The Veterans Growing America Podcast
Welcome to "The Veterans Growing America Podcast," hosted by the insightful duo, Donnell Johns and R.L. Simmons. This engaging podcast is dedicated to showcasing the entrepreneurial journeys of veterans, active service members, and their dependents who have bravely ventured into the world of business.
In collaboration with Veterans Growing America (VGA), an organization committed to fostering the growth of veteran-owned businesses, our hosts bring to life the stories of those who have served their country and are now serving their communities through entrepreneurship. Each episode invites a new guest to share not only the unique proposition of their business but also their personal narrative as a veteran or a family member of a veteran.
The Veterans Growing America Podcast
TK Pryor | Master Wealth Builders LLC. | Veterans Growing America
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In this episode of the Veterans Growing America Podcast, hosts Coach RL Simmons and Donnell Johns welcome TK Pryor, U.S. Army Veteran and Founder of Master Wealth Builders LLC. TK brings over two decades of IT and military communications experience to his mission of teaching financial literacy to working families, veterans, and entrepreneurs.
From honor guard drills to annuities and asset protection, TK shares his powerful journey from active duty to building a business focused on financial education, generational wealth, and trust-based legacy planning. You’ll hear how his late mother’s financial foresight became the blueprint for his company—and how he's now helping others master their money mindset.
Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Veterans Growing America podcast. I am Coach R.L. Simmons. I am here with my illustrious co-host Donnell Johns, and we have another special guest for you today. We have Mr. TK Pryor. He is an Army vet, and he is also the founder of Master Wealth Builders LLC. Welcome to the show, sir.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Thank you. Honored. Honored to be here. Big fan. Always watch the show. Honored to be here.
SPEAKER_01Man, TK, I know you, but the audience wants to get to know you. Tell them a little bit about your military background and experience.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. I started in 1995, spent 11 years on active duty, joined basically to see the world, definitely experienced, you know, two combat tours, was able to uh leave the Army and go straight into contracting. I spent seven years in Kuwait as a contractor, still doing the same job, communications. I was a 35 Lima. I make the internet work with the physical connections and uh did the same thing in Kuwait. And that's my military journey. Enjoyed it, got to see the world, spent two tours in Korea, two tours in Iraq, the first unit to deploy from Korea since the combat of the early 50s.
SPEAKER_01Wow. That's huge. I mean, because when you say a deploy from Korea, I don't remember ever hearing about a unit deploying from Korea before. So that's that's unusual.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. We were, I actually extended to stay in Korea. I was very comfortable. And then they said, guess what? Iraqi freedom, here we come. So we deployed from Korea. That was my first tour in Iraq. And then I went back in uh 2007. So I was there for Fallujah. And I was also there for, you know, the second push OIF2.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for your service. We appreciate that. Definitely, definitely. Pave the way, pave the way for young guys like me. I love it. I love it. So let me ask you a question. How did your time in the military influence your journey into entrepreneurship?
SPEAKER_00Yes, I believe it's really about the military structure, especially when you talk about leadership and when you talk about a proven track record of continuous leadership. You know, the military has a perfect structure in terms of train the trainer. So if you go into entrepreneurship with that same mindset, you're looking at a way to create a franchise duplicatable system where you can basically set something up, manage it, and be able to not necessarily be as hands-on, you know, when they say you're married to the business. You know, you you really want to create a system where you can manage your business. And I learned that when I was on active duty because as a trainer, you know, you have a whole squad. I was active duty doing like honor guard, where I had a team of people where you can't make mistakes. So your regiment, your training, your soldiers that are underneath you, you just get a lot of experience leading. Of course, that carries over into entrepreneurship.
SPEAKER_01Now let's let's talk about, you know, entrepreneurship is one of those things. It's not for the faint of heart, right?
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01It's something that, you know, you have to be inspired to do. So what inspired you to start your own business? Why, why business instead of just getting a job?
