In the Press: Liborio is Featured
I’m not much of a bragger when it comes to my achievements, I really don’t like talking about myself, I just do what has to be done. I have been told that “you need to put my story in writing on your website, how else are people going to know you”. With that in mind, here I go. Here is a short version of my story.
In 1976 I was just 16 years old. I knew then that I needed to start working in the trades, I didn’t know what trade I should go into. I have always thought that college wasn’t for me. One day a neighbor asked me if I wanted to be a car mechanic, he told me he would talk with a friend of his. The next thing I knew I was working with Ed; he was a true master mechanic from an era long gone. As an apprentice in his automotive repair shop, I learned the trade pretty fast, I was a fast learner. It turned out I was better with my hand’s verses using my intellect in school. He taught me the trade well. There was also a special kind of philosophy in repairing cars that I had no idea existed. To this day I still carry those traits. I’ve been an automotive mechanic since, I never left the trade to this day it became inherent. I found, in a man’s journey that it’s not about the destination but it’s about who and what you become. That’s key. Throughout the 80s I worked at a couple of Ford dealerships. Ford cars became my specialty. In 1990 I got my first opportunity to become a professional mechanics instructor, thanks to Jay Innes of “Snap on Tools”, he gave me my shot as a trainer. I started training, part time, automotive mechanics at a professional level in various locations including my own place of business later on. In retrospect, for me this was a dream come true. After all I am self-educated, since I don’t have a formal college education, I thought I could never be an instructor. As luck would have it, I have been teaching since.
In 1991, I decided to open my first auto repair shop. Because of poor planning I had to leave this location, the lease expired. Within a few months along with my younger brother we started “Five Star Motors”, another auto repair and body shop, this was another dream come true since I wanted to do my own thing, if you will. Five Star Motors became fairly successful. But somehow, I could never break that ceiling to take me to the other side into further advancement. I had these grandiose ideas, goals I wanted to achieve, however, I had too many inhibitions, too many self-imposed limitations. We went as far as we could go, we sold our repair shop business in 2005. Since then, I moved on to a home remodeling business. I liked it, this business brought out a different type of creativity, another part of me that I didn’t know existed. In 2008 the entire world was engulfed with this thing called the GFC (Great Financial Crisis), so it was deemed to be. I got caught up in it as well as countless of other businesses across the world went by the wayside. One day while I was working on a remodeling project, I got a call from my wife with not such good news, something about the mortgage was passed overdue. The rest is pretty much self-explanatory I had to get a job if I wanted to keep a roof over our heads. In 2011 I had the opportunity to work for the MTA/NYCT (New York city transit). I got hired by the MTA /NYCT as a maintenance supervisor. In 2016 I became a full-time instructor working at Zerega training facility. While I love teaching technical courses, I came to find that I have another passion, that is coaching people. Since the mid 80s I have coached and mentored many people at a personal level and in their careers.
In the past 13 years out of necessity I had to learn how the financial systems work, that is if I wanted to retire with a reasonable pension. Honestly, at the time, I thought to myself, the way I was going I could never retire. I would have to work until I was 75 or I’d probably drop dead on the job. Sadly enough, I have come across a lot of people with the same thoughts, I wasn’t the only one.
One day at work one of my coworkers, Nick Milano, asked me what plans have I made for retirement? I answered I don’t have any I’m broke, the 2008 “Great Financial Crisis” wiped me out financially. After starting and running 3 businesses since 1991 here I am in 2012 I had to get a job. Nick told me that was no excuse. Being broke is only temporary. It’s a rite of passage most people go through. You think your special, you are the only one that went broke? You need to get your ass up off the floor, dust yourself off and get going. The question was not that I was on my ass, the real question Nick was asking was, so, when are you going to stop feeling sorry for yourself and get going. He said, your 52 you have a lot of catching up to do. You can’t wait for tomorrow to start planning you should have started yesterday. With that, in the next few weeks Nick taught me how the stock markets work. At that time my thoughts were that the stock market was another form of gambling, and that was rich man’s playground. Nick also went on to teach me, in detail, about mutual funds, bonds, money markets, treasury bills, commodity trading and options. A new world opened up to me. And so, my financial literacy schooling lessons began. Nick taught me that it’s not necessary to always have the need to work for money. With financial literacy you can learn to navigate the murky waters of the financial industry and learn how to let money work for you for a change. You just have to learn how to play the rigged rich man’s game. It’s not how much money you have to start investing, it’s how much knowledge do you have?
Later, Nick and I parted ways. Nick moved on and took a position in a larger maintenance facility near his home, he wanted to ride his bicycle to work. Since Nick left, I continued my, now self-taught, “financial literacy” education. As the years went on, since 2012 I have learned much in the area of managing debt. How does the flow of money actually work. Money is not what most people think it is. I also learned how to invest for profits and retirement. Since I embarked on this education, I found myself coaching others in personal finances and various type of investments, in group setting and or individually. As time went on for many years, I became passionate about the idea of helping other people to succeed with their finances, because schools don’t teach “Financial Literacy” I thought I had to do something.
For the past 7 years, people kept on telling me I should start making You Tube videos, start an Instagram account, start a newsletter, just go on the internet and start blogging, announce your coaching on Facebook, make Tik Tok short videos about personal finance and investments. My head was spinning with all of this modern technology. I had no idea where to begin. Finally, after so many years of teaching finances in short form as a side note to my regular technical training I had to step up. I knew the time had finally arrived; I just didn’t know how or where start, so I jumped in the deep end. After a year or so of throwing ideas at the wall, nothing was sticking. Then I thought about starting a training course, but how? After reading a number of books and listening to different people. One while day driving to work, I was listening to an interview about life coaching I said to myself, hey now that’s an idea, but what do I know about personal development. Just because I counseled dozens of people over the years. I didn’t qualify to coach personal development. I’m no psychologist. I don’t have any knowledge or a degree in personal development. However, something kept on nudging me towards this coaching thing I had in back of my mind, I said to myself what are the attributes that I possess? I am an automotive mechanic and instructor. As far as financial education the only thing I could think of is, all I have is a lifetime of experiences, successes, a whole lot of failures and myself taught financial literacy education. Perhaps, this may be more than enough.
Finally, with the help and encouragement of my students “Shark House Financial Solutions” was born. We now have the pleasure of working, with individuals and families, to thrive in this modern day confusing and sometimes frustrating financial world. Please, feel free to check out the rest of this website and let me know if the content I post regularly help in any way. In these pages and posts I will answer a lot of questions, however, if I didn’t answer your question in particular, please shoot me an email. I will do my best to return your email ASAP and do the best that I can to answer your question. Thank you.
On a fishing trip on my brother’s boat in Long Island South Bay.
On my sailboat enjoying a day out on the bay