Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ashley Edwards. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Ashley, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.

Our education system should teach students financial literacy skills starting young. Our lives as adults revolve around the ability to generate money, as that’s what’s needed to have a decent quality of life. We’re not taught the power of money, how to use it, or how not to abuse it. We’re not taught budgeting and credit management. We’re not taught how to build generational wealth, how important a life insurance policy is, or how to properly prepare your estate for when you pass away. These are all situations that every human being will have to face one day, yet it’s a taboo in our schools and in our homes. It’s something we should talk about more.

Ashley, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have been licensed as a Real Estate Salesperson for about 12 years now. About 6 years ago, I decided to get my Broker license in an effort to obtain more education around the home buying and selling process, and real estate in general. Over the years, I’ve worked with buyers, sellers, investors, as well as wholesalers, and as of late, working with low to moderate income families in underserved communities. I have also as of late been afforded the opportunity to assist families who are either in or approaching the Probate process and may have a piece of real estate that needs to be liquidated. When I started to learn more of the nuances of Probate and all of the risks that are associated with families not being property informed or prepared, I found myself wanting to dive deeper into Real Estate, from an ownership and generational wealth standpoint. I figured, I can sell a house all day long to someone, but what am I doing to not only help them preserve their asset, but also pass that asset on for generations? From there, I decided to create a resource business centered around Probate Real Estate, Financial Literacy, and Generational Wealth Building. This business serves underserved and underrepresented families of Black and Brown communities, in regard to economic and financial matters. We want to encourage families to get their affairs in order, so that when they pass away, they are able to leave an inheritance for their family, instead of chaos and confusion. There are things families can do while they’re young, to set themselves up for decades to come, and ensure that their wishes are carried out in regard to their assets and investments, after they pass away. I want to help families get the resources that they need, so that they are able to create and maintain a generational wealth plan, along with a financial plan, so that they can enjoy the fruits of their labor while they are alive and well. Ultimately, we provide the tools and resources necessary so that families can secure heirs’ property, investments, and the generational transfer of the family’s wealth. We’re helping create generational wealth, break generational curses, and devise a plan to leave a legacy for our children’s children.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I had the opportunity to work with a gentleman that had inherited a piece of property. His grandfather had left the property to him in his will, therefore, upon his grandfather’s death, the house was deeded over to this young man. The young man wanted to liquidate the asset, so that he could use the funds from the sale to invest in other things. With that, him and I came up with a sales price of 225k, that accounted for the very little mortgage that he knew of was left on the property. I found a buyer who was willing to purchase the property from him for the 225k. The buyer was going to purchase, rehab, then sell the property for a profit. That would’ve then made two people was were able to come up on hundreds of thousands of dollars, off of this one piece of property. I had asked the now seller to give me any information he may had received on the property, since his grandfather had passed away the year prior, and the seller hadn’t made any mortgage payments in the meantime. I also asked the seller to put me in contact with the bank, so that I could understand the status of the mortgage. Unfortunately he drug his feet during this step. By the time he put me in contact with the bank, it was the Friday prior to a Monday holiday. The bank told us on this Friday phone call, that the total mortgage balance was a little over $20,000 and that the property was due to be foreclosed on the following Tuesday. They mentioned that we could get it removed from foreclosure sell by paying a $7,500 balance to bring the account current, but that in order to do that, we would need to facilitate it with the attorney’s office directly. Since Monday was a holiday, anything that we did to get the house removed from foreclosure sale, had to be done that Friday. We spoke with the attorney’s office, however they refused to remove the property from their sale list. The property foreclosed on the following Tuesday. In the midst of this, I was explaining to the seller what was going on and how this could potentially turn out. I don’t believe that he truly understood what he loss. That experience taught me a valuable lesson, in that there are many others out there, who possibly have inherited property, but because they don’t know the resources that are available for them, they lose their heirs’ properties, investments, and other inheritances. This inspired me to create a resource business designed to help people through this process, so no other family has to lose such a valuable asset.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One thing I feel like I had to unlearn, is that if you properly prepare for life and the many phases of it, you don’t have to get it out the mud, you don’t have to work until you’re 80 to provide a living for your family, you don’t have to transition your kids out of your home without a financial plan, just for them to screw up and make the same financial mistakes that you made. Life just doesn’t have to be that way. There are things we can do while we’re young, that will properly prepare our families when life really starts lifing and/or someone passes away. But in order to get there, we have to stop treating the conversation like a taboo. It’s OK to talk about it, as a matter of fact, we SHOULD talk about it… and by “it” I mean, do we have a Will in place? Do we have an official estate plan? Do we have a set financial plan or emergency fund? Do we have a generational wealth plan in place so that our families are taken care of upon our passing? If anyone answers “no” to any one or more of these questions, then these resources are for you! It’s time for us to get out of the thinking that talking about these things is calling the grim reaper. If you think that proper estate planning is too expensive or time consuming for you, then you haven’t considered the cost and the time that it will take from your family later on down the road if you don’t.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @gettingourshittogetheraaa
• Youtube: @GettingOurSHITTogetherAAA

Image Credits
Kizzy Michelle Photography