SPEAKER_00Yes, that's a perfect question. I love that because honestly, I did both. I came out of the military, went straight into government contracting, went into corporate America. I did do the job, I spent 20 plus years in IT. And of course, with COVID and the turndow of the economy, I ended up in a situation where I reached the plateau. My last job was with Deloitte as a contractor. I was at like 75 an hour. And when the transition happened in the economy, other companies were like, we're not going to pay you that. You got 20 plus years of experience. So, you know, my choice is to take a lesser paying job or pave my own path. So that's what I chose to do. I chose to pave my own path, transition all of my experience into, of course, opening up my own company.
SPEAKER_02That was the perfect segue. Let's talk about the business. Master Wealth Builders LLC. What is it and what's your unique proposition?
SPEAKER_00Yes, that's an excellent question. So, master your wealth is the concept. We really just want to give you financial literacy through various tools. The tools are what the elite and the people who have it together are already using. So instead of reinventing the path, we just reintroduce you to something you probably haven't been trained on. That was my concept. My concept was to be an educator first, but provide resources that really have a hundred-year track record. We only deal with triple-A-rated companies, we only deal with pre-established methodologies. So it's just taking the principles and the strategies of the super rich and applying it to everyday people.
SPEAKER_02No, I love that. I think, okay, I said I wasn't gonna cook. I knew this was coming. I knew it was coming. I love the concept of educating first. The one thing about financial services, um and finance in general and economics is that it is like just an evergreen process, right? Um, if you go back and read like The Richest Man in Babylon, where they talk about trading rocks for goats, like it is all the same concept: the investing, spending, saving, it's all the same concept. To include, I think insurance is a little younger than those other concepts, but even assurance is thousands of years old. So I love that you bring that to the forefront into our people and allow them to be educated in those things. I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely. I lead with education. We do a lot of pop-ups, job fairs. We have Eventbrite where we do classes, invite other people, other subject matter experts. And the idea is to just give you resources. Um, you know, I collaborate a lot with a lot of other businesses where I do what's called strategic partnership. And the idea is if this subject matter expert can help you and it's a lane that adds to your life, we want you to know about it.
SPEAKER_02That was the one thing when I became a CFP, it was very crucial to understand about financial services is that when you talk about finance and economics, specifically in personal finance and wealth building, that there are so many avenues. You have assurance, you have estate planning, you have investing. You don't, like CFPs, we were like uh, you know, jack of all trade, master or none. We understand all of the concepts, but the biggest part of the concept is really key in and focusing on one area that you can master and then build strategic partnerships with folks who've mastered the other piece, and that way you provide the client with the best services. So, I mean, that was a great point in really building strategic, strategic partnerships because honestly, like no one man can master all of those things. The coach is kind of close, but but definitely no one man can really be a subject matter expert at all those things, and it takes a community to teach. That's that's that's true.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that's the uh uh ancient way, the community coming together, right? And filling in the holes, whatever those holes are. So literally literally, when you talk about strategic partnership, that's essentially what we try to do. Uh it's just filling the holes, and then of course, the exposure, right? Come on. If you if you want to talk about the world of finance, nine times out of ten is the exposure. Oh, I didn't know about that. So if I can kind of bring some light, then I hope all it is is a seed that you, of course, grow upon. You start to do your own studying. Because no matter what lane you talk about, the onus is always on the investor to read the perspectives, right? So let me just plant the seed and get you started in the right direction.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. I think that it's critical because we are not taught these things in school. And that's why um I feel like even in watching a lot of financial professionals over Tom, anything that they introduce, they're just reintroducing it, spinning it in a different way. It's not, you just haven't been taught it. So just putting it on the forefront of people and just saying, hey, let me show you some concepts. I can guarantee if they research them, it might be called something else, but it's probably, if not decades old, hundreds of years old. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, they the old saying is there's nothing new under the sun. But introducing those tools, and that's what I always try to lead with. It's like, what tools are you currently using? How are they helping you to advance your long-term goals? That's really my focus. And if there's some tools that you haven't touched upon yet, let's see if they can complement your life.
