneak you know, just sneak down here, Just come visit your family.
Do something.
He got married down there that didn't work.
But here's what it comes down to.
Here's the truth. Childcare.
So his mother is here and she you know, they're going to be the primary grandparents. So I think when you're having it's like you you you and your wife stay close to home when you had a kid. And I think a lot of people, like young couples, are thinking the same thing. So for me, it's I would save money by moving to the A, but I'm not dropping my kids off my dad's house.
Are you kidding me?
They're gonna die?
Like, I'm trying to live up here where they have you know, the Dominican grandmother. Well, so I'm gonna save on childcare by staying here. But I get, you know, it's you know, you have to balance those things. But you bring up a really good point about the fact that a lot of people, if you're working remotely, you can work from anywhere. And you know, I'm not in that situation right now, but there's people on my team who work remote, and the opportunities are are out there
for people who work remote. Especially in this job market, I feel like a lot of employers are having to bend their own traditions or rules to give you know, let people be independent, location independent because the market is so hot and it's hard to find people for jobs today.
Right absolutely, I think that's a great point.
And then when you think about it, you know, you know, the money that you have to command could be different if you go to a place where the court, you know, the cost of living is lower. Right So someone you know from from an employer's perspective, you know, having that flexibility allowing you know, employees to work remotely. But then also if that employee understands, you know, you know, do I have to be in in a in a major metropolitan city.
Do I have to spend you know this this money, uh to live?
And you know that that that also you know, allows that flexibility as well if.
You can look back, I mean, is there anything that you would change and do differently or you're like that the end totally justify the means.
No, and definitely justifies the means.
Uh.
The one the one thing I always say is that the good, the bad, and the ugly all work in your favor.
And so sometimes when you.
Know, I don't believe in negative and positive like negative things happening to you because I think that as long as you have breathing your body, uh, you're you know, you you always have a you know, opportunity to do do things different.
And everything just serves as a lesson.
And so for me, I you know, you know, you know, yes, somebody would have been like man, you know, maybe I would have done this differently. But if you think about it, you know, honestly, if I would have never thrown myself that you know that that that retirement party, if I never decided to you know, quit my job cold Turkey, I would have never you know, fell back, you know, fell behind in in my mortgage.
Uh. You know, I would have never had that.
That uh loan remodification, and that loan remodification is what led to you know, my my home increasing in value. That also allowed me to sell the home and walk away with some money in hand and be able to purchase another home for half the price, triple the size, and so all of that, it was all it was all a sequence. And so if I took any of that back, if I just said, man, I wish this, this didn't happen, and I changed anything about it, I would probably still be in New York. I would probably
still be in the same home. But instead, you know, I was, I was given a new opportunity and and you know, more importantly than me because I was, I was fine in New York.
But I think you know now.
You know, you know, watching my wife happy because she has family down here. I mean, she always wanted to be here. You know my daughter she's ten now. You know, she loves her school. She's the New York Girls. So she's popular, you know, popular in school.
She loves it.
You know my son, you know, he's three now, and and he you know, he's he has a lot of energy a York toddler. Yeah, you know, you know that he has a lot of energy. He's able to run and and and enjoy themselves. And so I think that, you know, all all lessons are blessings, and so I definitely wouldn't change anything, and I'm happy that things happen exactly the way they did.
All lessons are blessings. I love people who can speak in bumper stickers. Yeah, you're good at that.
Just what is what if your full name ashes short for no, just Ash ash Elexantis.
Oh, your middle name is Xantis.
No, my last name is Xantis and my first name is Ash. It's just Ash really like yeah, yeah yeah, so my so my parents, so my parents are from from Haiti, from Haitian.
Uh yeah, so so Ash is a is a Haitian name? Uh? Which which which?
Uh?
Legend tells it that I'm named after.
The water boys. So so there was a water boy uh in Haiti.
Uh that my mom? You know, my mom, It was my mom's water boy. His name was Ash. And that's you know, that wind up being my name water? No exactly, not now that I say that I.
Did he save you from drowning or something like.
You are you really my dad or boy? Now that I say it out loud, it might it might be something to that. But and parents lie.
You have two kids, don't you lie?
Right?
Absolutely, tell the bran Ambition fam where they can find you Ash online on the social let them know.
Yes, So you can go to my website I am Ashcash dot com. You can follow me on all social media platforms so Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, the same handle I am Ash Cash and I'm very active, So you can find me either on the website or on social media.
Okay, Ash, Yes, he you are consistent through and through. I am a testament to your heart and soul and you really do just pour in to the people that you serve. So Atlanta is really lucky.
To have you. Thank you so much. No, I appreciate that. Thank you so much.
Thanks for coming on the show.
Ash, Thank you, Mandy, thank you Tiffany, thank you for having me. Thank you listeners for you know, you know, I'm very loud and yelling and stuff, so thank you for I.
Know it's her wife, like shut up.
Yeah, yeah, she's like the total opposite. So she's like very calm and you know, my manner. But yeah, I'm like the big, outgoing guy. So thank you listeners for for for dealing with me. But you know, I appreciate you guys, thank you for having me.
Yes, New York stand up.
Yes, it's trying to imagine if you and Tip were both co hosts.
Me I had as honest at the Literature Academy at the Expert Yo that Yo.
I literally I think I fell asleep at the computer afterwards. I expended so much energy Fire up it was, But honestly, it's.
Like the number one act The Expert. Everyone loves that one. That session, it was so much I think. I mean I can't even watch the whole way too, because it's exhausting, but in an awesome way. So yeah, no, it would be YO would just be yelling back and forth.