SPEAKER_01So one thing that I love that you guys keep saying, right, is tools, right? When you're talking about finances, number one, you got to know, you know, what's the goal of the individual that you're working with. And then you utilize those tools in order to be able to help them get there. And so what's one tool that you didn't know about that you wish everybody knew about?
SPEAKER_00Wow, I love that question. So the number one tool for me is what I would consider self-directed IRAs or off-market participation. Because if you talk about the common things within the world of finance, most people know about the stock market. But the average person is not really taught about off-market participation because you have to be licensed, according to the IRS, in annuities to even talk about it. So once I became a licensed professional, really wish, especially like when I was in the military, I had a guaranteed check. You know, I wish I knew about off-market participation in these smart contracts. That's just something that I never really knew until I became a licensed professional.
SPEAKER_01So when you say, so educate me like I'm a 12-year-old, what does off-market participation mean?
SPEAKER_00So essentially, if you want to compare two Apples and Apples, you have the traditional stock market where your account goes up and down with the market fluctuation. So an off-market participation would be in what's called a fixed indexed annuity. So those are three different components. Just a contract that you sign with an insurance company where they give you a compound interest rate over a fixed amount of time, and it's paired or pegged to an annuity type index. So it could be the SP 500, it could be BlackRock, but what happens is you get some of the upside potential, none of the downside risk. So think about the SP 500 going to 34 points. Your contract might be 22 points. So they'll make the spread. But the trade-off of you not making the full amount is never having to lose a dime of your money. It comes with what's called principal protection. So you never ever have to worry about loss. So in true diversity, right? We always teach the rule of 100. Subtract your age from 100, take the lower amount, and put that in principle protected accounts so that it hedges what you have in market loss. So think about me. I'm 50 years old. If I subtract 50 from 100, 50% of my portfolio should be in principal protected accounts that never lose a dime. And that way, whatever I have on the stock market that's doing this, it should hedge. And so hedge means what? Hedge is just a way to balance your losses with your wins. So think about Vegas. If you have principal protected accounts that don't lose a dime, and then you have stock market accounts that could go up but could go way into the negative, you want one to offset the other. So the rule of 100 basically says the younger you are, the more you have at risk. The older you are, the more you have in principle protected accounts that never lose a dime.
SPEAKER_01But your accounts basically go like this it goes up, and then if the if the stock market goes down, it just stays flat. And then if it goes up again, it goes up with it, but it doesn't lose.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. That's a perfect example. That's the chart. If you look at a chart, that's what the chart looks like in analytics. It's essentially what they call a 0% floor. Or if you want to pay a fee, you can pay for a 1% floor. But that is the guarantee that you sign on day one when you open the contract.
SPEAKER_01I'm glad that you just validated what I know about money. You know what I mean? I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_02I love it. I love it. I'm glad he he taught that piece there too. I think risk aversion is one of those bigger things that people should understand. Like the older you are, you should be taking less risk with your money. That's it is what it is. There are a number of financial tools that allow you to do that, but more so, a lot of people aren't educated on all those tools. So the ones that I see the most, and people ask me all the time is, hey, can I just put this in the CD? And I'm like, you can, but let me show you a few other options outside of going to the bank.
SPEAKER_00I love that. Because honestly, if you talk about the general context, people know CD is one of those general concepts. But definitely the safety of principal, the less risks, but there's better vehicles. A fixed index annuity is a higher compound interest rate, but has the same concept as a CD because you never have to worry about loss.
SPEAKER_01I'm just going to tell the crowd this. Y'all need to talk to these gentlemen offline. I'm just saying. I'm just saying because if you can make your money work for you while you sleep, you need to talk to one of these gentlemen. So let's transition a little bit. Let's talk about transition. I want to really talk about transition and, you know, not from the military into the business world, but transitioning into the business world. And, you know, what are some of the ups and downs that you dealt with being an entrepreneur? You know, people see the nice pretty posts that people make on uh social media about, you know, how you can make all this money in entrepreneurship, but they don't understand that it's it may be flat for a little while before it goes up and it may go down a little bit. So let's talk about some of those with you.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, definitely. That's a perfect question because the entrepreneur journey, as you already pointed out, is not for the fainted heart, right? The the challenge that separates job is self-initiating your drive. There's always going to be those challenging moments. There's going to be those down moments. There's going to be those, how do I get new customer moments, right? So your thought process, your path forward has to be in that self-motivation because sometimes you're the one creating the SOP. You know, sometimes you're the one creating the franchise blueprint. And the end go, or I should say the why, has to be what gets you through those down moments. You know, everything in in life runs in a cycle. So when you have those challenging moments in entrepreneurship, it has to be your why that sort of gets you through it. Because not all of it on this side of the house is, you know, paved, I should say. And I think that's the reason why a lot of people don't become entrepreneurs. The fear of what's not paved. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01I see just by watching you, TK, that you're very consistent. Um, you're always putting yourself out there, whether that's online or in person events. What do you use to stay consistent? Because there's a lot of people that I've seen that pop up at VG8, they'll pop up very inconsistently and they wonder why their business is barreling.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01And they're they're looking for all of the high points when they're not there when customers need them.
SPEAKER_00Yes, the the consistency for me is knowing that the end goal is like when you leave with education, right? So when I post videos and I've been doing it consistently for about two and a half, almost three years now, and typically I'll do a video every day, but my thought process is let me give a new tidbit of information and hopefully so this is like a seed. Maybe the seed will fall on concrete, maybe it'll fall on that one ear. So you have to look at it in a consistent thought process of maybe this video will reach that one person. And if I've done that right, then I've done something, and your success that's measured is step by step, as opposed to getting lost in the fact that, oh my God, I I don't see what I want to see, I don't see the big picture, I don't see the big payday. You know, you pick a method, right? When you talk about franchise methods, you pick a method, you stick to it, regardless of whether or not you see the results. And I think that's what's been my guiding factor is that a video a day, a VGA every time you guys do your uh monthly meetings, you know, whatever your your routine is, you have to make it a daily process. And that's what I've done consistently.
SPEAKER_01Shameless plug 54321. Y'all need to learn what that is. We'll put a link in this YouTube video so y'all can get the 54321. It's a method, it's a sales process that will keep you consistent.
SPEAKER_00I love that. Yes, I was there for your I love that for your last training on uh the 54321. And I think that's the key. The key is to put that daily process in and not worry about the ups, downs, just stay focused on the step by step.
SPEAKER_02That's good. That's good. Let me ask you this though. So can you share uh a key lesson that you learned in the military that now you apply to your everyday business?
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes, sir. So one of the things that I appreciate about the military is the structure. So not only did I get used to that structure of 11 years of active duty, I actually apply that same structure in my entrepreneurship journey. So looking at building a system, maintaining the system, and then staying consistent with what I've built. And then I'm thinking about myself, I always go back to improvements. What can I do better? How can I present this differently? So it's also a self-evaluation. So I think the consistency and structure that the military has established over many generations is something that I've learned, carried over, and always challenged myself in my own business to do.
SPEAKER_01I love that. Now, I'm stealing this question from Coach R. L, but I love to hear about people's superpower, right? Tell us a little bit about your business superpower that uh that makes you great.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I love that. That was one of the key components when I used to work for Amazon. That was one of their evaluation questions. Like, what is your superpower? But yes, in my lane, I think the ability to convey literacy, right? If you think about impact or something that can literally open doors, I love in literacy and in finance that if you have the right tool and you implement it properly, it can change not only your life but future generation lives. And I'm a witness to that because the number one reason that I got involved in finance from IT was because my mother created literacy. When she passed away, she opened a trust and Met Life, called me one day and said, Hey, prove who you are, and we have a check.$5,000 a month, and it's tax-free. So that she set it up and that she opened that door for me was life-changing. And having that type of impact on other people's lives when they finally implement these tools. Someone else opens a trust, someone else finances their trust with an annuity. Then I've duplicated what my mother did for me. And for me, I feel like I honor my mother every time I help someone do that.
SPEAKER_01You brought me back because my mom, she basically did the same thing for us. And the thing that that blows my mind is she did it on a safe way income.
SPEAKER_00I love it.
SPEAKER_01That wasn't a lot of money. I don't know how she put us through Catholic school. Um, even when she passed away, she made sure everything was taken care of. And she got a VIP. She's in a mausoleum, right? On the top of the top layer, she was like, I'm not gonna be outside in the elements. I'm gonna be inside on the top level in this big marble thing. But she she made sure that nobody had to take care of her even after she was gone. And so, you know, that's where I I learned my financial literacy from, is from my mom and the things that she took care of on an income that big.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Knowing how to do that, having someone willing to hold your hand through that process really is what I set out to do. Because, like I say, for me, it's personal, it's only about that door opener. You know, when your parents do it for you, you feel the effects of how it changes lives. So you know the personal feeling when you finally get someone else to do the same thing and how it's even if they don't realize it, you know you're gonna do something very positive to affect the future. And I think that's one of the key factors that that keeps me going.
SPEAKER_01So can you tell the audience your experience with VGA? Uh you you're there frequently, so I know you love it, but tell tell everybody why you love it.
SPEAKER_00Yes, first of all, we all look for the home. You know, you get out of the military, you always had the camaraderie, the brotherhood, and you look for a home. So when I first found out about VGA, that's what I was looking for. I was looking for a home. And I love the ability to come to an organization that cares, right? You guys have the tools, you have the resources, and you guys care about us, meaning veterans, having a place to, and that's what I continuously come back. I always talk to other veterans about utilizing the same service. And it's something that a lot of us, I think, look for. We look for that same ability to fit in with people that's gone through the same things we've gone through, and on the entrepreneurship journey. Veteran Grown America is just the perfect place to experience that growth. So I love you guys for what you do.
SPEAKER_01We love you too. We love you too. We appreciate it.
SPEAKER_02I love it. I love it. It's just like every time I hear the, you know, uh, what do you think about VGA? Everybody's just like, like, they they tell their story. And I think someone who hasn't been there would believe that it's exaggerated. And anybody who knows me and they know I am, no kidding, like one of the best experiences I ever had. Like I like I said, is this you think about uh again, Chick-fil-A, you think about Disney, and he has created a platform for veterans just like that. And that's amazing.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. And it's amazing. It's amazing.
SPEAKER_01And it's something that's needed. You gotta expand. So those of y'all that are watching that want to invest into an organization that really does care about our veterans and not just about making a dollar off of our brokenness. Invest in the success of our community. We got a donate button on our page. Go to our website, veteransgrowingamerica.com, click on that donate button and be a part of something special. We haven't got to that part in the show, but I just felt like we needed to say that.
SPEAKER_02I love it. It was right on time. Let's grow. Exactly. Let's grow. Let's grow. So, TK, we're gonna close out the show soon, but but before we do that, what we want to do is um give you an opportunity in the stage to have some, to give the viewers and the listeners some final words.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, definitely. My encouragement, I always just want to give encouragement. So I encourage you guys to self-study. If you haven't experienced a fixed index annuity, do some homework. If you haven't really looked into having a family trust, as as Donnell said, you know, it it's the perfect complement. And really that's what it should be. You should think about how do I complement my finances so that my money works harder for me than I had to work in order to get it. If you're not at the point where you're taking advantage of compound interest, you're doing it wrong. Because I'm telling you, you can go to Google, type in compound interest calculator. The math is ridiculous. I always tell people listen, if you start a baby on a compound interest account, it could pay for their whole life. Because they have 50 years of compound interest. That's just penny. I use a penny every day example. You know, a penny doubled every day is compound interest. So that's what I encourage you guys to do. Learn about compound interest. And if that's not how you're saving, I mean, come on. Inflation, the cost, you gotta start adding compound interest to your savings.
SPEAKER_01The bank is compounding their money even though they're not giving it back. 100%. That's so true. Let me hold your money so I can make money off of your money. We're gonna get this compound interest. They they are investing your money, not for you, for them, for you, for them holding your money. Exactly. And what rate do they give? I think the average rate. Exactly. They don't even give three percent no more. They they don't even give points. Now points. I need to be a bank of a credit card company.
SPEAKER_02They give you a tenth of a penny and they don't even make pennies no more. Right. We'll give you a tenth of a penny, we'll make pennies no more. We'll see you in 10 years. Right. I would tell you this. I would tell you this though, um, because that that it really struck a nerve talking about the banks, and it's kind of one of the the uh again parts of education, but what other people also need to consider, um, and again, this is uh this is a great part. This is not financial advice, this is just education from my perspective. But you need to look at your taxes as well. I know this isn't the taxes segment, but the IRS is famous for that too. They take your money, um, they invest it, and then whatever you they owe you, they give it back to you at the end of the year. So in balancing out what you need to owe for taxes, see what you can keep and invest instead of waiting for him to give it. Wait, Uncle Sam is him, waiting for him to give it back to you with no interest attached to it. Just a little nugget there, even though this wasn't my segment, I I think they belong right there, wedged in between all of this information. So, so TK, how can people get a hold of you and um Master Wealth Builders?
SPEAKER_00Yes, you can go to our website. It is literally Masterwealth BuildersLLC.com. But we structured it to be very robust. There's a lot of information there, there's a lot of drop-down menus. Everything I talked about tonight is actually on my website. So that's the easiest way to contact me. And uh my socials are all on the website too.
SPEAKER_02And Donnell, how do we continue to support Veterans Growing America?
SPEAKER_01You know what? Before we talk about that, I'm I'm just gonna alley hoop it back to you because they need to know about how to get in touch with Coach R.L. Tell them a little bit about you.
SPEAKER_02Definitely. So in this segment, I definitely don't want to steal anybody's uh thunder that we're putting on the platform, but also full financial services, including those taxes we talked about, credit repair, anything you want, go to yourmoneygoat.com and I will show you the way. Whatever you whatever you need, we'll be able to take care of. What I do want to put on the platform is this is the holiday time, um, and this is going to come out before the holidays. So hopefully you watch it before the holidays. But we are doing an event. Um, you can go to your moneygoat.com/slash events. It's a virtual event. We're doing a Kanza financial reset. So for every single day of Kwanza, all seven days, we'll be hosting a workshop where we will give you information paired with some of the principles of Kwanzaa. Um, and right into the new year, we're gonna set you up with a new money mindset using those Kwanzaa principles. So yourMoneygoat.com slash events, make sure you register today. Back to you, Donnell.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so how could they learn more about VGA? So here's what I need y'all to do. So we built this platform because there are veterans that are out here that are doing amazing things. And people say thank you for your service all the time, but unfortunately we can't eat that, right? And on Veterans Day, we love to go eat, but after Veterans Day, people want to support. And so this is how you support. You go to veteransgrowingamerica.com, you click on that directory, and you'll find both of these gentlemen on that directory and many other services that are out there. And why is that important, right? You can choose any company that you want, but if you choose a veteran company, we have your back. We have your best interests at heart. Our goal is to make sure that we take care of those that are our customers and make sure that you get the best and quality service that are out there. And I trust that the members of VGA that are a part of that directory will take care of you. Also, y'all need to come out to our store. We just moved location. We're one and a half blocks north of our current store, right next door to Wegman's. And all you gotta do is shop in.
SPEAKER_02Love it. Once again, TK, thank you so much. Donnell, you're my brother. Thank you for uh allowing me to share this platform with you, and we are over and out.